Money crisis and June 18

Merseyside must back Pilkington over poll THERE should • me me.

trade ment. LoPikington Sarikers had 00 of the decision ARROGAN intransigence of CRiMatern silence or the MASSIVEN top steads. section the IS police horosa ton SUBTLE church First the we an interin 85 ped Interin sir mers offer, more FRAME-UP winde t innocen pleads leavi French BY A FOREIGN CORRESPONDENY RECORDS of a joint French-Czech CP meeting have been published in 'L'Humanité' followhreaten in the Wing claims that the so decided French Party have helped frame Alexander Picketing on quit nass scale o strike-inquiry Astor shame of glass produced The meeting - between Waldeck Rochet, Dubcek to persuade and other Czech Party every striker leader hardered leaders-was held in Prague on July 19, 1968.

The French Party's hand has been forced by the claims of Roger Garaudy, recently expelled from his Party cell, that notes of the meeting were handed to the present Husak regime to assist in framing Dubcek, now ambassador in Turkey.

Making a virtue of necessity, notes - which appear in Monday's edition Party's daily 'I'Humanité' — are accompanied by a statement from the Political Bureau denouncing Garaudy's stateThe strikers 'defamatory' and 'anti- ments "calumnious', reas theld communist.

'Referred to' THE COMING General Election is unique in every sense. It is probably the first whose polling date was actually determined by conscious knowledge of impending economic doom.

Today neither Tories nor Labour will dare to deny this crisis.

How can they?

Despite every attempt-not entirely unsuccessful-of the Labour right wing to restore a surplus to the balance of payments, to restore confidence in sterling and to repay the substantial debts to the international banks by creating unemployment and supporting Nixon's war in Asia, the prospect of a major economic and monetary crisis still stares them in the face.

Every such attempt has only succeeded in exacerbating imperialism's general crisis.

Collapse

Conversely US imperialism's attempts to solve its 'own' problems by a massive increase in exports of capital to Europe and the in its whopping increase in balance of payments deficit combined with high interest rates and raging inflation, fed by the Vietnam war, have now led to a steep decline in profits and a threatening collapse of share prices in every major stock exchange.

This is the grim paradox of US 'prosperity'.

The 'authoritative' economists and Wall Street astrologers who sagely informed the shareholding public two weeks ago that the share market_would rally once the Dow Jones index reached 680 (why 680?), now just as sagely-but more gloomilyinform the world that nothing will happen until a bottom of 500 is reached! level of the share market in 19651)

What this means for the US and British working class is that cash will become scarcer, bankruptcies will monopoly mergers multiply and unemployment increase on a huge scale.

ALL TRADES UNIONS ALLIANCE MEETING NOTTINGHAM Tasks of trade unionists today' Thursday, May 21 7.30 p.m.

People's Hall

Heathcote Street Fierce fighting around Phnom

Penh

BY A WORKERS PRESS FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT ation is dation chairman Mr George McOnie.

(Before his retirement last year he was a director of Pilkington Brothers Ltd):

"With the increasing sophistication of processing cost is involved so it as tal the users' interest to keep it running at maximum elliciency for maximum time. More eifective maintenance is therefore vital' This Foundation shows that the employers are determined to continuously develop work-study systems to cover new fields and to scale new levels of intensity of exploitation.

The fact that the data library cost £250,000 to develop indicates that they mean business . . . and big business at that. regime remain pinned down around the capital of Phnom Penh.

Liberation forces composed of Cambodian and NLF guerrillas have established positions in key towns between 30 and 40 miles from Phnom Penh.

Hand-to-hand fighting continues around the key town of Kompong, which was retaken by right-wing troops yesterday atter a prolonged bombardment which reduced most of its buildings to rubble.

Positions

In South Vietnam, National Liberation Front units attacked US positions in over 100 different areas.

US army officials admitted that 70 of these raids had caused either damage or casualties.

Nixon's extension of the war to Cambodia and now Laos has failed to undermine the fighting capacity of the Liberation forces in South Vietnam itself. THE 460 coachbuilding workers locked out for the past three weeks from the Willesden, London, Rolls-Royce subsidiary, Mulliner_ Park Ward, are to meet on Friday to decide whether to accept an informal management offer in reply to their claim for a 20 per cent increase in bonus rates.

Management locked the men out at the end of April after a two-week work-to-rule in support of the demand, which would add about £5 a week to a worker's average pay packet.

Pickets were on duty outside the factory yesterday as union officials told a mass meeting of the workers that the management had offered a 6d an hour straight increase in informal talks held on Monday.

However, the management also want 'anomalies' ironed out — a euphemistic phrase which could well cover productivity concessions.

Lock-out committée chairman Bill Watson said the management had made lengthy statements on production.

'We feel we must have time to digest these before coming to a decision,' he added.

The local Labour Exchange is still refusing to pay unemployment benefit to the locked-out men.

las, misery of the hard widening of the Vietnam war is only a foretaste of what is to come.

These are the real issue!

behind the June general election which the working class must prepare to meel the Tores ot in fin e59 ng left-wing groul he Pikington strike ar Girlings has abundantly showi the Tories and their press considering attacks against social security benefits for 'unofficial' strikers as well as conspiracy charges against trade unionists.

Betray

Those who say that there is no difference between Labour and Tory and that it would be better if the Tories get in -because it would hasten the revolution in Britain-are betraying the working class to the Tory janitors.

As the struggle against Castle's White Paper in 1969 propite all comes and omissions, is preferable to the Tories not because it carries out socialist policies, but because it finds it increasingly difficult to carry through capitalist ones.

A vote for Labour may seem to the ultra-left cynics of the International Marxist Group and the anarchists as a stupid thing.

What it expresses is no confidence in Wilson or par liament, but the necessity of using every weakness in the Labour hit the Tories where hurts most—in their pockets. For the benefit of the abstenconfidently struggle of the workers and the abstention of ultrais bringing the Beginning We say that a vote for Labour is only the beginning of political wisdom-but only its beginning.

must combat the the general struggle for socialist policies and a revoShip for the mornist lutionary leaderSuch is task posed by the June election.

Not to Communist Part, states lyingly, not to ab.

stain, as IMG urges, but to learn to combine our hatred of the Tories with a clear and the messes miches This on and co resince in Wilson and resolute struggle for a socialist policy of nationalization of the basic industries under contra without me British mith A Foe OF and a Brake troops from