Workers Press no. 985

workers press

MARKETS AND CURRENCIES TAKE A DIVE

NIXON-HEATH

CRISIS TALKS ON

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • WEDNESDAY JANUARY 31,

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIALI

BY JACK GALE

TORY PREMIER Edward Heath and Foreign Secre- tary Sir Alec Douglas-Home flew to Washington yesterday in the hope of forging a reactionary world alliance against the working class.

The first item on the agenda of their meeting with President Nixon on Friday will be the political implications of the break-up of their economic system. The stage has been set for the meeting by Nixon's budget which intensified the attack on the health, education, housing, employment and welfare of the American working class. Such an onslaught has already been this mounted counLIy. of centred around ease

I WO

Heath's state pay laws. These attacks are being aunched on the MA merican ang British capitalists but be- dECi The facts uneyare weak. Heath Nixon and will Which discuss are: LAST WEEK'S US trade figures showed deterioration $2,680m deficit, hopes that the underlying trade position was bein reversed. It 13 the now since Smithsonian curren dollar re-alien- provided the ment with across-the-board devaluation 10 But this of about working. measuresIs clearly not THIS WEEK the dollar has fallen sharply throughout the European money market and also in Tokyo.

In Zurich yesterday to 3.60000/50 Jowest ever TalE franciddie rate of set tran middle rate 3.84 francs before the Swiss franc was floated ast week. And the Tokvo stock market suffered its sixth-largest one day fall in history follow yesterday, mne a sleeD accume m ew Lork WILSON and FEATHER ... Impossible reforms.

The Dow ones inausual n ex dropped 7.38 to 996.09 In London the closing rate of

TUC-L A BOUR

corporatist struc-

THE

sterling Monday represented ›ower our or une nano Party joint statement on ture involving unions, of the ruling class 8.9 from its pre-foat rate of S2.6057.

cent devaluaton and economic this cy - soverten em- the involves ployers - the issued week- nationalization under Such mounting pressure has bour Party Committee, control makes no mention what- intensified capitalist fears which ncluded the without ever of the crisis to be the Jack compensaulon fragile structure of lerts bresent vones discussed in Washington major industries, Mikardo, parities. The currency WOr G lan claims the land. and the banks ystem is close to the point will be possible. to in- Inis week. and finance houses. troduce real prices and collapse. It has been promises pro- stabilize The Labourites' Nixon and an end it ever since reforms CO- took the dollar off gold in August, Service cument makes no men- which are totally impos- 1971. The Smithsonian formula charges. of such socialist sible within frame- is in ruins. In fact, the world eco This is deliberate de- work of the Meanwhile, Eberle, completen ¡onores William crisis of capital. ception. ПОМІС decisions both the travels ism which dominates

NIXONS

envoy Such could

TUC

and Labour Party reforms Japan on February for the politics today. only be introduced conferences which on only second round of trade talks On the basis of tripar- basis of taking cal- less than a year (see page 2). The eco lew monus act tite agreement on wages nomic and political led for extensive

TURN TO BACK PAGE

1973 No 985 4p

SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

nationalization mea- sures. The Tory attacks on the working class, which have intensified since then do not stem from stupidity or mismanage- ment, but from the eco- nomic crisis which the Labourites ignore. This amounts to dis- arming the working class in the face of omi- nous preparations being made by the capitalist leaders on a world scale. No more valuable time must be given to sive the forces of reaction.

Forty years ago yester- day, January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler became the Fuehrer of Ger- many. On our centre pages today is the second part of Tom Kemp's look at the reasons for the fas- cists' rise to power.

SHAKE-OUT

IN STEEL

SAVE

SHOTTON

STEELI

50,000 jobs are to be axed in the steel industry in the most massive and ruthless manpower shake-out since the Tory government came to power. Why? Which plants will close? How will the steel- men fight back? IAN YEATS has been to the major steel- making centres in England, Scotland and Wales to find out. He begins his reports on

TOMORROW

BE SURE OF YOUR

WORKERS PRESS EVERY

DAY. EITHER FILL IN THE

SUBSCRIPTION FORM ON

PAGE 10 OR RING CIRCU-

LATION 01-622 7029

SLL public meeting

SWANSEA

Wednesday, January 31, 7.30 p.m. Oxford Street School, Oxford Street. Speakers: Roy Battersby (ACTT), Don Jones (AUEW convenor Viscose), Jim Beavan (mid-Glamorgan AUEW district committee). All in a personal capacity.

workers press

MARKETS AND CURRENCIES TAKE A DIVE

NIXON-HEATH

CRISIS TALKS ON

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • WEDNESDAY JANUARY 31,

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE

FRIDAY

BY JACK GALE

TORY PREMIER Edward Heath and Foreign Secre- Sir Alec Douglas-Home flew to Washington tary yesterday in the hope of forging a reactionary world alliance against the working class.

The first item on the agenda of their meeting with President Nixon on Friday will be the of the political implications break-up of their economic but Labourites see nothing system. The stage has been set for the meeting by Nixon's budget which intensified the attack on the health, education, housing, employment and welfare of the American working class. Such an onslaught has already been mounted centred around Phase Two of Heath's state pay laws. These allacks are launcher onl The American anc British workers not because the capitalists but be- cause uncl weak TaCIS Heath which Nixon and will discuss are: LAST WEEK'S US trade figures showed further deterioration £2,680m deficit, hopes that the underlying trade potion being reversed. was months the Smithsonian provided tree d re-aign- ment the dollar with an across-the-board devaluation ot about

DU L

measure is clearly not working. THIS WEEK the dollar has fallen sharply throughout the European I Zurich yestandy so tell Tokyo. Zurich yesterday to its 3.60000/50 rowest ever rate adle rate of 3084 franc francs. is ore thee swiss franc was fated middle 3.84 francs last week. Tokyo market Ana the StOCK suffered its sixth-largest one day history yesterday, follow- ing a steep decline in New York WILSON and FEATHER... Impossible reforms.

The Dow dex dropped 7.38 to 996.09.

In London the closing rate ol

THE

TUC-L A BOUR

corporatist -a sterling Monday power our or ine nand represented Party joint statement on ture involving unions, from its pre-foat rate of s2.607.

cevanadon and economic policy 811- involves the ployers - the this nationalization under ISsuee weec Such mounting has bour Party en Gentee, pressure makes no mention what- workers' control and intensified capitalist fears which Jack Willo ul Consenscion lefts breseni suructure Jones discussed in Washington major in• ustries parities. world currency Mikardo. claims •kne the land, and the banks system is close to the point of this week. will be possible in- and finance houses. It troduce real and collapse. has been impossible prices promises pro- The Labourites' stadiuce ever sunce took the dollar off gold in August, Health Service cument makes no men- while are n talle trams- 1971. The Smithsonian formula charges. tion of such socialist within frame measures. world This is deliberate de- work of the Meanwhile, Eberle, come aren tones William ception. decisions of both the Nixon's trade envoy travels ism which dominates

TUC

and Labour Party such reforms could on February for the politics today. introduced conferences only be on which only second round of trade talks On the basis of tripar- cal- the basis of takina few less than a year (see page 2). The eco- tite agreement on wages nomic and political led for extensive

TURN TO BACK PAGE

No 985 4p

SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

nationalization mea- sures. The Tory attacks on the working class, which have Intensified since then do not stem from stupidity or mismanage- ment, but from the eco- nomic crisis which the Labourites ignore. This amounts to dis- arming the working class in the face of omi- nous preparations being made by the capitalist on a world scale. No more valuable time must be given to the forces of reaction. came to Forty years ago yester- day, January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler became the Fuehrer of Ger- many. On our centre pages today is the second part of Tom Kemp's look at the reasons for the fas- cists' rise to power.

SHAKE-OUT

IN STEEL

SAVE

SHOTTON

STEEL

50,000 jobs are to be axed in the steel industry in the most massive and ruthless manpower shake-out since the Tory government came to power. Why? Which plants will close? How will the steel- men fight back? IAN YEATS has been to the major steel- making centres in England, Scotland and Wales to find out. He begins his reports on

TOMORROW

BE SURE OF YOUR

WORKERS PRESS EVERY

DAY. EITHER FILL IN THE

SUBSCRIPTION FORM ON

PAGE 10 OR RING CIRCU-

LATION 01-622 7029

SLL public meeting

SWANSEA

Wednesday, January 31, 7.30 p.m. Oxford Street School, Oxford Street. Speakers : Roy Battersby (ACTT). Don Jones (AUEW convenor Viscose), Jim Beavan (mid-Glamorgan AUEW district committee). All in a personal capacity. "

PAGE 2 Workers Press, Wednesday January 31, 1973 they visit establishment an or open a school or college, to be presented with a momento of the occasion.

POULSON

'I recollection of the had • ПО IN 1966 Anthony Crosland, the coffee pot or the occasion, still Labour Education Minister, less Mr Poulson.' By Monday opened a new school in Brad- had night Crosland become ford. For performing this cere- more adamant about the even mony he received an expensive position. from antique coffee pot John 'I don't care twopence about the Poulson, the architect tycoon.

if this and, is stirring pot up Crosland and his wife, journalist trouble somewhere, the trus- Susan Barnes, both wrote let- tees can have it. I don't care.

him ters to Poulson thanking It is of no interest to me in gift. Cros- profusely for the the slightest degree, this land wrote that he was 'most damned pot.' grateful for the coffee pot you so kindly gave me.' But this is no storm in an ordi- nary coffee pot. It raises some He went on: 'You gave us a quite very important points for the exceptionally beautiful gift and working class to take note of.

I tremble to think how much it cost. I First of all, there is Crosland's shall treasure it in beautiful , of a very memory bland assertion that accepting building. €500 coffee pots from building contractors is 'the done thing'. Within minutes of the revelation Everyone does it, he says. It's of the gift and the letters in of Ministers in all custom Wakefield Bankruptcy Court governments. was tell- on Monday, Crosland ing a quite different story.

This shows the extent to which 'It is common practice for minis- the leadership of the working class in the Labour Party is ters of all governments when JAPAN'S trade balance with the rest of the world increased last year to nearly $9,000m, compared with only $7,800m in 1971. The rise took place despite the Smithsonian agreement of December 1971, which fixed the parity of the yen at 16.88 per cent higher than its previous rate. The Smithsonian revalu- was supposed to cut Japanese exports, particularly to ation the US. demonstrated by the $4,500m It has failed, as is clearly $28,000m By contrast, imports increased $3.300m to $19.000m. The Japanese surplus is a major By Foreign Editor factor in the continually widen- ing American trade deficit and

JOHN SPENCER

Nixon the administration fresh assault on the planning a trade practices of the Japanese President Nixon launched his employers. trade war on his capitalist rivals For the second time in less in 1971 with a 10 per cent sur- Eberle, the William charge lifted in December follow- ing the Smithsonian agreement. in Tokyo for talks on what the The Japanese are now resisting Foreign Ministry Japanese calls foreign pressure for another re- effective measures for improving valuation which would help make bilateral trade patterns'.

other countries' goods more com- He will also give the Japanese petitive. an outline of the Trade Bill soon Similar 'protectionist' warnings be introduced in Congress, to have been given to the Tokyo officials which American are government several times in re- could be hinting damaging to and each time the cent years, Tapan unless the trade surplus is Japanese have promised to take done away with. Each time, the action. however, action has failed to produce the Threats desired effect. The Americans felt they had finally got a firm Japanese com- US ambassador Robert Inger- when Prime Minister mitment soll returned from consultations Kakuei President Tanaka met, in Washington in mid-January to Nixon in Hawaii last August.

He the Japanese that serious warn demanded that Tanaka the cut consequences could follow unless trade gap by $2,000m at least by appeared signs in two or March next year. months the huge three that Tanaka promised to and American deficit being try was achieve this three corrected. in two or He terms of vears, and meanwhile committed spoke in veiled Japan to one-time emergency im- protectionist feeling in Congress, hinting broadly that there might ports of $1,000m worth of goods from 1972 fiscal the US in be the import surcharge on year to narrow the gap. goods the Instead Japanese entering of narrowing, however, it has still United States, still Japan's widened. largest market. corroded by the capitalist sys- tem. of In the Poulson hearing it has been shown beyond doubt that ministers, MPs, senior civil ser- councillors and trade vants, union officials are all on, what Mr Muir Hunter, QC, calls 'the gravy train. There is absolutely no evidence that Crosland accepted the gift for any ulterior motive. But in his easy acceptance of it are the seeds of danger. At the close of Monday's Wake- field hearing Mr Hunter pre- sented a diagram to the court which showed a series of inter- connecting circles and lines.

"This,' he said, 'has been des- cribed as the Poulson network.

It is only part of the facts be- cause they cannot be repre- sented on one sheet of paper.

'You and your organization are in the middle and around you are your principal clients.

'The black lines are links estab- lished by the evidence. The red lines ending in arrows repre- sent the movement of money— cash, cars, presents, mortgages, holidays and so forth.' Japan's premier Kakuel Tanaka... E The Tokyo Trade Ministry re- fused to say how big the US defi- cit will be, but banking sources more than believe will be $4,000. Tanaka had hoped to at least bring the figure below $3,000m. Record Japan has enjoyed an advan- tage in trade with the US since 1965. In the year ending March 1972 the imbalance was a record $3,200m. When Eberle arrives, the Japanese will explain they are doing their best to live up to the promises made to Nixon, accord- ing to Trade Ministry sources.

He will also be told that Japan cannot revalue the yen again at this stage without seriously hurt- ing smaller industries, and that the effects of the last revaluation will finally be felt in the trade figures within another year.

The latest Japanese govern- ment bid is a five-point pro- gramme adopted last December for expanding imports, curbing exports, free entry of foreign s- This web of contacts included such personages as Mr Regi- nald Maudling, the ex-Tory. Home Secretary; Mr T. Dan Smith, the one time leader of Newcastle Council and first chairman of the Northern Eco- nomic Planning Council; An- drew Cunningham, northern organizer of the General and Municipal Workers' Union and a member of the Labour Party's

NEC;

Mr Albert Roberts, NUM-sponsored MP for Nor- manton; Mr George Pottinger, permanent secretary at the Scottish Office and close friend of the Fraser family who own Harrods, plus an assortment of officials from British Rail, the Coal Board, the Ministry of Transport and hospital boards. Since the hearings began, more £165,000 has been re- than turned to the Trustees from an enormous variety of anony- mous sources. Crosland is to send back his coffee pot. There can be no doubt that the court is shortly to be inun- xa... Exports problem capital, more overseas aid and increased government spending at home. But there is little to indicate.

that this policy will be any more successful than previous efforts.

Many economists believe that Japan's declared foreign exchange reach reserve will the soon $20,000m mark, making it the world's largest foreign holder of US dollars. Washington has made it clear on every available occasion that this is totally unacceptable. But many observers believe it will now be impossible for Tanaka to carry out his promise to halve it.

import' Even the 'emergency programme has lost most of its effectiveness, as the Trade Min- istry plans to spread the $1,000 loss over three years, completely defeating the whole object of the original Japanese commitment.

Given the Japanese reluctance and inability to take 'voluntary' action against the trade deficit, the only course left for Nixon is punitive tariffs on Japanese im- ports, raising the trade war to a new height of ferocity.

CROSLAND

dated with solid gold cigarette lighters, pearl necklaces, dia- mond tie pins and cuff links.

The turkeys and champagne that were lavished around will, of course, not be recoverable.

This gravy train regime runs to the heart of the capitalist sys- tem. It is the capitalist system in all its rottenness which plun- ders the poor for the aggran- disement of the rich and their hangers-on. The Poulson revelations, as mini- mal as they are, will serve to redouble workers' hatred of the ruling class and its agents in their own ranks. It means that the task of sweep- ing away the rottenness and decay of capitalism is on the immediate agenda. This can be taken forward concretely by helping to transform the Social- ist Labour League into a re- volutionary party in the coming weeks. THE WAVE of strikes for higher wages in Durban, South Africa, spread to the rubber and sugar cane factories on Monday after workers in the textile industry had back to work with gone promises of wage increases.

The Frame Group, which owns all four textile mills in Durban, immediate pay announced creases for 7,000 African workers at the mills where there were strikes by 3,000 people for higher pay last week. But police with dogs rushed to a Durban rubber factory after about 1,000 workers came out on strike on Monday for higher wages. All but one of the Natal Canvas Rubber Manufacturers' depart- ments came to a halt and workers surrounded the factory gates be- fore dispersing as police rein- forcements arrived. Meanwhile, about 180 sugar cane workers struck to back minimum wage demands for a of £7.50 a month. Police patrolled in riot cars as textile workers were told at factory gate meetings of their pay increases. Some workers jeered at police, but there were no incidents. The Frame group announced that across-the-board increases ranging from 90p to £1.50 were being introduced in the group's throughout cotton division the country. SEVERAL students and security men were injured in student de- monstrations yesterday in sup- of striking government port school teachers in Beirut and in Sidon, south Lebanon. Eye-witnesses said security men the students retaliated when hurled stones at them. In Beirut, the security men trained coloured water cannons at the demonstrators, who broke up into small groups. The school teachers went on strike last Tuesday to press de- mands for better pay and work- ing conditions.

Five brace of pheasants-valued at £8-brought a savage sentence and enormous family problems 12 months for poaching ... in 1973! ERNIE CRITCHLEY is prisoner No. 670796 at 1 on the outskirts of Leeds. He's doing 12 months.

was caught poaching. No, this isn't a story from the pages of class "justice' in 1973. Ernie Critchley (34) is a miner at. Fryston pit at Airedale near Castleford. He lives with his dark-haired wife loan and two daughters Ann (14) and Jean (seven) in a small but well- kept council house. After the long and back-breaking shifts in the pit most of Ernie's mates go to the local miners' club or to the pub. Some spend their time at the betting shop. From all local Ernie is a quiet, accounts, retiring lad. His hobby, his relaxation, is rabbiting with ferrets or bagging a few pheasants.

been pursued by the working men of the Yorkshire moors for centuries.

estates, you could be togerd on the spot. But thats all over now... or is it?

When Ernie and his friend, Roy Wright, a miner from Knottingley, were caught on the Escrick Park panied by the local police.

Ernie was slapped around the face and one of the police officers drew his truncheon and menaced him with it. Critchley said: "They've given him 12 for poaching. Its lake the olden simes, isn't 12 months Ernie, Roy Wright and another man planned their poaching expedition last October. They Mrs Joan Critchley had bagged ten pheasants when a shot was fired Isn't 1t?' and the "law forces of and Mr Geoffrey Rivlin of Leeds order' closed in. The third man was appointed on the spot to got away and he hasn't been they had both defend them. As located. pleaded however, guilty, little would never tell, said 'Ernie could be said. Mrs Critchley. They could cut Ernie was given a year's jail on off his hands, but he'd three tell. He's account previous like that, Ernie. Wright convictions for poaching.

He's respected by everybody.'

was fined £100 to be paid at f2 Ernie and Roy were committed a week or six months' imprison- County Court to York Jan- on ment in default. Ernie said uary 15 for sentence. goodbye to his wife and told her Mrs Critchley was growing he'd probably be back at tea- had anxious. Afternoon tea passed and then the children had time. The judge, Mr Justice Nield, come home. Still no Ernie.

There the asked why accused weren't was a knock at the door at night- represented. The fall. A man announced himself answer was given that they had been told probation officer and said as a it would cost f80 and that they that tor Con for had bar ta ten had been refused legal aid.

off to prison for a year. EARLY DISCLOSURE of the government's long-term plans shipbuilding for the industry is vital, says a report from the today. Foreign employers out a low level during the last competition is soaking up new of 1972. quarter orders on a world scale. And \ substantial proportion of the accounted large gaps starting to tonnage booked was are for for by a single order three appear in this year's production ships placed with yard. schedules. Some improvement in the freight The Shipbuilders' and Re- had been insufficient market to pairers' National Association is stimulate significant fresh order- extremely worried that ing. over what support the certainty Thirty-six merchant ships of a Tories intend the in- giving 548,000 total gross tons were dustry will back still cut ordered from British firms in the further the number of orders final bringing 1972 the quarter, going to Britain yards. total to 109 ships of 839,000 tons.

Its that last with 24 ships report warns This compared year's orders were already well of 32,000 tons booked the In below the current production final quarter of 1971 and 70 of Owners rate. were reluctant to 1,027,000 tons during the whole commit with the themselves year. government's industry's order plans The total book at the end of 1972- nounced. -exclud- at 220 Fresh contracting continued at ing workstood naval 96 at the grim Armley jail onths. His crime is that he Critchley with her daughters Ann (14) and Jean into a chair,' said Mrs Critchley.

I just felt numb all over. It was a terrible shock. I didn't think they jailed people for this.'

Mr Rivlin wrote a commiser- ating note the family in to which he said: 'I am sorry that things turned out so badly for you. Your husband's sentence was not one which was easy to foresee and I hope that his appeal will be successful.' savage sentence on Ernie Critchley has created enormous problems for the family-though they would try to play down these diffi- culties. ships of 3,969,000 tons, with an estimated value of £644m.

For most of last year-accord- ing to figures published today by Lloyd's Register - world-wide demand for new tonnage was dropping. But in the last few weeks there was an upsurge of orders, of which most went abroad. More than 84 per cent of the increase in the world order book over the year went to Japan, while West Germany and Sweden also showed large increases.

The British industry was placed sixth in of ships under terms construction or on order. Com- pared with Japan, which in- creased its order book by 6,428,874 tons, British yards won only 117,729 tons of new orders.

Workers Press, Wedne

INVESTIGATION

BY

ALEX MITCHELL

and Jean (7) ... 'It's like olden times, They belong to proud mining in which people communities don't like to seek charity plead their problems in public.

But for stealing five brace of pheasants—worth about £8—one man is in jail losing a whole year's salary while the other is fined £100! The household income has been more than halved by the removal of the family bread- winner to prison. Mrs Critchley is drawing benefits of almost £12.

After council rent and food for the two children, very little, if anything, is left for new clothes or 'luxuries'. Mrs Critchley has the addi- tional responsibility of caring for THERE is no prospect of any fall in beef prices, the chairman of the Meat and Livestock Commission, Peter Coleclough, said yesterday.

If people wanted to retain most home-produced beef for sale in Britain, they would have to pay the going market price, Coleclough insisted in introducing the commission's annual report. Now Britain. had joined the Common Market, beef supplies would 'inevitably move to those markets which are prepared to pay the higher prices, indeed the highest price'. ss, Wednesday January 31, 1973 PAGE 3

ERNIE

CRITCHLEY ...

his relaxation after a hard day at the pit was ferreting her mother, Mr Mary Mountain (58), who is stricken with cancer.

The whole family is being made rudely aware of the cruel bureau- cracy of prison life. Mrs Critchley thought she would regularly be able to make the two-hour bus trip to Armley to see her husband. But a small, anonymous note from the Home Office put her straight about that.

It stated: 'Sentenced prisoners are entitled on reception and every 28 days thereafter to an open visit lasting half an hour.'

In other words, one visit per month. She then took consolation in the fact that they could be in regular correspondence with him.

Wrong again. Another circular stated that Ernie could write one letter each week and receive one letter each week. It stated that she could not write on more than four sides of sheets of paper eight inches by five inches. It went on: 'Letters to and from prisoners are subject to censorship to prevent breaches of the Prison Rules and Regula- tions.' When I visited the house, Ernie's two daughters were planning their next letter to their father. They were going to tell him about school and the ferrets and wish he were home soon.

The censor at Armley will have a field day with this "subversive' message! As Mrs Critchley was ex- plaining to me the shock of her husband's sentence, a revealing most interchange took place between mother and daughter. They're treating him like criminal, she said common They're doing this to our Ernie because we're miners. We're working class. 'What's wrong with that?' 14-year-old Ann asked. 'Nothing,' her mother replied.

'They think they're better than us.' 'But we're not scruffy,' Ann said indignantly. I know we're not. I bet we're more honest than all of them at the top? It is indeed ironical that her husband's case should come before the courts at a time when Wakefield Bankruptcy Court is hearing evidence about gifts handed out to a collection of Tory and Labour Cabinet Ministers, MPs, senior civil ser- hospital board officials, vants, NCB officials, British Rail execu- tives, architects, councillors and surveyors. They were all, as Mr Muir Hunter, QC, so elegantly put it, 'on the gravy train'. It is also ironic that the Critchley case should be heard only a stone's throw from Leeds where, it is said, there is the finest police force money can buy. The whole of this part of York- shire reeks with these situations —yet a miner enjoying his after- hours hobby is rounded up and carted off for 12 months, break- his family and poverishing them. The vindictive sentence on Critchley is a warning to all working-class families that the Tories have at their disposal a mass of legislation which can be brought into action at any time.

Ernie was convicted under the Night Poaching Act of 1828.

BRITISH CP MAKES A

FURTHER SHIFT TO RIGHT

PAGE 4 Workers Press, Wednesday Janu

BY TOM KEMP

The extent of the right- ward shift in the policies of the Communist Party of Great Britain is shown by an article in the cur- rent issue of 'Marxism Today' by one of its lead- ing economists, Ron Bel- lamy, entitled Trends in British Capitalism in the 1970s'. The article begins with a confused excursion into theory which amounts to a rejection of historical materialism. According to Bellamy, scientific advance and technological makes possible what he calls an increase in 'the potential productive forces'. Whether this potential is used will depend upon whether 'the owners of the means of production have an interest, through the position they inherit in a given historical set of productive relations, in using it' He speaks about them *a conscious and making deliberate change in their own relations with the owners of labour power. In other words, he is talking about a conscious aday January 31, 1973 act of will on the part of the An capitalists. They can, he says, 'decide to use the potential available to them, and thus [establish] a new and different, structure relations' Theoretical of gibberish of this kind is used from draw conclusions to Stalinist theory of 'state mono- poly capitalism' with a very definite political content: class collaboration. He argues that, for British capitalism, the gains from international co-operation within the Common Market are too low, some other form of co-operation must theretore be envisaged. The purpose of such «co- operation is to make possible the utilization of 'the potential of the newly available produc- tive forces'. He adds a typically under-consumptionist argument which runs as follows: The increased output of consumer goods made possible by full employment and rising productivity are bought back by the workers: In the 1970s,' he says, 'rising real wages, and the increasing leisure to enjoy what they will buy, will lie at the heart of the struggle for job security.' Bellamy sees no reason to explain why, over the past two or three years, unemployment in the capitalist countries of western Europe and North America has been increasing.

He is more interested in the effects of concentration and monopoly on small traders and 'the growth of anti-capitalist ideology among the traditional recruits for higher manage- ment', not to speak of the leftward movement in the Labour Party and trade unions.

This is taken in conjunction with the 'objective weaknesses in the position of British im- perialism' (not crisis but 'weaknesses'). 'British im- perialism can survive,' he con- cludes, only if the 'domestic industrial base is recon- structed'. He hunts around for solution for the some capitalists. After raising the spectre of 'attacks working upon the people,' he finds one. Britain needs a more modern industry.

This means taking part in the international division of 'But if that modern- labour. ization, he writes, 'is to be compatible with job security, rising living standards and in- creased leisure, it can be so only with a quite different conception of Britain's role in the world. 'When we say "No" to the Common Market, we also 'say "Yes" to the European security , forms of treaty, and to new economic all-European co- operation. It is tragic that at a time when Japan and the US are proposing, through neces- sity, increasing their trade with the socialist countries in a massive way, and West Ger- many and France have recog- nized some of the realities of the balance of forces, it is the which British government the most reactionary plays role.' This passage needs careful reading to bring out its real assumed meaning. It is being in the 1970s here that a modernized British capitalism can bring 'job security, rising living standards and increased leisure' for the working class if it 'modernizes' and turns towards economic co-operation with the USSR and eastern Europe. ignoring In other words, altogether the depth of the international crisis of capital- ism, Bellamy is arguing for "peaceful co-existence' between states with different social systems. He is even pointing to the policies of the USA and Japan as models which the British ruling class might emulate with profit. 'If there is going to be a drive for modernization of industry,' says Bellamy, 'all the efforts of the working people will be required to ensure that

•SURRENDER TO

EUROPE

DAFRO-ASIAN INUASION

-BLOODY TRAITORS

YOUVE BETRAYED

RCHILDREN

On the of Common Market eve the CP reported the above antI-ÉEC tioning the fact that the National Front marched in a large contin gent. and benehits go to its them the So monopolists.' not to there will still be 'monopolists.

Bellamy says 'monopoly capi- talism is anti-democratic, robs people of economic and poli- control their tical en- vironment (!) and increasingly the mercy puts them at remote forces, not only in the Whitehall, boardrooms and in but in Detroit and Brussels'.

Reformist He goes on to call for the typical Stalinist anti-monopoly alliance to include 'many small and medium, and even some whose big capitalists widest interests damaged by monopoly capitalism. It is clear that this is a for reformist programme refurbished capitalism trading Britain as a friendly

USSR

and of the Dal liti eastern Europe. Marxist ter- Despile Sonne minology, the whole method of first Ins arucie, given the Economic paper to Sub-Committee Advisory the CP in October 1972 is com- pletely reactionary.

FOREIGN BOSSES

INVEST IN APARTHEID

Apartheid in South Africa means starvation wages as well as humilia- tion for black African workers. It means fat pro- fits for capitalists and in- vestors in that country, which is a favourite out- let for British capital. There is mass unemployment among Africans, who cannot organize for better wages and are subject to slave conditions arising from apartheid legisla- tion. Many British firms take ad- of these conditions to vantage in South Africa. The invest General Electric Company, for example, paid its African workers £6 per week; average wages for similar work • in Britain was £27 in 1972. The South African Chamber of Commerce itself says that a wage of less than £10.50 per means life below the week poverty line. Hundreds of millions of pounds of fresh British capital has flowed to South Africa in recent years to take advantage of the 'opportunities' offered by cheap labour and apartheid.

A great deal of money has gone into engineering. British sub- sidiaries operate with British techniques and designs and produce mainly for the South African market. Close contact is maintained between the home firm and its branch plant. Motor manufac- like GMC, Fords and turers Leylands are rapidly expanding their engine-assembly and machinery plants in South Africa. The great attraction always, is cheap labour. A new stage is beginning in which South African manu- factured goods, produced by British subsidies, are exported back to Europe. GM began exporting its South African assembled car, the Ranger, in Electronics 1970. firms are following the example. leader Jeremy Liberal Thorpe advocates the purchase shares in companies with of South African subsidies so that shareholders (while drawing their dividends) can press for reforms. I am sure that the British directors and share- With the elections five weeks away, the French Communist Party's Central Committee meeting on January 24-25 called for a new-style cam- paign to win votes from wide strata of the electorate.

Main speaker Rene Piquet said, the aim should be to win over people from all classes, 'with the exception of the big bourgeoisie and its political agents'. He called for the party to demonstrate its 'seriousness, dignity and serenity' during the campaign. It should win to the party's ideas and proposals everybody including those who until now have not been sus- ceptible to our arguments, but who progressively are dis- covering us, and may perhaps on the occasion of this un- precedented election be recep- tive to our ideas. This broad-front campaign is intended to establish the tut Workers in a Volkswagen plant in South holders are not aware of the treatment the African workers are receiving,' said the ineffable Thorpe after a visit to South Africa last June. What a story! The directors and executives of the firms concerned are constantly on the move between Britain and South Africa. They know per- fectly well what wages are paid and how apartheid works.

They like it that way. So do shareholders — who are the attracted by high dividends and position of the Communist Party as a respectable partner in a ruling coalition which in- cludes not only its campaign allies-the Socialist Party and 'left' the Radicals - but bourgeois groups still further to the right. Piquet also called for a big effort in the factories, from which the party •expects to draw the major part of its sup- port. Here the party has to a reform programme sell to many workers ready for action as in 1936 or May-June 1968.

That is why Piquet says that there "must be 'a great ideo- logical and battle political waged' in every enterprise. At the same time he wants assur- ances and guarantees to be given to bourgeoisie that a coalition elected on the basis the common programme of would not step outside the limits of the bourgeois social order and the Gaullist Consti- tution. t in South Africa-starvation wages mean fat condone the system which brings them. Such 'liberalism' stinks! The solution proposed by some trade unionists is not very different. They emphasize that low African wages are a threat to the wages of British workers, but they want an end capitalist connection to the with South Africa. 'Investigate whether your firm has any connection with South Africa', runs an article in the January 'TASS Journal'. Communist Party chief, Marchals: 'new.

Workers Press, Wedne mean fat profits. If you discover any connec tion at all, let the company know your distaste,' the article suggests. What sort of working- class solidarity is that supposed to be? British workers must sup- port the struggles of their African brothers against the Vorster in regime South best assistance Africa. The they can give is to end the in Britain capıtalist system which means exploitation for the workers of both countries.

rals: 'new-style campaign to win votes'.

ss, Wednesday January 31, 1973 PAGE 5 FUJITSU, Japan's leading com- puter manufacturer, is moving into Europe in a big way and confidently expects to corner 10 per cent of EEC computer sales within two years. As a first step it has nomin- ated Incompto of Utrecht, Holland, as its sales agent for countries. But the Benelux Masamichi Nakamura, Fujitsu's European manager, plans to throughout western expand Europe. he has three present At types of computer on offer-a mını-computer, a time-sharing system and a small-to-medium sized machine. These can be leased through another Nether- lands company set up for the purpose. Japanese company is The already firmly established in eastern Europe, with bases in Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. It sold 44 computers to has various countries in eastern Europe, mainly from its Bul- garian base. The buyers included Hun- garian, Rumanian, Czecho- Polish and Soviet slovak, enterprises. Before entering the west European unfamiliar markets, Fujitsu organized a painstakingly detailed market survey. The entry of the Japanese firm into the EEC market is a big blow to British and other EEC computer manufacturers, who are already facing stiff competition from across the Atlantic. 'Layabouts' and 'loafers' are causing problems in Poland, according to a radio report.

Thousands of people find pre- texts for not turning up for work and many flock into cafés for a beer or a coffee. The other day an outside broadcast reporter followed in and interviewed the them 'loafers' for the edification of listeners. The report went like this: It is 11.30 a.m. and you are sitting in a café drinking - I have a medical certificate.' This is the Karmazyn cater- ing enterprise, it is full of men.

'Gentlemen, it is in working hours, and you are sitting here drinking beer.' — 'Occasionally you have to have a beer; you work hard, and if you manage to knock off for 15 minutes its nice to drop in for a beer.'

'Do you think your neigh- bour is right?'-I don't think 'Then why are you here'- I'm all right. My wife and daughter are ill and I have been excused work' 'Are you unemployed?' - 'No.? 'Why are you at Karmazyn and not at work?'-I've been sent to buy certain things and dropped in; ten or 15 minutes don't matter. 'Why shouldn't we be allowed to pop in, when the managers spend two or three hours drinking coffee in various places? Wo've got the right to quench our thirst too.'

The broadcaster did not draw any moral about the habits of the bureaucracy or go on to drop into the places where it guzzles coffee-and no doubt other things. But she did promise to return to other drinking places in the campaign against 'loafers':

Autumn 1932, on the eve of his coming to power. Hitler swears Nazi members of the Relchsiag to alleglance. The Communist P PAGE 6 Workers Press, Wednesday Janı

BY TOM KEMP

If the majority of the working class still con- tinued to support the Social Democratic Party (SPD) when Hitler took power 40 years ago yes- terday (January 30, 1933), this was mainly the fault of the Communist Party

(KPD).

In 1923 it had failed to rise revolutionary to the great opportunity then presented.

Within the next few years the party came under the control of the Stalinists and had to accept the policy which was laid down in Moscow. After the 6th World Con- gress in 1928 the KPD, under direct instruction of Stalin, embarked on the ultra- left turn required by what was called 'the third period'. The main struggle was supposed to be against the SPD, dubbed for the occasion 'social fasists' and with whom, therefore, there could be no co-opera- tion. From 1930, in a brilliant series of articles, Trotsky de- nounced this policy as bound to open the way for the Nazis and bring about the defeat of the working class. KPD policy made it impossible to break away the social democratic workers from the SPD and the trade unions dominated by the reformist bureaucracy which ignored the fascist danger and had no way of meting it. The bankrupt theory of 'social fascism' made it im- possible to grasp the real danger represented by the Nazi movement and to under- stand how fascism differed from other kinds of bourgeois rule, including the 'Bonapartist' type governments which ruled Germany after 1929. In his writings of the period Trotsky made these questions perfectly clear and appealed to the communists who wanted to fight Hitler to change their party's policy before it was too late. In defining the historic role of fascism, when capitalism requires the complete destruc- tion of the workers' organiza- tions in order to deal with the economic crisis, he pointed to number of characteristics which sharply differentiated it from other forms of bourgeois rule. It raises to its feet those classes that are immediately above the proletariat and who are ever in dread of being forced down into its ranks; it organizes and militarizes them at the expense of finance capi- tal, under the cover of the official government, and it directs them to the extirpation of the proletarian organizations from the most revolutionary to the most conservative,' wrote Trotsky in 'Germany-What Next', in 1931. 'Fascism is not merely a system ot reprisals, of brutal force and of police terror.

Fascism is a particular govern- mental system based on the esday January 31, 1973 uprooting of all elements of proletarian democracy within bourgeois society. The task of fascism lies not only in destroy- ing the communist advance guard, but in holding the en- tire class in a state of forced disunity. To this end the phy- sical annihilation of the most revolutionary section of the workers does not suffice. It is also necessary to smash all independent and voluntary organizations, to demolish all the defensive bulwarks of the proletariat and to uproot what- ever has been achieved during three quarters of a century by social democracy and the trade unions. For, in the last analysis, the Communist Party also bases itself on these achievements' These points obviously have great importance for workers today as they face the attacks of the Tory government. At the time, although Trot- sky's writings quite were widely read and discussed, his supporters in Germany were few and he was not able to change the course of either the Social Democratic or the Com- munist Parties. To the end they blindly pursued a policy which could lead only to disaster and the complete destruction of both organizations. As for the Stalinists' fatuous writings on the theme of 'social fascism', they would not bear reprinting today and they try to draw a veil of oblivion over In fact the KPD, on them. Stalin's instructions, carried out a policy which opened the way for Hitler and brought a terrible and undeserved punish- ment down upon the heads of the German workers. The suicidal policy of the 'third period' thus made it im- possible to build a united front as a barrier of all the working-class organizations in defence of their basic rights against the mounting brown tide. Instead it spread con- fusion and desperation. How could there be an alliance with one sort of fascist ('social fascists') against the full-blooded variety? Social Democratic workers could hardly be expected to trust those who described their own leaders as only a 'left' variety of Nazi. Though the responsibility of the Social Democrats January 30, 1933 and its ter- rible sequel is deep, the KPD's guilt is all the greater because it could have reversed the tide.

It did not even make the attempt and continued with the policy of "social fascism' even after the depths of the defeat were plain to all.

Yet objective conditions were driving workers all the time towards the KPD which saw as a revolutionary they once there they party. But found no leadership in the fight against fascism. Those who remained faithful to the SPD leaders could not be broken away by the arguments of the KPD based on the 'social fascist' theory. Autumn 1932, on the eve of his coming Of course, the Social Demo- cratic leaders were treacherous and did not want to fight. But that had to be demonstrated to their own members and supporters. The responsibility for doing this lay upon the KPD leadership—it could come from nowhere else. The only way to erect a barrier to fascism and to pre- pare the working class power was to propose a united front programme directly to the SPD leadership. The mobil- ization of all the strength of the SPD, the KPD and the trade unions could have made a Nazi defeat certain. In 1920 united action the working class, taking the form of a General Strike, had stopped the Kapp putsch, sup- ported by a section of the army, dead in its tracks. Similar action could have stopped Hitler and destroyed his movement. Masses German workers were looking for such leadership both before and after January 30, 1933.

SPD leaders who Those refused to accept such a fight could have been exposed before their followers and driven out of the movement. the …Once movement had working-class demonstrated its strength and determination it would have attracted side to its hesitant elements in the middle ana broken away a sec tion of the Nazis' upport elections fact, the showed, as already pointed out, that the Nazi movement had reached its peak as far as the ballot box was concerned. It was not able sup-

TO ROO HIS

The Nazis themselves porters. admitted that in some places they were losing members and supporters to the KPD. Although the Nazi Party itself deeply divided on was the 1932 Hitler onesnon. was desperate to find a way into the government because he felt that otherwise he would never get into power. Therefore series entered conversations, which Papen in broker as big WITh business, to find a way into the government by the back door.

And for Hitler only the Chan- cellorship would do. Meanwhile, precious time was being lost by the working- parties whose united Class could have posed action Large num- barrier to fascism. bers of workers were eager and ready to strike at the fascists.

The KPD leadership grossly zi members of the Reichstag to allegiance. The Commi underestimated the Nazi danger. The whole theory of fascism' led to such a 'social conclusion. If Bruning, Papen; Schleicher and the SPD leaders were all varieties of fascism, why should the Hitler variety be much worse? Indeed KPD secretary Ernst Thaelman and the others thought that Hitler's to power would be accession his undoing. Or, as another 'After Hitler, our turn, put it: KPD leader, Remmele, If the KPD spurned the 'social fascists', it entered into tacit combinations with the Nazis on a number of occa- sions. In 1931 it supported the referendum, initiated by the Nazis, to unseat the Social Democratic government in Prussia. In April 1932 it sup- ported a Nazi vote of censure in the Prussian Landtag (state parliament). In the autumn of 1932 it accepted Nazi support in the strike in the Berlin transport system against wage cuts. Such manoeuvres only con- fused the working class and played into Hitler's hands. At the same time, both the SPD and the KPD • disarmed the workers by proclaiming the impending decline Nazi influence. On the very day that Hitler sly became Chancellor, the SPD

ca dan venvende vece ddvn da dô cdhâłdád dânan dán ce

eglance. The Communist Party and Social Democrats continued to proclaim the decline of Nazi influence, thus disarming the masses.

eglance. The Commi Nazi ry of ich a apen; aders 1 and itler's Id be other ut it: the L into the occa- d the social in sup- nsure in of pport Berlin wage con- and the the Nazi Hitler

SPD

he Communist Party and Social Democrats continued t daily, 'Vorwarts' wrote: 'Faced threat of with a coup d'état, Social Democracy bases itself firmly on the Constitu- and legality.' So did tion Hitler! The working-class leaders gave no instructions to their members to resist the new Hitler had his government. plans laid and the forces of as well as of the the state Nazi organization at his com- the first mand. For weeks was an appearance of there normality. Persuading Presi- dent Hindenburg to dissolve the Reichstag, preparations were made for an election intended to give the Nazis a majority. Legality once again.

In the meantime the police under were brought firmly Nazi control and an auxiliary force of SA and SS men was formed. Covered by the police, began the stormtroopers systematically to break up the workers' organizations, pre- venting meetings, smashing up premises. Official figures showed 51 anti-Nazis killed in street fights between January • 30 and March 5. On February 24 police raided thebknecht Hougea tehe Nazis Liebknecht House. The claimed that they had found documentary evidence of a communist plot to seize power.

ontinued to proclaim the decline of Nazi influe Press and radio were full of stories of red plots. Then, on February 27, there was burning of the Reichstag, immediately attributed to the KPD. Although not formally illegal, the KPD was virtually forced underground and many of its members arrested. In the elections held on March 5 the Nazis still failed to win a majority of votes. The campaign had been organ- ized on a massive scale with assistance unsparing financial from Thyssen, Krupp and the I. G. Farben chemical trust and the business heads of other big firms. Despite party and state propaganda the working class remained faithful to its organ- izations. The SPD polled over 7 million the KPD, votes; although losing a million votes, still had over 4.8 million. The • Nazis increased their vote by chiefly at the 5 million, expense of the conservative and middle-class The parties. Catholic Centre Party even in- creased its vote: its leaders had already compromised with Hitler, but themselves of its supporters evi- many dently intended their vote to be an anti-Nazi one. In this, the last election before the total Nazi takeover, Hitler's party won only 43.9 Nazi influence, thus disarmir per cent of the pr not been for the f comminis allowed Hitler would depend on the Nationalists obtain,

OILE

Enabling Law from stag waich gave ment-powers to mi deviate from the and foreign states. were to Chancellor (i.e. by to come into effect afteris biast i dicta This constitutional with the acquiescence sie, the landownit German Castell Reichswehr. Hitler, backed bi trialists and with the support, of his middle-class in state moved euphoria, to achieve his us disarming the masses. of the poll. If it had for the fact that the were take their have on the votes of the secure in the Reichstag. proceeded to n the Reich- Law from the gave the om the Constitution with treaties Laws to be the governmen! drafted by the r (i.e. by Hitler) and nto effect on the day dictatorship by carried means, or support of the bourgeoi landowning class Termany and the backed by the indus- nd assured of army. the great mass ddle-class supporters of nationalist moved methodically his aims: to con- Workers Press, Wedne centrate all power in his hands th and to smash his main opponents, the working class and its organizations. Still the KPD and SPD leaders gave no call for action, their members when even demanded it. A few weeks before Hitler took over power, the Nazis had organized a vast demonstration in front of the KPD head- quarters, Karl Liebknecht The Stalinists meekly House. requested that the government should ban the demonstration — which it refused to do.

Meeting without opposition the Nazis were greatly heart- ened by their triumph in the enemy's territory. After January 30 the KPD was content to await the elec- tions of March 5, apparently unaware of the significance of Hitler's accession to the Chan- cellorship. On February 23, Wilhelm Pieck called on the workers to remain prudent 'and not to provide the gov- ernment with a pretext to take against the further measures Communist Party'. Four days later the Reichstag went up in flames and the suppression of the KPD began in earnest.

The KPD had certainly made no preparations for revolution —Dimitrov made a boast of it at the Liepzig Trial in which he was accused of complicity in the burning of the Reich- stag. But it had no plans either to mobilize the working class in the event of a backdoor accession to power of Hitler which actually of the kind Stalinists' took place. The policy was passive and treacherous: appeal to an while holding the legality workers in check: 'no provoca- tion' was the cry. The SPD chiefs led their supporters to the slaughter in exactly the same spirit. 'Above all do not allow yourselves to be provoked' Kunstler, head of the SPD's Berlin 'federation, told the Social-Democratic "The life and health workers. of Berlin workers are too precious to us to be lightly put in the balance. They must be for kept the day of the struggle.' The day never came.

Hitler was already in the Chancellery and the SA and SS were making themselves masters of the streets, killing and terrorizing workers. Speak- ing a few days later, another important SPD leader, Otto Wels, said that the elections 'would give the people the opportunity to take its destiny into its own hands once again'.

What an illusion! The SPD had a powerful para-military body, the Reichs- banner, which could have been used to protect workers' organ- izations from Nazi attacks. On March 5 and 6 leaders from all over Germany called on head- quarters to give the order to begin the fight. They were told to be patient and to avoid bloodshed. The capitulation of the trade unions was still more abject.

When the stormtroopers began smashing trade up union premises the TUC sent a pro- test to President Hindenburg, proclaiming its loyalty and dis- claiming violence. To pleading from the leaders to avoid bloodshed, to prevent violence, to observe legality, the German working class saw all its rights stripped away and its most active elements arrested, tortured and killed.

Then, when Hitler had taken over complete and arbitrary power, the trade union leaders tried to come to terms with the Nazi government to safe- guard their jobs and their organizations. The German equivalent of the TUC began by breaking off all its ties with the Social-Democratic Party, so that it could appear non- political. On March 20 it issued manifesto expressing its willingness to co-operate with ess, Wednesday January 31, 1973 PAGE 7 nds the Nazi regime. The manifesto said: 'It is in the nature of things that the trade unions should be more and more integrated into the state. The social tasks of the trade unions must be fulfilled whatever the nature of the regime of the state... The trade union organizations do not pretend to influence directly the policy of the state.

Their task can only be to place at the disposition of the government and of the parlia- ment the special knowledge and experience which they have acquired in this field [industrial relations, etc.]:' On April 7, the union boss Leipart went a stage further in servility when he affirmed that the trade unions and the [Nazi] government 'pursue the same great objective which is to establish the internal and external freedom of the nation over the productive forces of the people'. When Hitler appropriated May 1 as a Nazi labour day German TUC leaders the invited trade unionists to par- ticipate in the official demon- strations as a symbol of the incorporation of the working class into the national-socialist state! Next day their offices and other buildings were occupied by stormtroopers and police and most of the trade union leaders were swept into the concentration camps. On May 10 the Labour Front was founded under the leadership of Dr Ley. A few days later the right to strike was legally abolished.

All rights of collective bar- gaining were withdrawn. The Labour Front acted to discip- line the working class on behalf of the employers with the help of the Nazi cells in the factories. The working class was completely atomized and clapped in a legal straitjacket and anyone who got out of line put his life in jeopardy.

That was the trap into which the cowardly and treacherous Stalinist and reformist leaders had led the German working class by paving the way for Hitler and refusing to put up any kind of fight. This was the fate against which Trotsky had warned ever since the Nazi threat began to become serious in 1930. Almost a year after Hitler had taken power Trot- sky wrote: 'Reducing the pro- gramme of petty-bourgeois illusions to a naked bureau- cratic masquerade, National Socialism raises itself over the nation as the purest form of imperialism. Absolutely false are hopes to the effect that Hitler's government will fall tomorrow, if not today, a victim of internal insolvency. "The Nazis required the pro- gramme in order to assume power; but power serves Hitler not at all for the pur- poses of fulfilling the pro- gramme. His tasks are assigned him by monopoly capital. The compulsory concentration of all forces and resources of the people in the interests of im- perialism — the true historic mission of the fascist dictator- ship — means the preparation for war, and this task, in its turn, brooks no internal resistance and leads to further mechanical concentration of Fascism cannot be power. reformed or retired from ser- vice. It can only be over- thrown. The political orbit of the regime leans upon the alternative, war or revolution.

Trotsky drew the only pos- sible conclusion from the role of the Stalinists in opening the way for Hitler. They had passed definitely to the side of the defence of the bour- geois social order. They were no longer a revolutionary force.

It was necessary to set to work to build new revolu- tionary parties and a new, Fourth International to lead the working class out of the defeats which would otherwise be inevitable.

PAGE 8 Workers Press, Wednesday January 31, 1973 In Greece today political trials are on the increase and tortures Yet the Greek Communist Party calls for the restoration intensify. of the monarchy and a government of national unity. It was a government of this type which led to the Civil War of 1944 when the British-backed Greek ruling class sought to disarm the working class—with Stalinist assistance.

The coming to power of the military junta in 1967 was directly linked to that betrayal.

While Greek communists languish in jail, Moscow has recently signed an agreement with the colonels to inaugurate a railway service linking Moscow and Athens. Other Stalinist countries, like have trade and cultural pacts with the colonels Chinese regime. delegation arrived from Peking to open an embassy in Athens, and in the same month the state-controlled Public Power Corporation announced an $89m supply-and-install deal with Russia for a new steam be erected in northern Greece. power plant to The Stalinists, in Greece and elsewhere, bear the major responsibility for the sufferings of the Greek masses under the colonels' military junta. In this series of articles JACK GALE will trace the rise of the colonels' regime and the direct assistance given to it by Stalinism.

In November 1969 Soviet were incarcerated in the junta's of prisons, many them, Ambassador Levitchkin students, were brought before visited Greece and held students' disciplinary com- friendly talks with the mittee for a supplementary junta's Foreign Minister trial. Among them was Sterios Panayiotis Pipinelis. The Katsaros, studying practical purpose was to strengthen mathematics in 1969 when he was sentenced to life imprison- economic and cultural ment by the military courts in relations between the two Salonika for his support for a countries. Trotskyist organization sym- pathetic to the International The British Stalinists' Committee of the Fourth Inter- 'Morning Star' remained silent national Students' (the on this—although it was cam- Struggle). at the time for the paigning Tanuary The the previous British government to support Rumanian Stalinists had the expulsion of Greece from sent some 300 Greek specification the Council of Europe. for trucks ordered especially The 'Morning Star' had the of political transfer earlier said nothing the when prisoners. Soviet Union participated in On June 27, 1971, the junta's the European Games held in Minister of Commerce Spyri- Athens the of in summer don Zappas left Athens for a 1969. of trade talks with week On November 26, 1969. Rumania. Soviet trade delegation visited An agreement was signed establishing a joint Athens. ministerial committee to de- 1970 a Greek In January economic co-operation. velop trade mission was established Foreign In July, Greek in East Berlin to expand trade Christian Under Secretary East Germany. with Xanthopoulos-Palamas visited Bulgaria in return for a visit to Athens of Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivan Bazhev. In November the same vear Soviet Greek-Yugoslav trade proto- By July 1971, the Union, Bulgaria. Yugoslavia, col was signed worth £2lm on Fast each side. Rumania, Hungary and 1970 Greek Germany building During the were all military signed trade electrification networks in regime Soviet Greece and sending technicians agreements with the Union, East Germany, help construction to on Bulgaria and Albania Rumania, projects. The Salonica Trade Fair, in and contacts were established with China. August of that year, was In February, 1971, Bulgaria attended delegations from by proposed long-term technical seven Stalinist countries.

Referring and economic co-operation and these countries to also suggested co-operation in boss George Papadopou- junta the fields of transport, com- los said: 'We have offered them munications and our friendship and co-operation tourism. peaceful In May, Albania for and co-existence full we feel satisfied because they opened up relations with Greece have shown they are inspired similar feelings.' On June 11, 1971, Rumania's by Foreign Minister Corneliu In September, Under- Secretary Manescu visited Athens. Palamas made At the celebration banquet visit-this another time present all the leaders three-day trip to Belgrade at were of the Greek ruling the of Yugoslav clique invitation Mirko who were delighted to Foreign Minister henr Manescu reply to the official Tepevac, had visited who toast with the words: Athens on Tune 16. 'Your honour. Mr President In the same month Bulgarian Foreign Ito Papadopoulos]. Gentlemen, Minister of Trade, we [the Rumanian Stalinists] Ivan Nedev, visited Athens to agree absolutely on our foreign a ioint committee for set up policies, of for. the security economic co-operation. Europe December and co-operation in In Greek- peaceful co-existence,' etc., etc., Yugoslav long-term trade agree- drink ment raised Yugoslav exports continuing: your health, honoured Mr President, to Greece by 20° per cent to a and that of your wife and the total of $100m. present? full others here Talks for establishing During the visit, when hun- dinlomatic relations between dreds of and East Germany political prisoners Greece staunch supporter of the colonels' A Papadopoulos in Athens. Above: president's health after signing the rec against the regime. were opened last December.

But Stalinist overtures to the colonels' Greece have gone far beyond diplomatic and trade agreements. For example, in July • 1970 Foreign Minister Bulgarian Ivan Bashev headed a deput- ation to the Greek Embassy in in Sofia to offer condolences Foreign the death of Greek Minister Panayiotis Pipinelis.

But even more abject Stalin- ist crawling was to greet Greek Day on March 24 National last year. Albania, China's ally, sent two messages of congratulations to Greek premier Papadopou- los. The messages came from Haxhi Lleshi and Mehmet Shehtu, both prominent mem- bers of the Enver Hoxha regime. The Minister of Trade, Kico Ngjela, the Minister of Com- munications, Milo Qirko and the deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Reis Halile, attended a in reception colonels' regime, US Vice President, Spiro Rumania's Corneliu Foreign Minister, g the recent trade deal. Above right: Arrest celebration of the National Day at the Greek embassy in Tirana. Across the border in Yugo- slavia, Tito confined himself to sending a telegram of con- gratulations to Papadopoulos, while in Rumania the Greek ambassador addressed the nation over television on March 25 and Ceausescu sent another congratulatory yet message to Papadopoulos. Perhaps the most servile bureaucrats of all, to judge from the extent of their con- gratulations, were to be found in Bulgaria. There was the obligatory re- ception at the Greek embassy attended by top Stalinist functionaries, of course.

But that was as nothing com- pared with the outpourings of the Stalinist Press. 'Rabotnichesko Delo', for example, scaled heights of mystical adoration for the Spiro Agnew with Aggelis (left) and Corneliu Manescu drinks to the Greek t: Arrest in Athens of a demonstrator nal colonels' blood-stained regime: 'There are many things in common in the destinies of the Bulgarian and Greek people. What links us is the contribu- tion to and sympathy of the Bulgarian people in the struggle waged by • their Greek neigh- bours for freedom and indepen- dence. The Bulgarian people firmly believe that the two peoples can live in peace, understanding and co-operation for their own well-being.'

Another anniversary article, by G. Ivanov in the paper 'Otechestven Front', stated: 'It is to be regretted that the imperialist powers are again striving to spoil the atmosphere increase tension in the and Balkans and east Mediterranean region, involving some Balkan countries in the carrying out of their military-strategic plans and trying to set them against each other. 'This cannot but cause alarm among the Balkan peoples who have learnt to value peace along their borders, as well as

peaceful co-opera good-neighbourly In ordinary called making frien jailers of the Gree class. The friendship b Stalinist regimes Papadopoulos gang an international ou the working class. February In Greek banned Party. (the the of the Ri visit Gijebina ballet to A ballet gave a speci ance before junta and their wir Yet the following junta's 'constructiv to the Greek In May 1971, International published evidence that the Russian, and Yugoslay gover refused to co-operat ing suppression of The 52nd Labour Conference had considered cl Greece ILO requested the g bordering Greece tr formation on the t trade unionists in t Three years received no reply fi Bulgaria or Yugosla The main the Stalinist f political refuge 970 Bulgaria har Greek Maoist stud The case Psaradelles, a youn Psaradelles was escapec and then Bulgaria. Bulgarian regime political asylum by recaptured seeking to while Turkey. There is also ev Greek prisons the with prison against Trotskyists In January 1971 co-operation language this is ing friends with the working the Greek ndship between the and the los gang was raising tional outcry among 1971, the Communist

EDA)

denounced of the Russian Irina allet to Athens. The • a special perform- members the ot wives. following month the 'Free Russian government onstructive' attitude ek regime. the Geneva Labour Office evidence to show Russian, Bulgarian lav governments had co-operate in expos- ession of the trade International in 1968 onference laid charges Josef by Czechoslovakia. The ted the governments Greece to supply in- the treatment of nists in the country. aTeT reply from Russia, • Yugoslavia. service provided states wever, is the return refugees. In July handed over a oist student. Theologos particularly well les was arrested bi police, imprisoned to Turkey Bulgaria. In 1970 the regime refused his and he was Greek police king to return to also evidence that the within prisons collaborated prison authorities ary 1971 a group of Trotskyists in the Krydallos prisons sn statement declared: 'From the start of the sonment une esoeme v | in order to isolate u imprisonea mılllanı misguidedly various Stalinist "The systematic of every dark taboo with Tr discussion accompanied by conspiracies a dirty to any of their mil dares try and to of the Stalinist 'Thus, when Panavotis Doumas ferred in Novembe ıco atcn Tine jail of Salonika, he panied campaign that "police agent". had supplied police a saw in order to escape. "The "escape" wo used, according to take ists, against measures prisoners. "Their lies must b 'Comrade Douma twin sentence of lif eight ye ment olus 'When he prison his foot was completely disfigur constant tortures in of the security poli 'A few days Stalinist conspiracy the surface Sofronis 1 comrade, held in the los, prison. 'On December 1 group (this Theodorakis, Stalinism, the so-cal anti-Moscow from the prison the fra lal wavs in their mutual 'co-ope 'understanding') prison in order to the 11 U11 prisoneis in the Aegina and risons smuggled out which they e start of our impri- Stalinist leaders Malev to sander isolate us from the are milltants the trapped in factions. cultivation rk taboo to prevent with Trotskyists by all sorts of and threats militants who pull himself Stalinist swam] comrade oul Doumas was Lots - 1970 November Eftapyrgion the nika, he was accom- constant slander he was and that the supplied with him order to stage his cape" would then be rding to the Stalin- disciplinary the other es must be nailed! = Doumas is under ice of life imprison. eight years. arrived at the foot was broken and disfigured the rity police. days later, a new to onspiracy came another against ofronis Papadopou- in the Korydallos Stalinists (Partsalides) faction e faction supported ideologically le Italian brand of he so-called liberal requested wing) authorities prison the framework of that r comrade from this to isolate him other political 'This second particular significanc Stalinist delegatior carried out the for our comrade's res caught red-handed to the plaining if he prison he will be har to you and to us . At the same time 'The uproar and ge by the tests held up for a time h the end which in December 29, on 'Thus comrade imprisonment years medieval prison isolated and denounce the ditions his off from all

CUL

the outside world We denounc clique cratic porters of "Bureau of the Interi CP of Greece. 'We denounce in their delegation the key role in the haggling that secured rade's transfer. 'Their names are: Grevias, Thanassis poulos, Yiannis Stra 'But we must stre: that and-file militants some cadres of the factions daily directly or opposition to the fi paigns against us. 'Workers of of the van militants submit the facts to science, your and your judgement the (You are) able to assist in against ideological ar destruction. 'We denounce the counter-revoluti and Stalinist of the 'and cal against us revolutionary vanguard acts by capable of crimes and against the world lab ment.' has case ignificance as the which delegation "negotiations" rade's removal was while ex- guards that remains in this ill be harmful both ame time they had usual slander that is "police ar and general pro- prIsoners a time his transfer end took place er twin sentence of plus four damp, the of Corfu, unable inhuman con- imprisonment, contact from the bureau- of these sup- the so-called the Interior" of the unce in particular which played e in the despicable t secured our com- mes are: Thanassis Panoutso- nnis Stratis. nust stress the fact imprisoned rank. and even • of the various CF manifest- indirectly-their to the filthy cam- the world, the vanguard, we your con- fighting spirit only forces defending us logical and physical unce the cowardly -revolutionary acts bureaucracy call the on anti-capitalist • condemn these bureaucracy only rimes and betrayals world labour move- Workers Press, Wednesday January 31, 1973 PAGE 9 'Time' magazine has reported It's good to see that the ugly on the newest tax haven rumours about the Labour pre- to procedure East provide some respite for the selection speculators, off-shore Dumbartonshire have been harassed conmen, and tax dodgers of the knocked on the head. world - the Cayman You will remember that we western Islands in the Caribbean. Many reported—we were the very big businesses are moving there first to report-that the selec- decision had from Nassau, apparently. tion run into this Voelker- difficulties. In describing Some churlish fellows made wanderung of the trust fund "Time' unwittingly reveals the suggestion that the choice era, of Mr Edward McGarry a lot about the nature of latter- was 'a fix'. McGarry is joint chair- day capitalism. British-Leyland man The Cayman Islands, appro- combine shop stewards' com- priately enough, began their and the Transport mittee is recorded history 300 years ago Workers' and General Union as a pirates' stash. Since then, convenor at Standard Triumph have done little more they in Coventry. than soak up the sun-until It was said that on the day just recently. McGarry won pre-selection Nearly 90 banks have opened of people who had number tiny Georgetown, business in not previously been active in the the last few capital, in Labour Party affairs turned up 33 of them since last years, voted for the outsider and The Cayman July. Islanders from Coventry. now have one bank for every A complaint was made to 170 citizens. National Executive Com- the reports: The banks "Time' Labour Party. mittee of the rushing in service are to This fearless body of investi- approximately 5,000 corpora- gaters looked into the matter tions registered with the local and last the week party's These firms government. general Ron Hay- buying operate by stocks ward, reported: found through brokerage firms in the constitution and the rules Manhattan, London, and other had been breached, but not financial centres. fully carried out.' 'As long as US shareholders do the report not earnings from such investments to the inland revenue, they can escape The thousands of householders -illegally-the taxes due on Razor caught in the Rolls them. washing machine crash might 'The islands' is registrar like to know how the head of several months behind in pro- the firm is doing. cessing companies' new appli- He now directs a medieval cations, and planeloads of in Los Angeles. It restaurant daily businessmen arrive on '1520 AD' is called and the Nassau, flights from Miami, decor is in keeping with the and Costa Rica to file new period. ones. Customers lounge around on 'Aside from meeting a few bearskin rugs and eat off rough rudimentary regulations, they hewn tables. Waiters masquer- are free to run their firms with ade as jesters and musicians.

no government interference.

There are some quaint cus- 'Says a recently arrived in- exercised in toms the joint. "We like the vestment banker: If fail women customers to suitably because place it is sing to order they are thrown devoid of law"? into the stocks-to be kissed The bold entrepreneurs of and manhandled by all the the 1970s are getting out of males present. Nassau because of their fears Very amusing? When his of the Bahamas' black collapsed, thousands company nationalist government under of shareholders wiped were Prime Minister Lynden Pind- out while who had people ling, soon to get full indepen- part-purchased his washing dence from Britain. machines were left in the The Cayman Islands, on the lurch. other hand. are still sleeping His banking advisers in- cluded Edward du Cann, chair- peacefully in the cosy embrace of British Empire. The man of Keyser Ullman, and the place is still run by the British former chairman of the Tory Governor General. Party. Where is Britain Going? Paperback 37+p • Problems of the British Revolution Paperback 35p Lessons of October Paperback 60p In Defence of the October Revolution Paperback 15p Marxism and the Trade Unions Paperback 25p Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International Paperback 10p Postage: 10p per book. Order from:

NEW PARK PUBLICATIONS

186a Clapham High Street.

London SW4 7UG

PAGE 10 Workers Press, Wednesday January 31, 1973

TODAY'S TV

Mill St one 112030 Nate arm 145 Made in Brian s 1.00 Pebbl Schools Mill at one. 1.30 On the farm. dang: 4.10 Play sch. 435 a senory. 4.50 thursday's child. 5.20 4.10 Play school. Jackanory. 4.50 Thursday's child. 5.20 5.45 News. Weather. Screen test. 5.40 Magic roundabout.

6.00 NATIONWIDE. 6.45 ASK THE FAMILY.

7.05 TOMORROW'S WORLD. 7.30 NOW LOOK HERE.

8.00 SOFTLY, SOFTLY: TASK FORCE. Little Acorns.

8.50 WEEK BY WEEK. 9.00 NEWS. Weather.

9.25 SPORTSNIGHT. Scotland v England amateur boxing.

10.15 JOYCE GRENFELL.

ITV

9.30 Schools: 10.35 Yoga (London only). 11.00 Schools. 12.05 Inigo Pipkin. 12.25 Rupert bear.

12.40 First report. 1.00 Sing out with The Settlers. 1.30 2.00 Harriet's back in town.

Crown court. 2.30 3.25 Saint. ernoon. 3.00 Whose baby 5.20 Survival. the Briton 5.50 News.

6.00 TODAY. 6.35 CROSSROADS.

7.00 THIS IS YOUR LIFE. 7.30 CORONATION STREET.

8.00 THE FIRST OF LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR.

8.30 NEAREST AND DEAREST. The Visit.

9.00 PUBLIC EYE. Home and Away. 10.00 NEWS.

10.30 A PLACE IN THE COUNTRY.'

Compton Castle. 11.00 SHADOW OF FEAR. The Party's Over.

11.30 FILM: 'THE MOB'. Broderick Crawford, Ernest Borgnine. Fifties gangster film.

1.00 ALL IN THE MIND.

LACHES

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Name. Address. Jill Mai Meredith as Jill and Ronnie C life of the middle-class—but rather amu

REGIONAL TV

London. 1.15

CHANNEL: 9.30-11.55

1.30 London. 2.30 News. Galloping 3.00 London. 6.00 News. gourmet. 6.30 Linkup. 6.35 London. 7.00 Trea- sure hunt. 8.00 This is your life. 8.30 London. 11.30 News, weather.

WESTWARD.

1225 Channel except: Hammy hamp- 12.05 London. ster. 12.37 Gus Honeybur London. 12.40 London. 12.57 News. 1.00 11.30 News. 11.33 Gene- 6.00 Diary. ration three. 12.00 Epilogue.

SOUTHERN:

9.30 London. 12.00 News. 12.05 London. 2.30 Houseparty.

London. 3.30 Danger 5.25 0. Cross- 5.20 Cartoon. roads. Survival. London. Pathfinders. 9.00 London News.

11.30 What the papers 11.45 11.55 Guideline. 12.00 Shirley's world. 12.30 Weather. HARLECH: 9.30 London. 2.30 House- London. Rainbow party. 3.00 4.50 5.20 Chuckleheads. country. 5.25 Crossroads. 5.50 London. 6.01 Report West. 6.15 Report Wales. 6.30 Arthur of the Britons. 7.00 10.30 Time 11.00 London. was. Cinema. 12.00 Weather. HTV Cymru/Wales above as except: 4.20 Miri 4.35-4.50 Cantamil. mawr. 6.01-6.15 Y dydd. 11.30 World in action. 12.25 Weather. West as above except: 6.15-6.30

HTV I

Report West. ANGLIA: 9.30 London. 12.04 News. 12.05 London odd couple. 2.30 3.00 London. 3.55 3.30 4.19 News. 4.20 London. per room. 5.50 London. 6.00 About 5.20 Lucy. Anglia. 6.35 London. 8.00 Survival. 8.30 London. 11.00 Theatre. 11.30 Spy- force. 12.35 Your mu; ac at night. Fight rising rents and prices Defend basic democratic rights Force the Tories to resign ABERDEEN: Wednesday January 24 31, 8 p.m. Trades Hall, Adelphi. CAMBRIDGE: Thursday February 1, 8 p.m. 'The Rose and Crown', corner of Newmarket Road and East Road.

KINGSTON:

Thursday February 1, 8 p.m. "Liverpool Arms' (corner of Cambridge Road/ London Road). DERBY: Thursday February 1, 7.30 Metal Mechanics p.m. premises, Charnwood St. SOUTH EAST LONDON: Thurs- day February 1, 8 p.m. Deptford Engineers Club, New Cross Road.

THE

Plymouth Fine Tubes strikers have just completed two years and seven months on strike. These men have waged a bitter struggle for the most basic right worker can possess-the right to belong to a trade union. Strike committee members have travelled 100,000 over miles to sustain their fight.

have These latest months been the hardest of all for the men, their wives and 53 Ronnie Corbett in 'Now Look Here' on BBC I. More adventures in the ather amusing-mediocrity.

BBC 2

11.00-11.25 Play school. 5.25 Open University.

7.05 MAN AT WORK. New Star, New Skill.

7.30 NEWS Weather. 7.35 ALL IN A DAY. The Move.

8.05 MUSIC ON 2. Lorin Maazel discusses variations on the theme of interpretations.

9.05 FRENCH TAPESTRY.

9.20 MAN ALIVE. Entente Tropicale. New Hebrides.

10.15 THIRTY MINUTES THEATRE: 'A CHANCE ENCOUNTER'. By Rhys Adrian. With Alfred Marks, Hugh Burden.

10.45 EDITION. 11.15 NEWS EXTRA. Weather.

Lon 300

ATV MIDLANDS:

9.30 buses. 8.30 Lon- London. 12.00 On the oday. 12.05 What London. oday. ine papers 8.00 Please sir. Odd 11.00 Communications

COOL.

O'Hara. Weather. 4.20 London. ndon. 6.00 Today. 3.39 Champions. Lon.

ULSTER:

Schoo%s25 8.30 Londor Corn 4s London. Edgar 1h3o World roar tors.

SCOTTISH:

9.30 LO 5.25 Crossroads. 2.30 Date- no Today. 5.50 London. 10.300•30 Sur-

YORKSHIRE:

1.25 London on 5:20 3.30 7.00 Report. Be- Bee lights witched. London. 6.00 calendar. DaNe 6.35 London. 8.00 the king. alu 10.30 10.58 London. 1.38 ö.SU

CRAMILAN

2.45 3.ss ear- London. Spyforce. 12.26 Schools. cartoon 2.52 3.25 Weather. 3.00 London. Nomen Har- back London. 3.25 6.00 6.05 Thon story

GRANADA:

London. Toga 35 London. ime. 6. cartoon. crossroads. 'Lucy. 7.00 show. 8.30 London. 11.30 Protectors.

o.ll News,

HOLLOWAY:

Thursday, February

LONDON TEACHERS' SECTION

Hall, Monday February 5, 8 p.m.

1, 8 p.m. Co-op Seven Sisters Road. Conway Hall, Red Lion Square London WC1. MANCHESTER: Thursday, Febru- ary 1, 8 p.m. Ross Place School,

SKELMERSDALE:

Wednesday Fort Ardwich. Winnie Joe Potts, 8 p.m. Quarry Bank February 7, Connie Fahey. Price, "Fight rising Community Centre. prices! Force the Tories out 17.30 p.m. Cardina sHat HACKNEY: Thursday February 8, Wood Street. 7.30 p.m. 'Cardinal's Parlour Room, Central Hall (opposite Town Hall). Build CROYDON: Thursday February 1, Councils of Action.' Ruskin House, Coombe 8 p.m. Road. WILLESDEN: Thursday

SWINDON:

8, 8 p.m. Labour and Trades Hall,

NLF.

February 5, Market Hotel imperialism. 8 p.m. Market Mesmes

UCATT,

Bill Lyons, AUEW, Ray 20, 7.30 p.m. AEU House, UCATT. (All in a per- sonal capacity.) Pleasant. lose. That is why the Socialist children. Common Market entry and vith rapidly rising prices, has Labour League financial Workers Press wishes to make imposed severe The 37 strikers face burden. a special appeal to the challenging months ahead depleted strike fund- their factories and branches Fine Tubes men in for the heroic and has now become a luxury for order that their Jetermined action can be car- all but the highest paid. a difficult Fine Tubes Treasurer Yet they are determined to c/o 65 Bretonside This is a struggle the fight on. Plymouth, Devon. working class cannot afford to

an acre THE AVERAGE price of build- ing land per acre during 1972 was more than £25,000 and the average price of an individual plot £5,000. This was stated yesterday in the 'Digest of Building Land Prices', a new publication pro- duced jointly by the House- builders' Federation and the Estates Gazette. There were wide variations in land prices from area to area.

An acre in Yorkshire cost less than £10,000 and an acre in Surrey fetched £100,000. Individual plot prices ranged £1,000 more than from to £20,000. SIT-IN strikers from the CAV factory at Fazakerley in Liver- pool met leaders of the Liverpool Trades Council last night in a to win wider support for bid against their 16-week fight Workers at the Lucas closure. Industrial Equipment factory, which occupies the same site as CAV, worked in without super- vision or management for the second day running yesterday.

They have accepted passes issued by the CAV occupation commit- tee for entering and leaving the site. Lucas management refuses to accept the pass system and will not pay the LIE workers for their work. THE 1,200 strikers from Stoves Limited, St Helens, Lancashire, will meet this morning to dis- a redundancy agreement cuss drawn • between up management and unions. A walk-out took place two weeks ago when 61 redundancies were announced. They reaffirmed the stand of first in, last out.

On Monday the men were told by Jack Hyam, general secretary of the National Union of Domes- Appliance tice and Metal- workers: 'Obviously your proposal for a four-day week could not work. Your committee was shown this by management? On the strikers' demand for

CLAPHAM

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 14,

8pm South Island Library South Island Place Stockwell, SW9 speaker: MIKE BANDA (SLL Central Cttee)

WATFORD

MONDAY FEBRUARY 19, 8pm Trades Union Hall near Watford Junction stn speaker: MIKE BANDA (SLL Central Cttee)

ACTON

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 20, 8pm Woodlands Hall, Crown Street speaker: G HEALY (SLL National Sec)

GLASGOW

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 11,

7.30pm Govan South Town Hall Langland Road nearest underground Govan Cross speaker: G. HEALY (SLL National Sec)

BY PHILIP WADE

WORKERS at the Rockware at Greenford, west Londo formed a co-ordinating comm fight the threatened closure.

the big glass contai Rockware, told its 900 Greenford workers tr ago that the factory was to close d pletely in January next year.

Workers believe they are the vic land speculation deal involving the s 35-acre site. 'The managing director told us the land had a £3.5m book value, but that the real was a spokes- man for the co-ordinating com- mittee, George Cowley, said.

'We think Rockware will use money from the sale of the land to rationalize production and cut jobs throughout the group's five factories,' he added. The work force also fears that the threatened closedown may have been speeded up by a decision not to rebuild a main used in the production tank process. A SECOND big union yesterday the right-wing revolt joined against TUC policy on the Tories' pay-control law. The Electrical Trades Union and Plumbing called on the TUC to reconsider its refusal to allow representation on the pay and prices board.

This should be left to the indi- vidual unions' discretion, the EPTU executive said. redundancies, only voluntary Hyam said: 'I don't know if we can get away with redundancies on a voluntary basis. The com- mittee will have to put some- thing in its place.' He claimed the company would be 'embarrassed' if the men returned. As the strike was now official, strike pay would be handed out when they returned.

One striker commented after the meeting: 'We went out to get the 6l redundancies whatever procedure

NORTH KENT

MONDAY FEBRUARY 19, 8pm The Shakespeare, Powis Street Woolwich speaker: G HEALY (SLL National Sec)

WANDSWORTH

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 22.

8pm Wandsworth Town Hall Wandsworth High Street speaker: MIKE BANDA (SLL Central Cttee)

MIDDLETON

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 14,

8pm Middleton Baths, Middleton, Manchester speaker: G HEALY SLL National Sec) ckware factory London, have committee to is container firm, orkers two weeks close down com- • the victims of a ing the sale of the SIX YOUNG Spaniards went on fascist military trial before a tribunal yesterday in connection with a bomb attack which killed the French consul in Zaragoza last month. The prosecution is asking for death sentences by firing squad for three of the defendants, all students, who accused are planting a bomb at the French consulate which killed M. Roger Tur (67). Defence lawyers are pleading Alvaro Noguera that the three, Calvet (20), Luis Xavier Sagarra De Moor (21), and José Antonio Mellado Romero (21), did not intend to kill the consul and are asking for 12 years and a day prison sentences in the place of the death penalties. The prosecution has called for prison • terms of 30 years—the maximum Spain-for two others, Claudio Solsona Aznar ELEVEN PEOPLE were remanded at following a weekend swoop by Sc Four of the defendants, who are ac are to be held in custody until their The seven others-including a woman—were granted bail total- ling £170,000. They will appear again on February 6. The woman defendant is Mrs June Humphreys, housewife, of Dean Street, Soho. Among charges against Mrs Humphreys is that she conspired with another man to cause grievous bodily harm to a man named Peter Garfath. Last year the head of the Flying Squad, Commander Ken resigned from the force Drury, following newspaper revelations that he had gone to a Mediter- ranean holiday resort with strip- club owner James Humphreys.

MEDWAY

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 27, 8pm Aurora Hotel Brompton Road Gillingham speaker: MIKE BANDA (SLL Central Cttee)

SLOUGH

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 28

8pm Britwell Community Centre Long Furlong Drive Britwell Estate speaker: G HEALY (SLL National Sec)

DAGENHAM

THURSDAY MARCH 1, 8pm Manor Park Library Romford Rd/Rabbitts Road opp Rabbitts Pub speaker: G HEALY (SLL National Sec)

BIRMINGHAM

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 25, 7pm Digbeth; Civic Hall Digbeth, Birmingham speaker: MIKE BANDA (SLL Central Cttee) asset strip death sentence (21), and Fernando Burillo Garcia alleged com- plicity in the attack. They have recommended that the Casc ine Vigil- Juan Ignacio Tencant. Escalera Azcoaga be dis- missed. defendants were allged to of the "Col. have been members HammerMaoist lective and Sickle', clandestine o tanzalor Iwo years ago, a Spanish court- basque nationalists to They Donicenas. were saved only by an international movement, including mass strikes acmonstralons. Attempted murder charge after "porn' swoop ELEVEN PEOPLE were remanded at Old Street Court yesterday following a weekend swoop by Scotland Yard's 'Porn Squad'.

Four of the defendants, who are accused of attempted murder, Nasty Tales' to pay costs AN OLD BAILEY judge yes- terday reuser a application for costs from Bloom Publica- tions Limited, publishers of the 'Nasty Tales' comic. Last week the company and Three

CITO

(ormer «urectors were ted 2P5ssessing obscene coples Tales' No. I-for publication and gain. When the not guilty verdicts

SLL

LECTURES

GLASGOW

against Stalinism.

MID HALL

Partick Burgh Halls 7.30 p.m. Lectures by Tom Kemp, SLL Central Committee member

DONCASTER

Sunday February 4 answer. Lect Saugiver by

SPREAD EAGLE HOTEL

Westlaithgate 7.30 p.m.

TODMORDEN

Mondy abruary s

THE WEAVERS'

INSTI-

TUTE,

Road, Burnley 7.30 p.m. Wednesday January 31, 1973 PAGE 11

ONE DAY

LEFT-

-£201.01

STILL TO RAISE

IT IS now urgent! We oniy have one more day to complete our £1,750 total. Rush every- thing you can to us imme- diately. We must raise our target on time! We are confident you will never let us down. In spite of the difficulties you, our read- ers, must be facing with the huge increases in prices and rents, we know you will fight with everything you have maintain your paper, Workers Press. As gasworkers, carworkers, civil servants, steelmen, hospl- tal workers, actors in fact all sections of the working class —move into action against the Tory government, support con- tinues to grow behind our paper. Our record is clear. On every major issue our stand has been firmly with the work- ing class. Our paper remains in the forefront of the fight to defend all our basic democra- tic rights against the Tories' attacks. An all-out, last-minute effort must be made for our Fund.

It is within our grasp. Send whatever you can raise. Rush it immediately to: Workers Press January Appeal Fund 186a Clapham High Street London, SW4 7UG were returned, Mr Robin Grey, on behalf of the accused, ap- plied for costs. In his reserve judgment yes- terday Judge Alan King-Hamil- ton said: "This prosecution, in my judgment, was quite pro- perly brought, having regard to the complaints which had been made to the police. 'For this reason, I don't think the company should be indemnified from their costs out of public funds? Lecture 1 1919-1924—The Communist In- ternational in the days of I Trotsky Lenin and Lecture 2 1924-1933—The Left Opposi- tion's struggle against Stalin Lecture 3 defeat to the founding Fourth International given by TOM KEMP (SLL Central Committee) Wednesday January 31 Lecture 1 Wednesday February 7 Lecture 2 Wednesday February 14 Locture 3 Woodlands Hall Crown Street, W.3. 8 p.m.

EAST LONDON

Thursday February 1 Lecture 1 Thursday February 8 Lecture 2 Thursday February 15 Lecture 3 Old Town Offices Poplar High Street E.14. 8 p.m.

Right wing will not fight actors' pay cut PAGE 12 Workers Press, Wednesday Jar British-

PRODUCTION

at Leyland in the Midlands was seriously disrupted yesterday by a lorry drivers' bonus dis- pute. The company is expected to lay off thousands of workers to- day at its factories in Birming- ham, Coventry and Abingdon.

More than 1,000 drivers have handed their heavy goods vehicle licences to the Transport and General Workers' Union in a bid to force British Road Ser- vices to pay them a bonus of £2.50 a week for driving heavy lorries. The £2.50 is already being paid by 171 firms in the area to men holding HGV licences and also by BRS car transporter drivers.

The claim was placed before BRS management last November.

On January 25 at a meeting of union officials and BRS the union was informed that the drivers were only entitled to the amount laid down under the government pay laws-fl plus 4 per cent.

This comes to an increase of £1.96. The men are adamant that they are fighting a bonus issue and not for wages. They have discovered belatedly, however, that both come under the state pay laws. When the drivers reported for work yesterday without their licences they could not take out the heavy lorries including trans- porters used to ferry car bodies from British Leyland factories in Castle Bromwich and Bordesley, Birmingham, to assembly plants.

As a result mini-car produc- tion stopped at the Austin Morris factory at Longbridge and 1,100 assembly workers had to be re- deployed to other jobs. Sports car assembly at Abing- don, Berkshire, was also halted and 400 men were given other duties. night's Last night shift at Longbridge-about 1,700 men— have been told not to turn up.

In Coventry today production of Jaguar and Daimler saloons will grind to a halt. • British Leyland production is also being hit by a bitter dispute with another haulage group- Curtis Limited at Swindon.

The firm transports car bodies from Pressed Steel Fisher to the Cowley works at Oxford. d1AL1

FEND ALL DEMOCRATIC RIGH

ISM AND BASIC LIVING'S

NEACTION TO MAKE THIS T

THE ROAD T0 PO

THE BURD

ING OF THE REVO

TICKET E1

SPECIAL LECTURE: Giv SLL national se Marxism and the Road te

SUNDAY FEBRUA

BEAVER HALL, GAI

(nr Mansion Hou nesday January 31, 1973 RIGHT-WING actors' lead- ers yesterday rode rough- over their members' shod call for strike action over pay—only to hear the Tories have in fact extended their wage-cut order in the West End. By l6 votes to 5, the exe- actors' cutive of the union, decided to ignore Equity resolution carried by a clear majority at a mass meeting of actors in London on Sunday.

CAP in hand, Jack Jones was again knocking at the door of the Tory government yesterday.

This he was time seeing Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Anthony Barber, at the Treasury building in Whitehall. Accompanied by the Transport and General Workers' Union cab section officer, George Abrahams, Jones was pleading with Barber to get taxi fares exempt from

VAT.

The new Common Market tax, which comes into force on April 1, will cut taxi drivers earnings by up to 10 per cent. Barber did not offer any hope for the cab drivers. But one thing is guaranteed-Jones will be back seeing the Tories on many, many occasions in the coming months.

Mind you, he won't call a con- ference of his own union to for- mulate a policy to fight the state pay laws!

RATIC RIGHTS DEFENO TRADE

C LIVING STAND

ICKET et URE: Given by G. Healy, tional secretary • Road to Workers' Power BRUARY 4, 7p.m.

ALL, GARLICK HILL

sion House tube) motion The demanded a strike for the full £12 increase stopped by the Tories, imme- diate wage claims for all sec- tions of the union's member- ship and de-registration under the Industrial Relations Act.

The Tories' state pay law should be defied, the motion said. Equity should join with the whole trade union move- ment to force the Tories to resign and elect a Labour gov- ernment committed to repeal- THOUSANDS of gasworkers staged token strikes yesterday against a derisory £2 pay offer, made under Phase Two of the Tories' pay-control legislation. The strikes hit Northumberland, Durham and parts of Yorkshire and Cumberland as union leaders rejected a 24p increase in the offer. Although opposed by the union leaders, the strikes undeniably expressed the growing movement in the rank and file for real, decisive action against the Tory laws. This movement is by no means confined to the gasworkers. The leaders of several unions are now trying to • head off demands for strike action. As yesterday's gas talks were the executive of the beginning, union Equity actors' was com- pleting a stormy meeting on the The Press conference that never was MYSTERY surrounds the latest moves in the fight of Briant Colour Print workers to save their doomed factory.

A Press conference due to be held yesterday by the work-in committee was cancelled at the last moment after three hours of talks between print workers and union officials. Leaders of the three unions involved, NATSOPA, SOGAT and NGA, left the Connaught Rooms with long faces and SOGAT general secretary Mr Vincent Flynn waved photographers away angrily. Liquidator M. P. Granville White has obtained a High Court instructing the work-in order committee to hand over the com- pany's documents he needs to wind up the business once and for all. On Friday the Briant workers will be faced with a demand to hand them over. Failure to do so will mean further High Court action. ing all anti-union legislation.

Implementation of any sec- tion of this motion would be 'suicidal', right-wing leaders at yesterday's meet- claimed ing. They felt sure a majority of the membership would not support it, so they turned it down in its entirety. But the motion's opponents said noth- ing about how they proposed to fight the wage-cut. The meeting was also told of a new order issued by the

BY DAVID MAUDE

demand of its London members for strike action over pay.

The right wing of the executive wanted to ignore the demand- made at a mass meeting on Sun- day-for a strike to win full payment of the £12 rise stopped by the government. servants' Meanwhile civil leaders were considering possible overtime bans and selective strikes against the government's refusal to raise their pay from January 1. A meeting of five civil service unions in London was attempting to agree on a policy of joint action, to be referred back for approval by individual executives within the next week. Unions represented at yester- day's meeting were the Civil and Public Services Association, the Society. of Civil Servants, the Customs and Excise Group, the Civil Service Union and the radio officers' union.

FROM PAGE 1

trade war battle lines are being drawn. Yet Mr Peter Walker, British Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, said in Canada it would be 'absolute disaster' if Europe turned inward and America be- protectionist in trade came matters. Such a situation 'would ghastly, disrupting and thoroughly bad. Walker — who, before taking office in the Heath government, was connected with the leading financial firm Slater-Walker—-is asking the American capitalists to call off their trade war against Europe. He is appealing for a world alliance of the ruling class against the working class. Denise red bised porkers Presse Office. 186a Clapham High Street, London, Printed by Plough Press Ltd. (TU), 180b Clapham High Street, London,

SW4 7UG.

of Employment, Department which extends the cut to assis- tant and deputy stage man- agers in the West End and to freelances at the BBC. Up to now these sections have been receiving increases in their minimum rates, denied to the actors. It is thought that about 100 people are aftected.

The D of E's new order tears the guts out of the right-wing argument that their policy of 'lawful' resistance to the Tory orders had proved effective.

After receiving the report of the government's Pay Research Unity, on which civil service pay reviews are normally based, they say their members' pay is lag- ging 20 per cent behind equivalent workers in commerce and in- dustry. Teachers' leaders are not say- ing what they think of a 6.4 Phase Two pay offer per cent, made to their 400,000 members on Monday. Further talks will take place February 16. The teachers' on claim was for 21 per cent.

But leaders of the rail loco- men's union ASLEF, have re- jected the latest British Railways drivers Proposals for restructuring The nine-man executive of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen unani- mously decided to carry on talk- ing with the Board. Another meeting is expected later this week of the joint working party looking into the dispute.

The only way out for capital- ism is to destroy • the working class, drive down living standards and intensity the rate of exploit- is what drives the ation. This Tories to impose state control of wages, entry into the Common Market, laws against the unions and deliberately inflationary in- creases in the cost of living.

As the international money market sinks ever-deeper into chaos and economic crash looms ahead in major capitalist coun- • tries, the stage is set for vital revolutionary struggles. There must be an immediate campaign for the recall of the TUC and the Labour Party con- ferences. The spurious

TUC-

Labour Party document (see page one) must be rejected along with the leaders responsible for it.

These conferences will have to discuss the real political and economic crisis of capitalism and, flowing from that, prepare a real fight against the Tories which will compel this government to resign.