STILL AVAILABLE...

Apon Tratsky (1938-9)

WRITINGS Or WRITINGS OF TEDI LEOn 150:34 Six volumes of Trotsky's writings during the years 1933-1940 £8.00 including postage Please tick those you require. Amount enclosed Name Add Complete form and post to: form anc Tions, New Park Publications, 186a Clapham High Street, London SW4 7U( k Put lica A New Park Publications Booklist is a vailable, free. on request. lew P ark Publi History of Russian Revol ution —special gift pack of three volumes £1.70 including postage ROT Trotsky—a documentary by Francis Wyndham and David King £1.65 including HIGHER COURTS The Tories plan to allow exmagistrates—too old to preside in their own courts—to sit in the higher Crown Courts.

This ludicrous and reactionary proposal is included in the Administration of Justice Bill, now before parliament.

It provides for some exmagistrates, aged between 70 and 72, to sit at Crown Courts, even though they can no longer sit in their own courts.

Magistrates who sit with a circuit judge at the Crown Courts have as much say as the judge in a sentence.

The proposal has been criticized by, among others, Professor Gordon Borrie, director of Birmingham University's Institute of Judicial Administration.

'Surely it is very odd,' said Borrie, 'that a man or woman is considered too old to sit in a magistrates' court, but not too old to engage in the work of a higher court.

"These septuagenarians are barred by statute from sitting in a magistrates' court.'

Wall Street 1929. Inset left: Raymond Dirks, Wall St analyst. Right: Stan ry Goldblum, Equity Funding's chairman who sold out and resigned. The New York Stock Exchange is reeling under the impact of the Equity Funding disaster, which promises to be one ot the iggest financial scandals ever to hit Wall Street.

Alread badly shaken by the fall in share prices, which has wiped over 10 per cent off average share prices since January, the Wall Street magnates are now thoroughly frightened.

Some of the biggest names in United States finance could well be tarnished by the crash and already a fraud of gigantic proportions, literally involving thousands of millions of dollars, has come to light.

Equity Funding until last veek, was one of the glamour stocks on the Wall Street market. The glamour stocksdiminishing group - were the anly bright spot on the market.

Now, the 'Financial Times' put in on Saturday, 'even those fund managers who got off lightly will be taking another look at the other glamour stocks in their portfolio.' Equity Funding stock was held by some of the most prestigious names in US Boston, co, them the John Bristol Ford Foundation, Morgan Guaranty Trust, Fidelity Corp, Sears Roebuck Pension Fund, Dreyfus Fund and Lowes Co. The company's sudden demise shock in the ouces of vene ome American National Bank and rust Co in Chicago. Official f the Illinoi Insurance Deharm extreised that the bank much trust.

They forced ope a safe deposit box belongin to Equity Funding which was supposed to contain some $25m worth of negotiable securities. The box was empty.

so must National City Bank of New Wells Fargo and Franklin Bank. They were in a banking coney Funding more han Concortil which loanea $55m.

Equity Funding has a $75m revolving credit with this banking consortin and at When 95 crash came, the when the crash came. The Size Sm in Planninuity unde ing accounts to offset their loss.

In addition the banks want to lay their hands on the Equity Funding subsidiaries, Bankers National, Northern Life and Equity Funding Life Insurance. Outstanding stock of these firms was used as collateral for the loans to the parent corporation.

This grab is being challenged the courts and practically everyone involved is taking out writs and demanding court orders in what promises to be a bonanza for securities lawyers.

Equity Funding's downfall also hit investors who had purchased the company's shares on margin— -paying only part of the purchase price and hoping to be able to sell at a profit later.

It was this form of trading which accelerated the catastrophic fall of share prices in 1929: margin purchasers are forced to sell their shares if their price drops below a certain point to avoid losing the entire investment.

To freeze the situation Federal judge last week ordered Equity Funding into immediate bankruptcy. Now investigators from the Securities and Exchange Commission (the government-appointed 'Watchdog' on Wall Street) have moved in.

They plan the most thorough-going investigation in the commission's 40-year hisstaff if necessary to try and questioning the entire find how Equity Funding got away with it so long. If Equity Funding was fraudulent, the argument goes, how many other big names are equally rotten inside?

The basic fraud which Equity Funding was involved in consisted of dreaming up phoney life insurance which was then re-sold to other insurance companies at a discount.

The bankruptcy is also a blow to the prestige of a number of prominent Wall Street analysts. At least eight of them recommended investors to buy Equity Funding shares during the past six months.

The existence of the fraud was first revealed by Ronald Secris (37), a former employee of Equity Funding, who told a prominent Wall Street analyst, Raymond Dirks, that at least a third of Equity Funding's life insurance was phoney.

According to Secris the company was nót content simply with creating fake insurance, it also put in fake death claims on the re-insurers and falsified the accounts to fool the auditors.

The practice became so extensive inside the firm that a special department, No 99, was created to dream up new variations on the fraudulent theme.

What happened between March 6 and March 27, when the New York Stock Exchange suspended trading in the company's shares, is likely to occupy a good deal of the investigators' attention.

It seems almost certain that 'insiders' who knew a crash was imminent unloaded their holdings of Equity Funding shares onto innocent bystanders who were left holding the parcel.

Among the insiders who sold were Stanley Goldblum, the company's chairman and president, who resigned these offices on April 2 together with two other top Equity Funding men.

An insider report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that Goldblum arranged to sell 50,000 Equity Funding shares on March 26. Three days before the Equity Funding chief executive assured the Stock Exchange council 'there was no truth in the rumours' about his firm.

The holding Goldblum sold was worth $900,000 when he sold it. But today it is worthless. One firm which was sold a large block of shares on the day Goldblum sold his was the Loew's Corporation, tobacco, hotel and theatre company which is now suing its stockbroker.

Goldblum is a former scrap dealer and meat salesman who started the corporation in Delaware in 1960. Until 1966 it was engaged almost exclusively in the sale of lifeinsurance policies and mutual fund shares issued by other firms.

Then it bought four insurance companies and moved into the insurance and mutual fund businesses. Goldblum believed that the real competition in both insurance and mutual funds was for salesmen, not clients.

He offered big commissions and built up his sales force from under 200 to 2,500 in seven years. By 1968 the firm was selling individual lifeinsurance at the rate of $425m a year. Mutual fund sales were at over $100m a year and net income was up from $800,000 a year in 1965 to about $6m in 1968.

The next year Equity Funding's shares reached an all-time high of $80 each. But it seems likely that despite its size the company was on the decline. Ronald Secris dates the beginning of the great Equity Funding fraud at least as far back as 1970.

Such fraudulent operations are the classic desperate resource of managers who cannot raise ready cash any other way. The idea of creating fictitious life insurance business and then selling it at a discount was ingenious.

But there was one problem. The re-insurers expected to be paid their share of the insurance premiums after the first year and the company had no option but to sell further fraudulent claims to other insurers in order to raise the necessary funds.

The significance of the Equity Funding crash can hardly be underestimated. The company's total life insurance sales were supposed to have been $3,240m and much of this is owing to the firm's creditors.

At a time of unprecedented inflation the revelation of the Equity Funding fraud is certain to undermine confidence in the stock market still further and to speed up the existing wave of selling by share-holders.

But the question that will be uppermost in everyone's mind is how many other glamour companies of the New York Stock Exchange are built on sand like Equity Funding?

UNITE TO Demonstration outside the 1963 Labour Party YS conference.

Young Socialists in Trafalgar Square, 1964 demanding socialist policies. 1966: YS members march against Wilson's anti-union laws. Below: At Alexandra Palace, 1971, 4,500 gathered for Anti-Tory rally. Right: Empire Pool, Wembley, 1973, the Pageant of Working Class history. Nor SYMPATHY April 13, 1973 ALOUR GOVERNMEN STRENGTH LINKS FIGHT 101H1 DEATH SCABS SS Workers ress, Friday April 13. 1973 PAGE: the forefront of the struggle for the Right to Work.

On August 15 the world was stunned and the course of history changed by Nixon's statement LOaT gold would no longer back the dollar on the world market. Immediate attacks were launched emailsy the grow and lar Right to Work campaign began. 1972: The Right to Work Marches began with the Glasgow march on February Five marcoes culminated gest rally ever of 8,500, who gathered to demonstrate the Tory government at the Empire Pool, Wembley on March 12.

Keep Left expanded to a weekappeared on May is. first Issue have serious effects on the work Inflation beginning class as Tories stepped TOeT against basic democratic rights.

At the Twelfth Annual Conference was made to youth everywhere that this Tory government was determined in blatant efforts to destroy workers' rights.

The anti-union legislation came int its uls effect and as a result Use. in the summer. nve dockers were jailed. The enor. mous movement of the working class against the imprisonment forced the government to lease the cockers. SOON after wards the T&GWU was fined Arster the sinclaws af", the first time since the Vale Judgement of 1901. held liable by the law of the land for the actions of its members.

Unemplovment mounted dur. ing the summer and regional to Work marches were held in Scotland, the North East, the North West and Yorkshire gaining big support.

Meanwhile food prices had already begun to rise. The TOURS Socialists launched winter campaign of *Fight the Tory rallies, showing the colour film Right to Work marches made by the ACTT. These rallies were used to strengthen and build a mass Young Socialists' move. Attacks by the Tories went on: Young Socialists entered Councils of Action to join with the local labour movement order to fight back against the government. 1 he Tories new Pusned their attacks to heights and brought openly dictatorial measures. State control of wages was introduced and Britain went into the Common Market. 1973: The year began with the unmasking of the real face of Tored™ y A new offensive was inched Heath which wages were held down by legal measure. while prices rocketed after entry into the Common Market.

The Tories began to arm police and brougnt a special Security Committee under Lord Jellicoe, ( strenginening the law and order' brigade within the ruling class.

On March 11, at the Empire Pool Wemblev the higgest Ge. monstration we have ever staged