OPEN SEASON LAME DUCKS

The Tory decision to inje £35m into the bankru] was welcomed as 'an act i courage' by the Fleet St pres The mood is epitomized t "The Guardian', which greete the news with an editorial 1 the effect that:

(The) remaining uncertain cannot alter the glad fact th the government has changed i mind for the better. Yesterday announcement reflects a pra SocIal problems of the Uppi Clyde, a concern which was n‹ detectable before. This could t The •start or recional polic which may be more enlightene generally, and not just on tr Upper Clyde.' "The Times'. saw UCS 'another special case...a example of ideological commi ment being abandoned in tr face of political and econom reality.

The 'Daily Telegraph', like th Stalinist 'Morning Star', , saw th decision as 'victory right dow the line for the Communist-le "work-in" by the employees wh refused to let governmer close the money-losing yards' The 'Glasgow Herald' opine that 'what cannot be denied that the revival of the yards ha social enterise and represents triumph for the work-in and it leaders.

The 'Scotsman' describe Mr McGarvey Davies' move as 'a gratifying decision and one that does the Minister credit'.

And 'The Guardian' said that: 'Many people deserve credit for this change, the workers, their shop stewards, and their leaders who refused to take the sack for an answer; the boilerinakers' leader Mr McGarvey, who persuaded Texans that the Clyde was competent; finally the government itself which has admitted that some lame ducks are worth curing. No politicians enjoys the taste of his own words. Eating these was an act of courage.' The reader might well ask why papers which have never shown the slightest interest in promoting the struggle of the working class and defending the right to work should suddenly heap such bouquets on the heads of the UCS Stalinist leaders.

There is no such euphoria, for example, oyer the success of the Young Socialists' Right-to-Work marches which have been greeted either with deafening silence or snide hostility from the majority of Fleet St.

The answer is to be found first and foremost in the reactions of the trade union leaders and the shop stewards themselves. It can hardly be maintained that the certain loss of 1,700 jobs (at Clydebank) and the distinct probability of losing 2,500 on top of this figure (if the cufrent talks with Marathon break down) is a victory for the working class.

sounds, on the contrary, suspiciously like the original Tory plan to 'butcher' the yards drawn up by John Davies' aide Nicholas Ridley.

The bare facts make nonsense of claims like that of the 'Scotsman's' Chris Baur, who wrote Davies' announcement was 'the last rite spoken over the