HOW NOT TO WRITE THE FORD

Workers Press no. 781, 2 June 1972 · scan page 8

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•FORD STRIKE-The Workers Story by John Mathews. Fanther Books. Paperbacks 40p.

Keeping the record straight is one of the prime duties of revolutionary journalism. Without fulfilling this duty fearlessly, it becomes indistinguishable from the scribblings of Fleet Street, Labour's misinformation department or the Communist Party lie machine.

So John Mathews founder of the ill-starred 'revolutionary weekly' 'Seven Days'-is on very treacherous ground indeed with his recently-published book on the 1971 Ford strike.

'Ford Strike: the workers' story' (Panther, 40p) is based on Mathews' on-the-spot observations of the ten-week parity struggle, interviews with shop stewards and union officials both at the time and after the event—plus back-up material culled from Ford's and the unions' various statements on the issues, It presents a brief analysis the company's economic steward, John Dillon strategy internationally and a resumé of the history of its agreements with the unions who sit with it on the Ford National Joint Negotiating Committee.

Also included is an account of 'The Dillon Affair': the poststrike discipline crack-down at Ford's Halewood, Liverpool. factory which brought the combine to the brink of a second national stoppage over the sacking of paint - shop steward John Dillon.

Some of Mathews' material readable enough. Little of it Is new the book's fatal flaw is Mathews' failure to keep the record straight on issues vital to rank-and-file Ford worker; whatever it may be, it is not 'the workers' story'.

The tone is anti-Ford throughout. In his introduction, the author boasts that 'Ford management was not consulted' during the book's