Constant Reader Dockers Against War. .

THe Communist Party’s current hesitancy on the question of industrial action against war preparations calls to mind its reaction to British dockers’ refusals to handle cargoes of ships carrying munitions to Japan, towards the end of 1937 and the beginning of 1938.

This movement, which began in Glasgow and passed through Southampton and Liverpool, culminated in the sending away empty, first from Middlesbrough and then from London, of the “Haruna Maru’, which had come to collect:a cargo of scrapiron.

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These incidents aroused tremendous’ enthusiasm throughout the working class, expressed in hosts of solidarity resolutions by trade union branches. and trades councils.

They were duly reported in the Daily Worker, and there . was even the beginning of a campaign to-extend the movement.

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But the leaders of the Transport and General Workers’ Union frowned and-.the Government spokesmen muttered about the Trade Disputes Act, and the whole thing faded out.

They. were embarrassed » ».When George Hardy wrote a survey, in World News. and: Views of February 4, 1939, of British trade union activity in the fight against Japanese aggression in China, he had nothing to say about. this type of activity.

Brailsford heard Trotsky speak -in the Moscow. Opera House: . [ LETTER La The fact was that class actions bythe workers, however effective, were somewhat embarrassing then, as now, to King Street.

Demonstrations calling on Chamberlain to introduce an embargo, yes. Campaigns against buying Japanese toys as ChristMas presents, yes. But strikes. .-.?

The difficulty was that the Stalinists then, as now, were concentrating on an attempt to bring about a change in the camp of the ruling class, helping to power a section they hoped would be friendlier to Russia.

The partners they hoped to win for their ‘broad alliance’ would be antagonized by forms of struggle that brought workers into conflict with employers. So the dockers’ efforts were quietly played down, lest they ‘rock the boat’. _ Jt was. not accidental that on January 1, 1938, the. slogan ‘Workers of all lands, unite! finally disappeared from the masthead of the Daily Workér7~ - Come to slump-stricken Ulster’

NORTHERN IRELAND is in some ways a mirror just now of what the capitalists would like the whole United Kingdom to be.

On top of the traditional, carefully-fostered division among the workers, which binds one section closely to their employers, there is heavy unemployment. :

The advertisement in The Times of March 12 inserted by ; the Northern: Ireland Development Council (chairman: Lord Chandos) shows a group of business men, looking variously wolfish. and foxy, sitting around a table and deciding to solve their problem; by setting up a factory in the Six Counties. The letterpress tells us that:

_.. “Over 9 per cent. of the labour force—over 30,000 of them i .

men—are looking for jobs. They are hard-working and loyal;

absenteeism and labour ‘turnover are low: output is high and shift-working is practicable.’

Well, they make no ‘secret of what suits their: book. Such vd 1e8s: is welcome in. that ‘it can help Ulster workers in their tumn-to-see—what’s,;what-~and~bring- back: the- spirit-of---- ~ ~ 1919, when. working. Bebfastmen. of :both:;‘sorts’ (and’ none) stood together in. fighting- unity against their common exploiters. — :

Brailsford on Trotsky THE late H. N. Brailsford wrote, in ‘The Russian Workers’ Republic’ (1921), one of the best accounts -of the early years of Soviet Russia.

His pen-pictures of leading personalities of the time included the following:

_ “Tae Red Army 4s certainly. the most efficient eveation of ; Be the Revolution. Trotsky has a genius for organization, and he ‘has battled with sharp severity against: the slovenly-unpunctuality traditional: in Russia. His Ministry runs like clockwork .. .’

‘It was more like a. professor’s lecture than a demagogue’s speech ...

Marshal Bagramyan speaks

THE quotation we published recently from the Communist Review, on Red Army Day, 1922, was a bitter reminder of how-the builders and best leaders of the -Red-Army were destroyed during the Stalin era.

Renewed confirmation of this fact.is now available (as I briefly mentioned the other week), from the pen of Marshal -Bagramyan. Writing in the Moscow Kommunist on the fortieth anniversary of the Red Army he states (I quote from the version — given irr Soviet News for February 21): ___ “The tremendous and fruitful work done by ‘the party in this field: [i.e.-the training: of officers], however, was considerably harmed bythe criminal gangs of Yagoda, Yezhov and Beria and their .accomplices, who snatched from: the ranks of oir Published by Peter Fryer, 180, Clapham High St.. London. S.W.4. Printed.

‘Marcu 29, 1958 -armed forces a considerable number of experienced commanders and. political workers.

‘As a result of this, towards-the beginning of the war many posts in the army and navy were staffed with officers and generals who did not have sufficient experience and knowledge for work on a scale that was new to them’ (which was: one factor in the setbacks suffered. by the Soviet Union in 1941-42).

The Daily Worker has not published this important statement, doubtless because it clashes so sharply with that paper’s propaganda in. the past that the execution of Tukhachevsky and the others ‘strengthened the defences of the Soviet Union’.

35,000 were purged It is interesting to note the length of the pertod covered by Bagramyan’s statement: Yagoda was head of the NKVD from its formation in 4934. until September 1936; when he was replaced by Yezhov.

Yezhov ‘reigned’ until December 1938, when Beria took over, ; to remain directly or indirectly in charge of the Soviet security forces until his arrest in July 1953.

According to R: L. Garthoff, in the symposium ‘How Russia Makes War’, the 1937-38 purge in the Red Army affected 35,000 officers in all, or about half the total officer corps, including 90 per cent. of all the generals and 80 per cent. of all the colonels.

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Of the eight military members of the tribunal that ‘tried’ Tukhachevsky, six later disappeared, including Marshal Bluecher.

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Orders from King Street?

ComrabE X for several years taught English to Soviet Embassy staff. During 1957 he emerged as an active and well-known critic of Stalinism from the Marxist standpoint.

Relations with his pupils remained unaffected, however, even when, towards the end of the year, he was expelled from the Commaunist Party.

; ; “Indeed, “the Ambassador’s son was assigned to him for teaching, and the Ambassador himself arranged to begin lessons with X in February of this year. , :

On January 28, when calling for a pupil at. the Soviet Con: sulate, X came face to face with Harry Pollitt in person. Nothing was said between-them; but in the: week immediately ‘after this encounter X’s pupils began to cancel their. arrangements with him, on grounds of illness, pressure of work etc.

By the end of February he was left without any pupils at all, and with no prospect of getting any more.

An experienced ex-member of the party ‘apparatus’ to whom X told his story observed: ‘You see, it’s of infinitely less importance to. them that the Soviet comrades should improve their English than that you should. be deprived of a source 6f income.” . : BRIAN PEARCE