Workers Press no. 28

workers press The daily organ of the Central Committee of the Socialist Labour League INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • PUBLISHED FROM TUESDAY TO SATURDAY • NUMBER 28 • WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1969 PRICE Bd.

VAUXHALL MOTORS

Reject Nixon's Vietnam speech Luton hours stewards

U.S. "PEACE'

Offer reject plan SayS miners' By David Maude

FRAUD EXPOSED

MANY OF Vauxhall's 10,000 laid-off workers committee at Luton and Dunstable have been recalled to work today, but continuing shop-floor opposi- tion to the company's pay and productivity By an Industrial correspondent proposals makes it extremely unlikely that full

THE

MINERS' National production can be resumed by the end of the Action Committee is pro- week, as has been claimed.

ducing a leaflet calling for NIXON'S nation-wide television speech on Monday Engineering union shop the rejection of the Coal have stewards Luton Tenants' lour of the 3700ast A number of trade union branches in.

Board's offer of a 40-hour night represents an intensification of the class war rebels London rent postmen now joined those at Elles- appeared on Monday cluding rord workers, dockers, week exclusive of meal at Bow backed by a dem- and engineers, were represented mere Port in Unle opposing by United States imperialism against the interna- breaks. stood onside the cout demonstration, together with a contingent executive's them Their national court instructions to accept the refusal

NCBS

tional working class. on Council grant the 40-hour week in acal and nard White Poplar rely cluding the : 20-minute meal the or Greater Londo His immediate subject seeking Iney nave called a mas break enrorcement evicuon face perkers protest Poetinday. their members By Robert Black tenants, who have been first of large numbers of tenants the GLC war. with no ding s the Tine ve nam Nurses After months of hesitation, imposed 13 evict if the court grants evic.

olved by the recent fort- LaLcaus LU aonths ago. Although the union's Elles. night-long miners' strike The imperialists' debt the President came down firmly on the side of fight- committee. is angry turned anothe IT out to the bitter prevent end. General take thi Ana Died So that Not only did Nixon away by mention the total sion or the s troops, mduc there would

D.E.P.

be

MORE TALKS

non itself, mimited witnarawais Engineers Hours alone after Current buloack cf 60,000 has men been

GROUP

London awan enritiorkine completed on Decemoer b. sake on the murses-anxions about that any carry out a similar policy will rumours that ther further would not receive a pay rise due Burton the ers completely of the milies action coming ned by the Produciny or Mena. as him as pre

•ONDO

we have the as Pesertion rates are as thigh Nationa execu

BUILDINI

antiMe Bat counci

TRADE

willeaders Nixon's speech is the voice

WORKER

aut be 1554 for official i the Depar • was noti 'Massacres' the mer NO Despite the Walte

VICTION

of the Fourth more urgent. was ciend ating i letter Big business

A.T.U.A:

PORTUGAL

Handing back Viet- thour cannot be alered atone 4 meetings the or not Fascist election campaign whethe • Sister demands crack- ampaigr

NORTH KENT

'ACCEPTED'

are the mains operate Labour government and secretarted staur Sjojren down on wages farce exposed the trade unions' rid not n s already ben ad

CLOSE-

Thursday, November 6 cepted by the union's leaders By our Industrial reporter

DOWN

By a foreign corresponden ay's Worke ported No saturdays Now Wool mich demanded that the Laduatien of British Industry have "This said: would spark FACTS published on Portugal's recent 'general election' committer spokesmar demanded ments where mainta the Labour leaders crack down on pay

THREAT

the midde increases unrelated to productivity.

have revealed how much Prime Minister Dr Marcello

WILLESDEN

Caetano's election victory is really worth.

westen hemisphere?

• PAGE 4 COL. 4

AT A.E.C.

'The Common Market' Every one of the 130 seats Firemen anis is not ine issue Thursday, November 6 nas cone co govern the faers of her l am. well aware of

ALL TRADES UNIONS ALLIANCE

ment party, the Nationa urged to U.S. problems 8 TM Union, By our own correspondent which is asc the Willeden Tradas and Labour What miners demand fron only legal party in Portugal.

cặ hi the plan, which informa call off But that is only part of the out, enormous problems bo it High Road, N.W.10 lead ° Dant, which em + be Lat stor cone uni (port als 2800,000 strike

LUTON

'Labour government and By our Industrial reporter ment contras over dividends the trade unions' cront-panel

LONDON

firemer nave Thursday, November 6 told by their deen union exhost est with Asian call off their leaders to one-hour strikes planned The Cock Phe eve hatred for today. Park Square another factory est paid w woovement Ministers

COVENTRY

No king as on the B in London 'Crisis in motors- - Nixon knows this. But he mug is thai they mong the what next?

MOTOR WORKERS'

Shed entir way ahead Thursday November 6 talks their backs tone wal have 7.30 p.m. have they will fight to the very end That is also support shale their disosalary: Sydenham Palace Hote

•CONFERENCE

measures

LEYLAND

C.N.D. to drop Aldermaston 'Crisis in Motors' Minister, M been demandings should" Friday, November 7 so be child or scion

THIRD TUBE

8 p.m. march All car, car delivery and components

STOPPAGE

Eland Las workers are more to a moron i Stewart and also wri

LONDON'S

n as many weis workers conterence tally a male tun accept or evive its c Chira time in s Hands showed act out Midlands Digbeth Civic Hall, Digbeth Pote Thai

MANCHESTER

Prime Min side by the en deputy Pr bene pointed Class into Destru London

BIRMINGHAM

working don this "The fight against gles. shall. tracidy takes productivity deals' Saturday, November 8 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Callag- embers and is in nancial Monday, November 10 Id now Write tor credentials to R. Parsons, lousy consid adieurned on erious!: 21 Strawberry • Path, Blackbird Leys, Oxford more elop or to rantees • Dell. rile on behal or imperatist Conference fee 5s. a persor thousands Changing he name to am out for the Easter march laim

• PAGE 4 COL. 7 →

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • PUBLISHED FROM TUESDAY TO SATURDAY • NUMBER 28 • WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1969 workers press Nixon's Vietnam speech

U.S. "PEACE'

FRAUD EXPOSED

NIXON'S nation-wide television speech on Monday Tenants' night represents an intensification of the class war by United States imperialism against the interna- court tional working class. His immediate subject protest Vietnam By Robert Black war. was the Nurses After months of hesitation, the President came down tes in. firmly on the side of fight- turned ing it out to the bitter period end. Rains the Creation Not ony did Nixon away by Tuse to set a deadine 1905. the total withdrawal of US the anime troops, made clear that there would

D.E.P.

withdrawals limited itselt - the comes as it 60,000 -ompleted on Decen

GROUP

nurses-—anz Kious about retreated they carry out a s collapse not receive a pay rise qur lead puppet dext March- -Were Turner from spaa: Pepert- ment of Sitte the Britis National Libe Productivity on Monday. discuss as ever. Pt Be Deparment Me no 'Massacres' * weis cases ed the tbe the miss of suresorite te ename land. ble d- national all the of French Indo-China in Big business say rise nex Viet- South andrawal would Precipitats going demands crack- the Patricia down on wages worrien cam

CLOSE-

in Vietname

DOWN

By our Industral reporter LEADERS of the Confederation of British Industry have demanded that the Labour leaders crack down on pay

THREAT

increases unrelated to productivity.

AT A.E.C.

Firemen urged to U.S. problems by our own correspondent

MANAGEMENT

call off it in acciang to mal prepared cone united close down week strike parity on the dispute or standard tril the pole powers By our Industrial reporter manded the endin • inis In r o deeds.

LONDON

fireme have told by been The magene to call of unior es with Castle is clear- their another a sere generated Bear and those rain worer In or at aise which s to the issue misers iremen as a series ent wil thot seone me settle dis smashed workir haye already the soup. no nearest ParT aTher had been The so a why the shon calling authority • measures. representative C.N.D. to drop Aldermaston dation all they have matter ane eir action THE CAMPAIGN for while Aldermaston March * march naston March a that the bed aster'. merit in sitt 1970. entertain • middle-cats protest at the conference: bon one at the dece o Nor sad am 220 working Jelegates ompletely isolated from E the London Brigades Col ...

A.T.U.A:

meetings

NORTH KENT

Labour government and the trade unions' Thursday, November 6 8 p.m. i Gordon Place Duchess Woolwich

WILLESDEN

'The Common Market' Thursday, November 6 Willesden Trades and Labour High Road, N.W.10

LUTON

•Labour government and the trace unions Thursday, November 6 8 р.m. Park. Square

COVENTRY

'Crisis in motors- what next? Thursday November 6 7.30 р.m. Sydenho Slee e hotel

LEYLAND

'Crisis in Motors' Friday, November 7 8 р.m. Broadfield edând Lane The fight against productivity deals Monday, November 10 8 р.т. to Make See The daily organ of the Central Committee of the Socialist Labour League

MBER 28 • WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1969

PRICE 6d.

VAUXHALL MOTORS

By David Maude MANY OF Vauxhall's 10,000 laid-off workers at Luton and Dunstable have been recalled to work today, but continuing shop-floor opposi- tion to the company's pay and productivity By an Industrial correspondent proposals makes it extremely unlikely that full THE MINERS' National production can be resumed by the end of the Action Committee is pro- weok, as has been claimed.

ducing a leafiet calling for Engineering union shop the rejection of the Coal stewards Luton have in- Board's offer of a 40-hour now joined those at Elles- week exclusive of meal mere Port opposing ass andy work them breaks. their students from national executive's of collegine The NCB's refusal Coll Instructions to accept the cases were grant the 40-hour week in- deal. cluding the z0-minute mea- They have called a mass 3 who have break surrace wOrTers or their members the main issue left un- was Ior Friday resolved by the recent fort- Elles- mere Porn night-long miners' strike.

been recalled to work, the dis angry Bill Bong man press shop pay is setters rate and there he rection i the ma ection or ther world ofter which that. miners

MORE TALKS

Hours alone the rike on still laid Builder opposition

LOND

have

BUILDI

ORKI

N should vote men

EVICTION

every bodies which told g0 back hours question un

PORTUGAL

Handing back rpose and it. it withe comed with cannot be altered.

'ACCEPTED'

not the main questiperate ¡living. Feather tonall he strare By a foreign correspondent said: FACTS published on Portugal's recent 'general election' committee spokesman have revealed how much Prime Minister Dr Marcello the too made how ll of the Caetano's election victory is really worth.

• PAGE 4 COL. 4 →

s goon tof the 30 years This is not the issue. has govern- the tact of therell aware of ment party, the National

ALL TRADES UNIONS ALLIANCE

Union, which is amitteend from also only legal barty in r ortugal But that is only part of the story Coal Board 2,800,000 governmer bared from miners. as regime as pare of foru Asian out, less milion Ministers 5, only 230,0 or at only hali act did o in London grounds that their den talks estab- tates of the so- ate tacit regime built by ministers from Indonesia Salazar ne farce will de- ceive nobody. The

THIRD TUBE

All car, car delivery and components

STOPPAGE

workers are invited to a motor i Stewart and also with workers' conference weeks Digbeth Civic Hall, Digbeth Thai- on this week.

BIRMINGHAM

Saturday, November 8 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.

metam is a big rea or all 19,000 to these governments ietnan Write tor credentials to R. Parsons, Blackbird Leys, Oxford zi Strawberry Pati Canterence tee os. & nerson

PAGE TWO

IN AUGUST 1969, the British Communist Party published a 60-page booklet by Betty Reid entitled 'Ultra-Leftism in Britain'.

Though she touches on the activities of anarchist and 'Maoist' groups, Reid's main concern is to discredit Trotskyism in general and the Socialist Labour League in particular.

Starting today, the Workers Press will publish five extracts from a larger work dealing with all the main principled differences between Trotskyism and Stalinism.

The extracts we are publishing here will deal with five specific issues raised by Reid's attack on the Fourth International : 1. The Popular Front and the Transitional Pro- gramme of the Fourth International.

2. The Second World War: The Stalin-Hitler Pact.

3. The Second World War: 'The Big Three'.

4. British Trotskyism today: Stalinism and the Re- visionists. 5. The fight for alternative leadership: The Stalin- ist record-and ours.

REID'S REFERENCE

movement at and workers that time. Reid also presents Schacht- "unconditional man's position wrongly- fence" which incorpor- again betraying her profound of Trotskyism. He ates in it the necessity ignorance of the was not supporter for overthrowing the theory that Russia had re- government' (p. 48) is a verted to state capitalism and the that bureaucracy were a cheap attempt to slander capitalist class. the Fourth International Schachtman held the bur- as an anti-Soviet move- eaucracy to be a new type of based on collec- ruling class, ment. relations, the tive property On page 32 she alleges that theory of 'bureaucratic collec- by unconditional defence of tivism'. But far than mis- Union the Soviet Trotsky takes and omissions is her meant 'the only way to de- failure to quote from a single fend it was by the overthrow document of Trotsky's on the Soviet class nature of the of its government'. On the Union and the stand taken by same page she also refers to the Fourth International in its "Trotsky's so-called "uncon- defence. To do so would im- mediately expose all her slan- ditional defence" line'. ders Trotsky's against 'SO- Trotsky never made his de- called' unconditional defence. fence of the USSR conditional Schachtman or dependent on the over- In his struggle against the throw of Stalin. Schachtman after the group In fact, as Reid has to ad- outbreak of the Second World mit, Trotsky's firmness on this War, Trotsky underlined his question drove him to a split position many times over: with the Schachtman •... let us suppose that Hit- ten- dency in the Trotskyist turns his So- ler weapons against cialist Workers Party of the the East and invades the ter-

USA.

the Red ritories occupied by Stalinists, Time and the Army. [Unlike the again same Trotsky always question has come up: has the warned that the Pact Hitler development the bureau- with only cracy and the killing of all the postponed the Nazi onslaught old Bolsheviks destroyed against the Soviet Union.] Un- der these conditions, partisans everything created by the Fourth International, revolution of 1917? of the without changing in any way Trotsky answered firmly in their attitude toward the the negative, as we do today. Kremlin oligarchy, will ad- With Trotsky we defend the vance to the forefront, as the Marxist position that despite most urgent task of the hour, the terrible ravages of Stalin- the military resistance against ism, the bureaucracy has not Hitler. The workers will say: overthrow been able to the "We cannot cede to Hitler established relations the overthrowing of Stalin; by the Octuver Revolution.

that is our own task"? (In De- fence of Marxism' p. 24-25).

Political power Where refer- Is there any the defence of the ence to The working class lost all

USSR

being conditional on political power under the rule the overthrow of Stalin, Mrs of the Stalinist bureaucracy.

Reid? The Soviets turned On contrary, Trotsky were the into tame instruments of the bureaucracy, the statutes on workers' of control produc- revoked tion were either trampled on by the managerial caste that owed its privileges and power to Stalin. But despite all these tre- mendous setbacks for the working class, capitalist pro- have perty relations had and not been restored. Within the framework of nationalized property, state central planning and the mon- opoly of foreign the trade, bureaucracy for itself won social privileges approaching those of the ruling class of the capitalist states. But did the bureaucracy not become a ruling class by so doing. It distorted the property re- lations established the Re- by volution, it stole vast sections of the surplus product of the working class for its own pri- vate consumption (not invest- ment), but it was not able to abolish these same property relations. A Soviet bureaucrat, how- ever exalted, remained but who thought fascism was a matt Molotov, bureaucrat-and then only if confer with Nazi leaders. He was given a Stalin permitted it. Last analysis

LETTER

In the last analysis, the bur- remained section eaucracy EVEN BRIAN MOORE'S ex- of the Soviet state and labour review of 'Adalen 31' cellent movement corrupted by im- (Workers Press, 29) October perialism and thoroughly rot- the political cannot convey by the ted inwardly infiltra- of this and emotional impact tion of class layers and ele- film, nor the beauty of the ments hostile to the 1917 acting and photography. Revolution. This is a film which must That same process of cor- be seen and should be widely ruption and middle-class in- shown. fection has deeply also The producer Bo Widerberg roded the workers' western made the film with the assist- movement. and of In the Soviet Union, it took ance participation Swedish workers who were place several years after and actually in the strikers' march not before the conquest of and he is quoted this week power. Until either imperialism or ('The Guardian', October 28) as saying : the bureaucracy restored cap- relations italist property I went to endless pains to Soviet Union, Trotsky do as they wanted, not what 1 the for unconditional de- When we filmed the stood wanted. fence of the USSR against im- procession which ends with and shooting of five workers, perialist intervention in- the ternal restoration. they kept on interrupting. "No. No"" they'd say, "that this context refers Reid in Trotsky man wasn't killed there. It was to the split between that devel- a little to the left of that tree and Schachtman the signing of the and he was hit in the leg, oped after not the arm." thas a piece of histery that had really felt it Stalin-Hitler Pact. But she avoids relating this to be accurate. So it was-the split to its historical context, for to do so would involve an only piece we possess as a Pact and its matter of fact.' analysis of the whole As Brian Moore says, it demoralizing role 10 would be impossible to get of the revolutionary sections

WORKERS' PRES

so tara dares aton Artil Lease 18000., Bosto dra Tos contades dalto ease las voltles poll tiento paralax.

masons no dracua postates a 73457.

Fu Tolturacht dier dis der Regising " Denticha Reicheregarung;

ULSER:

A copy of the Stalin-Hitler pact signed by Ribbentrop and Molotov showing section 2, which outlines the proposed carve-up of Poland (see text). that the ordinated everything, includ- states most urgent task is its defence against Hit- ing the self-determination of ler, despite the Stalin the Ukraine and the removal regime and of of the Stalinist bureaucracy, its oppression the the defence of the

USSR.

working class. to page 35, he returns to In an interview on February On 14, 1940, Trotsky returned to this same point: this theme: and 'We are completely will see clearly you inde- wholeheartedly for an where I stand in relation to pendent (of Hitler as well as this grouping of forces: on the Soviet Ukraine. But of Stalin) side of the USSR entirely and before what to do if, having unconditionally; before all obtained this independence, against imperialism-of all Hitler the attempts to seize labels; after that- -against the Ukraine which is under the Kremlin oligarchy which faci- Stalinist domination of the litates with its foreign policy The Fourth In- bureaucracy? the preparation of the march ternational answers: Against against the USSR and with its Hitler we will defend this domestic policy debilitates Ukraine enslaved by Stalin.

the Red Army'. Yes. Well over a year be- Unconditional Trot- fore the Nazi invasion, sky warned the Soviet and in- •What does "unconditional" ternational working class of defence of the USSR mean? German imperialism's designs It means do not on the

USSR.

Following Hit- that we lay any conditions upon the ler's conquest of Poland, Trot- bureaucracy. It means that in- sky gave this prophetic warn- dependently of the motive and ing: "To picture it as if the new the causes of the we de- war, fend the social basis of the western boundary of the

USSR,

if it menaced by USSR were a permanent bar- is danger on the part of imper- rier to Hitler's road eastward ialism.' violates all proportion. Hitler From this statement it is solves his tasks by stages. On crystal-clear that Trotsky sub- the order of the day now is was a matter of taste', seen arriving in Berlin on November 12, 1940, to le was given a Nazi guard of honour. By Brian such a film financed in this because it is at that point and this is all the country, that you come slap up more reason that 'Adalen 31' against the big mono- should be put on general re- lease here and shown at local polies. cinemas throughout the coun- Last week I tried to sketch try. This will surely be one of out some of the difficulties of the great film classics and it is film-making in this country, far too valuable to be shown but left out the whole prob- only to the privileged few who lem of film distribution.

Academy One can get to London. There are two major cinema B. Jackson. circuits in this country. That is to say the actual bricks and mortar of theatres are owned B.

JACKSON

raises by two monopoly chains. important some ques- In effect decide two men tions when she says that what is to be shown at your local cinema. 'Adalen 31', should be Their considerations are, of put on general release, course, financial; whether the

/ORKERS' PRESS

the crushing of Great Britain.

For the sake of this objective it is possible to sacrifice some- thing? (Writings of Leon Trotsky (1939-1940), p. 15).

eastward pre- "The march supposes a major war between Germany and the USSR. When the time comes for this war, the question as to what meridian the struggle will begin upon will have only secondary significance? (Nov- ember 1939.) (our emphasis).

Stalin could only 'defend the Soviet Union by diploma- tic and military means. He signed pacts and occu- pied territory (such as parts of Finland and Poland and the Baltic states) but he was un- able and unwilling to summon that greatest defence of all: the revolutionary potential and capacity of the interna- tional working class. This meant unleashing that force the bureaucracy feared as much as any imperialist in- tervention. It was in this sense that Trotsky spoke of the bureaucracy defending and even extending the revo- lution (as with the change in property relations east Poland and the annexed parts of Finland) by counter-revo- lutionary methods, methods which only alienated the working class from the So- viet Union and communism.

Following the defeat of France by Germany, Trotsky again, and for almost the last time, raised his voice in de- fence of the Soviet Union and against the policy of Stalin, which placed it in pawn to the goodwill of Hitler: In spite of the Kremlin's territorial seizures, the inter- national position of the USSR is worsened in the extreme.

The Polish buffer disappeared.

The Rumanian buffer will disappear tomorrow. Mighty Germany, master of Europe, acquires a common frontier with the USSR. '... Her victories in the West are only preparation for a gigantic move toward the East. In the attack on Finland the Red Army, decapitated and demoralized, again by Stalin, demonstrated its weak- ness before the whole world.

In his coming march against the USSR, Hitler will find support in Japan' Persecuted This is how the meagre and persecuted forces of the Fourth International prepared for the defence of the Soviet Union against the Nazi offen- sive. How did Reid's Stalin- ists, both in Britain and the Kremlin, match up to this challenge? For nearly two whole years, from August 1939 to June 22, 1941, they pretended to their members and the work- own ing class all over the world that there was no such dan- ger. And we shall prove it. But first let us expand a little on Trotsky's reference to Stalin's purge of the Red Army forces. What was the extent of the military purge begun by Stalin in June 1937? At the 22nd Congress of the Soviet Communist Party in 1961, Khrushchey only gave a hint of the depth of the purge: 'Delegates have spoken here with pain in their hearts of innocent victims among many prominent Party officials and statesmen. - Such prominent leaders army as Tukhachev- sky, Yakir, Uborevich, Kork, Eidemann and others were victims of the repressions.

"They military were men who had great services to their credit, especially Tukhachev- sky, Yakir and Uborevich, who soldiers.' were outstanding ('The Road to Communism', p. 346.) Evidently Stalin felt he could do without their services. Not only they, but literally thous- ands of other Soviet military leaders, the cream of the Red General Staff, were murdered in the years between 1937 and 1939. y Brian Moore film will show a profit. In this they are speculators, gamblers at the tote, with no more guarantees of the mythi- cal jackpot than any other gambler. And in this sense their choices are haphazard and un- certain and today there is a good deal of confusion about which film actually does make money. In the old days of Holly- wood studio productions with along their contract stars, with a generally high audience attendance at local cinema houses, there was a certain stability, a certain predicta- bility. But since the breakdown of the studio system and the ad- In this period the Red Army lost three of its five Marshals, all I1 of its Deputy Commis- sars for Defence, 75 of its 80 members of the Military Soviet, all its military district commanders who held that post in June 1937. The head of the political administration of the army and his deputy had been shot. The naval and air chiefs of staff were killed. 13 out of 15 army commanders were shot, 57 out of 85 corps commanders were shot, as were 110 out of the divisional commanders. 195 One hundred and eighty-four of the 406 brigade com- manders were shot, while only one feet commander survived the naval , purge. In the Far Eastern forces, over 80 per cent of the staff were purged.

These figures are all taken • Soviet military from sources published since Stalin's death.

They measure Stalin's contri- bution to the defence of the Soviet Union in the years pre- ceding Hitler's invasion in June 1941. In striking these terrible blows against the Party, the working class, the armed forces and the economy, Stalin became the spearhead of the imperialist offensive against the Soviet Union. Though not restoring capi- talist property relations, the bureaucracy served imperial- ism up to that limit by smash- ing all the bulwarks erected by the Party and International in their Leninist period; the internal support of the Soviet masses and the fraternal solid- arity of the international work- ing class and colonial peoples.

Stalinism destroyed both.

and remains, coun It was, ter-revolutionary to the end.

Reid skates on very thin ice with the Nazi-Soviet Pact, and she knows it: 'For those who have been nourished on the conventional explanations of the origins of the Second World War which began with the Soviet-German Pact [even Reid has to admit that the Pact sparked off the war] and the attitude of the international communist move- ment to the outbreak of war in 1939, the study of this [Stalin's March 1939 Congress] speech is an important correc- tive to an oversimplification of this period.' (p. 14.) As we have already proved, the first contact made between Hitler and Stalin was precisely through this speech! Captured Nazi archives pub- lished in 1938 by the US State Department (never challenged by the Kremlin) give an in- dication of the steps taken towards the Pact. On April 17, 1939, a Nazi 'the memorandum noted that Russian press lately was not fully participating in the anti- Germany tone of the American of the and some English papers ... The Russian Am- bassador thereupon stated ap- proximately as follows: Russian policy has always moved in a straight line. ' Ideological differences of opinion had hardly influenced the Russian-Italian relation- ship, las we have seen] and they did not have to prove a stumbling block with regard to • . . There Germany either. exists for Russia no reason why she should not live with us on a more normal footing.

And from normal the relations might become better and better'. (p. 2.) This all-important first stage in the move towards the Pact was recalled by Molotov in his speech to the Moscow Soviet two days before the deal was finally clinched on August 23 : 'We see now that Comrade Stalin's declaration [the one quoted by Reid] had on the whole been understood in Germany and that it has pro- duced practical results'.

the Nuremburg Trials, the Nazi who Ribbentrop, actually initialled the Pact on behalf of Hitler, said the fol- lowing : 'Marshal Stalin made a speech in March 1939 in which vent of independent produc- tion units the guarantees are less secure. The money isn't sure any more, not since 'Tom Jones', which grossed millions of dol- lars, was turned down for general release by one notable distributor in this country.

In this atmosphere of spec- ulation and doubt the choices swing from the capricious to the pedestrian and many good films have fallen foul of this and have never been released.

Recently the two most not- able films which suffered this fate were "The Bofors Gun' and 'Charlie Bubbles'. They've had a limited art house re- lease, but no more. There have been many more that have never been shown anywhere. Reviewing films for this column I am acutely aware that the most interesting ones that I've 'October'. seen, 'Adalen 31', even 'Easy Rider' will not be shown in all pro- bability • outside of London, whereas the reactionary rub- bish like 'Che' and others will be blazoned across every local from Glasgow to Penzance.

Anyone in any doubt about the class position of the mo- guls of the film industry the should glance through he expressed a desire to foster better relations with Germany.

'I informed Adolf Hitler ...

I learned soon after through the negotiations of Minister Schnurre that Stalin had not used this phrase lightly....

The Nazis had read the signs correctly. On May 5, 1939, the Nazi Ambassador in Moscow told Molotov that he 'had the im- pression that the Soviet- German atmosphere had im- proved during the last year or SO' This last year or so' of improving relations between Stalin and Hitler had seen the crushing of the Spanish work- ing class by Franco, with the active assistance of the Nazi 'Condor Legion'. It had also seen the rape of Czechoslovakia and the force- ible annexation of Austria by the Nazis, not to speak of the . Nazi persecution of continued communists, socialists and Jews within the Third Reich itself.

This did the not worry Kremlin. Did not Molotov state after the pact had been signed that 'fascism was a matter of taste'?

Even as Nazi and Stalinist diplomats completed the final trade papers, 'Cinema Today' and 'Weekly Kinema'. There you will find an as- tounding panorama of vulgar- ity and money-grabbing. Apart from the stills of premieres' 'motion picture showing not incidentally the actors or the directors, but the dinner-jacketed financiers and heads of film corporations posing glassy-eyed with their or starlets, wives you can thrill to the published box office returns of the latest epic, or read the penetrating reviews of latest releases as- sessed frankly and un- ashamedly in terms of their 'grossing potential'. Each review ends with 'self- ing points', meant to guide the trade from the point of view of promotion. The categories fall into Star, Title, Sex, Vio- lence, Topicality etc, all of course hard-selling points.

creative So the work of people, whatever their talent, is reduced to the level of a dog food commercial. 'Adalen 31' is assessed as 'art house only'. Comrades should bang on their local cinema managers' doors and insist that 'Adalen 3l' be shown. All letters sent to the Workers Press describing the Wednesday, November 5, 1969 details of the Pact (which above all allowed for the Nazi annexation of Poland and the release of German forces for war in the west) the Inter- national continued to churn out the old popular front, anti- Nazi line. Though Stalin had complete of contempt the ghost Lenin's International (he had already killed all its founders) he could still use it as a cover for his secret diplomacy with Hitler. Defeatism J. R. Campbell, in his book 'Questions Answers on and Communism' outlined Stalinist policy betore the war actually 'Is "defeatism" still the best policy for the workers in a associated capitalist country with the Soviet Union in a war? Obviously not, tor such policy would help a tascist the Soviet victory (1) over Union ... and (2) the over- throw of parliamentary democ- racy and the extermination of the working-class movement.

(p. 46.) What no British Stalinist experience will be published in this column. OF THE two films I've seen this week there is not a great deal to be said. 'Virgin Soldiers' is a super- ficial piece about young Na- tional ' Servicemen in Singa- pore during the 1950s. It starts realistically enough, with young soldier's preoccupation with sex, but is ultimately 'camp' way treated in that that had a vogue in the early 1960s that I thought was dying out. Half way through it takes sharp reactionary turn, which illustrates that super- ficiality has its politics also.

It takes a serious political British uprising against the with all the hostility that middle-class smart-arsed in- tellectuals can muster. Where the dignity of men in struggle is reduced to the level of a smart remark there you have British imperialism on its last cynical legs.

"The Wild Bunch is an epic hymn to oppression, violence, bloodshed, indifference to life, ruggedness, individualism, moral bankruptcy, and bar- barism, all in Cinerama.

ERS' PRESS

march the Soviet i diploma means. tic and military signed ang occu Preland and tionais meant class. force bureaucracy Teared imperialist otsky spendin on tas change east Property delse annexed pass and the riniana. again, almost time, fence of le territorial extreme eared The Mighty master ommon In Ene West are only preparation for gigantic on riniani decapitated support in Japan. Persecuted Tested To themegre and persecuted ourth International prepared aelence OI Une work-

OWI

alla was no such dan expand a to Stalin's potsky st the eed Soviet Communist 1961, only Khrushchev tne aepon rukhachev others were cry, Yakir and borelica, her.

especially ours to Communism, only the bet Soviet tha ands leaderal that, am 1 шле ne Brian Moore it with no more guarantees or cne myua Wlan olner gambler ch choices are haphazard and heir sense their •And of certain and today there IS a good deal of conrusion abou which mm actually doc. along cinema certain bility ot In this period the Red Army lost three of its five Marshals, Il ll of its Deputy Commis- ars tor Defence, 75 of its 8( members of the Military Soviet, all its military district commanders who held that post in June 1937. The head of the political administration of the army and his deputy had been shot. The naval and air chiefs of staff were killed. 13 out of 15 army commanders were shot, 57 out of 85 corps commanders were shot, as were 110 out of the 195 divisional commanders.

One hundred and eighty-four brigade of the 406 com- manders were shot, while only one fleet commander survived the naval purge. In the Far Eastern forces, over 80 per cent of the staff were purged.

These figures are all taken from Soviet military sources published since Stalin's death.

They measure Stalin's contri- bution to the defence of the Soviet Union in the years pre- ceding Hitler's invasion June 1941. In striking these terrible blows against the Party, the working class, the armed forces and the economy, Stalin became the spearhead of the imperialist offensive against the Soviet Union. Though not restoring capi- talist property relations, the bureaucracy served imperial- ism up to that limit by smash- ing all the bulwarks erected by the Party and International in their Leninist period; the internal support of the Soviet masses and the fraternal solid- arity of the international work- ing class and colonial peoples.

Stalinism destroyed both.

and remains, coun It was, ter-revolutionary to the end.

Reid skates on very thin ice with the Nazi-Soviet Pact, and she knows it : 'For those who have been nourished on the conventional explanations of the origins of the Second World War which began with the Soviet-German Pact [even Reid has to admit that the Pact sparked off the war] and the attitude of the international communist move- ment to the outbreak of war in 1939, the study of this [Stalin's March 1939 Congress] speech is an important correc- tive to an oversimplification of this period.' (p. 14.) As we have already proved, the first contact made between Hitler and Stalin was precisely through this speech! Captured Nazi archives pub- ished in 1938 bv the US State Department (never challenged by the Kremlin) give an in- dication of the steps taken towards the Pact. On April 17, 1939, a Nazi memorandum noted that 'the Russian press lately was not fully participating in the anti- Germany tone of the American and of the English some papers ... The Russian Am- bassador thereupon stated ap- proximately as follows: Russian policy has always moved in a straight line. ' Ideological differences of opinion had hardly influenced the Russian-Italian relation- ship, [as we have seen] and they did not have to prove a stumbling block with regard to Germany either. . . . There exists for Russia no reason why she should not live with us on a more normal footing.

And from normal the relations might become better and better'. (p. 2.) This all-important first stage in the move towards the Pact was recalled by Molotov in his speech to the Moscow Soviet two days before the deal was finally clinched on August 23 : 'We see now that Comrade declaration [the one Stalin's quoted by Reid] had on the whole been understood Germany and that it has pro- duced practical results'.

At the Nuremburg Trials, the Nazi Ribbentrop, who actually initialled the Pact on behalf of Hitler, said the fol- lowing: 'Marshal Stalin made a speech in March 1939 in which vent of independent produc- tion units the guarantees are less secure. The monev isn't sure any more, not since 'Tom Jones' which grossed millions of dol turned down for lars, was general release by one notable distributor in this country.

In this atmosphere of spec- ulation and doubt the choices swing from the capricious to the pedestrian and many good films have fallen foul of this and have never been released.

Recently the two most not- able 'films which suffered this Bofors Gun' "The fate were and 'Charlie Bubbles'. They've had a limited art house re- lease, but no more. There have been many more that have never been shown anywhere. Reviewing films for this column I am acutely aware that the most interesting ones that I've seen, 'October' 'Adalen 31', even 'Easy Rider' will not be shown in all pro- bability outside of London, whereas the reactionary rub- bish like 'Che' and others will be blazoned across every local from Glasgow to Penzance.

Anyone in any doubt about the class position of the mo- guls of the film industry should glance through the he expressed a desire to foster better relations with Germany.

'I informed Adolf Hitler ...

I learned soon after through Minister the negotiations of Schnurre that Stalin had not used this phrase lightly. ..: The Nazis had read the signs correctly. On May 5, 1939, the Nazi in Moscow told Ambassador Molotov that he 'had the im- that the Soviet- pression German atmosphere had im- proved during the last year or This 'last year or so' of improving relations between Stalin and Hitler had seen the crushing of the Spanish work- ing class by Franco, with the active assistance of the Nazi 'Condor Legion'. It had also seen the rape of Czechoslovakia and the force- ible annexation of Austria by the Nazis, not to speak of the continued Nazi persecution of communists, socialists and Jews within the Third Reich itself.

This did the not worry Kremlin. Did not Molotov state after the pact had been signed that 'fascism was a matter of taste'?

Even as Nazi and Stalinist diplomats completed the final trade papers, 'Cinema Today' and Weekly Kinema'. There you will find an as- tounding panorama of vulgar- ity and money-grabbing. Apart from the stills of premieres' 'motion picture showing not incidentally the actors or the directors, but the dinner-jacketed financiers and heads of film corporations posing glassy-eyed with their wives or starlets, you can thrill to the published box office returns of the latest epic, or read the penetrating reviews of latest releases as- and sessed frankly un- ashamedly in terms of their 'grossing potential'. Each review ends with 'self- ing points', meant to guide the trade from the point of view of promotion. The categories fall into Star, Title, Sex, Vio- lence, Topicality etc, all of course hard-selling points.

So the work of creative people, whatever their talent, is reduced to the level of a dog food commercial. 'Adalen 31' is assessed as 'art house only. Comrades should bang on their local cinema managers' doors and insist that 'Adalen 31' be shown. All letters sent to the Workers Press describing the Wednesday, November 5, 1969 of details the Pact (which above all allowed for the Nazi annexation of Poland and the release of German forces for in the west) the Inter- war national continued to churn out the old popular front, anti- Nazi line. Though Stalin had complete for the ghost contempt Lenin's International (he had already killed all its founders) he could still use it as a cover for his secret diplomacy with Hitler. Defeatism J. R. Campbell, in his book 'Questions Communism outlined Stalinist Answers policy before the war actually began : "defeatism" still the best Is policy for the workers in a associated country capitalist with the Soviet Union in a war? 'Obviously not, for such a policy would help a fascist victory (1) over the Soviet Union ... and (2) the over- throw of parliamentary democ- racy and the extermination o1 he working-class movement.

(p. 46.) What no British Stalinist experience will be published in this column. OF THE two films I've seen this week there is not a great deal to be said. 'Virgin Soldiers' is a super- ficial piece about young Na- tional Servicemen Singa- pore during the 1950s. It starts realistically enough, with a young soldier's preoccupation with sex, but is ultimatelv 'camp' way treated in that that had a vogue in the early 1960s that I thought was dying out. Half way through it takes sharp reactionary a which illustrates that super- ficiality has its politics also.

It takes a serious political uprising against the British with all the hostility that middle-class smart-arsed in- tellectuals can muster. Where the dignity of men in struggle is reduced to the level of a smart remark there you have British imperialism on its last cynical legs.

"The Wild Bunch is an epic hymn to oppression, violence, bloodshed, indifference to life, individualism, ruggedness, moral bankruptcy, and bar- barism, all in Cinerama. Wednesday, November 5, 1969 Stalinisme the lugs to British From Mav (Stalin Franco Soviet Pact 1934 ..et of August 1939' (St.t.

Nazi Sovie: C.nterence of Feb:...: Greeral Secte!., 5:san and C" fut. had allowed for was the com- bination of the Soviet Union with a fascist government. If the British Communist Party found itself involved in a war in which its own ruling class was fighting against a country enjoying friendly relations with Soviet Union, and the that country was fascist, the con- that flowed from clusion Campbell's argument was that communists must support the fascist government allied with Stalin. And after a great deal of conflict and open controversy, the British Communist Party, like all the parties of the Inter- national, swung round to that A. I. Yaporor

M. N. T

ky J. a. G L I. Yakk R. P. Elder V. M. Orloy J. I. Alksnis Stalin murdered thousands of Red Army c in the years prior to Hitler's invasion.

position in the weeks follow- ing the signing of the Pact.

In neither case, support for the British ruling class or for Germany, was there an in- dependent class line. Though the new line on the war brought the CP into con- flict with the British ruling it did not reflect a class, genuine turn to the left or a break from the thinking behind the popular front. Stalin's diplomacy had the allies changed of the bureaucracy. British Party policy, atter an internal con- flict, followed suit. This change of line can be traced very accurately in the Stalinist press of the period.

'Challenge' (YCL journal) for July 29, 1939: 'All of the world's young people understand how serious the times are. They see the need to stop Hitler's threat of aggression.' •Daily Worker, August 19, 1939: Nazi pact threatens 'New Poland' [This Nazi pact was not the one being negotiated by Stalin for the partition of Poland, it was a pact projected between Hitler and the Nazi 'Protectorate' of Slovakia.] Daily Worker, August 21: [Two days before Stalin-Hitler Pact] Never has the need been more urgent for a great wave of popular pressure here in Britain to force the Cham- berlain government to GET

ON WITH THAT PACT.'

So up to August 23, 1939, the British Stalinists knew of the one projected two pacts, between Slovakia and Hitler aimed against Poland, and which they opposed, and an- other between Britain and the Soviet Union, which they sup- ported. All this, they believed, was in line with Stalin's popular front policy of supporting the anti-German imperialist powers. Hitler Pact News of the Pact between Stalin and Hitler on August 23, 1939, did not deflect the British Communist Party from its previous policy. The 'Daily Worker' for that day attempted to present the an anti-Nazi blow Pact as by Stalin struck (the same argument used two days before to justify an anti-Hitler Pact Chamberlain and between Stalin). The Pact was 'a demonstra- tion before the world of the decisive power of the Soviet Union and of the results which can be achieved by a genuine stand against aggression' (Within a week Hitler's aggression against Poland had begun.) 'Challenge', under Gollan's leadership, took up this line on August 26 : ' Let and Chamberlain Daladier fly to Moscow and open up direct conversations with the Soviet government..?

So the leaders of British and French imperialism were still invited to sign a Pact with Stalin, even after he had con- a deal that would cluded within days bring about war between the two imperialist camps! thoroughly opportunist The leaders of the Party in Britain wanted it both ways. They wanted to serve Stalin by backing his Pact with Hitler, calling it a blow against fascist aggression, and at the same time, go on backing their own ruling class against Hitler as if nothing had changed.

8. s. Kamo I P. Ubeceritch I A Mukleriel I. A. Khalepeky s of Red Army chiefs (some seen above), If the British Communist Party had known the full terms of the Pact, they would not have been so eager to pre- sent it as a blow against Nazi aggression. Its first section was made public at the time. The first article was the most import- ant : 'Both High Contracting Parties obligate themselves to desist from any act of vio- lence, any aggressive action, This gave the Nazis a free hand against Poland, the de- tails of whose partition were set out in a secret protocol only revealed after the war (and never denied by the Kremlin). '2. In the event of a terri- torial and political re-arrange- ment [!] of the areas belonging to the Polish State, the spheres of influence of Germany and the USSR shall be bounded approximately by the line of the rivers Narew, Vistula and San.' Carve-up Unaware of this plan to carve up Poland, the Daily Worker' of August 25 claimed: 'Poland can be Saved'. The next day, the same paper asserted 'under the ham- Soviet blows of the mer government, the Berlin-Tokyo- Rome Axis of fascism was yesterday visibly being broken to pieces'. Things were moving in the opposite direction. entirely Protracted negotiations be- tween Molotov (who visited During the Soviet occupation of Poland th The bureaucracy was forced to extend the Uberation ease sobe to be statered by were soon to be shattered by wholeheartedly for an independent Soviet U enslaved by Stalin! Berlin to see Hitler) and the Nazis led to the drafting of an agreement between Stalin and the Axis, the view of with forming a four and not three power pact; with the Soviet Union as the fourth member.

'Article 3. Germany, Italy, Japan and the Soviet Union undertake to join no combina- tion which of powers directed at one of the Four Powers. The Four Powers will assist each other in economic matters in every way and will supplement and extend the existing amongst agreements themselves' In the same (August 26) 'Daily Worker' issue of the Pollitt wrote in his usual brash style, completely impervious to the contradictions of his Party's position : I have not the slightest idea long the talks have of how been going on, and care less.'

He then tries to link • up Stalin's pact with Hitler to the purges in a way which comes very close to the truth: 'Spies' 'If the Soviet Union had not dealt so firmly with the spies, wreckers and Trotskyists, it would not now be in the posi- tion where Ribbentrop is com- pelled to fly, to Moscow to sign a pact... But what was the mair charge levelled against the Trotskyists in the Moscon Trials ? That they sought to come forever and sign a pact with Now that Stalin had done just this, the Trotskyists have ents or sesh a polite le only when the opposition had been rushed could Stalin commi le ultimate betraval of linin

WORKERS

Political rel rangement of lie areas The USSR stall Be bounded aparoxim the area up the soviet Union with the incarnation anu-commun Nazi ism, regime ucrillany but an porter mes the the Dalt Worker' headlined its Pato War 'Challenge' followed this with the same lay pledge: If fascism looses war upon Viberation ease soon to be shattered by de cåseist dictators tip. Worst, ched by Sly fi, an independent Soviet Ukraine. But agrisp Tries k the world, the YCL fulle up.

porch declares it l do allo Its power to ensure a speedy victor toes Soviet Planted a all Poland, necessary France Britain. British Party re on this aware sauc brutal fact.

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9.15 a.m.-12 noon Schools. 12.25 D.M Ana Mil unar samaniye 12.55 Maes A Mor 1.30 Watch With Mother. 1.45-1.53 News and Weatherman. 2.05-2.50 Schools 3.45 Kepresenting Ine Union 4.20 Play School. 4.55 The Sing- Tree. Ringing 5.15 Wild World. 5.44 Babar. 5.50 National News and Weather 6.00 London-Nationwide. 6.45 The Newcomers. 7.10 The Laugh Parade. 8.50 Theather. News Main and 9.10 The Wednesday Po Valley!

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10.40 Weatherman. All region a BBCI except at thi Mida Mulan Tody Look 06,

Wednesday, November 5, 1969 fo British Stalinisna From the top May: 1934 (Stalin Soviet Pact: of Nazi Sovint Wirt of August 1939° (Statiri bentor: Yuila Conterence of Februat. General Secr.:... ;: in an.! had allowed for was the com- bination of the Soviet Union with a fascist government. If the British Communist Party found itself involved in a war in which its own ruling class was fighting against a country enjoying friendly relations with the Soviet Union, and that country was fascist, the con- that flowed from clusion Campbell's argument was that communists must support the fascist government allied with Stalin. And after a great deal of conflict and open controversy, the British Communist Party, like all the parties of the Inter- national, swung round to that A. I. Yogaroy M. N. Tukbacheroky J. L. GI L E. Yakk R. P. Elders V. M. Orlov J. I. Alkanis Stalin murdered thousands of Red Army c in the years prior to Hitler's invasion.

position in the weeks follow- ing the signing of the fact.

In neither case, support for the British ruling class or for Germany, was there an in- ependent class line 'hough the new line on th war brought the CP into con- flict with the British ruling class, it did not reflect a genuine turn to the left or a break from the thinking behind the popular front. Stalin's diplomacy had changed the allies of the bureaucracy. British Party policy, after an • internal con- flict, followed suit. This change of line can be traced very accurately in the Stalinist press of the period.

'Challenge' (YCL journal) for July 29, 1939: 'All of the world's young people understand how serious the times are. They see the need to stop Hitler's threat of aggression.' 'Daily Worker', August 19, 1939: New Nazi pact threatens Poland' [This Nazi pact was not the one being negotiated by Stalin for the partition of Poland, it was a pact projected between Hitler and the Nazi 'Protectorate' of Slovakia.] Daily Worker, August 21: [Two days before Stalin-Hitler Pact] 'Never has • the need been more urgent for a great wave of popular pressure here in Britain to force the Cham- government to GET berlain

ON WITH THAT PACT!

So up to August 23, 1939, the British Stalinists knew of two pacts, the one projected between Slovakia and Hitler aimed against Poland, and which they opposed, and an- other between Britain and the Soviet Union, which they sup- ported. All this, they believed, was in line with Stalin's popular front policy of supporting the anti-German imperialist powers. Hitler Pact News of the Pact between Stalin and Hitler on August 23, 1939, did not deflect the British Communist Party from its previous policy. The 'Daily Worker' for that day attempted to present the anti-Nazi Pact as • blow an Stalin (the same struck by argument used two days before to justify an anti-Hitler Pact between Chamberlain and Stalin). The Pact was a demonstra- tion before the world of the decisive power of the Soviet Union and of the results which can be achieved by a genuine stand against aggression' Hitler's (Within week aggression against Poland had begun.) 'Challenge', under Gollan's leadership, took up this line on August 26 : 'Let Chamberlain and Daladier fly to Moscow and up direct conversations open with the Soviet government...

So the leaders of British and French imperialism were still invited to sign a Pact with Stalin, even after he had con- that would cluded a deal within days bring about war imperialist between the two camps ! The thoroughly opportunist leaders of the Party in Britain wanted it both ways. They wanted to serve Stalin his Pact with by backing Hitler, calling it a blow against fascist aggression, and at the same time, go on backing their own ruling class against Hitler as if nothing had changed.

8. S. Катози L r. Uberevitch R. A. Mukleriel I. A. Khalepeky of Red Army chiefs (some seen above), If the British Communist Party had known the full terms of the Pact, they would not have been so eager to pre- sent it as a blow against Nazi ggressior ts first section was mad ublic at the time. The firs rticle was the most import Parties obligate themstres to desist from any act of vio- any aggressive action, and any attack on each other, either individually or jointly with other powers.' This gave the Nazis a free hand against Poland, the de- tails of whose partition were set out in a secret protocol only revealed after the war (and never denied by the Kremlin). '2. In the event of a terri- torial and political re-arrange- ment [!] of the areas belonging to the Polish State, the spheres of influence of Germany and the USSR shall be bounded approximately by the line of the rivers Narew, Vistula and San.' Carve-up Unaware of this plan to carve up Poland, the 'Daily Worker' of August 25 claimed: 'Poland can be Saved'. The next day, the same paper asserted 'under the ham- of the blows Soviet mer government, the Berlin-Tokyo- Rome Axis of fascism was yesterday visibly being broken to pieces. Things were moving in the direction. entirely opposite negotiations Protracted be- tween Molotov (who visited During the Soviet occupation of Poland the The bureaucracy was forced to extend the p Liberation ease be to be shattered by t were soon to be shattered by t wholeheartedly for an independent Soviet Uk enslaved by Stalia? Berlin to see Hitler) and the Nazis led to the drafting of an agreement between Stalin and the Axis, with the view of forming a four and not three power pact; with the Soviet Union as the fourth member.

'Article 3. Germany, Italy, Japan and the Soviet Union undertake to join no combina- is which tion of powers directed at one of the Four Powers. The Four Powers will assist each other in economic matters in every way and will supplement and extend the existing amongst agreements themselves'. In the same (August 26) issue of the 'Daily Worker', Pollitt wrote in his usual brash completely impervious style, to the contradictions of his Party's position : 'I have not the slightest idea long the talks have of how been going on, and care less.'

then tries to lnk up Stalin's pact with Hitler to the purges in a way which comes very close to the truth: 'Spies' If the Soviet Union had not dealt so firmly with the spies, wreckers and Trotskyists, it would not now be in the posi- tion where Ribbentrop is com- pelled to fly to Moscow to sign a pact... what was the main But against the charge levelled Moscow Trotskyists in the Trials ? That they sought to come to power and sign a pact with Hitler. Now that Stalin had done just this, the Trotskyists have o be presented as the oppon- ents of such a policy, 1.e. only when the opposition had been crushed could Stalin commit the ultimate betrayal of lining

WORKERS' PRESS

The cynical carve-up of Poland was agreed. The Stalin-Hitler Pact read: 'In the er Polish state, the spheres of political rearrangement of the areas belonging to the the USSR shall be bounded approximately by the line if the rivers Narew, Vistul up the Soviet Union with the On September 9, 1939, of 'Challenge' was still calling it incarnation anti-commun- Nazi *a war loosed upon the world ism, the regime in Germany. by Hitler and the Nazis'. Still pro-Pact pursuing its Its anti-German line became the 'Daily but anti-Hitler line, even more strident: Worker' of September 2 (the "There is no-one who does day following Hitler's invasion not feel a thrill of pride in the of Poland) headlined its front people of Britain today. Plunge page: 'Nazis World Dominant in the minds of Into War'. everyone is the thought that 'Challenge' followed this up fascism must be defeated. .

the same day with the on Today we march to finally de- pledge : fascism. No-one flinches stroy from the task.' 'If fascism looses war upon n of Poland the peasants (above) divided up the lands of the Polish nobility.

to extend the property relations of October into its conquered territories.

welcome the advancing columns of the Wermacht. However, these illusions of • shattered by the fascist dictatorship.

Trotsky wrote: 'We are completely and endent Soviet Ukraine. But ... against Hitler we will defend this Ukraine Even as late as September 23, policy Gollan stuck ports the to the popular which declares it will do all in front line of backing British its power to imperialism ensure a speedy and its allies over fascism.' victory against Germany: But the Soviet bureaucracy •Poland has fallen victim to did not want 'a speedy victory brutal Nazi aggression [sanc- over fascism'. It wanted a Nazi tioned by Pact the with Stalin]. Nazi Poland, and if victory over aggression must defeated by France and be necessary over the re- all Britain. sources of the British people British Party was and the peoples of the Empire.'

The soon of to be made this That was Gollan on Septem- aware brutal fact. ber 23, 1939.

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9.15 a.m.-12 noon Schools. 12.25 Apna Hi Ghar Samajhiye. p.m. 12.55 Maes A Mor. 1.30 Watch With Mother. 1.45-1.53 News and Weatherman. 2.05-2.50 Schools. 3.45 Representing The Union.

4.20 Play School. 4.55 The Sing- Ringing Tree. 5.15 Wild ing, World. 5.44 Babar. 5.50 National Wentary, Natiheride. 11.12 News News and Weather. of England: 6.00-6.45 ines, Ve athe 6.00 London-Nationwide. Northern Were Headin, 6.45 The Newcomers. Wales: 10.25-10.45 a.m. Wales" Сут- · 9.00 6.00-6.49 Nationwide. 6.45.710 Heddiw. 7.10 The Laugh Parade. 9.05 Party Political Broadcast 19.05-9.90 behalf Plaid 8.50 The Main News Clive Iuthgoe nlavs Gershwin.

and Weather. Scotland: 2.30-2.50 p.m. Modern 6.00-6.45 Reporting Scotland.

Studies. 9.10 The Wednesday Hay alley : 'All 10.50-11.05 11.05-11.20 snot creel Out For Kangaroo 11 20 Made Britain. colosue Scottish News Headlines, Weather. 10.20 24 Hours. Northern Ireland: 10.25-10.45 a.m. Schools. 6.00-6.45 Around Six Nationwide, Weather 11.42 Northern 10.50 Association Football.

Ireland News Headlines, Weather 10.40 Weatherman. Points South and West: 6.00-6.45 West, South Today Snorian South. West, Weather. Nationwide. All wing mess as BBCI except at the The Main News, 9.00-9.05 Party Political Broadcast on 9.05-9.10 Clive Lythgoe Dlays ershwin 11.42 Headlines Midlands diadds 5 Today: Weather. p.m. t read: In the event of territorial or , the spheres of influence of Germany and rs Narew, Vistula and San.

On November 4, a month after the Party had swung be- hind the new Kremlin line that Britain and France were the and aggressors, not Hitler, Gollan now wrote the follow- the "victim ing about brutal Nazi aggression' in an article entitled 'Stop the War Now': 'The case of Poland cannot be compared with that of Czechoslovakia, China or other victims of Nazi aggression.

is attacked In 1939, Poland again. Who fired the first shot makes no difference to the fact that it is an imperialist war.

An end to the war now means a victory for the progressive forces [previously the defeat of Hitler meant just the same thing] Then Gollan used the very arguments employed by Cham- berlain after Munich to justify the annexation of Poland by Hitler : 'That peace will or will not strengthen Hitler by the addi- tion of more territory is simply not the issue. The reality of the situation is not the restor- ation of the old Polish state, ideological crusade not an against Hitlerism. These are simply excuses for continuing the war. ...Reality and the interests of the people demand an end to the war now and an immediate peace conference.'

(Our emphasis.) on October 7, Carller, Gollan's YCL had called for acceptance of Hitler's the "peace' proposals, which, of course, included the continued Poland occupation and Czechoslovakia by Nazi forces: Peace proposals "Think it over - because we've got the chance to end the war before it has really started [Warsaw lay in ruins, with thousands dead or camps]. concentration The chance of a lifetime.. • Peace proposals are talked of follow- ing the recent German-soviet The war in East agreement. Europe has been brought to an end by the strength and initia- tive of the Soviet Union [and the Nazi Panzer Units]. To continue the war under is these conditions now deadly menace to the peoples of all countries.' The 'Daily Worker' was just as cynical. From its 'Warsaw cries for aid in her agony' (September 25), the paper swung behind the Hitler peace plan on Sep- tember 30 : 'Peace offer to Europe. .

To talk of war to the end which means the slaughter of the youth of Europe, would be sheer madness.' The position of the Fourth International on the Second World War had always been clear. Trotsky's split from Schacht- man on the defence of the USSR arose out of the anti- witch-hunt following Soviet

B.B.C.-2

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I.T.V.

11.00-11.57 Schools. 1.40- a.m. 2.35 p.m. Schools. 4.15 News 4.17 Tingha and Headlines. Tucker Club. 4.30 Crossroads.

4.55 Lift Off. 5.20 Sexton Blake Versus The Gangsters. 5.50 News From ITN. 6.03 Today. 6.35 The Saint. 7.30 Coronation Street. 8.00 It Takes A Thief. 9.00 Special Branch. 10.00 News At Ten. 10.30 Sez Les. 11.00 Professional Wrestling.

11.45 The Papers. 12 midnight Miscellany. the signing of the Stalin-Hitler pact. Middle - class intellectuals such as Schachtman had been prepared to defend the Soviet Union while its ruling bureau- cracy allied itself with 'demo cratic opinion' in the USA and other imperialist states ranged against Germany. All the purges of the oppo- sition had not provoked a re- vision of Trotsky's thesis that the Soviet Union was a . de- generated workers' state.

With the shift in Soviet diplomacy away from the USA towards Nazi Germany, Schachtman and others in and around the Trotskyist move- bent to 'democratic. Stalin ment opinion' by not only rejecting the pact but the defence of the Soviet Union as well. Schachtman was never able to explain how diplomacy changed property relations (though it could certainly jeopardize them). • insisted that the Trotsky Second World War was an imperialist war insofar as it involved a clash between the imperialist interests of the two major groupings. Clash But when and where the Soviet Union clashed with either of the two groups of imperialist powers, or capital- ist states controlled by them, the nature of the war was determined by the socialist property relations the Soviet Union, and the Fourth International (as we have al- ready proved in the quota- tions) stood and fought for the victory of the Red Army in such clashes. Unlike Stalin, the Fourth International pursued a class line; both before the war and throughout it, both before and after the Nazi invasion of the

USSR.

At no time between 1939 Demoralized and decapitated by Stalin's pu thousands of Soviet troops in Finland were from hunger and cold when supply lines wi weather during Kemi River battle.

Yorkshire Sc.hoo18: 4.00 Houseparty: 44.15 News Schools. 4.00 Houseparty. Headlines. 4.30 Survival. Paulus. 1.55 Lift Off. 5.20 Sexton Blake. 5.50 News. 6.00 Calendar. 6.30 Hogan's Heroes. 7.00 Joker's Wild. 7.30 Corona- tion Street. 8.00 The Saint. 9.00 Special Branch. 10.00 News At Ten, Weather.

10.30 Sez Les. 11.00 Professional Wrest- ling. 11.45 Late Weather.

Anglia Schools. 1.38-2.55 p.m. 10.58-11.57 a.m. Schools. 4.05 Katie Stewart Cooks. 4.30 Anglia Newsroom. 4.35 The Romper Room. 4.55 Lift Off. 5.20 Sexton Blake.

5.50 News. About Anglia. 6.35 6.00 Crossroads. 7.00 Survival. 7.30 Corona- tion Street. 8.00 The Advengers. 9.00 At Ten, special Branch, 10.00 News 10.30 Sez Les. 11.00 Pro- Weather. fessional Wrestling. 11.45 Reflection.

Westward 11.00-11.57 a.m. Schools. 1.40-2.55 p.m.

4.01 Hatty Town. 4.13 West- Schools. News Headlines. 4.15 Open ward House. 4.41 The Gus Honeybun Show. 4.55 Lift Off. 5.20 Sexton Blake. 5.50 National News. 6.00 Westward Diary.

6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 Treasure Hunt.

7.30 Coronation Street. 8.00 The Saint.

9.00 Special Branch. 10.00 News At Ten. 10.30 Sez Les. 11.00 Professional Wrestling. 11.45 Faith For Life. 1I.51 Weather.

PAGE REE

and 1941 did the British Com- nunist Party fight along revo utionary defeatist lines in keeping, with Lenin's policy during the First World War.

It called for peace confer- ences between Hitler and the British government (as we have just proved) and did not advance through its agitation the demand to convert the imperialist war into a civil war. Insofar as the British party had a consistent line betore, during and after the period of the Pact, it was to serve the counter-revolutionary interests of the Soviet bureaucracy.

This it did by supporting Stalin's imperialist allies.

When Stalin leaned towards France and Britain, the Com- intern called an anti- Hitler alliance. When Stalin leaned towards Hitler, the British CP dropped its anti-Nazi propaganda and exclusive. directed its fire against Chamberlain and then Churchill. And finally, when the Nazi invasion of the USSR con- verted Churchill into an 'ally' of the Soviet Union, the CP again switched its line. Now there could be no British im- struggle against perialism, only its strengthen- ing. The period of the Pact itself drove Stalinism to the most degrading depths as it fought to defend Stalin's alliance with Hitler. This period between August 1939 and June 1941 is a com- plete blank for nearly all mem- bers of the Communist party, and it is therefore essential to examine it in some detail.

Above all, we shall prove that Stalin's Pact with Hitler, far from protecting the Soviet Union from imperialist inter- vention, made the Nazi in- vasion not only certain, but a hundred times more deva- stating. ed by Stalin's purge of the Red Army, in Finland were either captured, or died n supply lines were cut in 22 below zero Tyne Tees 11.00-11.57 a.m. Schools. 1.40-2.55 p.m.

Schools. 4.09 North East Newsroom. 4.11 News Headlines. 4.13 Torchy. 4.30 Freud On Food. 4.53 North East Newsroom. 4.55 Lift Off. 5.20 Sexton 5.50 News. 6.00 Today At Six.

Blake. 6.30 Police Call. 6.35 Castle Haven. 7.00 The Legend Of Jesse James. 7.30 Coronation Street. 8.00 The Saint. 9.00 Special Branch. 10.00 News At Ten. 10.30 Face The Press: Lt-Col 11.00 Professional Colin Mitchell. Wrestling. 11.45 Late • News Extra. 12.02 a.m. "Doubting Your Doubts'.

Grampian S0.oo18.4.15 Sens eadiness 4.1 Schools. Headlines. Tingha and The Tucker Club. Castle Haven. 4.55 Lift Off. 5.20 Sexton Blake. 5.50 News. 6.00 Grampian News.

6.10 Grampian Week. 6.35 Crossroads.

7.00 Survival. 7.30 Coronation Street. 8.55 Police News. 8.00 The Baron. 9.00 Special Branch. 10.00 News At 10.30 Sez Les. 11.00 Professional Wrestling. Scottish Sos: 20 Scorind a430 Schools. Scotland 5.20 Sexton Crossroads. 4.55 Lift Of. 5.20 5.50 National News. 6.00 Scot- Blake. 7.30 land nation Street. 6.35 Peyton Place. 8.00 The Saint. Coronation News 9.00 Special Branch. 10.00 Teres 10go Scots Late Call. Professional

PAGE FOUR

WORKERS PRESS

Wednesday, November 5, 196.

Interchangeability' behind pay offer

LATIN AMERICA

Nixon warns of Building workers massive face hard 'no strings' aid cuts BUILDING EMPLOYERS have been told by leaders fight By Robert Black of the industry's three main unions that their final' LAST WEEK'S speech by Nixon on the offer for a pay and productivity deal covering one subject of overseas aid indicated the real depth By our Industral roporter million workers is unacceptable.

of the crisis in the US economy.

President Nixon Kennedy's 'Alliance for The deal would new Progress' is now in ruins.

give them major product Panic in Work vity concessions and tie offer Lebanon granchost workers to mimimum ear romises ano no panacea Saigon to rule ings only Nixon declarea. nor vear we in the United states a lus over tie next three backs down have pursued illusion could that we could remake con- over U.S. scheduled tinents Was signing last weekend shut off Woodenter tere of t split to Arab electricity commandos aul ing clas over viemam POWER STATIONS could rejection of the continues

TRADITIONS

• tO • snur down us week as electricity SuDDIY workers Offer AFTER two weeks of clashes between Palestinian com- continue their overtime ban work-to-rule which mandos and Lebanese army units, a ceasefire has been and started on Monday. arranged by Nasser and the Lebanese army leader, General Bustani. not lightly make such dec proposed AcCording to tne terms Much of it Latin Amerion, They are demanding a offering wardiday and more the agreement. Corpse acoly indeed pat to it won centrated ment an Lebanese government, while upholding 'sovereignty military territorial will not hinder future the flood of Us ding a 520 The actidetect rilla aimed at the that Thie's Israeli Zionists economy talks beeween employers drive, and cornes of tactics Australian unions. Glasgow Shaken strikes in Argent and unr minimum figure National threat commandan entrato ae Latin Americar Tory premier Panic buying stability. et was also reported over dustmen earnings minimUm buying leve begun in challenged paper "alled tow a ones does ared boy treachery are undoubtedly return a real by Scottish Don, a then By a political correspondeni 1963 Conte Young Socialists Cind National steelworks GLASGOW DUSTMEN have returned to work follow-

GRAND XMAS

Force Comery Party Cabinet take mao launeti parture of the ductivity similar to the deal negotiated by the Scottish tied to an acreement macrease for a £20 basic wag halted or 40 hours. on

BAZAAR

the Party Teadership. Commercial Motormen's Union (SCMU) in Edinburgh N.LF. delegation Hard line a fortnight ago. Kobal at he wed ade RESTRICTED working by Saturday, Nov. 29 The SCMU also led the octicut wince the employer From M. Shaw workers could close in Moscow negotiations in Glasgow •owe the •usa •tee cor. steelworks Doration's Canning Town Public Hall General pal Workers Ravenscraig, Lanarkshire.

Municipal doors open 12 noon Union Taft-Hartley threat members, who were in oppo- extense calls Can you sew? knit? paint? 1 wever, building workers an certainly preparing orke in General-Electric make some me or ou sa apreta al me Nanonal olt eral Alex give something towards our bazaar ?

mausular council. Have you a tin of grocery? jumble?

notrom strike Help us make this the best bazaar ever held I on for at least or ust bee Help us raise the money for our daily paper- advicer action against my being dise , the rejection of a To be decided • our of acount increase indicated ports not and non-union backlers

SCMU

Clalll. 338. га. Some of GE's plants are The management has refused mean would VIsIt. Electric empiogeis Firemen want to approach would be and computer highly dangerous. drivers. to work normally or go home "rade tions. Nickel strike causes Program an e wakhars nrass world metal crisis workers press 72,000 communists in Sent area be bande Right Indonesian prisons INDUSTRY in the ad- maican is work to benical vanced capitalist countries is now facing one of its ACCORDIOn Diet it these at sill a Antara, gravest raw-materials crises whiroduction (eel PrO since the end of the war.

en it thems Agency, about 72,000 protracted strikes at the alt sult nelln nickel unions or GE. Canadian mines, nickel detentior were. engineering which _Chief Pangabean a General for world before lone Marader Westinghouse moves to

ORDER THE

quoted by P Already rist steel Corpolio of nickel to i and

DAILY

have begun

UDIT

lodesia Since invest in France workers rress corresoonaen strikes made andr Vital inaustries. wined on in the scan Babcock and Wilcox Britain, government least half Confederation l of left-wing coup, and the dered communists were mur-

NOW

hot brows daly. government's change Rhodesian now reach

DRAWN-OUT

Late, osty the • 1 ne Luton stewards over is purche osted dally) of the United Nations. OR

• FROM PAGE ONE

Solve nothing So much for sanctions wher November day for three et for three months Mittee absure distripinary Thome vast Clinched soon industry I would like to subscribe to Workers' Press for mittee the Stewards The big international mono ational war against the work Name ng class Other it instinge c action must be pre- that over

DIRECT ATTACK

manu Address. strategy to power or tal hams and Heel Westin fuse do kilome trim, perhaps chromg! it an averag 0f1,6 to 220 forthe miners should through nalude not aropher ts 1862 сл Plap am Crue, Organist, Te: D20 2186 told Workers that onal sut the Uniter States recently, more • will have to t2 to es western Europe.