Workers Press no. 777

workers press INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • MONDAY MAY 29, 1972 • No. 777 • 4p DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

FOUR DAYS TO THE NATIONAL DOCK STRIKE

HEATH DECLARES

WAR ON UNIONS

with an appeal to the trade union bureau-

BY STEPHEN JOHNS

'But let no one ask this crats. He sald some unions nad reacher 'reasonable' settlements For

PRIME MINISTER

Edward us end the bickering and get government to on with the job. sur- Heath's 'no-surrender' speech Reasonable settlements include thos render. If there is any- made by leaders of the electricity workers at the weekend was a major and the postmen which, salvo in the class war that will rate

COUL

lucreases one who still imagines amountee to progressively engulf the country living standards. that they can, for poli- during the coming weeks. The Tories want to terrify union leaders on the docks and railways total sub- into Using language vividly remi- This tical purposes, pick an clea MISSIOn 1926 General rontal assaut on tne rank angle niscent of the is the real meaning of those few soothing easy fight with us, 1 Strike period, the Tory premier words end of the of reconciliation at the made it clear that the question must warn them: The timetable to crisis will start tomor of who should rule Britain was roW with the result of the rail ballot.

It will lead up through two more "black: at stake in the big confronta- You've come to the ing faced the Cases I ransport ano tions on the railways and docks.

Workers' Union in the National Industrial Relations Court wrong place. You're The most dramatic moment of his with the threatened national speech, made to Luton Hoo sup- dock strike. wasting your time? porters, came when he warned: But As these events unfold, the Tories wil let no one ask this government to activate their plans to go to war with the workers surrender. If there is anyone who still This imagines that they can, for political political reality facing all News came yesterday that army units workers as this crucial week begins purposes, rick an easy te withe us The community Heath referred to of labour movement sections You've come to iag essential supplies around the coun have already course the These must warn them: not workine class must meet this challenge and begin an the 200,000 rail workers, the 50,000 the wrong place. You're wasting your immediate mobilization dockers and their families the govern- time.' The government is also urging British The of this offensive must be ment s seck ne to mumidate and impov

CCHUC

back Rail The government is now ready to not erish with emergency powers and the the Councils of Action Suspend eno ovees •COl these words normally. This lead local wat With action. heaun Work WIll will organize the massive resist. unese will be back in London tomorrow waiting Tories are talk of 'the consumer prepared Heath's the ance and consist all workers organiza- the decisive result rail ballot. thi: escalation ' they ot the tace familiat tions Wildl une and political All his Tory lieutenants are standing by hope will be a stunning victory over the class the brolly groups and barues m middle brigade' who the labour movement for an emergency meeting.

working class. vented their frenzied hatred the of application of an emergency the sailed to work out the detailed In his Hoo entil ation Heathe Waterloo when they But they must fight under the political hinted making Tory government essentia Darl station and demanded tne arrest of train banner The railway drivers. and replacing them with a Labour workers nous mal tory plan. Ine government, ne said, would unrest break out. resist attack from the because it Part the strategy is to whip up government pledged • LO socialist As in last Monday's Work- had- •a duty we warned and a responsibility to the hysteria among these to give the Heath has survival of •nOW STaKed EnE State Press this involve his government his bid

CIS

consumer to muc nousewire To une com cove ament a base tor us aroitrary oten and the dockers. that responsi Emergency and the use of troops to break And sive against the working class railworkers munity as a whole The working the strike. bility we intend to discharge.'

Finally Heath couples his sabre-waving class must make sure ne raus Kid-gloves treatment Contempt threat at rail ballot for 'peace moves' USING the Industrial Re-

FROM PHILIP WADE

abre sell checs ng the didity lations Act to the full, the were still checking ballot he each vote. said any attempt to Commission Industrial on take a photograph or talk to an Some 30 observers including Relations has thrown a tight of the staff would lead to a report those free to a c

BY IAN YEATS

security web around the being made to the

NIRC

present along were officials count on the railmen's ballot.

officer was not SuperVISI Northern ULSTER peace moves con- Ireland ol people in expected that the oresent We wowe save want end to violence." men had balicted hehaily in fail.

After build

GOC"

tin ued to up at the wait outside on the pavement for actual counting of the vote will Northern Ireland Gen balloted heavily in fav weekend him, told. begin and Tory leader were tomorrow Sir mornin" and Harry Luzo weitnea in be our or ves tor Turner inouse a Eventually officer Heath told a Party rally at hours ores. LaKe Minister with action their claim, the ning the Prime CER warned on Saturday apologized for this abrupt treat- National Union of Rail- attack aimed depening Luton Hoo that the security waymen's senior assistant general discredit forces were being kept on a The poll *The reports are irresponsible is thought to have sCerelary Salaover une weekend

IRA.

tight lead. speculation. It is quite impossible with some that from reports from branches been a very neavy one. the He told ool delegates at at this stage to tell 140,000 railmen filling in and up and dow country he con British Legion conference at the He said: "The men of violence fidently expected a 10-1 majorit how the vote going papers Isle of Man: in Northern Ireland would like Yesterday some 200 temporary the ballot continuing indus- has because papers art nothing than that EnIS ortanizatol inside sealed envelopes through the trial action. sull wOrKers violence be now completely forfeited its right should use massive which are being put into metal 'Great understanding' to be regarded as anything other help them keep ballot boxes cause itwould Anyone who Cal the bitterness alive and to keep than a collection ot opportunists Te vou on tose ballot the Protestant with objectives that are extremely papers have supernatural must and Roman Catholic, apart, hard to define. powers." a 50-50 chance of the THERE is want have tould a eat deal r The and Ulster supremo Whitelaw But, he added: In recent days And yesterday, Workers Press William threatened national found a great obviously

COCKS SUIKE

reporters were threatened with being called off, T&GWU general sympathy from certainly the port we have seen -unal peobit the Crest peace in both communities are sick of contempt of the National Indus secretary Jack said on authorities, wave generated by the shooting and members 0yco, violence. tria! Relations Court by

BBC

radio yesterday the Willam Best, hast week. Catholic, 19-year-old

DEC

coverinen at certair We cannot build too much *It depend. times have indicated deep under.

samn omcer. resDonsi of Almost as soon as we began to employers. We want to standing of thi problem in dock. Turn to p. 12, Col 5 I am certain the great majority inquire about the position of the find a general solution land, -we don't he added

workers press INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • MONDAY MAY 29, 1972 • No. 777 • 4p DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

FOUR DAYS TO THE NATIONAL DOCK STRIKE

HEATH DECLARES

WAR ON UNIONS

with an appeal to the trade union bureau-

BY STEPHEN JOHNS

'But let no one ask this said unions had reached some 'reasonable' settlements. For

PRIME MINISTER

Edward let end the bickering and get us government to sur- on with the job.' Heath's 'no-surrender speech Reasonable settlements nc ude mios at the weekend was a major render. If there is any- made by leaders of the electricity workers postmen which, with current salvo in the class war that will rate of Increases one who still imagines progressively engulf the country living standards. that they can, for poli- during the coming weeks. The Tories want to terrify union leaders total on the docks and railways into sub- Using language vividly remi- tical purposes, pick an This the WIll Cca This frontal assault on General the rank and nie. niscent of the 1926 : real meaning of those few soothing easy fight with us, 1 Strike period, the Tory premier end of the words of reconciliation at the made it clear that the question warn them: The timetable to crisis will start tomor must of who should rule Britain was row with the result of the rail ballot It will lead up through two more "black- at stake in the big confronta- You've come to the ing' faced the Lase. Cant tions on the railways and docks.

Workers' Union in the National Industrial Relations Court wrong place. You're The most dramatic moment of his Friday with the threatened national on made Luton Hoo speech, to sup- dock wasting your time? porters, came when he warned: 'But As these will • events uniola, the lories ask this government to activate their plans to go to with let no one the workers surrender. If there is anyone who still This imagines that they can, for political is the political reality facing all News came yesterday that army units workers as this purposes, pick an easy fight with us, urse is ou ity Worth referasd est the labour movement cockers All sections You've come to have already working class. 1 must warn them : beer

MON-

must meet this challenge and begin an ing essential supplies around the coun- 200,000 rail workers, the 50,000 the wrong place. You're wasting your immediate mobilization and their families the time.' government is also urging British The of this offensive must be 1 ne ment Is seeking to Inumidate and impov- back the Councils of Action. Rai erish with emergency and the suspend ennoovees wno

DUWCIS

these words war with action. Heath work This will lead local army organize the massive resist- nese will be back in London tomorrow waiting but Tories prepared Heath's talk of 'the consumer" the renat they ance and consis workers organiza. rail ballot. this escalation oi the tace second

COTI

and political All his Tory lieutenants are standing by will be a stunning victory over the class-the groups and partes In "brolly brigade' who Nobe the labour movement. for an emergency meeting.

worki mis 255. their frenzied hatred of the rail This will be out the detailed In Hoo stators, and demanded the arrest of train declaration Heath But they waymen occupied Waterloc must fight under the politica hinted emergency plan to smash banner of making the governmeni a•oucation ol an essentia ocrI The government, he said, would Tory plan. railway resign and replacing them with a Labour The workers Soule unrest break out. resist attack because strategy is to whip up Dicusca socialist boncier we warned in last Monday's Work- As had—'a duty and responsibility to the hysteria among these groups to give the survival of Chas nou staked the State ers Press le. Send that government a base for its arbitrary offen.

his government on his bid beat the Consume lo une to tne com- bility we inten hol Emergency and the use of troops to break munity whole. And sive against the working class railworkers and the dockers. 1.he working the strike. discharge. Finally Heath couples his sabre-waving class must make sures de taus Kid-gloves treatment Contempt threat at rail ballot for 'peace moves' USING the Industrial Re-

FROM PHILIP WADE

labour exchanges for £1l a day- lations Act to the full, were still checking the validits the ballot he said any attempt to each vote. Commission Industrial on Some 30 including Lake a. Dnolondon or lak o dol observers Relations has thrown a tight of the staff would lead to a report those from the three rail

BY IAN YEATS

security web around the beinem pre so the

NIRC

were along present count on the railmen's ballot.

officer not officials the •Was super visine Colit Northern Ireland ULSTER peace moves people expected that the oresert want end to violence. After predictions that the rail- tinued to build up the Wan, outiere Tothe pavement for actual counting of the vote will at Northern Ireland Gen men had balloted heavıly in tav.

begin weekend and Tory leader we were and Sir Harrv our of 'yes' for further industrial

LUZO

oe. officer take Union ot Rail- Heath told a Party rally at ores hind the Prime Minister with their claim, the CER warned on Saturday apologized for this abrupt treat- The National Union of Luton Hoo that the security attack aimed deepening waymen's senior assistant general discredit of the the The poll is thought to have forces were being kept on a irresponsible "Ihe reports are occiclary salle over une weekene He told 680 delegates at the been a very heavy one, with some tight lead. speculat nage forante intell that from reports from branches stage anyone railmen and down the country he con- idently expected a 10-t majority British Legion conference at the He said: "The men of violence ballot vote going returning : papers Isle of Man: now in Northern Ireland wolld 1ke the ballot favour continuing indus. Decause papers are 1 colcrudy some nov temoordr nothing than that orcanianon Shas still inside sealed envelopes -recruited through the trial action. wokers now completely forfeited its right use vlolence be which being metal are put into to be a be regarded as anything other 'Great understanding' cause nelo tren Anyone ballot boxes wno Cal the bitte cons alves, Proo Kant portuniste tell you wnat is on those ballot communities, Protestant with objectives that are extremely papers have supernatural hard to define." and Roman Catholic, apart,' powers. THERE is a 50-50 chance of the wat have riound sceat deal of The and Ulster a mnitelaw supremo But, he added: 'In recent days Workers Press William And yesterday threatened national great Iound a ale people reporters were threatened with sympathy from certainly the por we have seen SOuS Liat peace Crest both communities are sick of the National Indus- SEC Tadio yeste day authorities, yes, wave generated by heartin shooting

BBC

violence. triai Relations William Derry Catholic, at certain governmen build too much the response times have indicated deep VY e canniol Best, week. Seconncer deraien last hae certain the great majority Almost as soon as we began to employers. We want to standing problem in dock- Turn to p. 12, Col 5 certain the great majority inquire about the position of the -we don't land, he added

MAJOR DEFENCE SYSTEMS FOR GOVERNMENT CENTRES

Balance of terror PAGE 2 Workers Press, Monday May 29, 1972 THE TRIAL of the Stoke Newington Eight may have to be postponed tomorrow when the Central Criminal Court is told that the defendants have been unable to find QCs to defend them.

The eight defendants are charged with conspiring to cause explosions and face heavy jail sentences. In a similar trial recently one of the defendants, Jake Prescott, was given 14 years.

It has just come to light that solicitors representing six of the eight accused have spent the past three months trying to retain QCs to defend their clients.

One firm approached 15 QCs, another at least five.

In every case the QC was "too busy to take on the brief. Why are the QCs so reluctant to give their expertise in the defence of these defendants? 'The Guardian' said at the weekend that many lawyers felt the trial would prove 'politically, a very hot issue'.

If this is the case-and there is every likelihood it By JOHN SPENCER PRESIDENT NIXON and the Soviet leaders have agreed to maintain their 'balance of terror' by mutual limitations on nuclear missiles and anti-ballistic defences. effect of The sole the treaties in strategic terms is that Americans and the Soviet Union agreed have cynically not to defend the majority of in their population nuclear war. The Moscow deal provides that each side can build anti-ballistic missile systems only to defend government and one the seat of set of 'retaliatory' missiles.

'freeze' The treatv terms also of offensive nuclear the number weapons at present levels, though there is nothing to stop the build- of the effective sub- up more land- marine-based rockets if the based arsenal is correspondingly Either side reduced. denounce the deal at six months' The agreements signed in Mos- by the British hailed cow were Star' Stalinists' 'Morning as creating 'important steps new possibilities for finally ending the cold war and helping the world along the difficult road to peace- ful co-existence'. Nothing could be further Moscow The from the truth. deal will not dim- 'disarmament' inish the military appetite of US when he was last in Russia in and its determina- Nixon. imperialism and Brezhnev counter-revolu- tion to export tion. himself ample Nixon gave world has ever seen ment the proof of this undeniable fact against the North. eve of his Moscow on the Who doubt that similar very can blockaded and mined He is in store for work- trip. treatment Haiphong and other North Viet- ers and peasants elsewhere who and set in motion of namese ports take the road revolutionary most devastating bombard- the Soviet leaders, struggle? The THE BATTLE for Kontum, in Central Highlands, the continued yesterday. North FIVE left-wing opponents of Vietnamese troops breached the Iranian regime were inner defences for the third day running on Saturday. executed in Tehran last This key city is defended Thursday, only days before by more than 10,000 puppet President Nixon's arrival in troops of the Saigon govern- On Saturday the city. ment. was three sides by The five victims attacked from were among 89 defendants tried in secret boy tanks and infantry. military tribunals at the end As US helicopters flew in with April and the begianing of May.

supplies and took out involved Nineteen people in wounded, senior American life the trial are now serving adviser described the situation as and the remainder sentences critical. various lesser Yesterday morning some North due. to President Nixon is Vietnamese tomorrow for troops were arrive in Tehran the airstrip with the Shah. entrenched around talks is-then there is a conspiracy in the legal profession against the accused. This is not the first time the trial of the 'Eight' has seemed especially difficult.

They have already been held in custody for a year, an appallingly long time on a charge which the prosecution regards as so serious. At the lower court proceedings one of the defend- became clear the when discharged ants was prosécution had not the slightest evidence against her The trial is now timed to occur under conditions in which press hysteria could well take place.

Workers Press will be in the forefront of studying and analysing this forthcoming trial and its implica- tions for the working class.

WHEN he ran for the vice- presidency of the United States in 1952 Nixon's campaign statement said: 'A programme which is designed to meet the threat which is presented to our security by the international communist keep the United conspiracy: States militarily strong. Keep the economy of this nation strong and sound and produc- tive and free. And develop a fair and effective programme of internal security? Rounding the Democrats, . on • Nixon said: The Republican Party has some faults. But one thing can be said to our credit said for which be the cannot in that is, that party power, we have never had the support of the communists in the past.

We have never asked for that We support. do not have and we shall now, never ask it it in the for or accept And for Russia in 1959, flanked by Khrushchev reason future. that Republican administration, will conduct we can be sure, however, together thoroughgoing housecleaning are preparing fellow with the imperialists for of communists and travellers in the administrative ter-revolution. of The Moscow treaties branch the government are part of this counter-revolutionary have no fear of heranse We skele- horse-trading directed against the finding any communist closets. our political world working class. tons in fire was heard near the runway.

which overlooks the mountain And a force of unknown size and Highway 14 camp connect- Kontum attacked South Vietnamese Pleiku, 25 miles ing to armoured cavalry about to the south. Position of half mile north-east the radio said Sunday Hanoi on about hours before city two morning that two more US planes dawn. had been shot down over North Meanwhile fierce fighting was Vietnam and the pilots captured.

reported south of the city around The brought down planes were Ninh base 41 and Chu Pao in Binh and Ha Tinh camp north east of Kontum and sniper provinces. TALKS at the six Ferranti group ing how they had improved on original offer factories their of an engineering £2 a week, better premium rates greater Manchester area, where 6,000 extra day's holiday this workers are continuing and an their broke with another one 1973. sit-in, down i on year Saturday. The firm was not say-

THE UNITED STATES

registered a $700m trade deficit last month, accord- ing to figures released at the weekend by the Commerce Department in Washington. This is the 12th month out of the past 13 that US trade has been in deficit-and if the current trend continues the 1972 deficit could dwarf last year's record figures.

The deficit for the first four months of this year is already higher than the $2,000m trade gap for 1971. April's deficit is the second biggest ever, exceeded only by the $821m trade gap last Octo- ber. doubly The Apri! figures are significant because they indicate • the volume of both a fall in exports and imports-pointing to a decline in the volume of world trade. The volume of imports fell by 0.3 percent compared with March, while volume of exports dropped by 3.4 per cent.

US officials are reported to be 'disappointed' that the trade figures are continuing to deteri- the December 18 orate despite realignment agreement currency upvalued a number which currencies against the dollar in the wake of President Nixon's August 15 measures. latest figures will give The added impetus to the US trade war against Japan and Europe.

Already officials are demanding another revaluation of the yen, though the effects of the Decem- ber revaluation have plunged the deep Japanese economy into recession.

PAKISTAN

• President Zul- fiqar Ali Bhutto will fly to New Delhi on June 28 for a summit meeting with Indian premier Mrs Indira Gandhi, it was announced from Islamabad at the weekend.

Bhutto has declared that under would vital circumstances no national interests be compro- mized by the talks, even though Pakistan had lost the Decem- ber war with India. Bhutto is currently touring capitals what he Moslem terms a 'mission of renaissance- the rebirth of our relations with the Moslem world'. Beginning in Abu Dhabi, a rich oil sheikhdom, he is seeking new markets for Pakistan's goods. Factories are at present run- ning at much less than half capa- city and unrest among the work- ers is mounting. After the war, Pakistan lost its captive market among the 70 million Bengalis who now belong to BanglaDesh.

The is the president's tour second: in January he visited Iran, Turkey, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Syria.

This time he will visit Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, the Sudan, Guinea, Mauretania, Turkey and of the Iran. The extent two visits testifies to the desperate crisis driving the Pakistan leader.

Part 1. By Philip Wade, Housin As thousands upon thousands of tenants con- tinue the fight against Tory the hated rent- the doubling plans, Labour Party leadership is prostrate at the feet of the government. In town after town, council after council, the reformists have capitulated, thrown in their hand and decided to im- plement the Housing Finance Bill. And that is even before it is law. London, for example, In where Labour controls over 20 of the 32 councils and repre- most of the tenants sent massed in the central area, just three or four are holding out and refusing to be the rent collectors for the Tories.

The remainder, despite promises made to tenants at the 1971 elections, have decided to implement the Bill best interests' of 'in the tenants. The Labour Party nationally has issued no clear directive to Labour councils. Instead it has assisted the betrayal by the usual prattle about 'obeying the law'. The result has been con- fusion i and dismay among tenants who were looking to the Labour Party for a lead in the fight. To their credit a number of councillors, including the leader and several committee members of Wandsworth Council, have resigned their posts on the basis of decisions to implement carried by the right wing. others at Newham, But 13 in East London, have been suspended from the Labour group for voting for non- implementation of the Bill as have 11 from Hammersmith.

The whole crisis inside local Labour Parties over the issue inside the parallels the split Parliamentary Labcur Party where the Jenkinsites have voted on a number of occasions with the Tories on the Com- mon Market to ensure the government remained in power.

But Labour's bankruptcy on housing, as on all other main issues, has deep • roots. The out-and-out reformist approach to the housing question has led Labourites and tenants into one trap after another for decades. is why today, when That they are faced with defending tenants against the lory plans to destroy council-housing and decontrol private tenancies, they are unable to offer a fight.

Housing Correspondent As long ago as September 1970 Workers Press warned: 'The Tories will intensify the Labour government's attempts to drive down the housing con- ditions of the workers as part of their attack on the con- ditions of the whole class.

'The Tories and their Fleet St friends want to see a return to the days of Rachman. Fol- lowing the 1957 Tory Rent Act millions of tenants found themselves with little security of tenure and were often the victims of thugs employed by the big landlords to chase off property' them the (Workers Press, September 17, 1970). It is essential to examine Labour's housing record and to see how the Party capitu- lated in one instance after another to the landlords and In this way tenants and other workers can begin to arm the socialist themselves with which have to be policies demanded of the next Labour government. In 1949 Labour introduced a Housing Act to improve property. This gave the land- lords the right to secure grants for improvements followed by an increase in rents. This measure obviously had no beneficial effects for the . au tenants themselves. As the Tory government moved to introduce the hated 1957 Rent Act, Labour admitted its failure. First published in 1956, 'Homes of the Future' was the policy document containing proposals to form the basis of a future Labour government's housing programme. It took a radical stance on the whole question of private landlords who between them then controlled some 4 million tenancies. landlords then as Private now were responsible for the ownership of the worst slums in Britain, often refusing to do anything about the state of repair of their tenancies.

...attempts which have been made to encourage land- lords to carry out repairs and improvement by granting them financial assistance have failed.

The time has now come when more positive action must be taken. •.. private landlordism has failed to provide the majority of our people with the homes they deserve,' said the intro- duction. At that time Labour de- manded that all rent-controlled 'be acquired houses should Richard Crossman: Introduced the 1965 and improved by the local authorities'. Only owner- occupied houses, non-profit- making housing associations and houses of landlords who proved hardship or strong family reasons were excluded.

'We must secure the repair and modernization of rent- Social controlled houses. ownership is obviously the only answer,' the document declared. story. But That was one when the Labourites were re- turned to power in 1964 after 13 years of Tory government they opened with a policy of capitulation to those self-same landlords they had attacked earlier. Great play was made of the 1965 Rent Act rushed through the Houses of Parliament by Richard Crossman. Security of tenure was to be restored to those who had lost it under Tory legislation. Two million unfurnished tenancies were to remain rent controlled. But the friendly hand was extended to land- lords with the introduction of a new concept, 'regulated' tenancies of which there were some 900,000. A cross between controlled and decontrolled property, the question remained as to red basis of fixing rents for regu- Richard Crossman: Introduced the 1965 Rent Act, but extended a friendly hand to the landlords.

lated tenancies. A 'fair rent' would be estab- lished by rent assessment com- mittees, said the Act. The road Finance Housing the lory Bill which will double 6 mil- lion rents was opened. The 'fair rent' formula was born.

Those few tenants who bothered to apply for the regi- stration of a 'fair rent' soon

BOOKS

kera Prezs, Monday May 29, 1972 PAGE 3 frlendly hand to the landlords.

wished they hadn't. In the vast majority of cases rents were increased. Seven years later Labour MP Frank Allaun has shown that rents for regulated tenancies have increased some 240 per cent on average under the 1965 Rent Act.

CONTINUED TOMORROW

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PAGE 4 Workers Press, Monday May 29,

BY PETER JEFFRIES

In this period of rapidly- deepening economic and political crisis it is more essential than ever that a systematic study be made of Marx's 'Capital. But this study cannot be confined Marx's conclu- to sions on particular questions.

It must centre upon a study of the method of this great work.

Such a study represents a par- ticular challenge to the revo- lutionary movement in Britain, where there has traditionally theore- been an opposition to tical questions and particularly the dialectical a hostility • to method which is at the heart of 'Capital'. In any case such a study academic be a mere cannot exercise. For under- a real standing of. the revolutionary implications of Marx's theore- tical study of the capitalist system can only be achieved as part of a struggle, both practical and theoretical, to defend the heritage of Marxism against reformism and revision- ism. In particular, this means a struggle against Stalinism. For it can be truly said that the Stalinists in Britain, aided by the revisionists, have been the forefront in their efforts to revolutionary destroy the method of 'Capital'. In these articles we intend to expose the nature of these distortions through an exam- ination of the labour theory of value, its place in 'Capital' has and the treatment it received at the hands of Stal- in particular inist writers, Maurice Dobb, for long con- sidered their leading repre- sentative in this field in the Anglo-Saxon world. But it would be a serious mistake to see Dobb's wrong method, which we shall pres- examine, arising as ently merely from a series of 'mis- takes' • For his aim, a retlec- tion of the political camp which he has slavishly served for the last 50 years, is to revolutionary heart tear the out of Marx's work by reduc- ing it to the level of Ricardian political economy. For him, this has the dual of making Marx advantage 'respectable' by suggesting that he was the last of the great schooi of classical political economy, while at the same time providing for himself a in the comfortable position academic world. We shall show that Mary ar trom being the heir di political economy, was in fact its severest critic. As early as 1847 he attacked Proudhon for у Мау 29, 1972 trying to 'criticize political economy from the standpoint of political economy' and "Capital' for him, unlike the Stalinists, was a critique of political economy. In centring the discussion initially on the theory of we can best start with value, Marx's famous letter to Dr Kugelmann of July 11, 1868. It contains following well- the known but critical passage: Even if there were no chapter on "value" in my book ['Capital'] the analysis of the real relationships which I give would contain the proof of the real value relation. The nonsense about the necessity of proving the concept of value arises from complete ignorance both of the subject dealt with and of the method of science. 'Every child knows that a country which ceased to work, I will not say for a year, but for a few weeks, would • die. Every child knows too, that the mass of products corre- sponding to the different needs require different and quantita- tively determined means of the total labour of society. That this necessity of distributing social labour in definite pro- portions cannot be done away with by the particular form of social production but can only change the form it assumes, is self evident. Hegel 'No natural law can be done away with. What can change, in changing historical circum- stances, is the form in which these laws operate. And the form which this proportional division of labour operates in a state of society where the interconnections of social labour is manifested in the private exchange of the indi- vidual products of labour, is precisely the exchange value of these products. The science consists precisely in working out how the law of value operates. So that if one wanted at the very beginning to ex- plain' all the phenomena which apparently contradicted the law, one would have to give the science before the science.'

This is a particularly import- ant pasage in that the aim of this article will be to reveal that Marx was able to show how the law of value operated only because he had completely assimilated Hegel's dialectical method. But first some general points passage. Marx evi- about the dently wished to stress one basic idea in writing to Kugel- mann, namely the historical and relatfve nature of all the categories met with in political economy; none of these cate- 'production', gories, such as "division of labour', etc. can be understood except their relations to the specific mode of production of which they formed a part. 'The categories of bourgeois economy' says Marx 'are forms of thought expressing with social validity the conditions and relations of a definite, hiş- torically determined mode of production, viz the production of commodities.' (I, p. 76.)

This recognition of the his- torical nature of political eco- nomy and its categories was a reflection of the theory of historical materialism. But it did not mean that there were not features common to many if not all societies. Every society, whatever its social relations of production, needs some mechanism for the allo- cation of social labour. How- the form which this ever, mechanism takes differs widely trom society to society. Marx, in 'Capital', shows that these differences can be explained analysis only by an of the relations of structure of the production and it was one of his major aims to demonstrate the dependence of the relations of 'distribution' on the rela- tions of 'production'. What were the specific fea- tures which distinguished capi- talism from other forms of society? Marx shows that capitalism involved the dom- inance of commodity produc- and in particular, the tion, transformation of the category of 'labour' into 'labour power' or the ability io work, which itself is reduced to the status of a commodity. Given that this was so, how was the allocation of labour the various branches to effected? It was effected, says Marx, through the exchange of commodities equivalents, as through their exchange values.

For Marx then the law of value reflected the only pos- sible, although indirect, form whereby social labour could be distributed commodity- producing society. The law of value reflects the social rela- tions of production specific to capitalism, and to capitalism alone. Speaking of socialist econo- mic organization Engels wrote ('Anti-During', p. 423.): 'The people will arrange everything very simply, without the inter- vention of the much famed law.' For the epigones of Stalin this statement has proved a considerable difficulty in that it has had to be squared with Stalin's assertions that in the USSR, which from 1936 on- wards was a fully-developed socialist country he said, the law of value continued to operate. In his letter to his friend Kugelmann, Marx was also drawing attention to another very important point-the fact that under capitalism the value relation (a social relation) appeared as a relation between things. Unless this is correctly understood, the opening chap- ter of 'Capital, and particularly the fourth section which deals with "The Fetishism of Com- modities and the Secret There- of cannot be understood. In exchanging commodities, engaged in both men were quantitative but also qualita- tive activities. Quantitative in that commodities exchanged in definite proportions according to the socially necessary lab- our-time which their produc- tion entailed, but also qualita- in that behind these tive, quantitative ratios stood social relations. In exchanging com- modities men were exchanging their labour. For Marx this attachment of social relations to things was no illusion' , as is commonly thought. For under capitalism the social relations between the individuals consisting society could only manifest themselves or appear as the relations between the objects of material wealth. These appearances were, as Marx puts it, 'necessary appearances' 'A social relation of produc- tion', says Marx ('Critique of Political Economy, p. 49) appears as something existing apart from individual human beings, and the distinctive rela- tions into which they enter in production the course appear as the specific proper- ties of a thing—it is this perverted appearance, this pro- saically real, and by no means imaginary mystification that is characteristic of all social forms posting exchange value.

Or again ('Capital' I, p. 73): ... the relations connecting the labour of one individual with that of the rest appear, not as direct social relations between individuals at work, but as what they really are, material relations between per- and social relations sons between things'. One very important con- clusion flowed from this on the necessary insistence nature of -they appearances could not be destroyed 'in the head' as the idealist opponent of Marxism thinks. They could be destroyed only by over- throwing their material basis —the social relations of capi- talist production—which sus-.

tained them. Immediately, Marx's debt to Hegel is clear. For Marx, in his analysis of value and the value form (which we shall examine in greater detail at a' later stage) shows that the 'thing in itself' (in this case value) can only present itself through its contradictory oppo- site, its appearace (to continue with our illustration, 'exchange value' is the form of appear- ance of 'value'). In other words Marx rejected Kant's separation of the 'thing in itself from its 'appearance' in favour of Hegel's method. Marx's task in 'Capital' was to establish the laws of mediation through which the 'essence' of pheno- mena manifested themselves in 'appearances' The whole of 'Capital' — its three volumes - is devoted to an analysis of the complex pro- cess of mediation which this transition involves. Marx is thus able to show how all the capitalism of appearances (which seem to consist of relations 'where equality and Mr Bentham reign supreme') have their origin in the cease- less struggle between the development of the productive and the increasingly forces restrictive nature of capital social relations. As Hegel ('Science of Logic' p. 133) notes: 'Hence law is not beyond appearance, but is immediately present in it; the realm of laws is the quiescent counterfeit of the existing or appearing world.'

CÓNTINUED TOMORROW

MARKET WILL COST

How much will it cost the housewife when Britain goes into the Common Market? Though it is not possible to give a precise answer it is likely that, in addition to the annual 10 to 12-per-cent in- flationary rise on food items, an added leap of ZU or 25 per cent can be expected in the first year or two. This will bring British prices into line with those on the Continent and end Britain's privileged position as a cheap food country which lingers on from the period when she was the world's main market for the primary-producing coun- tries and the leading imperialist power. Cheap food and raW materials had great advantages for the British employers. It could be meant that wages kept down and that most of their inputs--such as raw materials — were lower than they might otherwise have Special arrangements been. and with the colonies dominions helped to keep prices down. Taxes and sub- sidies were used for the same purpose. Already eaten away over the years, what remains of this position will go for good when Britain the Common enters Market. Britain's future 'partners' are insisting upon it; it is the price of entry, a price which will be paid by the housewife and the whole working class. An index of this is the insistence in Brussels that Britain should impose a Value Added Tax on food as well as other commodities. If a majority in the European Coun- of Ministers insists, the British parliament will have no option but to impose such a although some delaying tax, tactics may be open to it.

In his last Budget Chancellor Anthony Barber gave food items a zero rating in the pro- posals for the Value Added Tax, which will come into force in April 1973. Even so, some foods, already subject to purchase tax, will be taxed at 10 per cent. So the road is open for a general raising of taxes from the zero floor to something nearer that prevailing in con- tinental countries. The har- monization rules laid down in the Treaty of Rome on which the Common Market is based seem to make this inevitable, despite Barber's subterfuges.

The VAT rate for food is 74 per cent and by 1975 we shall be there. Food taxes would accord well with Tory policy to transfer the tax burden from the rich supertax payers to the wage-earners by reducing taxes on income and increasing those on goods, so-called indirect taxes.

The grocery trade is con- vinced that a VAT on food is National Grocers' Federation, put it this way: 'Iain Macleod gave us his word that there would be no tax on food and Tony Barber confirmed it. We hailed this as but I've been con- a victory, vinced all along that it was a hollow one-all part of the soft sell. We shall just have to toe the line with Europe: we'll Top: Mr Anthony Barber: zero rating. Above: lain Macleod.

be bound by the Council of Ministers.' Unless the government intends to have a showdown over the issue with the other Common Market countries, it and will have to toe the line, Barber and Macleod smartly. knew this. Their reassurances the contrary were for to internal consumption. They know the price which has to be paid and they are deter- mined to unload the burden onto the working class. It becomes plainer every day that the attack on the trade unions through the Industrial Relations Act and the whole working class, through measures like the Housing Finance Bill, is part of a co- ordinated policy to prepare for entry to the Common Market as the last hope for British capitalism. The attack on living stan- dards through the

VAT,

especially its extension to food (which has already been partly accepted) must be resisted as part of the campaign to force the Tory government to resign.

Workers Press, Swakopmund on the Skeleton Coast of Namibia (South West Africa) is the scene of exploitation cruel of African workers in Euro- pean-owned mines. No independent white investigator or researcher has been allowed into the area for years. What is known, however, is that the ore is produced at extraordinarily competitive prices. This can only mean one thing-that slave-like con- ditions operate in the mines.

With the ban on travel im- posed by the racialist admin- istration of South it Africa, was intriguing to discover that a mysterious millionaire last week paid a secret visit.

He turned out to be Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate, firm supporter of the colonels' regime and husband of Mrs Jacqueline Kennedy. He arrived at Jan Smuts airport on May / with his son, Alexander, aged 22, and tour other business associates. Shortly after settling into Johannesburg's President Hotel was joined by George he Moore, former president of the First National City Bank of New York, and Dr A. F. Ban- field. Through a spokesman from Olympic Airlines, owned by Onassis, the press learnt that the magnate was in southern Africa to investigate invest- ment opportunities including mining, shipping, banking and tourism • He went to Windhoek, the Namibia, in capital of Boeing 727 chartered by mining tycoon Ben du Preez. They were met by the illegally-held territory's chief inspector of mines, D. B. Smit. During his Onassis inspected Rio tour Tinto Zinc's Rossing copper mine where black workers mine under miserable and poverty-stricken conditions.

is a British-owned

RTZ

company whose chairman, Sir Val Duncan, is greatly praised by senior members of both the Tory and Labour Parties. Harold Wilson made Duncan head of a committee of inquiry into the administration of the A national docks strike has been averted in Australia by the signing of a new agreement be- tween port employers and dockers. The vote to accept the deal was overwhelming. The two- year contract includes a 35- hour week, big pay increases and the right to stage political strikes. The settlement has been by members of condemned the Liberal (Tory) government kora Prose, Monday May 29. 1972 PAGE 5 Aristotle Onassis. Foreign Office and also officially opened RTZ's multi- million pound lead smelter at Avonmouth. Early this year the smelter was closed down after it had been described by the TUC as a 'death trap'. This followed medical re- that the level of lead ports poisoning in the plant had reached extremely dangerous proportions. A private committee is now investigating the lead poisoning and it will be sent to the chairman of the government's industrial safety committee, Lord Robens. By the end of its tour Onassis's party had swelled to 30, including engineers and geologists. The South African press has been speculating that one of the magnate's interests might be the construction of deep-sea two ports at Richard's Bay and Saldhana. Both harbours are being developed to accommodate the growing number of tankers, including many in the Onassis fleet, which ply the Cape route.

If Onassis does shift big investment capital into Namibia, it will be an expression of further support for South Africa's illegal occupation of that country and its jackboot-style hold on the African people. in Canberra. The Minister for Labour and National Service claims the deal is la cynical example of the abuse of monopoly power' He said the parties had no regard to the overall interests of the Australian community.

Terms of the settlement would give a new twist to the in- flationary spiral, he said.

Details of the two year agreement are: (a) A wage increase of £4 a week in the first year and a further f1 a week from May, 1973. (b) A 35-hour week. (c) Increased pension bene- fits. (d) Should redundancy occur, reduction of labour to be on a voluntary basis. (e) Increase in meal money.

(f) Revised sick and com- passionate leave conditions.

(g) Revision of dispute pro- ent cedures.

PAGE 6 Workers Press, Monday May 29, 1972 The prosecution's 'key evidence' in the Angela Davis trial stunned everyone. It turned out to be three letters she wrote to Soledad Brother George Jackson — who was subsequently shot by prison warders — and a diary which was found in Jackson's cell. The introduction of this 'evidence' sought to show that Angela committed murder, kidnap and conspiracy as part of a crime of passion! Workers Press has already published one of the Angela Davis letters (May 15) and today we publish another. The letters make a revealing insight into her politics.

June 10, 1970 of mine and my Che-Lumumba Dear George,

UCLA

comrades, student, The fifth letter came tonight.

of the leading member Plack Of late my mind has been Students' Alliance found rather closed- -and each word Sunday morning on a deserted from you narrows it a little bit road with bullets in his head. We have more. been unable to Before have been make any breakthroughs. Pigs?

noW Minutemen? Not unable discover to secure one clue. channel of communication. What is certain. however: this Finally, Jon and I sat down for undoubtedly was political He has promised think a long talk. assassination. I back to I trust him- one of your first letters: to co-operate. your only you could the reflections preparedness. imagine on intense frustration which has Absolutely correct. Precautions accompanied all my daily must be taken- -for it is also actions, thoughts. that this gestures, certain will not be have wanted to reach you for the last attempt. so long. But not all has been Accepting the murder of a frustration: vicarious joy in comrade in struggle is not easy.

Our first instinct is rage- absorbing second-person anec- dotes of your the attack even if it out past, in to return catching glimpses of a letter or be blind. We must learn how two written to your family, all to plan the attack, it gear the subtle contests to out- towards the total annihilation beautiful black of the monster, praise a and not just Discussions with stick pins of his in the soles Georgia, hidden conversations feet. The dead brother was a Robert (he reminds revolutionary. with his CiTe very much of my own father).

last thoughts must have been Working together with Penny, similar to what Che said about Frances. Hard raps with Jon. death. His remarks are more Nightly musings about George.

than appropriate in an era of Daily speeches about struggle, encroaching facism: 'Wherever the Soledad Brothers. death may surprise us, it Pulling will together, be welcome, provided that this, keeping together our LA Bros Soledad Defence our battle cry, reaches some Committee. receptive that another ear, Along with hand reach my normal out to take up ambulations of Che-Lumumba weapons and that other men activities and problems, lec- (and women) come forward to tures to brain-washed students intone our funeral dirge with who subsequently try to con- the staccato of machine guns vince me of their various con- and new cries of battle and victory' versions (during oral exams). all this has been the extent of But Che also taught us that life Merge the first duty my activity. this of the guerrilla with high tides of unanticipated is to remain alive-to carry on love, joy, and you begin the struggle. Saturday, we will can to reconstruct my life of the be present at one more funeral.

last month. You are right about the sur- After the belated arrival of veillance. It doesn't frighten your first two letters. I wrote forth further reassis why ise is This fact simply you a few words, but had no place to send them essential - mostly Week faster tactics. about black women. I'm overly (Last discovered at I think. sensitive about the least [black] one pig among my 450 students — he woman question especially called after hearing all the himself confessing.) cultural nationalists and the would-be- I want to return to the cultural nationalists inform me Defence Committee: there that I have embraced a task remains a great deal of ground- io work ( wrong for kind. I'll send my work, indispensable if we want appreciat that letter to you. to build a revolutionary collec- us some i It must be close to 2 a.m. tive from all that will to learn can bear. I've just returned from Frank- and work. There is already be sprun For meselt. a lin and Kendra's (50th St)- hint of success. fear. the meeting the Pour o place for am glad to do some concen- Soledad Defence Committee. trated political work outside to move My roommate-Tamu-and I Che-Lumumba. (There are so ground d have been evaluating the meet- many urgent things I must talk Correct ing-she has gone to the back to you about ICP, etc.]. It do not pr to see after her crying six- wouldn't be too cool to write movemen months old infant. them in a letter. Perhaps we speaking, The meeting: lorg, can find a wav.) lack of George, couraging, overcrowded with have we an over- there brothers and sisters of research eager to whelming amount provocati learh, work, revolt, build. First.

before us — material side. But concrete an intense effort to deal withi facts concerning the California kind of c the grim reality of what we Penal System. Some brothers all that must all do. A brother-friend and sisters have already gone destructio Id really apparatus which permits a uld give single corporation to horde more wealth than any one out i as you x must of a vast majority of countries at they in this world-this is where a rofound deficiency shows its on how lace. A fundamental problem: y above strategy and tactics. The lazy ation. become either revisionists or analyses anarchists: well-worn paths of the past which are embarked tute the enerally upon as a conseauence of ) great succumbing to that bourgeois because disease of historical amnesia.

ack of To digress a moment on that enemy's question of historical amnesia —it is ideological nourishment to any opelling for bourgeois power: conscious rd the absentmindedness with regard to the bourgeois revolution or nstrous else the transformation of that tl into revolution an inoccuous T historical curiosity irreparably inflicted with rigormortis. Why? Because to take on the burden and responsibility of a revolutionary past would be to realize-as Tom Paine said in A have 1791: 'As revolutions b begun, it is natural to expect will that other revolutions follow' e Although the bourgeoisie th rose to power by waging a re revolutionary struggle, it di abhors the idea that a con- W tinuation of that struggle, this tr time on the part of the exploited masses, led by their former black slaves, must mean is a class. imperialism is closer to its an his- grave as a result of its own y is a imminent dynamic. (Like I was telling Jon the , closed; other day—if it had been this museum. explosive close 19 years ago, you would have been the baddest revolu- history. leal the tionary around-at nine years old. Do you know what I'm re com- iddance. referring to?) Revolutionary ancestry can ve no prey to be traced back as far as history ia with spirals down into the past. As struggle black people, we must look back to that first posture of y erupt lor with resistance exhibited in face of lot of an unnatural white monster on't see who set out to destroy struggle humanity. There is a direct line from Nat Turner, Denmark ut, too, Vessey, all the remaining brothers and sisters who stood up and revolted all the way to Malcolm X, Huey Newton, George Jackson, Ericka Huggins. Past struggles — the most far-reaching victories as well as the most dismal failures - must be living lessons in revolution. Above all, we do not want to repeat past errors - if knowledge, memory will help us avoid them. Black capitalism is just another manifestation of the Booker I. Washington error— Dubois ran all that down.

We know what went wrong with Nat Turner's revolt. And we should have learned long Workers Press, Mon ago the danger of informers, agents, provocateurs. Concerning non-violence: The spectre of Sharpeville, South Africa — thousands machine-gunned, kneeling in streets, protesting apar- theid, non-violently. Non- violence as a philosophy is a philosophy of suicide. Etc., etc., etc., only the simplest, most obvious lessons• having been named. It is very late-my eyes are closing. Perhaps I'Il pursue those ideas tomorrow. For the moment, I'll unleash my thoughts and allow them to go in their instinctive direction towards wild wanderings, fan- Workers Press, Monday May 28, 1972 PAGE 7 George Jackson with fellow prisoner, Fleeta Drumgo under at San Quentin prison guard where Jackson was later murd- ered by warders for supposedly trying to escape. tasies. George-my feelings for you run very deep. My memory fails me when I search in the past for an encounter with a being as strong and human beautiful as you. Something in you has managed to smash through the fortress I long ago erected around my soul. wonder what it is. I'm very glad. I love you. Hasta la Victoria Siempre, Angela

PAGE 8 Workers Press. Mondav May 28.

OVER-POPULATION

OR P

CAUSE OF WORLD HUN

FRANKS.

PART 7

Today, a rapid develop- ment of the world crisis has brought the modern advocates of population control to frenzied levels.

In 1968 the Paddock brothers proclaimed: 'The population- food collision is inevitable; it is foredoomed world famine is to be upon us by 1975' The American food surpluses are gone, they complain in one chapter, failing to mention the renewed cuts in sowing im- posed on farmers and the general discouragement of pro- duction. The Paddocks' book 'Famine 1975!' urges drastic measures. 'Some extra food should be grown in the USA'.

Then each country is to be looked at clinically in terms of whether or not it is worth sending aid, in the same way are categorized as soldiers after battle as 'can't be saved', 'walking , wounded' or 'should receive aid'. This is the "Triage' system. Haiti, for example, 'can't be saved'-neither can Egypt nor India. On the other hand, Pakistan 'should receive food'.

Needless to say, the choice rests solely on the basis of the usefulness of each territory to US imperialism. Panama 'saveable' because of the need to keep the Canal open. Also Bolivia because: 'I am told by officials that the uninterrupted export of the tin is a strategic necessity. Accordingly, would place this case among to receive the exceptions American food.' Libya's oil also puts it on The book's last the list. explains that on the chapter basis of manipulation of US aid: 'The time of famines can be the catalyst for a period of American greatness.' This totally reactionary book reveals the true links between 'over-populationists' and pred- • capitalism. It is signifi- atory cant that Paul Ehrlich, leading light of the population move- ment, eulogizes the Paddocks' book in his own work 'The Population Bomb' (1968). He writes: 'In my opinion there is no national choice except to adopt some form of the Paddocks' strategy as far as distribution is food con- • the Paddocks cerned . deserve immense credit for their courage and foresight in "Famine 1975!" publishing which may be remembered as one of the most important books of our age? It all boils down to a few elementary facts, says Ehrlich: 'The US vast agricultural sur- ••. there is pluses are gone not enough food today, how much will there be tomorrow is open to debate ... if the pessimists are correct, massive famines will occur soon, possibly in the 1970s, certainly by the 1980s. ~ May 29. 1872

OR PROFIT? THE REAL

• HUNGER. BY BERNARD

One of his reasons for decid- ing that there are more than enough people in the United States is that modern war would not require such a large expenditure of manpower as previously. 'No-one has yet presented an argument for having more than 150 million Americans.

The only reason presented for having a number even larger is that we might need to fight demanding another war a large expenditure of manpower.

We fought the largest land war in history, World War II, with 150 million fewer than Americans. 'As should be obvious from such as the Arab- events Israeli six-day war, brute man- power counts for considerably less today than it did at the time of World War II' ('How to be a Survivor: a Plan to Save Spaceship Earth', Paul Ehrlich and Richard Harriman, 1971.) The reference to Earth as a 'spaceship' is frequently made by advocates of population control. analogy exceedingly useful to them. If earth is some sort of the vehicle containing a complete, but limited life-supporting system for a fixed number of any unforeseen people, then addition to that number on a voyage-consuming Oxygen, food, etc.—could be catastro- phic. But Earth is NOT a space- ship, NOT man-made. It is a dialectical product of the movement and developmental processes of the universe. It has no fixed and fully-occupied seating arrangements. On the contrary, its area and resources have barely catalogued, • been never mind tapped. As in the last century, the over-populationists find more and more difficult to ignore the existence of sur- pluses and success in agri- science. Ehrlich's cultural answer is to remark that feeding the starving now only means all the more to starve later. A more subtle approach, however, is taken in the book "The Stanley Johnson Green Revolution'. This lists advances in food pro- duction and says that these have now given a 'breathing- space' in which massive popu- lation-limiting systems will have time to work before the real shortages occur. The emphasis on reducing population naturally gives the birth-control business a boost.

Numerous • reports on Family Planning have already appeared in. Britain this year explaining how millions of pounds can be 'saved' on welfere payments preventing unwanted by pregnancies. The genuine need for this Murdered Communards 1871: be essential service, to developed and to be provided as a basic right available every- where, is used by the organiz- • ations concerned as a vehicle their own intrinsically of tor... middle-class theories on papu- lation. Family Planning Associ- • The ation, for example, launched a campaign March 20 to on raise flm to 'help deal with problems of over-population in Britain and abroad'. A few days earlier, on March 17, a 'plan' was published to get the 'change the government to : climate of opinion to reduce the average family size towards figure a little above two a children family'. ('A per Birth Control Plan for Britain'.)

It was drawn up jointly by Dr John Dunwoody, a tormer member of Labour's Health Ministry, and Dr Tom Stutta- Conservative MP for ford, South Norwich. Some people would go even • further-from preventing unwanted preg- nancies to supporting laws to discourage the birth of wanted children beyond a prescribed number. One organization which does not see things that way, how- ever, is the Communist Party Great Britain. Under the heading 'Plan For Free Contra- Would ceptives Prevent 300,000 Births', a 'Morning Star' report by William Wain- wright on March 10 described this Labour/Tory programme as 'a plan for an immense in- crease in the use of contracep- tives which could bring about something of a revolution in public attitudes to birth control'. Wainwright mentions the 300,000 unwanted pregnancies • of the his a year, the failure rds 1871: Malthusians attacked them as problem of excessive popu- lation growth to take care of itself and the government's plans the to reorganize National Health Service and states: "These were among the compelling reasons for pro- ducing the plan.' He adds: 'A gap in the plan is the absence of ideas to en- sure participation of people at grass-roots level. As a result, there could be dangers of the bureaucracy the planners wish to avoid.' And just in case anyone assumes that it is the avail- ability of contraceptives, not the population question being Wainwright com- favoured, It is believed that ments: once the scheme is put into effect, a stable population could be achieved within a decade or two.' Unlike Wainwright, Marxists have never ceased to expose the role of the over-population theorists defenders of as capitalism's worst excesses, as obscurers of the wanton destruction of allegedly sur- plus goods and means of pro- duction and as direct assailants of the working class, and in particular, of its revolutionary movement. Malthus always maintained that if the limitations of cap- italism could be widely adver- tised being no more than the limitations of nature and mankind, then everyone would realize that revolution could achieve nothing. 'A knowledge of these truths' he wrote, 'obviously tends to promote quietness, and peace to weaken the effect of inflam- matory writings, and to pre- vent all unreasonable and ill- directed opposition to the contituted authorities' Marx wrote in a footnote in 'Capital': 'It was, of course, far more convenient and much • as a 'minority dictatorship'.

more in conformity with the interests of the ruling classes, whom Malthus adored like a true priest, explain this to 'over-population' by the eternal laws of nature, rather than by the historical laws of capitalist production.' Later, supporter of a Malthus, John Cazanove, an whom Marx des- economist cribes as editor, apologist and annotator of Malthus' defin- itions, also attacked the labour theory of value: 'That labour is the sole source of wealth doctrine as seems to be a dangerous as it is false, as it unhappily affords a handle to those who would represent all property as belonging to the working classes, and the share which is received by others as robbery or fraud upon them.'

In 1871, Charles Bradlaugh, later to become a founder of the Malthusian League, attacked the First International in his paper 'The National Reformer' , for justifying the actions of the Com- Paris munards. At a meeting in sup- port of Communard refugees he returned to the attack, denouncing the Commune as a 'minority dictatorship'.

In the 1870s, another advo- of Malthus ideas, H. cate Ferdy, was even more specific in showing the importance of the doctrine of capitalism. In his book 'The Artificial Limit- ation of Progeny' he wrote: 'If the over-population could be checked, the spread of social democracy would come to an end, and the social-demccratic with all its splendour state would be buried for ever. Thus we have one more weapon to add to the many by which social democracy can be wiped out—Malthusianism!'

CONTINUED TOMORROW

By JOHN SPENCER One of the central ques- tions at the secret Krem- lin talks between Presi- dent Nixon and the Soviet leaders concerned the preparations for a European Security Con- ference. This proposal has been the theme-song of Soviet dip- lomacy March 1969, since when the Warsaw Treaty's political consultative commit- tee called on all European states to take concrete action to ensure peace and security on the continent. The conference emphasized that an all-European confer- security and ence on co- operation in Europe would be practical step towards a strengthening European security. 1969 Warsaw Pact The declaration was not the first time the Soviet leaders and their East European depen- dents had raised the issue of an all-European conference.

The proposal had been mooted in general terms in 1966, but events since that date had given it added urgency. The March 1969 con- held in ference, Budapest, followed the revolutionary events of May-June 1968 in France and the invasion of Czechoslovakia in August that year. Both these events marked the opening of a new phase in the crisis of European capi- talism and the linked crisis of the Stalinist bureaucracy.

In France Czechoslo- and vakia the working class served unmistakable notice the on capitalists and the bureaucrats that their days were numbered.

This was the direct stimulus to the drive for an all-European conference. The plain purpose of such a conference to arrive of jointly policing means Europe against the threat of revolution. To this end, the Stalinists plan to invite to the conference all the West Euro- pean capitalist states, including fascist Spain and the colonels' Greece. The Spanish fascists have been particularly active in pressing for the conference and Spanish officials have made several trips to Bulgaria and other Stalinist states with the specific purpose of arranging conference. details... Now the conference is about to receive the imprimatur of NATO, which has come to recognize the value of collab- Stalinist oration with the bureaucracy against the threat of revolution. The Soviet leaders are eager to finalize the details with Nixon, for the United States and Canada are also on their list of invitations to the con- ference, and Nixon's approval is likely to carry considerable weight with

NATO

other countries. NATO's attitude is likely to be finalized at a meeting Bonn this week. But inside sources are confidently predict- ing that the conference will be given the green light. The key that opened the door to NATO participation the ratification by the was West German parliament of the Moscow and treaties with Warsaw. The 15 NATO coun- insisted tries had previously James Callaghan that they would only take part in such a conference if their rights of access to West Berlin were guaranteed. These rights are about to be ratified in a treaty already initialled which was conditional on final ratification of the Bonn-Moscow and Bonn- Warsaw pacts. Now treaties have at the last been ratified-after three cliff-hanging of dis- weeks cussions among West German political leaders - the way is open for the European security talks to begin. Lord Cobbold : On the presenta timetable the talks are likely to be held in March or April next year.

They are the logical outcome of the Kremlin's policy of 'peaceful co-existence' with imperialism. This treacherous policy can only be imposed in the the course of strangling revolutionary movement of the European working class. Instead of struggling for a Socialist of United States Europe based on the expropria- tion of the European em- ployers, the Stalinist bureau- pin their hopes on con- crats Lord Harlech tinuation of the reactionary division of the continent into spheres of influence. This is the purpose of the European Security Conference.

1968 Czechoslovakia: Russian tanks in Prague-a new phase in the crisis. Charles Forte Workers Press, Monday May 29, 1972 PAGE 9 The banking business is draw- ing together a number of very curious bedfellows. Former Chancellor Callaghan is two one Labour MPs who have accep- ted directorships in a new national Bank to be set up in Wales. The other is George Thomas, a Secretary of State for Wales in the Wilson government.

Recently Callaghan accepted another more important bank- ing directorship. This is with a large Italian banking group which will shortly begin operations in the City of Lon- don in line with Britain's entry into the Common Market. The chairman of the Lon- don subsidiary is Lord Cob- governor of the bold, former Bank of England and other Bank another former England governor, and Sir Forte-one of the Charles most controversial men in City business circles. venture of the The new Commercial Bank of Wales is Welsh the brainchild of financier and industrialist Sir Julian Hodge and QC Mr Alun Talfan Davies. Of Callaghan, Sir Julian had this to say: 'He knows all the problems of Wales and I think he feels how important it is to have a regional bank? Another of the directors is Lord Harlech, late of the Pearce Commission Rhodesia, former UK ambas- United States, sador to the chairman of Harlech Television and one of the promoters of the forthcoming Lincoln pop festival. The other board members so far appointed are: Mr T Hoddell, Mr S. E. Taylor and Mr F. D. Walters, all of the Hodge Group; Sir Goronwy Daniel, Mr Homer J. Living- first National Bank ston, Chicago, and Sir Cennydd Traherne, a local director of Barclays Bank. Arrangements are now being made for the subscription per cent of the around 40 authorized £5m share capital.

The bank hopes to start business in October.

_EON TROTSKY :

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LETTERS

PAGE 10 Workera Press, Monday May 28 Dear Editor, As a housewife with a family and husband all on the dole and have been on the dole for 12 months - I am one who must be, like thousands more, sick and fed up by this Tory serf-life. I think it is time for the working class and unemployed to demand the spineless TUC force a General Election and shift the Tory dole-kings out of it for good. I notice they were very quick to pay the Tories the £55,000 fine, but you did not ; the miners them see giving £55,000 in their strike fund or give the old age pensioners £55,000. They have no right to give this money to the Tories. This is union members' money and Dear Editor, I am writing this letter to you and hope you will publish it our brothers and so when sisters in the trade union movement come out on strike in their factories they will know what they have to face.

This is the truth and the facts as they are and I stand firm by this statement. I work at the Birmingham Battery at Selly Oak. On March 15 we came out on strike for the national claim of £6 and a 35-hour week. The strike was made official, but no strike pay was paid until after six weeks, for what reason I don't know.

Then all the Birmingham Battery workers queued in the cold outside the Social Security office. All the single ву Мау 28, 1972 the TUC's or anybody not else's. My father was a docker under the same Tories we have in power now and I remember him going out every day to stand in a pen with other men —like cattle begging for a few hours' work. I remember my mother hav- ing to go out charing to help get money to bring us up on.

The dockers don't forget this and neither do their sons. The local elections have shown now that some of the people have at least got off their backsides and voted, but that is not enough. We should press now for a General Election and shift the Tory parasites — and those TUC leaders and traitorous lab- men were refused point blank any benefit and because of that lots of them lost their accom- modation and found them- selves out on the street.

Married men were told that a man with two children was only entitled to £6.50 a week.

They were told that the reason they couldn't claim more was because they were out on strike. This is the policy of the Labour Party and the Tory government aimed at the work- ing class and the poor. We should include in our Manifesto details about the system of the Social Security and the Labour Exchange and the ill-treatment given to the working class in these two places. our MPs who have been con- sorting with the Tories all along-and elect a full left- socialist government. This is the only chance that the millions on the dole will ever have to get work, because make mistake, no those Tories stay in another 12 months and have their way, you can bet they will have you begging for work like my father did. So don't get taken in by Tory blather on television and Tory newspapers. We must not blame the dockers and the rail- men. We must blame those 'lead- ers' who should have kicked out the Tories long ago. Mrs McMANUS Lancs We also had lots of promises from the Stalinists that they would make a collection for us. We haven't received a penny. So where is the collec- tion? We received from the one right-wingers and I'd like to say thank you to them. It meant doing something, not just talking. The Stalinists talked a lot. We were let down by their own union concerning dispute payment and also the Social Security. But workers here have the spirit in them to fight until they win their fight.

L. M. MIFSUD

Northfield, Birmingham 'There was a man I have never seen before but he had 100 per cent dis- ability and could hardly gasp out the 20 words from the card, and I thought there was some- thing wrong with me, but there was always some- one worse? The description is of a man near death. The cause of his fatal malady was dust - the dust gulped down by thousands of workers every day until their respiratory system breaks down. Capitalism has made the lung into a filter for all the poison industry pours into the atmos- phere. Dust claimed 3,019 lives in 1965, 3,052 in 1969 and 2,878 in 1970, when the last available figures were issued. The main killer is the mining disease called pneumoconiosis.

It is not a rare affliction - 10 per cent of all colliers suffer from some degree of lung dis- ease. But pneumoconiosis is only one of a family of diseases which come under the general heading of Fibrosis - others include the deadly illness asbes- tos workers contract called asbestosis. Fibrosis is caused when dust particles are breathed continu- ally into the lung. A fibrous scar tissue forms around the particles. This is active and and gradually non-porous chokes off the supply of oxygen into the blood stream. In the mining communities the man with pneumoconiosis is a common sight. He can't without gasping walk for breath, he suffers from head- aches, spells of dizziness and his chest is periodically gripp- ed by pains like steel bands.

Hobbies and sport, of course, are completely out— even a visit to the pub is dangerous because of the smoky atmos- phere. He becomes virtually a social leper waiting for an unpleasant death. In September 1969 the Indus- trial Injuries Fund was paying compensation to 51,157 vic- tims of pneumoconiosis. Four- fifths of these come from the mining industry and the Natio- of Mineworkers nal Union report that the incidence of the disease appears, if anything, to be on the increase. The killer dust is invisible lying between the 0.2-5 mic- rons range-save in cottin or asbestos work where the par- ticles are visible. A total of 726 miners or ex- miners died from pneumoco- niosis between June 1970 and June 1971 and a total of 538 new sufferers were added to the 40,301 drawing a pension for the disease. The increase in the number with pneumoconiosis is directly related to mechanization and the speed up in productivity.

Output in the mines has rocket- ed over 15 years from 15 cwt to 45 cwt per man shift. Disc-cutters, power-loaders and electric fans all contribute.

The mechanical ripper cuts out smaller cobs of coal and the resulting dust is finer. The fans then spread the murderous cloud round the colliery supply lines. Miners get the paltry sum of El for every 10 per cent of their lungs affected. Even this blood money was only won after a bitter struggle. Up to 1940 pneumoconiosis was not classed as an indus- trial disease. In fact coal- owners and their doctors used to say it was beneficial!

The argument went like this: Miners could get the even more serious disease, silicosis, from stone dust caused by boring into the rock face by the seam. Therefore the huge gulps of black coal dust gave the lung nly . a 'protective coating' against silicosis. Finally doctors sympathetic to the working class and the war, when miners were asked to be loyal and do their ut- most for capitalism, forced the government to change the clas- sification. But the situation is still loaded against the working man.

He can, for example, be 100 per cent affected in his lungs —but when 60 per cent of the trouble is caused by chronic bronchitis or bronchial emphy- sema he loses money-these afflictions are not classed as industrial diseases. The National Union of Mine- workers is fighting at present for a change on this. It is also submitting a number of test cases to law to get compensa- tion for pneumoconiosis as well as the pension. It argues with some force that the dise- ase, just like breaking a leg at work, can be due to the negli- gence of an employer. These campaigns, of course, will not remedy the situation.

Like all industrial diseases, pneumoconiosis is as much a part of the capitalist system as profit itself. There is no scien- tific or technical reason why men should die in this hideous way. Section 63 of the Factories Act 1961 in fact requires the suppression and removal of not only harmful dust, but of 'any substantial quantity of dust of any kind'. In his annual report, HM Chief Inspector of Factories Bryan Harvey stated that apart from asbestos: 'We cannot pre- tend that other dust hazards are fully under control and a skıll will be needed by scien- tists and engineers in industry betore they are.' In fact it is not simply skill that is required. Recently many sophisticated and efficient methods of getting rid of this killer have been developed.

But they cost too much money-that is too much for capitalists who naturally value profit more than human life.

REGIONAL TV

CHANNEL: 1.30 Puffin. 1.35 Lon- don. 11.40 News, weather.

WESTWARD. As Channel except: 11.35 Gus Honeybun. 11.45 Once upon a time. 11.55 Rovers. 12.25 Pippa. 1.15 Breath of life. 1.33 News. _6.00 News. 11.43 News. 11.47 Faith for life. SOUTHERN: 12.30 Man from Uncle. 1.35 London. 3.50 Car- 4.00 Houseparty. toon. 4.15 Grasshopper island. 4.30 Cross- roads. 4.55 London. 6.00 Day by day. 6.30 Sky's the limit. 7.00 Film: 'The Swordsman'. 8.30 Albert. 9.00 London. 11.15 News.

11.25 Farm progress. 11.55 Weather. Epilogue. ANGLIA: 1.10 Romper room. 1.35 London. ATV MIDLANDS: 1.35 London.

ATV today. 6.45 London.

ULSTER: 1.35

London. 4.25 Romper room. 4.45 News. 4.50 12.

Cartoon. 5.15 Pardon my genie.

5.45 London. 6.00 UTV reports.

6.15 Funny Face. 6.45 London.

11.45 Monday night. YORKSHIRE: 9.45 Delta. 10.35 Arthur. 11.05 Bottom of the sea.

11.55 Saint. 12.45 Pardon my genie. 1.10 Rovers. 1.35 London.

4.25 Once upon a time. 4.40 Lon- don. 11.45 All our yesterdays.

12.15 Weather. THE STRIKE by 250 work- ers at British Steels' Toll- cross, Glasgow, plant has ended after three days and the men return this morning.

The men walked out on Tues- day night claiming the manage- ment was stalling on phase 2 of a promised wage increase.

months ago the About two workers committee negotiated a settlement based on the national engineering claim which led to an increase of £1.80 backdated to January. promises of But since then

THE

350 WORKERS on strike at Benford Concrete Machinery Ltd, Warwick, now in the third week of their strike, remain confident they can beat the firm. The strike is for a local claim for a f6-a-week increase, revised prices and piecework payment stewards in perform- for shop ance of their duties. So far the strike, which has been endorsed by the Amalga- mated Union of Engineering Workers' Coventry district com- mittee has failed to shift the company. Milo O'Shea whoops It up as the ne Travelling Woman', the last story In t serles on BBC-1. GRANADA: 10.25 Rocket Robin Hood. 10.45 Thunderbirds. 11.35 Pippi longstocking. 12.00 Joe 90.

12.30 Dick Van Dyke. 12.55 Scales of justice. 1.35 London.

4.55 Film: 'Finders Keepers' 5.45 London. 6.00 Film contin- Lat ued. 6.40 London. TYNE TEES: 9.45 Vortex. 10.30 Felix the cat. 10.40 From a bird's eye view. 11.05 Bonanza.

11.55 Saint. 12.45 Pardon my genie. 1.10 Rainbow country.

1.35 London. 4.25 Once upon a ..4.40 11.45 time. London. Calum's ceilidh. 12.15 Epilogue. Lo more money have been hedged with management demands for in certain de-manning sections which would have led to some redundancies. The majority of workers at the BSC plant, part of the special steels division, are AUEW mem- bers. Men say the strike was also sparked off by the fact that moulders were fed up and angry at being on a three-day week for the last six months. The return work to was decided at a mass meeting on Thursday on the basis of another 60p on top of the f1.80 back- Shop stewards Eric Cowling told Workers Press: "There 'is no movement what- soever. The management have promised to make an offer, but only after we go back. On union advice we're staying out.

The company had three weeks to talk about an offer before we came out on strike- so we're not falling for their latest manoeuvre, he said.

News of the strike had been well circulated among haulage firms and few lorries have bothered to approach the gates.

'The works are at a com- plete standstill. The picket line we've is determined. We think as the new Protestant Minister in 'The story In the 'Tales from the Lazy Acre' Class of 72.

SCOTTISH: 12.50

1.35 London. 4.25 Dateline. 4.50 Dick Van Dyke. 6.45 London.

11.45 University challenge. 12.15 Late call. GRAMPIAN: 1.35 London. 4.25 Paulus. 4.45 Women today. 5.15 Pardon my genie. 5.45 London. 6.00 Cartoon. 6.15 Dr Simon Coming'. 10.00 Russians London. 11.45 Epllogle. dated to January and one extra day's holiday. Although the moulders were put back on a five-day week, they will have to do other work if no moulding is available.

This fact and management's plans for a three-shift system for maintenance workers and a simplification of the pay struc- has made some workers ture suspicious about a productivity drive in the plant. on the claim Further talks begin tomorrow. Management has will as high as said they another fl but the works com- is looking mittee it for says another £1.60. got the firm beaten, added Mr Cowling. On the Industrial Relations Act and the Tory government Eric Cowling said: 'One hundred years ago they could dictate to the working man. They cannot do that today, although the government attempting to. 'But the dockers and railway- men are fighting. 'The one-day strikes we had on the Bill were useless - we the Tories that couldn't stop way. The TUC has backpedalled.

I think it is getting that we will have to have a General Strike to get the government out.' Workers Press, Monday May 29, 1972 PAGE 11

BBC 1

9.50 Enchanted house. 10.00 9.45_ Trumpton. 10.00 Champion 10.25 Parsley. 10.30 Soper at 10.25 10.50 Skippy. Lassie. 10.55 Magic 11.45 large. roundabout. Journey into summer. 11.00 Laurel Hardy. 11.25 and Scalplock. 1.35 Bank Koff: 1.45 C.36 . 10r racida 1.and2.2d, 1.45 sport. 1.35, They're 2.25, 1.35 Motor racing. 2.50, 2.15, 3.20 Racing 2.55 2aSi 3.10 Athletics. from Doncaster. 2.05, 2:35, 2.35, 3.30 Cricket. Yorkshire v Lanca- shire. 4.50 Final score. 5.00 Har- 4.25 Pardon my genie. 4.55 Film: 5.30 News and "Tarzan the Magnificent". Gordon em globetrotters. weather. 5.45 Disney time.

Scott. 5.45 News, sports results 6.30 THE RED ARROWS. The 6.00 FILM continued. vorld's greatest aerobati

NIXON

6.45 THE

DAVID

team.

SHOW.

7.15 Z CARS. Playtime.

7.30 CORONATION STREET.

8.00 FILM:

WONDERFUL

8.00 FILM: 'THE HUNTERS'.

LIFE'. Cliff Richard, Walter Slezak, Susan Hampshire, Robert Mitchum, Robert The Shadows. British Wagner, Richard Egan. musical. Korean war film. NEWS and weather. 9.50

10.00 NEWS AT TEN.

TALES FROM THE LAZY

10.05 10.30

PLAY: 'A SPLINTER

OF

ACRE.

The Travelling Hite Crosbie.

ICE'.

Zena lan Woman. Walker, Annette 10.35 BETTE DAVIS talks to 11.45

GERARD MANLEY HOP-

Dick Cavett.

KINS.

Film the about 11.15 CANOE. In the surf.

Jesuit priest and poet. 11.35 Weather.

12.15 IS IT A HANDICAP?

book by Arthur Koestler. 11.00-11.25 Play school. 3.00

8.50 FACE THE MUSIC.

Woodentops. 3.15 Hector's

THEATRE:

'LUNCH

9.25 house. 3.20 Play school. 3.45 HOUR'. By John Mortimer. Jackanory. 4.00 Scoobydoo. 4.20 Pauline Collins, Joss Ack- Circus town. 5.00 Film: 'Road land. to Rio. Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, 9.50 Bogarde, Stanley Baker, Dirk Bogarde, Stanley Dorothy Lamour. Comedy. Sassard, Jacqueline

GOING.

6.35 LET'S

GET

Michael York, Vivien Mar- Seyrig, Centerprise. Delphine Chant, Alexander Knox. Complex 7.00 NEWSROOM and weather.

web of relationships is re- 7.15 MUSIC ON 2. Phedre. Oxford vealed when an undergraduate is killed in Ballet from France. a car crash.

8.00 THE CASE OF THE MID.

WIFE TOAD. Based on the 11.30 NEWS ON 2 and weather.

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Centrism greatest danger to PAGE 12 Workers Press, Monday May 29, 1972 By OUR OWN REPORTERS THE GREATEST political challenge to the revolutionary party in the com- ing period is the fight against centrism, Gerry Healy, national secretary of the Socialist Labour League, told the 14th annual conference yesterday.

'The working class will fight—we know that. The working class may come reluctantly at first. They come with all their difficulties strapped on their backs. 'But they come on the scene propelled by objective force, a force, an which is the enormous crisis in the capitalist system.

'The question is this-Will the working class what it is entitled to in this struggle?

get surprised to find the middle- Nobody should be of-the-road men and the professional centrists come at this time. onto the scene He warned that the centrists who lived at the liberate crossroads of the workers' struggle to from capitalism, themselves were the greatest danger to its victory. It was at this crossroad that the centrists could delay or the struggle and give the compromise ruling class chance to prepare the counter- revolution. He said the working class needed a party which SLL national secretary would carry the struggle 'all the way' and. leaders vesterday 'to carry out tina fight fearlessly.

'Nobody who hesitates in this the struggle deserves name added. communist, he If it was that centrism now presented the greatest working danger in the class, reflection of it in the ranks any of the SLL also had to be fought.

Only in this way could the Needs £309.46 League be armed to fight against such tendencies as they emerged in the working WILL YOU do it? With three days He said the National Industrial to go before the end of the month Relations Court had decisively our total stands at £1,450.34. It's interrupted 150 years of estab- going to be a fight to the end.

lished relations between the 'A unions and the ruling class.

But the political situation and whole era of reformism demands that all our support bourgeois democracy is at goes behind the Workers Press end.' Tories on The fight between the one side and the dockers and Presenting the international rail workers the other will Central Committee on mem- report, said Nixon's come to a climax within days.

Cliff Slaughter ber decision end gold backing to The emergency cabinet meet- for the dollar last August had ing means the government is thrown world capitalist countries and therefore, preparing sO, into an unprecedented crisis.

must the working class. 'The collapse of the Bretton We urge you to go all out to.

Woods agreements the day. £1,750 must raise the between regulation of relations in time. Post all donations to: world the capitalist powers- this must be understood as first of all the breakthrough of the Workers Press May Appeal Fund basic contradictions of capitalism 186a Clapham High St, economically but it must be understood also as the break- London, SW4 7UG. was produced down of all that with the by the collaboration Stalinists at the end of World War II?

LATE NEWS

WEATHER

KONTUM (See page 2) HEAVY fighting raged yesterday England, the northwest except in the streets of Kontum where North Vietnamese reinforcements southwest, will have show- and rs and some sunny periods. Th have been stealing quietly into Wales will est of England and Central Highlands city at the outbreaks of have showers night. or heavy in places, and some Helicopters the rain. subolving bright periods. Scotland and South Vietnamese defenders Northern Ireland will be rather there were mobbed by hundreds cloudy with longer outbreaks of of frantic civilians trying to claw Winds will rain. heavy at times. their aboard to escape the way reach gale force in many areas.

said. battle. zone, field reports will be rather cool over Eng- Wales land and and cool over

THREE

THOUSAND

engineer- Scotland and Northern Ireland.

to meet at Newark, ing workers Tuesday and Wed- Outlook for Wednesday to discuss Notts.. on Changeable. Rain nesday: or take-over if a factory manage- showers at times. Sunny periods.

ment through tries to carry Windy and rather cool. The factory is redundancy plans. 'of the Hoffman Ransome. Dart Pollard ball bearings group. Recently announced the group redundancies through- sweeping factories, including 550 out its blamed falling Newark. They stiff Tapanese orders and com- petition. for their slump..

as the Post egistered newspaper

NEWS DESK

Press Published Clapham Street. 186a Hiel Thoron 01.720 2000

CIRCULATION

Plough Press (TV) Printed by Street. 180h Manham 01-622 7029 Kid-gloves treatment

SOCIALIST LABOUR-

GENERAL STRIKE

From page 1

TO MAKE THE TOR

Best, on leave from the Roya JIrISi said to have stoned British troops before his death shortly turned out for his thousand. funeral. While IRA bombings continued Belfast and at the wilikend killing least six people at Tuzo made is not • hape Tory with the course middle initiative is obliging it

SOVT RESIGN

He said the IRA was Wads ruthless campaign of destruc- and referring to internment

GOVERNME

'If you wish to orotect societi as you are appointed . to do you people of until it to

BKLISTPOLIC

they prepared way al t desist irom violence the sae the best way to the And, said the army to gel by not being obliged to 'a goldfish bowl'. Whatever the General's private thoughts, the moment, dancing LunC in Protestant "по- barcades areas are being described as and ignored security evidenc hardly 101Cc 15,000-stron1 Daturday s march of para-military SLOVaSES through Belfast and Catholic handled with are being ka gloves musica• ol lac hora hobnails. doubt, despite . iS no that the bombings, ongoing Tory initiative will be maintained for the time being. SLL national secretary presenting the British perspectives at the 14th annual conference The government congratu of lating itself the decisior isters •oca vemociduc Labour

ALL TRADES UNIONS

Party to resume participation elected offices, the resurgence women's peace of the Catholl

ALLIANCE MEETINGS

movements, created by the release

COT

some 93000: Roomy. and on the way • hard. Support the dockers and rail- June internees Partick Room for al their p.m Protestants waymen. Build Councils of Burgh Hall marches, still … are Showing Action 'constraint' wings of the IRA have

EAST

LONDON: Tuesday May Both

LONDON:

SOUTH

Tuesday been confusion by 30, p.m. 'Aberfeldy', thrown June 6, 8. p.m. Clapham Manc feldy St, E14. 'Fight the Tories' the peace groups canoebresent Baths, Clapham Manor Street, rent Bill' atives went south at the weekend SW4. They arrived to find Sin bein with leaders Dublin to confer WEST LONDON: Tuesday June nursady vunt 'Prince Whartedale Road, Kings Cross.

p.m. The Legion (Old offices Kevin Street Place picketed by Men's ing the Tories Buraess members of the North Demands

NORTH

LONDON:

Thursday Road. 'Fight the rent June 'Bricklayers Bill'. p.m. peace orcan zalon Forty Catholic priests in Derry Tottenham High ArS have backed the wome nutchers (nr White Hart Lane). COALVILLE: Thursday June 1, butcher's led Miners Welfare p.m. commullec

CROYDON:

Thursday June 8, Mrs manager's 'Organize Councils of Action'.

8 p.m. 'The Anchor (corner of Doherty and now a men's peace Souhbridge and South committee has been set up under End). Doherty's chairmanship 1 OM Th leadors women Provisiona mel i nursday Nute

IRA

in Derry the me ones recal p.m. John Ambulance afterwards they weekend and Brigade Hall, Lea Road the discussion:

NORTH KENT:

described e. 2º 'frank and friendly'. SOUTH EAST LONDON: Thurs-

SOGAT

And yesterday amid inter- June 8. Essex Rd, Dartford. , 'Engineers from denominational demands Engineers' Club (opposite Nev pay claim': Cross Station). Iron Colter readers lo church leaders, children from St SOUTHALL: Thursday June Patrick's church Derry, were Parkway Rooms_ (Rent Co-op Hall, Fanshawe the march through planing lo 'Industrial Rela- Racecourse Estate, city pleading

TOT

Northolt. violence.

LOTS AG

Employers' proposals unlikely to avert dock strike

DOCKS UNION

By DAVID MAUDE Our Industrial Even with the tilesi assistance of Communist leaders will tomorrow Correspondent selling Party stewards 1r give their reply to the that men are encouraged pared are negotiating SuiC employers' port In- the industry, leave sidious proposals for NJC would hope to en‹ walle remarmine weight the this tered dockers and much as settling the present to return there object has been achieved.

increase any jobs row in the ports. rank and file. sacked. Workers ress already warned about If the strike does take The proposals were Neither to the meeting of phe industrys the system however, it place, arrived i between secret be br with which some unior consultations supportec National e and leading port dockers in tne believes the the present means Parwich and ipswich Felixstowe, sufficient avert ana sal ceilis registering dock labour, strike due une dock start at the end of this officials Union Care 1947 dock labour week. believed to be encourag- scheme. experienced ing the idea that With the industrial appears that the VeLY have specia. using these cannes o Lnert court maintaining noW uncer ais communication. with relationship Tael pressure on the union cussion involve The most of establishment of ever, that any settlemen.

obvious, how- chiefs, some employers whose profits come from Jack between Sones cae Transport Val ly container trade Lne hones General on these lines would al

DONI

STuD Heavy picketing from Unior Workers' owners and stevedoring best simply temporarlis transfer the problem of needs companies both London and LIver would be certain the strike to whiD his ways of introducing new if such a split did occus stewards in work .nne

INTO

Tone

COCKS

comer beclord What are being pre A second proposal is, of industry.