Workers Press no. 789

workers press

PARLIAMENT, THE

LAW AND PRESS

IN TWO major editor- ials during the past week "The Guardian' has ex- pressed fears that the National Industrial Rela- tions Court has seriously interfered with free re- porting of industrial dis- putes. One of "The Guardian' col- prompted the Court umns president, Sir John Donaldson, to take the unprecedented step of issuing a press state- ment outlining his views on contempt law in relation to the press. The statement begged as many it answered. And questions as of the Tory press hailed his Donaldson statement as clears way for press comment, it only suspicions at The aggravated Guardian' On Saturday that paper re- turned to the press gag which the NIRC now poses for the press: "The Court has indicated a calculated tolerant approach to laws of contempt which, if in- terpreted strictly, would indeed amount to an intolerable gagging of the press. *But the laws remain. And the for his price Sir John expects tolerance is "responsibility" by the media. In his brief state- ment Sir John refers no less than to the need for "re- four times sponsibility". And there's the One man's sense of re- rub. another man's sponsibility is bias. "The Act brings the civil law into the realms of politics. It cannot automatically be assumed that the views of national news- papers-still less the fringe pub- lications which have proliferated recently-and NIRC will coin- cide about fair reporting or re- sponsible comment. Still less can it be assumed that their views will coincide with those of the Attorney-General → who is a member of the government as well as a law officer and who can also initiate contempt pro- ceedings. 'He has already said that the NIRC is a court "like any other" and the law of contempt applies to it.' What "The Guardian' didn't reveal is that Donaldson also gave a special private briefing to industrial correspondents last Thursday in No. 2 court at the NIRC in Chancery Lane.

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLE

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTR

BY THE WORKE!

EDITORIAL B

It is understood that at this gathering Sir John introduced journalists to the new facts of life-that reporting of industrial disputes would be curbed con- siderably by the Act and the

NIRC.

Workers Press was not at this briefing session. This is because correspondent, industrial our David Maude, has been con- sistently denied membership of the Labour Group which is made up of labour and industrial reporters from all national and major provincial newspapers, His application was originally blocked as far back as 1969 by the chairman of the group, Mr Herman Roberts, of the Birming- ham Post'. Last month Roberts resigned from the Post' to be- come a lay judge sitting along- side Donaldson at the NIRC!

Judge Roberts-a member of the National Union of Journalists -thus becomes the first rank- and-file trade unionist to take a seat in the Tory Court.

More recently David Maude's application has been obstructed by other than Mick none John Donaldson: Special Sir briefing of the Communist Costello Party's Morning Star', who is acting chairman of the now group. Our application for membership of the group is now supported by correspondents from

BBC,

ITN,

'Sun', 'Observer" 'Financial Times', 'Sunday Times' cation on a previous occasion ow has to decide whether to follow in Judge Robert's foot- steps or allow a special meeting to discuss the issue. Already the right-wing press has commenced a public cam- paign to have Workers Press prosecuted by Sir John Donald- son-and Judge Roberts. In a front-page editorial- last Friday the Lord Thomson-owned

E NEWSLETTER •

MONDAY JUNE 12, 1972

CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOC

WORKERS PRESS

RIAL BOARD

'Journal of Commerce' invited the Court to take legal action against Workers Press alleged contempt of court.

The Journal' asked: Is the Workers Press subject to the same laws of contempt as the capitalist press? If it is, is it con- tempt of court to openly suggest • that a judge is biased-and to suggest that a judge can radically change his mind from day to day as a result of outside influences?'

The Journal' would like to gag any critical comment of its beloved Court to the extent that it is prepared to call in the law.

The journalists working on the 'Journal' must know that it is NUI policy not to register under the Act and that the 'fingering' of other publications for prose- cution under the law is shame- lessly reactionary. But if the decrees flying out of the NIRC are upsetting liberal opinion in the press, how much more significant are the precedent-making, judgements of the Master of the Roils, Lord Denning. In the case of the rail ballot Denning ruled unequivocally that Maurice Macmillan had over- whelming powers to wield over trade unionists. "The Act gives great new powers to the Secretary of State and entrusts equally great re- sponsibilities to him. If paria- ment gives great powers to a Minister, this Court must allow them to him.' But Denning went further. He declared that while an applica- tion for a compulsory ballot was being heard the issues were sub judice. That is to say, they are not to be commented upon in the press. Denning said: Pending de- cision, the matter is sub judice and unable to be discussed. It is only after action has been taken that the matter may be raised in parliament.' Let's take a completely hypo- thetical situation. Turn to p. 12 Col. 5

BOOKS • PERIO

No 789 4p

HE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

HU ST

HUNG

FREE SUSAN

GIRL supporters of the Provi- sional Sinn Fein yesterday staged a 24-hour fast in Down- ing Street in solidarity with Susan Lochran (21), a member of the organization who faces an arms sentence in Armagh jail. Susan has been on hunger strike for the last 24 days.

Forty internees in Long Kesh internment camp are engaged in similar action with Billy McGee, who is being held in Crumlin Road jail, Belfast.

• FIVE HUNDRED demon- strators rallied in Trafalgar Square yesterday in solidarity

• PERIODICALS @ NEWSPAPERS

24 BR

HUNGER

STRIKE

ARMAGH GAOL

IRISH

REE SUSAN LOUGHRAN

PRISONERS

WHIE LAN

DO YOU

CARE IF

THIS MAN

DIES?

CARE IF

THIS MAN

DIES!

with political prisoners still in jail in the United States.

Organized by the Angela Committee, Davis Defence they later planned to march to the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square. The rally was addres- sed by Mike Terry, for the National Union of Students, and John Williamson of the Communist Party. The star speaker, the mother of Soledad Brother Fleeta Drumgo, was denied a pass- port by the US authorities and could not attend the rally. James Reid, UCS stew- ards' spokesman, was also mis- sing from the platform.

NOW OPEN

Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Thurs 9 a.m.-7.30 p.m. Sat 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

workers press

PARLIAMENI, THE

LAW AND PRESS

IN TWO major editor- ials during the past week 'The Guardian' has ex- pressed fears that the National Industrial Rela- tions Court has seriously interfered with free re- porting of industrial dis- putes. One of 'The Guardian' col- Court umns prompted the president, Sir John Donaldson, take the unprecedented step

VIC LOLC'

ment outlining his Views contempt law in relation the press. The statement begged as many questions it answered. And of Tory the although press Co osense *Donaldson clears press comment, way lvI a avated

SUSOCONS

Guardian'. On Saturday that paper which turned to the press NIRC now poses for press: "The Court has indicated laws of contempt which, terpreted strictly, would indeed amount to an intolerable garging of the press. But the laws remain. And the Sir for his expects is tolenance the media. In his brief state- ment Sir John refers no less than sponsibility". And there's rub. One man's sense of re- sponsibility another man's bias. "The Act brings the civil law into the realms of politics. It cannot automatically be assumed that the views of national news- papers-still less the fring pub- lications which have proliferated coin- cide about fair reporting or re sponsible comment. Still less can their with those of the Will coincide Attorney-General who is member the Jaw oficer can also initiate contempt pro- ceedings. He said that the Mas auread! NIRC is a court "like any other' law of contempt applies What "The Guardian' didn't reveal Donaldson also 1s that special private briefing industrial correspondents No. 2 court at the NIRC in Chancery Lane.

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLE

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTR

BY THE WORKEF

EDITORIAL B

It is understood that at this introduced gathering Sir John journalists to the new facts of life-that reporting of industrial disputes would be curbed con- siderably by the Act and the

NIRC.

Workers Press was not at this brieting session. This is because correspondent, industrial our David Maude, has been con- sistently denied membership of the Labour Group which is made up of labour and industrial reporters from all national and major provincial newspapers.

His application was originally blocked as far back as 1969 by the chairman of the group, Mr Herman Roberts, of the 'Birming- ham Post'. Last month Roberts resigned from the 'Post' to be- come a lay judge sitting along- side Donaldson at the NIRC!

Judge Roberts-a member of the National Union of Journalists -thus becomes the first rank- and-file trade unionist to take a seat in the Tory Court.

recently David Maude's More application has | been obstructed by other than Mick none Sir John Donaldaon: Speclal briefing of the Communist Costello Party's 'Morning Star', who is acting chairman of the now group. Our application for membership of the group is now supported by correspondents from

BBC,

ITN,

'Sun', 'Observer, 'Financial Times', 'Sunday Times' and others. Costello, who opposed the appli- ation on a previous occasion has to decide whether to now follow in Judge Robert's foot- steps or allow a special meeting to discuss the issue. Already the right-wing press public cam- has commenced a paign to have Workers. Press prosecuted by Sir John Donald- son-and Judge Roberts. In a front-page editorial. last Friday the Lord Thomson-owned

= NEWSLETTER

MONDAY JUNE 12, 1972

CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOC

WORKERS PRESS

RIAL BOARD

'Journal of Commerce' invited the Court to take legal action against Workers Press alleged contempt of court.

The Journal' asked: Is the Workers Press subject to the same laws of contempt as the capitalist press? If it is, is it con- tempt of court to openly suggest that a judge is biased-and to suggest that a judge can radically change his mind from day to day as a result of outside influences?'

The Journal' would like to gag any critical comment of its beloved Court to the extent that it is prepared to call in the law.

The journalists working on the 'Journal' must know that it is NUT policy not to register under 'fingering' that the the Act and of other publications for prose- cution under the law is shame- lessly reactionary. But if the decrees flying out of the

NIRC

upsetting are liberal opinion in the press, how much significant are the more precedent-making judgements of the Master of the Rolls, Lord Denning. In the case of the rail ballot Denning ruled unequivocally that Maurice Macmillan had over- whelming powers to wield over trade unionists. "The gives Act great new powers to the Secretary of State and entrusts equally great re- sponsibilities to him. If parlia- ment gives great powers to a Minister, this Court must allow them to him.' But Denning went further. He declared that while an applica- tion for a compulsory ballot was being heard the issues were sub judice. That is to say, they are not to be commented upon in the press. said: Pending Denning de- cision, the matter is sub judice and unable to be discussed. It is only after action has been taken that the matter may be in parliament.' raised Let's take a completely hypo- thetical situation. Turn to p. 12 Col. 5

BOOKS • PERIO

12, 1972 • No 789 • 4p

1E SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

HU

ARMAGH GAOL

FREE SUGAN LOU

FREE

GIRL supporters of the Provi- sional Sinn Fein yesterday staged a 24-hour fast in Down- ing Street in solidarity with Susan Lochran (21), a member of the organization who faces an arms sentence in Armagh jail. Susan has been on hunger strike for the last 24 days. Forty internees in Long Kesh internment camp are engaged in similar action with Billy McGee, who is being held in Crumlin Road jail, Belfast.

FIVE HUNDRED demon- strators rallied in Trafalgar Square yesterday in solidarity

@ PERIODICALS @ NEWSPAPERS

HUNGER

STRIKE

ARMAGH GAOL

WHO ALICE

IRISH

Minent

FREE SUGAN LOUGHRAM

PRISONERI

ON Hangie

DO YOU

CARL I

THIS MAN

DIES"

C'ARE IF

THiS MAN

DIES!

with political prisoners still in jail in the United States.

Organized by the Angela Defence Committee, Davis they later planned to march to the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square. The rally was addres- sed by Mike Terry, for the National Union of Students, and John Williamson of the Communist Party. The star speaker, the mother of Soledad Brother Fleeta Drumgo, was denied a pass- by the US authorities port and could not attend the rally. James Reid, UCS stew- ards' spokesman, was also mis- sing from the platform.

NOW OPEN

Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri 9 а.т.- 6 р.т. Thurs 9 a.m.-7.30 p.m. Sat 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Farcical fall-out in Stockholm PAGE 2 Workers Press, Monday June 12, 1972 Italy's coalition due to swing rightwards

ITALY'S

new coalition ІТІ ВОПАТ government is now al- most certain to be far to the right of the so-called M 00 000 centre - left' coalition which collapsed at the beginning of this year. Against background and growing WSC O OVluCHl inflation, rampant the new Giulio premier designate Andreotti is now under con- siderable from his pressure Christian Democrat •Wil Party to far form

WOIC

right-wing aaministrauon. The pre-election coalition was alliance between essentially the Christian Democrats ana une Socialist Party. In one form had another Almirante: Waiting in the wings before falling Ten yeats aDalt ll January this year precipi- ano tating General Election hope

LIIOW

by Now summoned President toe Giovanni Leone would be To om a new a cvc nucll coalition, Andretti under completely unacceptable his from own party picooule lalla! Wiles wille and bring Socialists clamouring stronger govern- exclude une Crisis right-wing the Republican ment working Party as his main coalition part- class. of a Christian- 1CL, nse ornagon ThaT talao The Socialist Partv Democrat-Republican coalition nas re. fused to take part any would be a considerable conces- cabinet with the Republicans, sion to the fascist Msl. which in- creased parliamentary repre- wno nave deen callne or sumn-

ITS

gent anti-working class measures, sentation from 30 to 56 seats in including laws election. against the trayal that strikes MSi leader Giorgio Almirante.

former aide fascist dic- Amareotu s aternauve form temporary ad- tator Mussolini, has already de- ministation based solely on clarea nis readiness to take over

AROUND THE WORLD

Bhutto faces unrest at home AS HE prepares for his official reports African countries aimed in our way' Dul lat death toll at 14 at drumming up support Bhutto also in summit with meelas At the weekend angry trouble over the langu- OrIOL surinli India's Mrs Indira and meeting, blamed the question the workers sacked Gandhi, burnt the Karachi offices shootings Carachi area There Pakistan pre- Bhutto's Pakistan wanted to weaken growing demand for sident Zulfiqar Ali Sindhi Urdu reooe s rarl.

SOTO

raastas ano nOT Bhutto is facing sharp he test against the shoot- But, added: 'We to be the region's official midst of language. The conflicts with his own ings are majority Bhutto, who returned crusade Sind working class. new Debie Sindhi- tour of Middle East and province are

HOM

wakastan. wv e WIl Rol rapid growth permit anyone to stand speaking. unemployment and the resulting inflation from Desperate bombing by US defeat Ine counIry s war with the Decemner India the of Bangla Desh has hit the

NORTH

Vietnam and several supply posi- guided) bombs to carry suffering the heavi- tions the attack. WOKIng paricu- now damaged

VU L

larly hard. est bombardment it has The scale of the bom- sIroyed Government their beals received in the The US also claimed bardment is an index of ever command's tighten belts whole course of the destruction of a major the US to war. hydro electric plant have only fuelled wor- mounting desperation as More 280 anger they liberation forces Kers UDan se vuns TAe watch factories close fighter bomber raids area, at Lang Chi on the forward the vere made inside North and prices Song Chay south. rise river. and saturday of the B-52 bombers at the Lasl _nulsudy HS | Friday police opened other recent attacks, weekend struck closer • oe commane fire textile claimed bridges, the US to Saigon than ever be- workers in Karachi. Un- 20 24 barges, trucks 'smart' (electronically- 10IC. THE international confer- China is taking of Bram atacted Sy t pumber os advantage its new-found respectability ence on the human environ- a number iLlacu u. cond the East the taking altera

DUI

counures woc æve o voce ment place Soviet Union and the Euro- weapons of their own and may Stockholm is as much absent on the be danger from fall-out from pean countries are charade as the conference on the tests. that Eas1 Germany roures Was underdevelopment held hand, In noT inviTed. un te. orner Indignation over these tests Rumania has turned up. Santiago, Chile, earlier this divert from nelps attention of the A good deal debate the causes of the pollution prob- year. the the nast week has turned lem if it does nothing else. se some sala ties no deal methods of warfare used by the tabled a draft motion calling nas United States Vietnam, for the end of all nuclear tests.

BUSC

SOllIC Dalilalivcs especially defoliation with most witn tre cases When it was amended to call the plunder of the planet's chemicals ano In sc mare all United Nations on members bombing likely to permanently sources and pollution do change the environment. ouTsut vicorouSIV al enort envtonmenl. CalE l to bring about general and com- Olof nothing remove the basic •weest rume Ivinstel plete disarmament, including search Palme particularly angered the causes: nuclear this with his attack proved profit inseparable from capitalism.

wea ulls much though T00 Ior the Americans, as are ne Folucians experts ecological Wallalc. well Australian the British and US gọing through the formalities of not menton delegations which had tedious debates on name. lengthy and While the Chinese were happy supportea the original draft.

such subiects as the use of DD1 whale-fishing and the disposal of They said that such a resolu- climb

OLLO

LILS

Dal Liculal effluents. Decisions bandwagon, tion was beyond the competence …Themr own recoro ls one and will not entirely unblemished—-they the conference. dele- will bind lakel Chinese continue to test nuclear weapons said shat only osser vee mnevcul Tallul. interests of the governments attacks, said mote to have the in toe aomosonere. rrance. waco Wolle is preparing for a new test pro- oppose any concerned. IN HIS 'Sunday Times' colour supplement review of the event of May-June 1968, Anthony Terry shows how precariously close to civil war French society was in the summer of that historic year. 'What de Gaulle did envisage was calling a state of national emergency on the lines of the Free French Liberation France from the Germans. This would have created a system of "civic action organization" with local prefects the appointed as "Commissioners of the Republic" and entrusted "administering the ter- with ritory, re-establishing repub- lican legality and satisfying the needs of the population" "Their real job would have been to help de Gaulle, with the French Army marching in from Germany, regain to control of the country.' Terry's revelations on this point extremely pertinent to are what is developing in Britain and Ulster. It reveals with stunning clarity what every revisionist tries to ignore or minimize: 1. That the danger of civil war lurks beneath the surface of political and every major economic crisis in Western Europe. 2.. That its counter-revolutionary • strategy integrates as a com- ponent part the class-collabor- ationist Stalinist and Social- Democratic bureaucracy. 3. That Stalinism and revisionism, by systematically ignoring the question of creating dual power, effectively betrayed the French workers to de Gaulle. Not only in France but in trend is Britain too this present. One expression of it is a long editorial this week's 'Socialist Worker' — paper of revisionist International Socialists. Its policy of 'critical capitulation' to the bureaucracy is nakedly revealed in the words of its 'This sharp editor: means criticism.of all those leaders who are giving up the struggle, including the "lefts" Indeed, especially the "lefts"? The 'lefts', , contrary to what the IS apologists state, are not 'giving up the struggle'.

They are in fact betraying the struggle and are waging a conference take up the subject of Indo-China. Best keep it to DDT and the protection of wildlife, and not take into account the destruction of the environment and people now being carried out with ultra- modern technical means by the richest country in the world in one of the planet's poorest areas.

The row about what the Americans call "the introduction of politics' into the conference shows the artificiality of the whole proceedings. The Americans will take no resolution more notice of a referring to 'ecological warfare' than the French or Chinese will to one calling for an end to nuclear tests. In any case, many of the delegations who would for such resolutions have vote no intention of taking any action on them. All the time, the plundering of the resources of the earth by the big corporations, whose in- consistent struggle through the union machinery against all those who want to fight the Act and the NIRC. Workers Press says categorically, that they must be removed, not 'sharply criticized'. Critic- ism has prevented never betrayal. 'A real fight inside the unions, says the 'Socialist Worker' 'means breaking with illusions in the "left" leaders.' evasion. The first This is an for breaking with condition the 'lefts' is an uncompromis- ing struggle against Stalinist politics of class collaboration and peaceful co-existence. This the political parasites of the IS 'state capitalist' group are organically incapable of doing.

As France in 1968 so conclusively proved, but negatively most important task today is political preparation the working class through the struggle for the resignation of the Tories, the election of a Labour government pledged to socialist policies and the organization of Councils of Action to meet the Tory offensive and prepare a General Strike. But Councils of Action remain meaningless symbols of protest if they are detached from such a perspective of power and political struggle. It this happens they will quickly be- come transformed into appen- dages of the bureaucracy and a centrist diversion. This is precisely what the state- 'Socialist Worker' capitalist advocates. • In its ten-point programme it nowhere mentions the neces- sity for forcing the Tories to resign nor, for that matter, does it even mention the economic crisis or the measures needed to meet it. Capitalism without the Industrial Rela- tions Act and the NIRC is IS policy. IS equates That is why the Councils of Action with the Stalinist 'Local Liaison Com- mittees' and refuses to call for the building of an alter- reformism and native to Stalinism. And that is why we denounce this wretched group for what it is: a reformist diversion and • a left cover for bureau- cracy and Stalinism. dustrial activities at the same time ruin and pollute the en- vironment, is being left out or glossed over. Some lesser issues, such as pollution by tankers and new techniques of pest control avoid- ing the use of DDT, are being taken up instead. But since DDT is relatively cheap and the new methods of pest control are not, this issue has brought out the division between the underdeveloped and the advanced countries latent in such conferences. The bigger issue of the pillage of the natural resources of the former by the international monopolies goes virtually un- mentioned. The only other subject to generate any passion so far has been the 'save the whale' cam- paign organized by militant environmentalist groups operat- ing privately on the fringes of the conference.

BY ALEX MITCHELL

The key property adviser to the Tory government will be Mr John Cuck- ney, a dynamic merchant banker and, until re- cently, chairman of the Mersey Docks and Har- bour Board. On September 1 he will take over a newly-created job at the Department of Environ- ment as 'chief executive of the property services agency'. The appointment announced was by Edward Heath himself. Heath told the Commons the new agency would be en- gaged in 'property management services, building construction and maintenance and the appropriate supplies'. He added: 'Government pro- perty management will be con- centrated as far as practicable so as to ensure that land and buildings are put to best use. The defence lands organ- ization of the Ministry of Defence will be incorporated in the agency? In his speech Heath paid tribute to a man whose 'valu- able studies' had led to the formation of the property agency—Mr T. A. W. Sains- bury. Sainsbury is, of course, one of the Sainsburys and is heir to the multi-million pound fortune of the family's chain of supermarkets. The annual report released last week reveals that the group in- privately-owned creased its profits by more than 30 per cent last year to £8.2m. This year the company plans to raise profits even further by closing 11 counter shops be and opening 50 new super- markets. Like Sainsbury, Cuckney is one of Heath's private busi- nessmen brought into White- hall to make things more 'efficient'. There should be no illusions about the importance of Cuck- ney's appointment: he is now in charge of the government's vast property portfolio which includes square miles of pro- perty up and down the country.

Who is Cuckney and how does he qualify for such position? Aged 46, he was educated at Shrewsbury and St Andrew's University. He became a staff captain in Royal Northumber- land Fusiliers during the war then joined and the War Office. What he did at the War Office between 1949 and 1957 is not made clear in his biographical details. On leaving the civil service, Cuckney quickly found his feet in the City of London. By 1964 he was made a director with Lazard Brothers and Company, the extremely vigorous bank- ing house. Just over two years ago he resigned unexpectedly from the board; it was said at the time he was the first person in the bank's history to do such a thing. But Cuckney had decided to strike out on his own. With the financial backing of Mr Davoud Alliance, the Persian- born textile magnate, who put together the Spirella Group, Cuckney bought the rundown Anglo-Eastern Bank. The first year the bank suffered a £22,000 loss, but in the next 12 months he has managed to turn this in- auspicious start into a pre-tax profit of £170,000. His attention to banking has been interrupted on two occa- sions by calls from the Tory government. First of all he was sum- moned to Liverpool to restore the bankrupt Mersey Docks and Harbour Board. A number of old-stagers left the board after a rather torrid board battle. He left the board in Feb- ruary pleading that he wished to 'devote more time to his merchant banking interests'. this has been inter- But rupted now by his call to run the first-ever government pro- perty agency. His. immediate worry is strengthen his private bank while he's away in Whitehall.

The man taking over the chief executive's job will be Sir Clive Bossom, Tory MP tor Leominster, who is the son of the late Lord Bossom. will combine his Bossom banking with being parliamen- Douglas Home. He was a former member uf the Tory Party's army sub- secretary of committee and the Anglo-German parliamen- tary group. He has been a member of Lloyds since 1949 and his clubs are the Carlton and MCC. The only other board mem- ber at Anglo-Eastern is Mr B.

P. Lanyi, former Director of the National Bank of Hungary.

Cuckney will not feel uneasy 'in his new job-which carries a salary of £14,000. His boss will be Environment Minister Peter Walker, who, until join- ing the Cabinet, was a partner in the finance house of Slater Walker Securities. In the City they were friends. Workers Press, 'Sunday Times' The Colour Magazine has recently been publishing a series of features on 'Hidden History'. The idea was a good one. Teams of writers were asked to revisit different points of history and discover the real facts about certain people and certain events. One of the lesser displayed items which appeared con- cerned the life of John Amery.

The author of the article, George Rosie, said that Amery became a Nazi sympathizer he firmly believed because 'that world Jewry and the Soviets were working together to overthrow western civiliza- tion' He was invited to Berlin, whence he arrived in October He broadcast over 1942. radio station and Goebbels' then went back to service with the pro-Nazi collaborators in France. One of the wilder schemes he tried was to tour British PoW camps asking prisoners to join the British Legion of St George. who volunteered Anyone would be immediately released.

The scheme never achieved any support -at its peak great there were allegedly 30 pro- Nazis. In 1943 the Legion was renamed the British Free ara Preso, Monday June 12, 1972 PAGE 3 Corps. Rosie reveals their uni- forms were German field grey with an armshield of British flag, a collar patch of three lions or three leopards, embossed a cufflink and 'Britische Freikorps'. When the allies landed in 1944 the BFC was switched to the Russian front. As the German army col- lapsed Amery escaped and was picked up by partisans outside returned to Milan. He was London along with a number of other pro-Nazis to face courts martial and military tribunals. Found guilty he was hanged at Wandsworth for treason prison on December 19, 1945.

The 'Sunday Times' Hidden reveal that History does Amery was the eldest son of Amery, Churchill's Minister for India. But, strangely, it doesn't reveal that John Amery's brother is Julian Amery, right-wing Tory in the Heath government. Amery is The younger Minister of Housing and cur- rently piloting the hated fair rents' Bill through parliament.

He also owns a block of flats in South London which tenants recently described as being in a slum-like condition. Below: Julian Amery

PAGE 4 Workers Press, Monday June 12, 1972 Part five of a six part series on revisionism by Clifi Slaughter, Central Committee member of the Socialist Labour League. Labour Trotskyism was born and overthrown when is returned government to has developed in the most Westminster. bitter struggle against "This is one of the central bureaucracy. The Fourth differences between

IMG

the and the

SLL.

The SLL (like International and the Harold Wilson) always talks Socialist Labour League nowadays of Toryism the as have always come under -as if all problems can enemy- be solved by getting the Tories the bitterest attacks from out- -whilst we insist on revisionists who want to developing against capitalism itself. (Emphasis in original.)

subordinate the Trotsky- Here is 'left' talk, centrist ist movement and the which always obstructs the working class to the Stal- development of mass revolu- inist and reformist tionary struggle instead of in its guiding it forward, bureaucracy. most craven form! The International Marxist 'We are for a struggle not Group was born of this out Tory against the government, tendency hostile to the Fourth because we insist on develop- International. ing a struggle against capital- At time these no can ism itself.' politics from centrists grasp the standpoint of the basic

REVOLUTIONARY

between the struggle two principal forces, the working class and the capitalist class. In the guise of talking more mined relations 'revolutionary' than between tendencies within the anyone else, the IMG provides a justi- ruling class and within the fication avoiding the bureaucracy. demand for mobilization of Thus they have been taken the working class against the completely, unawares by the political representatives of the development of the political miners' situation since the main enemy. which the National For years these revisionists strike, in have accused the SLL of con- Industrial Relations Court has centrating too much on attack- worked as the instrument for ing the reformist and centrist preparing the transition to tendencies within the labour Bonapartist rule. Instead, they told On the contrary, the IMG movement. everything should be us, says: ruling directed the 'The sections of the against main for a deal with class looking enemy. But now that the working trade union bureaucracy the class is actually drawn into [after the miners' strike] have been immensely strengthened.'

for basic mass struggle its capitalist the against (Perspectives Document, rights Tory government, they

IMG

National are adopted by concerned only Committee, 1972) From this to prevent that political experience at all "leaders' the

IMG

conclude of the costs. that the strategy What could be more typical capitalist class will be to of the radical avoid a clash with the working middle-class phrasemongerer who really 'in- class and to impose an comes policy'. opposes action by the working than this left posing, this think, may be class, This, they operated through either a Tory 'revolutionary' strutting and for swaggering—we not Labour government. are or defeating the Tory government, Therefore the working class we are fighting capitalism!

must above all pursue the It means more and no wages struggle and not be mis- less than that, the working led preference for into class should content itself with Labour government! the individual aspects is the thinking behind fighting This standpoint of

IMG

of capitalism which affect it in the the a particular factory, trade when it opposes the SLL de- or locality, and should not fight mand for a Labour government the capitalist class in the way pledged to. socialist policies.

that Marxism has always con- recently pub- A document Reading lished by the IMG's ceived of the struggle socialism. and N Hants branch claims to 'degener- Lenin poses it as follows: be an analysis of the an objective consider-

SLL'

and 'Only of the is ation ation of the sum total of the entitled 'The Road to Reform- relations between absolutely all 'degeneration' The it ism'. the classes in a given society, seems, is exemplified above all and consequently consider- in our demand to force the a ation of the objective stage of Tories to resign and elect development reached by that with Labour government socialist policies! We find in and the relations society between it and other societies, this document the following: 'But most important of all, can serve as a basis for the correct tactics of an advanced SLL's social- we reject the class.' (Lenin, 'Karl Marx'.) democratic revisionist concept that the overthrow of Toryism In Britain, the working class took a step in 1906, welcomed the thing the same as means by Lenin, to form their own socialist revolution' [which, of SLL has certainly parliamentary to repre- the party course interests. never said]. 'For it implies that sent trade union will be This Labour Party not the capitalist system working Lenin welcomed the British interests. Top: members of the first p wrote the immortal words, 'Marxism ma simply a bourgeois imposition working the class. on expressed a profound develop- ment towards political inde- pendence of the working class, and it has been necessary for ruling class to devote the gigantic to the resources corruption of its leaders.

This corruption has had dire consequences for the working but it will not throw class, its three quarters of a away century of experience of these betrayals and of its aspirations power on the basis of a to series of impressions such as those which motivate the IMG petty bourgeois. For the working class to move from the Labour Party is a dialectical change, pro- the basis ceeding definite internal contradictions class's formino or a parliamentan Top: members of the first parliamentary Labour Party with their wives. Above: Tariq 'Marxism maintains that consciousness determines within reformism, and not a of individuals reflect- process ing on the need for a change that is the bourgeois petty impressionist's idea Chou history changes (as Tariq Ali's immortal words put it in hi Marxisn [?!! book: recent maintains that consciousness determines history')!

VERDICT OF

HISTORY

The working class will fight capitalism, i.e., fight the Tory and its attacks, coverinenl with weapon at its every disposal, and in the first place Labour Party and trade unions. It will transcend the Labour Party, not throw it aside, with a shrug of the, mentary party to represent trade union with their wives. Above: Tariq All who letermines history shoulders—'put that down to experience', so to speak.

Not at all! As the working class tests out every bit of its resources, it will deal very thoroughly with the reformist traitors and all who help them. The working class will put into effect the verdict of history on these men, in real struggles. In the course of testing them out and defeating them, and only in the course of that, will the new revolutionary leadership of Trotskyists establish itself at the front of the working class in struggle.

Our task is consciously to conduct to its conclusion the struggle of opposites within the working class.

CONTINUED TOMORROW

..!...

Each summer Polynesia sees a new round of atmospheric nuclear tests by the French govern- ment. Preparations for the 1972 series are already well under way. The tests, in which H-bombs exploded over Mururoa atoll in a quiet corner of the Pacific, being prepared with the utmost secrecy. But reports of stepped-up activity from Hao, where the test team has its advance base, and from the military airport at Papeete, leave little doubt that the first explosion is imminent. The cruiser 'De Grasse' , On • has which the test command its headquarters, has already left Papeete on Tahiti for 'an unknown destination'. 'Orange', another ship carry- ing part of the command and fall-out decontamination equip- ment, is reported to be on the verge of leaving the port.

In an attempt to stop the tests, the Australian and New Zealand trade unions have ordered a boycott of goods on their way to Tahiti. The last consignment fresh meat from New Zealand arrived in Tahiti earlier last week. And the New Zealand dockers have refused to load fruit and vegetables bound for the French Pacific island.

The government is now try- ing to get supplies from the United States. But a boycott of French aeroplanes ordered by the Aus- tralian unions from June 1 is still apparently only partial.

The New Zealand unions may agree to call off the boy- cott if the French authorities agree to a temporary suspen- sion of the tests. The New Zealand govern- ment has asked the union chiefs to consider this course A recent report pub- lished by the School of Economics in Monte- video in Uruguay has control revealed the which foreign monopo- lies established over the main exports of Uruguay in the mid-1960s. These firms are some of the most vociferous supporters of President : Bordaberry's cam- paign against the Uruguayan trade union movement. The meat market is a clear example of the activity of foreign monopolies. The market is divided up between seven foreign com- panies ranging from the Anglo- Meat Packers, jointly owned by the Lancashire Investment Company and the Union Inter- The French atomic test at Mururoa atoll i and made its own protest to the French authorities. The French authorities are very sensitive about the tests and determined to put the lid on the protests if they can.

Last week, they arrested Cana- dian author Ben Metcalf in the centre of Paris and hustled into him across the border Italy after subjecting him to several hours of questioning in a police station. Metcalf was in Paris to deli- national Company Ltd, which have a chain of meat shops in London, to the Greek-owned Comargen Meat Packers which owns a chain of meat shops in Greece. Even the EFCSA company which was formed as a so- called workers' co-operative in 1958 receives aid from the American Deltic International for the purchase of cattle and the payment of wages and taxes. These companies, which have made large profits by selling Uruguayan products to themselves at low prices are threatened by the militancy of working class and the the world recession. That is the for Bordaberry's state reason repression of trade unions.

Right: plant of the EFCSA company in Uruguay roa atoll In the Pacific ver a Canadian petition against the tests. The tests are a particular source of concern to neighbour- ing islanders, particularly Pitcairn Island, who are in the path of fall-out from the bombs. Despite their fears, however, the islanders have not so far protested against the testing because they fear it might lead to the stopping of shipping links with the rest of the world. Workers Press,

BY JOHN SPENCER

Last week's gold price increases may be bad news for the majority of the world's capitalists. But one group at least are rubbing their hands. They are the mine-owners of South. Africa, who have long suffered under an artifi- cially low price for their com- modity and are now hoping to make up for lost time. Anglo-American Corporation of South Africa is the world's producer. biggest gold It announced in its recent annual report that a gold prospecting programme had begun to test possible extensions of its Wit- watersrand goldfield. It is here that the bulk of the world's gold is mined. The exploration programme is des- cribed as 'fairly large', though the company refused to give further details. There is even talk offogen- ing the Crown Mine in Johan- nesburg, which closed last year because it was considered uneconomic to continue pro- duction at existing prices.

The mine still has substan- tial reserves of low-grade ore.

At its peak it employed 30,000 workers and produced gold value at over €500m.

The South African gold- fields have one great advantage over their competitors in the United States and Canada-a vast reservoir of cheap con- tract labour severely disciplined by the apartheid regime. Despite this and the rich- ness of the South African reserves, the production was on the decline before President Nixon ended convertibility between the dollar and gold in August last year. Since Consolidated then, Fields—the big British-owned ars Press, Monday June 12, 1972 PAGE 5 Nixon: since he ended converti- bility the gold price has soared mining company—has predicted that the price will rise to $85 an ounce by 1980. In the light of the price increase on world markets last week, this figure seems extre- mely conservative. Until 1968, the price of gold was pegged rigidly at $35 an ounce by the US government.

With dwindling reserves and a growing balance of payments deficit, the US was finally forced in that year to end the sale of gold for privately- owned dollars, setting up the rickety two-tier system with 'free' and official' markets which endured just over three years. There is nothing to stop the price rising now that US Treasury no longer guarantees the gold content of the dollar and the mining inter- ests are rubbing their hands.

situation The gold also affects the Soviet Union, which is the world's second largest gold producer. The Russians are believed to have pressed Nixon at the recent Moscow talks for a higher 'official' gold price to ease their trade rela- tions with the capitalist world.

PAGE 6 Workers Press, Monday June 12. 1872

BY SARAH HANNIGAN

The century-old tena- ment of Chaucer House in Tabard Street, South- East London, will finally be closed at the end of this year. Chaucer is a 'half-way' house owned by the Labour-controlled Southwark borough for hous- ing the area's homeless fami- lies until they 'qualify' for per- manent housing. Conditions in the block defy Children from description. Chaucer Housedenied the right to play in the local park because of victimization-are to amuse themselves forced broken among the dirt and glass in the court yard. Over the past year, three young children in the block died of bronchial troubles, brought on by the damp and coal, say the tenants. Many of the other children show signs of acute distress and despair. Some are contin- ually ill. Milkmen, coalmen and local shops categorically newspaper refuse to deliver supplies. Families who give an address in Chaucer House are refused hire-purchase arrangements at local furniture stores—-they are considered 'bad debtors' Three months ago, the 115 families living in the block, driven to despair. and frus- tration by the conditions they were forced to live in, staged a dramatic protest. A car was overturned and rammed in behind giant rub- bish tins forming a barricade the entrance to the across flats. Flames leapt 20 ft into the air from piles of burning rubbish. The tenants prevented workers council-employed entering the flats and from council officials were booed.

tenants' afterwards Soon were told by representatives Southwark's housing manager that the council had decided no more families would be re- housed in the block after April l'and that it would be closed by the end of 1972. Families living in the block were to be rehoused but only they were told, 'with proper regard for the council's other housing commitments. Some families have now been moved to new accommo- dation but 80 still are do 'time' demned to in the block. Many of the Chaucer House families see their stay there as a sentence served before which has to be begin to live they can again human beings. like prisoner in a jail is not as bad 'The stigma as the stigma attached to liv- tenants' ing here', says ciation chairman John Riches. But some of the families moved of have out Chaucer to escape the stigma of homelessness have tound John Riches, Above left: Chaucer House Tenants' Asso.

his chairman with ciation family. Above: Brian Clint Tenants' vice-chairman family. Left: the protest fire themselves re-housed in condi- which little better tions are than those they left behind some say they are worse Vice-chairman of the Chaucer House Tenants' Brian Clint, spent has noW eight months in the block with and three-year-old wife daughter. He told us: "They are moving people out, offered but some are terrible conditions. giving them short-life and repair" property-property which has already been closed up to five years and down for which is due to be demolished.

'They are supposed to spend at least £250 repairing it and doing it up but what happens in effect is that they put new on the walls and leave paper else.' everything Pattie Bourke has been Worker 41 offered just accomoda- such tion for herself and her baby.

almost She has spent months in Chaucer and has been offered a flat in noW Tower Bridge Road, which she says is only half the size of her present one and which will cost her up to fl a week more. 'They told me that I could either take it or leave it, Pattie told me. 'But if I leave it then they say I will have to stay until Chaucer House here closes and then I will have to take what is offered me in a rush.' Other ex-Chaucer House residents however have found that just to get away from the place-even only a few hun- dred yards-has already given them the possibility of living rather than existing. Daisy Harvey, her husband and daughter and her mother Chaucer had moved from House-after two-and-a-half years in the block-just four weeks before I spoke to her.

Monday June 12, 1972 PAGE 7 two-and-a-half For those years her husband Dick had been unable to get a job. Yet they moved he has been since working steadily in the Post Office. Daisy has also noticed in a change teenage daughter. used to 'Before she never want to go to school and she was always missing days and taking time off. 'Now", says Daisy, 'she goes and she is enjoying regularly it. She is taking an interest in her lessons like she never did before.' For the 80 families still con- demned to live in Chaucer House the future is still unde- cided. Brian Clint spends all his spare time trying to organize throughout London tenants half-way who are living in house ghettos. For him the experience of Chaucer House is something that cannot be erased until all such blocks are finally closed.

PAGE 8 Workers Press, Monday June 12, 1972 almost certain death on their That their suicidal mission. heroism was squandered in a senseless and bloody adventure is a condemnation of the lead- sent them ership which to Lydda. as I pointed These leaders, article, epitomize Dear Editor, out in my the political bankruptcy of tha I hope you can find space to Arab middle class. allow one reader, at least, to abandoned express the disgust and dismay They have any perspective of the with which he read certain winning statements in John Spencer's Israeli workers in favour of a tit-for-tat competition Friday, Tune 2 article on the grisly Young Dayan. massacre at Lydda airport in with General drawn into Tel Aviv. militants are Quoting Mrs Golda Meir's senseless of terrorist series actions at the expense of inno- the attack statement on ('Those who could not face us This does not alter cent people. the prime responsibility for the the battlefield great on are Lydda, desperate action at heroes when it comes to plant- lies with the ing explosives hit- which squarely on planes, blowing Zionist leaders. ting up passengers, Not content with driving the in the air'), John planes "This is a Palestinians off their lands and Spencer goes on: annexing their territories they baseless slander on the heroism and Japanese heap humiliation taunts of the three young the heads of these that like their who proved on oppressed people. Arab guerrilla comrades they Mercer apparently are willing to give their lives David considers this oppression to be in the struggle against Zionist of the Stalinists. an invention oppression. if to gun down and grenade He caps his references to my mental state by equating our civilian passengers in a civilian Zionist oppression all I can attacks airport is heroism, on the and false say is that Spencer's values are with cynical statements of the Stalinists.

Nor pathologically twisted. Yet he must know that Trot- does he redeem his sick re- skyism has fought consistently marks by going on limply to criticize indiscriminate. indivi- against and uncompromisingly anti-Semitism of the the dual and isolated terror' as a Stalinist bureaucracy which 'policy' part of the the on of

PFLP.

hides behind denunciations Zionism. The fact that the and A political analysis Zionism for Stalinists attack examination of context is one does not their own purposes thing. The nauseating puerility alter the reality of the oppres- describing those three of suffered by the Pales- sion Tapanese as heroes is in- tinians. defensible. They were not sim- What is more, Stalinist at- ply willing to give their lives Zionism tacks against are an —they were tragically and mis- alibi for their monstrous policy guidedly willing to go out and of political support the murder. And how cynical to of Sadat, murderous regimes compound this mindless in- the Iraqi fantilism of Spencer's Numeiry and by Ba'athists. This has never been accompanying the article with our policy. photograph of the pathetic, Perhaps David Mercer has bloodstained scene of the a more genteel term to describe crime! the blowing up of villages, the The case against Mrs Meir, and of General Davan and the Israeli internment torture militants and the hounding of government merits careful pre- refugees. We are not told, for sentation. The language which despite his call for "careful like «Zionist phrases uses of the presentation' case oppression' and "These crimes General against Mrs Meir, of the Zionists' has an old and Dayan and the Israeli govern- chillingly familiar ring. Re- ment. he nowhere tells US member? It has been the whether he supports or language of Stalinists for Palestinian the opposes decades! struggle. Sincerely. Yet this is the crux of the David Mercer. matter. commandos The Palestinian are at war with Zionist im- perialism and it is not for us to read them moral lectures or of de- campaign to join the nunciation being waged by Nixon, Sato and Dayan. No communist can fail to re- We stand for the military the dedication and defeat of the state of Israel. cognize which is an excrescence foisted courage - however misguided —of the three young Japanese by imperialism on the workers terrorists. and peasants of the Middle They came 6.000 miles to East. fight for the cause of the Pales- We are hostile to terrorism tinian people. They faced precisely because it strengthens Top: Israeli prime minister, Golda Me the grip of Zionism over the Arab and Jewish workers alike and because it strengthens the domination of bourgeois ideology over the Arab national movement. However, as Trotsky told the preliminary commission of in- quiry into the Moscow Trials: It is altogether inadmissible to place the terror of a dic- tatorship against an opposition on the same plane with the • terror of an opposition against a dictatorship' Top: Israeli prime minister, Golda Meir. Above: Dayan. Above right: Habash, Palestinian guerrilla leader He added: Isolated terroris- tic inevitable explosions when political oppression transgresses certain boundaries.

Such acts almost always have symptomatic character. But politics that sanctify terror, raising it into a system-that "Terrorist is a diferent thing. in 1909, work," "in wrote its very essence demands such of concentration energy supreme 'the moment, such an over-estimation of per- sonal heroism and lastly such hermetically concealed con- excludes com- pletely any agitational and organizational activity among the masses The PFLP's terror is indis- criminate and takes place in from complete isolation the masses. It runs completely con- education the of trary cadres and the construction of genuinely revolutionary It is exactly movement. what Meir and Dayan want and that is why we oppose it.

TITO

BECOMES

A GOOD

GUY

AFTER

ALL

THESE

YEARS

Marshal Tito's visit to Moscow for talks with the Kremlin leaders is the most obvious sign of a growing rapprochement Belgrade between and the Soviet Stalinists. Tito (right) was even awarded the Order of Lenin to mark his 80th step which Dirtnaay-a been unthinkable would have at most periods over the past 20 years. are the days when James Klugmann of the British Communist Party could state: 'Under the rule of the Titoites, Yugoslavia has retunned capitalism, but not to capitalist Yugoslavia democracy. today is a semi-colonial country ruled over by reactionary caste operating a police state of a rascist type... Stalin's sub- In those days, Cominform described servient Tito as having 'passed from democracy and socialism bourgeois democracy, then... from bourgeois nationalism to fascism and direct betrayal of the national interests of Yugo- slavia'. Tito's bureaucracy is tavoured as a valued collabora.

tor in the plans of the Krem- Leonid lin. Last September, Brezhnev Bel- paid a visit to grade officially described as friendly' paved the way alle for Tito's trip to Moscow.

Stalin was unable to tolerate independence the slightest on the part of the Yugoslav com- successful whose overthrow of capitalism had taken place against his will. His break with Tito in 1949 and the subsequent campaign of slander in which the British CP joined so enthusiastically essential was an part of his essena the preparations for crushing independent of any develop- East ments within the other European workers' states.

Yugoslavia But proved far than Stalin had bar- tougher gained for, ana is successor Nikita Khrushcher was forced to make a pilgrimage of repen- off tance to belgrade and turr .... the of lies by the campaign foreign communist parties.

Relations between Belgrade and Moscow have been chequered ever since, but the bureaucracies are now two each others arms

SILO

the development of the by class struggle and the mount- crisis in Europe. institos 'independent' policy based break with was Stalin, but not with 'Stalinism. dis- He was able to keep from the Kremlin by balancing adroitly between the Soviet bloc and western capi- talism. This policy was one thing the boom-quite during another in a period of develop- ing slump and monetary crisis.

In his attempts to encourage the inflow of foreign capital for investment, Tito has been forced to breach the monopoly of foreign trade and control of the currency. intensified the This has the various rivalries between Yugoslav nationalities, bring- to civil ing the country close war. He is now left with little option but to court the Krem- lin's assistance to bail out Yugoslavia's shaky economy the danger of and stave off violent convulsions. This is well understood by the Soviet leaders, who may well have had their own fingers in the pie, encouraging the agi- tation of certain nationalist groups in order to bring Tito to heel. This also explains the cool- ness of relations between Mos- and Belgrade after the cOW Czech events of August 1968, when for a period the Yugo- slavs prepared actively to resist invasion from the Warsaw Pact countries, while the latter held provocative manoeuvres on the Yugoslav border. rivalries These appear to *..: .... have been shelved—at least for the time being—-as both parties appreciate the value of good Kremlin, relations. For the Tito is valuable as a front-man in the preparations for the forthcoming European security conference, while lito despe- rately requires economic assist- ance from the USSR. Yugoslavia welcomed the Bonn-Moscow and Bonn-War- saw treaties which opened the door to the Soviet leaders' cherished ambition of security talks with NATO and the other European countries.

in It has also come down favour of a European security conference—which has become the overriding immediate objec- tive of Soviet foreign policy in Europe. The rapprochement is direc- ted against the working class, has nothing to gain which from a conference between the powers-that-be in Europe and everything to lose. The pur- pose of this conference, fought for with redoubled energy by the Stalinists, since May-June 1968 in France and the August invasion of Czechoslovakia, is to arrive at agreement with imperialism to police the con- tinent against the threat of revolution. .....1: Workers Press, The Industrial Society is one of the most intriguing outfits on the industrial relations scene.

It sponsors a large number of seminars at which employers . trade union leaders sup and and wine while discussing how they can work together for the common good. The discussions are always staged at some eminently res- pectable and plush joint like the Connaught Rooms. The meal and the chat usually costs about £10. The society emerged during the pre-Industrial Relations Bill period as a champion of 'informed debate' about the intentions of the Tory govern- ment. When the Bill became law, the society began a new series of lectures-this time on how the Act works. The Society has just anno- unced it has raised £120,000 to pay for the conversion of a building in the enormously expensive Carlton House Ter- race. The target for this conver- sion is £200,000, enough to house several families. Who is coming forward with all the money? Surprise, sur- prise, to discover that among the big donors are the Trans- port and General Workers' Union, the General and Muni- cipal Workers' Union and the National Union of Public Employees. Seems odd that the T&GWU, which squealed so loudly about the £55,000 fines imposed by the National Industrial Rela- tions Court, has money to hand over to the Industrial Society.

Among those on the appeal committee are: Eric O. Faulkner (Lloyds Bank), Sir Norman Kipping (Pilkington Bros), Sir Maurice Laing (John Laing Construc- Sir Ian Lyle (Tate and tion), Lyle), Lord Mancroft (Cunard Line), Lord Robens (Vickers) and Victor Feather (TUC).

Companies which have made substantial donations to the appeal include Alliance Build- ing Sharps, Society, Trebor Sun Life Assurance,

BBA

Group, Multitone, Shell, GEC, Abbey National Building Society, Ford, Lead Industries, IBM, British Oxygen, Scottish and Newcastle Breweries, Valor Group, Pearl Assurance, ‹ers Press, Monday June 12, 1972 PAGE 9 e of Royal Insurance, Commercial Union, Guardian Royal Ex- Decca, Bank of change, England, Lloyds Bank, Mid- land Bank, National Westmin- ster, Bank, Barclays Bank, Marks and Spencer, Pilkington, Whitbread, Legal and General, Imperial Tobacco and Watney.

Other organizations which have made major gifts include McKinseys (management con- sultants), Corporation of Lloyds, Department of Employ- ment, Post Office, Gas Council, Electricity Council and the National Coal Board. As the trade union leaders are supporting this scheme so lavishly, are we to conclude that the completed building is to be a recreation place for workers and their families?

Not at all. It will be known as Runge House in memory of someone called Sir Peter Runge (was he a shop steward, do you know? and it will be used by the Industrial Society as a conference and administrative centre. For trade union leaders and the bosses, of course.

When Pioneer 10 set off for American space, the outer space boys attached a plaque to the outside. It depicts a drawing of a naked man and woman. It was done as a genuine scientific effort to communicate with anyone who might find the spacecraft in the far rea- ches of the solar system. Who- ever got hold of the craft could get an idea what we look like.

So far, so good. Except that the reproduction of the plaque number of American a newspapers has caused some- thing of a fuss. For instance, the Chicago 'Sun-Time' published the draw- ing in an early edition-with the man's testicles obliterated.

Then, in the later editions, all traces of the male genitals had disappeared. The 'Philadelphia Inquirer' was even more fearless. The drawing it carried showed the man with no genitals and the women with no nipples. One of the papers editors said: 'What they're ready to accept in outer space, they're not ready to accept in Phila- delphia?

LEON TROTSKY:

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PAGE 10 Workers Press, Monday Juno 12, 1972 An alarming statistic from the knitwear workers' union has pinpointed yet another casualty of capitalism's drive for profit: workers' hearing. National The union- the Union of Hosiery and Knitwear Workers-has recently published a pamphlet giving the results investigation of occupational deafness amongst workers oper- knitting machines. ating noisy 1 M. It that almost two-thirds says found of those tested were to have some degree of hearing im- due to pairment noise exposure. 87 Only of the workers knitwear firms, tested, at two had normal hearing. Nine workers of the figures were lett out because they had previous hear- disorders. ing pamphlet comes hard The on of the Department heels Employment code of practice on industrial noise, which the says exposed levels workers are to should be reduced. Chief of E studies is both panacea

NUHKW

and D but the of ear mufis, real crux clearly whether the matter iS employers are willing to cut into the their profits to take more expensive precautions which are really required. from And it is obvious the outset that they will be unlikely 57 ₽p even without a fight. The D of E's own attitude to the problem, by the way, is well characterized level by the of noise it thinks is acceptable.

Workers should have to suffer than eight hours no more ex- posure a day to continuous noise of 90 decibels. That is the level drill produced by an unsilenced being used road work at on distance of 20 feet. Maurice Macmillan should try it.

TWO PAMPHLETS AND

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The Social Security Swindle

A YOUNG SOCIALISTS PAMPHLET

QUESTIONS

ABOUT ORANGE

LODGE DEAL

East of One possible explanation Engineers in the that the premises are owned by Scotland want an answer to- the union's social committee. night why their union head- The committee presumably has been sold quarters to still a body of the union, giving the right-wing Orange Order.

the AUEW's London headquarters as its address. The Edinburgh district com- Confirmation of McLean's mittee the Amalgamated from Workers account the Union Engineering comes city s rate-valuation roll. was asked 1LS last week investigate the This shows the of 1 to occupier

AUEW

the action. Blenheim Place as certainly needs some i also recoros me •rooneloi the premises as the local AUEW investigation. AUEW is moving out of The scuicialy its premises at 1 Blenheim Place, It might be argued here that a block in September. new

HOTO

office filled iunior in the AUDW block in When last out the valuation roll wrongly, the Place valued, Blenheim but the City Assessor's office scru- were expected to fetch pulously counter-check entries.

£8,000. The Loyal Orange Institu- tion Scotland, however, Since many local trade union- appears to have bought them for ists regard The made sas. as diametrically opposed to the John Keddie, AUEW East of of the labour movement, unity Scotland district secretary, claims the that the oremaises are onlv rented likely to produce some explosive by the union. answeld. 'We ions for their in the the Or spokesman for as their sale,' necollalions 500-strong Pilton AUEW branch, told the 'Leith Gazette' last week which meets tonight, said: "This _But James McLean, district will be a bombshell. Orange Institu- secretary of the The issue is particularly volatile tells a different story. £8,000 branches Although rejecting the since more more and valuation figure, he said that the are using Blenheim Place for the of the sle sellers. He meets They despite move une "Gazette: told Were the

AEU

will thus ouces: to the highest bidder and that viding a steady source of income for the Orangemen. was us.

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35,000 South Wales miners at their annual gala on Saturday voted by acclaim for the recall of the TUC and the removal of the Tory government and its re- placement by a Labour admitted, why he refused to government pledged to mobilize the entire AUEW mem- bership socialist policies. fight for in the national engineering pay claim.

The march through Cardiff He then revealed the nature was the to the 'Victory Gala' of the talks now taking par place Cardiff between biggest in for and seen union leaders about the attitude of the The combativity many years. next Labour government on in- determination of and the dustrial relations. rank-and-file spiked, was 'We have received a promise, however, by engineers' leader Scanlon said, 'that the next Hugh Scanlon. Labour will repeal government The Industrial Relations the Industrial Relations Act. Act, But it must be replaced by some he said, was grave threat to other legislation, if only to the unions and that he was con- pro- the trade unions' rights.' cerned the TUC's at apparent While he could not reveal the reversal of its policy of "0- detailed proposals being worked co-operation. out, they would be the basis for This retreat he compared with co-operation between complete what he described as the "mag- the unions and the next Labour nificent'

TUC

by the campaign government. Parliamentary and the Labour Dai Francis, general secretary Party to Bill be- prevent the of the South Wales NUM. told comit all Scanlon Press Workers that the of Size would But com- the gala was a sign of the fight- himself that mit the spirit of the rank and ing

' AUEW

will continue back • to The Tories did not use the In- their members in struggle what- dustrial Relations Act against ever the consequences. the he added, because miners, Then he made beyond clear, they would have been brought down if they had all doubt, that he would not fight lead the Act Cliff True, chairman of Fern- against when he declaired. hill Lodge, condemned the re- It is our view that we should

TUC

treat of the before the still Act. continue to act as though the Industrial Relations 'It shows,' he said, 'that it is Act ls not in existence.' not enough to have "left" leaders For Scanlon's information the in the unions. The whole leader- Act existence and that is ship must be changed from top is in to bottom." one of the reasons, as he has

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9.20 HORIZON. Sorry Ecology: So Far, So Good.

A section of one of the largest South SHOP STEWARDS represent- ing London container depot workers will today apply to the National Industrial Rela- tions Court for an order against two dock shop stew- ards and two dockers. The 63 depot men-all mem- bers of the Transport and Gen- eral Workers' Union commercial section-work at the Chobham Farm depot of the London (East) ICD cargo-handling company.

They load and unload containers.

They want the NIRC to order an end to picketing by dockers outside the depot which, they say, has severely cut container traffic. Two stewards, Mr William Mr Tony Churchman and Cartwright, are also seeking an John Paul as Dr Spencer Quist is jol Moultrie Kelsall in tonight's 'Doomwatc

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Workers Press, u M

ETERNA

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est South Wales miners' rallies seen for a nu end to the dockers' blacklist of haulage firms which use the are claiming com- depot, and pensation for loss of overtime.

action Their Mr names Bernie Steer, secretary of the national docks shop stewards' chairman, Mr committee, its em- Vic Turner, and two dockers, Mr M Foley and Mr Alan Wil- liams. The Chobham Farm men have formed themselves into a manual staff association for the NIRC proceedings. Dockers have claimed that the work done at Chobham Farm should be carried out by regi- stered dock labour. Last week London Dock the Labour Board said it had re- ceived an application from the T&GWU seeking an order that uist is joined by Elizabeth Weaver and Doomwatch' episode on BBC 1 at 9.20 ATV MIDLANDS: 11.00 Lon- don. 2.33 Tennis, 3.35 Horo- scopé. 3.45 Women today. 4.10 Nanny and the professor. 4.40 Forest and bones. 4.55 rangers. 5.20 London. 6.00 ATV today. 6.40 London. 10.30 Uni- versity challenge. 11.00 Tennis.

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action. 4.10 3.55 Camera in News. Peyton Place. 4.40 Once upon a time. 4.55 Clapperboard 5.15 London. 6.00 Newsday. ars Press, Monday June 12, 1972 PAGE 11 I for a number of years the work be declared dock work. Two board members are in- vestigating the question. Mr Tom Wallis, chairman of Chobham Farm, is a member of the board. Friday half the depot's On workforce were laid off by man- agement who indicated the re- mainder would go at the end of this week. Judgement is expected tomor- row from Lord Denning, Master of the Rolls, in the Appeal Court case over the blacking of containers. The T&GWU is appealing against NIRC findings of con- tempt, with fines of £55,000, and also findings of unfair industrial practice in the Liverpool and Hull blacking cases. 6.25 This is your right. 6.40 London. 10.30 Film: "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein'.

TYNE TEES: 11.00 London. 2.30 Common Market cook book. 3.00 Ténnis. 4.35 News.

4.40 Once upon a time. 4.55 HR Pufnstuf. 5.20 London. 6.00 To- day. 6.25 Boys who put the ki- bosh on the Kaiser. 6.40 Lon- four. 11.00 don. 10.30 Times One step beyond. 11.30 London.

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11.00 London. 2.33 Tennis. 3.30 Nuts and bones. 3.45 Dr Simon Locke. 4.10 4.55 Dateline. Arthur. 5.20 London. 6.00 Date- line. 6.15 Dick Van Dyke. 6.45 chal- London. 10.30 University lenge. 11.00 Tennis. 11.45 Late call. GRAMPIAN: 11.00 London. 2.33 Tennis. 3.41 News. 3.45 Women today. 4.10 Lucy show. 4.40 Paulus. 4.55 Clapperboard. 5.20 London. 6.00 News, weather. 6.05 Dr Simon Locke. 6.35 Car- toon. 6.45 London. 10.30 Uni- Tennis. versity challenge. 11.00 11.45 Epilogue. Ronald Shines • Joins 'Operation Bullshine' on London ITV at 3,15

PAGE 12 Workers Press, Monday Juno 1: FEARS that leaders of the three rail unions may be planning a further watering- down of their members' pay demands grew at the week- end. As rank-and-file union mem- bers anxiously awaited the out- come of today's last-ditch meet- ing with the British Railways Board, union • chiefs made it known that they might accept a halfway-house formula. They have already cut their claim from 16 per cent—25 per • cent in the case of the locomen - to 12} per cent. Now the argument is over backdating, with the Board in- sisting on a June 1 implementa- tion date and the unions on May 1. The difference is about £3.7m.

The unions' suggested alterna- tive is a lump-sum compensation payment. At today's talks, biggest of the three, the National Union of Railwaymen, would probably accept if the Board offered a lump sum equivalent to implementation date an 'better than May 15'. It is thought the figure the union's leaders have in mind is £1.8m.

Such a settlement would fly in the face of the magnificent ballot vote in which 76 per cent of all the railmen in Britain voted to fight the Tory government for the full claim. • Ford workers at Dagenham organized in the 1/667 Trans- General Workers' Union branch have called for and their executive committee "to offer to assistance that the rail- for locally waymen nationally Sl or • They want the recall of the TUC in order to assist the railmen's struggle.

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WE MUST radouble our efforts for the June Fund. With target of £1,750 lo raise this month, we must get on with the fight Immodiately. In spite of the unlon loaders' cringing attitude, trado unionists every.

where are determined to fight It out with the Tory govern.

ment. Workers Press Is decisive providing Industrial and In polltical leadershlp. We urge you, dear reader, to make a speclal effort for this month's Fund. We are at the start of our hollday period so we need you can raise. much as Don't leave It too late. Collect donations everywhere and post them to: Workers Press June Appeal Fund, 186a Clapham High St, London, SW4 7UQ.

LATE NEWS

EQUITY (see this page) The Equity council launched on Goring's attack vehement move. Their spokesman, Dudley Jones, said his resolution was unnecessary, inaccurate and vin- dictive'. He said it was a panic measure bordering on the hysterical.

Jones' speech was interrupted by angry supporters of the reso- who demanded to know lution whether he was speaking for the council. An earlier amendment to allow the union to take whatever poli- tical action is considered neces- sary was defeated. Instead dele- gates passed a resolution which reaffirmed the union's right to intervene in political matters, but outlawed any party politi- bias. cal ay June 12, 1872 Equity mombers voting on a resolutlor BRITISH actors and actres- ses will gear themselves for strike action if their claim for a £30 minimum wage in West End theatres is re- jected. This call for a full mobiliza- tion of the union was passed by a large majority at the Actors Equity annual general meeting in London yesterday. Moving an amendment for stratre management broke down.

action if strike talks Michael Cronin said that the employers had been encouraged to resist the pay demand because of Equity's decision to register under the Industrial Relations Act. He said action committees should be set up to organize the strike which should be one which would not allow manage- • theatres open or ment to keep import entertainment from abroad. Peter Plouviez, replying for the Equity Council, said that he did not think the council would oppose the amendment 'because in my view it falls in the grand- mother eggsucking category'.

He told the 600 delegates, who met in London's Victoria Theatre, that the council Palace was quite able to meet the threat of a rejection of the claim.

A demand that Equity adopt the policy of the TUC for the nationalization of the film in- dustry without compensation under workers' control was lost by a two-to-one majority.

Proposing the demand,, Romy Baskerville warned that the in- dustrial and economic situation in Britain jeopardized the entire existence of the film industry 'Money will only be allocated to serve those operations which

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SW4 7UG.

resolution at their conferance you erday

BY STEPHEN JOHNS

promise high profit. One of those now is property and hence we see that Shepperton Studio has recently been taken over by Bar- clay Securities, a property com- pany.' Marius Goring, a leader of the Equity right wing, made a bia at yesterday's conference to make the union a non-political organi- zation. He was voted down.

He told Workers Press: I am this resolution because moving we have been bedevilled over the last year with a series of political discussions asking the union to take action ovei issues like Northern Ireland and Bangla Desh. The question: of unemploy- was 'not in the ment, he said, least bit' a political issue. 'We are not a political union like other unions in the TUC'.

BY DAVID MAUDE

APPROXIMATELY 1,000 dele- gates met in London on Saturday to discuss the latest, vaguest declaration of the Stalinist - dominated Liaison Committee for Defence of Trade Unions. No resolutions were allowed.

blocked The platform also attempts mour amenderunts. to four After carefully- controlled discussion, the Com- munist Party-led committee won blanket support for its proposals.

The declaration called without much enthusiasm for the recall of the TUC, but its main con- *to make in- cern was operative' the Industrial Relations Act 'until such time as it is repealed'. Solidarity- including industrial with trade action-was pledged unionists penalized under the Act. The formula 'including indust- rial action' was repeated through- Nowhere, out the document. however, did it include a call for any form of action to force the Tory authors of the Act out of office. Claimed the declaration: If this government is convinced that the trade unions are determined to take industrial action on g national scale ... they will be compelled to retreat.' It called for a national day Col of industrial action, either on the date of a recalled TUC or regular meeting in during September. In lengthy contribution, Eddie Marsden, construction section secretary of the Amal- gamated Union of Engineering -He said the aim of the move was to give the Equity Council the right to rule explicit politi- cal issues out of order. A second resolution from Goring sought to deprive Equity members of the automatic right to call special meetings of the union. He said this was simply to prevent la waste of time and money' within the union. NO STAND against the Tory 'fair rents' Bill was taken by a meeting of almost 300 Labour councillors in Sheffield on Saturday. the Sheffield city Called by Labour council-which has made no public statements about its intentions-the meeting decided to give no assistance in the Eddie Marsden: Attacked TUC retreat Workers, told delegates that capitalism was now clearly in serious difficulties on a world scale. Class attitudes were rapidly becoming much sharper on number of fronts. 'Capitalism today only can advance at the expense of the working class,' he said. 'Con- versely, workers can only advance at the expense of capitalism.

'This is the real background of the Industrial Relations Act . to do with -it has nothing industrial relations. Marsden attacked the retreat of the TUC General Council warning before the Act, that some of their recent decisions harboured further retreats if they were not stopped. TUC leaders had said the Act was irrelevant, he reminded dele- gates. Now in three short months the National Industrial Relations Court could be seen to be acting . of quite nakedly as a weapon the government. However, he claimed, the whole was based 'the operation ion, biggest bluff ever. The Tories were relying on the TUC right retreat all along the wing to ring line. This could be stopped.

From p.! • the Let's suppose that in future the Employment Secretary wakes up one morning and de- cides that unions fighting a wage 'national claim are creating a emergency'. the He goes to Court and seeks a ballot.

While the application is being heard, neither the press nor parliament can write or com- ment about the Minister's per- sonal actions. If they do, they or jailed for con- can be fined tempt. This is Donaldson's posi- tion. It is also Denning's.

Labour Party was made The rudely aware of this situation dispute when during the rail MPs tried to raise various questions in the House. ludcirous There was a more example of the Court's legal powers a few days ago. The Eton Slough Labour Party was told by the Commission on In- dustrial Relations (CIR) that a resolution it had passed criticis- ing the NIRC was in contempt of court. All these decrees, judgements and veiled threats add up to one thing-the creation of a political climate in which the Tories are intimidating the press. The last vestiges of 'freedom of the press' are to be stripped away as the government moves the in direction of Bonapartist rule. The Act and its creature, the NIRC, can only be demolished if the government is forced out of office and the incoming Labour government is pledged to social- ist policies and the repeal of the Act. implementation of the Bill.

This worthless formula-car- ried by 280 votes to one, with some abstentions-commits the 91 Labour councils represented to nothing. Tenants from all over the are meeting in Sheffield North next Sunday to organize the fight against 'fair rents'.

Marsden's speech annoyed being delegates some as too analytical. 'It was like a weekend school, complained CP one official of the AUEW technicians' section. Bernard Steer, secretary of the national port shop stewards' com- mittee, said it was a tragedy the leaders union had decided to at the first sign of break down a confrontation with the NIRC.

Praising the example of Hull stewards' chairman Walter Cun- ningham in refusing to attend the court, he said dockers seemed to be getting used to receiving orders. including Four • London men, himself, faced an action in • the today (see p. Il), Steer court reported. 'But if they want us come and get us at they can picket line, the because that's we'll be, strengthening where our picket.' James spokesman, expected to be the main speaker-was kept away by a sudden bout of gastro-enteritis. It was left to Liaison Com- mittee chairman Kevin Halpin to explain why resolutions could not be taken. The committee ncil had wanted the declaration to as possible', that be las broad , 'he said. If resolutions were allowed, delegates would have to have sought voting mandates from the organizations that had sent them.

Members revisionist Socialism group 'not told delegates they were past', but interested in the wanted to discuss future organ- ization committees at local level.

No criticism was made by IS of the line of the declaration.

Halpin was able to end the con- ference with a statement that there had been no opposition.