TUC IN FULL RETREAT

dies in -YURI GALANSKOV, a Soviet oppositionist whose to Moscow He was serving a seven-year alleged 'anti-Soviet agitation following an operation on l He was 33 years old.

Galanskov was arrested early in 1967 together with a fellow employee of the State Literary Museum, Alexander Ginsburg and two others. Ginsburg had published a 'White Book' exposing the earlier trial of Daniel and Sinyavsky.

Galanskov edited the unofficial literary review 'Pheonix' before his arrest and his poetry was circulated from hand to hand in manuscript through the Russian literary underground.

More than 700 people inside the Soviet Union signed protest petitions and appeals after Galanskov and Ginsburg had been sentenced behind closed doors in a farcical trial.

They were sent to the dreaded penal complex at Mordovia, east of Moscow and began a series of courageous hunger strikes and protests against the camp regime.

At the end of February 1969 they went on hunger strike to demand that the authorities Yuri Galanskov: Hunger strikes honour their previous guarantees against arbitrary punishments.

It is a measure of Galanskov's courage that he took part in these hunger strikesoften from a hospital beddespite an active stomach ulcer which had troubled him even before his arrest.

One letter signed by Galanskov and his camp comrades in autumn 1969, describes the Stalinist camp network:

'Russia is still criss-crossed by a network of camps where —despite all the international conventions signed by the Soviet government - forced labour and cruel exploitation are the norm, where people are systematically kept hungry and constantly humiliated, where their human dignity is debased.

It is clear that this camp regime was a death sentence for a sick man like Galanskov. His blood is on the hands of the Kremlin leaders and all their international supporters including the British Communist Party which supports their system counterrevolutionary repression. THE TUC has abandoned any campaign against the Heath pay laws and i TUC has abandoned any campaign against the pay preparing for further collaboration with the Tory government. This is d preparing for further collaboration with the Tory government. yesterday's blatant Tory attack on 300,000 farmworkers who y rise frozen by government order. The farmworkers are the exploited group with basic After hearing the news a spokesman for the National Association of Agricultural and Allied Workers said:

"This is a deplorable and quite unnecessary situation. We are a group of workers who are being penalized for a state of affairs we did nothing to bring about.' But he said strike action would be unlikely. This is despite a call from the union's last annual conference to take industrial action if the Agricultural Wages Board did not come forward with a f4 offer.

The farm workers executive now seems certain to join the growing camp of trade union leaders who are doing their utmost to prevent any wages struggle with the government.

The TUC leaders have led the way with their own complete capitulation to the Tory wages dictatorship.

No help Secretary Victor Feather has announced that there will be no special meetings at all to discuss the standstill and no help whatsoever has been offered to hard-pressed sections like the farmworkers who will clearly suffer a sharp decline in their meagre living standards over the next months.

While the TUC chiefs slam the door on the working class they keep their options open with regard to the government.

Both Feather and the so-called left-wing leader of the transport workers, Jack Jones, have said that talks might begin once more.

TURN lendin gover wake It make Bank 1 per 30 ar EARNINGS wH£10 AVERAGE Cut-back in bank lending FIRST step to curb g was taken by iment yesterday in of the wage freeze. called on the banks 'special deposits' with of England amounting cent of their liabilitie instalments on Noven id December 14. of £16.20 and average earnings bank in ber laws and This is had their country's SuPPOR.

FOR FAIR DEAL for 40 hours FOR This manoeuvre is intended to cream off money which would have • been available to increase bank lending in December. The call is expected to amount to '£220m for the banks and £2.6m for the finance houses.

This reverses the of credit which egan in September, 1971 when the prenow spite E3.30 vious 'special deposit holdings were released.

On the Stock Exchange stores and food shares showed losses of up to 10p a time. Banks and HP shares also fell sharply, some by up to 20p.

Among consumer durables, one of the hardest hit was Hoover. Its 'A' shares slumped 36р to 500p.