Workers Press no. 66

workers press The daily organ of the Central Committee of the Socialist Labour League

NUMBER 66

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1969

PRICE 6d.

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER

PUBLISHED FROM TUESDAY TO SATURDAY •

S.L.L. Central Committee demands: Briefly

STOP WILSON'S VISIT

TO WASHINGTON

CALL:

NALGO SIRIKE

cond encal Gove

HANDS OFF TRADE

Kenneth Tynan signs petition

UNION RIGHTS!

HOOVER

1971Y.S. lead the fight

TYNAN,

KENNETH

STUDENTS

and pro- THE whole labour movement must be roused to Theatre ducer, has adder action against the back-door betrayals being pre-

E1,000 MONTHLY

signature to Gunboat pared by the TUC General Council in the form of

APPEAL FUND

their 'guidelines' on shop stewards, published to- repressio: Sondemon in

ONLY

day. students June 1969, the overwhelming £57-10s.

NO SUPPORT

opposition of the rank and file of the Stepan fos trade unions forced the withdrawal of thickens

TO CUME IN

Wilson's and Castle's proposed anti- union legislation.

FOR T.U.C.

magnificent

MARITIME

officials

A REALLY

But the TUC, in its une 18 under- he French port of Cher ordered to taking to Wilson, set out on a course Led nation The far has of achieving the same anti-union ends ive gunboats going by the back door. regula-

"GUIDELINES'

employers' and iccepung that the unions must pu Tories' line ac partur their own nouse oraer, te unlon on casuas morning One fight leaders accepted ine orkanized boats' the 24 houl 1 he mer workers. and not the emplovers and their Socialishe sive leaving ystem, are responsible for the crisis ince ther about laying into * mend to plice the mins to marr a list or t or th the boastery, " Wilsons vis arri

PENNIES

ALLEGED

deepened by theid demon • кіпе through Anti-war G.I.s seeines or the ami yesterday two control hambo. 2 Tell Sear Dager Spring wanched hich semaphore face further 22. redundancy a London stu. was said Collusion for 3,500 at repression realed that was i Sayin Pee perion aller sened Rolls-Royce bourg during the night. them when arrested.

• PAGE FOUR COL. 3 -»

By a foreign correspondent

BY HILARY BALDWIN

US MILITARY repressions against anti-war GIs

ROLLS - ROYCE

yesterday Robert Bower, 20-year-old

NEW PARK PUBLICATIONS ANNOUNCE A

continue announced mak Vietnam war now stationed at 3,500 veteran their

SPECIAL OFFER!

Fort Hood is charged with being absent without How Fleet aero engine avision redun- in a public dant in une spring. leave for tree nours, participaling demonstration while in uniform and being off Street reacted For seven days only charges stem to the 'guidelines Commencing Monday, December 29, 1969 Bower's participa- TrOM That the company London docks ton in une october Vietnam moratorium See page four The Age of Phase Two threat Lne LaDitol

AUSEID

where Bower was one of

PERMANENE

Permanent ine speakers Anoth Richarde behind redundancy a Chaser Revolution

TROTSKY

ANTHOLOGY

on Plot plans

A TROTSKY

PLANS TO tighten the ernment's

ANTHOLOGY

employers' noos around Despite this necks London as sins the of 1s again uuckers were taken d slact

BY PETER READ

Loches anar mrching of the poris Dock week's Editor Isaac this nature Labour Board. Deutscher Adder Why Wilson supports confirmed are anothe stewarden the union to be suble p Nixon's Vietnam policy Solar wind may PRICE 9s 6d Withdraw a who turn a blind ey "er cover for Wilson cause 'Moonglow' Monetary Fund. ment's action cemen USUAL PRICE fl 15s This is the third instalment They mislead the working last Te s Revolutionary slanudy creall agreed of Apollo- may have resolved a procrem op not to co get i March their jobs on the best possible to Despite ate the es at e same rate as in the preceding that has puzzled scientists for many years Silhouettes own authority to terns i see that arity with * This indicates that the • helium tom froa Gestetner strikers may face

ALE!

job-evaluation threat ion octoperation s no neon town the ag a interatonal banker By A. V. Lunacharsky rrom our own reporter • Economically DIE-CASTERS at Tottenham's Monday, ke Overtime cut trapped in ficies such as Percy and the easie such bathe Commissar elected by ta e Nixon's Vietnam ton sunder

ALL FOR £1 POST FREE

retasan of the decision loading Send at once to: and and see that Special Offer, New Park Publications Ltd., Adverse conditions hartley worn ender cons bankes fake-lefts 186a Clapham High Street, London, SW4.

enormous tom which might which and Nixon over Vietnam The offer will end on Monday, January 5, 1970

• PAGE FOUR COL. 7 →

• PAGE FOUR COL. 1

PAGE FOUR COL. 5_

S.L.L. Central Committee demands: HANDS OFF TRADE Kenneth Tynan

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLI

APPEAL FUND

ONLY

£57-10s.

TO COME IN

REALLY

in sight we orkerrecel ain not re they will help us Spring redundancy for 3,500 at Rolls-Royce

BY HILARY BALDWIN

yesterday

ROLLS - ROYCE

announced oyees io make their division redun- dant in the spring пер 1960s mathe management" system of retire- white-collar threat noweve dou bed treat reaction to the mas been to lobs om the best poste Gestetner From our own reportel she operators monditions Adverse workers press The daily organ of the Central Committee of the Socialist Labour League

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1969

PRICE 6d.

PUBLISHED FROM TUESDAY TO SATURDAY

• Briefly

STOP WILSON'S VISIT

TO WASHINGTON

special Serence All the conference hice in state pension signs petition schemment's

UNION RIGHTS!

HOOVER

Local government workers 1971Y.S. lead scheme's poor bone by the state the fight ON 931

KENNETH

TYNAN,

THE whole labour movement must be roused to PROTEST: About theatre critic and ducer, has added his action against the back-door betrayals being pre- Workers signature to the Gunboat pared by the TUC General Council in the form of Press Stop Wilson's visit to Washington' campaign. were protestin their 'guidelines' on shop stewards, published to- He joins the growing num- students and trun day. that this expression In June 1969, the overwhelming

NO SUPPORT

lowed the murder of tine opposition of the rank and file of the thickens trade unions forced the withdrawal of president, wh the previous night passing car Wilson's and Castle's proposed anti.

sed the ar union legislation. Pa bate or

FOR T.U.C.

MARITIME

stant yesterdays But the TUC, in its June 18 under- the rrench port of cher- taking to Wilson, set out on a course bourg have admitted that of achieving the same anti-union ends the five gunboats going to

'GUIDELINES'

regula- by tne back door israel Wilsons support for the Viet employers' and course tions in that the unions must put union on Christmas morning. Hail wal Denis Michael®s the hour The boats' not HaSa been given • list of the cre bee Workers fir to Washington.

+ Witor's wist виттовлан. ading that

ALLEGED

meetings ' the Anti-war G.I.s yesterday of London face further 22. officer. The accused, a London stu- Collusion dente fined repression have detective rinally The Tor Mi etition alone with ened severa * the nig. to throw beem about atrested.

• PAGE FOUR COL. 3 →

during By a foreign correspondent US MILITARY repressions against anti-war GIs 20-year-old continue.

NEW PARK PUBLICATIONS ANNOUNCE A

Kobert bower So to SunD Vietnam war now stationed at veteran of the

SPECIAL OFFER!

Fort Hood is charged with being absent without How Fleet leave for three hours, participating in a public demonstration while in uniform and being off Street reacted For seven days only post while in uniform. the charges stem to the 'guidelines Commencing Monday, December 29, 1969 from participa- hower s tion in the October London docks Vietnam moratorium See page four The Age of Capitol Austin, Phase Two threat in the where Bower was one of Permanent Bill Incomes the speakers. behindredundancy Revolution

TRUISK

ATHOLOG

•Opertion Carden plans

A TROTSKY

PLANS TO tighten the employers noose around

ANTHOLOGY

necks _LOndOn dockers were taken a stage

BY PETER READ

militarism continues Editor Isaac UnIS week' s meeting of the port's Dock Labour Board. Deutscher for o the Tai sins the return of th Why Wilson supports shop Nixon's Vietnam policy stewards it, all unions a Solar wind may standard me with abo a sorer mi * Those clear Price ys od cause 'Moonglow' * let cover for witn International Monetary Fund. his members. it st USUAL PRICE £1 15s third f the standby credit sphere rested oPendancies after Marct last June. Revolutionary i experimen carried our • ine crew not approved of of Apollo-11 may have problem Espite sterings at eving that has puzzled scientists for many years.

Silhouettes Smiss scientists •toms from from of hell that Gestetner strikers may face striking the slides d the sA deeper into present day, the factum is the o with the coco is not job-evaluation threat nent By A. V. Lunacharsky rodiet of the sun sun's burning aluminium. and the fide commiss our for large machines shift work would co a thin strom and Aldrin ojected by ta for posed it to star moon

ALL FOR £1 POST FREE

quire Send at once to: the s from Special Offer, New Park Publications Ltd., foreig Banker take-letts workers feel that only feel that they work u bene 186a Clapham High Street, London, SW4. kind ot haze from which light from this and

• PAGE FOUR COL. 1 →

he oner will end on Monday, January 5. 1970 section • PAGE rOUN VOL. • —• is renecied.

Jobs and wages under attack

PAGE TWO

Socialist Labour

THE

under League comes attack from the 'state capitalist' (International Socialism) group for bas- ing itself on the pro- gramme of Trotskyism in 1938, in a situation where that "Transitional Pro. gramme' has, according to them, become irrele. vant or false' (Duncan Hallas, Building The Leadership' in Interna- tional Socialism', No. 40).

We showed in the first article in this series that this attack is based upon the acceptance of an anti-Marxist method, that of empiricism and adjustment to the re- quirements of capitalism and its agents. Now we must take up specifically the arguments of Hallas, Cliff and their asso- ciates on the basic question of the nature of our epoch.

For the Marxist revolution- ary, we live in the epoch of revolutions', of 'wars and imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism. This revolution- ary nature of the epoch per- of meates every aspect economic, social, political and ideological relations. The reality of all these spheres in is unified the experience of struggle of the which revolutionary party, must then organize and trans- form every aspect of its work on this basis, thereby enrich- ing revolutionary theory as the key to intervening yet again.

The way we understand the nature of the whole epoch is therefore not some general 'background' question, but is the essence of all our work as Marxists. When Hallas attacks the SLL and attacks the fact that programme and policies our are 'rooted in the Transitional Programme of the Fourth International', he is attacking Marxism. Lenin and Trotsky defended and developed scientific Marxism the as analysis of capitalism and the key to its revolutionary over- throw by the working class in the epoch of imperialism.

The state capitalists' and other revisionists reject this continuity of Marxism; they reject the analysis of 20th capitalism, imperial- century ism, as that stage of capitalist which development 'man- kind's productive forces stagnate' because of the barrier raised against them by the continuance of capitalist social relations of production. Leadership In the Transitional Pro- gramme of the Fourth Inter- national we find in summary form all the gains of Marxist theory and experience, applied to the present epoch. Capitalism can no longer survive by its own strength as a social system; this crisis for the whole of humanity is now decisively concentrated in the crisis of the revolutionary leadership of the working Only through the class. struggle-on the basis of Marxism, the Russian Revolu- tion and the first four con- gresses of the Third Inter- national-to defeat the exist ing counter - revolutionary (Social-Democratic and Stalin- ist) leaderships, can the nature of imperialism's crisis be grasped and a new leadership, the Fourth International, be built. Within such a perspective, development of the uneven parts of the imperialist world or of particular periods of the epoch must be judged. Tran- If Hallas says the sitional Programme is irrele- vant or false' in the present 'world situation' he is rejecting Marxism. It is not a question of the 'situation'. , but of the nature of the epoch. It was on this basis that the Fourth International was formed, and not on the characterization of the situation in 1938. Hallas ridicules the founding conference of the Fourth International on the grounds that it met for only one day and as contrasted with that, the formation of the Second and Third Internationals with 'mass support it represented only a handful of people.

Every serious Marxist knows that Trotsky, after a long and bitter struggle of the Left Opposition to 'reform' the Third International, set course for the Fourth International after Hitler's defeat of the German proletariat in 1933. All the intervening years were years of intensive political preparation for the 1938 Founding Conference. Hallas, with the contempt- uous and sweeping petty- of bourgeois rejection the theoretical struggle, throws out this whole history and simply says of Trotsky: In his eyes the formation of an "International" without any mass support was justified by the extraordinary nature of the world situation' The Death Agony of Cap- italism and the Tasks of the Fourth International.' Trotsky made his position clear in his reports capitalism was finished and that the crisis of leadership. Above: Trotsky addresses the Sec Hallas attempts to show that in 1938 Trotsky thought cap- italism was in the depths of an economic crisis from which it could not emerge, and that, in Hallas's words, It is there- fore now or never'. We shall need to quote Trotsky extensively in order to put Hallas in his place.

Hallas prefers to begin with a quotation, not from the 1938 Programme, but from Trot- USSR In War' sky's 'The written in September 1939, i.e.

after the outbreak of the Second World War.? Hitler's rise to power and the defeat of the wo the counter-revolutionary policies of Stalinism prepare the ground for the founding of the F 'The disintegration of cap- italism has reached extreme limits, likewise the disintegra- tion of the old ruling class.

The further existence of this system is impossible? Even though the world de- pression of the 1930s and the outbreak of the second imper- ialist and war were, open indications of the obvious historical bankruptcy of the capitalist social order, Trotsky was here talking not just about 'situation', the current as Hallas puts it, but about the whole historical epoch, about the historical doom of the capitalist class and its system.

The whole of the Trotsky article in question is, in point of fact, directed against exactly what Hallas represents! Trot- sky is replying to the theorists "bureaucratic collectivism' and 'state capitalism' in the

USSR.

Capitulation His answer to them is to say: don't just give us the results of your terminological experiments, but explain how your definitions fit in with the whole historical conceptions of Marxism and the nature of the epoch in which we live. The same question now comes up for Hallas and his friends: was Trotsky wrong, Mr Hallas, to say that cap- italism was finished and that the ruling class had long since fulfilled its historical mission?

And is not your rejection of this historical perspective the secret of your capitulation to reformism and your venom against the Socialist Labour League? That our interpretation of Trotsky's remarks on the impossibility' of the further capitalism existence of is correct is confirmed by the line of whole article, "The his USSR In War' (as well as, for example, his reports to the early Congresses of the Third International cf The First Five Years of the Comintern', 2 volumes). historical perspective The and its relation to leadership 2 See 'In Defence of Marxism', pp. 3-28.

WORKERS' PRES

ar in his reports to the early Congresses of the Third International-that hat the crisis of this epoch resolves itself in the fight for revolutionary ddresses the Second Congress.

is clear in the following extract vanguard of the working class; from 'The USSR In War': that is, in the process of this and the profound shocks which it must engender, will a 'The crisis of capitalist genuine revolutionary leader- which society assumed an ship be formed capable of lead- 1914, character in July the ing proletariat to the from the very first day of the power?' of war produced a sharp crisis the proletarian leadership. the 25 which Hallas and 'state During years Do the have elapsed since that time, capitalists' answer this cuts. the proletariat of the advanced tion? Yes. they answer it in capitalist countries has not the negative: they reject the created a leadership that yel struggle to 'cut level of the conscious could rise to path' in the proletariat for the tasks of our epoch. which has 'The of Russia objective necessity expenience itself testifies, however, that imperiously presented such leadership be created. since 1914, and they work in- stead for an adaptation to the 'fact' that capitalism continues.

According to Hallas, Trotsky 1939 the pro- in was saying: letariat must win the struggle for power in the course of the war and its immediate after- math; if it does not. then shall have bureaucratic total- and itarian societies must of the revise our conception epoch as one of socialist revo- lution. It follows, according to Hallas, Trotsky's that per- mistaken and spective was 'cataclysmic'. However, as we have seen, this whole argument, when presented in its historical per- spective, turns against Hallas and the state capitalists, and not against Trotsky. Class nature The of Trotsky's purpose article "The USSR In War', is to show the full historical and reactionary nature of the con- drawn by 'state clusions capitalists' and their like about of the supposed class nature of the the Stalinist rulers Soviet state. Trotsky said: either accept the socialist revolutionary epoch and nature of our understand the degenerated character of a society in Russia isolated from in transition capitalism to socialism: or draw the full conclusions of your theory that the bureau- new class with a cracy is a necessary historical mission to organize and carry forward the productive forces; in the latter defeat of the working class through case will be forced to icies of Stalinism decided Trotsky to

(VOU

conclude that a whole his- unding of the Fourth International.

of 'total- torical period confronts humanity, itarianism' (This does not mean. of course.

and the class would that will be working immune be reduced long-term degeneration.) to defensive a "The question consequently struggle against new form of enslavement. stands as follows: Will objec- Trotsky tive historical necessity in the Against this, re- cut a path for itself long run the consciousness of the Ibid pp. 14-15. Some £14 million will be added to the in- dustry's wage bill, but the council is confi- dent that continuing productivity improvements and reductions in should manpower mean the increases are matched by savings. ('Financial Times', November 8, 1969.)

Are supply workers to become industrialized with individual freedom in zombies no theory or practice? (Carrington power station craftsmen.)

NOVEMBER'S

*Financial job-evaluation was the aim.

Cannon. Electrical Times verdict on the Elec- Mr Les tricity Council's 10 cent and Plumbing Trades Union per award finger president, has claimed that wage put its the firmly of main week's planned strike is on two next part of a Communist-supported behind week's issues next threatened power strike. attack on productivity bargain- ing. Up until 1963, productivity He has adde his own threat agreements were virtually un- of discipline against industry's union known the to strikers to those of suspensions 150,000 workers. They or so and legal action from the with were paid a basic wage power employers. aytra for overtime. see where the Let us iust Speed-up and redundancies eager collaboration of Cannon dominate the scene began to union leaders with and other onlv with the coming to power has productivity bargaining of the Wilson government in got power workers. 1964. In 1968-1969, productivity The successive agreement by in the industry increased the union leaders of incentive by 6 per despite hours, some cent. bonuses. staggered of 10.000 reduction in the labour mobility and flexibility industry's power force. The labour and work-study were profit the forms. Measured-Day side realized a net i £100.6 Work with thorough-going million, even after

ORKERS' PRESS

affirmed the socialist, revolu- tionary perspective. Hallas quotes Trotsky: "If present however, • the war will provoke not revolu- decline of tions but a proletariat, then there remains another alternative: the further decay of monopoly capitalism, its further fusion with the state and the of replacement democracy still wherever It remained by a totalitarian regime' In line with this, Trotsky had concluded earlier, in the Transitional Programme, that reforms' 'systematic social were 'in general' finished.

Now, Hallas might have another passage from quoted The

USSR

In War' which would have seemed an even more certain 'proof' of his argument that Trotsky thought 'either socialist revolution or totalitarianism' would be the of the We will result war. quote it for him and then show why he preferred to omit it: evident that if ae oternationa • it is absolutely a result of the proletariat, as experience of our entire epoch and the current new Wals proves incapable of becoming master of society, this would signify the foundering of all hope for a socialist revolution, for it is impossible to expect of the ruling instrument an other favourable any more class, whether it be by mobil- conditions for it; in any case it for right-wing Izing re- no one foresees them now, or action against the proletariat, is able to characterize them.' 5 or for intellectual and political Marxism, as in the attacks on Revolutionary case of all those, the political fathers of Hallas and Cliff, In this passage, in order to who abandoned the defence of emphasize that the apparently the USSR and the Transitional overwhelming conditions of Programme in 1939. defeat and world war in 1939 They abandoned it then, do not require the rejection of in the testing time of the out- the revolutionary perspective, break of war, when, according Trotsky insists on the favour- Hallas, Trotsky's 'analysis able to revolutionary conditions of the world situation' which the itself was war will still "plausible', and not just produce. after the when the re- war, He is calling upon revolution- newed capitalist expansion and aries to face up to these condi- extension of Stalinist rule to these tasks. tions and He is saying: if you reject, because of defeat and war, the respon- sibility of revolutionary pre- rejecting advance possibility of the proletariat's taking power in the most favourable conditions which at this stage can be foreseen.

He putting into the mouths of his opponents the historical meaning of the con- clusion they have SO far drawn. Trotsky goes on immediately to give his which answer, explains why Hallas chose not to use the above quotation: 'Marxists do have the not slightest disillusion- right and fatigue "rights") considered draw to the conclusion that the pro- letariat has forfeited its revolutionary possibilities and all aspirations

MUSL

Tarounce hegemony in erd immediately ahead. Twenty- five in scales of ycars history, waen it is a question of profoundest changes economic and cultural systems, weigh less than an hour in the life of man. What good is the individual because who, of empirical failures in the course of hour or a day, re- a goal that he set for himself basis of the Ine experience entirely of experience and analysis his What good indeed? But in politics and the class struggle, as in there is no Halule, of vacuum; the despair the petty-bourgeois is turned into 4 Ibid, pp. 10. Ibid. pp. 18. Ibid. interest and other payments Then, in 1966, work-study amounting to £222.4 million.

was introduced with the full co-operation of the Figures for the previous year union leaders. It had been made pos- were even more spectacular on sible to introduce some pool- the strength of the notorious ing of and inter-craft 1967 pay - and - productivity mates flexibility and now this process agreement. became accelerated. The 1967-1968 increase in productivity far surpassed the The real crunch, however, and Incomes Prices Board's came with the 1967 agreement.

forecast, own rising to 12ere cent It was agreed that is was per cent. the management's responsibil- Wages, meanwhile, went up ity to by only 5.5 percent leaving *(i) make changes the any earnings at f21 Board thinks necessary in the average 10s. This is bad enough, particularly organization, the methods, the in comparison to similar work supervision, the materials, and in private industry, but many the equipment required to earn far less than this average carry out work and to apply the results of using work-study level. A brief of the summary and other techniques record here places the respon- (ii) deploy the labour force for sibility this situation in the manner required by the squarely with the union leaders.

Board.' In 1964, the unions agreed Specifically, this meant that to a bonus scheme which craftsmen were expected to be was then further developed in the flexible in carrying out asso- pay-and-status agreements of ciated jobs within their com- later that year. the use of higher- petence; grade employees on lower- Dropped quickly grade work as required; tem- up-grading porary on the rate In return for a 40-hour week for the job as required; mobil- between local and some extra payments the ity management employer6, on the basis of units. All this clearly set the scene these agreements, were able to replace paid overtime for Measured-Day Work. One largely of Prices and Incomes Board with a system staggered hours and some unpaid over- industry report on the made leaders clear that time. union The at first relatively high had even asked for this system of dropped to be implemented. rates pay very quickly as overtime was elim- The Socialist Labour League has consistently explained the inated. Wednesday, December 31, 1969 Europe appeared to against Trotsky. as we have seen, has contradict it. Hallas, ( when Hallas, And so, after selected arbitrarily from Trot- 1939 describing the mass influence sky's writings in an of the Communist Inter- attempt to prove that Trotsky national in the 1920's, says 'If had arrived at a position where like this: Trotsky's economic per- he said something spective had been correct the the point has now been Fourth International might reached where either the pro- have been similar letarian revolution in a occurs position'' let him answer this quickly, or societly is doomed question: how is it that your to totalitarianism. abandoned political ancestors cature fette historical This cari- the Fourth International even the historical alter- when, of your in terms own native which Trotsky tried to Trotsky's perspective analysis, make the middle-class opposi- was still correct?' face is typically tion up We shall return later to this summarised by Hallas: question of those who claim "Orwell's ·1984" ates, déacriber 'correct' economic perspectives tow years Tro def not rev in 1 By a Workers Press correspondent implications of this drive All overtime could be elim- against jobs and wages. inated by work-load stagger. The experience of increasing No wage award can compen- numbers of workers is noW sate them until the agreement coming in line with these is amended, they insist. One warnings. example will question Their final is 'are suffice to bear this out.

supply workers to become in- "The 1967 pay-and-produc- dustrialized zombies with no tivity agreement', stresses individual freedom theory from or practice?'. recent statement craft representatives at Manchester's These demands and ques- Carrington power station, 'was tions, which reflect the feelings one of the most diabolical ever of increasing numbers of power perpetrated of on any group workers, answered. must be workers since the Industrial Neither the union leaders nor Revolution. the kind of militancy' "pure "The thrust agreement was advocated by sections of Com- upon the industry without any Party munist stewards in the consultation with the rank- industry can do this. and-file. If, as the Financial Times' second 'First and stages of intimated, the Electricity the status agreement were in- Council now expects to pay troduced with revolutionary for its £14 million award by changes in custom and DraC- 'continuing productivity im- tice which the majority of and reductions in provements workers at shop-floor level did manpower, then further not envisage such compul- swingeing attacks on jobs, week-end working, stag- sory working practices and wages gered hours and days.' are on the way. Gave the right We say: • No work-study and The Carrington craftsmen to Measured-Day Work! take particular exception to clause 202 of the agreement. • Throw the out arrogant This clause, which they say board managements! Workers' 'has been repeatedly rejected throughout the control power at station meetings held by industry! members', gave manage- union • Link the power station fight ment the right to direct labour in any manner they desired by that engineers, method-study, workers. dockers, ( railwaymen introducing and others now facing similar mobility work-measurement, and flexibility of labour.

attacks!

THE SECOND PART OF CLIFF SLAUGHTER'S REPLY TO HALLAS

WORKERS' PRESS

affirmed the socialist, revolu- tionary perspective. Hallas quotes Trotsky: If however, the present war will provoke not revolu- tions but a decline of the proletariat, then there remains another alternative: the further of monopoly decay capitalism, fusion its further with the state and the replacement of democracy wherever still it remained by a totalitarian regime! In line with this, Trotsky had concluded earlier, in the Transitional Programme, that 'systematic reforms' social were 'in general' finished.

Now, Hallas might have quoted another passage from "The

USSR

In War' which would have seemed an even certain 'proof' of his more argument that Trotsky thought 'either socialist revolution or totalitarianism' would be the result of the war. We will I International-that quote it for him and then show it for revolutionary why he preferred to omit it: • . it is absolutely self- evident that if the international uard of the working class; proletariat, as a result of the in the process of this is. experience of our entire epoch and the profound shocks and the current new war, h it must engender, will a leader- proves incapable of becoming revolutionary master of society, this would be formed capable of lead- signify the foundering of all the proletariat to the hope for a socialist revolution, of power?' uest for it is impossible to expect other any more favourable Hallas 'state and the conditions for it; in any case ists' this ques- answer no one foresees them now, or Yes, they answer it in is able to characterize them.' 5 gative: they reject the 'cut a us struggle to Revolutionary n the proletariat for the ve necessity which has In this passage, in order to ously presented itself emphasize that the apparently 1914, and they work in- overwhelming conditions of for an adaptation to the defeat and world war in 1939 hat capitalism continues.

do not require the rejection of the revolutionary perspective, ording to Hallas, Trotsky 9 was saying: the pro- Trotsky insists on the favour- able : must win the struggle revolutionary conditions wer in the course of the which the itself will war produce. id its immediate after- if it does not, then we He is calling upon revolution- lave bureaucratic total- aries to face up to these condi- societies and must tions and these tasks. He is our conception of the saying: if you reject, because of defeat and war, the respon- as one of socialist revo- It follows, according to of revolutionary sibility pre- that Trotsky's per- paration, then you will in fact e was mistaken and be rejecting in advance the ysmic'. possibility of the proletariat's as we have seen, ever, taking in power the most hole argument, when favourable conditions which at ted in its historical per- this stage can be foreseen.

e, turns against Hallas He is putting into the state capitalists, and mouths of his opponents the ainst Trotsky. historical meaning of the con- clusion they have so far drawn. lass nature Trotsky goes on immediately of Trotsky's to his give which purpose answer, 'The USSR In War', is explains why Hallas chose not to use the above quotation: w the full historical and nary nature of the con- "Marxists do not have the drawn by 'state slightest right (if disillusion- ists' and their like about ment and fatigue are not considered "rights") to pposed class nature of draw the conclusion that the of pro- talinist rulers the letariat has forfeited its state. revolutionary possibilities and said: either sky accept must renounce all aspirations socialist revolutionary hegemony to in an era of and immediately epoch ahead. Twenty- our the degenerated five tand in the years scales history, when it is a question ter of a society in Russia of profoundest changes in lated transition from economic and cultural systems, to socialism; ISm or weigh less than an hour in the the full conclusions of life of man. What good is the heory that the bureau- individual who, because of is a new class with a empirical failures in the course ry historical mission to of an hour or a day, re- e and carry forward the nounces a goal that he set for tive forces; in the latter himself on the basis of the experience and analysis of his will be forced ou to entire previous lifetime?' 6 that a whole his- What good indeed? But in of "total- period politics and the class struggle, sm' confronts humanity, as in nature, there is no e working class would vacuum; the despair of the uced to a long-term petty-bourgeois is turned into ve struggle against rm of enslavement. 4 Ibid, pp. 10. nst this, Trotsky re- 5 Ibid. pp. 18. pp. 14-15. Ibid. • added to the in- interest and other payments le council is confi- amounting to £222.4 million.

Figures for the previous year ivity improvements were even more spectacular on ver should mean the strength of the notorious 1967 pay - and - productivity agreement. The 1967-1968 increase in 8, 1969.) productivity far surpassed the Prices and Incomes Board's own 4.8 per cent forecast, come industrialized rising to 12 per cent. idual freedom in Wages, meanwhile, went up by only 5.5 per cent leaving average earnings at £21 10s. This is bad enough, particularly tsmen.) in comparison to similar work in private industry, but many earn far less than this average valuation was the aim. level. • Les Cannon, Electrical A brief summary of the Plumbing Trades Union record here places the respon- dent, has claimed that sibility for this situation week's planned strike is squarely with the union leaders.

of a Communist-supported In 1964, the unions agreed k on productivity bargain- to a bonus scheme which was then further developed in the • has adde his own threat pay-and-status agreements of inion discipline against later that year. ers to those of suspensions from the legal action Dropped quickly r employers. t us just see where the In return for a 40-hour week collaboration of Cannon and some extra payments the other union leaders with basis of employers, on the has activity bargaining these agreements, were able to ower workers. largely replace paid overtime 1968-1969, productivity with a system of staggered le industry increased by hours and some unpaid over- 6 per cent, despite a time. 0 reduction in the labour The at first relatively high • The industry's power rates of pay dropped very realized a net profit of quickly as overtime was elim- inated. 6 million, even after Wednesday, December 31, 1969 instrument of the eastern Europe against Trotsky. appeared to class, whether it be by mobil izing it And when Hallas describing action against thi Commur national in the mething like the case of all those, had be tathers of Hallac sither the peer who abandoned the defence of the USSR and the Transitional osition i let him Programme in 1939. They abandonea then. in the testing time of the out- cature pette historical cari- oreak or war. wnen. accoraing the historical alter. terr hallas. 1rOTSKY S analysis natıve Which rotsky tried to ine worla situation was make the middle-class opposi- summarised by Halas: typically JuSt tion tace war, allel wnen we shal return later to this question newea capitalist expansion ano or those Who • claim describes che "correct' economic perspectives tom extension or ast rule By a Workers Press Then, in 1966, this drive work-studi imnlicationa All overtime could be elim- was introduced with the Tull against inhs and wogar stagger. co-operation the union 'he axnamenca of incrancin.

sate there ra can compen- numbers workerg is amended, they insist. to latroduce some poor coming in line with mates and will lexibility and now this process Inter-crati warnings. _One l neir linal question is 'are sullice to bear this out.

supply became accelerated. workers to become in. pay-and-produc- "the 1067 dustrialized zombies with no however, 'he real crunch. tivitu aareamant: malviqual in theory came with the 1967 agreement recent statement twas agreed that is renresentatives at Manchastar's demands management's responsibil- Carrington nower station Ity to one of the most diabolical ever (i) perpetrated group make anv changes tha on any must answered. Board thinks necessary in the since Industrial organization. the methods the Kevolution. supervision. the materials. and ¡he agreement was thrus the eguinment upon the industry without any industry easy do wards in the carry out consultation work and to with The rank- the results or using work-study •First and second stages it.as the "kinancial 'hmed' ana orner reconiques. Electricity intimated. the (ii) deplov the labour force status agreement were in- Council eynects to in the manner required by the witn revolutionar its Board.' hanges and prac- Custom continuing nroductivity im. Specifically, this meant that provements and reductions in Rexiste in were expected to be then manpower'. further flexible in carrying swingeing attack. ciated jobs within their working bractices and wages netance. the nad hichar. are on the wav. grade emninvees Gave the right grade work as recured. tem.

We saw: porary up-grading on the rate The Carrington craftsmen tor the ioh as required: mohi.

hetween local management agreement. units. e arroga All this cleariv set the scent his cause which they sav for One *has Measured-Day Work. been repeatediv reiecter held Prices and incomes station meetings report Industry members. gave manage that ment the right to direct labour • Link the had even asked desired engineers, tor this svstem in anv manner ther car dockers, to be implemented workers, Introcucine mernoo-study. rallwavmen The Socialist vork-measuremen mobility has consistently explained the ind flexibility of labour Wednesday, December 31, 1969 sort of society Trotsky be- lieved must come unless the proletarian revolution occured in the near future' 8 All of Trotsky's writings in 1938-1939, as in every stage of his political life and in his dying moments, are suffused with the revolutionary optimism of Marxism, of the proletariat and its historical mission. When he presents the dangers from the continued existence of capitalism, it is entirely in the service of the preparation of the revolution- ary vanguard of the proletariat.

For this, Hallas can sub- stitute the neurotic fantasy of Trotsky insisted that the conditions of defeat and the world war in 1939 did not mean the rejection of the revolutionary perspective. As the events in Italy were to show, communist partisans entered the towns to the applause of the working class.

the terrified petty-bourgeois.

Orwel! could see in Stalin's Russia only the tyranny and the power of counter-revolu- tion. Hallas follows him.

For Trotsky and Trotskyism, the conquests of October 1917.

the power of the working class, the unrivalled example of the historical possibility of pro- letarian revolution and fashioning of a Marxist lead- ership-these were the found- ations of the historical estimation of and struggle Stalinism and against im- perialism. Before go into we more detail on the 'state capitalists" relation to Stalinism, we must complete the argument on the nature of the epoch, and its relation to what Hallas calls the 'situation'. This is important, because Hallas proceeds later, as we to say that the shall see, expansion of capitalism after the Second World War dis- proved the verdict of Trotsky in 1938-1939 that 'mankind's productive forces stagnate' and that 'the disintegration of capitalism has reached extreme limits'. In the first place, it is not true that Trotsky, as Hallas expansion of some sort' to be 'permanently excluded'. Trot- the conclusion that In general, there can be no discussion of times that discussion within the historical context of the epoch of capitalist decline. Within that context, Trotsky 7 Hallas p. 31. 8 Ibid, pp. 26. often pointed out that an economic upturn was some- times necessary to restore to the proletariat a basis for its confidence and unity. book Imperialism' Lenin's is the foundation-stone of the Marxist analysis of 20th- century capitalism. The 'state capitalists' long ago rejected Lenin's view of the nature of the epoch, concluding that capitalism has proved that it still has possibilities of growth as a social system. When Lenin said that im- perialism is 'moribund' (dying) capitalism meant that humanity had arrived at one of those junctures analysed by Marx: At a certain stage of their development, the material pro- ductive forces of a society come into conflict with the existing relations of production, or-what is but legal expression for the same thing -with the property relations within which they have been at work hitherto. From forms of development of the pro- ductive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an epoch of social revo- lution. With the change of the economic foundation the entire immense superstructure is more or less rapidly trans- formed.'9 Lenin says: 'Capitalism in its imperialist stage leads directly to the most comprehensive socialization of production; it, so to speak, drags the capitalists, against their will and consciousness, into some sort of a new social order, a transitional one from complete free competition to complete socialization.' 10 Barrier The barrier to 'complete socialization' remains of course the private property of the monopolists. They can be dis- possessed only by proletarian revolution. It is not a question of a smooth transition through the imperialist stage to social- ism, but, on the contrary, of the most profound and revolutionary contradictions.

What were previously neces- sary tendencies for capitalist production, to impede the development of the productive forces, now become the pre- dominant feature of the epoch.

tension The inevitably pro- duces wars and revolutions: "The social means of pro- duction remain the private property of a few. The general framework of formally-recog- nised free competition remains and the yoke of a few mono- polists on the rest of the popu- lation becomes a hundred times heavier, burden- more some and intolerable? 11 This imposition of the ex- ploitative requirements of a few monopolists on the inter- 8 'The First Five Years of the Communist International'. 2 vols.

Marx: P "The reface to Critique of Political Economy'.

10 Lenin: 'Imperialism'. Col- lected Works Vol. 22, p. 205.

Ibid. When Trotsky spoke of the bankruptcy of depression in which the working class was the capitalist class and its system.

place in London on February 5, 1933.

nationalized and socialized production of humanity is what Marxists mean by the 'fetter' on the development of what Trotsky called (Transitional Programme.)

Revisionists like to hold up against this analysis the so- "technological called revolu- tion' of the period between the Second World War and the 1960s, which, according to them, is associated with a new period called 'neo-capitalism'.

But does the Marxist theory of capitalism's opposition to the development of the pro- ductive forces means that im- provements in the technique of production are excluded? On the contrary. It was a Stalinist distortion, accepted to identify by the revisionists, 'forces of production' with 'technique' or 'implements of production', In 1847 Marx wrote: 'Of all the instruments of production, the greatest pro- ductive power is the revolu- tionary class itself. The organ- ization of revolutionary elements as a class supposes the existence of all the pro- ductive which could forces be engendered in the bosom of the old society? 12 Lenin insists precisely that the production developed and carried out for profit by the capitalists in the period of im- perialism is carried out under conditions where it 'becomes a hundred times heavier, more burdensome and intolerable' for the workers of the whole world. This did not at all mean that productivity in technique would not improve. Lenin indeed writes: 'Competition becomes trans- formed into monopoly. The result is immense progress in the socialization of produc- tion. In particular, the process of technical invention and im- improvement becomes SO- cialized.' 13 Parasitism Naturally, under capitalism such technical progress will be introduced into production The e only. under conditions where sweep capitalists actually gain from powel from it an increase in surplus value and accumulated capital. Thus, ing s says Lenin, after referring to capita the parasitism of finance capital: actua prod It would be a mistake to believe that this tendency were to decay precludes the rapid In growth of capitalism. It does interr not. In im- epoch of and perialism, certain branches of mean production, certain strata of the bourgeoisie and certain comn countries betray, to a greater create or lesser degree, now one and of th another now of these ten- takes dencies. On the whole, cap- malev italism is growing far more even rapidly than before; but kind. this growth is not only be- De coming more and more when uneven in general, its uneven- ness also manifests itself, in ducti particular, in the decay of the ment, countries which are richest in Fin capital (Britain).' 13 quite This does not stop Lenin from concluding only two ment aspec pages later: From all that has been said was I epoch in this book on the economic imperialism, it insist essence of follows that we must define it contr as capitalism in transition, or, greate more precisely, as moribund letari, capitalism.' 14 decay Marx had long before, in his 'Capital', pointed out that developments in science and late technique come into the life the of the proletariat only as mal objectifications of hav capital, as means for his exploitation and therefore as forces series hostile to defini him. ducti So long as capitalist private defini property extended the world market and was the historically our e necessary form of productive pictur organization then this conflict between the proletariat and as a capit: the development of investment in science and technique was capita the h only potentially destructive of istic the main "force of production', falsifi the proletariat. To invest in technical change Marx being for the sole purpose of increas- tion capita 12 Marx. "The Poverty Of Philosophy', final section.

opme deal i 13 Lenin, op. cit. 13 Ibid, p. 300. 15 T 14 Ibid. p. 302. Thou • bankruptcy of the capitalist system, he was referring orking class was thrust in the 1930s, but to the histor The demonstration above, protesting against

Wednesday, December 31, 1969 • Trotsky be- sort of society lieved must come unless the proletarian revolution occurec in the near future.' 8 All of Trotsky's writings in 1938-1939, as in every stage of his political life and in his dying moments, are suffused with the revolutionary optimism of Marxism, of the proletariat and its historical mission. When he presents the dangers from the continued existence of capitalism, it is entirely in the service of the preparation of the revolution- ary vanguard of the proletariat.

For this, Hallas can sub- stitute the neurotic fantasy of rotsky insisted that the conditions of efeat and the world war in 1939 did ot mean the rejection of the evolutionary perspective. As the events a Italy were to show, communist artisans entered the towns to the pplause of the working class.

the terrified petty-bourgeois.

Orwel! could see in Stalin's Russia only the tyranny and the power of counter-revolu- tion. Hallas follows him.

For Trotsky and Trotskyism, the conquests of October 1917.

the power of the working class, the unrivalled example of the historical possibility of pro- and letarian revolution fashioning of a Marxist lead- ership--these were the found- ations of historical the estimation of and struggle Stalinism against and im- perialism. Before we go into more detail on the 'state capitalists" relation to Stalinism, we must complete the argument on the nature of the epoch, and its relation to what Hallas calls the 'situation'. This is important, because Hallas proceeds later, as we shall see, to say that the expansion of capitalism after the Second World War dis- proved the verdict of Trotsky in 1938-1939 that 'mankind's productive forces stagnate' and that 'the disintegration of capitalism has reached extreme limits'. In the first place, it is not true that Trotsky, as Hallas puts it, believed 'an economic expansion of some sort' to be 'permanently excluded'. Trot- sky certainly drew from the historical crisis of capitalism the conclusion that 'In general, there can be no discussion of systematic social reforms and the raising of the masses' living standards.. sion many times that discussion economic upswings and down- swings within the imperialist epoch must always be placed within the historical context of the epoch of capitalist decline. Within that context, Trotsky 7 Hallas p. 31. 8 Ibid, pp. 26. often pointed out that an economic upturn was some- times necessary to restore to the proletariat a basis for its confidence and unity. " book 'Imperialism" Lenin's is the foundation-stone of the Marxist analysis of 20th- century capitalism. The 'state long ago rejected capitalists' Lenin's view of the nature of the epoch, concluding that capitalism has proved that it still has possibilities of growth as a social system. When Lenin said that im- perialism is 'moribund' (dying) capitalism he meant that humanity had arrived at one of those junctures analysed by Marx: At a certain stage of their development, the material pro- ductive forces of a society come into with the conflict existing relations of production, or-what is but legal expression for the same thing —with the property relations have been within which they at work hitherto. From forms of development of the pro- ductive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an epoch of social revo- lution. With the change of the economic foundation entire immense superstructure is more or less rapidly trans- formed' 9 Lenin says: "Capitalism in its imperialist stage leads directly to the most comprehensive socialization of production; it, so to speak, drags the capitalists, against their will and consciousness, Into somé sort of a new social order, a transitional one from complete free competition to •complete socialization.' 10 Barrier The barrier to 'complete socialization' remains of course property of the the private monopolists. They can be dis- possessed only by proletarian revolution. It is not a question of a smooth transition through the imperialist stage to social- ism, but,: on the contrary, most profound and of the revolutionary contradictions.

What were previously neces- sary tendencies for capitalist production, to impede the development of the productive forces, now become the pre- dominant feature of the epoch.

inevitably pro- The tension duces wars and revolutions: The social means of pro- remain duction the private property of a few. The general framework of formally-recog- nised free competition remains and the yoke of a few mono- polists on the rest of the popu- lation becomes a hundred times heavier, burden- more some and intolerable ^ 11 This imposition of the ex- ploitative requirements of a few monopolists on the inter- 8 'The First Five Years of the Communist International'. 2 vols.

Marx: P reface to "The of Political Economy'. Critique 10 'Imperialism'. Col- Lenin: lected Works Vol. 22, p. 205.

11 Ibid. When Trotsky spoke of the bankruptcy of depression in which the working class was the capitalist class and its system. The d place in London on February 5, 1933.

nationalized and socialized production • of humanity is what Marxists mean by the fetter' on the development of or what called Trotsky (Transitional Programme.)

Revisionists like to hold up against this analysis the so- called technological revolu- tion' of the period between the Second World War and the 1960s, which, according to them, is associated with a new period called 'neo-capitalism'.

But does the Marxist theory of capitalism's opposition to the development of the pro- ductive forces means that im- provements in the technique of production are excluded? On the contrary. It was a Stalinist distortion, accepted by the revisionists, to identify 'forces of production' with 'technique' or 'implements of production, In 1847 Marx wrote: 'Of all the instruments of production, the greatest pro- ductive power is the revolu- tionary class itself. The organ- ization revolutionary elements as a class supposes the existence of all the pro ductive forces which could be engendered in the bosom of the old society? 1 Lenin insists precisely that the production developed and carried out for profit by the capitalists in the period of im- perialism is carried out under conditions where it 'becomes a hundred times heavier, more intolerable' burdensome and for the workers of the whole world. This did not at all mean that technique productivity in improve. Lenin would not indeed writes: 'Competition becomes trans- formed into The monopoly. result is immense progress in the socialization of produc- tion. In particular, the process of technical invention and im- improvement becomes sO- cialized.' 13 Parasitism Naturally, under capitalism such technical progress will be introduced into production only under conditions where capitalists actually gain from it an increase in surplus value and accumulated capital. Thus, says Lenin, after referring to parasitism of finance capital: It would be a mistake to believe that this tendency to decay precludes the rapid growth of capitalism. It does In the epoch of im- not. perialism, certain branches of production, certain strata the bourgeoisie and certain countries betray, to a greater or lesser degree, now one and another of these now ten- On the whole, cap- dencies. I italism is growing far more rapidly before; than but this growth is not only be- coming more and more uneven in general, its uneven- ness also manifests itself, in particular, in the decay of the countries which are richest in capital (Britain).? 13 This does not stop Lenin from concluding only two pages later: 'From all that has been said in this book on the economic of imperialism, essence it follows that we must define it as capitalism in transition, or, more precisely, as moribund capitalism? 1 Marx had long before, in his 'Capital', pointed out that developments in science and technique come into the life the proletariat only as objectifications of capital, as means for his exploitation and therefore as forces hostile to him. So long as capitalist private property • extended the world market and was the historically necessary form of productive organization then this conflict between the proletariat and the development of investment in science and technique was only potentially destructive of the main force of production', the proletariat. To invest in technical change for the sole purpose of increas- 12 Marx. The Poverty Of Philosophy, final section.

Lenin, op. cit. 13 13 Ibid, p. 300. 14 Ibid. p. 302. e bankruptcy of the capitalist system, he was referrin orking class was thrust in the 1930s, but to the histol • system. The demonstration above, protesting agains

WORKERS' PRES

The end of the Second World War saw a ner sweep Europe. In Greece communist guerrill: power in Athens—a move which received ab from Stalin. ing surplus value was still, in capitalism's earlier stages, the actual mechanism by which the productive forces of mankind were carried forward. the period In when the international division of labour and the associated advanced production of and means communication have been created, this economic aspect of the mode of production takes on a totally new and malevolent aspect, threatening even the destruction of man- kind. Developments in technique, when they are applied to pro- duction, threaten unemploy- ment, death and destruction.

Finally, Trotsky himself was quite explicit that the develop- ment of the technical-scientific aspect of the productive forces was not at all excluded in the epoch of imperialist decay, but insisted that it would only contribute and to greater greater danger to the pro- letariat and worsening of the decay. 'Human progress has reached a dead end. In spite of the genius in latest triumphs of field the of technique, the material forces of production have ceased to grow. What from this emerges series of quotations on the definition of forces of pro- duction in relation to the definition of the character of our epoch? What emerges is that the picture given in Hallas's article, 'state as always by the capitalists', of a post-war capitalism which left behind the historical crisis character- istic of the pre-1939 era is a falsification of the whole Marxist theory as well as being an opportunist distor- tion of the actual course of capitalism's post-1945 devel- opment, with which we shall deal in a later article. ThoThts of Kart Mary! The Living , he was referring not just to the world but to the historical doom which inflicted protesting against rising unemployment, took

ORKERUPRAH

I.T.V.

REGIONAL I.T

And 4.15 Anglia Newsroom. 4.20

B.B.C. 1

8.00 8.45 Elvis THE ENGLISH stage has always resisted any discussion on a theory of the theatre. Like true pragmatists a sort of suck - it - and - see method has predominated; everything is down to flair, individual talent; the play's the thing and we don't want to get bogged down in boring dogmatic theory. Poor old Gordon Craig, the only serious theoretician, come think of to it the only theoretician that the English theatre has produced, was always treated like a nutcase and ignored at home, whereas less Philistine and abroad anti-intellectual cultures, in Germany or France, his repu- tation is and was enormous.

The worst aspects of the British bourgeoisie, insular, un- imaginative, suspicious, taste- less (their aesthetic needs are really satisfied by dogs and horses, they don't aspire to anything more than that) have filtered into the theatre in the form of the vulgar creed of 'show biz' The spectrum extends from the provincial bars of ailing reps, where the bored wives of businessmen massacre art gin-and-tonics, through over heights the heady of the National Theatre, where culture-hungry librarians sip coffee and nibble liver sand- wiches in the intervals between 'artistic' assaults of mediocrity in bronze and russet, to the stripped pine and spotlighting School. 8.00 The Tennessee Ernie Ford 1.05 Show: and Tucker Club. With guests Davy Jones, Harry The New Secombe, Terry Superman. 2.10 Thomas and Norman et with Elizabeth .. Wisdom. y Rooney. Donald 9.00 'Woman Of Straw' Lansbury. With Ralph Richardsond Gina Crossroads. Lollobrigida 5.10 Junior Show- Sean Connery. Has young wite murdered rich, old husband? ost and Mrs Muir. 10.00 News At Ten. 10.30 Film continued. I1.45 Hogmanay Party.

NAL I.T.V.

P.M. Puffin's Birth- 11.05 a.m.-12.17 P.m.

ULSTER:

Lon- London. Romper Room. 6.00 don. 4.15 4.35 Ulster 6.10 Link- News Headlines. London. 4.40 6.00 7.00 Treasure

UTV

Reports. 6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 n. 12.40 a.m. Epilogue London.

YORKSHIRE:

11.00 a.m.-12.15 p.m. 12.17 p.m. London. The New 12.30 Adventures 1.05 London. Huckleberry Finn. 1.00 Hatty Town.

of 2.10 London. 6.00 1.15 The Champions. 2.10 London. Desk. 6.35 4.15 Charlie The Chaplin Festival: 12.30 a.m. •The Adventurer' 4.40 London 6.00 Into 7.00 London. Inquiry The Saint. 12.30 a.m. Late Weather. except

GRANADA: 11.00

London 12.40 a.m.-12.17 a.m. D.m. Film: 'A Tale p.m. Stingray. 1.05 London. 1.15 The Show. Ronald Coleman Doris Day 1.40 London. 2.00 Feature Film: "True As A Turtle', with Westward 4.30 The Gus Honey- John Gregson and June Thorburn.

3.45 Diary. 12.40 Custer. 4.40 London. 6.30 Newsview. The Beverly 12.46 Weather. 6.35 Hillbillies. 7.00 London. a.m.-12.17 Me. I:50

TYNE TEES:

11.00 a.m.-12.15 p.m. Bomb' with 4.09 North London. East Newsroom. Maurice Headlines. 4.11 News 4.13 Freud On 4.40 London. Food. 4.38 North East Newsroom.

4.40 6.35 Cross- 6.30 Police London. 6.00 Today At Six. •The Full Call Haven. 7.00 London. 6.35 Castle Dauphin, 12.30 A New Year Message. a.m. 10.00 Full Treat-

SCOTTISH:

11.00 a.m. London. 12.38 Hogmanay Laurel and Hardy. 1.05 London. p.m. 15 The 1.40 Captain Scarlet The Forest Rangers. 2.10 Feature Film: 'Whistle Lon- Hayley 35 Down Wind'. Mills, 4.20 The Bates. Bernard Lee and Alan I've London. 6.00 Scotland Married Bachelor. Crossroads. 7.00 4.05 4.15 Early. 6.00 Reflection. London. Sentland Now. 6.30 The Legend of Jesse James. 7.00 12.45 Late Call. London. a.m. a.m.-12.17 p.m. 1.05 London. Pinpoint. 1.35

GRAMPIAN:

11.02 a.m.-12.17 p.m. 4.15 1.45 Tarzan. Halls London. 2.35 Amang The Headhunters 4.40

6.00 ATV

To- 3.45 The 4.10 7.00 London. Flintstones. London. Gram- with Bing News. Crossroads. 6.10 Ron Thompson's 6.35 7.00 Jeanmaire Year London. 10.00 News At Ten, 8.00 The Last Western: 'Man in the continued. 11.30 Saddle'. 9.25 Police News. 9.30 Cliff Alpert. 11.40 In Scotland. 10.00 News At Ten Weather Weather. 10.30 The Tennessee Ford 11.30 Show. Hogmany Party. Zindagi- 10.35 Pop Go The 60's! 1.00 Bob Yn Dri. 11.50 The Of The Turning Year. With Mother. 1.45- Weatherman. 12 midnight Big Ben. Of School. 4.20 12.01 a.m. Ring In The New 1.40 Tackanory. 4.55 Sultan: Film from regions BBC-1 except at the following times : one). 5.15 Tom Tom National News and Midlands and East Anglia: 6.00-6.45 Today, Look East, Midlands Neather. Nationawide. North of England: 6.00-6.45 p.m. Look Weather, Nationwide. 645-93% Wales: Wales Nationwide, leather Heddiw. News and Scotland: 6.00-6.45 p.m. Reporting Scotland, Nationwide. eluctant Debutante' Northern Ireland: 6.00-6.45 p.m. Scene Six. Weather, Nationwide. Kay Around Harrison, South and West: 6.00-6.15 p.m.

Points Sandra Dee and spotlight South. West, South Today, Weather and Nationwide. west, television special. and 9.35 My World.... And Wel- come To It. Europa. 10.00 Weather. Celluloid Tycoon'- "David Copperfield. 10.40 With Freddie Bartholo- mew and W. C. Fields. Presley in his own of the coterie of avant-gardism at the ICA. In this context of course the 'What is basic question theatre?' is never asked, unless in the form of the gossip interview - Well, Sir John, what is theatre in your view?'

And pace the last two weeks of canonization of Noel Coward, who has had more to say about nothing in particular than almost anyone on record, the theatre is not 'the well- made play' either. With this sterility of bour- geois theatre it becomes more imperative that a theoretical discussion on content, form, styles of presentation be taken up. An important contribution to such a discussion is the recent publication of 'Meyer- hold Theatre' (Translated on and edited with a critical com- mentary by Edward Braun, published by Methuen). This is an invaluable book and makes available in English for first time all his the writings on the theatre. Meyerhold was a remarkable Russian genius of the theatre, one of the few who unequi- vocally joined the ranks of the Bolsheviks immediately after the October 1917 Revolution and remained its defender till he fell foul of the Stalinist purges and died in prison in 1940. In his early pre-revolutionary days, Meyerhold was a bitter opponent of the naturalist- realist school of theatre.

At that period his work was full of polemic against the naturalism of the Moscow Art Theatre, against the meticulous clutter of set and props that went into the attempted repre- sentations of real life on stage so that the play itself became earthbound, pedestrian, locked within the heavy dimension of stage machinery. Production became merely an assembly of minutiae and detail so that the totality of the play was lost, the essence the whole was submerged. 'The urge to show every- thing, come what may, the fear of mystery, of leaving every- thing unsaid, turns the theatre into a mere illustration of the author's words. "There's a dog howling again," says one of the One of the experiments in stage design carr out in the Mayerhold theatre.

without fail, a characters, and, dog's howling is reproduced The spectator concludes the departure, not only from the retreating sound of the harness bells, but from the thundering hooves on the wooden bridge over the river as well. You hear the rain beating on the are birds, iron roof: there frogs, crickets' Although the struggle against naturalism superficially_takes on the search for new forms, lighting, designs, new set etc., underlying this stages, struggle is a more important philosophical question. concerns itself Naturalism with the surface impressions, understands life as a continuity of unrelated experiences.

In seeking to discover the underlying tensions and forces, perigrace aste whole, Meyer ox.

turns albeit unconsciously to dialectical materialism. triumph And it is after the of October that Meyerhold is able consciously to synthesize his quest for form with the real social demands of the revolution. He threw in his lot passion- ately with the Bolsheviks at a time when most other theatre maintaining a people were discreet silence, waiting to see the outcome of the civil war.

Meyerhold, Not so who joined the Party in 1918, was arrested by the White Guard almost in 1919 and was executed for alleged subversive activities. Lunarcharsky appointed him to take charge of the Theatri- cal Department for the entire Republic, which he Soviet transformed into immediately a military headquarters and the advent of the declared Revolution in the theatre.

He worked furiously to set up Red Army theatres, propa- ganda pieces for the troops attacked the and savagely other uncommitted stage com- panies. His production of the 'Dawn' coincided with the third anni-

PAGE THAEL

BY BRIAN

MOORE

versary, of the Revolution.

Each night, at a point during the play, a herald would arrive with the latest news from the front. On the night when the herald announced a decisive victory in the Crimea, the entire audience rose spon- taneously and sang the Inter- national. Meyerhold's work was not always orthodox and he was often criticized for some of his productions. But it is' a measure of the Revolution at that period that he was given full support and encourage- ment by Lunarcharsky. The same freedom was not granted him ten years later. In his productions he strove to clarify the underlying reality of class forces. For him the theatre was a spectacle which burlesque, used placards, acrobatics, music, screens, rhythmic, controlled move- which he called bio- ments mechanics. Performances were for him demonstrations where the actors themselves comment on the characters the are playing to reveal their social essences.

In this respect, of course, he is a precursor of Brecht.

In Meyerhold's words: "The actor-tribune acts not the situation itself, but what is it and what concealed behind it has to reveal for a speci- purpose.' fically propagandist This spirit of criticism, this position fight for proletarian was to be his downfall, for with the rise of Stalin and the bureaucracy came the dictate that art should depict real life, for satire harmed the 'cause of socalism' or rather ques- position of the tioned the bureaucracy. In 1930 Meyerhold produced Mayakovsky's "The Bath House', lampoon vicious a against the bureaucracy. It was not regarded favourably by the Central Committee for Reper- toire Control, nor did 'Pravda' take to it kindly. And no wonder. In the third act of the play the bureaucrat Pobedonossikov the tells director what the theatre ought to be: 'In the name of every work- er and peasant, I beg you not to disturb my piece of mind.

An alarm clock? Perish the thought. Your job is to beguile stage design carried my eye and ear, not assault them... 'We need to rest after the discharge of our official obliga- tions. Back to the classics.

Study the great This was absolutely a des- cription of the official line. And they stuck to it. The play was forced out of the reper- toire. Mayakovsky committed suicide. Meyerhold spent ten years of uncertaintly and con- stant criticism. Yet he never wavered from his initial position. Finally he attended in 1939 the All-Union Conference of Stage Directors, presided over by a well-known director of lies ad illusions, a showman and actor of a certain skill, vice-president of the Soviet of People's Commissars, Andrei Vyshinsky. Reputedly Meyerhold's last public words were as folows: "The pitiful and wretched thing that pretends to the title of "socialism of the theatre realism" has nothing in . com- mon with art.. •. People in the arts searched, erred, and and frequently stumbled turned aside, but they really created, sometimes badly and splendidly. sometimes Where there were the best once theatres in the world now— by your leave-everything is well-regulated, aver- gloomily agely arıthmetical, stupetying and murderous in its lack of talent. Is that your aim? If it is-oh-you have done some- thing monstrous. In hunting down formalism you have eliminated art.' He died in prison some months later. His words are a fitting and still accurate description of Stalinism and the arts. They are the eloquent testi- mony of a brave and gifted man. They provide us with a starting-point.

Wednesday, December 31, 1969

WORKERS PRESS

PAGE FOUR

Fleet Street plays Italian strikes continue

PRINTING

YESTERDAY'S

down Fleet Street coverage of the Fascists General Council's 'guidelines' strikes and shop stewards was distinctly played and carefully

T.U.C.

involved cool.

PLANTS ARE

was almost as if there was a deliberate policy-embracing, of course Stalinist 'Morning Star'-to lull une in Milan workers into thinking there was nothing new in this guidelines' parucularly 6 treacherous cocument al-

OCCUPIED

most, but not quite! Mail' Both the bomb Dany and the 'Daily Telegraph' lifted a corner of the veil the polluca. danger attack By our industrial corresponden Glasgow WHILE AGREEMENT has been reached between it either to rouse trade union the unions and the employers on the Italian engin- AS NEW FACTS come to light on the rrom our owi eering wage claim-involving about a million correspondent alleged to be involved in the paigny gain Socialist Labour recent Milan bomb explosion, the whole workers in the private sector-strikes and occupa- the TOC i Dasis affair begins to take on the character of a statement tions continue in many other industries.

classical police provocation.

Those from the engineering agreement, concluded In the cally arrest, ap Valpreda,

ATUA-YS

'Discipline Tory, hours or December 4z contains une lonowing mal Manderi, Emilio

PUBLIC MEETINGS

MODCILO

improved' terms Bagnoli legislation Doriese. the the 'Star Stop Wilson's • Increase in pay of 65 lire (just under Is) an hour No DerTo wartamell and for wage workers and 13,000 lire a month for staff.

visit to also celected se our to king or it ek to be progressively reduced to Washington • Progressive limitation of overtime to eight hours a week oy 19/4.

HULL

• Official and notihed trade union meetings to be held on the plant and in the employers' time up to a Thursday, January 1 maximum of ten hours a year.

7.30 p.m.

STAMPA - RA I-T.V.

Tor Feather Taster • One day extra holiday a year.

Woodworker nia dice • Increased and officially recognized freedom of trade from union activity on the lactory premises-l.e., distributor

BIRKENHEAD

of leaflets etc. possible

ALLE FERRIERE

Monday, January 5 8 p.m. they argued, 5 of attack, Observatory Hotel

UNA-MENZOGNA-IN-PIU

ion, pensions and the economy Oxton Road smaller firms, many r The leader of the worker whom amir elated Pics vas senia to the son chat nati

OXFORD

set one Should also he already Tuesday January 6, sit rack and nile shourg hav Big problems 7.30 p.m. bigger say in union policy Catholic trade Fiat workers on the march during the recent strikes and sit-ins man at times were carthi Small Hall t, which has been Democrats might support such Blackbird Leys London «Financial Ros getime this matage

STOP WILSON'S VISIT

Community Centre The is the coursete illusions the speakers. sination never

TO WASHINGTON

temptible deter (leading local trade unionist) Distorts docks the betrayals ot employers general lenge the Young socialise) Met probes

• FROM PAGE ONE

I against the visit before motion a branch meeting.

• FROM PAGE ONE

Further the ovin demands.

' the Marchi enants trom gearby Dralow Sundanes other But cowley noad estat

KEEP LEFT WEEKEND RALLY

The factory will remain Party respec. occup their den workad baid, have supported Saturday and Sunday, January 10 and Il dockers A younger labour force will includintere from Gravesend Break Lep of th truth xposure. OvER liv academic, technica militant sentit danger of Chain Times industrial area. stail n

KEEP LEFT INVITES ALL ITS READERS TO THE

experienced dockers. sten on the leadership Since the • see mone ments so far vorked

ANNUAL GENERAL

Sher wil be il 42 millon 'Morning

MEETING

conductors you be the employer or ted Squeezed London, iS p.m.-11 p.m. resisted to empts to stron ampaigr East India Hall money which *The new recommendation 'Nationalize' 2.30 p.m. Saturday, January 10 When the employer vanished, Gestetner lockers throug inde rastie Young Socialist National Speaking Contest have have col.

DANCE IN THE EVENING

historie provides the model The Crescendos 1967 Previous i handl in The Element of Truth led small hop YOUNG SOCIALISTS in Port of 45 local trade unto sor fter the mer Special appearance intensity orrero dingy thig federation tood to wonsen the fisht agains

LONG JOHN

BALDRY

All ports intepatranne of ihe Fourth anagement' 8 p.m.-ll p.m. producers East India Hall roposal he strolle he does tion alization Devlin Phase Two po Felixstowee

FILM MAKING AND THE

For dockers in the nationalized threat in Soton

YOUNG SOCIALISTS

that the present Christian

ORDER THEDAILY

to those employers have Sunday, January 11 9.30 a.m.

SOUTHAMPTON'S

CLASSIC CINEMA, POND STREET

proposals achieve implement tation of the second

HAMPSTEAD, LONDON, N.W.3

Belgrave estates. ondon in a phase of Lord Devlin's docks 'modernization'.

Among those the union SEU, Boo and officials expec

STOP WILSON'S WASHINGTON

NOW

ere mem onni full cho peration - all ondohampton the brothers in

VISIT!

a government would,

FOR THE DEFEAT OF US

ampson polin six for South- Other Leicester er naties in the me.

IMPERIALISM IN

VIETNAM!

Wilson • daya OR E to see month. COVER Socialists bay TaGWU

WEATHER

• for three Willenhal months

DEMONSTRATION

London area, E and wontra with

• FROM PAGE ONE

Clouda, SnOW awe Sold Staste oposed to such • woula like to suosene to vorkers rress 10r (36F) but SC (41F) near mainsy will not Wastreland bristo

SUNDAY JAN. 11

carry Freakim easter Isolated sleet Hodecinson- and three ASSEMBLE: Speakers' Corner (Marble Arch), Name Wilend the mou. 2 P.M. we bracer. Party Young Socialists.

MARCH:

Oxford Street, Regent Street, via Address posed deal. Toung Socials miners Irafalgar Square past Downing Street MEETING: Lyceum Ballroom, near Aldwych ence of the or intervals case signed the herition.

10W Freshwers. 4 P.M. Outlook modeming night Details from 186a Clapham High Street, London, S.W.4 Maximum s a ren some in front naturer your cold. times en eastern and northern Socialis. Tickets for the whole weekend 12s 6d Channel Islands, SW England: districts. capitalist countries.