Gold situation confused

Bill Jones, though no longer a member of the British Communist Party, has always been linked with its policies and been prominent in trade union rank-and-file gatherings and LEADERS of London's 28,000 committees supported, by the busmen-who have threatened to stop on New Year's Day —will accompany top union Exactly who, trade unionists officials to the Ministry of should ask, is responsible for Transport today in a bid to the drafting of this 'broad' avert the strike. resolution - so broad that it could get the support of Nixon himself? sufter, the men fear, as a result of cuts in services folWe are told by the 'Star' lowing the Greater London that some members of the General Council wanted something 'sharper'-perhaps even services. a condemnation of US imperialism and a call for the withdrawal of troops. this.

But in the interests of unity, Bill Jones-and • the right wing — won the day over.

and the resolution was Jones seeks "peace' formula nesday night by 200 branch Jobs and earnings may officials of the National Union of Railwaymen, Electrical Trades Union, National Union of Vehicle Builders, AmalgaCouncil's January 1 take-over mated Engineers and Foundryof all the capital's transport workers and Transport and General Workers.

They say that they have However the busmen's been kept in the dark about official ten-man negotiating committee has said that it is Railwaymen and mainten ance staff are also concernec strike threat in the light of prepared to reconsider about the effects of the taketoday's meeting , with TransA call for all London trans- port Minister Mr Fred Mulley. Pantary I was made on Wed. T&GWU general secretary Mr Jack Jones, who instigated US TREASURY officials The price of gold on the claimed that no basic change free market has now fallen so had taken place in the that it now stands close to American position on gold the 'official' price of 35 dollars sales after talks with South an ounce. Africa in Rome this week.

The main American aim it that way, but their balance seems to be to continue the of payments remains weak practice whereby central banks and is expected to worsen do not buy South African next year in view of the regold. cession which is forecast. At the same time the South Africans are being urged to Meanwhile the slide in the regulate their sales to the In- free market price has weakternational Monetary Fund ened the barrainine position and to the free market in order to preserve the two-tier gold price system. the meeting, is expected to call for a public inquiry into the state of London's transport services.

He says they are in a state of 'virtual collapse'.

This is hardly the point.

Transport workers are faced with threats to their jobs and living-standards as a direct result of the Labour government's cut-back policies.

Only a political and industrial struggle against these policies can solve the problems now facing all sections of transport workers.

The Americans want to keep of South Ăfrica as the main gold-producing country.

It has meant a big loss in foreign earnings and a big strain on the balance of payments.

To stand out against American pressure now would require a deflationary policy which the Vorster government regards as untimely in a pre-election period.

How successful the US has been in driving a hard bargain with South Africa during the talks remains unclear.

Meanwhile, European bankers would like to buy gold directly from South Africa, which the Americans are so far standing out against, because it would tend to drive the price upwards once again.

The present position is thus ull of uncertainty since no one knows what moves the US. South Africa and the big central banks are likely to make or whether the two-tier system can long survive.

The pessimistic assessments now being made of future economic trends in the United States must also strongly influence the situation.

carried. But unity with whom?

A resolution on Vietnam that wins the support of the die-hard anti-communist and pro-Wilson right wingers, many of whom openly supported the proposed penal clauses against unconstitutional strikes' can only lead to unity with imperialism in its war against the Vietnamese people.

New factor The Stalinists have been exponents of the 'broad' or "popular' front since well before the war.

It has led millions of workers to defeat and fascist rule all over Europe.

But here an entirely new factor is introduced. The Gollan line of opposite Czechoslovakia on the basis of appeasing anti-communist and "liberal' opinion in the labour bureaucracy and the middle class now hits directly at the Vietnamese Revolution.

That stand was simply made for purpose of preserving the long and tenderly nurtured relations with • Gollan's 'left' allies in the Labour Party and the trade unions.

It had nothing to do with international solidarity with the Czech working class in their struggle against Stalinism.

Having said the first letter of the anti-communist alphabet, Gollan and company must now move on to the second and the third.

All pretence at solidarity, or even neutrality, dropped in this resolution, which is in no way criticized by the 'Morning Star'.

The appeal to end the war is not addressed to the British working class, for whom the General Council claims Builders