Workers Press no. 944

workers press INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • TUESDAY DECEMBER 12, 1972• No. 944 • 4p DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

ACTION SNOWBALLS

'Our action

ENGINEERS

must be supported' CAV steward

BY DAVID MAUDE

STRIKE TO

WORKERS PRESS yesterday spoke to the men at the storm-centre of the strike movement against the industrial court's fine on the engineers' union.

Mike Stares has no regrets about turn- ing James Goad away from the Sudbury of the Amalgamated Union Danien Engineering Workers Like Melvin Wise man, the other CAV steward named in first complaint in the industrial court, he regards this action as defence of

BY STEPHEN JOHNS AND

a basic right.

DEFEND

All workers must now act in defence of "DEFEND our union, we've got this right, he stresses. to fight'-this call from a union official echoed throughout industry yesterday as the strikes The action began at a mass meeting in Sudbury, Suffolk, when workers at the CAV fac-

UNION

tory struck after a mass meeting.

They condemned the £50,000 fine imposed on the engineers' union by the industrial court, can't "have •We the the courts or and criticized James Goad, the anyone else telling us who we day's strike vote. Omice said appens teri Mike said after yester-

CAV

Sudbury employee who day's strike vote. trade unionism has just brought the case against the Strike action was the only course open union. the union movement now, News of the Sudbury strike spread insisted. rapidly throughout the Lucas action should be sup combine. Stewards from the ported by everyone. Acton factory travel to Sud- "What this fine shows. of bury today to discuss action course, is that when we had the and Bill in front of us we should have stewards from the 12 Birmingham before it factories will

LOUIT IT

Tinich became the Industrial Relations meet today to discuss pro- Act. Every

UHIOL

saould nave posals for strike action in business even solidarity with Sudbury. it meant a General Srike.

'Perhaps what's happening Lucas workers at the combine's the AUEW will bring it home to Rochester plant held people. meeting and voted to follow any Maybe those other unions who given by the Acton men. 1eao Strikes in many major engineer- have been wavering will learn the lesson and take ing areas seem certain todav or acuon to show tomorrow. this government where we stand They've got This is the only Engineers in Erith, Kent, have language the Tories know.' received an instruction from their district committee to hold a one day strike tomorrow. Big engineering plants. plants like the Sovex Goad not

GEC

and WOrKS. Standard Telephone those most likely to be affected talking One district committee mem- ber told The feel. JAMES GOAD, the man at the me vesteroay. ing in the area is very high.

Men the attack feel their union is at stake. There AUEW, stayed at home yesterday is bound to dent to his te The Press who especially after the from thatched Sudbury. coLLare the Suffolk Wattisham The CAV-Lucas were told by Goad: Tm afraid I workers can't comment. My solicitor occupying their plant at Fazaker- ley on Merseyside issued a state.

barrister have both said it is in ment congratulating Workers from the CAV plant, Sudbury, voting yesterday to strike against the fine on their union own best the prompt not to comment any more to the Press.'

action by the Sudbury engineers.

•We in Merseyside think this is join in defending union policy.

of all workers in the Broadheath He said he would spend his tary, op yesterday. a big step forward in the fight area today will hear calls for time Today the union executive will stewards representing opening *con- against this Act immediate general many of the 200,000 engineering siderable number' of letters he meet to decide whether to call a of the Tory govern- workers in the greater Manchester received from tne policies had all one-cay nanonal suike ovel ment. We only hope the union Britain, Nearly all sup- In north London stewards will Broadheath is the centre of the alcd Have Inuncated

ONSENCE

Were leadership

TUC

and hold an offices with strike calls.

port stand he had taken, LaKe machine-tool industry or ne

CHICIACHCY

note and extend this action he said. Goad is a former Bap- 3 p.m. today to discuss a proposal 'Some them Stewards' meetings will also What is at stake here is the evangelist for strike action. South should who still goes take survival of trade unions".

unree Limes 2 week In almost every district of the Amalgamated Union of Engineer ing Workers moves are afoot to

PAGE 2 Workers Press, Tuesday December 12, 1972 TriStar firm faces big losses

MONEY

This is based largely even, the auditors re- LOCKHEED Aviation, the on speculation about the Lockheed might manufac- post.

BUICE

States by future prospects of the enough cash ate turers of the TriStar air- the Until now, com- world aircraft market. 1975 to repay the $250m substantial pany has set its "break- government - guaranteed Two-tier losses point at between The auditors' report even' which kept bankeeans ceive more orders 265 sales, but has a direct bearing 255 and the it afloat, company according to of progress more orders. position he slane need many lers has been slow anc US government auditors. Royce which supplies Substantia,

LOSSCO

RB211 costs are mounting. the engines could be suffered unless orders are forth- executives these saved from bankruptcy on extending the Rolls auditors are trying to maintain an coming, only by a huge injection with Royce contract about The company gold plan government that Its Lockheed are due to be- claims the prospects for has rise • The presen TriStar, will give Sales sales and options to buy supply 555 contract, 'second-generation' busi from airlines around the engines, is nearing com- the years to in firm's pletion. future prospects. come. definite sales to break payments. He apologized if this sounded upsets EEC plans imperious but added it demanding must Europe was a reality

WCOL

accept. the The EEC representatives

COL

terence disputed the widely-held US view as it should in mili- carrying that west

SEUTODE

much of the burden expenditure within NATO and as-

BY JOHN SPENCER

PLANS for monetary integration with- US tariffs are more protec- certed wat Market received a tionist and higher than those of the EEC.

in the Common major blow yesterday when European round of sterling in June. The As Nixon gears up for a new was the floating the beginning nand force central bankers decided at a meeting tough trade Euro- of necorations. trace neconanons required heavy. Italian

SUDDOLL

are forced to make in Basle to abandon their debt repay- Italy was given prevent to build a Common Market to cut its devaluation their attempts from repaying the gold special exemption Treat on produce. At the ment rules. bloc. particularly single currency of its debts. same time it is demanding that European portion pay a greater share o ago Britain and Italy

NATO

members The rules were drawn up in April US administration Thursday the But two weeks On organization's budget. when the six EEC countries and the declared they would not in future break Brad range of rate be tough in again debts Europe on into their gold reserves to four candidates for membership de- and On Thursday the bank governors in other European central They said trade, economic cided to maintain their Basle expressed concern about the infla.

currencies military issues over the next two years.

that the current 'official gold price, around a common parity by mutual huge threat posed Eurodollar ounce so-called market' price of over dollars chief deputy for support operations. with the fret Henry Kissinger's market. Sonnenfeldt an ounce. affairs, Helmut Under the April agreement they agreed confer- international warned a four-day Workers Press emphasize fee co-ordination of in- They US-European called tol to repay each other for on. the

SUDDULL

ence Tuaure this meant that the rate policies by the various Euro- operations in proportion to the composi- November terest Columbia, nited Maryland, THere to avoid predominates over disruptive relations. market price now States that tion of their own gold and foreign cur- pean

COVCECILD

was a mood in central bank gold une flows 'hot' money across international agreed helps balance of halt the Europe must rency reserves. effectively western system boundaries. permanent deficit in the undermined'. The first breach in the April agreement Vestey's EEC civil Troops brought in to break Argentine servants Paris dustmen's strike strike chief goes THE COMMON Market's ad- machinery began ministrative Party-Communist Party govern- missing the Com- attitude of a halt yesterday ponsible' Paris, 'order grind to

THE PREFECT

of Party leadership in the would munist civil servants in its as 6,000 Jean Verdier, yesterday called based on social progress'.

CGT.

Brussels headquarters began a in the French army to break In other movement in tes

GROVE,

RONALD

general strike for CGT general secretary, Georges more pay. nine-day the strike of Paris dustmen movement manager of the Vestey organiz- strike They will be joined today by told a regional Séguy,

CONFICSS

French working class against in- Argentina, and street-cleaners. the weekend Montpellier at ation in flation in his catalogue of chaos.

2,000 workers another France that situation that the The CGT policy of short pro claimed chaos at the end Luxembourg. Verdier resembled the Vestey's lawyers, test strikes has already imposed course. the re- Protecting public The strike troops were not breaking the of the Fourth Republic. • 1s against believe he is in the hands of fusal of the French and German limitations workers strike, but of strikes Pompidou kidnappers reached to "The multiplication against the are trying governments adhere struggles trade union health'. by workers, teachers and students, negotiate his release wage-rise settlement government. leaders have complained that demonstrations representatives after an earlier series The unions have called a two- The company's vamous last March would have acted farmers, The two governments the Prefect discontent by received two tape record- Smal Thursday have of strikes. hour sinke traders and artisans Grove says he is more sensibly it he nad nad the pronrel- which claim that the present demand of all types of scandal; the Renault-Billancourt

CYC

serious discussions with them.

of negotiations with with national wages their state- conflicts anoT alive ane well dissensions disappeared on Sunday on anarchy of prices, the He reminded him that army policies. They employers. government, in the his way to play golf on a Buenos further complication is the 1970 April Such useless protests, are calcu- strike-breaking in A people this im- French threat that the European parlia of Aires course. the damaging only and mess *lated to break down WOrKers political group in the pression of disorder So far Execu- ment may vote out mechanical collectors by intensify the which loitinst ely Central Com to militancy and issued state- Argentina has Commission today. trained young soldiers. tive petty- Central Com- frustration ment admitting responsibility for has been was how this motion for the bourgeoisie. touching respect described This mittee member the kidnapping. This very member tabled by French The CP in this way strengthens council property, and lack of re- state of France. executive's failure to unusual. the the drive by Pompidou and Mess- gard for the atrocious conditions against previous kidnap incident The gathering that a parliament In of trade union- give the European of their members, is symptomatic mer for a 'strong' government.

involved have issue

EEC

Socialist the groups wider powers over was told The ists reasonable, 'socially res- the reasons the for their action and the terms for Left swing in Japan their victim's release. Lord Vestey, head of the multi- doing *everything

:NEW:

struggles Grove's the Democratic possible Socialists from 29 to 19.

BOTH the Socialist Party Socialist Labour League notably in workers, release. and the Communist Party seamen's strike oid the kidnae contact He Socialist Party, by made considerable gains

:FILM:

The It set

CELEBRATE

earlier make contact

TRIS

wear. 118 seats in the Japanese General contrast, won record for the longest strike through the company's lawyers in in Japanese history+ compared with 87 in though premier Election, Buenos Aires. last parliament years, In power who has worked for Kakuei Tanaka is still in Grove, Communist Party gained 24

THREE

the Liberal Democrats were since Argentina : office with a comfortable Vestey

3RD ANNIVERSARY

repre- bringing hoping the election would

ILS

scals. 1946, was in parliamentary majority. sentation to 38 endorse their sweeping anti-

YEARS

ays ago on a business tri

OF WORKERS

'Grand working-class The results represents Tanaka's Liberal Demo- le is head of Anglo, a Vest OF the radical redis-

PRESS

subsidiary (Conservatives) lost sign which has been en- crats dennite swing 1O1 and 26 seats, giving it 271 seats by the Japanese electorate tribution Argentina since the packi not the packing

OT THOUSL

meat

• WORKERS

opulation to tackle Japan's gaged and a polarization of voting The in the Lower problems. lines. bourgeois 'opposition' economic

PRESS

a one class century. election results faces a the Komeito matel econome

BUILD THE

however, indicate that • THE MIDLAND Cold Storage with the and crisis the

REVOLUTIONARY

coveramen raLLY States demanding big cuts class •on which was due working meeting Democratic SocialIsts. aIse move against the Japanese week has been post- lost seats. in exports early this

PARTY

and their mili- this employers poned because of the disappear- Over the past year Komeito representation taristic state. Vestey's representative produced dropped from 47 to 29 and In Argentla. Military summit in Egypt has Picketing by docKers shut the cold store in effectively

BIRMINGHAM

GLASGOW

and the company east London was to meet early this week to SUNDAY DECEMBER 17. 2 p.m.

SUNDAY DECEMBER 17,7 p.m.

drawing closer and closer defence ministers in Kuwait whether take a decision on chiefs of staff Assemoly nail ARAB army St George's Cross to the Israelis. National Digbeth Civic Hall the gathered in Cairo yesterday which failed to reach agree- seek an ordel Egyptian People's Coun ment on à concerted plan.

Industrial Relations Court.

Speakers: have his for a military summit meet- cil members have issued Vestey must G. HEALY (SLL National Secre- *Lord will attempt to BANDA (SLL Central priority, a spokesman for statement casting doubt on

MIKE

and While the tary plan work out from premier committee WILLIE AITKIN (YS national aureed particularly Syria have been organization said yesterday, *and assuranccs confrontation with Aziz Sidky that the govern- that must be a man's life. Lord bearing the brunt of Zionist -(YS national for committee

JOHN BANKIC

ment remain free or (Rover shop has has prepared israel. Egypt

SMIT

terror

212CKS.

Vestey wants wo personal capacity.) battle with dea confined itself country The meeting follows talks to the end of a

WILLIE DOCHERTY

Te enrole tu CORIN REDGRAVE (Equity. In bellicose noises. Jordan is with the situation in Argentina.

and stael. foreign Paisley between mittee. In personal capacity.)

a personal capacity.!

The CBl's director general, Campbell Adamson ... book

BY PHILIP WADE (

THE TORY GOVERNMENT

rents' Act continued yesterday district auditor. He was instru the accounts to work out the to implement the Housing Fi A small town near Don- caster, Conisborough, is split right down the middle on implementation, with six Labour councillors in favour and seven against. It is ten weeks since the Tories demanded £1 increases for the town's 1,800 council tenants. The auditor could, therefore, find that about £18,000 was missing from the accounts. His duty would then be to surcharge the seven Labour councillors the £18,000, ensuring their immediate disqualification for five years, together with certain bankruptcy.

IN SOUTH WALES,

Tory- appointed Housing Commissioners have arrived in Merthyr Tydfil and Bedwas and Machen tc assume full dictatorial powers over the Labour councils' rent control functions. This unprecedented stripping of a local authority's powers follows councils' the two re- fusal to put rents up fl.

Now if the councillors dare to tell tenants not the to pay Commissioner it could constitute obstruction under the Act. The for penalty such an offence would be a fine of up to £400.

*The government is looking for a showdown and it will come eventually,' said Alderman Albert John, deputy housing committee chairman at Merthyr and local district secretary of the Amal- gamated Union of Engineering Workers. *The Tories were elected on the basis of giving local councils Now our more powers. pre- rogative to fix rents has been taken away from us. "There is no doubt this is part of a broad attack on the whole of the working class by the is deliberate government. It policy,' said Ald John. Workers Press, Tuesday December 12, 1972 PAGE 3 CBI wants rigid law on pickets THE Confederation of Deachers bill minterr British Industry yester- creasingly shrill day urged the Tory gov- cries against pickets. ernment to strengthen Home Secretary Robert the laws against picket- Carr is examining a memo ing. The CBI wants the

BY A WORKERS PRESS REPORTER

submitted by Tandom Master Builders' Federation law amended to make miners to close the depot.

about flying picketing pickets during nOW being control over pickets Campbell Adamson ne recent bullders striki COn- used Wilch clearly go tai tinued: •We more rigid. beyond the limits permitted auSO beneve powerful voic that there re- the present law shoule be Speaking to the Rother- striction the right the country ham Chamber Com- picket the premises of the of members have impressec urgent need merce,

CBI

director- with me the public must

WHOLE

LIC

101 general W. O. dispute exists Campbell premises of the companies situation. Adamson said: According as ed hated added. CBI had employer we nave suggested me suppor restriction of persons who should issue government CICYaLL picket employees of booklet summarizing the right to strike represent whom government enforces workers' sole means of

CHIDICYCL

Ene COnsuLuLes aCU" industrial exists

CBI

then vity" and suggestions what steps Ene defence for the protection and officials of their unions.

be police take when the would in future can jobs, wages and ot Their com- standards this restriction prevented from picketing of living. alLs al C imposed, solidarity pickets power stations because the mitted. The Tories and their big would •We have also asked the other electricity business backers are set on

SHORE

Dudles consider dustries would not not be considered in direct cove neut LO a course to destroy these allowed on the picket line.

dispute with the miners. amending the law to give rights. de- definition would Campbell Adamson clearer mean, clared that increasing law- what constitutes reasonable That is the meaning of the banning example. the demonstrations like the lessness was becoming picketing activity.' Industrial Relations Saltley threat Act successful coke real to Campbell Adamson's de and its W. alcas

MOISTOES

depot picket when Mid- British industry. mand time National Industrial Rela- comes at lands engineers joined For example, forms of when influential Tory back- Court

LOTS

Call public Seven could face £18,000 bill Camden decides on Audit in sector pay defiance conference Conisborough

CAMDEN

Labour

-NUPE

council in north London met last night to consider whether to continue defying the Tory sing Fin-

THE EXECUTIVE

Act Pubil been sented by the parence action has yer bee no fumber

BY PHILIP WADE OUR HOUSING CORRESPONDENT

taken the gas and water Past majorities in tavour THE TORY GOVERNMENT'S attempts to smash down opposition to their "fair the Civil Service non-implementation have been in the region of seven or eight.

and the Post Offie. rents' Act continued yesterday with the arrival in Conisborough, Yorkshire, of the

NUPE

district auditor. He was instructed last week to carry out an extraordinary audit of follows the counc

LETTER

Need for principles

HAVE

WE Labour-con- the law. But what about the trolled Of the five non-implement- council unners stake ane une mous. stage of Sheffield have not trial Relations Act? Where Labour left in near ing councils does he stand on these ques- ner rece Is known TorV To Cuculee

LIC

Does he rent Act, but have gone fur- tions? support the is the largest, with over 20,000 But in the public sector they ther than many other councils.

government? council tenants. just tell us and that's it. We want to discuss with other unions in They first sent intimidatory If these councillors cannot To date, therefore, the public sector try to LOe all those amount of extra rent Letters TenanTS develop and co-ordinate common principles, and have no withholding their in- they should have been collected policies.' should carry Then solicitor's letters on acting be- Since UcLoDer •comes to us. Tories but sent the under £200,000. were demanding

HOL

Finally, county orders under the flag of socialism.

court were despatched. All this in a It makes no difference short period of four weeks.

Joseph Hepworth what the money is, said Chl National Union of Mine- Paddy O'Connor on the threat Where the are councillors' secretary of "The wOrters branch surcharges. principles? One

DELECIDIC

of them told Shireoaks Kiveton Park most im- tning is the me he was only carrying out Tenants Association portant.' *What we need is action on tenants and we must give a lead.

are unanimous in their opposition national scale. It is not much the Act. At Bedwas, Councillor Ron being FOOd areas This Act is quite typical Davies, chairman of the housing, picked off. That's why I think the Draconian the measures lead has to come from the committee, ane we rare Tories have said he considered the appoint- Laken to run neit Bernard Dix The mical step Comes Torte government has WIshes. failed to justify any of its Labour Tories to outright measures and NUPE is balloting its hospital has rely take. tc ancillary the members force of law. heed of these decisions,' he told "As far as we're concerned it's But the whole culmination of following half-day •ine m But whatever che nrst stage in the is chipping strike called for tomorrow when events aw dy happens There We TOd workers -reec Tories' morale and they will be lemonstrations will be held in have an obligation here to our 13 Labour councillors and they brought down.' 7 areas all over the country Possible include full actors 12 unions protest jailings strike, strikes in selected areas! one-day-a-week strike in hospitals, by selected Stakes categories of workers, overtime

TWELVE

British trade bans, and a ban on work with in Spain unions and Amnesty Inter- private parents national, have sent a protest 'We want to get a feed-back Workers, Inland Revenue to the Spanish Ambassador from rank and file", Mr Federation, National Union Dix told me. in London demanding the re-

NATSOPA

Yorkers Fire manded for them for forming a lease of ten Spanish workers croin, Union Union nancent Brigades We have no objection if union organization- Lace 'accused Amalgam- trade union members thing that in most west European

LUTI

tomorrows nail aterkers. Union activities'. is considered legal and full day. We surike into a and Stee know that that will happen in who are awaiting tria ne ten CoUPlace. General " Workers" the Transport and such Edinburgh, in a Madrid have prison, The protesters are also asking many arcas General Union, the Liverpool, Manchester adopted by Amnesty as prisoners Spain for a general amnesty for National Union of Mineworkers Nottingham and several areas in allid her Contravention notience ol coscience. workers) and

LIC

the north-east.' Thes protest con 20y the de-

APEX

Cectaration of Human (clerical and computer contaverson tences or up to Universal staff union). • vears • See north-west reaction p.ll,

THE 'FACTOR OF TEN'

THAT HAUNTS THE DOCKS

PAGE 4 Workers Press, Tuesday December

BY STEPHEN JOHNS

They are talking about money on London docks as the annual pay review for the port's 10,000 workers comes round once more. The difference is that this year the two sides come to- gether in the full knowledge that any agreed sum will be frozen by decree of Heath and his Cabinet. Then it will be up to the dockers, and parti- cularly the shop stewards leadership, to make their next move. If Liverpool is anything to go by, the London men will have to be on their guard for a retreat. The Merseyside shop stewards were faced with the freezing of their five-hour cut working in the week and a £1.50 increase in the basic wage - already agreed by management in exchange for the dockers' pledge to operate the mammoth Seaforth con- tainer dock. There was talk at a mass meeting of calling on the Transport and General Wor- kers' Union leadership to fight the claim. But no action on Merseyside was recommended.

With a sigh of relief most of the Tory Press recognized the outcome as a reprieve for the government's pay plan. But overshadowing the pay controversy still is the jobs issue. The container revolution goes grinding on, right over the dockers. Remember Chobham Farm, the scene of the first major clash between the rank-and- file dockers and the National Industrial Relations Court? It was nearly picketed out of existence, but is now doing very nicely handling up to 110 freight vehicles every day with a tiny staff of 52 men. Re- gistered dockers are accepted, but this hardly alters the brutal fact that at this rate of cargo-handling, jobs - thous- ands of them — are up for auction. The latest figures reveal the full depth of the exodus from the registered ports. To date voluntary severance has re- sulted in some 6,000 men leaving the industry. The migra- the rate of tion continues at 100 a week and the employers are rubbing their hands at the delightful prospect of meeting their target of a 10,000 cut in the industry's labour force by So the Jones- February. Aldington* which report, strike, is *settled' the dock revealed for what it isthe spearhead of the employers' plans on the docks. that has The only thing happened is that more and more workers have left the industry. Worse is to come with the employers now openly talking about the 'factor of ten'. This neat little phrase is based on reasoning if a the following good conventional berth can handle 100,000 tons a year, then a similar-sized container berth can shift 1 million tons.

If it takes 150 men to man- handle the cargo of a con- ventional ship, then it will (and does) take 15 men to "turn-round' a container vessel.

This kind of logic is of great and, interest to employers to dockers. needless to say, But not all is well on the employers side. Though Over- seas Containers Ltd has an- nounced its first profit since it began deep sea operations three years ago, the consortia still have to realize the lone awaited profit an

TUNES

December 12, 1972

PORT OF

EVERPOOD

85 The factor of ten on Liverpool docks. Top: The container methods Conventional new Seaforth terminal. at the rapidly disappearing. Employers say they need one tenth to shift containerized cargo.

on the Atlantic t

OCL

The big British group the mad rush into as well as ACT and ACL have spent some £350m caused overcapaci their on container systems but up until vicious trade made when the bi now have suffered losses.

and US lines ent first rush into con- The cartel agreement t tainers now appears to be over, with the establishment of the the tonnage trade competition Far East container shared now by three consortia (British, ( German and F ca result that US capacity on the seaboard Atlantic North demand above 240 per cent and an incredible 570 per cent The Pacific side. the on Pacific Ocean container trades are also running into trouble.

An overcapacity ratio of three has been forecast and to one something drastic will have to be done soon if big losses or be averted. a rate war is to from the container- Apart of the land route ization to Trans- east along the the Siberian railway and the pros- pect of containerizing the South American African and South trade in four years' time, in- vestment is stagnant. developments mean These bad from two things apart news for shipbuilding, First. there is an increasing pressure to break the militancy get the full dockers and of productivity the system offers.

Tones-Aldington was very much a part of this drive and the have launched a deter- lines mined campaign to speed things up at the container berths in the traditional ports where the militants work. Employers estimate that the cortainer cost of moving a through the port could be as low as f7 or £8. But the real to be nearer figure turns out E25 and they want to bring it down fast. innovation which Another containers are loaded will hit registered dockers hard methods (above) are is the very noticeable trend one tenth of the men towards more versatile ships in the roll-on, roll-off and lift- on, lift-off category which have Atlantic trade where their own handling gear and rush into containers ramps. These vessels do not overcapacity and a need to dock at a fully- ade war. Peace was en the big European equipped port - little more than large flat concrete quays lines entered into a are needed reement to carve up The other drive, of course, and eliminate unregistered is towards the stil ports. is is booming. "The City Press', organ of the City of London and the Stock Exchange, was recently treated to a two-page story on -the the wonders of Felixstowe country's leading unregistered port. Twenty years ago Felixstowe worked to the hiss of an ancient steam crane and ten men handled the infrequent cargoes of coal and flour.

Now 1,200 are employed on the dock estate and land values have rocketed from £5 to £1,500 per acre. In October all records for were broken cargo-handling passed when 250,000 tons through the port, the bulk of it in 10,259 containers. is almost an annual This rate of 3 million tons. Compare this with the 19 million tons container traffic passing of through all British ports in 1971 and the challenge of Felixstowe to the registered dock is strikingly revealed.

Other unregistered ports like Dover and Shoreham are also undergoing rapid expansion.

Given the necessity to use i capital equip- the enormous ment to the full, the shipping lines, particularly on the con- have tinental run, a great incentive to use places like the less- Felixstowe and militant unregistered dockers who work there. Meanwhile in the registered ports the campaign to drive down job levels will grow fiercer. The aim is for a 20,000 labour force within five to ten has years. - Jones-Aldington already opened the breach. If they want to reap the benefits face dockers technology, the fight of their lives.

• The committee set up to end this year's dock strike headed by Transport and General Workers' Union general sec- retary Jack Jones and the Port of London Authority's chair- man, Lord Aldington.

Leonid Brezhnev (centre), who has been characterized as the 'colourless apparatusman", with Kosygin (left) and Podgorny in Moscow.

TIGHTENS HIS CONTROL

Leonid Brezhnev (centre), who has bee Hard-liner Leonid Brez- hnev is tightening his grip on the Soviet Com- munist Party as the faces its Soviet Union most difficult winter for many years. Huge quantities of grain have had to be bought in the world market in order to avert famine in many regions.

The shipment of this grain over many thousands of miles from the ports throws an enormous strain onto an already over-worked trans- port system. The economic reforms' which put more power into the hands of plant manage- ments have not yielded the expected results and there has been a move back towards greater central control. The promised increases in consumer goods, as well as foodstuffs, have not been forthcoming. There are wide- spread complaints about the poor quality, lack of service and actual shortages with which the Soviet consumer has to contend. In some regions, such as Georgia, plans have not been fulfilled and the local officials have been raiding public funds on a scale which their superiors in Moscow can no longer permit. Within the past year con- siderable differences have also appeared at the top of the Soviet Communist Party over questions of foreign policy. A section of the leadership obvi- ously felt that the rapproche- with US imperialism ment was being made with inde- pendent haste and threatened to undermine the security of the state. A first sign of this came last May when one of the most powerful figures in the party apparatus, Pyotr Shelest, secretary of the Ukranian party was demoted. Shelest no has been characterized as the 'colourless ap objected to the political set- tlement with Federal Germany which was then taking shape.

He may also have opposed the Nixon visit to Moscow at a time when B-52s were raining bombs on North Vietnam. The ousting of Shelest from his Ukranian fief was reck- oned as the biggest shake-up in the Soviet bureaucracy since the fall of Khrushchev in 1964. It represented a blow by Brezhnev and his suppor- ters aimed at their main oppo- nents in the leadership. A few days later Nixon visited Moscow and the a further bureaucracy took turn to the right, seek- sharp ing during the summer to force Hanoi to the peace table to accept US terms for ending the war in Vietnam. followed There extensive changes in the administration in the Ukraine and purges began in other republics as well. It was announced that preparations were being made for general exchange of a cards in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to be car- ried out in 1973 and 1974.

This is more than a routine operation. It is intended to weed out of the party all critics and potential oppo- nents of the leadership as well as lukewarm elements, those whose membership is purely formal whose activities or bring discredit on the bureau- cracy itself. As the party has 14} million members, an enormous amount of paper- work will be involved in this bloodless purge. Last month a big shake-up carried out in Georgia, was Stalin's home which state, has a reputation for laxness, black marketing and every kind of racket in which top figures have been involved. The luxurious houses built and furnished at public ex- ourless apparatusman', with Kosygin (left) and some members of pense by the bureaucracy had become even by its own a scandal standards. The First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party Vassily Mjavanadze, was said to have resigned at his own request. His successor, Ed- Chevardnadze, ward later made a report to his Central Committee in which he de- nounced the falsification of figures to conceal economic failings and attack the corrupt in high practices current places. These included the building of grand houses at public expense. Later it was reported that industrial production was fall- ing well below what was called for in the plans in Georgia and that many plants were operating at only 70 or 80 per cent of capacity. While the shake-up was going on in Georgia similar measures were being taken in the republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

In these and other republics of the Soviet Union the same is pattern being repeated. Part of the old leadership is being replaced. They are shown to have been incom- petent and corrupt. Practices which were well-known-such as the building of sumptuous dachas (i.e. country houses)- are now being 'revealed' and blamed onto particular indi- viduals. In other words, the bureau- cracy is trying to defend itself against growing criticism and hostility by singling out a few scapegoats who also, prob- ably, have differences with Brezhnev and his supporters on political matters. A tense struggle thus ap- pears to be going on in the top leadership on questions of high policy which finds its re- flection in the regions in an attack on some of the worst and most obvious abuses of the local bureaucracy. Brezh- nev is thus out to court a Workers Press, Tuesd left and Podgorny in Moscow.

little popularity while he ex- tends and consolidates his own power. This means stronger cen- tral control over the constitu- ent republics of the union and particularly the elevation of former KGB (security police) men to high office. So far Brezhnev has been able to re- move some of his most dan- gerous opponents and to es- tablish at the same time a more personal style of gov- ernment. He is now taking on the role of Khrushchev if not of Stalin himself. With the pub- lication of the fourth volume of his collected works he is also establishing a claim as a theoretician. The personality cult, it as yet only in its early stages, is gathering force.

Manoeuvre Brezhnev does not have the ruthlessness and cunning of a Stalin the flamboyant, nor publicity-seeking appetite of a Khrushchev. More than either of these he is the colourless apparatusman who concen- trates power into his hands by manoeuvre and stealth and with the consent of the co- horts like him who make up the upper ranks of the Soviet bureaucracy. That is not to say that he does not face opposition. It is all the time a struggle to maintain his position in the face of those who, while giv- ing him a big hand today, would eject him tomorrow as unceremoniously as they did Khrushchev if he threatened to become a danger. Moreover, the divisions in- side the bureaucracy, which have always existed, tend to be overshadowed by the tense- ness of the economic crisis which now confronts it and by the growing opposition to its rule. The stepping up of repression against opposition- ists in recent months refects its fears. ess, Tuesday December 12, 1972 PAGE 5 The threat of a strike by workers in the Baltic port of Szezecin was behind the Polish government decision to cancel the ap- pointment of Josef Cyra- nkiewicz as ambassador to Switzerland. According to Polish sour- the workers demanded ces, that Cyrankiewicz be kept in Poland pending a public in- vestigation into who ordered police and troops to open fire on strikers during the Baltic port riots two years ago.

Cyrankiewicz is known to have signed the order to shoot, which resulted in over 40 deaths and nearly 1,000 wounded, but his role has never been publicly admitted.

The riots struck terror into the Polish Stalinists who ap- pointed a new administration in an attempt to placate the workers. Cyrankiewicz was eased out of his job as prime minister president, and appointed a post he held until March this year. He also retained his seat on the Communist Party Cen- tral Committee. A leader before the war of the Polish social-democrats, he spent four years in the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz and emerged after the allied victory to become premier in the so-called government of national unity. He organized the merger of the Polish Communist Party and his own Socialist Party to form the United Workers' Party. It was the start of an unbroken career of service to Stalinism. He survived unscathed through the purges master- minded by the Soviet dictator and remained in office in the regime of Wladislaw Gomulka.

has earned Cyrankiewicz the hatred of the Polish workers, for whom he is a symbol of the continued bureaucratic rule. The decision to cancel his appointment to the embassy in Berne reflects the present regime's fear of a new explosion of working- class anger. A brief strike took place in the Baltic port of Gdansk re- cently in which dockers re- fused to load potatoes into a Soviet naval vessel for deli- very to areas hit by food shortages as a result of the bad harvest in the USSR. It is not clear whether the Polish workers objected to the food shipments as such, or to the Russians sending a mili- tary ship to collect them. Whatever the reason, the pre- sent prime minister, Jarosze- wicz, was rushed to Gdansk to persuade the workers to call off the strike. The Stalinist leaders have made repeated visits to the Baltic ports over the past two years and adopted a very con- ciliatory tone with the work- ers there. Edward Gierek, the party first secretary, has made many promises of improved living standards for the work- ing class. But promises are one thing: performance is quite another.

And despite all the exhorta- tions and pleas from the War- leaders, the workers of saw the Baltic ports remain hostile and increasingly sceptical about Greek's

The play 200 Years of Labour History' written by John Arden and Margaretta D'Arcy was irst performed at an anti- PAGE 6 Workers Press, Tuesday December 12, 1972 John Arden's and Margaretta D'Arcy's play *The Island of the Mighty" opened last week at the Aldwych Theatre.

It was preceded by a dispute between the authors and the manage- ment and resulted in the Ardens withdrawing their labour and picketing the theatre. This is a completely new development in the history of the relations between author and management in the theatre. It raises important questions about the author's right to express his meaning. It raises questions about the nature of theatre today and the conflict between work that has a definite political purpose and the traditional bourgeois assumptions of presenta- tion. It shows a growing crisis in the arts between old forms and new content. In this exclusive interview with Workers Press, the Ardens talk about the play, the dispute and the future for the theatre in today's growing political crisis.

afterwards, call up the events and in these stories

RELEVANCE

them which characters in remind people of how their

OF THE

community began. stories

LEGEND OF

And so that these never entirely lose their value, they have to be reinterpreted

KING ARTHUR

in each case and you still find JOHN ARDEN: The Arthurian an audience. legend has been described as The Arthurian stories were Welsh the national myth of Britain.

rewritten-the original It has the same sort of place versions have disappeared—in the 12th century by Geoffrey in our national consciousness as the war of Troy had for the of Monmouth who was writing of support the Nor- Greeks or the adventures actually to Siegfried for the Germans. It man feudal system by present- old ing Arthur as a strong central all these belongs, as feudal whom a stories do, to the period of the monarch to obedient and great migrations. They come nobility were at different periods of history.

subservient, which was what kings wanted to Trojan was the Norman The war England in the 1200 BC. The Arthurian myths establish in belong to the break-up of the 12th century. on in the 15th Empire and the big Then later Roman German century you get the greatest of the migrations to take of the across literary version tribes coming the fifth and legend which is Arthurian over Britain in sixth centuries. It seems abso- Mallory. Mallory was in- terested in a united Britain, a the constant all over lutely united England. He was writing when you have world that popula- just before Henry Vil sorted large movements confusion left after new land settlements, a the out tion, Roses, Wars of the SO overturning a the complete the representing settled and probably oppres- Mallory is new consciousness of national sive and decadent civilization and also a nostalgic by a new and vital tribal erup- identity old feudal in- epic regret for the tion on to the scene, dependence of the nobles.

poetry and epic themes are Hence all the main aspect produced: of Mallory's story is individual We came across the same knight errants going on quests.

thing in India, Ireland, every- But at the same time there is where you go. And it's still Soviet that consciousness even in strong happening Russia today among areas of there's something a bit disas.

the tribal territories, Kazhak- trous about this because at the of Mallory's story the stan and places like that, where end whole thing suddenly becomes unresolved con- there is an national with between the story tradiction tragedy of the death of Arthur nomadic tribes and the bureau- and the break-up of a newly and Soviet system cratic find still unified nation. that you believe the story disappears Then Homeric bards in those areas for a while and isn't really who are still writing the same revived until Tennyson in the themes. If the age of confusion and 19th century who was pro- resolved sentimental moral- ducing becomes migration the down, Victorian view of the people settle istic, and thing, very appropriate to the society then proceeds to go Victorian middle-class nos- through a fairly constant series talgia for the wild old days of developments. It's fol- of lowed normally by a feudal the middle ages. It's a bit difficult to con- which in turn is re- system placed by a mercantile class Tennyson closely nect very with Victorian capitalism, but and so on. he was writing for the sort of But the stories, having been and audiences who were getting originally written orally people's rich on the capitalist develop- through learnt than through ment and the story is therefore rather memory become texts, have escapist. written It's nice to get back into sunk into the public mind in picturesque days of knights in such always, for hundreds of years armour and so on and not to Y C

GIRLS

The play "200 Years of Labour History" have to face the realities of the engineering workshops and the mills and the railways and the strikes and all the rest of the things the Vic- torians were concerned with in business hours. We were anxious to get back to one of the original themes which has got kind of lost in the development of the story, which is the fact that it is a story about the age of migra- the age of new land tions, settlements, the age of poverty striken and struggling peoples to gain power at the expense the collapsing Roman empire. The main character in our story in theatrical terms is Arthur, but really the main characters in our story are the groups of tribes, the people the people without names, whose names never appeared in the legends. In the legend we just have the noble men and the princes and the great ladies. But the people who actually were responsible for the migrations

-IRLS

89 History' written by John Arden and Margaretta and for resisting the migra- tions, the peasants and the cattle shepherds and the raiders of the mountains and so on-these don't come into the legend by name and we wanted to try and show the reality under this.

THE PLAY

IS BASICALLY

ABOUT

DEPRIVED

PEOPLE'

Arthur, in our story, is a hide-bound defender of an already collapsing • Roman Empire. He attempts to do this by military power. He's perfectly prepared to fight people on his own side if they obstruct him. He has an army.

He is defending the country invaders against the Saxon and in order to make quite certain that his army retains the power to do this, he also fights against the Celtic clans-

S-HAR

DAY

Margaretta D'Arcy was iirst performed at an / men in the country. At the end of the play he is destroyed by a rising among these clansmen who are look- ing back to the age 400 to 500 years before the Romans came and are trying rather ineffec- tively to bring back the original and hopelessly obso- lete idea of the completely independent Celtic island with confederated tribes, which is impossible because first the and now Romans have been the Saxons are coming and so the whole thing collapses.

And so the only people who actually win in the end are the Saxons. We feel that the fact that this play has run into trouble is not an accident. Because if you take a national myth it means something to every- body, even though they've never read it. King Arthur is something that everybody has some vague connection with, even if their only knowledge of it is that they once went to see the film of "Camelot' or they read about Sir Lancelot

Rally organized by the Socialist Labour Leag in a comic or something. And in a time of political and social crisis you tamper with this at your peril. The arguments about the play that have gone on at the Aldwych theatre, in fact, were industrial. They dealt with our writers to work in place as that theatre. But I think it's not an accident that the argu- ment should have arisen about this play. Because the play is basically about deprived people and their place in the community.

And how the military force that is supposed to be defend- ing them is in fact prepared to repress them if they show the slightest demand for their own rights. And it's a kind of a twist of the myth. It has stirred up strong passions.

When this production was first considered, we were asked by the Aldwych rather tenta- tively, because I think they we'd say no, if we had knew any views on this particular production being used as part of the Common Market cele- make the

TORIES

RESIGN

ory Rally organized by the Socialist Labour League at Alexandra Palace. John Arden says, 'Here the brations that are coming off next year. suspect the And Salle mentality is still going on in the theatre. That here is a play which shows, if it's inter- preted in one way,

WORE

splendid country Britain is and what splendid ancestors all have and also that we were with the once connected Roman empire, and so on and so forth, and it can be used as a kind of advertisement of the value of Britain to the continent. fact if the In play is accurately the play examined does not stand to this at all. We tried to show in the text how the of the Roman Empire people suffered from that imperialism, that we know that the Roman provided and roads built cities and so on, but the general effect or me Komal Empire was 400 years of rigid repression and control which actually stultified the of all the communities in it.

I mean the disa

E2T2DCE 01

MATC

ohn Arden says, 'Here the whole meaning of th the art and poetry of the worlds which Rome conquered is one of the biggest dis- history. We in appearances don't know anything, for about the Druids example, who were the poets and priests before of the ancient Britons the Romans came. All we know is that they were reputed to be extremely well educated, scientific, artis- And Poetic and philosophical.

everything that they taught at their university at disappeared Anglesey has because the Roman army went into Anglesey and killed every Druid on it. And because they didn't write their work down —it was all kept in their heads - an entire national culture was wiped out by the Roman army and replaced by roads.

The Romans built roads just as Mussolini got the trains going on time and Hitler built the Autobahn. And we felt that the Common Market has certain things in common with the Roman Empire It will clearly improve the economic Workers Prees, Tuesday Der meaning of the theatre became integrated into that of a political movement.

rationalism in Europe for the of people who benefit BATe from international benefiting capitalism. But it is also going the Roman to produce, as Empire did, a large and dis- contented mass of migratory workers going from and our play as a to country Common symbol for the Market is actually absurd.

But it would be possible to present it in this light if the to theatre were completely disregard the opinions of the authors.

THE

ALDWYCH

IS LIKE ALL

THESE

BUREACRACIES

If the Aldwych were collective in which the direc- actors, the designer tor. the and the composer and every- body took collective decisions On the interpretation of the es, Tuesday December 12, 1972 PAGE 7 A N

HOUR

d Into that of a political movement'.

author's meaning, then, of course, the situation would be very different: But in fact the Aldwych is like all these bureaucracies; just like British Rail, it is a hierarchy. The stage hands are at the bottom, they are the railway porters if you like. They have a certain Job to do and they orders quite strictly, obey they're not expected to express any new ideas in their work.

Then, above them, you have the actors, who again were in fact told by their union repre- sentative the other day that they have no rights whatsoever except the right to abide by their contract, and they like to think, they are deluded into thinking, that they are supply- ing a contribution to the play.

But they are not allowed to supply more than the director permits them. And then you have the director. And the director of the play at the Aldwych is in Continued overleaf

John Arden and Margaretta D'Arcy picketing the Aldwych Theatre where their play 'Island of the Mighty' is being performed.

PAGE 8 Workers Press, Tuesday Decer Continued from Page 7 the same position as the works we have dis- manager, as covered in this dispute when we wanted a general meeting of all the people who are making the playthe actors, the director, the musicians, the musical composers and the stage artists. This was refused, not on an artistic decision, but as a managerial decision-that the director could not have his working process inter- rupted and interfered with in this way. This is reinforced by the fact that they don't actually need playwrights there. They've got four plays running this season at the Aldwych.

Only one of them, "The Island of the Mighty, is by authors who are still alive. The other plays are by Gorky, Eliot and Shakespeare. By refusing us an opportunity to have a general meeting to discuss the meaning of the play during the last two weeks of re- hearsal in which all the really important work is done, they have effectively rendered us as dead as any of those other three authors. They have never, as far as - know, put on a play that contradicted this basic concep- tion. The Aldwych in one sea- son can put on a play by Gorky, who was a Russian socialist, writing at the early stage of the Soviet revolution, and a play by T. S. Eliot, who was Tory high Anglican reli- gious writer. Now what do they think they're putting these plays on for? If they wish the audience to accept the meaning of Gorky's play, which basically for the growing is support Revolution in Russia and the fight of the working class in Russia and so on, then surely they cannot expect the same kind of audience to accept the message in Eliot's play, which calls for a return to church power as opposed to state power. I mean the two plays are directly contradictory and yet they're being put on with more or less the same cast, in the same building and pre- sented to the same sort of audience. Do they have any conception at all at the Ald- wych that a play has anything to say? They're presenting these plays as if they were abstract works of art like Chinese vases which you sit and con- template and admire their pro- portions and the resonance of the language and the beauty of the actors make-up and all that.

'ALL THE

PROLETARIAT

WERE

TREATED

AS COMIC

MARGARETTA D'ARCY: I

would disagree with this. An actor who was in the Maxim Gorky and also The Plebian Uprising' said that the play was done exactly as the T. S.

Eliot play, as a right-wing play, all the proletariat were treated as comic, and all the mana- gerial class were treated as good guys. No. I would say that because the Aldwych Theatre is sub- sidized by the Tory govern- ment it automatically has to reflect what the Tory govern- which is that all ment says, workers are funny, ineffectual, incompetent people and all managers are God-fearing, in- telligent, basically nice people.

JOHN ARDEN: But it reflects it in a liberal point of view.

The theatre doesn't come out- right and ay we are a Tory theatre. Their attitude to workers is that workers are comic, not that workers are dangerous. They wouldn't put a play which said that on workers are dangerous. This would appear to contradict day December 12, 1972 John Arden and Margaretta D'Arcy pick their function as a cultural thing. They don't wish to be asso- ciated with the Tory govern- ment. After all they have worked through a Labour gov- ernment doing much the same kind of thing. They represent English liberalism which finds itself always in fact siding with the status quo. And so in our play the tribes people are represented, or were repre- we last sented when saw rehearsal, which was a fort- as comic and in- night ago, effective, whereas the Roman were represented as soldiers strong and positive characters.

this is the kind of thing And that is continually going on at the theatre.

D'ARCY:

MARGARETTA

Yes, but also it is reflected that when we were backed up by our union and went on strike the management refused to recognize the fact that we were on strike. They kept on making out to the Press that we were eccentrics, that it was an artistic interpretation, that we were just temperamentally rather eccentric and so they hoped to present us to the actors, the management and the Press as rather funny 'Arcy picketing the Aldwych Theatre where thei who were not people dangerous. We went on strike because as writers our work in re- hearsals is to talk to the actors about the meaning of the play.

Not to tell the actors how to play the play, but when we say what the meaning is then let* the actors-and the director- argue with us if they don't think the meaning is that.

And this is where the dead- lock came. Now it has been proved that the Aldwych has never even thought of the meaning of the play. They used our dispute to the Press as saying that we were only concerned with the interpretation of the play which means that we wanted to control the theatre, we wanted to take over David Jones' job, we wanted to muck the actors around, tell them what to do. This is not the role of the writer. The only role that the writer has in the theatre is to make sure that the meaning of the play is understood by every- one concerned in the play.

And from then on the dialogue and debate and conflict should take place.

SOCIET

affiliated to Ir

AUTHO

YARE

to WOR ON

ITISH

where their play "Island of the Mighty' is being i

'HISTORY

MUST BE

RELATED TO

TODAY'

JOHN ARDEN:

The future obviously lies, I think, in developing a strong relation- ship between the theatre and the political struggle and that plays must be put on for the sake of their meaning and their specific political meaning, even if the actual story of the play doesn't appear to be immedi- ate...I mean if you're doing a historical play then the his- tory of the play must be clearly related from the point of view of the struggle today.

What I found particularly significant about '200 Years of Labour History'* at Alexandra Palace was that it was contained within the con- text of a political rally, that there was a play put on. It was followed by speeches so that the whole meaning of the theatre became integrated into that of a political move- ment. I don't say that all plays should always be written to ed to Irish Actors Foury)

SUPPORTS

WORK

is being performed. take place in political rallies, but I think that to do this makes writers aware that there can be a specific and immedi- ate purpose for their writing which is something that we have lost actually.

MARGARETTA

D'ARCY:

But also the idea in the old days...I mean just a few ago... of playwrights years being individually left-wing they write a left-wing play and they put it on I think that is no longer possible. The capitalist class are grouping . themselves into a very, very strong party. All we left-wing people have got to put our- selves into a strong revolu- tionary party and out of that we are going to drive along collectively together. The age of the individual playwright working on his own is gone. * John Arden and Margaretta D'Arcy wrote '200 Years of Labour History', which was first performed at the 4,500 strong anti-Tory rally orga- nized by the Socialist Labour League and Young Socialists in the Alexandra Palace, Lon- don, on February 21, 1971. It subsequently toured the coun- try during provincial rallies.

RENEGADES

IN ACTION-

THE IMG

PART THREE

Following the articles Renegades from Trotskyism' Ceylon, JACK GALE dealing with the situation in goes on to examine the British section of the now revisionist Unified Secretariat of the Fourth Inter- national, The International Marxist Group (IMG).

hostility of Hansen and com- The Socialist Workers' the Socialist pany towards Party of the United Labour League. It was to fight States has been moving the SLL that the International Marxist Group was formed in rapidly to the right since Britain, almost entirely as an it refused to carry out a the exercise by external discussion principled Unified Secretariat and the

SWP.

with the Socialist Labour It has been, from the begin- in League, particularly ning, an adventurist, publicity- the vears 1960-1963. national seeking secretary, Pat Jordan, achieved Following this, in 1963, it declared its political solidarity during notoriety temporary with the Pabloite Unified Sec- the time of the 1968 Vietnam retariat (for legal reasons it Solidarity Campaign (now long could not become an actual dead and buried) Dy giving member) with absolutely wildly irresponsible interviews of the political about instant demonstrations'.

discussion basis of such a reunification.

One of its leading members SWP leadership pros- The —Tariq Ali-became a stand- Castroism trated itself before ing joke because of his love and-abandoning the basic of television cameras. People Trotskyist thesis of the need were recruited with no regard revolutionary party tor a fundamental questions. turned its attention to middle- Robin Blackburn, for example, C. such class as 1 Derais Red Mole' that argued Wright Mills in the Fair Play there was no difference be- for Cuba' organization. Labour government So anxious were the SWP and a Conservative govern- leaders to establish their res- pectability in such circles that The excesses of this type when President Kennedy was the

SWP

alarmed leaders. There is now they rushed to leaders. conclu- send a telegram of condolence sive evidence that the SWP in- to the widow of the man who tervened directly in the IMG's cold- had deliberately and internal affairs. This was done bloodedly murdered hundreds by building up a faction, led of thousands of people in Sw people than evowere Vietnam, and who had sought and who agents unsuccessfully overthrow

WCIC

to provided with by the Cuban revolution. them. Today the SWP lip- pays This has caused total service to the creation of an Labour breach of all fraternal rela- but Party. Ames Cam nons between the in practice holds back this leadersmps of the IMG and SWP. The development. During the re- it main storm-centre has been a cent election campaign called Alan Harris and called for a separate "Black' the American book service Party. The reason for this is that Pathfinder Press. The broke into the development towards re- roW the open when, following a meet- volutionary consciousness the American working class ing of its National Committee undermines the SWP's middle- in July, 1970, the IMG sent the class, revisionist road. following letter to the This is also the basis of the

SWP:

GIVE A YEAR'S

SUBSCRIPTION

TO WORKERS PRESS

AS YOUR

GIFT FOR XMAS

Special offer £20 includes postage Complete the form below with name and address of person to whom you would like the paper sent.

NAME

ADDRESS

Date to start sending Amount enclosed (£20) £.....

Complete form and post immediately to:

WORKERS PRESS CIRCULATION DEPT.,

186a CLAPHAM HIGH STREET,

LONDON, SW4 7UG

VECKAN

The IMG has always been an adventuris Campaign demonstrations, Pat Jordan (al The Political Bureau Socialist Workers Party NY Dear Comrades, following resolution The was passed at the last meet- ing of the National Committee of the IMG (held over the weekend of July 25/26 1970): National Committee The censures Comrade Alan Harris for his unilateral action re Leader Books and requests the Unified Secretariat to investi- the matter immediately gate because it will otherwise re- sult in a serious deterioration of relations between two sec- tions of the International. The the Secretariat NC empowers (IMG Secretariat) to carry out an amalgamation of Leader Books and Red Books under the control of the IMG. N.B. Bearing in mind the legal position of the SWP it should be pointed out that this resolution in no way im- plies that the SWP is affili- ated to the Fourth Interna- tional., must explain that this We after resolution was passed the committee had received a report of the informal discus- sions on Leader Books be- tween Joe Hansen and com- rades Ali and Jordan. We cannot accept that there is any problem in 'explaining to Pathfinder Books' that Red Books would be taking over distribution of its publications from Alan Harris. This being the case we are. confronted with a position where the SWP refuses to supply publi- cations to the official book- shop of the British Section, but instead insists on supply- ing them direct to a member of the minority tendency of the IMG. We would ask you to con- sider a hypothetical case: Suppose that the IMG, as publishers of a large number of books by Trotsky, etc., re- fused to supply them to the SWP but insisted that these be distributed in the United States via a minority tendency (which for instance might take the position that the YSA should advance the slogan "Victory to the NLF' on mass demonstrations). We think that in a case like this that you could be understood if you thought that the IMG was trying to support a minority-politically Workers Press, Tuesday darity with t/ ogainst u fish co adventurist and publicity-seeking group. During Jordan (above) posed for Press cameras in his and with resources-of the SWP. We think that you could be understood if you con- sidered this to be a gross vio- lation of the democratic cen- tralist norms and an attempt to get round the democratic procedures and processes of the SWP. We do not accept the argu- ment that a book distribution centre (we do not want to get into semantic arguments about bookshops and import-export agencies) is not a political centre. Selling books, having an address list and a manned office amounts to having a political centre. has This always been recognized as such by the movement. This is why the IMG national com- mittee resolved-just prior to its National Conference-that its bookshop would be com- pletely under democratic cen- tralist norms (it should be added that this position was approved by the conference).

We ask you to fully co- operate with us in implement- ing the above resolution. We want to avoid confusing poli-.

tical issues with an organiza- tional wrangle and would ask you to help us to remove this organizational difficulty.

We would point out that such affairs as the creation of Lea- der Books is in complete vio- lation of the decision of the National Committee of the IMG and makes more difficult an objective political discus- sion. We hope that no one thinks that the minority ten- dency of the IMG will be strengthened by such actions.

Quite the reverse: this ten- dency will become even more isolated the more it appears to be trying to circumvent the democratic norms of the IMG.

We should point out that this tendency is widely con- sidered to be in solidarity with the SWP's criticisms of the majority position in the Inter- national. We would recall to your attention that this ten- dency first manifested itself when its leader, Comrade Susan Williams, appealed to the British delegation at the world congress last to be seated for the discussion on China in order to cast her against majority. vote the Furthermore it is well known that: (a) about half the mem- bers of the tendency are ex- members of a section which , Tuesday December 12, 1972 PAGE 9

GROSVENOR

SQUARE

with the vietnamese ainst u.s. aggression! tish complicity in the war.

7 up. During the 1968 Vietnam Solidarity eras in his office. supports the minority position in the International; (b) that leading comrades sent from North America to participate in the work of the Inter- national played the leading in founding the ten- part dency: Alan and (c) that Harris is a member of the Unified Secretariat designated by the previously mentioned into account section. Taking all these circumstances we think it would be in the best interests of a clear political discussion to avoid any action which could be construed as using organizational means to support a political minority.

We should add that we are going to pursue this matter in the Unified Secretariat because relationships between Trotsky- ists in different countries is involved. We would ask for the ear- liest possible reply to the questions we have raised in this letter. We are going ahead with plans for the amalgama- tion of Red Books and Leader Books under the political con- trol of the IMG. An early reply from you could help clarify things but we will be obliged to operate our demo- cratically-decided decisions as soon as possible. We cannot procrastinate because of the serious state of affairs (our political opponents are well aware that Leader Books oper- ates independently from our organization). We intend to pursue this matter in an extremely seri- ous manner: The British Trot- skyist movement has suffered in the past from lack of understanding of the meaning of democratic centralism as applied to the task of build- ing a mass section of an inter- national revolutionary party.

We would be failing in our duty of helping to construct a mass section of the FI in Bri- tain if we did not take imme- diate and decisive steps to nip this situation in the bud.

We ask you to give us an undertaking that you will sup- ply our bookshop with your publications without insisting that we purchase them from a concern which has been set up in violation of our demo- cratically decided decision.

Revolutionary greetings, Pat Jordan

CONTINUED TOMORROW

PAGE 10 Workers Press, Tuesday December 12, 1972

HULL

Wednesday December 13 The capitalist crisis Wednesday January 10 Stalinism and Trotskyism Wednesday January 24 Marxist theory and the revolu- tionary party

WHITE HART HOTEL

Alfred Gelder Street (near Drypool Bridge) 8 p.m.

BARNSLEY

Sunday December 17 Revolutionary theory and the Nigel Davenport as Conan Doyle as Marxist Party Edwardians' on BBC 2 If you really y

RED LION HOTEL

(Worsborough) 8 p.m. Lectures given by Cliff Slaughter (SLL Central Committee)

SHEFFIELD

Monday January 8 Marxism and the revolutionary party

FORRESTERS HALL

Trippett Lane, 7.30 p.m. 11.00-11.25 Play school. 7.30 NEWSROOM. Weather.

TODMORDEN

FLOODLIT

RUGBY

8.00 LEAGUE. Widnes or Leeds Monday January 8 v. Wakefield Trinity. 'The economic crisis'

8.50 WHEELBASE.

Monday January 22 'Stalinism' 9.25

THE EDWARDIANS.

Co- With Monday February 5 Doyle. Nigel nan Davenport. Trotskyism'

THE WEAVERS'

INSTI-

10.30 NEWS ON 2. Weather.

TUTE, Burnley Road,

OLD GREY WHISTLE

10.35 7.30 p.m. TEST. Focus, The Crickets.

The dally paper that leads the fight against the Tories. £20.28 for 12 months (312 Issues) £10.14 for 6 months (156 Issues) £5.07 for 3 months (78 Issues) If you want to take Workers Press twice a week the rates are: £1.56 for 3 months (24 issues) £6.24 for 12 months (96 issues) Fill in the form below NOW and send to: 186a Clapham High St., CIrculation Depl., Workers Press London, SW4 7UG. I would like to take out a subscription to Workers Press.

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Name Address. Doyle as Sherlock Holmes ... If you see what I mean. No? Well watch "The ou really want to find out. He is seen above with Maria Atkin.

ITV

BBC 1

Steam horse. 10.30-10.55 11.40 9.30 Schools. 10.05 Cartoon. Schools. 12.00 Apollo. The last 10.20 Bellbird. 10.35 Galloping 12.55 News. 1.00 Pebble Mill at 11.00 Farewell gourmet. to the 1.30 Camberwick one. green. moon-Apollo 17. 12.00 Cartoon.

1.45 Canvas. 2.00 Rugby union. 12.05 Rainbow. 12.25 Magic 4.10 Play school. 4.35 Crystal 12.40 ball. First report. 1.00 Tipps. 4.40 4.55 Jackanory. Lunchtime with Wogan. 1.30 Josie and the 5.15 pussycats Emmerdale farm. 2.00 Harriet's newsround. 5.20 John Craven's Vision on. 5.45 News. Weather. back in town. 2.30 Good after- 3.00 The splendour falls. noon. 3.25 Family at war. 4.25 Junior

6.00 NATIONWIDE,

showtime. 4.50 Magpie. 5.20 | LAUREL AND HARDY. Live 6.45 dream of Jeannie. 5.50 News.

Ghost. 7.05

FILM:

WHAT

A CARVE

6.00 TODAY.

UP!. Sidney James, Ken- Shirley neth Connor. 6.30

CROSSROADS.

Dennis Price, Don- Eaton, ald Pleasence. British 6.55

THIRTY MINUTES WORTH.

comedy. Harry Worth.

8.30 MY WIFE NEXT

DOOR.

7.25

FILM: "THE SPY WITH MY

Joint Assignment.

FACE'.

Robert Vaughn, 9.00

NINE

O'CLOCK

NEWS.

Senta Berger, David Mc- Weather. Callum, Leo G Carroll.

THE COMMANDERS.

The men

U.N.C.L.E.

9.25 from General of the Army ride again. Dwight D. Eisenhower.

THE

STRAUSS

FAMILY.

9.00

10.25 FILM 72.

Lili.

10.55 MIDWEEK.

NEWS AT TEN.

10.00

NEWS.

11.40 LATE

NIGHT

Weather.

DOCUMENTARY:

'CLEO

10.30

JOHN'.

AND

Cleo Laine

11.45 THE OPEN PERSUADERS.

and John Dankworth. Bakewell talks to Joan Colin Wilson, author of

11.30 WRESTLING.

'The Outsider'.

SIX

CENTURIES

OF 12.05 THE LAST APOLLO. Live 12.15

SONG.

pictures from the moon. ber 12, 8 p.m. Festival Inn, Crisp All Trades Street, E14. "Build Councils of Unions Alliance Action'. December

MEETINGS

Willesden: Thursday Trades 14. and Labour p.m. Road. Willesden High Hall. Fight Rising Prices "Force the Tories to Resign "No fines the unions! NW10. on No state control of wages!'

WEST LONDON: Tuesday Decem- CROYDON: Thursday December Prince ber 12, p.m. Albert, date change) 14 (Please note Road Kings Cross. Wharfdale House. Ruskin Coombe p.m. Wages'. 'No State Control of Road. "Free Sean MacStiofain'. LIVERPOOL: Tuesday December MEDWAY: Tuesday December 19, 7.30 p.m. The Mitre, Dale 12, Roches- 8 p.m. 'The Grevhound', Street. ter Avenue, Rochester. WOOLWICH: Tuesday December

TEACHERS:

Monday

LONDON

12, p.m. Queen's Arms', Burrage Road, SE18. December 18, 8 p.m. Caxton Hall (near St James's Park tube).

EAST LONDON: Tuesday Decem-

LABOUR LEAGUE -

- SOCIALIST

PUBLIC MEETINGS

SWINDON

Wednesdav. December 13 8 pm

AEU HOUSE, FLEMING WAY, SWINDON

SPECIAL SHOWING OF THE RIGHT TO WORK' FILM.

A film made by ACT showing the five Right-to-Work marches Swansea, Deal and Southampton from Glasgow, Liverpool, to London, ending with a huge rally at Empire Pool, Wembley, on March 12, 1972. Speaker: G. Healy, National Secretary of the Socialist Labour League.

Engineering Chairman: Willis.

AEU

steward at British Rail Workshop, Swindon (in a personal capacity).

We demand the right to work!

Make the Tory government resign!

Build the revolutionary party!

BRACKNELL (Berks) Thursday December 14 7.45 p.m.

AVENUE,

MEADOW

VALE

MOREDALE

COHOOL

PRIESTWOOD ESTATE

WAGES, DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS AND THE TORY

GOVERNMENT

Speaker: G. Healy, National Secretary of the Socialist Labour League

REGIONAL TV

CHANNEL: 9.30-10.05

London. 11.00-12.00 London. 1.15 News. 1.30 London. 2.30 Women today.

3.00 London. 5.20 Shirley's world. 5.50 London. 6.00 News.

6.10 Police file. 6.15 Look- around. 6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 Film: 'Back Room Boy'. 8.30 Harry Worth. 9.00 London. 12.15 News, weather. WESTWARD. As Channel except: 10.05 Last stand. 10.35 Better driving. 12.05 London. 12.57 News. 1.00 London. 6.00 Diary. 12.13 News. 12.16 Faith for life.

SOUTHERN: 9.30 London. 10.50 Torchy. 10.15 Tricks of the good cook's trade. 10.35 Lune Valley motorway. 11.00 London. 12.00 News. 12.05 London. 2.30 House- party. 3.00 London. 5.20 Cartoon.

5.25 Crossroads. 5.50 London.

6.00 Day by day. 6.40 Smith Harry Worth. 7.40 family. :7.10 12.15 Columbo. 9.00 London. News. 12.25 Weather. Guideline.

HARLECH: 9.30-10.05

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3.00 London. 5.20 Chuckle- 5.50 heads. 5.25 Crossroads. London. 6.01 Report West. 6.18 Report Wales. 6.35 And mother Halliday Brand. 8.30 Worth. 9.00 London. 12.15 Drive- in. 12.45 Weather. HTV Cymru/Wales 7 and 41 as above except: 4.25 Miri mawt. 4.35-4.50 Cantamil. 6.01-6.18 dydd. 10.30 Blewyn glas. 11.15- 11.30 O'r wasg. HTV West as above except: 6.18- 6.35 Report West. ANGLIA: 11.00 London. News. 12.05 London. 2.30 House- party. 3.00 London. 4.20 News.

London. 5.20 Smith family 4.25 5.50 London. 6.00 About Anglia.

6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 Film of Texas'. 8.30 Young Guns Harry Worth. 9.00 London.

ATV MIDLANDS: 10.35 Better 11.00 London. 12.00 Today. men today. 3.00 London. 5.20 Jackson Five. 5.50 London. 6.00 Today. 6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 Harry Worth. 7.30 Film: 'Seven Angry Men'. 9.00 London. 12.15 telling. 12.20 Stories worth Jason King. Weather. ULSTER: 11.00 London. 1.32 1.35 Survival. 2.00 Lon- News. don. 2.30 Cartoon. 2.40 Romper room. 3.00 London. 5.20 Emmer- 6.00 Reports. 6.35 farm. dale Crossroads. 7.00 Film: 'Give My 8.30 to Broadway'. Regards Harry Worth. 9.00 London.

YORKSHIRE: 9.30 Let them live.

9.55 Lord Kinross in Turkey. 11.00 London. 10.50 Cartoon. 2.30 Houseparty. 3.00 London.

5.20 Survival. 5.50 London. 6.00 6.35. Cross- Weather. Calendar. 7.00 Harry Worth. 7.30 roads. Banacek. 7.35 9.00 Cartoon. 12.15 Scotland Yard London. mysteries. 12.50 Weather.

GRANADA: 11.00 London. 12.00 London, 2.30 Paintbook. 12.05 London. 5.15 at. 2.55 Looking 5.50 London. 6.00 Adam 12. News. Put it in writing. 6.30 Crown court. 7.00 Harry Worth 7.30 Cartoon. 7.35 Madigan. 9.00 London. TYNE TEES: 9.30 Let them live.

in Turkey. 9.55 Lord Kinross 10.50 Cartoon. 11.00 London.

2.30 News. 2.31 Kreskin. 3.00 5.20 Survival. 5.50 London. London. 6.00 Today. 6.35 Cross- roads. 7.00 Harry Worth. 7.30 Cartoon. 7.35 Hec Ramsey. 9.00 London. 12.15 News. 12.30 Epi- logue. SCOTTISH: 10.00 Studio. 11.00 2.30 Dateline. 3.00 London. London. 5.20 Crossroads. 5.50 Scotland today. London. 6.00 6.35 Adam Smith. 7.05 Columbo.

8.30 Harry Worth. 9.00 London.

12.15 Late call. GRAMPIAN: 11.00 London. 12.00 Buga- News. 12.05 London. 1.30 loos. 2.00 London. 2.30 Women 3.00 London. 5.20 Em- today. merdale, farm. 5.50 London. 6.00 6.35 News. 6.05 Countrywise. 7.00 Harry Worth. Crossroads. 7.30 Cartoon. 7.35 Hec Ramsey.

9.00 London. 12.10 Meditation.

Warning from technical union 16,000 north east jobs in danger EIGHT THOUSAND north-eastern manual workers in shipbuilding and the engi- neering industries may lose their jobs by the middle of next year. This has been announced by Arthur Scott, president of TASS (the technical and supervisory section of the engineering union) who claimed that, in addition, another 8,000 jobs in related and sub-contracting industries could go.

Mr Scott bases his assessment on the fact that in the last few weeks virtually every major factory in the region has notified TASS that redundancies are imminent.

About 400 TASS members face loss of their

BARBOURS

jobs in January and February, 1973.

A cut-back in technical staff must lead to

T&GWU

a cut-back in production. In the north-east, the ratio of manual workers to technical staff

8/38 BRANCH

is 19:1-400 technical stafi jobs is equivalent to 8,000 manual workers' jobs.

At present the rate of unemployment among TASS members is 3 per cent, com- pared with the normal figures of 0.5 percent.

This, says Mr Scott, is 'our biggest unemploy- ment crisis since the 1930s'.

The Steel Group of Sunderland, Hawthorne Leslie Ltd of Newcastle, George Clark NEM Swan Hunter Ltd of Wallsend, the group, Austin and Pickersgill Ltd, and A. Reyrolle have all announced, or Ltd of Hebburn warned of redundancies. And C. A. Parsons Ltd of Newcastle will be short of work by June 1973.

According to Brian Bigley, OVER 250 trade unionists and north-eastern regional secre- North Young Socialists marching tary of the Confederation of British Industry: It is a tight- through South Shields last rope situation. Saturday in support of the 70 Sea oil women on strike at Barbours' Rainwear. Technical At the meeting following the wages march strike committee secretary Josie Lloyd called for a mass college rigged picket on Monday morning to stop fresh labour going into the teachers factory. WHOEVER is getting the In fact, the picket was so benefits from the much pub- may stop powerful that Barbours' manager licized North Sea oil boom, it Ken Charlton capitulated and is certainly not the stewards recognized the T&GWU. The

TEACHERS

technical from 30 working on the rigs. At a seven-week strike had been colleges the nortn-east victorious. Story: see page 12.

prepared to take industrial action recent meeting of Aberdeen a £9-a- He nee ware Clall! Trades Council a photostat of week increase is not met.

a 22-year-old steward's pay According to Ernest KowSO Writings officer for north-east Press cheque showed he had re- the dIVISION ASSOCIaLIOL Teachers in Technical Institutions, ceived £22.86 for a 90-hour could find their only teachers week. of Leon in industrial action regress when their present salary agree- Trades Council chairman John ment runs out next March.

Gallacher pointed that out get a job he had been able to Trotsky nis trace as a stee -worker £17m take- the man could have made over three times as much for working .. £1.43 Lese mours. 1933-1934 The Trades Council decided to over in 1934-1935 £1.43 set up a committee on wages and unionization on the rigs.

1935-1936 £1.25 engineering Previous Workers Press articles 1937-1938 £1.25 have revealed of the Getals vicious exploitation of oil-rig 1938-1939 £1.25 who workers have to work 1939-1940 £1.05 A £17M takeover approach yes- enormous hours, in some cases terday pushed the shares in appalling conditions, for wages specialist Davy-Ashmore, lohier, than those in comparable hour for hour. engineering plant firm. shore jobs. The shares jumped 12p to 79p Engineering, Simon after which The oil companies are able to cash in on the fact that Aberdeen also Gecions and supples plant for a wide variety of industries, is a low-wage In key area. plus loan-stock such as fish-processing made a shares dustries unionization is weak and wages are notoriously low. Simon directors said they were 'convinced there is a strong case They are also able to rely on commercial and industrial the the reformist parochialism of panies together. They hoped the Lne tWO panies together. been relentlessly sowing the directors would illusion that the oil boom Davy-Ashmore offers recommend the offer. Aberdeen workers a way out of the economic crisis. lies behind This the theory

NEWS DESK

North Sea Oil Action Committee which the local Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions nas 28 Charlotte St 01-720 2000 stapyards the risessure cal shipyards pressurizing odes anto ensurine unar more London W1 orders for oil supply vessels are

CIRCULATION

placed with Scottish firms.

Behind these demands are the Communist members 01-622 7029 the Trades Council. Workers Press, Tuesday December 12, 1972 PAGE 11

MORE

than 35,000 ancillary Among those planning a full Man- workers 150 north-west day's stoppage in the at the United chester area are: hospitals have now voted to Manchester Hospitals, Royal strike support tomorrow's Manchester Children's Hospital, support action in of their the Jewish Hospital, Wythen- £4-a-week increase frozen pay shawe and Baguley, Withington, under the Tories' wage-control Crumpsall Northern, and Act. Hall Springfield, and Booth Hospital. most of them will However, for 24 and Ancillary workers War- stop work hours at not just for the half-day called rington General Hospital have National Union of for 24-hour for by the also voted Employees. Public stoppage. Photographs: Peter Kelly

T&GWU

8/38 BRANCH

JOKE

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S • PERIODICALS • NEWSPAPERS

ARES BET

Barbours' women win! We stay out until fine wecemeer 12, 1912 A GREAT victory for trade miners, engineers and Trades rushed in, Council delegates from South unionism has been won by ractory Shields and Jarrow. Gibbons-were door bisle the 70 women strikers at joining the At 8.30 a.m. strike. when the police were preparing to break through Barbours' Rainwear, South Police made no attempt the 80 picket line, sheet break the picket and eventually Shields. After eight weeks of workers rushed from their factory manager asked to meet the next door and defended the Bar- determined union representatives. struggle they bours women and girls. have defeated the manage- Barbours At this meeting he capitulated.

were understood to be hoping to bring in new. labour, The victorious returned ment and forced complete but all entrances were blocked by full recog-

WORN

- today wITh recognition of the union of pickets and nition for the

T&GWU,

no

OLIC

mediate £2-a-week increase, even the staff workers and non- and their choice the Transport union supervisors who had pre- management committed to viously worked. further negotiations and General Workers' Union.

with the stewards. And, as police arrived, man- Crunch-time ager Ken Charlton was prevented yesterday After seeing the management, morning when the women were opening the door.

LORE

and their joined the supporters on picket line Police reinforcements were South Shields is withdrawn'-

FROM DAVID MAUDE IN SUDBURY

WORKERS at the CAV factories in Sudbury, Suffolk, say they will stay out indefinitely unless the £50,000 fine on the engineers' union is withdrawn.

A mass meeting yesterday morning decided solidly for immediate action against the fine.

Only about 30 of James Goad's former work- mates voted against their stewards' recom- mendation to strike. The

CAV

hoped their action engineers would immediatelv be followed by trade unionists over the country, Immediate backing came trom Transport and General Workers' Union members Sudbury factories, bringing them tne standstill. Said convenor Bill Duckling afterwards: not Just a question of. one factory, or one What's involved here is the future

-UPE

trade union movement throughout Britain, in fact throughout the world. The meeting, which began in semi-darkness and freezing cold, was addressed by union officials Les Stubbs and Ron Halveston.

Les Stubbs, district organizer of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering reported YY OSKeTS. that a brief shop stewards beforehand had ing shortly pressed the view that 'if we don't our feelings acmonstate these issues right now lose the chance for ever.'

He hoped the workers'

FROM PAGE ONE

actions would demonstrate that they not allow their union to be dictated to. It's too late now. The con- Ron Halveston, assistant or- frontation is here. There is no don't think the Official Solicitor Kanzer asked. will help them •What does the future hold if here,' said Mr Reagan. this goes through?' It Over 1,100 workers at Mather was racing certainty that and Platt's machine tool plant in the €50,000 due to be paid on Convenor Bill Duckling Friday would be followed Oldham could strike today, tak ing the initiative further massive fines, he said.

DCLOIC

LO- morrow's shop stewards' quar- ill not tolerate clear the va terly meeting. tolerate this. tional Industrial Relations Court Local officials are pressing for immediate must reconsider. action in opposition to The the £50,000 fine trade union and in support movement waiting for of the executive's call. was from Sudbury, Halveston said. If they •We're not waiting for took it they would

HOL

Stalle circulars first,' Williams, alone.

DOD

district secretary, told Workers for a ballot the Press yesterday. stewards' recommendation- 'Out Wednesday 'On there now —found seconder will obviously and was angrily shouted down. call by stewards De throughett the district re and myself industrial Stewards immediately began action picketing the gates of the main Organizer Les Stubbs added. actory, demonstrating their de- termination to stay out as long It is good news that Sudbury takes to as win by are already out. We're turning defending a load of Christmas our union here. The lories have turkeys destined for the canteen. created this confrontation.

They T've got a feeling only grabbed the tiger Now we've got to make the tigel tail. Christmas dinner I'll eat will be whatever the wife finds for turn round and bite. home, said one steward. A further meeting of the 1,300 Mr Williams said the AUEW workers at the factory has been was now in the forefront of

BENE

Industrial Friday Re-

HOOL

aganst the morning. lations Act. it us or her other unions will sup Clapham have to give the Street, ead. 7UG. Prised Stre 1 London Clapham Although lower Clyde engineers Street. had by yesterday not taken any

SW4 7UG.

Assistant Ron Harleston shouting 'Barbours have won.

Jack Grassby, secretary of the South Shields Trades Union Council commented: *We all want to pay tribute to the Barbours girls. They have fought battle of their lives the and have won. It is a

WE REACH

victory for the whole working class and the trade union movement. It will long. remembered in South Shields. LET'S STEP up the fight today.

Despite their tight financial We are determined to raise our circumstances after eight of E1,750 by weeks target Christmas. on strike, a meeting of the girls Engineers all over the country raised £2.50 for the Workers beginning are to with reply Press Appeal Fund. strike action to the decision to

AUEW

fine the £50,000. From • See photographs p.ll this, the government should take warning. huge movement is that could growing force the Tories to resign. Workers Press is absolutely vital today. Only our paper can provide the firm political lead needed for this fight. So make very special effort for our December Fund. Help us collect a record amount. Add something extra yourself, if possible. Post all your donations immediately to: Workers Press December Appeal Fund 186a Clapham High Street London SW4 7UG. AMNESTY International yester- day launched world-wide Campaign for the Abolition of Torture. The chairman, Sean McBride, said torture was now being used on an "organized and systematic basis throughout the world. He said it was now re- garded as a normal part of inter- rogation procedure. The paign was aimed at generating a public outery against the wide- spread official practice of tortur- ing prisoners and detainees.

MINERS can expect a big new speed-up drive following the government's announcement yesterday of increased financial aid to the industry. Peter Walker, Trade and Industry Secertary, said aid on the scale envisaged could not be justified without *effective and sustained efforts by all sides of the industry to im- its competitive position, contain and costs re-establish viability'. date for formal pay talks with the miners' unions would be fixed following Thursday's meet. ing of the National Union of Mineworkers' executive. an NCR spokesman said yesterday. definite decision on action, dis- strike action from today's execu- trict secretary Ian McKee was in tive council meetings. no doubt that his members would "The action of the Sudbury respond to the call. men should be a catalyst and I think strikes will take place •The £50,000 fine is a diabolical throughout the right country, decision. You won't find the en- Eric said Montgomery, district gineers here lacking secretary, in fight. yesterday. There'll be some action very *The entire question of shortly," he said. position to the Industrial Rela- tions Act swings on what we Engineers' stewards in Bar- do. If we don't take all-out row-in-Furness, Lancs, includ- action we might well wrap as ing those representing the ship- fight our up. And that would yard workers at Vickers, have be fatal to the trade union move- demanded lead all-out ment as a whole! North London and Lambeth Councils of Action call on tenants, housewives, trade unionists, youth and unemployed.

December 16 March through Brixton March through Wood Green shopping centre and Tottenham Assemble 2 p.m. Assemble 2 p.m. opposite Brixton Town Hall opposite Wood Green Meeting: Town Hall Clapham Baths Meeting: Clapham Manor Street Downhills Park School 4 p.m. p.m.