Rents-the next step

we THE SIZE of Sunday's march in Camden in support of the Labour council's refusal to implement the rent-doubling Housing Finance Act marks a step forward in the campaign. pported by well over 2,000 tenants, trade unionists, Labour Party members and youth, it was the biggest demonstration seen in London against the Tory government's 'fair rent' Act. the campaign's next steps the point has to be made clear that demonstrations : in themselves as protest actions will not bring victory in the face of the Tories' determination to destroy the basic right of millions of workers to municipal housing. › date the fight has been consciously sabotaged by Labour Party leaders who, at all costs, insist on collaboration with the Tories on every issue, refusing either to alert or lead wards the end of 1971, when the Housing Finance Bill was introduced into the House of Commons® by ex-speculator Peter Walker, the Labourites were declaring that all hell would be let loose if the Tories dared to proceed. abour Weekly' the Transport House organ declared a special supplement: "Their fight is your fight. Support your local Labour councillors, urging tenants everywhere to prepare for 'the big fight of 1972'. 1 that basis many tenants' associations were formed to assist in the fight against the Tory plans to put ian Britain, council housing Britain, opening the field wide for every property speculator. 1 the 1972 municipal elections, Labour councils were swept back or made huge gains on the basis they would fight the rent increases. There was much talk of non-implementation. ut the Labour Party leadership began to move swiftly to cut off any possibilities of an open confrontation with • a Tory government which had absolutely no mandate to destroy basic right to decent housing at a reasonable rent. le decisive stab-in-the-back came in March when the National Executive Committee met to discuss the question of the Housing Finance Bill, as it still was. a most pathetic statement, the NEC said it could not advise Labour councils to refuse to implement the legislation, giving weight to statements made in public by housing spokesman and right-winger Anthony Crosland. he effects will be different from authority to authority,' the NEC declared. 'Therefore ...it was not possible to give advice to local authorities on a national basis. Each Labour group must decide in the interests of tenants and in the light of local circumstances its own methods of fighting the legislation.' was the escape route the Party right-wing was looking for. Suddenly resolutions began to No progress towards monetary union THE BIG European bankers have failed to make any progress towards monetary unity within the Common Market at their latest meeting in Basle, Switzerland.

The main result of the three-day conference was a plan to allow Italy to repay massive balance-of-payments debts in dollars. This in fact represents a deterioration of European monetary relations.

Britain became the first country to tell the EEC bluntly, that it would not honour its debts in gold or gold-linked assets (Special Drawing RightsSDRS) but merely pay the balance in paper currency.

Both the British and Italian decisions further dim the prospect of European monetary union which will be discussed by the first full meeting of Finance BRIEFLY might jeopardize the resumed Paris peace talks.

Meanwhile information has been leaked that there were more than 650 tactical air strikes in the north between December 26 and January 1. The payloads were more destructive than the combined capacity of the two A-bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World War II.

THE UGANDAN military government has raised the price of sugar by 25 per cent following a sharp production drop. This is due to the expulsion of Ugandan Asians who owned and operated the country's rich sugar. industry. The largest was the Madhvani group at the township of Jinja. After being imprisoned for two months, the head of the family was deported.

JAPAN is to increase its export of steel to the enlarged Common Market during this year. The Japan Iron and Steel Exporters' Association has decided to export a total of 1.45 milbe put in council chamber after council chamber, calling for the implementation of the legislation in the 'best interests of the tenants'. 1en, in October, Frank Allaun, 'left'-talking MP from Salford, spoke for the NEC at the Labour Party conference and declared a future Labour government could not be committed to reimbursing Labour councillors penalized by the Tories for not implementing though this policy was reversed the next day by the floor of conference, the seeds of betrayal had been well sown. And last month the NEC voted in London to overturn conference policy yet again, leaving the rebel councillors disowned and isolated. ›day, just 20 Labour councils throughout Britain are standing out against the Torieswhile another 360 have implemented the Act. The defiant councils face severe financial penalties, bankruptey loss of qualifications and the all powers to governmentMinisters in Luxemburg on January 15 and 16.

The Basle summit also failed to reach a common view on the role of SDRs and gold for settleing debts in the future monetary set up.

The Italian move is another blow to the world's two-tier gold system under which debts were settled in gold officially priced at $38 an ounce-far below the free market price. Now both Italy and Britain say they will release no gold until a monetary union is formed but at the same time their decision makes such unity harder to achieve.

The EEC's main aim is to devise a means of debt settlement between member-countries which confines fluctuations in the price of one currency against another with narrow limits.

The switch to dollar settlements and the floating pound both undermine these plans.

Agreement is now a matter of urgency. The United States lion tons of steel products in 1973, 200,000 tons-more than last year. Chairman Yoshihiro Inayama said the association would soon apply to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry for permission to set up a steel export cartel.

GOLDA MEIR, the Israeli Prime Minister, has advocated that the left-wing group, 'Red Front', should be declared illegal. She was speaking at a study group meeting of her ruling Labour Party on a proposal for a Human Rights Bill. The 'Red Front', , a Maoist roup, is alleged to have een involved in a spy and sabotage network. Mrs. Meir is due in Paris later this month for a meeting of the Socialist International.

01-720 2000 01-720 ow the fight of councils like Clay Cross in Derbyshire has come together with the movement of the whole working class to defend their democratic rights against the Tory government's onslaught. le fight against the Housing Finance Act cannot and must not be separated from this overall struggle of the class to defend their unions and fight Tory preparations , for the corporate state. Nor is the fight inseparable from the struggle to bring down the Tory government. is most urgent to go forward in each area where tenants and councillors are in struggle to construct Councils of Action to mobilize the entire working class. ich Councils, comprised of delegates from the tenants' associations, trade unions and every political tendency in the labour movement, must prepare the campaign to force the Tories to resign.

its place must be elected a Labour government pledged to socialist policies of nationalization of the basic industries, the land and the banks under workers' control and without compensation and • the repeal of all Tory legislation, including the Housing Finance Act. That is the way forward after Sunday's march.

monetary authorities have made it clear that they will not make any concessions to Europe in the forthcoming talks on the world monetary system. This aggressive attitude mirrors the mood among the American capitalist class which is in favour of trade war on Europe.

Italy and Britain are key countries in the European set up since they both have hefty balance of payments deficits with the rest of the EEC. But they now propose to honour their commitments by pouring out dollars which, atter Nixon's decision 17 months ago to remove all gold backing from the currency, have a purely fictitious value.

The issue of monetary union in general raises questions which the Common Market, on its present predatory and capitalist asis will find it impossible to answer.

Despite fine words on unity, the capitalist governments within the Market are not prepared to sacrifice any real value to the European dream.

The latest economic survey by the London and Cambridge Economic Bulletin predicts a massive £1,000m balance of payments deficit by the end of this year.

This will be the result he bulletin, of the Tories' 5-per cent growth policy.

They say even by the standards of previous 'reflations' the latest initiative has got off to a very bad start. Much of the extra expenditure has sucked in more imports-a 'disturbing' amount from the Common Market countries.

The bulletin warns if a crisis is to be avoided, personal expenditure and income will have to be strictly controlled.

The influential Tory economist Professor Paish has suggested in the Lloyds Bank review one remedy to curb expenditure. Unemployment would have to rise to a national average of 10 per cent before inflation could halted, he says.

Many of these enormous problems facing the British