11S THE SOCIALIST ANSWER

ATNER Here some quite sincere trade union militants may put WORKERS FEEL ISOLATED. Would the workers support prward this objection: _ such a policy? EF believe they would. ‘This is the worst time for workers to strike. In a slump, What creates the present apparent lack of fight in factories # xith unsold products piling up, the employer is at his where redundancies now go unchallenged is not lack of intersrongest and we are at our weakest. est. On the contrary the workers are very worried indeed.

‘The. management may even welcome two or three weeks’ But’ they see no way out. soppage if they’ve got surplus production in hand. Besides, The workers in each factory feel isolated. They have no ~he men realize this and you won't get them to support confidence that if they do fight they will get support. For vou.’ this we must blame the trade union leaders, who have reThere is a lot of truth in this argument. But what is the peatedly let the workers down. ftzrnative? To accept sackings without a fight? To go in The workers remember how, in 1956, 12,000 workers came + the lesser evil of compensation? out solidly at Standards in Coventry against sackings—and But éven to go in for compensation needs pressure on were ordered back to work by the union leaders. w employer, which according to the above argument we They remember how the Norton workers were left to i= 100 weak to exert. fight on their own for twenty weeks, and how when they were on the verge of victery, thanks to the solidarity action af the men on the Earls Court motor cycle exhibition, the Vv executive of the Amalgamated Engineering Union called off the strike without even consulting the strikers.

WIDEN THE FIGHT. The answer is that if workers in = single factory are not strong enough then the fight must ¢ widened to bring in the whole district. Vv The sacking of 100 men at one factory affects every worker the district. It means 100 jobs less. RANK-AND-FILE. So now the workers are more cautious. The workers in the’ factory on the other side of town who They want to feel that if they do fight they will get support.

their jobs Tater have that much less chance of a job if That is why it is important to build up a strong rank-andmy have allowed 100 of their mates to queue up at the file movement,-to link up militants and shop stewards in one bour Exchange the week before. factory with those in others through rank-and-file conferThat is why the’ fight against sackings cannot be left to ences, shop stewards’ forums and the like. dividual factories. It must be co-ordinated on at least a This does not mean ignoring the official machinery of the ict-wide basis. union, On the contrary it is necessary to get district comWhen workers in any single works are faced with sackings mittees to adopt a policy against sackings and other aspects local employers’ association must be told: of the Tory attacks, and-to press for the district committees to call conferences of shop stewards to co-ordinate action. “We hear that X Ltd intend to sack some workers. We «am you that if they are not either retained or placed But here again, to overcome the conservatism and routinism in other comparable jobs in other factories in the district that exist on many committees, an active and conscious rank not on’y will the workers at X Ltd be on strike, the whole and file is necessary. That is why I hope many engineering district will. Our policy is: One man on the dole—every- workers will attend the conference called by The Newsletter on November 16. cone out.’

The only people who benefit when white workers fight from? From the advanced countries. coloured workers are those who exploit us both.

IF HE WANTS houses, where are the materials to come from? From the advanced. countries. :

Fine comment on capitalism IF HE WANTS to build factories and dams, where are the We have seen this ‘divide and rule’ tactic applied often in materials and machines to come from? From the advanced the colonial field—and all too often by Labour leaders. countries. ‘Ah,’ they say, ‘you must realize that if we give freedom How can a better standard of life for people in backward to the colonial peoples our standard of living will fall.’ areas possibly mean a lowering of the standard of life of A fine comment on a system where some can only live people in the advanced countries? well if others are in poverty! Of course, it is not true at all. Moreover the wealth which is produced in the colonial and What could those people do with their raw materials, their semi-colonial countries is deliberately restricted and the prices rubber, oil and sugar? They could not consume them all artificially maintained—in the interests of the oil companies, themselves. the sugar companies and the rubber companies. The demand of the oppressed peoples to live better will not These are the ones who exploit the colonial peoples. And threaten the livelihood of the British working class. But it they are the same ones who exploit the British worker over will threaten the profits of the big business combines. here.

Both: internationally and here in Britain the coloured Better standard of life ‘worker is the ally of the white worker in his struggle for What does the. worker in Africa, the West Indies, the decent living conditions and for a better society. Middle East, want? He wants a higher standard of life. As long as the employing class can keep these workers IF HE WANTS clothing and shoes, where are they to come apart, so long will it rule over both of us.

[ECONOMICS WHAT KIND OF CRISIS ARE WE ENTERING?

By Our Economic Correspondent For. some months contradictory trends have been weaving an involved pattern through the economy. The financial journalists, under obligation to fulfil their stint, but not wishing to be caught out by the unexpected turn, have been more than usually woolly of late.

In truth there has been something of a lull, as is not un. usual at this time of year.

In Britain an apparently favourable foreign trade position ~—and the growth in the reserves—have accompanied the symptoms of gathcring, but not as yet acute, recession.

While the ‘Three Wise Men’ still mutter about the dangers of inflation, the Government and the banks take steps which are designed to encourage consumption, at any rate among the middie classes, by lower interest rates and the new personal loans schemes.

Excess capacity has revealed itself in many industries, and industrial production has been falling off. But so‘ far these classic symptoms of crisis, however ominous, have remained subdued.

A:good deal has been made of the levelling out of the U.S. depression during the summer and the fact that its impact upon the rest of the world has so far been slight.

Problems of stagnating economy In interpreting the present phase the following points should be borne in mind:

1) An economy which is stagnating—as the British economy is now doing—has different problems from one which is expanding.

And the sort of problems which beset the economy when . it was stretched out. under the pressure of a high level of investment and demand have a diffcrent significance in the new context.

2) During the expansion inflation and the balance of payments were the danger points. Now that the boom is subsiding neither assumes the same form.

Prices tend to level out with the weakening in demand. Any falling off in export demand has been counteracted for the moment by cheaper import prices.

The kind of balance of payments problem which countries like Britain and France have experienced during the 1950s has been specifically a consequence of expansion and prosperity.

A less sensitive area ~ 3) This does not mean no more balance. of payments problem, But it does mean that it is a less sensitive area until the depression deepens and spreads. Then the main problem will be the maintenance “€ exports under conditions of more intense international competition.

4) The holding down of costs is part of the battle for the market. In the present transitional stage—i.e., between full prosperity and depression—there will be continued resistance to wage increases, indeed stiffening resistance. -But it will be accompanied by a ‘certain flexibility. with the employers playing on the workers’ feelings of insecurity _ and on sectional divisions.

The time for the pushing home of their point will be when unemployment ‘has risen higher and penetrated further into industry.

5} The defenders of capitalism are still looking anxiously at the state of the U.S. economy, despite some of the optimistic statements with which they have been consoling themselves.

If the depression has not got worse there is still no sign of a sustained recovery. Without that there will be nothing to help lift the rest of the world capitalist economy out of the incipient depression which has so far developed without much direct effect from the USA.

There is, moreover, still plenty of time for this to appear and for difficulties in Europe to react on the USA.

Precarious nature of equilibrium 6) Attention should be drawn to the generalized nature of the crisis symptoms. India’s serious difficulties, for example, indicate the precarious nature of the world equilibrium of capitalism.

The problems of most primary producing countries can be expected to worsen. And there is not one major country which is not confronted by economic prospects of greater uncertainty than at any time for a decade.

(FRANCE ] DE GAULLE MYTH—AND BONAPARTIST CONSTITUTION—IN THE MAKING MoperNn authoritarian régimes take care to assume power with constitutional endorsement whenever possible and to find a place for the ‘popular will’. This is the meaning of the current constitution-making in France.

On September 28 voting will take place throughout France and the colonies, as well as among French citizens in other countries, for or against the new constitution.

The real issue will be for or against de Gaulle; and the new régime, which has already been installed, has taken over the instruments of propaganda and is using them to create the myth of the infallible saviour.

For all practical purposes the result of the referendum is a foregone conclusion. Its timing—at the end of the holiday period and before the full significance of the constitution can be digested—is perfect. :

The seal will be set on the defeat of thé working-class movement last May by a massive vote of the people themselves for de Gaulle! There shouid be no illusions about that.!

: so In Algeria matters are well in hand.-An army order dated June 27 says the de Gaulle myth must be created in every way among the Algerian population—photographs symbols in even the most remote villages, the slogans ‘De Gaulle, leader of France’ and ‘You dre all sons of de Gaulle’ are to go up everywhere.

‘Noes’ can be identified ;

The system of balloting ensures that those voting ‘No’ can be identified, while special officials will be in attendance to ‘help’ Moslem women to deal with their ballot papers. (Similar gerrymandering has been a commonplace of electoral practice in the West African colonies in the past.)

The native capitalists and big estate owners will bring in the electors in droves to vote for the right ticket—and a big part of them are collaborating with de Gaulle2 What about the constitution itself? It is a typically Bonapartist contraption. Of the five bodies which compose th2 political machinery of the State only the President -Has effec- ° tive power. He will be appointed by the members of the other bodies, most of whom will be his creatures.

The President can dissolve the Assembly. A Prime Minister . of his chaosing forms the Government and the Ministers will have to resign their seats in the Assembly.

The Prime Minister also has the power—in reality on behalf of the President—to call for a referendum should there be a deadlock between the Government and the Assembly.

THB NEWSLETTER Various provisions make it clear that parliamentary government, as understood in France since 1871, is to go—unlamented, it must be said, by any wide body of opinion.

President’s sweeping emergency powers The Assembly will either simply register the will of the President and his Government, after the fashion of Hitler's Reichstag, or it will be bypassed, ignored and dissolved.

To cover such eventualities the President has sweeping emergency powers to be used when he deems that an emergency exists.

Meanwhile the partisans of reaction take up their positions with the State apparatus while out in front stands the honoured personality whose pscudo-liberal phrases and assumed high principles give many liberals an alibi for their cowardice and inaction.

But above all de Gaulle is the defender of established property relations against the working class. The paralysis of the working-class movement, or more -particularly of its official representatives, shows how well he is succeeding.

1 For example, the latest public opinion poll shows that 68 per cent. have confidence in de Gaulle to restore peace in Algeria and 52 per cent. approve the policy of ‘integration’.

2 It is true that the African national movement is split on the question of support for de Gaulle and an important minority is hostile. By putting the alternative: ‘Either take independence and fend for yourself or fall in with my proposals’, de Gaulle has cleverly exploited the fears of the bourgeois nationalists who do not want complete independence now. It is perhaps significant that (according to Le Monde) the Communist Party of Madagascar has announced that it will vote for the de Gaulle constitution in the referendum.