TORIES HOLD TWO THREATS OVER TUC

wind today as TUC leaders talk with top employers and Tory pr Edward Heath. The talks take place against a background of ra worsening crisis in the capitalist economy on a world scale—a which can only be resolved in the victory of the working class bitter defeat.

Yet the central assumption of the union chiefs' participation in today's talks is the continuation in office of a New threat Tory government whose sole aim is to plan such a defeat.

Before the all-day meeting will be Treasury and other papers whose message is that if the TUC does not help cut its members' real wages, hundreds of thousands more workers will be thrown out of their jobs.

And Heath and his senior economics Ministers can be counted on to spell out another threat: if the union top brass cannot stop pay claims, the government will do it by law.

Even to take part in such talks is a betrayal. Yet not a single Labour 'left' or Communist Party union leader at last week's TUC challenged the And as the 'Financial Times' shrewdly pointed out yesterday: "The TUC is formally committed to oppose wage restraint, but the wording of the resolution passed at last week's Congress was extremely vague and leaves the TUC representatives free to negotiate if they wish to do so.' Again-as Workers Press pointed out last Friday -there was complete unanimity between right, left and the CP Stalinists behind this resolution.

This, of course, flows logically from the whole reformist policy of these tendencies since the Tory government came to office in June 1970. Their betrayal of the fight against the Industrial Relations Act has proceeded in step with their betrayal At the same time that the March 18 special Congress at Croydon last year voted down industrial action to stop the anti-union Bill, the General Council was sowing illusions in the possibility of negotiating, price controls and a cut in the jobless The refusal of 'left' leaders, Jack Jones and Hugh Scanlon, to challenge that retreat on • legislation went hand in hand with their complete acceptance of the phoney economic perspectives of the right Scanlon could not challenge right-wing TUC president George Smith's talk last week about the possibility of 'co-operative effort' on economic problems with the Tories because since March this year he has been busily peddling the idea of reduced 'abrasiveness' between -government and But let us look again at the background to The Tory government is committed to entry into the Common Market on January 1, 1973. On Tuesday the Finance Ministers of the enlarged Market agreed in Rome to "take co-ordinated action to fight inflation throughout the Community. (See This is the clearest possible declaration that the Tories intend in just over three months to Britain's in line with Europe's, and at the things to say about the determined builder:

coming battles involving power and local-aut emier pidly. crisis or its General Council's right to engage in them.

push through massive increases in prices, to bring same time settle accounts with the working class.

No doubt the Finance Ministers had some sharp pay struggle, the big Ford pay claim and the forthlority