EEC Finance Ministers in London

we The stuff that treachery is made of THE TROUBLE with the leadership of the IRA Provisionals, wrote. Mary Holland yesterday's "Observer, is that they do not think terms of politics being the art of the possible.

She said: When Mr Seamus Twomey, the Belfast IRA Chiet, speaks contemptuously of people breaking their word you feel he does not recognize those shades of grey that to most working politicians are the very stuff On the contrary both wings of the IRA are on their knees only a few paces behind Mary Holland worshipping at the same shrine.

If the IRA doesn't believe in 'grey areas'; if they do not believe in that system of tea and compromise by which the bourgeoisie maintain their domination of the working class, what were they doing talking to Whitelaw at all' Holland is almost certainly right to speculate that the Provos broke the 14-day 'peace' because they were offered no quid pro quo by Whitelaw with which to temper the feelings of their more extreme followers.

But what has always been at stake in Ulster is the inescapable need to overcome the consequences of the crisis of capitalism and imperialism by overturning the state apparatus of bourgeois domination-—at Westminster and Stormont.

There never has been and never can be any middle road in this struggle. The dictatorship of the bourgeoisie must be replaced by the dictatorship of the proletariat and this means the fight for the revolutionary Marxist The reformists, Stalinists and revisionists wilfully turned their backs on this perspective.

The Labour Party reformists, the Stalinists, the revisionists of the International Socialists and International Marxist Group, tail ended by the IRA, have, to a man, accepted direct rule.

The result is to leave Ulster's working class bitterly divided by religion and tearing at each others throats to obtain maximum sectarian concessions from the imperial power.

Far from attacking the middle-class leaders of the IRA for their deliberate and criminal failure to unite Catholic. and Protestant workers in the struggle against the main enemy-the Tory government-Holland's complaint is that they have not been opportunist enough.

It is known that while Holland is not a member of Cliff's International Socialism group, many of her perspectives are drawn from these circles.

She said: "The leaders of the aged men. jail hardened by long Belfast IRA are mainly middleterms 1Al1 and internment alternating with periods of freedom during which they operated as a fanatical minority.

She concludes that it is a great pity that the IRA leaders are not more like 'Stormont MP Mr Paddy Devlin, republican in (his) sympathies, but with a shrewd grasp of what is politically possible'.

A month ago, Eamon McCann and leaders . of the revisionist Anti-Internment League, backed dette Devlin, were vowing that the IRA would fight to the last barricade to force Westminster to agree to their demands.

Sínce then, as the barricades have .come down, their silence has been eloquent. Holland may well speak for a new phase in the monstrous betrayal of Ulster workers for which the revisionists bear a prime responsibility. FINANCE Ministers of countries of the enlarge mon Market converge on this morning for a crisis dominated by the run Ever since the pound was floated three weeks ago dollarholders have been trying to convert their money into one of the European currencies. The wave of selling reached a peak on Thursday and Friday last week.

The Common Market central banks had to buy in more than $2,000m to Keep the dollar above its parity 'floor'. Stringent exchange controls introduced in France Germany and Switzerland and rumoured to be imminent in Belgium and Holland failed to stem the influx.

The controls have provoked indignation in financial circles. The Swiss Bankers' Association accused the government of decreeing controls on its own responsibility without the approval of the banks.

WROUND-THE-WORLD Dubcek supporters to A GROUP of former student leaders and journalists who opposed the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia appear in court today in Prague charged with subversion.

The group, some of whom have been in prison since November last year, are to be charged under Article 98 of the Penal Code which provides for penalties ranging from one to ten years' imprisonment.

The size and composition of the group to be tried today were not immediately known, but sources said it was believed to include former student leader Jiri Mueller along with five other people. Vietnam "peace' talks go behind closed doors SECRET negotiations between the United States and North Vietnam seemed likely to resume after both sides had indicated their readiness to renew them yesterday.

Le Duc Tho, the North Vietnamese politburo member who has secretly met Nixon's adviser Dr Henry Kissinger more than dozen times over the past two years, indicated at the weekend he would be glad to do so Bhutto goes to Sind province PAKISTAN president Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto arrived in Karachi at the weekend to begin a week-long tour of the troubled Sind province which has been under military occupation following language riots in which at least 14 people were killed.

He began his visit by announcing a compromise over the Bill making Sindhi the province's sole official language. It was this Bill which sparked the riots between Sindhi- and Urdu-speaking inhabitants of Karachi and Hyderabad.

According Bhutto, the Bill the ten d ComLondon meeting again if the US had anything to offer.

Kissinger had been meeting. President Nixon at the San Clemente White House every day for the past week to discuss the Vietnam situation. The Americans are not concerned about the North Vietnamese proviso that they should enter discussions with 'something to offer:

William Rogers, Nixon's Secretary of State, said: I think it is much more important what is said in diplomatic circles and what is said when it gets down Dollar crisis go on trial Prominent intellectuals, journalists and former Communist Party leaders from the Dubcek period have been under arrest in Czechoslovakia for some time.

They include the journalists Karel Kyncl and Vladimir Nepras, sociologist 1 Rudolf .Battek, his-. torian Jan Tesar, scientist Karel Kaplan and former Party leaders Milan Huebl, Jiri Littera and Jaroslav Sabata.

Despite a pledge from Communist Party chief Gustav Husak that there will be no show trials, to serious discussion. I think most of the things that are said on public occasions are really for propaganda purposes.' Rogers said there were some slight nuances in the Vietnamese position expressed at the reopened Paris negotiations on Thursday. They were 'slightly encouraging', he said, though he did not say what they Hanoi's offer to reopen secret talks follows months of pressure from where the Stalinist leadWill be promulgated as law, but Urdu-speakers will have 12 years grace to learn Sindhi. During that period it will be illegal to discriminate against them for not knowing the official language.

But the shaky "solution' does nothing to settle the deep unrest which lies behind the language riots.

For example, workers Karachi port and in the city's industrial estate are refusing to return to work until management agree to pay them for the week they have been prevented from working by curfew regulations.

Following his agreement with Indian premier Mrs Indira Gandhi, Long a haven for 'hot' money, Switzerland now has the tightest controls in Europe. And bankers there expect even harsher measures, including possibly the annulment of forward contracts to deliver dollars for Swiss francs.

There is now much talk of a 'controlled float' of the Common Market currencies which would effectively mean a substantial dollar devaluation. The main European currencies were up-valued against the dollar only seven months ago as part of the Washington agreement. Such a move would favour the Americans by making their exports less expensive than those of their European competitors.

Karl Klasen, the governor of the Bundesbank, said both the bank and the West German government were determined to prevent another mark revaluation, either directly or under the guise of a "float'.

But he added, significantly, that he was not 'fundamentally hostile' to the idea of a meeting today Prague has already seen the trial chess grandmaster Ludek Pachman, sentenced to two years' imprisonment on four subversion charges.

Pachman sentencing, 18 months health.

The latest trial shows that the Stalinist rulers in Czechoslovakia are now turning cautiously towards legal action against Dubcek supporters, despite their pledges to the contrary.

ers both recently received President Nixon. Combined with the blockade of northern ports and the stepped-up bombardment of the north, the aim has been to drive the liberation fighters into a corner.

Nixon wants a settlement favourable to the US before the November presidential election. The administration has been dropping broad hints that their bargaining will be much tougher if the President is reelected without a settlement in Vietnam. which was ratified on Saturday by the Pakistan National Assembly, Bhutto is now seeking American support to bolster his crisis-ridden regime.

This explains his decision to withdraw Pakistan from the South East Asia Treaty Organization, while simultaneously activating •adherence to the Central Treaty Organization, SEATO's Middle Eastern counterpart.

Bhutto said he would withdraw from CENTO as well as SEATO if its members did not give him the support he wants. The country's economy is in tatters following the war with India and the loss of BanglaDesh.

was released after having already served in jail despite illconcerted float by the EEC countries. statement in fact served only to fuel wave of dollar selling.

The floating pound has already effectively wrecked attempts at monetary union between the EEC countries. A 'concerted' float of the continental currencies would be the coup de grace. The mark and franc would float upwards, while the Italian lire would certainly float down.

The London Finance Ministers' meeting is likely to ask the United States for a hefty increase in the official price of gold which would enable them to buy gold with their surplus dollar reserves.

The 'free market' gold price currently stands at $65.10 an ounce $27.10 above the 'official' price of $38 fixed last December. However, the Americans are primarily Payments deficit and have a vested interest concerned with liquidating their balance-of• another substantial devaluation of the THE QUEEN, the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Anne are to pay a state visit to Yugoslavia at the invitation of President Tito from October 17 to 21 this year. It is their first-ever state visit to a 'socialist' country. A week ago Princess Anne attended the wedding in fascist Spain of Prince Alexander, the pretender to the Yugoslav throne.

EGYPTIAN premier Aziz Sidky returned to Cairo at the weekend from a 30-hour visit to Moscow for talks with Soviet leaders. He told a banquet in the Soviet capital that Egypt was sure the USSR was 'standing with us in all forms of support and backing in all fields'. But the Cairo newspaper 'Al Ahram' implied there were still wide differences between the two countries.

SIX PRISONERS were shot and vounded and two guards were believed to be held hostage in a prison riot near Baltimore, Maryland, yesterday. More than 250 convicts were involved in the riot which began when three escaping prisoners were shot by guards. Rebel convicts were reported to have broken into the armoury and seized weapons. The six people known to have been injured were hit when gunfire broke out during the rioting.

LIBYA'S ruling • Revolutionary Command Council has announced the formation of a reshuffled cabinet under prime minister Abdel Salem Jalloud, who was appointed last week. News of the reshuffle, from the Egyptian Middle East News Agency, gave no indication of the fate of Pre. sident Muammar Gaddafi, who is rumoured to be in prison in Tripoli, the Libyan capital.

TRIAL of four Indians, three men and a woman, on charges under the Terrorism and Suppression of Communism Acts, resumes in Pretoria, South Africa, yousuf Essack (21), (22), Indrasen Moodley (27) and Mrs Amina • Desai (51) have denied promoting the policies of the outlawed South African Communist Party and the African National Congress.

CORRECTION An Editorial Board statement in stated that the application of David Maude, our industrial correspondent, for membership of the Labour and Industrial Correspondents' Group is now supported by correspondents from the BBC,.. ITN, "The Guardian", "Daily Mirror" "Sun" "The Scotsman", "Financial Times", "Observer", "Sunday Times"' and others'. This was incorrect. The paragraph quoted should have referred to a petition these correspondents signed calling for a special meeting of the Labour and Industrial Correspondents' Group to decide the fate of Maude's application. The petition did not support the application as such.

Twelve months ago John Dillon, a paint-shop steward at Ford's Halewood factory, was sacked for allegedly 'holding an unauthorized meeting' with his members. The move was part of a disciplinary crackdown by the company following the ten-week pay strike which had ended two months previously. It followed a visit to Halewood by Robert Ramsey, the company's chief labour relations officer. With just two months to go before the start of another pay claim at Ford's John Dillon here criticizes an account of his sacking in a recent book on last year's strike-and points to the significance of these events for today.