Workers Press no. 1023

workers press

PHASE TWO BATTERED FROM TWO SIDES

BIG TRADE DEFICIT

INCORPORATING THE NEV

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTF

By Royston Bull ECONOMIC pressures are pulling the government's Phase Two plan apart at the seams. On one side, workers are putting up enormous resistance to the state wage controls. On the other, industrialists are urging Heath to pass ever more of the burdens of inflation onto the working class.

time, the At tne same overall economic situation is deteriorating rapidly with chaos on the currency mar- kets and a steadily mount- ing balance-of-payments defi- yesterday's cit shown up in bad trade figures. This will further shake con- fidence and lead to renewed demands for firm political action to meet the crisis.

For the seventh month run- the balance of ning, payments was more than £20m in the red with a visible trade last month, deficit of £77m only partly offset by invisible exports. Britain's trade is It means failing to way to the pay its tune of £400m a year or more. These mounting debts will have renewed repercussions

ULL

the shaky international finance which will again be dis- scene cussed at a meeting of the major this weekend industrial powers in Paris. the trade figures Hours after Confederation of out, came British Industry leaders went to Edward Heath Prime Minister to demand a showdown with the Britain's trade unions over economic crisis. Already, the Tories have provoked further deliberately confrontation the railways on the civil service with and in workers their threats to punish because of industrial action.

This has led to a stepping up of militancy, but it is evident Heath will use the situation to

TURN TO BACK PAGE

i THE NEWSLETTER • FRIDAY MARCH 16, 197

• CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SO

ABOUT 1,000

pickets- building workers, dockers and steelmen-yesterday swamped the town of Shrewsbury in Shropshire to protest against a cons- piracy trial against building workers: The workers calling for the release of their col leagues faced a solid wall of about 400 police who ringed the courthouse. Inside Shrewsbury magistrate's court 24 building workers were committed for jury trial on a total of 210 charges ranging from conspiracy and intimida- tion to causing actual bodily harm and damaging property.

Road blocks were erected on all major routes into the town, and coaches and private cars searched. The Abbey were Foregate, running past Shrews- Shire Hall where the com- bury mittal proceedings took place, was sealed off from 8 a.m. un- til almost lunchtime. Our car was stopped and searched at a police road block about seven miles from the town and we had to prove our iden- tity with Press cards, etc.

4p 516, 1973 No. 1023

THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

ON-THE-SPOT REPORT B

The police stood three deep behind outside the courthouse specially-erected barriers. Others walked the area with savage Alsatian dogs. At one point demonstrators chanted 'Jackboots' 'Ges- and tapo'. The police operation-almost 1,000 were involved-was mounted by the West Mercian Constabulary with assistance from all the adjoining cons- tabularies. By comparison with this mas- show of force the ten- sive minute committal proceedings were less than spectacular. But their implications for the work- ing class movement are no less grave. The medieval town was the scene of a combined legal and testing out police operation methods the Tory government battles will use in its coming with the working class. Ap

EPORT BY DAVID MAUDE

All 24 men are charged both with fighting and causing an affray, and with intimidation and under a 98-year-old Act of Parliament. This charge reads: That you ... wrongfully and without legal authority intimidated divers people with a view to compelling those people to abstain from their lawful work, contrary to Section 7(1) of the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act of 1875 as amended.' Six of the accused, all of whom are Shropshire and north Wales building workers, face the even more serious charges of conspiracy. The Crown Court trial will be- gin in Shrewsbury on April 25 at 10.30 a.m., but may be moved later to Bridgnorth. All 24 accused were bailed yesterday on £50 in their own recogni- zance. There was a great, spon- taneous cheer at a meeting of the picketing workers when it was suggested that a one-day General Strike be held on the day their trial starts. • Further report and pic- ture-page 12. Builders. dockers and steel- workers united on a demon- stration through Shrewsbury of builders' in defence faced pickets with now conspiracy charges. Cinderellas and Cinderfellas of the wards Hospital workers are today in the front line of the fight against the Tory pay laws.

in today's Workers Press our special writer, BERNARD FRANKS, begins a two-part series of the fight of the ancillary staff to maintain a decent standard of living.

Starting on pages 4 and 5 today:

*THE CINDERELLAS OF THE

WARDS.'

workers press

PHASE TWO BATTERED FROM TWO SIDES

BIG TRADE DEFICIT

INCORPORATING THE NEV

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTE

By Royston Bull ECONOMIC pressures are pulling the government's Phase Two plan apart at the seams. On one side, workers are putting up enormous resistance to the state wage controls. On the other, industrialists are urging Heath to pass ever more of the burdens of inflation onto the working class.

time, the At tne same overall economic situation is deteriorating rapidly with chaos on the currency mar- kets and a steadily mount- ing balance-of-payments defi- in yesterday's cit shown up bad trade figures. This will further shake con- fidence and lead to renewed demands for firm political action to meet the crisis.

For the seventh month run- of ning, the balance payments £20m in the red was more than last month, with a visible trade deficit of £77m only partly offset by invisible exports. It means Britain's trade is the failing pay its way to of £400m a year or more. tune These mounting debts will have renewed repercussions on shaky international finance the which will be dis- scene cussed at a meeting of the major this weekend industrial powers in Paris. trade figures Hours after the of Confederation came out, British Industry leaders went to Edward Heath Prime Minister to demand a showdown with the Britain's trade unions over economic Crisis. Already, the Tories have deliberately provoked further confrontation the railways with and the civil service in punish workers their threats because of industrial action.

This has led to a stepping up of militancy, but it evident Heath will use the situation to

TURN TO BACK PAGE

THE NEWSLETTER • FRIDAY MARCH 16, 197

• CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SO

ABOUT 1,000 pickets building workers, dockers and steelmen-yesterday swamped the town of Shrewsbury in Shropshire lo protest against a cons- piracy trial against building workers: The workers calling for the release of their col- leagues faced a solid wall of about 400 police who ringed the courthouse. Inside Shrewsbury magistrate's court 24 building workers were committed for jury trial on a total of 210 charges ranging from conspiracy and intimida- tion to causing actual bodily harm and damaging property.

Road blocks were erected on all major routes into the town, and coaches and private cars searched. The Abbey were Foregate, running past Shrews- bury Shire Hall where the com.

mittal proceedings 1ook place, was sealed off from 8 a.m. un- til almost lunchtime. Our car was stopped and searched at a police road block about seven miles from the town and we had to prove our iden- tity with Press cards, elc.

CH 16, 1973 • No. 1023 • Ap

THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

ON-THE-SPOT REPORT

The police stood three deep behind • the courthouse outside specially-erected barriers. Others walked the area with savage Alsatian dogs. At one point demonstrators chanted 'Jackboots' and 'Ges- tapo'. The police operation-almost 1,000 were involved-was mounted by the West Mercian Constabulary with assistance from all the adjoining cons- tabularies. By comparison with this mas- of force the ten- sive show minute committal proceedings were less than spectacular. But their implications for the work- ing class movement are no less grave. The medieval town was the scene of a combined legal and testing out operation police methods the Tory government will use in its coming battles with the working class.

DESTIN

EPORT BY DAVID MAUDE

All 24 men are charged both with fighting and causing an affray, and with intimidation and under a 98-year-old Act of Parliament. This charge reads: 'That you ... wrongfully and without legal divers authority intimidated people with a view to compelling those people to abstain from their lawful work, contrary to Section 7(1) of the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act of 1875 as amended.' Six of the accused, all of whom are Shropshire and north Wales building workers, face the even more serious charges of conspiracy. The Crown Court trial will be- gin in Shrewsbury on April 25 at 10.30 a.m., but may be moved later to Bridgnorth. All 24 accused were bailed yesterday on £50 in their own recogni- zance. There was a great, spon- taneous cheer at a meeting of the picketing workers when it was suggested that a one-day General Strike be held on the day their trial starts. • Further report and pic- turepage 12. Builders. dockers and steel- workers united on a demon- stration through Shrewsbury in defence of builders' pickets faced now with conspiracy charges. Cinderellas and Cinderfellas of the wards Hospital workers are today in the front line of the fight the Tory pay laws. against in today's Workers Press our special writer, BERNARD FRANKS, begins a two-part series of the fight of the ancillary staff to maintain a decent standard of living.

Starting on pages 4 and 5 today:

'THE CINDERELLAS OF THE

WARDS.'

PAGE 2 Workers Press, Friday March 16, 1973

WHILE 2,500

steelworkers demonstrated outside the British Steel Corporation's headquarters on Wednesday to save their jobs, gas and hospital workers fought on against the state pay laws, locomen continued their action for a decent basic wage and teachers planned further action for their London allowance, they were all stabbed in the back by the Labourites in the House of Commons. To the smirks and applause of Tory MPs, Mr Reg Shadow Prentice, really must have regard to the Employment Minister, said locomen great hardship their • action which is causing to hundreds of thousands of people'.

This at a time when rail workers fighting the Tory up by frenzied state pay laws are being beaten Tory voters from the commuter belt!

Prentice has acquired a considerable reputation for siding with the Tories against the working class. Last August he denounced the dockers who were jailed for picketing. And last month he told his admirers on the government front bench: 'I dissociate myself from anyone who says there should be a national confrontation between payl policy, and the government on the [state the unions His leader, Harold But Prentice is not alone. declared on television that he regarded Wilson, the Tories' state control of wages as an enormous bonus, a bequest' and that a Labour government would use it. He, too, publicly called on workers not to fight against the Tory legislation.

More than that, he stood up in the House of Commons and advised Heath on how to circum- vent parliamentary procedure in order to imple- ment his anti-working-class legislation before it had been passed. Shortly afterwards Mr Carol Johnson MP—one of the pro-Tory Labourites who saved the Heath government in the 1971 Common Market vote— again came to Heath's by his giving rescue casting vote to the government in a committee stage of the state pay laws.

while mouthing against himself protests declared on the day of the Shotton steelworkers' lobby: 'We believe that major modernization must eventually follow to a great extent the lines laid down by the BSC The Tory government has passed laws against the unions, against strikes, against wage increases and against elected representatives carrying out their mandates. By the rent Act, Common Market deliberately accelerated inflation, entry and it workers more efficiently than any has robbed back street 'mugger'. Yesterday the five top men from the Confederation Downing Street of British Industries went to measures against the to demand even harsher of profit. These working class in the interests show-down-a General men want an immediate Strike provoked on their terms.

The cost of such a defeat for the unions would be state corporatism penetrating every corner of life.

But one major and decisive problem remains for the employers and their government-the workers have not been defeated. Gasworkers, hospital workers, carworkers, miners, busmen, dockers, steelmen, teachers, civil servants and hundreds of thousands of others confront the Tory government. It is this strength which terrifies the Labour leaders.

While the reformists and Stalinists in the unions do all they can to dissipate the strength of the working class in one-day protests, isolated and piecemeal and time-wasting trips to actions Downing Street, their co-thinkers in the Parlia- mentary Labour Party move rapidly to the right.

As the working class fights back, these leaders crawl to Heath as their predecessors crawled to Baldwin. They are the Ramsay MacDonalds of today. They represent the politics of coalition-a re- actionary alliance with the Tories to smash the and establish a Bonapartist dictatorship unions over the working class. The construction of a revolutionary leadership is the central task facing the working therefore class. Such a leadership can only be built in the struggle to force the Tory government to resign.

That is why it is so necessary to transform the Socialist Labour League into the revolutionary party, to unite in defence of basic rights and to demand an emergency conference of the Labour Such a conference must thrash out a Party. socialist policy, mobilize the working class to bring down the Tory government and drive out the pro-Tory traitors replacing them in parliament with people pledged to a socialist programme.

KING HUSSEIN of Jordan has commuted the death sentence on Abu Daud, the founder of the Al Fatah Palestinian guerilla movement, and 16 of his comrades. In a message to his premier Ahmad Al- Tarawneh, Hussein said his decision was based on 'human consideration'. This is believed to refer to the barrage of protests he has received from other Arab heads of state.

of The commutation the death sentence does

BY JOHN SPENCER

Fatah the not mean te released. men will There was no indication tried by a secret military yesterday how long they tribunal charges of on might be held in prison to commit acts preparing by the Jordanian regime. against state security. The 17 guerrilla fighters Terror captured in early were February on their way to Black September terror- Israeli-occupied the ter- ists organized the take-over ritories on the west bank Saudi embassy in of the of the Jordan. They were Khartoum in a bid to secure

PRESIDENT

NIXON

has thrown his full weight be- hind the campaign of the 'law-and-order' brigade to the death bring back penalty. He called the death pen- 'valuable deterrent' alty a and urged that it should be obligatory in certain cases. He also wants heavy terms of imprisonment for drug offences to include life im- prisonment for trafficking in more than four ounces. He is preying on fears produced by the growing crime wave in US cities and the preparing the way for of tough measures use

BY A FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT

A

FIRST-RANK

ecclesi- on this spectacular disappear- when Maltese-owned astical scandal has broken ance Bank of Industry, Commerce round the head of Malta's and Agriculture Ltd (Bical) archbishop, the Most Rev- went bankrupt. erend Michael Gonzi (87).

The bank was the cus- This arch-conservative todian almost of all the for 13 priest, who years liquid 'cash owned the by Dom Mintoff's Labour kept Maltese church. This amoun- Party out of office by threat- ted to over fim, half of it Labour voters with ening The bulk in bearer bonds. deeply ex-communication, is of the money had been implicated in the disappear- Catholics donated by to- ance of large sums of church wards masses to be said for repose of money. souls after the The first scandal involved death. Oozi is makine sperate a 'millionaire' who was one efforts to get of Gonzi's trusted backers. money Malta appealing This back, to man leit with even Labour premier Mintoff, his over £100,000 of the church funds. The money was never old enemy, for assistance. recovered. The meanwhile, is money, The dust had hardly settled nowhere to be found. Nobel - Tito MARSHAL TITO of Yugo- will be this slavia year's Nobel Peace Prize winner if the Soviet government has its way. The Soviet Peace Com- has written that THE WHITE minority mittee to re- effect to the Nobel Com- gimes in Rhodesia and South Africa mittee in Oslo. plotting to are attack Zambia, charged Pre- Marshal, The ageing out- lawed and vilified by Stalin sident Kenneth Kaunda yesterday. in 1947, very much 15 now in Moscow's good graces and He said they would attack centres of population was warmly received during his visit last year. Nomina- Zambia in on the pretext tion for the award represents that they were being used approval for Tito's tough by guerrillas operating in new home policies aimed at Rhodesia. He showed a map in the South Afri the working class. printed a reprieve for Abu Daud and his fellow-prisoners.

They killed two American and one Belgian diplomat and face capital noW charges themselves. Hussein's regime. has undertaken a massive re- pression of Palestinian fighters since the massacre of September 1970 when many thousands of guerrillas and refugees were killed by the Jordanian army. His attacks on the Pales- tinians are intended to cement relations with the Zionists in Israel and with against the working class and all political opponents.

The death penalty for Federal crimes abo- was lished by a five-to-four vote in the Supreme Court last year. Legislation will be re- the quired reverse decision. Most state crimes are offences and Federal juris diction only covers rela- tively rare crimes such as political assassination, trea kidnapping, hijacking son, and the killing of policemen.

But Nixon has now thrown K's Middle THE SOVIET Union re- gards the settlement of the Middle East conflict an important inter- as national duty, said Soviet Minister Alexei Prime Kosygin at a banquet in Iran. He called for the with- drawal of Israeli forces from Arab territories occupied in the June 1967 war. Kosygin was in Iran for the opening by the Shah of big Soviet-backed steel a mill at Isfahan in the centre of the country. Soviet support for the regime Shah's reactionary shows what sort of Middle- East settlement the Kremlin is aiming at. It will sacrifice the Arab revolution . to a deal with US imperialism and streng- then the reactionary forces in the Middle East. can magazine To The Point' marking alleged •guerrilla bases which he said was a dirty lie and proved that there was a plot. Landmines planted on Lambian territory had al- ready killed 13 civilians and wounded others. He said that the 4,000 South African troops stationed in Rhodesia were being re- placed by mercenaries. ABU DAUD . . . Fatah founder his imperialist masters in Washington. In the two years since the September massacre 19,000 Palestinians and their sup- porters have been arrested.

Many of them were re- leased after questioning and frequently torture-at of the Jordanian the hand secret police. More than 200 are held under sentence o" death. Frightened Seven Palestinian fighters two months were hanged ago. Among them were Said Tabatibi (26) from Gaza; Yousef Dura (24) from Deir and Lidda; Abdel Trais Hamid Basbous (21) from Hebron. The reprieve of Abu Daud that Hussein demonstrates is frightened of popular anger despite his eargerness to please the imperialists and the Israeli leaders. his weight behind campaigns going on in more than half in the Union to the states bring back the electric chair and the gas chamber for murder. In other words he has made the demand for the return of capital punishment more respectable. The support of Nixon for penalty and the death tougher against measures crime, which is a product of the decay of American capitalist society, must be • with • other seen together reactionary measures • pro- posed since his re-election.

These include big cuts in social programmes and wel- fare services • likely to in- tensify the crime problem.

over WHILE hailing Commu- nist Party successes in the French elections, the bur- eaucracy in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union is relieved at the result. Radio Micer put it, that The main thing there will be no changes in main orientation of The Polish , paper, Pracy' said it could be assumed that France would continue the same foreign policy, a principal feature of which was the striving for detente in Europe and со- operation with socialist states. Moscow feared the return of a Gaullist government dependent upon the votes of centre deputies opposed to this policy. wanted stronger Com- It munist Party representation to put pressure on the gov- ernment. But it did not want a vic- tory for the left coalition which might have led to François Mitterand, whom it does not trust, becoming Prime Minister. Ironically, the French Minister Maurice Foreign Schumann lost the seat which he has held since the he will probably war and have to be replaced, although the Constitution does not require a minister in the to have a seat National Assembly.

PAGE 3

Workers Press, Friday March 16, 1973 WELSH STEELMEN GET LITTLE SATISFACTION FROM LOBBY—IAN YEATS EXPLAINS WHY Cynical eye on Labour's steel promises

ADOLES

EBBW VALE steelworkers' cynicism about the outcome of Wednes.

day's parliamentary lobby was certainly justified. The 2,500 men and

DEN

women had come to London seeking a firm promise from the British Steel Corporation that 4,500 jobs would not be axed. Instead they heard their leader, Mr Colin Hudson, call a BSC pledge to discuss shut-down dates as 'satisfactory' and front-bench Labourites promise

MELCHET

no more than a review of the closure plans.

PASSING

EBBW VALE

A mass meeting at Cen- Rarelv have so many had

WILL FIGHT B.S.C

tral Hall, Westminster, the misfortune so much gibberish. heard their 'champion', The

THE GOVERMF

bosses have ex- Michael Pot agrittent tell them plained over ana over they were that the and

T&GWU

and

FOR THERE JO

of modernization

AND

Jack Jones reiterating his redunaancy. that And in the remote areas where the doomed everyone together has works are located there they could win together. Mr Foot had been delayed been no industrial new development since the war.

through his efforts in assist- Despite six years of the police control Labour rule, whick ing vious outside

BSC

demonstrators industrialists set up nedqouarters — d role which he was memorably places Ebbw Vale, the portrayed front the remains

OLCCIWUINO

in yesterday's towns sole mausury. Although Callaghan But after all the talk from talked of direction of in- 'the dignity Labourites about the basis dustry, on on in- of work' and the 'repugnant' cent ves concessions, ana odious character or unt loans etc), in the present BSC's plan, workers filing of rationalization climate out of the meeting were the Contacuon doubt—' We'll lose 'Left' words from Only said the 1,300 men at New- doomed to failure. two sexters bottom (the steel- Michael Foot, MP ena of the 16 steel unions port would lose their jobs All of this explains why making section). Some of Eddie bothered to turn three months. The steelmen had mounted the Wilson's dramatic interven- up return Labour

EEPTU

consisting of tion committee 14 of campaign the Ebbw the at room ever

ODDY

Hector Smith of the blast- purely logical and sensible BSC headquarters and more of Commons But to all those with high of the House Vale steel furnacemen. Labour MPs, well hoe that lee or tel see could amount more arzullcus will be a waste ol than promise to lift time,' he said. workers Opposition leader structure steel Angry murmurs and foot- closure dates and review the There wild Wilson. spoke to them at th Mendelson stamping greeted was inausury as Its. TEne avoidust during their 'Labour concluded: Central Hall, and at the said: has always that would have mode a ca Bol slee when ne Illalk House of Commons, than sought and welcomed the light of the social *All our pleas have fallen encouraging more trip to deen deaf Unless there modernization.' on ears. recent lobby. consequences. leaders Lne SLee London to Despite Labour. he claimed in an had been present. national strike The l presence Secretary e State for Wales And it. explains some Labour's heaviest ill-timed bout party the steel industry, the jobs lobby BSC Linton said it was impor- James han order. Newport artillery, including chauvinism, and at the other Mr Say: Tial Thomas could for tant him counteract

BSC

chairman Lord headquarters said considera- Plants Will be only say: JUSt 101 people regarded him as 'old- cherts shoulder ever annute 'If our leaders the steel unions had 'auto- and MPs wot act fas onest and in Lionary of the time the steel Labour government.' matically' accepted closures. then we, the shop stewards modernization plans .. were and the file, was rank and must How could they be more? He said: 'We have not.' wence sot take it upon In two years time, moderni- ourselves. succeeded best putting e crucia merence be The • contrast berween toe The the steelworkers' fight into tween approach his wil be so aavanced meeling « е ooke political Labohe and the Tory that the shut-downs will be after a day's protest care- party govern- OCIS DeCLIVC. trade union and inevitable. More important, fully orchestrated by works' Michael Foot made much. Labour Was 111- speakers was sharol if not everything of the fact tended modernization one in une cabour rally. Icauers alla •once to avala when the chairman of New- that by 1975 there would be more and to pro- including Foot, has all possible flashpoints, with MiChael port Tubes action committee ever denied that they agree the the Welsh with the vide alternative singing Election with the daaressea ine meeling. national prospect the stee men s where • ants were SAul

COL

Mr Michael fears being swept aside by contracted. plans. Foot's insistence. Anaerson Tories let food prices rip freeze' details to the Press'. increase has only taken the The British Iron THE BIG food monopolies fact that the government's 'refusal' and Steel lightly been postponed. because there In other words the Tories and Consumers' Council has crashing through the reached are the monopolies have done alow tor agreement with the govern- orivate aman cemen Tis Debougal apol SpiRers -Ranks Tories' prices barrier at will.

secret deal to allow the increases large increase within the coming ment the price in McDougall and lo increase Hovis weeks. 'phases'. The government has just anu nobody KnOW Wildl have just disclosed record products are except аттестес and they can afford to let the On May 1 the price will go up announced that meat the most general terms. pro- increase go for a few weeks so as to emerge about lory plans by an average per cent an the the Tories cessors will be allowed to HI Lunte aggravation with the to raise stee Duices. wilco Will about months three laler ll will have a big effect on the cost nave disallowed a lp increase in Tories. 4 or 5 per cent. increase their prices by 7p use ov auriner the price of bread. This all goods, manufactured from This would make a total of 12 publicized decision overlooks the The bread monopolies have instead lb of 5p, as cals lo can openers per cent on average and up to about 16 originally planned. SOme products. Price Code clause upsets The meat products con- Manded by dice ries are be in of beef, other brisket demanded cerned are chopped pork and European and tongue, Chambers of Commerce Lilt coal Community. British steel stee trozen Canoed Hical old- were raised in April ducts. The sharp increase In by I ne the price — 11 was previous increase almost Is 6d a Ib in old money

A KEY

clause in the govern- cent productivity deduction policy, it said that it did not made year earlier when the -is a measure of the soaring proposed Price and Pay apparent in of the believe that there was real British Steel Corporation ment's was understanding inflation and the high cost of ceiling profit the nature abandoned, the code siould DrUDUsCU cover amen permission lo EEC entry. Association of inflation at all raise them by 7 per cent.

marcus and mie constraints and danzel bers of said yester- rises', the Association levels in the community. On Value. Added weeks' The original 5р increase was declared. The. said day. that Tax will time, granted by Agriculture Min- restraints would Ine bear compulsory would lue cause arouses ¿realer parucularl Mr Joseph Godber, has Imposed coverment concern than code terror any other hardly on anour intensve "tenDorary banauve. 23. Nc ow, less than three insisted that this be held at a February vision of dustries, with clear adverse succeeded sooner or later by a 10 per cent level with temporary for general rush of pent-up and price weeks saler.

1 OLICS

Laye Association memorandum implications levels age children's cloth. added another 2p The douse. We the to tres reasurv. empioyment. strollely micreases unless shopping bill for these 302. ace cream, soil arinks and The clause states that 'to recommend the abandonment space so crisps! that benefits of of this concept nationwide, prolonged and The of explanation Ministry are Association also said depth campaign This runaway statement innation is as Increased made said the 'adjustment' been passed consumer Whal provision

_IWO

ana persuasiol achoelale covernment following further evidence more than 50 per cent. paragraphs in the code for re- It is seeking an early meeting policies. The working class which allowable cost increases arising of pre-freeze price with Heath or one of his senior bearing the brunt these cognition IrOM une manulacturers assurld. Ministers discuss the policies can resist tion. 'The Times' to sale vesteror uncreases restraill companice was of leading companies have passed on as price increases'.

can compietely inadequate • chamber. commerce remove me covernment The necessity for a 50 per In a statement on general from office. not disclose play. advised occl

CINDERELLAS OF THE WARDS

PAGE & Workers Press, Friday March 1

BY BERNARD FRANKS

Rocketing food prices and now the imposition of the new budget means that the standard of living of hospital workers is not merely 'frozen' ' it is to be driven down even from its present appal- lingly low level. Furthermore, far from 'endangering' patients' the hospital employees are in fact, defending the Health Service by their action. Faced with the severe economic crisis, the Tories have set out to make the working-class pay for it by exploitation at work, greater by attacks on the standard of living and on jobs and by reducing to a bare minimum the public services used mainly by the workers. The Health Service is one sector to be broken up and its remains are to be either des- troyed or, where possible, turned into profitable business.

Wards, clinics and hospitals are being closed. The wages of ancillary workers and nurses are kept down to force workers out and close down depart- ments because of 'staff short- ages'. Elsewhere private contrac- tors are brought in to do work traditionally done by ancillary workers. While working-class patients wait longer and longer for beds, y March 16, 1973 private patients can buy the right to jump the queue and get tax concessions for doing SO. Plans for the takeover of wings of National private Health hospitals. by private firms were revealed in january.

It was admitted that Social Services Secretary Sir Keith Joseph had discussed the pro- ject with representatives of the Harley Street Clinic as early as 1971. Said Joseph: 'I think private practice has a great deal to contribute to the health and benefit of the people of this country' (Workers Press report.) In fact, the main concern of hospital authorities during the last ten years has been to cut down on jobs, a plan which must seriously endanger the service provided and in con- If sequence, the patients. action is not taken hospitals will not only be closed for a few weeks because of a strike, but permanently because of Tory policy. Naturally, the hospital wor- kers' strikes come under the smear and scaremongering attacks from the capitalist Press. These are now guaran- teed with any major strikes. A few senior consultants have been dug out to allege that the workers' actions are a threat to lives. When it comes to details of who, when they conveniently and where, behind 'professional retire etiquette. '. No one should be fooled by their claimed "impartiality'. Some ol inem certainly have an interest supporting private enterprise and Tory policy. pointed out re-

AS NUPE

cently, one of these people can earn in a week through treat- ting private patients, almost as much ancillary worker as an in the same hospital gets in a year. On the other hand, the fact that thousands of doctors and nurses actively support the and in the case of ancillaries. nursing staff, are taking action 40 per to torward their ownl cent claim, is hushed-up by Fleet Street. The 230,000 National Health ancillary workers carry out variety of important tasks vital running of the 2,900 to the hospitals in Britain. There are roughly 100,000 domestic workers, mainly women, involved in jobs such and sweeping polishing floors, washing and scrubbing walls, floors, baths, lavatory- pals, unlals ana sluices, aust- ing and polishing furniture and hittings, and washing up.

There are 40,000 catering butchers, workers cooks, bakers and kitchen staff who prepare the meals and clean the kitchen equipment. Also 20,000 porters who convey supplies equipment, ana mes sages round the departments of a hospital. They play an important part in the care of patients, helping the incapacitated and keeping up the morale and confidence of both long-term patients and of newcomers. Another of their constant tasks is the disposal of refuse, especially of infected material. A further 10,000 workers involved are in laundry operations, including the hand- ling and washing of heavily blood-soaked and soiled linen.

Other ancillary duties include gardening, mortuary work, driving, switchboard operating and stores control. Another 20,000 who do not come under the ancillaries' pay system are electricians, builders and other workers concerned with the maintenance of equip- ment and services. 1970 government report A found union membership covered 70 per cent of men in ancillary work, 60 per cent of women and even 40 per cent of part-time workers.

in Most ancillary workers hospitals prefer this type of work both for the service it provides and for the friendly relationship with workmates.

On the other hand, the over- crowding of hospitals and continued use of out-dated premises make all tasks doubly difficult. The • early hospitals were founded by religious orders in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries. Records of hospital work go back almost to that period. St John's Hospital, Oxford, employed 12 servants, artisans and farm labourers in the year 1380. Farm labourers were employed because the estab- lishments required to were produce their own food. At a York hospital 16 male and female servants were part of the workforce along with cooks, brewers, bakers, smiths and carters. There was often no clear division between nursing and ancillary staff as reflected in the old term 'sister-housewife' for a woman who both tended the sick and undertook the essential chores. At a Coventry hospital ser- vants for the sick were required "to see them clean kept in their persons and houses and for dressing their meats, washing of them and ministering all things to them' For the poor, up to the middle of the last century ill- ness meant ending up in the sick wards. The workhouse workhouses brought together the poorest of the old, the unemployable, the orphans and the physically and mentally sick. All inmates were required to occupy themselves con- tinuously, either working or praying. Those too ill to work tended by the other were paupers who invariably caught their diseases. fear The of the great authorities was that idleness and laziness might be en-

Newcastle hospital ancillary workers on t left: NUPE members in London. Union workers is high—70 per cent of men, ( per cent of part time workers belong to College Hospital pickets draw attentic threatens the gains of NHS.

couraged so harsh. discipline was enforced to ensure that the poor and the sick under- stood that they were being for their condition. punished It was the Metropolitan Poor Act of 1867 which finally provided for separate hospitals for the sick, the insane and the infirm. Many of those old infirmary and workhouse buildings are still in use as hospitals.

The forerunner of NUPE was founded in 1888 by Albin 101

CIN TR

NUPE

PAY

rkers on the picket line last wook. Above n. Union membership amongst hospital of men, 60 per cent of women and 40 belong to a union. Above right: At King's w attention to private practice which Taylor, a labourer in the engineering department at (Kent) Sewage Crossness Works, and a member of the Democratic Federation. Social the London It was called County Council Employees Protection Association and open to all municipal was employees, including hospital workers. In 1894 its name was Municipal changed to the Employees Association. Fol- lowing the establishment of

ENIKINGL

suppor work the National Health Service in 1948, hundreds of hospital workers were recruited to the unions. Previously, the members took part in the major struggles •of 1889, 1911 and the General Strike of 1926. In the latter action the then general sec- claimed: retary, Jack Wills 'We were more successful than any other union in getting our members back to work.' One previous action by the hospital workers was in 1956.

Up to 1953 the 44-hour work- ing week had been obtained in every industry and service National Health except the Service, which was still on 48 hours. Many demonstrations occurred for a reduced work- ing week. A huge meeting at Caxton Hall, London, of ancillary workers, mostly • women, re- quired two other halls to take the overflow from the main meeting. The workers de- manded an immediate reduc- tion in hours but the union leaders agreed to a two-stage cut-down to 46 hours in 1957 and to 44 hours in 1958. Today, women make up 70 per cent of the ancillary work force, half of these are part- timers-—working less than 40 hours a week. Fifty per cent of all ancillary workers are over 50 years of age (10 per cent over 60) and 8 per cent are disabled in some way.

Basic rate for most men is below £20 a week. For a quarter of the women it is below £15.30. Even with over- time, bonus and shift pais ments, the take-home pay only three-quarters that of the average worker. Now the Tories are trying to palm off a miserable £1.84 on this lowest paid section of workers. Workers Press, Fr involved, The four unions the Transport and General Workers' Union, the National Union of Public Employees, the General and Municipal Workers' Union and Con- federation of Hospital Em- ployees have messed about for years with all manner of pro- ductivity deals, bonus schemes, efficiency payments and the like, as a substitute for real wages. Their only sign of activity has been in , promoting these in recent schemes. However, months when workers have shown their determination to take action, then union officials have scurried from hospital to hospital trying to stop it taking place. A number of workers have • condemned the NUPE ballot of branches as deliber- ate time wasting. Many hospital employees are with totally dissatisfied the union's official claim of t4, saying that only the workers' origınal demands-an increase of £8, a 35-hour week, four weeks' holiday—could begin to bring pay and conditions up to a reasonable level. Far from linking up the struggle of the civil servants, gasmen and railwaymen with the hospital workers into one all-out united General Strike to force the Tories to resign, the TUC has openly worked to oppose any such action. Far from seking the election of a Labour government com- mitted to socialist policies- including total elimination of all business interests from every aspect of health and : Press, Friday March 16, 1973 PAGE 5 welfare — the TUC leaders' avowed policy has been col- laboration with the Tories and employers in the maintenance and protection of capitalism.

This has continued even after labour courts have been set up, trade unionists sent to prison, unions fined for carry- ing out what have been normal trade union practices for most of this century, and pay laws and agencies proposed which were originally perfected in the past corporate state systems fascist Italy and Nazi of Germany. The day before the TUC special Congress on March 5, which called for a totally in- adequate 'one-day of national protest, TUC general secretary Victor Feather was still asking for more talks with the Tories.

He said: 'Mr Heath should jettison the worst features of the In- dustrial Relations Act and get us all back to talks at Chequers and Downing Street — and those talks should be con- ducted with an open mind around an open agenda.' He added: 'The road to success is by way of agreement. It is the quickest route and the smoothest journey.' The Stalinists of the British Communist Party condone this fraud. On the day of the TUC Congress, Bert Ramelson, CP industrial organizer, called for a one-day General Strike and this not even to change the government but ... to compel a change in government policy'.

Feather's remarks and the March 5 betrayal in the face of a vicious Tory attack utterly confirm that the construction of a new revolutionary socialist leadership in the unions is the first and foremost task for all trade unionists today.

CONTINUED TOMORROW

WHAT HAPPENED WHEN MR MASON TOOK OVER

THE QUAKER-OWNED RECKITT AND COLMAN EMPIRE

PAGE 6 Workers Press, Friday March 16, 19 Reckitt and Colman, one of the wealthiest of Bri- tain's grocery producers, has what can be called a 'quaint' history. The company was founded by Quakers. The Reckitts from Hull began co-operating with the Colmans, the Norfolk mus- tard squires, in 1910, when the two families pooled their South American interests. In 1921 they cemented their relations further by combining all their interests. overseas Then, in 1938, they took the unusual step of merging all their trading interests, but re- maining companies. separate They drew up an agreement to profits on share a pro rata basis. 1953 In the final came merger. The following year the first big takeover took place when Reckitt and Colman absorbed the family firm of Chiswick which Products, makes the Cherry Blossom polishes. But whereas most people know Lord Stokes of British- Leyland, Lord Kearton of Courtauld's and Lord Robens of Vickers, who knows the men who dominate the Reckitt and Colman monopoly? The simple answer is that the company prefers to have a low corporate profile; anony- is the keynote of its mity operation. But if the names of the well- heeled directors kept are obscure, the company's pro- are the subject of the ducts most intensive advertising cam- paigns. The brand names have become household words. Who would have guessed, for example, that the Reckitt and Colman group straddles such varied products as: Dettol, Dis- Pharmaceuticals: Codis, Lem-Sip and prin, Solprin. Loxene shampoo, Toiletries: Cossack hairdressing, Corvette toiletries, bubble Bathjoys and Steradent denture bath cleaner. polish: Cherry Blossom, Shoe Meltonian suede cleaner and Nugget shoe polishes. cleaners: Robin Household Cardinal polishes, starch, Cleen-o-Pine, Mr Sheen, Har- Windolene, to Brasso, pic, name just a few. Gale's honey, Food products: the leading brand in the honey market, Robinson's baby food, mustard-English, French and American-style — OK family sauce, Colman's In- and mint stant Potato. Since 1968 the group has fashion invested more than £9m in be- significant force in coming a the wine business in Britain, America and Australia. The company's overseas ex- pansion has been particularly vigorous. R. T. French, the subsidiary, holds American more than half the US mustard easily leads market and all in the instant competition potato trade. Last month the company made its first move into the Common Market. It has pur- chased a small French phar- maceuticals firm called Labora- The Daily toires Manceau. Telegraph' noted: 'The deal is significant for it gives the British company existing per- mits and licences to manufac- ture and market pharmaceu- products in France and tical provides a platform for further expansion in this product area countries in Con- other tinental Europe. 'At the same time R&C is actively searching for acquisi- tions in the toiletries trade in having France and Germany, already bought Olivin of Wies- baden in Germany last year the Swiss-based and Dae Health Laboratories - makers of Veet and Valderma-in 1969' Mr David Clifford, the com- the group pany secretary, said was on continuous look-out for acquisitions in France and West Germany. He said the in more Friday March 16, 1973 purchase of Laboratoires Man- ceau avoids much bureaucratic obtaining conversation over permits to trade in pharmaceu- The company has re- ticals'. cently closed down a number of its European factories to concentrate production in France. Chairman of the group is Arthur Mason whose family firm, Chiswick Products, was taken over in 1954. There's little about the gentle Quaker image in Mason. His philosophy is simple: 'Our great strength is the wide range of trade marks we have.

We literally have thousands of them. We have never gone out of our way to sell the com- pany-except in the City. We think it better to put our money behind the trade name on the shelf.' Since taking over as chair- man in 1970 Mason admits that the group has become 'more abrasive. There have been heavy redundancies and large-scale factory closures.

Mason's first During year cf office he introduced ration- alization plans as part of 'our continuing nationalization pro- cess'. Operations at Norwich were closed down. In August 1971 the axe fell again. This the Carlton time works at Peterborough was shut involv- ing 250 jobs and the factory the Shannon Industrial on Estate in Eire was also closed A note in the annual report stated: 'We are taking a much closer look than hitherto at ways and means by which our fixed assets can be nationalized wide.' despite world Yet Mason's attacks on workers and their living standards he says: 'We still like to be good employers'. his first jobs was One of into to divide the group up divisions-food, house- five hold, toiletries, pharmaceutical industrial. This and meant sacking representatives many were "duplicating' who work, according to Mason. The vast range of products also scrutinized. Mason was reckons that about a dozen products 'die every six months.

We have been just as tough with products. If something is not earning its corn, its throat is cut.' He also 'killed off' products 'old- which he considered fashioned'. For instance, fly- papers that cost a penny or so replaced --and lasted-were by gleaming, modern aerosols.

distinct The aerosols have a advantage for the profit-hungry faster company-they dry up ...and cost about 75p. 'old- And when other fashioned' products have out- run their market expectations in Britain, the company simply switches them to Africa and Letin America. product . which Another didn't shape up to Mason's demands was paint. He ex- plains why: 'When we entered the paint market, the business was not so rigidly controlled by Cour- tauld's and ICI. There were 20 paint firms in Hull alone.

We thought it a good industry to get into. But we found the skills we thought we were buy- ing were not there.' Mason resolved the pro- blem' by simply damping the paint division and leaving it This to the major monopolies. should not be seen as an example of corporate coW- ardice, he adds. 'Oh, yes, we'll face the big boys. We're used to fighting Imps, Colgate Palm- olive, Beecham's and the like.

We're not afraid to take on anyone. But we must be able to see that it will be profitable in the end.' The pursuit of profits has led the company to the four corners of the globe and to some of the most reactionary regimes including South Africa, Rhodesia, Mozam- Angola, Uruguay, Brazil bique, and Argentina, while in Europe it has factories in Greece, Por- tugal and fascist Spain. There are production plants said the in more than 40 countries and its products are sold in 100.

There are 25,000 group em- ployees throughout the world who have laboured to quad- ruple the group's turnover in the past 20 years. Last year the profit of the group was £26.8m, an increase of £3m on the previous year.

Mason took home nifty a £26,000 salary amounting to plus lucrative dividends on his personal shareholding in the company. Meanwhile the average salary of his UK employees was only £1,366. With such a prominent stake in the capitalist system, it is really no surprise to discover that R&C are generous donors to the Tory Party. In the year ended January 1, 1972, the group gave £20,000 to British United Industrialists which is the fund-raising body for the Tories. They also gave £500 each to two right-wing organi- zations-the Economic League and Aims of Industry. Mason and his friends may Abov like to remain anonymous men at the top, but they can't any longer. As the cost of living con- tinues to soar, due to deliber- ate Tory government policies, housewives are starting to ask who is responsible. There is only one way to these giant profit- answer makers-they must be expro- priated under socialism. To achieve this end first requires a massive political and indus- trial campaign throughout the labour movement to make the Tories resign. In its place must be elected a Labour govern- ment pledged to socialist policies of nationalization un- der workers' control and with- out compensation. By placing these demands for socialist policies on the Labour reformists, In such a they too can be exposed. situation the masses must be • * summoned to the banner of the revolutionary party to carry out these long overdue tasks.

A RECORD OF TREACHERY

PAGE 8 Workers Press, Friday March 1 A series by Jack Gale on revisi It is a deliberate, despic- able lie for Jaya Vithana to say in the Interna- Marxist Group's tional 1 pamphlet 'Ceylon and the Healy School of Falsifica- tion' that 'Healy raised no criticism of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party [LSSP] at this time' (i.e.

before the split with Pablo in 1953). National secretary Gerry Healy and other comrades in the present leadership of the Socialist Labour League raised sharpest criticisms of the N. M. Perera and the other LSSP leaders long before the Pablo split in one committee meeting after another for their preparation to join a govern- ment with Mrs Sirimavo Ban- daranaike's Sri Lanka Free- dom Party (SLFP). This they finally achieved in June 1964.

It is the present leaders of the Unified Secretariat who consistently defended the future Ceylonese renegades, particularly in the period from 1953 to 1964. In Workers Press of Octo- ber 18, 1972, we showed how the LSSP's characterization of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party as a centrist organization paved the way, not only for the 1964 betrayal, but for a deal with Pablo. Although the LSSP Na- tional Committee had unani- mously rejected Pablo's 'Rise and Decline of Stalinism' in 1954, the Ceylonese delegates y March 16, 1973 n revisionism and Ceylon. Part one c at the revisionists' Inter- national Conference in June of that year accepted Pablo's resolution with only minor amendments. This was a deal in which each side agreed to ignore the opportunism of the other. If, as Vithana claims, the LSSP still characterizing was SLFP as a bourgeois party right up until 1963, on what basis did they announce a of 'responsible co- policy operation' with the SLFP when it became the Why was this not chal- lenged by the Pabloite Inter- national? Indeed, as late as 1964 the present leaders of that Inter- national were still protecting Perera, Gunawardena and company. When there was a demand inside their organiza- tion, early in 1964, for a dis- cussion on Ceylon, they re- plied: 'It would be wrong for us as a body representing the movement as a whole to brush aside the deliberations of the majority of the LSSP leader- ship and refuse to grant them the time needed to prove in action the sincerity of their stand in relation to the United Left Front and the good faith of their assurances. It would mean first of all to deliberately heat up the atmosphere in the LSSP by injecting the sharpest kind of rt one continued. factionalism. A divisive policy kind would put in of this not destroy, jeopardy, if fraternal relations between the Unified Secretariat and the leadership of the ISSP. "The end result could be highly injurious to the Fourth International, including left wing, which has absolutely no interest to put in question the unity of the party through the creation of undue internal friction and tension from any source? (See Workers Press, October 19, 1972.) In June of 1964, the LSSP leaders showed their 'sincerity and good faith' by joining the Bandaranaike government! Vithana is completely in- capable of explaining this part it reveals of history because the corruption and degenera- tion of his International.

Vithana cannot refute these facts, nor can he refute the letter which we reprinted on October 19 in which-two months before they entered government-the ISSP leaders received a letter from the Unified Secretariat sup- porting the United Left Front strategy—i.e. unity with the Stalinists and Mrs Bandara- naike's Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Vithana has to keep off all this-except to deny our statement that those people who broke from the LSSP did so without assistance from the Unified Secretariat. They were, he says, 'assisted and advised' by Pierre Frank at the time of the LSSP special conference in 1964. But this was too little and too late. The International Executive Committee of the Unified Secretariat had held a meeting in December 1963.

Between then and the LSSP conference, nothing was done.

Instead of sending a dele- gation to work with the Cey- lonese comrades who were opposing Perera and company, Secretariat's leaders , did the nothing except hope that the problem would go away. All discussions of the inten- tions of the LSSP leaders had been suppressed and a mino- written the statement previous year had been filed away without action in the interests of 'unity' Perera's critics were advised to break when the split was already a fact. Vithana sneers at what he calls the Socialist Labour League's 'raiding operations' at the time of the LSSP spe- cial conference in 1964. This is a slander. The SLL was not-and is not-interested in 'raids'. What we called for was a examination of the serious principled questions involved in the degeneration of an en- tire section of the revisionists' International. We warned those who correctly broke from the LSSP in 1964 that unless such an examination was carried out, they would go the same way. We said: 'One cannot sepa- rate the problems of the LSSP Wing Revolutionary from Above left: Mrs Bandaranaike. Right: Surrounded by supporters and adorned with flowers, N. M.

Perera becomes a minister for Mrs Bandaranaike In 1964. The Unified Secretariat consistently defended Perera right up to his joining the coalition government.

this degeneration. These com- rades are aware that a lot of discussion has to take place about what happened in the International movement since 1953. 'Many comrades who sup- port the minority are only now beginning to realize the rela- tions between the international and national degeneration of the Fourth International founded by Trotsky in 1938.

"The future of the revolu- tionary wing depends mainly now upon a serious study of this relationship' (G. Healy.

'Ceylon: the Great Betrayal' 1964.) The unprincipled Vithana presents this call for a serious study of the history of the Fourth International as raid- ing operations'. It was because the Unified Secretariat could not bear a serious examination of its own history that the Ceylonese LSSP(R) learned no lessons from the betrayal of 1964.

Mandel, Pierre Ernest Frank and Joseph Hansen of the Unified Secretariat estab- lished precisely the same un- principled relationship with Bala Tampoe-leader of the LSSP(R) breakaway-as they had previously had with Perera and Gunawardene. The result was the degeneration of yet another 'section'

CONTINUED TOMORROW

Deep consternation down in the editorial offices of the Tory 'Daily Telegraph'. When it was rumoured that members of the Royal family may pay their first-ever visit to the Soviet Union, the "lelegraph' was the which denounced the paper rumours in the most crushing terms. In a leading editorial the paper declared: 'Let it be said straight away that the Queen should be advised by the government in the strongest Prince Philip. terms on no account to con- sider such a tasteless proposal.

The present rulers of Russia are the direct spiritual heirs of the men who murdered the Queen's relatives in 1918.'

There's been a compromise.

The Queen isn't going, but Prince Philip and Princess Anne are. 'Those who say that entry into the Common Market is going to put us on a starva- tion diet are not painting a wholly truthful picture.'

So writes Miss Monica Greenwood, who has just had a remarkable little cookbook 'Merlin published by the Press'. Miss Greenwood has all kinds of handy hints for housewives threatened by food prices rocketing to Common Market levels. Basically her motto is to avoid starvation by eating foods mainly from the era of the great depression in the 1930s. She advises the working class to go out hunting for their 'Mussels, supper: in some places winkles, and cockles, can be found around the coast; and, speaking of the seaside, so can sea-spinach and samphire. Spanish chest- nuts may be larger, but you can still find some sweet chest- nuts in parkland and else- where, not to mention bee- acorns.' and nuts Miss Greenwood does not quite suggest that the working should go out grazing class in the parks—but she gets near to it. On the flesh side of things, she suggests the British pub- lic ought to cast prejudice aside and start shooting and eating sparrows, blackbirds, etc., etc. Other favourites are cabbage soup, tripe casserole, sheep's head pudding, mixed herbs and plants washed down with dandelion coffee. I doubt if Miss Greenwood will suffer the indignity of eating such foods-her book, called 'Common Market Cook- book', , is undoubtedly de- signed to exploit the genuine fears over prices in the Com- mon Market. It is a • tawdry affair noticeable for its lack of copy - spread over 56 bulky pages. Idiotic etchings accompany the briefest of recipes. 'The Spanish Revolution' By Leon Trotsky. Pathfinder Press (New York). Price £4.15 cloth. £1.65 paperback.

BY TOM KEMP

PART FOUR

The Stalinists did not desire a revolution in Spain. The bureaucracy feared such a revolution at a time when its policy was based upon making a counter - revolutionary alliance with Britain. The arms and material aid sent to the Republican govern- ment were intended to shore up the bourgeois social order and to crush the revolution- aries. As Soviet influences in- creased, the SO repressive apparatus of the GPU (secret police) established a branch on Spanish soil with its own and prisons murder gangs. That is why it was necessary to take up the question of the Moscow Trials and expose the role of Stalinism in the midst of the Civil War. In order to its up role in Spain and to convince Communist Party members of the need to support the bour- geois Republic, the Comintern provided 'analysis' its own of the Spanish situation.

The most sophisticated exponent of the Stalinist view was Ercoli, the name used at this by Palmiro time Togliatti, one of who became Stalin's principal agents in Spain and secretary of the Italian CP.

The constrast between Tog.

liatti's position and that is striking. Trotsky Togliatti took his stand on the fact that the tasks of the bourgeois- democratic revolution had not been carried out in Spain to defend the alliance with the bourgeoisie. He invented a new kind of revolution: 'It is a people's revolution', International he wrote in Press Correspondence', the Comintern. organ of the It is a national revolution.

He claimed that the civil war between 'the people' and 'reactionary castes', whose the Franco power aimed res- tore, bringing some capitalist and the elements major part of the middle class into the struggle against fascism.

The Communist in Party, real mass fact, had no base in the working class even dur- ing the Civil War period. It grew rapidly as the most ener- getic of bour- supporter the geois republic, of the army and with the the police (equipped best Soviet weapons) against the revolutionary workers and who, in July 1936, peasants had taken over many factories buildings and public and seized the big estates. Recruits to the Communist Party, to a large extent, came from of the sections middle class, civil servants who had remained loyal to the Repub- lic and officers such as army General Miaja who, at the end, was to capitulate to Franco. It was to these people, not to the revolutionary workers, that the Stalinists appealed. Togliatti claimed: 'As for the Palmiro Togliatti, secretary of the Italla urban petty - bourgeoisie, the Stalin's principal agents in Spain. vast majority of them are on struggle a 'national revolution, an anti-fa side democracy and the of a Popular I streets of Madrid in 1936, the revolution against fascism.'

munist Party banner in the backgroun Workers Press, Friday March 16, 1973 PAGE 9 Togliatti distorts and exag- gerates the role of the middle class in order to disguise the Stalinists support which the gave to the bourgeois Repub- lic. In fact in this article Tog- liatti boasts of the adherence of men whom he describes as industrialists and landowners to the Republic, such as José Giral, 'a fairly big landowner' and first a minister in the Popular Front government.

Togliatti also holds up as the support for an example Republic nationalist and the Basque country. It was the alliance of the workers' Catalonian parties with the the bourgeoisie which sealed fate of the revolution in that in May 1937. It was no area accident that Nin had entered the government in Catalonia.

Togliatti also omits to men- tion that the Basque nation- alists, although they opposed Franco, also carried out of the revolution- repression aries in their part of Spain.

Togliatti's article was the "theoretical blueprint for be- trayal by the Stalinists. The Civil War was described as a national for 'demo- struggle cracy' and against fascism, In confused the Stalinists reality disarmed working and the class, restored and strength- bourgeois ened the state. murdered revolutionaries and paved the way for the Franco victory by making it impos- sible to through the carry Italian Communist Party and one of only policy which could have He labelled the Spanish workers' enabled the working class to an anti-fascist revolution.' Above: On the come to power. Popular Front demonstration with Com-

CONTINUED TOMORROW

ackground.

PAGE 10 Workers Press, Friday March 16, 1973 'Forward to the Revolutionary WEMBLEY: Wednesday March 21, Party. 8 p.m. Copeland School, High SOUTH Wednesday

BASILDON:

Sunday March 18,

SOUTHALL:

March 5.30 p.m. Barnstaple Community 21, 8 p.m. The Library, Osterley Centre. Park Road. COVENTRY: Monday March 19, HOLLOWAY: Thursday March 22, 7.30 Biggin Hall Hotel, p.m. 8 p.m. Co-op Hall, Seven Sisters Binley Road. "Victory to the hos- Road. pital workers. Force the Tories to HACKNEY: Thursday March 22, resign.' Parlour Room, Central p.m.

RUGBY:

Monday March 19, 7.30 Hall, Town Hall, opp. Mare 'The Engine' Bridgett p.m. Street. Street. 'Victory to the hospital LEWISHAM: Thursday March 22, Tories Force workers. the to Deptford Engineers Club, 8 p.m. resign. Road. New Cross DAGENHAM: Tuesday March 20,

SLOUGH:

Thursday March 22, Hall, Fan- 8 p.m. Barking Co-op Community Centre, Farn- 8 p.m. shaw Avenue. Road, ham Slough.

STEVENAGE:

Thursday March March 20,

BRIXTON:

Tuesday Stevenage 22, 8 p.m. 'Red Lion', Control p.m. Room, Brixton Old Town. Training Centre. WILLESDEN: 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 High 26, SWis. The Fight against Kings Arms, Bricklayers Arms, p.m. Road, 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 21, Station. SE18.

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do? 9.00 7.30 FBI. 8.30 Who do you London. 10.35 Film: 'Hot Spell'. 12.05 News, weather. Channel

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3.25 Dangerman. 4.25 London. 3.00 4.50 London. 5.20 Rainbow country. 5.50 Chuckleheads. 5.25 Crossroads. London. 6.01 Report West. 6.15 Report Doctor in charge. 7.00 Wales. Thie Yellocto Rolls Royce. 9:00 Film: London. Upper 11.00 10.30 crusts. Press call. 11.30 UFO. 12.30 We ther.

HTV Cymru/Wales above except: as 6.01-6.15 4.25-4.50 Stesion cantamil. Y dvdd. 10.30-11.00 Sports arena. 11.00-11.45 Dragon and the lion. 11.45- 12.45 UFO. 12.45 Weather. the Prime Minister for failing to provide assistance, necessitating placing a crippling burden on the ratepayers. Alderman Setton, the leader of the council, has led a deputation of six local autho- rities to London to seek extra funds. He said he was 'very satisfied' with Heath. with the meeting But although Sefton may have been impressed by Heath, the feeling wasn't reciprocated: the their Tories flatly turned down plea for money. Blast victim: Heart disease THE MAN who died shortly after the Old Bailey bomb blast had had heart disease for some time, a pathologist told an in- quest in London yesterday. Professor Keith Simpson said a coronary thrombosis developed some hours before death. But, he nothing 'there from said, was my examination by which I could connect this to any recent event which might have disturbed him physically or mentally'. Frederick Milton (58), a caretaker, col- lapsed and died at St Bartholo- mew's Hospital several hours after the bomb blast.

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BY OUR OWN

CORRESPONDENT

WOMEN WORKERS would suffer the most from the Tory government's state pay laws, the women's TUC at Weston super Mare was told yesterday. Conference chairwoman Mrs Marie Patterson attacked the government for ignoring legis- lation on equal pay for women.

In Phase Two, she said, the government had stood by the requirement of the Equal Pay Act to achieve equality before 1976—but at the same time, equal pay increases in many industries and services were being held up in the freeze.

"The present government's ignores the policy completely spirit and intention of the Equal Pay Act. The lowest paid-among those ranks are to be found the majority of women workers-are the most likely to be the hardest hit by the government's ignorant and policies, vicious she wages said.

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'GREEN

Beatty, Carol Robert Raye, fisherman Nova Pilbeam. becomes a successful osteo- path.

OVERCOME.

WE

SHALL

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10.30 10.55 Black Kick o.T. Film: 'The Castle'. 12.30 Spyforce. TYNE TEES: 9.25 Only a dream. 9.30 2.31 Yoga. 3.00 London. 2.30 News. 3.30 Dangerman. 4.25 London. Woobinda. 4.50 London. 5.20 Pebbles and tamm bamm. 5.45 Cartoon. 5.50 London. 6.00 Today: 6.35 London. 7.30 Hawaii five-o. 8.30 Upper crusts. 9.00 London. 10.30 Place in the coun Film: "Them'. 12.35 News. 11.00 try. 12.40 Lectern. SCOTTISH: 9.30 London. 2.30 Date- line. 3.00 London. 3.30 It takes a thief. 4.20 Nanny and the professor. 5.25 4.50 London. Crossroads. 5.50 London. 6.00 Today. 6.30 Doctor in 7.00 London London. 7.30 Film: charge. 9.00 10.30 Friday call. 11.05 night. Love Man in a suitcase. 12.00 American style.

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10.58 London. 1.38 Schools. 2.40 Cartoon. 2.53 News.

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Full co-operation in 12 months — forecast Feather flouts Congress: Ends boycott of EEC BRITISH trade unions will b Market within 12 months, acco told journalists in London that the boycott of EEC institution He said they would decid Common Market, regardless o gress, which voted overwheln autumn. He maintained that it Council, not to the Congress whether TUC representatives committees.

BY OUR INDUSTRIAL

CORRESPONDENT

THE BALLOT of gaswork- ers would almost certainly show that they rejected the government's latest pay offer, a London shop steward said yesterday. - Stepney steward Mr Bert Collins said: 'I think pressure was put on the union to sug- gest that not everyone was in favour of the work-to-rule. But the ballot will prove that the gas industry is 100 per cent united.' The Gas Board has offered £2.80 plus up to 50p more de- rived from reduced pension con- tributions. It has also offered to hold redundancies over until October and to review differ- entials. Said Mr Collins: 'I would say the result or not will be The offer is not enough and its not what we want. As I see it £4.50 to f5 a week would be a generally acceptable figure' He added: 'This government's policies have brought our standards of living down tre- mendously. We've never had any them in controlling help from prices; there has been no curb.

'Biscuits are going up and I see they're putting the price of tinned meat up again for the fourth time this year. 'Our fight is not really against the Gas Board. It is against the government with these policies?

Mr Collins added that selec- tive industrial action in support of their pay claim could intensified after the ballot and • sustained for a very long time.

He said: 'There is a bit of a lull at the moment because of the ballot, but afterwards I think the being action already taken will be stepped up.

MARCH FUND REA

WE HAVE 15 days to complete our £1,750 target. Let's not waste a single moment. Raise everything you can and push our figure right up. The Tory government is rely- ing on sections of workers, now out on strike, being kept iso- lated from each other and then being driven back to work under the acceptance of Phase Two. The trade union leaders, In hesitating to come to the aid s will be taking a full part in th hs, according to TUC general secret on that the General Council of top i stitutions. Id decide to participate in the raless of the decision of Con- erwhelmingly for boycott last i that it was up to the General ongress as a whole, to decide intatives should sit on EEC This demonstrates that the right wing is prepared to flout completely basic demo- cratic decisions in order to further its collaboration with Tory policy. It also aligns Feather firmly with the Jenkinsite right wingers in the Labour Party who are elated at the by- victory of election Dick becoming Taverne and in- creasingly arrogant in their pro-Market pronouncements.

Feather's statement was made at a reception at the imposing Common Market 'embassy' in Kensington Palace Gardens, nick- named 'Millionaires' Row'.

Tory MPs were among the guests at the reception, includ.

Maurice Ing Macmillan, the Secretary of State for Employ- ment and the man charged with implementing the state pay laws.

reather's host at the reception, Alfons Lappas, is chairman of the Common Market Economic and Social Committee. Lappas is a former chairman of the German farm West and forestry workers' union and a member of the executive of the European Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

APEX

His committee is a 144-member body comprising employers' and union representatives together with a nebulous third group representing the 'consumers'.

Its members average some 30 Brussels expenses-paid trips to every year, to 'advise' the Euro- pean Commission and the Council of the BEC. It is the apex of the Common Market system of class-collabora- According to vice-president tion. Henri Canonge the committee is place where different social the sections come together to ham- mer out some sort of agreement.

Lappas and his delegation visited London for talks with various Tory Ministers and with the TUC. Afterwards he said he was 'hopeful', that the British unions would soon fill the empty seats on his committee.

He claimed that the TUC's boycott had caused problems for the other union representatives Economic and on the Social Committee, who include tWo of the Stalinist-led members CGT of France.

REACHES £413.90 STILI

BEHIND

of the gasmen and hospital workers, openly help the Tory government. Workers Press must be used to build an alternative leader- ship the throughout unions against this treachery. The TUC must be forced to support all sections of workers and these made to call a General Strike t in the European Common 1 secretary Victor Feather. He of top union chiefs would end He claimed the absence of the British union representatives gave the employers a built-in majority on the committee and was de- priving European workers of the benefits participation could bring.

But when pressed to give details of these benefits he could produce only vague generalities.

Lappas said his talks with Feather had strengthened his view that the British trade unions' influenced attitude had been by 'considerations of mainly domestic politics'. One hopeful sign for a speedy to the end boycott was TUC's participation in the re- cently formed confederation of EEC unions, Lappas said. This new body is chaired by Victor Feather while Jack Jones, of the solidly anti-Market Transport and Workers' Union, is General on its executive.

UNREALISTIC

Lappas said that the British unions' attitude to the EEC was not realistic because there could be no renegotiation of the Rome under a Treaty terms, even Labour government. 'The fact that the TUC is now collaborating in the European trade union confederation means that we shall lose no opportunity to make our position known to them, Lappas said.

STILL A LONG WAY

to force this government to resign. Only our paper shows the way forward. We have therefore no time to rest back in any way.

We need to raise extra amounts immediately. Collect as much as you can and rush it to us. Post all donations to: Workers Press March Appeal Fund 186a Clapham High Street London, SW4 7UG Below: Victor Feather-became president of the European TUC and claims the British General Council decide who Call co-operates despite gress decisions. Crisis over Turkish president THE conflict between the Turkish parliament and the Army over the of a president continued yesterday with the parties hoping for •arnamentar, a compromise based on extension of the of office of the out- going president, Sunay. Cevdet Army wants LUrKISi General Faruk Gurler, the former chief of staff, to become head But slale. despite « revealed presentation of his nomination to the parliament MPs have re- vote him in. fused to The Armv is now threatening to dispense with the parliament which has acted as a docile façade tor military rule since April 1971 when the covernment or suleiman Demirel was dispersed in a blood- less coup. In four ballots in parliament Demirel's Iustice Party voted en bloc for civilian candidate Tekin Aruburun while the other main prouD. une neovoucan reooies Party boycotted the election. Gurler was left trailing a bad second behind Aruburun. ne consuitutiona crisis not the first since 1971, but it demon- the difficulty strates increasing ine Ammy from behind the shadow of a parliament. Sooner rather than later the Armv must take over ful execu tive powers and dissolve the parliament puppet altogether. There is a limit to what can Di achieved manipulaton the most servile National Assembly.

CIRCULATION

01-622 7029

NEWS DESK

01-720 2000 Press, Friday March 16, 1973 PAGE 11

BY OUR OWN REPORTER

BRITISH and West German miners' unions have called for a total ban on the im- port of coal from countries outside the European Com- mon Market. The proposal is part of a seven-point plan drawn up by Adolf Schmidt, German Miners Of the West Union and Joe Gormley of the National Union of Mineworkers. They want Common Market evolve policy-makers to European concept of the coal industry to supplement current national policies. The plan, which is blatantly protectionist, calls for support of the coal industry in at present production

EEC

levels and the extension of in- dustrial use of the fuel.

rumours

BY OUR OWN REPORTER

RUMOURS that the German and American central banks were about to begin selling their official reserves at the free market price have sub- sided and the gold price has again begun to climb. The rumours were firmly denied by all the central banks concerned, none of which have intention of the least selling their stocks of the precious metal for rapidly depreciating paper money. The prospect of gold sales by central banks brought the gold price down by St an ounce in a short period on Tuesday, but the price is now rising again.

On the London bullion market the price was fixed yesterday morning at $82 an ounce, $1.50 above the closing price on Wed- nesday afternoon. This demon- strated that the rumours were being discounted by gold buyers and sellers. The sale of gold on the free market by central banks would not overcome any of the prob- lems created by the collapse of the international monetary sys- tem. With some $270,000m paper currency in the form of short-term capital the total world gold reserves could be bought several times over. The rise in the gold price demonstrates a lack of con- fidence in paper money which is shared by every central banker.

While the gold price continues to rise why should they 'throw good money after bad' in a futile attempt to stem the tide?

Sanctions a provocation to railmen General Strike call from picket at 'conspiracy' trial PAGE 12 Workers Press, Friday March.

THE RAIL dispute got closer to confrontation yesterday as British Rail began to operate new sanctions against drivers working-to-rule. Inspectors, depot supervisors and local managers began report- ing drivers who refused to handle trains with minor faults. The men involved will suffer an aver- age of £2 cut in wages due to loss of mileage bonus. The move has all the markings of a deliberate provocation and it follows calls from Torv MPs to sack drivers and close lines.

Yesterday • the rail rebellion BSA take-over? THE GOVERNMENT is having talks with Manganese Bronze which has expressed an interest in taking over all or part of BSA Ltd, the Midlands motorcycle and engineering group, said the Minister for Industrial Develop- ment, Mr Christopher Chataway, in a Commons statement yester- day. Birmingham yesterday shop In stewards were told that the com- not be placed in pany would 'Something big is liquidation. happening, said Jack Rogers.

Transport and General Workers' engineering official. 'but Union liquidation is not one of the things that has been discussed.

Quick Tory reply THE GOVERNMENT moved quickly yesterday to turn down the British Medical Association's request for an independent in- quiry into the hospital workers' pay dispute. The Tories are alarmed at this proposal because it threatens to further erode the support they are relying on from the middle class in any showdown with the trade unions over the hard-line policy of Phase Two wage con- trols. One 'special case' and the tactics will be government's totally disrupted. Late last night, the TUC be- talks with hospital latedly began unions about 'co-ordinated action' in their support. Hospital workers have been crying out for solidarity action for three weeks, parti- cularly sympathy strikes and picket support.

FROM PAGE 1

aggravate the middle class against strikers and to provoke trade unionists still further. The TUC's inactivity so far in not lifting a finger to help the hospital staffs plays into the government's hands by letting a situation drag on confusedly and demoralizing the workers who have taken action. The Tory plan is to force a General Strike on a reluctant TUC so that it can be decisively beaten and the defeated wor- kers driven back to far worse conditions than they came out with. Nothing less than this will satisfy the demands the CBI has pressed on Heath: that again unless profits are raised to a Registered a newspaper at the as Post Office. Published by Workers Press, 186a Clapham High Street, Lonaon, 7UG. Printed by SW4 Plough Press Ltd. (TU), 180b Clap-

SW4 7UG.

ham High Street, London. 01-720 2000. Circulation: Newsdesk: 01-622 7029.

SATURDAY AND

ay March 16, 1973 spread in London when drivers at London Bridge, headquarters of central region, refused to man with speedometers. trains no There were virtually no suburban services in Southern's three divi- sions-south eastern, south west- ern and central, and main line services were restricted.

Drivers at Waterloo reacted angrily to the clampdown on bonus. a deliberate stunt br This is the Tories, one locomen's repre- sentative told me. 'We don't earn the mileage bonus anyway.'

Another driver with 14 years in the cab showed me his wage

FROM DAVID MAUDE

AT SHREWSBURY

A MASS meeting of build- Shotton steel- ing workers, workers and Liverpool dock- ers yesterday called for a one-day General Strike to protest against the conspiracy trial of 24 Shropshire build- ing workers. Police denied 'over-reaction' as 1,000 level at which capitalists have the will and the means to invest, production and will be trade brought to a grinding halt.

With imports soaring to a new record, the beginnings of mutter- ings in the City that Heath is not doing the job on the working class that is required of him will grow louder. The CBI language is again be- coming violent, recalling the startling outbursts of three weeks ago when it threatened to fight to the last ditch and withdraw co-operation from the govern- ment. In the event, the Phase Two although piling Green Paper, further burdens onto the work- ing class, failed to meet all the CBI demands for complete free- dom to raise prices as they wish to cover all cost increases.

Before going to No 10 yester- day, W. O. Campbell Adamson, CBI director-general, complained that the Green Paper had been written by someone 'who hadn't the slightest idea about how industry works'.

AND SUNDAY, APRIL 14 &

BY STEPHEN JOHNS

packet-f18 net. "This figure of £2 bonus is laughable anyway. I only get 18p a week,' he said.

The problem facing railway workers at big stations like are attacks from the Waterloo most frustrated sections of the middle class. Feelings have been • whipped up by the deliberately Tories and the media and rail- way workers have been subjected to unprovoked assaults. One of them, Henry Kelly, a Waterloo porter, was back The call to the TUC came unanimously from the 1,000- meeting held outside strong the Shire Hall in Shrewsbury following the committal pro- ceedings. Birmingham building workers' leader, Peter Carter, said this was one situațion which could not be solved by negotiation.

He addressed a call to TUC is 1,000 untformed men blockaded Shrewsbur The sort of politics the CBI wants to see was spelled out by Adamson. 'It is up to us, because we are members of the public, to make it clear that the time really has come, after sliding for ten to 15 years, show a minority element to of the population that they are not going to dominate all the rest of us any more 'The time really has come.

And no sooner were these words uttered than a railwayman was beaten up at Waterloo station by inflamed commuters and the dis- ciplinary threats were made by British Rail and the Customs and Excise. Adamson's thirst for action was underlined by references to the 'disastrous outcome' of last miners' the year's strike and 'urgent need' for legislative action of the pay laws kind. Any agreement between the government and the CBI could well involve plans to lock out the train drivers and organize wholescale scab labour in the hospitals.

14 & 15, WINTER GARDENS,

work yesterday after being at- tacked by commuters on Mon- day. After a television interview the Waterloo management have stopped Mr Kelly talking to the Press. A spokesman for his union, the National Union of Railway- men, said yesterday that no spe- steps or instructions cial were going out to their members.

'We have asked them to keep on working normally. I don't think the executive has even dis- cussed these incidents. It's diffi- cult to know what to do though.

Naturally we deplore them, he said. general secretary Victor Feather of all for a General Strike when the 24 workers brought to trial on April 25.

Carter contrasted the massive police at Shrewsbury turnout with their refusal to act in the case of building union activist Mike Shilvock, who was beaten the up at his home following end of the building strike last year. 3hrowsbury and swamped its streets.

The situation is balanced on a knife edge. The ruling class is hesitant and unsure of the full support of the middle class for such provocative moves. But these measures, or some- thing very like them, are now inevitable because of the in- soluble nature of the crisis.

The only answer the trade union movement can make to such a situation is to move deci- sively to destroy such a conspi- racy before it gets under way.

It is in this context that the TUC's paralysis over launching the political strike to defeat the government becomes the most perilous treachery for the whole class. Every trade unionist can now see that the Socialist Labour League's policy for using the whole strength of the trade union movement to create through the General Strike the necessary political and industrial conditions to force the Tory government to resign is the policy of the hour.

FOR DETAILS

TELEPHONE

01-622 7029

DENS, BLACKPOOL

NUR men at Waterloo, how- ever, defended the action of the drivers and spoke bitterly about the government. Meanwhile a slight possibility of new talks emerged yesterday British Rail invited the after drivers' leader Ray Buckton to a meeting at 2.30 today. Mr Buckton said that he would be asking the Board to allow more meetings of the tri- partite committee drivers' on pay. I only hope the men do not get provoked over this f2 busi- ness, he said. There had been no police attempt to find those responsible for the savage attack, he claimed.

Building workers have had to conduct their own investigation.

Shilvock had taken CID officers into a Birmingham drinking club and identified the ringleader, he went on. But police had refused to arrest the man or conduct identity parade. an 'That's the law in this country at the moment.' An attempt was being made for the whip up support to Tories' projected legislation on picketing which would outlaw flying picket techniques the used by the miners and the building workers. heard greet- The meeting also ings from Liverpool docks ste- ward Mick Quinn who said that the dockers were repaying the debt built up last year when building workers struck over the jailing of the Pentonville Five.

Luke McLoughlin, Shotton steelworkers' leader, said that the future of the working class lay in the type of strike action which had been shown on the mass picket. 'If the working class sticks together against all the attacks which are being made upon it today, we will win, he said.

During the meeting there was of the criticism considerable building union leaders who have so far done nothing to support their threatened members, des- fact that the charges pite the have arisen out of official picket- ing duties. Building sites all over Mersey- side, north Wales and the Mid- lands stopped work yesterday in protest against the trial, and the dockers in the Port of 8,000 Liverpool were out solid in sup- port of the 24 accused. Steelworkers facing closure at Shotton, Flintshire, also stopped work and brought placards con- demning the '1875 Tyranny'.

Most contingents taking part picket yesterday's mass arrived late, after the scheduled start of the hearing, because they were held up by the police road blocks. A coachload of building union members from Wolverhampton complained that they had been stopped times seven miles, then diverted so that they did not arrive until mid-morning.

said dockers that Liverpool 'Royal they had been given a escort' of police motorcycle out- riders from about 14 miles out of the town. Press photographer Workers and I were stopped, questioned had our identi- and to prove fication at a roadblock. One Merseyside building work- ers' leader told me he was con- vinced that some of the newly- trained anti-picket squad, used at Hull docks last week, had been called in. one copper who 'I talked to claimed he had been travelling 4 am. to get here for since 8 o'clock. Now where had he come from?' The head of Shrewsbury po- lice, Chief Superintendent Alex Nichol, dismissed suggestions that the police arrangements 'over- evidence showed of reaction'. The police have to be prepared for all eventualities, he insisted.