The Newsletter, vol. 2 no. 40

Now IRIS Attacks The Newsletter — overleaf 180 Clapham High Street, London, $.W. 4.

Vol. 2, No. 40 ; porarily ended by the expulsion from the committee of two leaders of the revolt, the downgrading from HE anti-Ulbricht revolt in the central committee of the east German Socialist Unity Party has been tem"the Politburo of a third oppesitionist, and by threats of action against other leading party members, as yet unnamed, News of the move to unseat Stalinist. first secretary Walter Ulbricht was. first disclosed exclusively in THE NEWSLETTER last December 21, when I wrote: ‘Full dc tails of the anti-Ulbricht movement in the highest circles of the Socialist Unity Party cannot yet be revealed.’ Since that date Ulbricht has been fighting desperately te remain in power. During January the Politburo was in almost continuous session, hammering away at-the details of deep divergences of opinion on future: party The full session of the central committee, originally scheduled for January 15, had to be twice postponed, since Ulbricht could not get a majority. for his ‘hard’ line even among the Politburo stalwarts. —;

To : oo According to, the most reliable information, Ulbricht was - able to rally only three of the fourteen members of the Politburo for unconditional support of his policy at one point in the discussion. : , , Details of the top-secret discussions. which have now leaked out make it clear that Ulbricht’s hand was weakened throughout December and the first part of January by the fact that Our Correspondent in east Berlin; a former official of.

|. the Comintern, forecast in The Newsletter on December 21 in his exclusive article-on why Gerhart Ziller committed suicide: “Gerhart Ziller will not be present at the next plenum of the central committee: but other scapegoats’: for. Ulbricht’s failure .. . are sure to be found’ ~The expulsion: vf Comintern veterans Ernst . Wollweber, former. Minister of State Security, and cadre .. chief Karl. Schirdewan from the central committee of the Socialist Unity Party, bears out our correspondeénit’s forecasts, - ; Sota an His article this week gives further details of the struggle against Stalinism in the top ranks of the east German. party. : ; ces :

the Soviet Politburo’ informed both Ulbricht and the opposition that the dispute was regarded as a purely internal German affair which had to be fought out without Moscow intervention. ~ , This hands-off attitude was underlined early in January when Soviet Ambassador Pushkin, who often attended Politburo “discussions in complete contravention of party rules, was hurriedly withdrawn from Berlin without a replacement being ‘sent. oe ;

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Another indication that Ulbricht did not have Moscow support in the early course of the faction fight was the action ‘of Ernst Wollweber, former Minister of State Security, who was sacked by Ulbricht in the autumn, and who-can now be (Continued on: back page)

__ Registered at the G.P.O. as a newspaper Sixpence BERLIN INDUSTRY © ‘GO AHEAD WITH SACKINGS—BUT DO BE

SACK your workers by all means. But do it in a humane fashion. Butter them up a bit. Soften the blow. Be subtle © about it.

TO oe ‘This, without the frills and platitudes, is what the Ministry of Labour ‘tells 15,000 employers in.a booklet Called ‘Pésitive Employment Policies’ serit ‘out-free to them this week.

: The only: positive thing in the booklet is the recognition : that sackings are ‘inevitable’ from time to time’. The Ministry is -concerned. to. help-manageménts.to. create unemployment with the minimum ‘disturbance’.—-." al Ice Pea ‘Minister of Labour Iain Macléod himself summed’ up its aims at a Press conference:.‘You can. boil it down: into..one word, and that is “confidence”.

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Give the workers enough ‘confidence’ in their security and ; they'll be signing on at:the-Labour Exchange before they know what's hit them. And all.those unpleasant ‘disturbances’ slike: strikes ‘against sackings can be side-stepped..

we Or so the Tories Hope. re Be ‘as considerate as possible’, they tell managemetits. And just to show they’ are really 6n the“ bosses’ side, ‘they say in the same sentence that consultation over questions of discharge ‘need not. detract from management's authority: to “implement necessary decisions’...

- . ph eS Genuine Contract of Service La The iron hand peeps through the -velvet glove. again in a _ Passage about one of Macleod’s pet ideas: that workers should be parties to ‘a genuine Contract of Service involving rights and obligations on both sides’, _ ae - That workers” obligations will overshadow their rights in such a scheme is indicated. by the talk of an official inquiry— perhaps a Royal Commission—into: collective bargaining,’ with the aim of weakening trade unionism.

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‘Asked why he had chosen this: particular time to~ issue ‘Positive, Employment Policies’ Macleod replied: ‘I think industry is now coming into a period when, partly through auto- © ‘mation and technical progress, there is a period of change.’

‘By ‘period of change’ he means ‘period of unemployment’. And. this is why he is telling the ernployers that there aré more ways. than one of creating unemployment. ; ; .

There are forty pages of fine words in Macleod’s booklet. But fine words, as everytrade unionist knows, butter no parsnips.

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R OCHDALE'S hard-headed citizens have spelled out

messages in the plainest terms to both Tories and ‘Labour. To the Government, reeling from a body-blow worse than any Conservative supporter or Stock Exchange patriot had imagined possible, they say: ‘Out with you! With or without bells and bathing costumes and other such stunts, we’ve had enough of you.’ To the leaders of the Labour Party they say: ‘If you don’t put fire in your bellies and fight, you too may get a ’ shock at the General Election.’

A moment’s study of the Rochdale figures shows that Labour has not the slightest grounds for complacency, despite the dramatic reduction in the Tory vote from 26,518 to 9,827. Labour’s vote, too, dropped, from 24,928 to 22,133. And Labour’s share of the votes dropped, from 48.5 per cent. to 44.7 per cent. We must do better than this if Labour is to sweep back to power with a thumping majority. This pattern of Tory losses without Labour gains is not a healthy one. At Rochdale, of course, the picture is made more complex by the existence of a strong Liberal tradition, which enables a party that is little more than an anachronism to capture perhaps 7,000 disgruntled Tory votes. We may expect attempts by the Labour Right wing to draw from this Liberal success the conclusion that Labour should seek to attract middle-class voters by soft-pedalling on nationalization and discouraging industrial militancy. Such a course would-be disastrous for Labour, which depends first and foremost on the support of the industrial workers. The reconstitution of ‘Victory. for Socialism’ under a new leadership can make an important contribution to the framing of a_ positive socialist policy, and help turn the Rochdale result into a nation-wide rout for the Tories at the hands of the Labour movement—on condition that it engages in serious activity in the factories and trade union. branches as well as in the constituency Labour Parties. Socialist ‘shock troops’ are even more necessary in industry than in the Labour Party.

: ‘ THE anti-communist smear sheet ‘Tris Newsletter has joined the attack on THE NEWSLETTER launched by the Economic League.

On December 14, in an article ‘Defend the EIU against Fleet St and King St!", I referred to the attempts being made by the Iris outfit and other reactionary elements to exploit the situation. in the Electrical Trades Union.

This reference to Industrial Research and. Information Services Ltd has drawn a shriek of hate from the residential flat at Maritime House where the persons who run this organization turn their duplicator handles.

It took Iris no less than seven weeks to react to my reference to them, which is scarcely a tribute to the thoroughness of their ‘industrial research’.

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They start by accusing me of helping ‘to sow disruption in the Labour Party’:

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‘The Newsletter, in common with Keep Left and other doubtful publications, is printed by the Plough Press in hole-and-corner premises in a dirty alley at the back of 180 Clapham High Street, London, S.W.4.’

" ‘Bloodthirsty lies and distortions’

Fryer ‘writes as if he alone is a true communist as distinct from the CP “Stalinists’.” Then comes a quotation from the article, and the comment:

‘The many thousands of trade unionists who really know Iris and the invaluable service it performs will split their sides with laughter at this bloodthirsty language of lies and distortions.

‘ ‘The “renegades” who run Iris have done far more for ‘the “working-class movement” than Mr Peter Fryer can ever hope to do. ' - ‘But this is just the sort of defamatory diatribe to be expected from a dark corner in a dirty alley “at the rear. of 180 Clapham High Street’.’

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Let me commend this attack to the notice of the many honest rank-and-file members of the Communist Party who felt ‘that the ‘Defend the ETUL article concentrated too much on criticism of the ETU leadership, and not enough on exposing the character of the capitalist attack against that union.

‘Defend the ETU! was intended as a principled ‘statement. That it stung in the quarters it was meant to sting in is shown

MR ALFRED ROBENS. MP, who is. tipped as Minister of Labour in the next Labour Govern‘ment, brings good cheer to the Tories. Writing in the News of the World last Sunday he told them:

No one can complain about the objectives the Government have in mind. They, too, want industrial peace. And they want to ensure that wage increases are matched by increased productivity.to fight inflation. - But they are going the wrong way about things.

This declaration of basic agreement with the Tories offers still further proof that Robens, Gaitskell, Wilson and Co. have no alternative socialist policy to solve the They have decided already that if and when Labour returns to office they will continue the policy already instituted by Macmillan. Their main difference with the Tories lies only in this: that they believe they can get agreement with the trade union leaders to reduce living standards without strikes.

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‘Leaders such as this are a menace to the Labour movement. Before the battle they prepare the -defeat. These are the Ramsay MacDonalds of 1958, and unless ‘they are removed from office they will behave just as MacDonald did. by the immoderate tone and smearing style of the Iris comment.

Tanner and his team How ‘doubtful’ a publication is Keep Left? Ask the many Labour MPs, including Barbara Castle, deputy chairman of . the Labour Party, who have greeted this Labour youth paper and wished it. well.

Equally threadbare is the ‘dirty alley’, ‘dark corner’ kind of writing. :

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A team of four men runs Iris: Jack Tanner, former president of the Amalgamated Engineering Union (who got that job, incidentally, with the support of the Communist Party): William McLaine, former assistant general secretary of the AEU; Charles R. Sonnex, former-clerk at the AEU head office; and James L. Nash, formerly employed at the AEU head office as Tanner’s personal secretary.

, These men have turned their backs on everything the British Labour movement ‘was formed to fight for. ;

The only. ‘invaluable service’ they render is service to the boss and the Right-wing union leaders—by demanding higher ‘productivity’ and by fostering witch-hunts.

An editorial board of ten runs The Newsletter. All of them are active in the Labour movement, and among them are men who have earned the respect of their fellow-workers as militants'on the job.

, A year or so ago, some of us who now bring out The Newsletter had the chance of moving far, far away from the ‘dirty alley’—which is how working-class militancy and the modest way of life that is associated with it always appear in the consciousness of the capitalist class and the Right wing.

There were plenty of suspiciously friendly people about who jumped to the conclusion that our break with the Communist Party meant that we had abandoned socialist principles. They were ready with their offers.

But we were leaving for reasons which the Iris boys, and those of similar mentality, could never even_begin to understand.

Get this straight, Messrs Tanner, McLaine, Sonnex and Nash.

We don’t care much for the smell in the. regions where you now move. We'll settle for the ‘alley—and the respect of militant workers. sions among the workers, which are exploited by the employers, would thus be prevented.

Compulsory overtime is the cause of another current dispute on London docks.

Dockers on Regent’s Canal, Sector 6, have been operating an overtime ban for four months. The ban was started when, a gang of men were suspended for refusing to work overtime.

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‘I THOUGHT they only guided old ladies across busy roads, quipped an indignant Wimpey striker. He was referring to last week’s strike meeting at the big Petrochemicals site at Flixton (Cheshire).

Astonished workers attending the meeting were treated to the sight of four anti-riot police cars, a galaxy of uniformed police and two police: dogs.

Site convener Eddie Marsden and other stewards protested to the management—but they denied any knowledge of the affair. The police blandly stated that they received a telephone call warning of possible trouble and acted accordingly.

The workers do not intend to let the matter rest. Convener Marsden has urged the men to protest in their trade union branches: and trades councils.

The meeting resolved by 50 votes to 30 to return to work. As reported last week, the men had stopped in protest at the suspension of twenty-six of their workmates.

The firm agreed to lift the suspensions and to reopen negotiations on the question of special payment for certain pipework.

A report-back meeting of the stewards on Saturday recommended to the men the acceptance of the firm’s new offer. This awards threepence per hour on some jobs, twopence on others:

The original claim was for threepence on all but one section of the pipework; nevertheless the award is considered a victory.

By Our Industrial Correspondent :

TROUBLE is brewing on the docks over the way ‘per-_ manent’ men are being used. These are dockers who are employed as weekly workers by dock employers and are not hired for particular jobs, as are the majority of dockers.

In Liverpool, London and elsewhere there is feeling on the issue. On many jobs weekly workers work for different rates from those of the ‘casual’ men. ;

A. fortnight ago the Port of London Authority brought ‘permanent’ gangs into Millwall dock from outside’ while ‘casual’ dockers in the section were without jobs.

The result was-a short stoppage affecting six ships. The strikers said this practice of the PLA was a contravention of the Dock Labour Scheme. -Unofficial. representatives from Millwall, West India, Royal group and other London ‘docks met on February 7 to discuss the. position.

They decided to give out leaflets at the dock gates and demanded that the PLA stop the indiscriminate transfer of * permanent’ labour-from dock to dock.

Dockers in Liverpool and London with.whom f have discussed the problem say that either every docker should’ be made permanént or.all should go into the labour pool. Divi-

Tue first opposition to the absentee committees set up in Lancashire recently by the National Coal Board and National Union of Mineworkers has now appeared.

I understand that the Plank Lane (Leigh) Branch of the NUM will withdraw its support from the now unpopular _ Fhe miners there have told the branch committee, in no uncertain terms, that they will not recognize the newly-formed committees, and if any of their workmates receive notice to appear before this ‘tribunal’ they. will come out on strike en . bloc.

Faced with this opposition the branch has, I gather, decided not‘ to take part in the anti-miner set-up.

No doubt other miners will come to the same decision as they realize that these committees are against their own interests.

At the Leeds district management committee of the Amalgamated. Society of Woodworkers the following resolutions were passed unanimously:

THAT all overtime permits should be terminated;

THAT Leeds City Labour Party be asked to support the extension of .the Corporation’s direct works department, including the building of new houses by direct labour; THAT a mass meeting be organized for all building workers in the Leeds district to-discuss the consequences of unemployment in the trade.

All three resolutions were endorsed by the Leeds committee © of the National Federation of Building Trades Operatives.

Other resolutions recently passed in Leeds include the following:

Leeds no. 11 branch of the Amalgamated Engineering Union ‘is disturbed at the lack of activity by the Labour Party regarding the carrying of H-bombs by American aircraft’ and calls for ‘public meetings ... to build up resistance to the production of nuclear weapons’.

East Leeds Constituency Labour Party says it is highly necessary that a public campaign. be launched in the near future, both by local Labour Parties and by the party nationally, against nuclear weapons.

[ LABOUR GIVE US SOCIALIST POLICIES, CAMPAIGNS,

A DISCUSSION took place at the annual general meeting of our ward, on the functions of executive committees. Like many local Labour Parties, we carry on a desultory war with our city EC, and a recent skirmish had resulted in our réceiving’a plaintive note, appealing for ‘loyalty to your elected EC’.

‘Loyalty. for . what?’ demanded our most truculent member. ‘We elect them to carry out our decisions, and we allow them to. make recommendations which we can. overthrow by a majority vote. .

-‘Only we never. get a majority vote for big issues, because ‘AT

they rig the meetings with phoney. delegates.’

This outspoken summing-up received so much support that we decided not to elect a ward EC this year, but to manage with an officers’ meeting if an emergency arose.

It seems a pity that the Labour Party. nationally cannot manage without an EC, or at least curtail its powers, for, according to my correspondents, it spends too much time interfering in the affairs of local Labour Parties and not enough in formulating policies with which we can fight the Tories.

At. Brighton we- witnessed the attempt (arising from the Wilson Report on party organization) to shape all the borough Labour Parties into the same mould.

The NEC alleged that too many borough Labour Parties allowed their delegates to waste time at management committee meetings, so that the work of the constituency parties suffered.

They recommended that more emphasis should be placed ; on divisional work, so that more MPs could be returned.

This would be a good reform where constituency party organization is.bad, but the NEC insists that it be carried out even where organization is extrernely efficient. and the borough party a real help in Parliamentary elections.

One suspects that the real grumble is at the tendency of the livelier borough parties to pass resolutions demanding socialist policies and criticizing the Parliamentary Labour Party. Instead of silencing criticism by doing the job it is called upon At last the Labour Party has replied in unequivocal terms to the steel barons. The next Labour Government WILL renationalize the steel industry.

Speaking to a Labour Party conference in Glasgow last Sunday, Mr Alfred Robens, MP for Blyth and a front bench spokesman, said: ‘This is a. pledge.’

Mr Stewart and his fellow steel bosses have been assuring us that they have the unanimous support of their shareholders in their fight against nationalization. This is not surprising.

No property-owning class has ever tamely_ submitted to expropriation. But have the boards of the various steel firms ‘consulted their working men? We think not, for the answer is likely to be a fruity one.

-The Labour Party should issue a statement that the next Labour Government will introduce legislation which will, retrospectively, make the money spent -by the steel and sugar barons on the proposed anti-nationalization campaign liable to tax, They should not. be allowed to get away with this openly pro-Tory anti-Labour propaganda as legitimate business expenditure, Whatever is spent will be added to the cost of steel and so help to swell the already swollen cost of living still more. to do, the NEC abolishes the organizations which criticize.

The crowning absurdity comes from Leeds, where, I hear, the NEC are actually objecting to their method of electing the Lord Mayor!

They say that as Leeds is the only borough in the country where election of the Labour Lord Mayor is not in the hands of the Council group, but has always been the prerogative of " the delegate management committee, Leeds must ‘come into line’.

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Leeds say that their way of electing the Lord Mayor is democratic, and will not settle for a spot of annual back-scratching in the council chamber.

Surely it is time that the NEC stopped poking its nose into local affairs, and, with the Parliamentary Labour Party, got down to the job of getting out a socialist policy on foreign affairs, the H-bomb, housing, nationalization and the cost of living.

In spite of the superficial unity behind the emasculated resolutions at Brighton, the delegates made their desires plain. They wanted a fighting campaign to get the Tories out.

There are fights to be won, campaigns to be organized, and we of the rank and file are looking for leadership, not for intrigues in the Lord Mayor’s parlour.

Comrade Morgan Phillips must stop living in Mrs Dale’s - Diary and realize that history waits to be written. bankers, not enough industrialists or joint stock bankers.

The Bank of England ‘was nationalized by the Labour Government, along with coal, power, iron and steel, and transport, presumably as a step toward a socialist order of society.

How on earth does the good Doctor think industrialists and joint stock bankers with their stakes deep in capitalism are going to contribute toward this end?

Or perhaps the genial Hugh never thought much about socialism at all?

[EE there is one thing which Charles Curran hates—he vents

HEN Hugh Dalton was Labour’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, he lost his post because he talked too much. Nowadays ‘he writes too much—too much nonsense.

In last Sunday’s Express, he defends the Act of Parliament introduced by the Labour Government nationalizing the Bank of England. Characteristically, he refers to it as ‘My Bank of England Act’. Very well, history will know where to lay the blame.

To make the Act work, however, according to Dr Dalton, it requires a strong Chancellor of the Exchequer (Hugh Dalton, for instance?).

He sees nothing wrong in appointing part-time directors ; from the world of private capitalism but thinks their function should be. ‘advisory’. ‘They should give information to the governor rather than ‘receive it,"

He also thinks that the wrong people are being appointed to the Court of the Bank of England—too many merchant

a Warning on Strontigm cennieeneneienreen cee _ More about Explorer =& ‘By Our Scientific Correspondent, J. H. Bradley - M gramme are now available. First, the matter must ANY facts. about the American: satellite. probe put in\.perspective by ‘saying that the -irre-~ proachable conduct of nearly.all American scientists has been obscured’ by: a flood of misleading propaganda. In: fact no observation. has’ been’ made. by Explorer which. was not, perfectly well. known:from Sputnik I. No. apparatus weighing 30lb. can give information about high-energy cogmic rays, since massive lead screens. are needed to. cut out low-energy rays.” vey .

“NO INFORMATION STORE. Sputnik II had about1,2001b. of, instryments and- 6701b. of rocket motor. and casing. Thus. Explorer may have about 201b. of’ instruments...

Explorer has no store for. information. gathered in - : : : : : regions far from receiving stations.,Even when the USA puts ‘up its 300Ib. television satellite, pictures will not be stored in the satellite. 2 >. ae ’ “Modern ‘television. needs: about four million impulses a: ‘second, and the. only: feasible. systems’ are recording on film or on. very fine iron wire. There will be extreme difficulty in keeping a‘camera always directed: towards the ground. - - : ; : ay - Vanguard at’ launching has a thrust Jess than one arid ; a half times its own’ weight. I have no. doubt . that this. is a top military secret, but it is easily calculated from » official statements, if one has the‘slightest knowledge: of mechanics.

If I: knew the weight of a Sergeant rocket I could : ":éalculate the thrust. of a Jupiter. C within 10 per. cent:, and no doubt the Russians have done. so. )

MUCH MORE POWEREUL. Jupiter C is much more powerful: than: Vanguard; which’.is why. it is less~ de= pendent’on the wind and time of. day. for launching. A: simple calculation. shows that the’ energies. of Explorer. and Sputnik-Il are equivalent to 5.282°and 5.178 tniles per second respectively. at the surface: of:the earth. _ .: Allowing for the speed of the earth, the Jatitude. of ad ré ‘ - the launching’ sites, and: the angle of the orbits, these become 5.008 for Explorer as against 5.070 for Sputnik ~ “The merit of the achievement ig therefore very nearly ~ in ‘the ratio: of: the weights of the! satellites-—about 50, , or..60: to one for the Russians. ” nas cok bok - BOYCOTT AS ANSWER. TO. SAKIET CRIME?

~~: By-Michael Banda -.- wee . Despite ‘the vote of confidence accorded M. Gaillard by the National Assembly, public. opinion jn France and _ elsewhere has been severely ‘disturbed. by-the bombing -_ - of Sakiet Sidi Youssef.

The motion tabled by three Labour MPs, Mr. Wedgwood : Bon: ‘ Bénn, ‘Mrs.. Barbara: Castle and Mr. Fenner Brockway, asking ‘for.an immediate meeting of the Sécurity Council to consider the. ‘threat “to. peace’.-that has . developed: out of the. French “bombing, is considered far too ‘mild -by many: Labour ‘Party members, ' The view is ‘devéloping’ that the party and: the National. EAE MER SS Boe a fe RTS saat e ‘Council. of Labour should: demand: a boycott. of. all military goods destined for ‘the: Frerich authorities: in North’ Africa, _-and should organize the mass picketing of the French. embassy in: London...

Observers not content with’ British Foréign. Office handouts -consider that the.concern: expressed in’ Whitehall and.by ‘Dulles:

at the murder. of seventy-five Arabs is: not. in. fact dictated-by humanitarian ‘considerations; “20.0 ‘Hisenhower’s asking “whether “the -pl ates: whi ch" bombed fe : : Sakiet were: ‘delivered ‘for NATO.

Purposes ee re bought. :

oe FEBRUAR Y 15, 1 958 Try . A speed of 7.81 miles per -second is needed to reach™ the planets, and. a little less for the moon, * -.COULD REACH PLANETS. It seems that the Soviet Union.-could: send-a very small and scientifically -valueless rocket ‘to. the’ planets, but not the USA.. .

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‘Conflicting reports. of the size and shape‘of Explorer’s.. -orbit are due to its passage over such large areas of sea and -less developed nations, wheré there are no ‘radar’ tracking’ stations. : , The orbit stretching far out into space has advantages in the measurement. of air pressures at those distances, ©. but, like the latest Vanguard: failure, is probably due to. the poor control systems used.

ECENT® reports’ of children with unusually large “* amounts of radio-strontium:in their bones* should.

«cause no’ surprise.. ....

- ; noe Even with. the. strictest shielding of food from dust, “and the best. supplies : of calcium, results are. bound to be patchy.

One would expect to find that people in. areas with. : an : very hard’ watér had: less radio-strontium than people drinking ‘soft water.:This. is: only: one factor which. has not. been. ‘investigated. . . It is possible.that the northern-temperate belt: (North. America; Europe. and Siberia) receives more: fall-out oa sthan other: areas. _ This poetic justice, if true, will be one of the most important observations ‘of :the Taternational ‘Geophysical . Year; both fer:health and°for meteorology.:

It was never. clear- why.the Medical Research Counéil ~ chose .10 strontium units. as the level for urgent teview.

GOVERMENT WON'T TELL. Any reconsideration ought to be when new evidence becomes available about the effects Of fall-out. The level of 10 units is nota scientific choice, based on evidence, but a. reflection ‘of ) our almost total ignorance. Be The Dutch fence in.a girl with: part of a radium needle = °..in her nose. The villagers ‘of the Forest of: Dean prevent -’ the most’ harmless: dumping in disused’ mines.

They haye no source of genuine, impartial informa: ; . tion on-which they know they can rely. The Government... -will not tell the public about-‘radiation dangers because ° of the political troubles it would create for itself.

by: French ‘funds is regarded as’ disingenuous, since the USA could stop ‘the war in Algeria tomorrow if it-chose to react as.it did to the Suez adventure.

This spleen every Friday in the London Evening News—it is the spending of ‘public money’ to alleviate the condition of the poor and the needy. Spend hundreds of millions on armaments, atom bombs and what not. That is all right!

; ‘But wher he thinks of old age pensioners augmenting their meagre pittance from'Public Assistance, or unemployed workers drawing money from national insurance, his Tory blood boils over’ with rage.

Latest victim of his vitriolic pen is the mother who goes out to work and is compelled to leave her child in a day nursery. -What. sort of world does Mr Curran move about in? Cer- ; tainly not the world of working mothers.

Tf he did he would know that the great majority of mothers would prefer to stay at home to look after their children. -But Mr Curran’s capitalist friends do not pay the husbands of these mothers enough to enable them to keep a decent home together.

Since last April, when the Tory. Rent Act sent up the rent in thousands of working-class homes, many hundreds of mothers who never went out to work were compelled to seek employment to find this extra rent.

Next April, when the rents go up again, they will be joined by hundreds, perhaps thousands more, .

In October, hundreds of families. face eviction—they will no longer have a home in which to look after their children.

Mr Curran was one of the most vociferous and consistent champions of the Rent Act. He and the class he speaks for have much to answer for when it comes to the question ‘Who is breaking up family life?’

. A.. PowELi’s demand for clarification of a ‘socialist -_ foreign policy’ ig indeed timely and necessary.

_ While the editorial ‘When Robbers Meet’ [The Newsl etter, -January 25, p. 22] was essentially correct in recognizing. that’only a socialist Europe: could bring. lasting peace, ‘it never-..

theless inclined towards an optimistic’-rather ‘than’ a: Tealistic— approach:

* When. will the’ socialist movements be strong..enough? , ee og - ‘Per:

haps a decade, or two decades? It is impossible to predict. a In the. meantime a summit Meeting ‘may ‘give. the world :a_ breathing space. If the imperialists succeed. in giving «Germany what Adenauer is: demanding—nuclear wéapons:: if’ .

American ‘bases complete with rockets are.established:through-.

out Europe; if nuclear’ weapons continue to. be. tesied—there “May be too much for. the working class movement to unravel.

Fespruary 15, 1958 ULBRICHT’S PURGE (Continued from front page) named as one of the leaders of. the anti-Ulbricht, opposition.

IN POLAND, communist leaders are resentful at a recent anti-Polish campaign in the Czechoslovak Press, - alleging ‘revisionism’ and artistic deviations. IN BULGARIA, some 3,000 young people have been arrested in the past few weeks in the campaign against ‘hooliganism’.

IN HUNGARY the return of ex-dictator Matyas Rakosihas been announced to local party meetings. He is to take up a post as. an ‘economic -adviser’.

IN. RUSSIA Khrushchev has been talking about the ‘withering away of the State’ (see letter from ‘His-toricus’: below).

LETTERS (Continued from previous page)

Even the most.limited agreement will mean more time for.

the forces of socialism to gather ‘strength.

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At this stage neither Zilliacus in Tribune (who plumps ;

entirely for diplomacy) nor The Newsletter (which places perhaps too much faith in European revolution) seem to have fully developed a realistic socialist foreign policy for Britain within the framework of a still capitalist Europe. ' An immediate appraisal is vital!, Upton (Dorset) -“WITHERING OF STATE’—OR RESHUFFLING?

It is a long time since Soviet spokesmen dwelt on the topic of the ‘withering away of the State’.

. Under Stalin the role of the State was exalted, and he even said that thé State would still exist under ‘communism in one country’!

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Once the Twentieth Congress had raised the slogan ‘Back to Lenin!’ it was inevitable, however, that the ‘idea of. the withering. away of the State should: find its way back into Soviet thought.

-Nevertheless it comes as a bit of a shock when Khrushchev. himself. brings. it up in a talk: witha correspondent of The Times, ‘reported on February ;

God The decentralization’. measurés* taken. recently and the broadening: of the basis of supreme power in the USSR, from the presidium tothe central committee, are signs of .a trend, : Khrushchev claimed, which -will culminate -in.. the dying-off of all the organ of State power, including the Army and the judiciary, with only economic planning bodies left ‘in the end, divested of political power.

‘Two questions arise as one reads Khrushchev’s latest. hb tee oe _ First, while decentralization is undoubtedly. a. step in- the right. direction, as also is the increasing role played by: the central ‘committee ‘in ‘comparison. with. thé presidium. (if this is indeed so), what signs are there that this is not, at present, merely a reshuffling of power among the bureaucrats? © Secondly, how does all this tie up with thé talk of “peaceful. coexistence’? Can the USSR disarm in a stiff prédominantly capitalist’ world without. risking destruction? ..

Let us ‘hope that we shall learn more from Khrushchév and other Soviet leaders.on these questions—and that the Communist Parties will be encouraged to discuss them.

London, W.3 : ‘Historicus’

Gordon St-Clére Smithe, former member of the Communist During December~'Wollweber received information that ‘Ulbricht intended to arrest him, and thereupon. he. sought asylum at the headquarters of the Soviet troops in east Berlin.

He. was granted. asylum, and flown. in a Soviet military plane to Moscow, where he is reported to have put.the Opposition’s case to Soviet party leaders.

Early in January he returned to Berlin, and moved about freely once again, apparently having received a Soviet assurance that he would be protected.

In the second half of January, however, a decision was .

obviously reached in Moscow that overall political. considera-.

tions made a downgrading of Ulbricht inadvisable at this time:

and this was possibly reflected in various Pravda articles attacking ‘revisionism’. once ‘again.

; :

The dispute was finally resolved at a meeting of the east German Politburo ‘in the first days of February, at which Ulbricht, supported by. the protective hand of the Kremlin, managed to rout his opponents.

. f Moving force in opposition -At this meeting Ulbricht launched a. full-scale attack on Karl Schirdewan, another Politburo’ member, and key man in the party apparatus: he was the cadre chief.

Schirdewan, who had been regarded in the public eye as an Ulbricht protégé, had been in fact the moving force in the opposition for over fifteen-months.

fle stuck to his guns in the decisive Politburo meeting, and - . flatly refused to make a ‘self-critical statement’ on his errors.

He had counted on the support of several other Politburo “members, but at the decisive moment they deserted to. the winning side, and he was left isolated. E The result was. clear: at the plenary meeting of the central Lo. committee from. February 4 to. 6,. Schirdewan and Wollweber were expelled from the central committee, and Fred Oelssner, leading Marxist theoretician, independently in opposition, was downgraded from the ‘Politburo. -The published charges against Schirdewan and Wollweber . take interesting reading. Théy are. charged with having ‘formed a faction and attempted’ to change the political line of the party’.

It is repeatedly hinted that Schirdewan had had some links _with. the ‘counter-revolutionary centre Janka-Harich’, or at least that he had not acted strongly enough against this group; (Wolfgang Harich. was sentenced: to 10 years’ imprisonment on a frame-up charge in March 1957), Twentieth Congress ‘lessons ‘misunderstood’

There is no. serious evidence Of any such link. , Schirdewan is also’ attacked in’ very strotig language for his ‘slanderous methods’, his ‘attacks - against Comrade Ulbricht’, and his ‘pathological ambition, superiority, and.sense of -infallibility’. ’ all of them charges which could. better. be aimed against Ulbricht himself.

It is also very significant that Schirdewan is charged with - . ; a ‘misunderstanding the lessons of the Twentieth Congiess of the CPSU?, =e ;

The charges against Wollwéber are more moderate: the main ;

accusation is that he did not do his work as Minister of State Security efficiently, and that he conspired with Schirdéwan.

With the purging of Schirdewan. and Wollweber, together with a number of their collaborators in the top party apparatus who: are’ expected to come under fire shortly, Ulbricht has

Party’s Kent district committee and Beckenham borough treasurer, has been suspended from the party for allegedly supporting the ‘London Group’ and providing information to _ Another charge against him was that he let a flat to Peter oo, Fryer, which, said one of his accusers, ‘he ‘must have. known was a political act’. He has appealed to the district committee against suspension.

Published by Peter Fryer, 180, Clapham High St., London, S:W.4. Printed by the Plough Press‘Ltd. (T.U.), r.0. 180 Clapham High St., London, SW4.

“50 taken another. step in winkling out old communist veterans who have spent their whole life in the setvice of the party.

Wollweber has a particularly long party history. As a young sailor he was one of the leaders of the Kiel revolt in the German ‘Navy in 1918 which toppled the Kaiser.

He has been a member of the German party since its foundation, and during the second world war he was a brilliantly. successful saboteur, sinking Nazi ships which called at Swedish. harbours.

.

Schirdewan, pre-war leading member of the Young Com- ; munist International, spent the entire Hitler period in jail and concentration camp:

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