Workers Press no. 1021

workers press

DEMAND EMERGENCY

LABOUR PARTY

CONFERENCE

THE BRITISH working cl of the Tory government anc is pledged through the mas socialist policies. We say 'pledged to soci- alist policies' knowing that the present leaders of the labour movement have no intention of introducing such policies. Indeed, in the last analysis some of them will be prepared to join a coalition govern- ment with the Tories to head off the working class.

There is no solution under capitalism to the problems of the working class. So long as the Tories remain, they will go on destroying every basic democratic right and try to smash the trade unions. Behind the scenes they are preparing forms of military rule. At the same time, the Labour Party leaders con- duct no fight to get the Tory government out. They have no policy for expropriating the banks and big business.

In other words, they in- tend to do no more than once again play the game of the employers in imposing the burden of the economic crisis on the working class.

Taking advantage of the paralysis of the Harold Wil- son-Barbara Castle leader- ship and the refusal of the *left' to fight, Roy Jenkins and the extreme right of the Labour Party have initiated a campaign to break the Party from any connection with the trade unions or with socialist policies of any kind. Jenkins does this with the full support of the capitalist class and its Press. Dick Taverne was used to hoist the flag and create the conditions for Jenkins' cam- paign, a campaign on behalf of the Tories inside the labour movement. Jenkins is not alone. Sixty eight Labour MPs voted to- gether with him for the Tories on the Common Mar- ket, against the Labour Party conference and Parliamen- tary Labour Party decisions.

On the struggle of work- ers against the Tories' Indus- trial Relations Act and state control of wages, Reg Pren- tice, front-bench spokesman,

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • WEDNESDAY MAF

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF

king class needs one thing before all else: to get rid ent and replace it with a Labour government which the mass action of the working class to carry out Statement by the Political Committee of the SLL Fair Trading Act, Industrial sided with the Tory govern- ground of Relations Act, Immigration ment on the law and order". must be repealed Act, etc, maintaining immediately. All these right-wing car- The base for reaction and eerists want to the Labour Party from the military preparation against struggle of the trade union- the working-class movement ists who created the Party.

is the British occupation Ulster. This base be must They must be driven out removed by immediate with- of the movement. Precious drawal of all troops from time has been lost by the Northern Ireland. "Tribune'-ite 'lefts', who re- fight Labour categorically to fused A government for the expulsion of Jen- must seek ways of assisting and the other kins, pro- the working-class move- Marketeers. ment in Ireland to resolve the outstanding problems.

There must be split no Party Finally between the Labour the emergency and the unions! Labour Party conference clear out every man- must The right -wing pro- jack of the right-wing Marketeers want separation Marketeer 'MacDonalds' from the trade unions in The longer these men survive be order to free to serve in the Party, the greater the the capitalist class, either in dangers to the working a Labour government or in class. a coalition with the Tories.

Taverne, protégé of Hugh An immediate emergency Gaitskell and the Transport of the Labour conference House right wing, was toler- Party is now absolutely vital!

ated for and now too long Just as the TUC had to works openly to destroy the call a special conference, so Party. must the Labour Party! George Thomson, ex- The facing the issues Labour Minister in Wilson's whole working class demand Cabinet, is a European Com- conference, the pur- missioner alongside the Tory such a pose of which would be: Christopher Soames. Jenkins is the darling of the capital- To mobilize, together ist Press.

TUC,

whole with the the The will be movement working-class movement to strengthened, not weakened, bring about the resignation by the expulsion of these of the Tory government. traitors! • To decide socialist Socialist Labour on The policies, with the support of League calls upon all trade the workers organized and Party unionists Labour throughout the country, to members to force the Lab- the capitalist dispossess our Party and TUC to: without compensation, class, and their factories,

• MOBILIZE

the whole place banks, building societies and class to make working the big under all enterprises Tory resign! government workers' control. • ADOPT socialist policies These policies are the to meet the crisis! Clear out only ones which can free the Jenkins and the Labour working class from the dis- traitors! astrous cuts in living stand-

• ORGANIZE

ards resulting from price in- an emer- Labour Party confer- flation and the world econo- gency ence now! mIc CriSIs. March 13, 1973 The Housing Finance Act, No. 1021•

SDAY MARCH 14, 1973

TEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABC

TUC secretary Victor Feather s A DESPERATE plea for co-operation between unions and government delivered yester- was day by TUC chief Victor Feather. Speaking to a lunch of City businessmen organized by the Com- Feather ment Club, called for a 'non-gov- ernmental body for con- ciliation and arbitra- tion, possibly financed out of public funds. Feather deplored the ** "lit union-'blasting' state- ments made by Minis- ters, but this was not a personal dislike. Referring to Employ- 1021 • 4p

ST LABOUR LEAGUE

90th anniversary of his death 1883-1973 See centre pages Feather speaking to City gents yesterday.

ment Secretary Maurice But been made. now Macmillan and other Feather claimed the Tory Ministers he said: Act was inoperative any- I like him. I like them way. all; that's the trouble.'

Throughout his speech, which was inter- He said the that rupted several times by unions were ready to laughter from the cigar- enter into a partnership audience, smoking City over the economy with Feather presented the but It the government, Image most moderate had to be one based on possible. agreement. He said that the wife he revealed Earlier of an American senator that trade union lead- had once described him ers had got many a "Labour agitator'. as a a little laugh' out of the 1 nearly asked her to Industrial Relations Act.

put it down in writing He said that an ap- for me to send to the Workers Press. 1am peal to the government not to repeal the Act It would have sure pleased them,' he said. but to suspend it had

workers press

DEMAND EMERGENCY

LABOUR PARTY

CONFERENCE

THE BRITISH working cl of the Tory government and is pledged through the mas socialist policies. We say 'pledged to soci- alist policies' knowing that the present leaders of the labour movement have no intention of introducing such policies. Indeed, in the last analysis some of them will be prepared to join a coalition govern- ment with the Tories to head off the working class.

There is no solution under capitalism to the problems of the working : class. So the Tories remain, long as they • will go on destroying every basic democratic right and try to smash the trade unions. Behind the scenes they are preparing forms of military rule. At the same time, the Labour Party leaders con- duct no fight to get the Tory government out. They have expropriating no policy for the banks and big business.

In other words, they in- do no more than tend to the burden of the economic crisis on the working class.

Taking advantage of the paralysis of the Harold Wil- son-Barbara Castle leader- ship and the refusal of the 'left' to fight, Roy Jenkins and the extreme right of the Labour Party have initiated campaign to break the a Party from any connection with the trade unions with socialist policies of any kind. Jenkins does this with the full support of the capitalist class and its Press. Dick Taverne was used to hoist the flag and create the conditions for Jenkins' cam- paign, a campaign on behalf of the Tories inside the labour movement. Jenkins is not alone. Sixty eight Labour MPs voted to- gether with him for the Tories on the Common Mar- ket, against the Labour Party conference and Parliamen- tary Labour Party decisions.

On the struggle of work- ers against the Tories' Indus- trial Relations Act and state control of wages, Reg Pren- tice, front-bench spokesman,

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • WEDNESDAY MAF

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF

king class needs one thing before all else: to get rid lent and replace it with a Labour government which the mass action of the working class to carry out Statement by the Political Committee of the SLL sided with the Tory govern- Fair Trading Act, Industrial ground Relations Act, Immigration the ment on maintaining 'law and order'.

Act, etc, must be repealed immediately. All these right-wing car- The base for reaction and the eerists want to sever Labour from the military preparation against Party struggle of the trade union- the working-class movement ists who created the Party.

is the British occupation of Ulster. This base be must They must be driven out removed by immediate with- of the movement. Precious drawal of all troops from the time has been lost by Northern Ireland. 'Tribune'-ite 'lefts, who re- fused categorically fight A Labour government for the must seek ways of assisting expulsion of Jen- and kins, the other pro- the working-class move- ment in Marketeers. Ireland to resolve the outstanding problems.

There be split must no Labour Party between the Finally the emergency and the unions! Labour Party conterence must clear out every man- The right-wing pro- jack of the right-wing pro- Marketeers separation want 'MacDonalds'. Marketeer from the trade in unions The longer these men survive order to be free to serve in the Party, the greater the the capitalist class, either in dangers to the working a Labour government or in class. a coalition with the Tories. Taverne, protégé of Hugh An immediate emergency Gaitskell Transport and the conference of the Labour House right wing, was toler- Party is now absolutely vital!

and now ated for too long Just as the TUC had to works openly to destroy the call a special conference, so Party. must the Labour Party! George Thomson, ex- The facing the issues Labour Minister in Wilson's whole working class demand Cabinet, is a European Com- the pur- missioner alongside the Tory such a conference, pose of which would be: Christopher Soames. Jenkins is the darling of the capital- To mobilize, together • ist Press. with the

TUC,

the whole The will be movement movement to working-class strengthened, not weakened, bring about the resignation by the expulsion of these of the Tory government. traitors! • To decide socialist • on The Socialist Labour policies, with the support of League calls upon all trade organized workers unionists and Labour Party throughout the country, to members to force the Lab- dispossess capitalist the our Party and TUC to: compensation, class, without factories, and their

• MOBILIZE

the whole place banks, building societies and working class to make the big all enterprises under Tory government resign! workers' control. • ADOPT socialist policies These policies are the to meet the crisis! Clear out only ones which can free the Jenkins and the Labour working class from the dis- traitors! astrous cuts in living stand-

• ORGANIZE

ards resulting from an emer- price in- gency Labour Party confer- flation and the world econo- ence now! mic crisis. The Housing Finance Act, March 13, 1973 • No. 1021 • 4

SDAY MARCH 14, 1973

TUC secretary Victor Feather s A DESPERATE plea for between co-operation unions and government delivered yester- was day by TUC chief Victor Feather. Speaking to a lunch of City businessmen organized by the Com- ment Club, Feather called for a 'non-gov- ernmental body for con- ciliation and arbitra- tion, possibly financed out of public funds. Feather deplored the " 'lit union-'blasting' state ments made by Minis. ters, but this was not a personal dislike. Referring to Employ. 1021 • 4p

ST LABOUR LEAGUE

of his death 1883-1973 See centre pages Feather speaking 1o City gents yesterday.

ment Secretary Maurice made. been But now Macmilian and Feather claimed the other Act was inoperative any- Tory Ministers he said: " like him. I like them way. the trouble' all; that's Throughout his speech, which was inter. Не sald that the rupted several times by unions were ready to laughter from the cigar- Into a partnership enter smoking City audience, over the economy with Feather presented the the government, but it moderate Image most had to be one based on possible. agreement. He said that the wife Earlier he revealed • of an American senator that trade union lead- had once described him ers had got many a agitator'. as 'Labour the •* little laugh' out of 'I nearty asked her to Industrial Relations Act.

put It down in writing Не said that an ap- for me to send to the Workers Press. I am peal to the government not to repeal the Act would have sure but to suspend It had pleased them,' he said.

PAGE 2 Workers Press, Wednesday March 14, 1973.

Money agreement breaks up before it begins The 'floating six' begin to sink cies is already showing signs of disintegration-before it has even begun—with sharp disagreements between the two main participants on how the float should be managed. The conflict between France and West Germany makes it likely that the joint float, due to come into operation when foreign view, an arrangement which can- exchange markets will March 19,

BY FOREIGN EDITOR JOHN SPENCER

10U condutive lastilo reopen on agreement. have only a brief life. The French floating government, the independent keep the joint parity down.

The West German government slice to buy tarch 7. mon Market Dire and talv. the Com walcn lost a big was some The French hope in this way mon is proving unable parliamentary majority at the the March ending to avoid being totally priced

WCCK

muster the cohesion and unity election last weekend, is now was top huge ShIs export Thell burkers. Junev

HELMUT

SCHMIDT

facing intensified sums- one point as much as ot purpose conflict do not want the franc to float German Finance Minister. $1,500m a day that it was forced the United States. wages with the upwards with the German mark, The EEC is still pleading with to buy in February. working class. organized which has been of the main West German Finance Minister Washington for targets for revaluation. Helmut described

WEAKENED

tion staving slump

DIRTY FLOAT

The French insisted the Europe. They US Joint foat agreement as the end Germans the mark by revalue to delay plans bretton schullici The West German that the main elements of total re- further three force Workers, who for months have reei exports. post-war monetary system— US multi-national companies The orner anoullL

SOLIC

neer entering the common float. But $31,000m. It was West Germany's send home and help more money alta and reformist bureaucrats of the they still banks must inability absorb more dollars the main reserve currency —were say the determined oi funds. trade

USC

the of now at an end. alc that forced closure the None of these measures will the fight now that malervele. home oress find much with the The capitalist crisis has cleared The Bundesbank on the other excance sympathy the ele tion prospe Para 2. 13 and again on itself through all the prospect of a hand wants to dispose US new 1TS celerano ween I meels way lor March large holding of paper dollars, EEC Finance Ministers on Friday.

of class battles front, 1n The US made it the road for rapidly depreciating The disagreement between which are a uaust covernmentos detel- catastrophic and that the the most mined that the

EEC

joint float France and Germany reveals that europe ascet ano pose cancel Cical West 'dirty possible, runaway in Ger- the two countries are floating be with radically different ends entire history. with central banks buying dollars South Africa: Honest Jim' speaks for capitalism IN THE City of London Mr James Slater, the head of the Slater Walker financial conglomer- ate, is known as 'Honest Jim'.

been acquired This affectionate nickname has through a favourable Press and other publicity. Because don't readily with of this you him associate

CONSEL-

stripping, yet he is one of the biggest strippers in the business. Walker, Slater and his erstwhile Peter the Val tele aloof from Secretary for Trade Industry, remain and this publicity while one of Slater's proteges, John Bentley of Barclay Securities, gets the full blast.

Slater is opposed to "asset-stripping, he recent sald in a 'The Times'. He said preferred "industrial interview Which, use' assets to much better of course, is another way of saying ... asset-stripping!

On Monday this week Tomanies in Poesented companies This Africa that SLULy scarcely sen- Inceroavid Alical

WULACID.

was 500 'news'. After than toere are LO• British with investments in South Africa; they companies of the total foreign investment 61 UD British apartheid state une Lula. volunt ivestment more than £2,500m When informed of these for worldwide group of Chis companies. facts the cantains of Вп- tish business threw their they how they winO mock horror. live, how their families sur- al ils their vive, education and 'We did not know about the labour camps,' Tney exe claimed. questions that confront Slater and his friends every 'Honest Jim' took a more day. that sense Slater's com- line He said he penitent read re- horrihed to was ment demnation not is nat his only con- ports concluons

COI-

wattle farms controlled by it dom the his South African subsidiary.

in South Dorador Africa, but how system wish had been based Britain to my attention brought other capitalist everv But a less Way. country. am glad it has happened. The greatest blow that will, of course, now 'We British workers make can immediatelv investigate the African workers in the High- behalf of their African Mons of all durant working condi- of Natal bre Slater Walkers expropriate brothers •eue African Durban unrest spills and for their wages (above). South Plote best, other The plantation workers money institutions in At Slater's City. transported to work being ure tonishing nais ete about hos reveals the ment By nationalizing the com- mostly monthly panies which form the yoke of between £2.50 and over into paper mill the Sys- of the apartheid system, the which leaves them on tem works. The it is tho- At worst, exploited African majority child mortality rate is condemnation make their of the highest in the world.

social own HUNDREDS of African tween the township and Rodgers refused corrent of capitalism. Slater's state- detalls of revolutioll. the mill. give taken at face value workers ment, Flemming Heilmann, utterly vehicles the sticks rocked Colos Stukers wa e rates at e otan. director of Metal Max in South Africa, yester- patrolled the road out claiming only that the Box in and smashed bus win- impersonal relauons of the township to pre- workers among capitalism. dows at the Sundumbile •av cened David SU0- the Slaterr his skyscraper the vence wour ledvo Destral standard wages to his 5,600 township at Mandini, 40 in the City of London ing. The area. mill manager 'non-whites'. of Durban, Rodgers, claimed The was highly-trained accountall He admitted that labour- after work in due cordoned off 15 stopping was by is solely interested received £46 month ers the Giant Sappi police balancing the figures in his i ugela misunderstanding Tor odes the yesterday. Country s paper mill. poverty line set by the Slater On making The who had walked out because Durban was the Geais men, ohannesburg Chamber of are said: 'It's like a knife minimum they expected their pay of wave of once demanding centre we're the Commerce butter and the African wage alle INCerse sulides A former director of Metal the knife. an hour, were watched whereas the manage- As sooas 1nk working wno are dry on bid, we Box was the Home Secretary.

police they ment had intended 10 paid in most cases far was by as launched another. Mr konert carr. Who Intro with their next week, he below regime's the duced the Indent he Rela- Yet appears ignorant families on be- claimed. lene. •WC ovalon Tevel when Act was the 'Honest Jim' Slater. workers who make profits Employment Secretary.

S Wales steelmen for London jobs lobby

BY STĘPHEN JOHNS

HOME SECRETARY

Robert Carr has become the latest Tory Minister to link workers on strike against the government's pay laws with of so-called acts the terrorists. Carr lashed out at rail drivers in a debate on the London bomb attacks in Par- liament on Monday. He said that the train drivers' strike had made the job of police much more difficult because of the increased traffic in London. The Carr statement follows Ulster Secretary William White- "terrorists' law's comparison of in Northern Ireland with trade unionists fighting the govern- ment in Britain. Both outbursts are part of the Tory plan to intimidate union whip up a frenzy leaders and of hatred among the middle class against workers striking for a living wage. The Carr bomb accusation can only be seen as a deliberate pro- vocation. After all it is an admitted fact explosion that the Old Baily which killed one man took place because of police ineptitude.

A duty officer failed to hear the location of the car bomb and officers were too late to prevent the blast. This was nothing . to do with railways or striking drivers. There is another fact. Police say they knew of the plans to as last bomb London as early Monday-they had four days to stop the "terrorists, but they did nothing. Instead on Thursday the pub- lic was treated to a well-timed publicity campaign after the first ' discovery' outside Scotland Yard. With the aid of their Press the Tories hope to create the atmos- pheré for repression against trade unionists as well as 'terrorists'. policy is deliberate. This Carr, Whitelaw and Barber, the last attacked the hospital wor- kers, do not speak out of anger.

The Tories are ruthlessly deter- mined to create the conditions where striking workers can be smashed as the preliminary to wholesale offensive on the working class. The Tories have bought off the power workers' leaders for a few shillings. Now they hope to drive the gasmen back to work with the aid of the right- General wing leadership in the and Municipal Warkers' Union.

This will leave them free to isolate and smash the hospital workers and the civil servants.

these 'victories' under With their belt they hope to proceed to enforce laws which will mean a virtual dictatorship over the working class. Workers should stand firm against these provocations and demand that the whole trade union movement be united to create the political and industrial conditions to force the Tory conspirators out of office.

01-622 7029 01-720 2000

ARMED ANTI PICKE

' I: POLICE

ULSTER

TRAINED

TROOPS

ATJ 123L

BY IAN YEATS

OVER 2,500 South Wales steel workers will travel to London today to lobby the British Steel Corporation against the closure of the Ebbw Vale works. The mass demonstration, to be followed by a meeting at Central Hall, Westminster, coincides with a one-day strike involving 9,000 men. Unlike the militant of de- Despite a barrage lobby of parliament by mands from the floor for Shotton steelworkers industrial and action last month, today's General Strike, pro- chairman overshadowed by test is Sir David Davies refused last Wednesday's deci- to put resolutions to the sion of the first-ever de- meeting. Even more sinister, legate conference of the of the 16 steel leaders TUC steel committee at clear they unions made it Sheffield. BSC's moder- accepted the nization plans. Davies, the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation's general secretary, said after- wards: 'We reached common agreement to oppose not modernization and to make job that new sure oppor- be provided tunities must before closures are imple- mented.' Yesterday rank-and-file leaders still reeling were what they regard from as abandonment the wholesale of the fight for work by their union chiefs. Ebbw Vale Action Com- Mr Colin mittee chairman Hudson said on the eve of the mass lobby: "The failure of the conference to make a decision has left me dis- gusted. I'm still thinking about it.

I'm one of those who have battled for against years breaking away from consti- tutions, but after this even having second am thoughts' Mr Hudson said that he believed the leadership va- which would inevit- cuum follow the Sheffield

COLIN HUDSON

• dis- ably with Shetfield meet- meeting would lead to the gusted setting up and co-ordinating ing. Workers P

CARR BOMB

Below: A section of the British Ster Wales, to be run down under Tory ral rank-and-file leader- of a ship. Today's demonstration means that at some of the major steelworks doomed by BSC's modernization the plans all the traditional re- formist protests have been passed through-to no avail.

Now men at Ebbw Vale, Flintshire, and Shotton, Glengarnock, Scotland, and at a dozen other works are beginning to know they face a ruthless Tory government • be halted only which can by industrial action aimed at forcing it to resign. At Sheffield the union leaders pledged to press for to alternative employment counteract the impact of the steel closures. Mr Hudson: said But, he "There is no chance of alter- work. Even if they native extended the closure dates, they'd still have to direct industry here.' Workers Pross, Wedhosday March 14, 1973 PAGE 8

EBBI VALE WORKS

ritish Steel Corporation works at Ebbw Vale, South er Tory rationalization plans.

white-collar workers yesterday sub-

FORD

mitted their claim for a substantial all-round pay increase, a cut in the working week and longer holidays. The three unions involved are the clerical section of the Transport and General Work- ers' Union (ACTS), the technical and super- visory section of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers (TASS) and the Asso- ciation of Scientific, Technical and Mana- gerial staffs. Ford's offer to the 15,000 staff is almost certain to match that made to the 52,000 manual workers under Phase Two of the Tory pay laws. It is believed that the unions' first move in negotiations will be to press for pension improvements which fall outside the pay limit. UNION leaders representing 65,000 ICI manual workers have been warned that their increases of €6.80 will not be claims for considered in isolation from the Tory pay The same is certain apply to laws. to a similar claim, submitted later this to be month, on behalf of 60,000 chemical industry workers outside ICI.

PAGE 4 Workers Press, Wednesday M By Cliff Slaughter The British Communist Party has always been among the most willing, abject and uncritical fol- lowers of the counter- revolutionary policies of the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union. At no time have its leaders failed to carry out the quired campaigns of vicious lies and slanders against the Trotskyist movement against Trotsky. This willing- ness, of course, has been matched by their capitulation to parliamentary reformism, their servile attitude to the bureaucracy and trade union their opposition to any move of the working class towards political independence from the Tory government. They have always bitterly opposed the demand for the TUC to organize a General Strike to bring about the re- signation of the Tory govern- ment. Particularly since the end of the 1950s, the formation and growth of the Socialist Labour League and the Young Socialists have necessitated that the Stalinists pay particular atten- tion to discrediting Trotskyism.

special agent has been A appointed for this task. This special agent has served a long apprenticeship. He has been released from other leading positions so that he can get more credibility by appearing as some sort of liberal oppo- sitionist. But he actually works directly • under the control of the Stalinist leaders in their King Street, London, head- quarters. Inesday March 14, 1973 The name of this agent is Monty Johnstone. Johnstone was the subject of a statement by the Socialist Labour League's east London sub-committee in the Workers Press of February 17. He was excluded from a public lecture Kemp, SLI given by Tom member, Central Committee after having attended, unrecog- series. nized, the first of the The statement made it per- fectly clear that Communist Party members wanting to discuss CP and SLL policies and differences are not ex- cluded, but that Johnstone is different category. Let in a us restate the reasons for this and at the same time add some extra details. refuses to clear Johnstone up a number of vital political questions. Until these are cleared up, the Stu reserves to protect itself right the against the danger of provoca- tion and planned and deliberate distortion. We take this attitude especially because of the nature of the revolutionary period we are now entering.

We take our revolutionary theory, experience and practice seriously. The Trotskyist move- ment exists on the historical foundation of the October Revolution, the first four Con- Commugist gresses of the International and Trotsky's fight against Stalinism, 'the main counter - revolutionary force on the world arena'.

It is not for nothing that have fought revisionists we (followers of the Pabloite Ernest Mandel) who preached that Stalinism was no longer this counter - revolutionary force. The working class can only win in the coming fierce struggles if movement our leads a real fight against Stalinist attacks, provocateurs and agents. the revolutionary preparations joined the of the SLL. He Young Communist League in and claims unbroken 1941 membership until this day of the YCL, then the Communist Party. In 1954 he was appointed editor of the YCL paper 'Challenge'. He has also func- tioned full-time district as organizer of the YCL in the Midlands, chairman of the Students Committee National of the CP and YCL National Education Organizer. Yet in 1944-1946, when Trotskyism everywhere was denounced by Stalinists as an agent of imperialism and fascism, Johnstone became a of the Trotskyist member (Revolutionary Com-

RCP

munist Party), which at that time comprised the Trotskyists in Britain. So long as Johnstone does not explain on what political basis he joined the RCP as an agent, all the time remaining member of the secretly a Stalinist party, we say what we have said in this newspaper before, that he is suspect, as one who entered our move- an agent of the ment as Stalinist Party, of the Stalinist bureaucracy. Now this same Johnstone, who has repeatedly refused to answer this question (it was publicly raised in Workers Press, November 12, 1969, and in the Young Socialists then monthly-now weekly-'Keep Left' in February 1969), thinks Monty Johnstone, the British Communist Ing Trotskyism. Above left: Writers Andre trial In the Soviet Union. They were b prison sentences. Johnstone supported t right: Members of the Young Comm expulsions which the party carried out YCL in 1964. he can appear at an SLL meeting armed-as he cer- tainly was-with a tape re- corder in his briefcase. Johnstone's plan was, if and when excluded from the sub- sequent meeting, to produce his taped recording as proof that he had not disrupted Comrade Kemp's first lecture.

As our readers know, he was Communist Party's specialist for discredit- iters Andrel Sinyavski and Yuri Daniel on y were both convicted and given harsh upported the trial and convictions. Above ng Communist League protest against arrled out against an opposition in the excluded, but on open and stated political grounds. It is on these political grounds that Johnstone and the CP must take up this question. Johnstone is not excluded on any personal grounds or permanently from SLL meet- ings. Just as soon as he clears up this and the other questions we asked him, then he can attend and participate. i he SLu, in that case, would welcome an open and public debate with Johnstone (or any other leading Stalinist) on the

subject "Trotskyism and S ism', a debate we offer ago as 1968, long the Stalinists would not tain. these questions? Stalinist past of more im than ance _The fighting-out of the great torical issues between Tro ism and Stalinism? cannot continue his justices of Stalinism ast and refuse to accour is own role. The needs working class today position i tolerate that lation to the most imp question, the building" alternative revolutionary ership. So long as Johnstone not clarify this continues-as for the la - faithfully and its opportunist betrayal fight to remove government. Johnstone takes offer occasional this or that aspect of Sta history, but he is actuall principal supporter of counter-revoluti bureaucracy Stalinist of power fror usurpation Soviet working class of name socialism country. He is an enthus defender of this Stalin's, which was the basis of the physical liqui of the Bolsheviks. Johnstone's brief glan of his the history find him critical of of 1929-193 left olicie n fúll approval of the f mental rightward He Stalinism. is an supporter of the 'peaceful liamentary road to socia This political line fectly consistent with th that, even with a past the RCP) which would ally make him the succession his attem Even after masquerade as an opposit liberal in the Comn Party, he has supporte and repressive trial the writers Until clears record, we are obliged re sibly warn every sitionist in the CP that specific and apr stone's role is to get close to any towards He is post Trotskyism. the Gollan clique revisionist circles the of technique 'dissident' Communist Trotskyis members from He played this

YCL

lation November gress in which the leadership, ately and by prior arrang with him, kept him new executive because h useful to them as a cont is fastened o formed groups Lindsay and others raised the prin ago years question of Lenin's last st Stalin and his al against with Trotsky. We do not hesitate to comrades of Johns these real role. His attempt to a provocation against th is part of the same work he such resorts to indicates the seriousness struggle we have the determination Stalinist leadership to dis Trotskyism. Today, as at the 1969 makes gress, Johnstone attacks on certain asper sm and Stalin- as we onered but which uld not enter- object to why? more import- his the great ween Trotsky- Johnstone in the to account fol le needs of the cannot osition in re- lost important of utionary lead- he to serve the Tory the to of its the the rief glances at Party ultra- 1929-1933, but course ardent peaceful, par- socialism'. is per- with the fact (joining would norm- politically rickly occupied responsible led delegations is attempt to n oppositionist he Communist supported sentence Daniel and oppo. them mix Party 1960s. at deliber- ned on to the around Jack hers who two the principled n's last struggle nd his alliance esitate to warn of Johnstone's tempt to cause the SLL me work. That methods iousness of the entered and of the hip to discredit the 1969 Con- makes verbal ain aspects of in- the Stalinist past, but at the same time defends Stalinist politics and attitudes against Trotskyism, which the was struggle of Bolshevism against Stalinist degeneration. His role is to channel every oppositionist into bourgeois- democratic right-wing politics.

He has •never answered the Workers Press exposure of his role at the 1969 Cangress (letter from 'A Marxist in the CP', Workers Press, November 1969). He knows every 29, word of it was true. The question is not one of Johnstone's personal character, but of the impossibility of a principled approach to the history of the movement with- out a break from Stalinism and a struggle against it. Yet the working-class move- ment today requires precisely such a principled approach to history. It is a matter of life and death that Stalinism, a cancer in the workers' move- ment, be cut out. Any revolu- tionist who went into action today not armed in this way against Stalinism would be lit- erally inviting a bullet in the back. Ever since 1956, when Nikita Khrushchev was compelled to lift the curtain within the Stalinist movement on Stalin's crimes, it has not been pos- sible for Stalinism to conduct its work against Trotskyism in the old way, denouncing Trot- skyists fascist and im- as perialist agents. They have had to work to- wards a position where they could piously 'request the Soviet bureaucrats to withdraw the frame-up criminal charges against the victims of the purge trials, and at the same time continue the treacherous dis- tortions of Marxist theory begun by Stalin in 1924. British Johnstone the exponent of this work. He has the special task of convincing the militants and the youth that they can accept Stalin's 'socialism in one country' and at the same time reject the assassination and execution of millions of oppo- sitionists in the Soviet CP and all over the world. the CPs Stalin at least knew better!

He knew that his reaction- ary Utopia of socialism in one country necessitated the of Bol- physical liquidation shevism, represented by Trot- sky and the Left Opposition (later the Fourth International).

How does Johnstone explain purges, the mass murder the of innocent communists? He cannot. He peddles the lie that could make Stalin a great contribution to the building of socialism and at the same time make his 'mistakes'. This is no better than Khrushchev's nonsensical 'cult of the in- dividual' as an explanation. It comes from the same bureau- cratic source. Johnstone's role is at all costs to continue to serve the Stalinist bureaucracy and its reactionary politics. Johnstone has been con- cerned with Trotskyism ever since the growing Young movement attracted Socialist many YCL members in 1962- 1964, but he really warmed to in 1968 (articles on his task Trotsky in the YCL's 'Cogito' and in the 'New Left Review').

This was because the inter- national requirements of the Kremlin bureaucracy for an onslaught against Trotskyism became particularly acute in May-June that year — the General Strike in France and the Warsaw Pact intervention in Czechoslovakia. Johnstone's attack on the revolutionary internationalism of the Trotskyist movement has gone alongside the des- perate campaign of the Stalinist bureaucracy, since that time, for 'European agreement with the It is the fact tha in this way revolutionary cracy that prevent: from answering th we have posed to h denies It he answer these quest How does he unqualified trials of Trotsky ar oppositionists How his which ne now does obituary lenge', death 'an irrepara the whole world'? He

BUSI

lessons are to the fact Tnat ne i this, just as he der invented crimes of 1 Czechoslovak Slans before tl comrades, repeat: Labour League tak its analysis of Stali main counter - cannot Johnstone's failure plain past Stalin's crimes;

RCP

the subsequent office i his consistent advo counter-revolutiona Kremlin provocation in the given by Tom Ken for preparation now ment are We do not Johnstone has his criticisms past, condemned th

PURGE

THE LEFT

Security and the questions let him this, explain his for the condemned and those account for called his publicly what Wite there can be the Socialist revolutionary and will not to ex. of support his into entry and CP; of the politics and of the ana the revolutionary forget that for all never, Stalinist 'The

TRANSPORT

MOUSE AN

KING STILA

BOTH

distortion of April 18, he to-Work said: 'When [Trotskyists activity, munist Party organizations must explain the service bureaucracy. the not in 1950, it). the Johnstone preters defend the Party against quote trom minutes: " move of the section dealing with Regional tion suspension West exoluson ing several the Trotskyists in Party in 1954. Nor et his own deliberate own move. the 1950s Party. 'Morning Star' 1972 (once again upon by King do the 'hatchet iob ung Socialists' Right- Johnstone of them the Labour re expelled from the rty for their factional lealy pleaded to the conference "loyal members bour Party and with 3, Wednesday March 14, 1973 PAGE 5 to this conference the facts of the case, because otherwise the delegates at the conference are. simply left to rely on rumours and what they read in the Press. My party is ex- tremely perturbed at the atmos- of witch-hunting and phere general persecution of people who may express inside the LP opinions which may, from time to time, coincide with those of people who are classed as fellow-travellers. 'We feel that it is a scandal to create such an atmosphere, especially since many of these people are loyal members of the LP and have nothing what- soever to do with the Com- munist Party or any of its organizations.' Well, Mr Johnstone? You need to explain here, not just how you came to follow the pack in days before the Khrushchev's revelation', but also how and why in 1972 you resorted to the basest methods of distortion and fabrication of evidence in- herited from the Stalin school!

Once again! We see this record as absolutely consistent with your attempt to cause a provocation and whip up a campaign against the SLL on basis of the an engineered 'incident'. We are not going to be caught in such a trap.

Take your tape recorder back to King Street and make a clear public statement on how you came to support the counter-revolutionary crimes of Stalinism and how that ex- perience relates to your pre- sent politics. And tell the whole movement what you were doing in the Trotskyist RCP in 1945-1946. Do you object to these questions?

soon as you respond, As there is no question of your being permanently barred from our public meetings. And the public debate on Trotskyism and Stalinism, always rejected ent by your Party, can be held.

NINETIETH ANNIVERSARY OF KARL MARX 1883-1973

PAGE & Workers Preas, Wednesday March '

BY PETER JEFFRIES

Ninety years ago today, March 14, 1883, Karl Marx, the greatest fighter and thinker of the modern working-class movement, died. After a long and painful struggle against physical illness and mental exhaustion, he fell asleep peacefully in his armchair at 1, Modena Villas, Maitland Park Road, Hampstead. In recalling Marx's life, we do so because the battles fought and the struggles he undertook within the working- class movement have the most direct relevance for the British working class as it faces its greatest-ever crisis in struggle against the Tory government.

For the Fabians, Marxism has always been an 'alien' doc- trine in England, unsuited to the native soil, with its parlia- mentary traditions, its stable trade unions and its alleged 'spirit of compromise'. What these middle-class gentlemen try to forget is that Marx's single work greatest 'Capital' was written in London and based upon a detailed ana- of British capitalism. lysis What they also seek to over- look is that from 1845 Marx almost continually in lived and was deeply in- England volved in every important development in this, the first working-class movement in the world. It is also particularly vital that the revolutionary party today should nail this hoary Fabian lie. For on one old question Marx never wavered: the great power and signifi- cance which he saw in the resday March 16, 1873 British trade union move- ment. His life's work centred upon a persistent and unre- lenting strugale to turn this movement in the direction of politics, to break it from its narrowness and parochialisin. How Marx would have salu- ted the fight of the SLL in 1973 to provide a political leadership for the unions in their life-and-death battle with the Heath government!

How he would have repu- diated and roundly denounced the efforts of the revisionist groups to break up this fight and undermine it with their campaign for the crudest form of rank and file-ism! Marx and his life-long col- laborator and comrade Fried- rich Engels, both recognized throughout all their work in British movement the great significance of the trade unions. At the time of Chartism, it was the entry of the unions into the first revolutionary movement of the British work- ing class which gave it its power and strength. In the way, it was same the crisis in the unions at the end of Engels' life which led directly to the break from Liberalism and the formation of a distinct working-class party for which both Marx and Engels had always cam- paigned. But it was the role which the unions played in the for- mation of the first stable re- volutionary International of the working class, the Inter- national Workingmen's Asso- ciation, (1864) which demon- strated the absolutely crucial role they played in the life of the British working class. - For we must remind every smug revisionist in 1973, that without the great strike wave which affected key sections of English workers after 1859, there would have been no International founded at that famous meeting in St Martin's Hall, London, on September 28, 1864, a meeting at which though Marx was a Silent vital participant. It was largely due to the strikes and lock-outs of Lon- don building workers follow- 1859 workers that throughout Europe saw the need for an international body which could counter the em- ployers' persistent attempts to move blackleg labour from the Continent in order to smash the growing strike movement.

In those crucial years, lead- to the decisive turning ing up the develop- ments in the were at the very centre of the European class struggle. Marx the im- fully aware of was port of these changes; he re- cognized that this time 'great powers' were at work, laid aside for the moment his work on 'Capital, and threw him- self into International, soon becoming its undisputed theoretical political and leader. Once more, the British trade unions, for so long dismissed 'in- in revisionist circles as sular' and 'narrow' are in the vanguard of the European working class, just as their predecessors were over century ago. For the attempts of the Heath government to break the British unions spear- heads and anticipates the need of the capitalist system in every country to destroy independent trade unionism.

But the experiences of the 1860s and the founding of the First International (as the IWMA became known) held lesson for another decisive Marx, just as it does for the revolutionary party today.

For the forces which spear- headed the campaign for the International and those with which Marx and Engels were to collaborate most closely with during the International's from life, came quite new layers in the working class.

After the collapse of Chart- ism in 1848, trade unionism was largely con- in England fined to skilled workers cen- tred on the engineering and metal trades. These were the 'New Model' unions so be- loved by the Fabians. They were extremely conservative in outlook, repudiated the strike as a weapon and avoided all contact with politics. It was the economic crisis of 1857- 1858 which was to change this position. The 1850s had seen a great boom in house-building, parti- cularly in London. A growing army of unskilled and semi- skilled workers was recruited rural areas to provide from the labour for this building boom. It was this group, with trade little experience unionism, which was thrust into the bitter strike struggles against the London employers from which the International sprang. Today we have seen new groups of workers, previously considered 'conservative' and 'backward'-gasmen, hospital workers, civil servants-lead- ing the fight against the Tory Just Marx government. as turned to the building workers in the 1860s and made them the bed-rock of the Interna- tional, so the revolutionary party of today has the great if it is to continue duty, Marx's work, of turning to these new layers and winning into the ranks of the them revolutionary party. But Marx never accepted the trade unions just as they recognized were. He always their severe limitations. By the 1850s Britain was well on the the work- road to becoming world'. Because shop of the of its privileged position it was able to create conditions for a layer of workers which were markedly better than on the continent. This tended to breed certain narrowness the unions. They amongst tended be concerned with to immediate, sectional interests.

They were more interested in economic than in political matters. Marx fought determinedly in every possible way against these limitations. He conti- nually posed before those unions which affiliated to the International the need for political action. "To conquer has become political power said famous Address of the International, drafted by Marx. But just as this struggle for revolutionary politics the in unions today involves the re- volutionary party in a constant fight against revisionism, so Marx himself clashed at every decisive stage in the history International of the against Anarchists, Bakunin, opposed all political action by the working class.

For them politics were the source of corruption in the working-class movement; they will preached revolutionary as the means by which the "abolished'. would be state Marx's energy from entire 1872 the 1864 until (when of the International centre was transferred to New York) was spent in destroying the politically and Anarchists driving them out of the Inter- national, a task in which Marx and his supporters were en- tirely successful. It was on two basic points that Marx clashed with Ba- concerned kunin. The first nationalization. The anarchist leader always opposed this de- mand as he considered that it merely strengthened the state which, according to his ideal- ist notion, constituted the 'main enemy'. But it was on the question of the legal eight-hour day profound and that the most historically most important struggle was to take place.

Bakunin favoured the slogan of the eight-hour day as part of the International's pro- gramme. But he wanted this to be achieved in struggle with the employer 'at the point of production'. However, Marx fought bit- terly against Bakunin for the slogan of the legal eight-hour day. This was no dispute over a mere word. For here Marx was raising the absolute neces- sity to unite the working class through its political struggle.

We can see immediately that today's revisionists only repeat the most vulgar Bakunin's errors. Since 1970, only the SLL has raised con- sistently the demand for a united samp remove the Tory grippin ing class to remove the Tory government and replace it with a Labour government pledged to a socialist pro- gramme. In the same way that every way war eve struggle event in the class today confirms the absolute correctness of our fight and programme against the re- visionists, so the developments in the class struggle in the 19th century were to establish the correctness of Marx's fight against Bakunin. When the First International was re-founded in 1889 as the Second International (the First International had been form- 1876), it ally wound up in adopted as a major plank in its programme the demand for the legal eight-hour day.

And once more, the British trade union movement was in of these the very centre developments. For the growth of 'New Unionism' took place largely around this demand for the legal eight-hour day. And it was out of the unionism of the unskilled (particularly the main gasworkers) that the for the Labour Party, forces established in 1900, were to come. When the first great May Day procession took place in London in 1890, over 100,000 marched under banners de- manding the legal eight-hour day and calling for the crea- tion of an independent work- watching ers' party. Engels, a balcony the crowds from above Hyde Park, observed: 'Once more the grandsons of the the Chartists are on march.' Here, indeed, was theory e Tory 'gripping the masses' and be- coming a 'material force'.

One can say that the fight in the which Marx waged 1860s, among relatively small of workers, for the groups legal eight-hour day was anticipation, in a theoretical sense, of the creation of the Labour Party. When the re- visionists from turn away politics and refuse to demand a Labour government takes socialist pledged to office, they repudiate policies, and turn their backs on everything for which Marx fought in the British working-class move- ment. We must also remind these same renegades from revolu- tionary politics, that Marx never for one moment aban- principled doned the most struggle against the trade leaders with whom he union worked in the International. He was only too aware of their 'venal' nature, and their efforts to turn the working class into the 'great tail' of the Liberal Party. But Marx also knew that a them leadership to replace never be created by could will. Its development mere was for him always a scien- tific It only matter. was through a persistent political against leaders, fight these that the working class would be able to break free of them.

Once more, wonder- how fully was Marx's position vin- dicated! For when the work- ing class turned politics to under the impact of the crisis which the advent of imperial- ism brought in the late 1880s, it was to revolutionary politics that its best elements went.

It is no accident that Engels Marx's along himself, with daughter Eleanor, were in the front rank of the developments with the New associated Unionism. And it was out of these great changes, and the preparations for them, which Marx's fight had laid, that the Marxist movement, with all its was able to take weaknesses, a great stride forward. In these political develop- Workers Press, Wednesday | Far left: Delegates at the Fourth of International Congress the Workingmen's Association (known the First Inter- as national) held in 1869. Left: Karl Marx. ments the Anarchists were completely isolated. As Engels noted soon after the founda- Second tion of Inter- the national: 'They [the delegates to the 2nd Congress] did well to vote for the exclusion of the Anarchists: with this the old International came to an with the new one of the Hague Congress resolu- tions' [1872] It is because in every great crisis which the unions have faced, they have been forced to move forward politically that the revolutionary party today, at a time when the unions are the crossroads, at be can confident, absolutely given of defeat- correct leadership, ing today's revisionists as de- as Marx and Engels cisively dealt with the Anarchists in Britain in the last century.

In the fight with the Tory the government revisionists seek to excuse their counter- revolutionary activities on the grounds that leadership the of the movement is not yet ready to take on the Tories. 'How can a General Strike be successful', they 'under ask, the present leadership of the reformists?' all Here, the fear and cowardice of the revisionists is clearly exposed. For they seek to cover up their capitula- tion to the Tory government blaming the by reformists, while at the same time refus- ing to lead any political fight to expose these traitors.

How Marx would have He hated such cowardice! knew that the road to final necessarily involved victory set-backs. He also knew, as against the idealist revisionist, that a new leadership for the working class could only come through a process of struggle against the old. Presumably, according to the logic of the state capital- ists and Pabloites, Marx ought to have repudiated the Paris Commune the grounds on its leadership was that too weak to carry through the occupation of Paris to victory! Yet this was in no way Marx's position. Marx's fol- lowers were only in a tiny minority of the Commune's leaders. 'The International did not raise a finger to initiate the Commune', as Engels later also made clear. Marx was aware of the grave weakness of the French section of the International: These ragamuffins are half or two-thirds of them bullies and similar rabble', ', said Marx to his friend Dr Kugelmann only three years before the Paris uprising. Yet once the crisis broke and the Commune became the object of hatred and persecu- tion by the capitalists in every Marx be- European country, came its staunchest and most fearless defender. And it was in the crisis that all the lessons fought out in the International were concretized. Now Marx's insistence upon the need for a strong centralized leadership to take the working class to was tragically and power negatively confirmed in the Commune's defeat. Second many of the trade union leaders who had hither- to supported the International now deserted its ranks, while the best elements in the work- ing class remained loyal to the and Inter- Commune the national. It is, of course, the height of rubbish middle-class declare that a General Strike should take place only under a 'correct' leadership. Just as Marx always that the saW Commune was the product of great objective events in the Workers Press, Wednesday March 14, 1973 PAGE 7 European class great objective crisis of the world capitalist system. The revisionists of the New always made fêtish of the back waraness class. English working cALuse politic hi But for Marx it was always greatest challenge, greatest fight. Marxism can only develop in the sharpest conflict With national "backward. ana which e against isea where Marxism England has grown only in conflict against the narrow and imited trade union horizons or the working class. and permince on On the part of all object and an revisionists. have never revisionist. anc never WIll that theoretical pains, noweve period hat since 194555 once The r Marxisin difficulty the against hoht for limited concentions the working class over years mean Inal cains una the lave ceen made Dy revolu- much harvest in the years immedia- tely following his death with the ine formation ol second the expan- crete that had been postle Marx always knew that th English dislike of theory wac absolute a relative not an question. It was produced an conditioned 1n period capitalist expansion and pros- world capitalist crisis today finds its Brian. It is a crisis which is here exnression Mom can port my working to this crisis for ahe English 'dislike theory' is about to turn into Which will diosity and shock every revisionist. the theo- Once more retical conquests Which Mam and the movement he founder of for aers at the Tore Marxism the last century and todav the centre of coming proletarian revo ntion. Once, when Marx was asked his a hiwer east to piness was.

his answer was It is in this spirit today pay tribute must task completing which this greatest the revolutionart honters and thinkers started Long live the memory of Karl Marx! o he sit trans nation Into uk revolutionary party!

slowly While his wife lay dying in a Florida nursing home last week, American steel worker Howard Thomas divorce in a ten- obtained a minute hearing before a Pinel- la County judge. Sounds pretty heartless? No. The truth is that, in the circumstances he was in, Mr Thomas' action was opposite. What is heartless is that much-famed 'American Way of Life' that senators and people like that are always praising; in other words, cap- which placed Mr italism, Thomas in the position where, as he explained, his divorce was the only way he could keep his wife alive. The reason is America's enterprise-dominated private health system - the sort of system which the Tories would like to see replace the Health Service in Britain. Mr Thomas' wife Ruth (45), is suffering from the advanced multiple sclerosis. stages of The couple have six children.

While his wife was receiving treatement, Mr Thomas had been getting state-supported 'Medicaid' to help pay the hospital bills. But his salary was recently found to be $79 a month over the limit to qualify for aid. So the Florida Division of Family Services cut off the $1l7 monthly pay- ment for Mrs Thomas. After his court hearing, Mr Thomas commented: 'It's final, but I still love her.' He went on: 'It seems a little unreal to do something like this. I'm a little bit shook up. I'm sorry it had to happen.

something that But it was couldn't be avoided.' Having divorced his wife, he immediately filled in the neces- sary application form for her 'Medicaid'. By to receive means of the divorce, Mrs Thomas will qualify, as she has no other means of support.

The Thomas' oldest daugh- ter told reporters that the children fully supported their father's decision, and that she was sure Mom would agree if she were aware of what was happening. We doubt if the 'Voice of America' get around to will mentioning this little item in its broadcasting. Come to that, we would be interested to see if that defender of American capitalism, the Reverend Billy Graham, has any comment on time he is talking on it next some theme such as 'the sanc- tity of family life'.

CRIME

Organized crime in the United States has reaped such rich hauls that the crime syndicates now rival the banks as a source of capital for big business.

The point was made by a former Assistant US Treasury Secretary Eugene Rossides in a speech to the American Bankers' Association's 25 San Credit Conference in Francisco. He said that organized crime had infiltrated, and in some cases taken over, by ex- tortion and strong arm methods, business in such fields as transport, building, hotels and casinos. The crime now investing bosses were billions of dollars in legitimate business. Rossides did not go so far bankers as suggesting that should supplement their funds by going into organized crime.

But the difference between the Mafia of high finance and the Mafia of organized crime is, in any case, not easy to discern. Spanish Leon Trotsky. New York). {1.65 paperback. Spanish was movement, Spain was nomic artisan than big other. The

CNT

was the Trotsky element Lall letariat'. and ending wisdom. By in the particularly by fully analysis. tatorship of Trotsky's Spain offered for successful Left increasingly official bound to Trotsky called the faction'. of the Trotsky It was working class stranglehold and the harness volutionary they had This was set UD in the task not be an power What was agitation, cadre, patient illusion

I LO

republic putting

BOOK REVIEW

Revolution' Press Pathfinder Price £4.15 cloth. class ac- tracing its of anarchism It had rather once hav- labour 'indusput- the

ULU-

be- political participation and opposing the the 1936 Trotsky's the dic- proletariat, for guidelines revolutionary their upon was of the stage still centrist all the tasks revolution, suc break the the anarchist and enters re- which the IN responsibility government the fall alliance of Republican could their forces required was of the bourgeois -and the time Dural tre fight against mentary anarchists' necessary To which establish mands. tion of the behind peasants. the theory the revolution, Russia in 1926-1927, Ists, In the Stalinists Communist influence class, far danger that But the over form. In separate peasants' from which Comintern In adoption was already events. ary He warned communists: overthrow the bourgeoisie. will there cannot be "economical", dictatorship, discount. Of course, workers' through ton. correct

CHOLO PAOLETARIA.

LITA E FASCISMU

(the anarcho-syndicalist Natlonal anti-parlia- of the constituent It Was the forum offered to the witn lead- the poor based on of experience China in completel 1930s the still of the democrats as the much the Worke stage on the formu- variant based 'growing from for stage of a and distinct the taken of the turn ana support for Trotsky warning the Spanish the dicta- rule the is not, and there main- could Call y of the TOlS the

TROTSKY ON SPAIN

alle position Opposition in After Party. munist farty, masses, to the tempo at volution was guard against tion'. of course,

CUTICUL

Comintern Trotsky the position in already in ced the constituent The 'produces word tion, nor its tendencies 1n movement The in Ca alonia, Maurin. pitiless and

LCLO

conflict ists trom of position ratists on

TOR.

ın a stuay ol day. of Ernest 1960s tionalists, learning too were side for support anol of Spain. ( the the FAI became 1935. he still Left Communist de- German party Party. note care- Trot well as the to work to the accurately the re- and danger was, the by of the Left Op- the He denoun- the so- of the of the he writes, made make clear the labour Trotsky from criti- The Maurin the position and the that and up and only that they friends. move- no account be economic , Wednesday March 16, 197 gi General Workers anarchist Iberian Anarchist right to secede did mean that policy for the The Left regrettably Spain little from of 1931-1932. revolution threw deep crisis erately separated from the life of national movement. resignations took out their political clear. Trotsky they lost much *They played principles with critical most first revolution, diplomacy with bourgeois nationalis phrasemong vincial then In April 1933, letter the Opposition, forced to of struggle comrades against views mental of the Internationa position (Bolshevil did not begin yester be said without that during years there was Spanish serious tional question leading Spanish con a correct position.' He was nant at the conduct Nin whom dulging in intrigue squabbles while vacillations. . Nin then a centrist po into revorunonary (the miners' Asturias) found Left pposition nd unable to make It refused to entry tactic which I for proposed Socialist Party in or a bridge to advanc of the working clas its ranks (a tac Ill with some succes Nin rejected a f the socialist youth, moving away fron and later merged Young Communist smaller organizati providing with its first mass valuable cadres. Other opportuni lost by Nin's on the task of in a dise building and lonia. In September his faction Maurin's 'Workers sants' Bloc' to called party Obrero de

(POUM).

CONTINUED TOM

h 14, 1973 PAGE 9

CNT

ars Union), the Anarchist Federation). cede did not at all was right the working class. t Oppositionists in ettably learned very Trotsky's writings 32. The ebb of the threw them into and they delib- themselves of the inter- ovement. Splits and with- place political basis bein complained that nuch valuable time: hide-and-seek during the months of th first engaging in the petty- nationalist and pro- casemonger Maurin hanging onto his 933, in an op panish Le was "The conclude: of leading Spanish the funda- and principle ernational Left Op (Bolshevik-Leninists) gin yesterday. It can ithout exaggeration the past three was hardly one or interna- on which the anish comrades held , indig- he accused of in- intrigue and petty covering up rising in the found the Spanish unprepared to make any gains. to undertake the which Trotsky had joining the arty in order to fin • advanced sections king class organized ‹s (a tactic applied succers in France). cted a fusion with st youth, which was ray from reformism merged with the mmunists, a much organization, thus Stalinism Spanish irst mass base and opportunities were refusal to take of serious party difficult milieu joined with Workers and Pea- a nev the Partidi Unificacion Marx-

ED TOMORROW

'The blokes at the Aldwych shooting behaved quite properly. You don't wait to see if it's a toy gun, you just shoot them. I would have done exactly what they did'-West London policeman.

90 per cent of west London PAGE 10 Workers Press, Wednesday March 14, 1973 'The blokes at the Aldwych shooting behave them. I would have done exactly what they The policeman of 1993 envisaged by James Burke in his new BBC 1 serles is outdated even by 1973 standards.

THE

NATIONAL

Union of Two. Hosiery and Knitwear Workers, The renegotiated deal, which increases of abetting of the union accused gives only racial discrimination during £2.40 a week, involves a cut a recent dispute in Loughborough, 65p a week on a settlement made has accepted a settlement last November. The cut re- vised downwards under Phase 100,000 workers.

TODAY'S TV

BBC 1

12.30 Nai 9.15 Schools. zindagi naya 1.00 Mill jeevan. News. 1.30 In the 1.45-2.00 one. town. Made 2.05 Schools. 2.25 Racing at Cheltenham. 4.35 Jackanory. 4.50 Right Charlie. 5.15 Val meets the 5.45 5.40 Sir Prancelot. News. ViPs Weather.

NATIONWIDE.

6.00 6.45

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Light 10.10 Including Heavyweight Championship Europe. Conteh Rudi Cohmidtha

MIDWEEK.

11.30 NEWS.

10.45 11.35

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SHALL

OVERCOME.

WE Theodosis Hambi and Antonios Former window dresser John lI Greek Chrysostomou sing Being Served?' a new BBC 1 c songs. behaved quite properly. You don't i they did'-West London policem NINETY per cent of policemen in Kensington, west London, are armed. This has been revealed to the 'West London Ob- server' in an exclusive interview with a police officer. The policeman's name is not revealed, but he spoke freely to a woman journalist from the paper about the arming of the police. He told her that the armed police have orders to 'shoot to kill at their own discre- tion'® But discontent is high among the local law enforcers because they want 'more guns, more pro- tection, and prisons which are prisons'. anonymous officer is The quoted as saying: 'At Kensington, at least 90 per cent of the blokes are armed.

They carry loaded .38 Webleys in hip holsters. 'No guns at Hammersmith are carried, but there actually are 25 uniformed marksmen about. on call. Only authorized shots.

who have been on the proper course are allowed to use guns.

STIFFER

PENALTIES

'There must be more armed stiffer policemen and penalties for gunnings. A lot of blokes at London nicks think there west should be more armed coppers— they're sick on the line: Of laying their lives (Workers Press has been un- which able to find details of a any police officer having been shot a cut of west London for the past in seven years.) cut hits The officer admits this when he goes on to say: 'Gunnings in "Are You er John Inman plays Mr Humphreys in , BBC 1 comedy series set in a department store.

don't wait to see if it's a toy g oliceman.

BY OUR OWN R

Hammersmith right now are and far between-but few they're going to increase in the • is a Hammersmith near future. bad area for bank raids. "The instructions to these armed coppers are very vague.

They are told to shoot to kill and that's quite right.

SILHOUETTE

TARGETS

'When they go on the three- day training course the blokes have to shoot at silhouettes of a rounds, they man. Out of 40 have to score 37 in the chest of the figure before they become marksmen. "The blokes at the Aldwych shooting behaved quite pro- perly. You don't wait to see if just shoot it's a toy gun, you them. I would have done exactly what they did.' During part of the interview the officer also divulged the deep tensions which are running through the force at present.

said of that a couple months ago 27 officers in Ken- sington put in their resignation 'because they were sick of all the bull coming from a senior officer boots, —clean short haircuts, pressed uniforms—-at 5 a.m. in- spections.' The man responsible for the

BBC 2

11.00-11.25 Play school. 4.10-4.35 Play school. 5.25 Open University.

7.05 AT WORK. Beat the

MAN

Clock. 7.30 NEWS SUMMARY. Weather.

MORRIS

JOHNNY

MEXICO.

the Floating Xochimilco. 8.00 MAN ALIVE. The Ceremonial

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WESTWARD.

AS except: 12.05 London. 12.25 Hammy hamster.

12.37 Gus 12.40 London. Honeybun. 12.57 News. 1.00 London. 6.00 Diary. 11.30 News. 12.00 Faith for life.

SOUTHERN: 9.30 London. 12.00 News.

12.05 London. 2.30 Houseparty. 3.00 3.30 4.25 London. Danger man. London. 5.20 Cartoon. 5.25 Crossroads. 5.50 London. 6.00 Day yoo Hawaii Whicker. 7.00 London. 9.00 London. 11.30 News. 11.40 five-o. Shirley's world. 12.10 Weather. Guide- line. HARLECH: _9.30 London. 2.30 House- 5.20 Chuckleheads. 5.25 Crossroads. 6.01 Report West. 6.15 Report Wales. 6.30 7.00 10.30 Jimmy Stewart. London. Time London. 11.30 11.00 was. Weather. Cinema. 12.00 HTV Cymru/Wales above except: as 4.20 Miri 4.35-4.50 Cantamil. mawr. dydd. 6.01-6.15 HTV West as above except: 6.15-6.30 Report West. ANGLIA: 9.30 London. 12.04 News.

12.05 London. 2.30 Houseparty. 3.00 London. 3.30 Odd couple. 3.55 Rompel London. 6.00 room. 4.19 News. 4.20 6.35 London. 8.00 About Anglia. 8.30 London. 11.30 Spy- Protectors. force. 12.25 Reflection. ATV MIDLANDS: 9.30 London.

12.00 Guide. 12.05 London. 6.00 Today. 6.35 a toy gun, you just shoot

R OWN REPORTER

early morning turn-outs is be- have been deputy lieved to Commissioner James Starritt, Sir Mark's authoritarian Robert second in command. Starritt given high was commendation in the New Year's Honours List and is one of the few senior officers keen to clean up the Yard. 'But then, after the Slimon shoot-out [the Kensington bank raid in which PC Peter Slimon shot Robert Hart] some of them their resignations and withdrew only about 12 went.' The interview fully confirms the results of a recent Workers investigation that the Press police are now fully armed.

The police and the Home Office say that this is to combat bank robbers, etc. They say it is to guard embassies.

WITHOUT

CONSENT

It is nothing of the sort.

In secret, and without the parliament or the consent of public, the police haver been demon- armed to deal with strators and strikers. has any doubts anyone about that, they should recall the killing of two young Pakis- tanis at India House three weeks ago. Mauritius inde- Man-retired. pendence celebrations.

FILM: PERIOD OF ADJUST-

9.00

MENT'.

MEN Tone Fonda, • Franciosa. of Tennessee Williams's rare young comedies about two couples.

10.45. EDITION.

11.15

NEWS.

Weather. 8.30 London. London. 8.00 Please sir. 10.30 Odd couple. 11.00 London. 11.30 O'Hara. Weather. ULSTER: 11.00 London. 1.32 News.

1.40 London. 2.45 Romper room. 3.00 London. 3.25 Women. 3.55 Harriet. 4.23 News. 6.00 Reports. 6.35 London.

London. 11.30 8.00 Protectors. 8.30 Golf. YORKSHIRE: _9.30 London. 3.30 Jason London. King. 4.25 6.00 Calendar. Weather. 6.35 London. 8.00 Anna and the king. 8.30 London. 10.30 Pro- 11.00 London. 11.30 Spyforce.

tectors. 12.25 Weather.

GRANADA:

9.30 London. 12.00 Yoga. 3.50 Songs. 12.05 London. 3.25 Cart One s. Chass on: 46.30 Heren.

What's 6.30 Here's 6.00 News• London. 8.00 Lovers. 8.30 Lucy. 7.00 London. 11.30 Kreskin. 11.30 News. 11.45 FBI. 12.40 Lectern.

SCOTTISH: 9.30 London. 2.30 Date- Crossroads. London. 5.50 London. 6.00 Today. 6.30 Under- challenge. 10.30 sity London. Sound 11.00 London. 11.30 stage. Late call. 11.35 Blue light.

1.38

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turer. 11.35 Kind of living. 11.55 Meditation.

MORE THAN 500,000

university and college students will strike today in support of their demands for grant in- increases. Students in colleges and throughout the universities country will boycott lectures and academic activities during the day. trade unionists in the And educational establishments Have been asked to support the strike.

The National Union of Students' leaders hope that their members will refuse to do normal duties and that in all cases trade union members will refuse to attempt to break the strike. Already the Association of University, Teachers, the Tech- nical Teachers' Union, the Asso- ciation of Teachers in Technical Institutions and the Association of Teachers in Colleges and Departments of Education have expressed their support for the campaign and have advised their not to participate in members any disciplinary proceedings re- sulting from the strike. The National Union of Public Employees and the white-collar union, ASTMS, have also been approached. IRISH Republic's largest-selling morning newspaper, the Irish Independent', did not appear yesterday because of a strike by journalists. The dispute is over the proposed takeover of the 'Independent' group by an undisclosed bidder. Journalists claim they have not been fully briefed on the deal, or given assurances of their futures with- in the newspaper. THE VICTORY of the Gaullist ruling party in the French elections exposes the 'peaceful road to socialism' policy of the Communist and Socialist Parties as a fraud.

These parties had hoped to come to power with the bour- geois left radicals on the basis of a common programme of mild reforms which had noth- , socialist or even particu- ing larly radical about them.

To this end they held back the wages struggle of the working class in the factories and did their best to pose as respectable upholders bourgeois, demo- cracy and the Fifth Republic's constitution. This constitution is specifically designed to ensure that Gaullism dominates the Assembly indefi- nitely. It takes less than 60,000 votes to elect the average Gaul- SOVIET Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin will pay a brief visit to Iran for tomorrow's opening of a giant steel mill at Isfahan, built with Soviet assistance, Tass news agency reported yesterday.

The Soviet leader is expected to have talks the Shah with his visit, during according to I sources in Moscow. Iranian Last October, the Shah visited Moscow for talks with Soviet leaders and the two countries signed an economic and technical co-operation treaty.

BY OUR OWN REPORTER

Students in each area are organizing local activities. There will be marches and demonstra- in many parts of the tions country. In London, college and univer- sity student unions have been asked to elect delegates for a lobby of parliament during afternoon. They will attend a rally at 6 p.m. in Lincoln's Inn Fields, to be addressed by NUS President Digby Jacks, Sheila Brenner from the AUT and Joan Lestor MP. Liverpool students will march from Islington Square at 11 a.m.

to a rally at Mountford Hall in the university at 1 p.m. Throughout the country students will be handing out leaflets at housing estates, fac- tory gates and railway stations.

The strike is in support of four demands which the NUS has made to the Tory government: • For an end to the discretion- awards whereby system, students in different parts of the country get more or less depending on the 'dis- money cretion' of the local authority.

All students, independent their courses, need the same amount of money. STIRLING University Court has agreed to an independent inquiry into trouble the on campus and student trials after the Queen's visit last October.

But Lord Wheatley-the Court of Session judge who is the court's chairman— university made it clear the student sit-in would have to end first.

BY OUR OWN REPORTER

list MP, but Communist Party MPs must get some 120,000 votes to ensure election. Pompidou made it clear before the poll that he intended to ap- point a Gaullist premier regard- less of the election result. The constitution him to empowers dissolve parliament if he wishes and rule by decree. This was nothing less than a threat of civil war if the left should succeed in winning a majority of the National Assem- bly seats. Against this the CP and SP leaders bleated that they were determined to respect democracy and uphold the con- stitution. Pompidou, by contrast with the left leaders, adopted a clear and consistent class position from the start of the campaign.

That is precisely what was lack- ing from any of the working- class parties. However, relations between Moscow and Tehran have been threatened in Iranian eyes by the Soviet Union's deepening links with the militant Ba'athist regime in neighbouring Iraq, which is hostile to the Shah. Iraq and Iran have no diplomatic ties. The Isfahan steel mill is the Soviet Union's major aid project in Iran. It has been in operation for several months. Iran supplies its giant northern neighbour with piped natural gas and the Soviet Union has agreed to supply aid in developing other industries, irrigation and geological prospecting. • For grant increases. Students say that the maximum grant is available at the moment totally inadequate. • For an end to discrimination against married women in the grant system. • For an annual review of grants. The present three-year review, they say, can never hope to keep up with the increasingly steep rises in the cost of living.

Increases granted at the last re- view - in 1971 - have already been completely eroded by in- flation. realize, Students must how- ever, that these increases can only be won in the most deter- mined struggle to force the Tory government to resign. Heath and Thatcher have no intention of granting in- the creases demanded. Their whole policy over the past two-and-a- half years has been continually to attack higher education and the rights of school and university students. These demands can only be won if the whole working class and students are mobilized on a common policy to create the conditions to make the Tories resign and return Labour a government pledged to legislate socialist policies. 'We are not agreeing to this simply because the students de- manded it, he said. Wheatley was the judge who recently fined Clydebank Coun cil €5,000 for defying the Tories' Housing Finance Act. As a result, the middle-class voters attracted towards the common programme in the weeks prior to polling swung back to the right when Pompidou made it clear there could be no trifling with the decision. The result of the election de- cides only the form of the forth- coming class conflicts in France.

Trade union leaders are already warning that the bitter feelings of the organized workers will erupt in strikes for higher wages.

The rapid development of the international crisis and the sub- ordination of the French capital- ism involved in the joint Com- mon Market float must worsen all the class conflicts which have under the carpet been swept since 1968. The movement of the working class which has been tightly res- trained by the bureaucratic lead- ers for many months must erupt in large-scale struggles against the rising cost of living and the low wages of many sections.

DATSUN

has increased its position in the car importers' league in Britain. The Japanese car group has raced from fifth (1.28 per cent of the market) in February 1972 to second place (3.09 per cent). Top importer was Renault (4.28 cent), per Volkswagen was third and Fiat fourth. . Top seller, British-Ley- land, dropped its market share from 35.98 per cent in February last year to 32.98 per cent for last month. Communist

ITALIAN

Party leader Leonilde lotti won only ten votes out of a total of 167 in the ballot for president of the European Parliament yesterday.

She was decisively beaten in a three-cornered fight. The suc- cessful candidate Cornelis was Berkhouwer, representing the right-wing Dutch Liberals and backed by French Gaullists and Socialists. Workers Press, Wednesday March 14, 1973 PAGE 11 'Forward to the Revolutlonary WEMBLEY: Thursday March 21, Party! 8 p.m. Copeland School, High Road, Wembley.

WALTHAMSTOW:

Thursday HOLLOWAY: Thursday March 22, March 15, 6 p.m. Royston Arms.

8 p.m. Co-op Hall, Seven Sisters Chingford Road, E.4. Road. CROYDON: Thursday March 15, HACKNEY: Thursday March 22, 8 p.m. Ruskin House, Coombe 8 Parlour Room, Central p.m. Road. Hall, Town Hall, Mare opp. Street.

BASILDON:

Sunday March 5.30 p.m. Barnstaple Community LEWISHAM: Thursday March 22, Centre. 8 p.m. Deptford Engineers Club, New Cross Road. DAGENHAM: Tuesday March 20, SLOUGH: Thursday: March 22, 8 p.m. Barking Co-op Hall, Fan- Farn- 8 p.m. Community Centre, shaw Avenue. ham Road, Slough. BRIXTON: Tuesday March 20,

STEVENAGE:

Thursday March Control Room, 8 p.m. Brixton 22, 8 p.m. 'Red Lion', Stevenage Training Centre. Old Town. VILLESDEN: Thursday March 22 EAST LONDON: Tuesday March 8 p.m. Labour and Trades Hall 20, 8 p.m. Festival Inn, Crisp High Road, NW10. Street Market, E14. WANDSWORTH: Monday March TOTTENHAM: Wednesday March 26, 8 Kings Arms, High p.m. Bricklayers 21, Arms; p.m. Road, SW18. 'The Fight against Tottenham High Road, nr. White Stalinism'. Hart Lane.

WATFORD:

Monday March 26, WOOLWICH: Wednesday March 8 p.m. Trade Union Hall, Wood- 8 p.m. Castle, Powis Street, ford Road, nr. Watford Junction SE18. Station.

NTO THAMES GAS BORI

PLEASE

KEEP THESE

GATES CLEAT

NOUR EMERGERCY SER

Do you get WORKERS PRESS regularly? If not, why not take out a subscription now? $20.28 for 12 months (312 issues) £10.14 for 6 months (156 issues) £5.07 for 3 months (78 issues) If you want to take Workers Press twice a week the rates are: £1.56 for 3 months (24 issues) £6.24 for 12 months (96 issues) Fill in the form below NOW and send to : CIrculation Dept., Workers Press, 186a Clapham High St.

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LEAQUE,

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Name.. Address.

Unions ask TUC to support state pay strikers Manchester hospitals at lowest level of operation 13th ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF

YOUNG SOCIALISTS

BLACKPOOL APRIL 14/15 1973

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, APRIL 14 & 15, WINTER GARDENS, BLACKPOOL PAGE 12 Workers Press, Wednesday M

TODAY'S TUC

economic faces demands committee from hospital workers' and servants' leaders civil for support in their fight against the Tories' state pay control laws. The involved — the unions National Union Employees and the Civil and Public Servants — will make their demands on the basis of the resolution overwhelmingly carried by the special TUC on March 5. DOCTORS and other medical pledged full support to strikin against the Tory pay laws. The cash raised from all departme branches. Dr Barbara Jacobs told me "The ancillary afterwards: workers have suffered by not striking in the past. They are underpaid and they have a to fight for a living right wage.' She added: I also think it is important to counteract the rumour-mongering of in- fluential people which amounts to moral blackmail exerted to persuade the ancillary workers to call off their strike.

'Inconvenience has been caused, but it is quite wrong to say patients have suffered.'

committee strike member, ward Mrs Betty Lazarus, told the meeting: 'We are doing a really filthy job and we think we deserve better pay. To get a decent wage we've got to work all the hours there are and even half our men go home with under £17: Majority of the 400 ancil- lary workers have been on all-out strike for two weeks, but about 40 NUPE laundry staff refused to come out.

We Said Mrs Lazarus: asked them today if they strike, but would come on they said even if their own officials asked them they would their cards rather than tear up join us. Mrs Lazarus and other shop stewards complained that their strike was in jeopardy be- cause of the milk-and-water policies of hospital unions leaders. She told the meeting: 'We have had very poor support from the heads of the unions.

All the action has been from rank and file people who are the unions lack fed up with of leadership' Workers were due to stage a mass meeting last night at Archway Central Hall. Registered as newspaper at the a Office. Published by Workers Post Press, 186a Clapham High Street, 7UG. Printed by 01-622 7029.

SATURDAY AND

Inesday March 14, 1973 This said: Congress calls • the General Council to upon organize and lead co-ordinated action in support of affiliated unions in dispute and who re- quire such support. 'Congress also calls upon the General Council, as part of a determined campaign, to invite affiliated unions to join in a day of national protest and stoppage against the wage- control policy and increases in food prices. This to be organ- ized as quickly as possible?

The movers of this motion,

BY IAN YEATS

medical staff at London's Whitting striking ancillary workers in their ws. They agreed to bolster up the w epartments and to call for backin Three doctors (left) from the Whittir who are supporting the striking ancill meeting of strikers and madical staff

RUMOURS

that number of a central banks, including those in America and Germany, are about to sell some of their gold re- serves on the free market caused gold to drop from $82 an ounce to $76 yesterday. LONDON port employers yester- day threatened to cancel a £2.60 hospitals in the United Manchester Group yes- lowest terday reached operation as almost went strike. At the Royal Infirmary, with a capacity oftent beds, been number of patients has reduced to 360. Other hospitals in the group are working to one third to half capacity. ANCILLARY workers from Sal- ford Royal Hospital are deter- mined to stay out indefinitely to win their demands. Dave Hadfield (23), mortuary worker, said that he got £l6 workers' and the transport engineers' unions, failed to specify what they meant by the phrase "co-ordinated action' in the first paragraph. And supported the they General Council's own policy statement to Congress, which said that requests for support examined in would be light of the circumstances and merits of the particular case.

As a consequence, TUC sec- retary Victor Feather was able to insist in his summing-up that the motion was 'not very hittington hospital yesterday in their fight for a living wage p the workers' strike fund with backing in their own union he Whittington hospital, north London, ing ancillary workers following & joint ical stall yesterday. pay award accepted by dockers if union leaders fail to rescind a vote to withdraw from flexible manning arrangements. SPECIAL treatment for the hos- pital workers would wreck the government's policy for state control of wages, Health Minis- ter Sir Keith Joseph insisted yes- a week take-home pay if he is lucky." 'All unions should get to- gether and get rid of this freeze so that we can have a decent living wage. Our leaders have done nothing, so the shop ste- are setting up wards ordinating committee to unite the struggle.' Bernard Crow, a porter for 12 years, showed Workers Press his wages slip. His last week's take-home pay was £14.60.

'We should get £25 a week minimum. If that means General Strike to get it, we must have one. Heath and his Minis-

14 & 15, WINTER GARDENS,

much out of line with what I was saying in my report this morning. (Feather had insisted: No union would ever expect to be able to wall about with the movement's cheque book in its own pocket. If support is to be given, it might be conditional on the union accepting advice about its tactics and the terms of the settlement.) No one challenged Feather's interpretation of the T&GWU- AUEW motion— a situation which prepares the ground for GASWORKERS' leaders were in no great hurry yesterday to join hospital workers and civil ser- in appealing for TUC sup- vants port in their battle against the Tory pay laws. Basnett, David general sec- retary of the majority gas union, General the and Municipal Workers, is a member of the TUC economic committee which meets today. At the special TUC on March 5 he said he would be first through the door of Congress House to seek backing. But the feeling Ruxley Towers, at G&MWU headquarters, yesterday was that the urgency had gone out of the situation because of the calling of a ballot. Gas strikers in Sunderland, terday. The government would not give way, even thought it recognized they were low paid.

A DEFEAT for the gas and hos- pital workers would mean 'the end of trade unionism as we know it', Hugh Scanlon, engi- warned neers' union president, yesterday. ters have got their increases, but bread costs the same to us as to them. 'We don't want the patients to suffer. We're all for them. But we have to strike to get a decent living wage' THREE HUNDRED ancillary workers from Crumpsall and Springfield Hospitals yesterday voted for an overtime ban and non-co-operation with manage- ment. Kevin Donally commented: 'We should be all out. We need ¡ories out, Strike to get the a General

ENS, BLACKPOOL

today's economic committee meeting to look both ways and do nothing. But only one kind of 'co- ordinated action' will have any effect on the pay laws. This is the transformation of the call for a one-day strike into an all- out, indefinite General Strike to force the Tories out of office and replace them with a Labour government which will repeal all anti-working-class legislation and nationalize the basic industries under workers' control. Co Durham, yesterday voted to their four-week stoppage next Monday unless the union calls for further action.

They passed a vote of no confidence in the G&MWU executive. A week-old strike by 30 service and distribution workers Bridgend and Maesteg has spread to 60 men in south west Wales, hitting Llanelli and Pembroke- shire. A Wales Gas spokesman said: 'It means that maintenance and repair services are at a standstill area of 2,500 square over an miles and about /0,000 customers could be affected.' The Llanelli walk-out is in- definite, but the Pembrokeshire was planned to last stoppage 24 hours.

MARCH FUND

NOW £321.01

TODAY is the 90th anniversary of the death of Karl Marx. This is an appropriate occasion 1o recall the enormous contribu- tion made by Marx in his ana- lysis of capitalist society.

'Capital, is His major work, vital for understanding the nature of the present economic crisis. His struggle and his life are stones for our move- foundation ment and today it is Workers Press, our daily paper, that carries forward this struggle.

All those enemies of Marxism who claimed that his analysis of capitalism was now out of date are clearly exposed in this political situation. We carry this fight forward in the struggle revolutionary party. On our shoulders, dear read- ers, is this great task. Fight in therefore, for your every • way, paper. Let's have a very special effort for our March Fund and raise a record amount. Post all donations immediately to: Workers Press March Appeal Fund 186a Clapham High Street London, SW4 7UG. Bob Greenwood said: 'We came for a strike. We are dis- appointed there is no real ac- tion.' One domestic bitterly com- mented on the union officials: •We need unity with gasworkers : to get rid of these and others Tories. We'll have to shift these officials first though Six NUPE drivers have been out for almost two weeks and intend to stay out indefinitely.

Owen Crosby said: 'The meet- ing was called for one thing a strike. Every one should be out, but the unions won't call for it.' approximately £4.75 ine bed/ breakfast, fare conference and

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I would like to come to the confer- ence/would like more details Name Address Send to John Simmance, High YS national 186a Clapham Street, secretary, London. SW4 7UG or Telephone 622 7029.