The Newsletter, vol. 6 no. 244

EDITORIAL 'he Inquisitors Ride High • Tories celebrate the success of their wage pause, new measures are being introduced to weaken the trade union movement. The government has launched a vicious McCarthyite attack on all Civil Servants who may be socialistminded. ore and more power is to be granted to the faceless men of MIS to probe into the private lives of thousands of people. lose who are considered unreliable by the unknown snoopers will at worst lose their jobs and at best be permanently spied upon by specially planted agents. So much for the democratic way of life of the so-called ' Free World' What, one might ask, is the relationship between the witch-hunting of Civil Servants, the attack on ETU militants and the wages pause? In our opinion there is the closest relationship. eartened by the retreat of the right-wing trade union leaders before their offensive, the Tories are now busily creating an atmosphere where victimization will deprive the ranks of the trade union movement of real leadership in a situation where a new offensive is being planned against wages and working conditions. le 'reasonable' men of the right wing always open the gate for the witch-hunters. Anti-communism becomes a smoke-screen behind which a dictatorship from the right operates.

recent reprint of the ETU case, which is now receiving considerable applause from the capitalist press, is nothing more than a manual for witch-hunters. ue enough, the Communist Party members of the Electrical Trades Union committed serious mistakes, but the measures taken against them transcend by far the seriousness of these mistakes. le attack on the militant rank and file of the ETU today is carried out by the same people who are now about to probe into the Civil Service.

We said that the ETU case was the beginning of a witch-hunt and we were right.

Those democrats who have gone out of their way to attack Haxell and his friends do nothing more than to add grist to the mill of the Tory offensive. Their 'moral outrage' serves to cover up the mailed fist of state intervention in the trade inions. SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 1962 Vol. 6, No. 244 blockade (p.4)

McCarthyite Attack on Civil Service Unions E are now witnessesing a new outbreak of McCarthyism in Britain. Anyone who imagines that the capitalist class can be quietly and constitutionally removed from power should study 'Security Procedures in the Public Services. This is the report of the Radcliffe Committee which was set up by the Tories to advise them on how to meet the danger of espionage in the Civil Service, It shows just how firmly the ruling class holds on to its State machine.

Ordinary people will not be able to read the report in full. Some sections are not to be published for security reasons.

It is unlikely that the report will be debated in parliament. This is not considered necessary, since Mr. Kenneth Younger, a former Labour MP, was a member of the Committee and Mr. Gaitskell has been consulted and agrees with the recommendations.

The committee thinks that communist infiltration of the Civil Service trade unions is a danger to national security.

By 'communist, they explain, they mean someone who 'is or has recently been a member of the Communist Party; or, in such a way as to raise reasonable doubt about his reliability, is or has recently been sympathetic to communists or communist possible, Djilas' memoirs of his discussions with Stalin might prove embarrassing And so, with the aid of a specially prepared decree and with the assistance of a US publishing company, the book is suppressed and its author put back in jail.

Tito can fete slave - owning monarchs and sup with military dictators; this same Tito recently amnestied thousands of reactionary and fascist emigres who fled the wrath of the Yugoslav Revolution.

Tito not long ago demanded the rehabilitation of over 200 Yugoslav communists, done to death by Stalin; he now has the effrontery to suffocate the political views of one of the most prominent fighters in his Party.

The Socialist Labour League does not support the opinions of Djilas, but it insists on the open discussion of his ideas, free from interference and suppression. General Meeting sympathisers; or is susceptible to communist pressure.

Such people, says the committee, must not only be purged from Civil Service jobs involving secret work. It is now recommended that departments should refuse to negotiate with them if they are trade union representatives.

This move against the unions must be seen in relation to the attack on the ETU.

Members of that union are involved in many projects concerned with war preparation and this fact is undoubtedly connected with the efforts made to push the CP leadership out of office.

An ominous paragraph in the report complains that Civil Servants do not take security seriously enough.

"To some extent,' the committee states, 'this attitude probably reflects an equally ambivalent attitude on the part of the general public and of the government towards the Communist Powers and the Communist Party generally.' 'Reliable' The Radcliffe Report will begin a wholesale witch-hunt in the Civil Service and in trade unions whose members are engaged on government work.

This will be directed against anyone who is not clearly 'reliable' as supporter of capitalism.

It is amusing to see the attitude of liberals to this threat to democratic rights.

Friday's 'Guardian' carries an editorial on the subject in which the report's recommendations are received without criticism.

However, in the best traditions of British liberalism, the paper tells us how 'distasteful' they are.

In the course of preparing to defend the 'free world' -including Franco, Verwoerd and Chiang kai-shek-capitalism is forced inevitably to take actions which cut down democratic rights, especially of trade unions. McCarthyism is inseparable from the Cold War.

All sections of the movement must fight against this witchhunt. It is just one more manifestation of the drive to war inherent in the capitalist system.

HE Tory government has dutifully instructions of big business and there is capital gains tax. Instead, short-term in stocks and shares, land and buildings will but not until 1963.

Provided the speculator ensures that he holds shares for more than six months or land for three years or over, he will not pay any tax on his realised profits.

This is the easiest possible tax to avoid. It will yield next to nothing and has merely been introduced so that Selwyn Lloyd can appear to have carried out his July undertaking.

One gentleman from the Stock Exchange, broadcasting on Monday evening, stated how pleased he was with the government proposals since it was not likely to affect the buying of stocks and shares.

ADDITIONAL BURDENS What appears to be a 'no change' budget is, in fact, an instrument for putting additional burdens on the working class.

Clothes and furniture, two items that figure prominently in the cost of living, are to be dearer as a result of purchase tax changes.

But luxury • goods such as cars and refrigerators are to cost less. Some £80 million more will be paid out of our pockets as a result of these changes and the new sweets, soft drinks and ice cream tax.

The pattern of earlier budgets is continued. A further redistribution of income in favour of the well-to-do is the objective of this latest exercise in Tory accounting.

PLACATE WAVERERS The proposal to abolish Schedule A property tax for owner-occupiers is intended to placate the wavering middle class voter. The Tories, with Orpington fresh in mind, cannot afford to ignore the discontent of the voter with the large mortgage and the small house.

It is planned to commence to remove this tax—in stages, no doubt—at just about the same time as the new rating valuations take effect. In other words, it is a case of giving with one hand and taking back with the other.

The budget listened to the to be no genuine speculative gains be subject to tax, have any great effect on the economy. New fiscal regulations can be made at any time, as we have seen recently.

The Economic Survey for 1961 gives a picture of a stultifying economy. In the second half of 1961 there was a fall in personal consumption of 1.2 per cent and of investment of 3.8 per cent. Profits have also fallen considerably.

Obviously in such a context, a really repressive budget would cause a further decline in production and a 'buoyant' budget would militate against the pay pause.

So we are treated to a conventional mixed bag of tricks. But in the autumn...?

Release Milovan Djilas!

arrest and relentless persecution of Milovan Djilas by Tito's police is an outrage against the international Labour movement.

His right to publish his ideas must be defended by all who want to see a real discussion of the issues now facing world communism.

Djilas played a prominent part in the construction of the Yugoslav Communist Party and in providing the theoretical basis for the Yugoslav dispute with Stalin. His subsequent move to the right was only a reflection of Tito's own shift towards alliance with imperialism at the time of the Korean war.

His expulsion from the party, his arrest and imprisonment, and the attempted suppression of his books expressed Tito's fear of a discussion which would reveal the real political nature of 'Titoism' This became still more important after the reconciliation with Khrushchev in 1955- Now, when a new rapprochement between the Yugoslav and Russian leaders is

Page WO

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the British Labour MovementTOUR years ago the H United States - of Defence estimated that in a nuclear war 160 million Americans, 200 million Russians and every single person in Western Europe and Britain would die. And things have got worse since then. Existing nuclear weapons are currently estimated to be equivalent to 25 tons of TNT for every living person on earth.

Something has to be done about it. But what?

There are five main views on how to get rid of the nuclear threat. These are:

That a series of peaceful, legal demonstrations and a logical exposition of the unilateralist case will attract more and more people and finally convince the government. This is the view of the leaders of CND.

That official CND is too respectable, is not making enough progress and needs to be supplemented by more vigorous action. Non-violent obstruction, while not likely to prevent the government from carrying out its policies as long as it wants to do so, will finally become so powerful that the government will give way. This is the view of the Committee of 100.

That the main job is to put pressure on the government to engage in talks with Mr.

Khrushchev, in order to bring about lasting peace and disarmament through Summit negotiations. This is the view of the Communist Party.

That Britain can opt out of the nuclear race and become a 'neutral' power, in a position to give a moral lead the world. This 'positive neutralism' is advocated by "Tribune', the remnants of the New Left' and the the leaders of Victory for Socialism.

That the H-bomb is the most frightful expression of of the decay of capitalism.

It can only be got rid of by getting rid of capitalism itself. This campaign against the bomb must be a campaign against the Tory government and the rightwing leaders of the Labour movement who support capitalism. It must be linked up with working class struggles over wages, redundancies, rents, racialism, etc. Concretely, this means to fight inside the Labour movement to return a Labour government to power committed to socialist policies, including the unilateral renunciation of nuclear weapons. This is the view of the Socialist Labour League.

Which of these is the most likely to bring about victory over the bomb?

More and more people are realising that marching is not gas workers; 38,000. London busmen; and many thousands more.

To get rid of the bomb we must get rid of the Tory government. To do that a powerful movement is necessary.

The working class is that movement and there is no other. No doubt many of those workers who have been in struggle over wages and redundancies are influenced by the propaganda that is pumped at them daily and may think themselves 'in favour' of the bomb.

But in fighting the government that produces the bomb, they are fighting the bomb itself. It is vital for unilateralists to see this connection and to ralism and it is impossible to find, in recent months, a single reference in the 'Daily Worker' to the demand for unilateral renunciation of nuclear weapons by Britain.

The role of the working class in preventing war is pushed into the background and the Communist Party actively opposes turning the movement in this direction.

(At the National Youth Conference for Peace held in London on March 18, a resolution calling for the removal of the Tory government as a first step to nuclear disarmament and urging the maximum unity within the Labour Movement to achieve this, was opposed by YCL speakers who advocated 'united action of young people of different views, including Tories, for peace [see "Daily Worker', March 19])

Instead the Daily Worker' gives maximum publicity to activities like the recent • Mothers for Peace' trip to Geneva, which can have no influence whatever on the aims of imperialism.

Meanwhile, the Americans go ahead with their plans for nuclear testing, backed up to the hilt by the Tory government, which is actively preparing for war—as their plans for evacuation (however farcical) make clear.

It is criminal to divert the attention of unilateralists to Summit talks. Such talks will not abolish the bomb.

Last year Kennedy and Khrushchev held a 6 little Summit' in Austria. Did that lessen the danger of war? On une contrary, it was ---- £. 11 Iollowed by the Berlin crisis!

During the 1960 Aldermaston march, members of the Communist Party carried banners referring not to unilateralism but to the impending Paris Summit.

Many people were sidetracked into pinning their hopes on these talks.

And what happened? The talks collapsed when the American U2 spy plans was shot down over Russia. Imperialism was talking yout

can defeat the Tory H-bomb Government enough. Each year sees a bigger, better Aldermaston, dominated by youth. But we are no nearer to getting rid of the bomb.

Despite all the demonstrations, despite the logic of the unilateralist case, the government is continuing its suicidal policies. Clearly, something more is needed.

It was the desire to do more that led to the formation of the Committee of 100. Reacting against the complacent respectability of the CND leadership hundreds of young people responded to the call for Direct Action.

Six of their leaders are now in gaol, serving vicious sentences imposed on them by the State. At their Parliament Square sit-down on March 24, 1,172 of them were arrested. Everyone must admire their courage.

But will it get rid of the bomb? The experience of the December 9 demonstration at Wethersfield, Brize Norton and other bases showed many people that when they actively opposed the government they came up against a huge repressive apparatus — police violence, searches, gaol sentences, and a full-scale campaign of intimidation-and not a government of 'reasonable' men, open to 'public pressure' And the government that used these methods is allied to Salazar, Franco, de Gaulle and Adenauer and his government of pro-Nazis.

The spread of nuclear weapons to these 'allies' is imminent and can only be prevented by a vigorous struggle against our own nuclear government, of the sort which will inspire the working class of Europe to do the same.

A government with an arms budget of £1,721 million is not going to be persuaded by peaceby Jack Gale ful demonstrations of whatever type. We have to get rid of it. Many unilateralists are beginning to see this. The Tory government which spends these millions on armaments is the same government which imposes a wage pause on the working class and middle class, shortly after granting £83 million in concessions to surtax payers, that turns families homeless into the London streets in the interests of landlords and property speculators; that introduces immigration control; that calls for more production while turning hundreds of miners, railwaymen and engineers out of their jobs.

Are these the acts of a government motivated by "reason' and the 'interests of the people'? Or of a government run on behalf of landlords, property owners, speculators and profiteers (including those who make profits out of armaments)?

In fighting the H-bomb you are fighting the policies of this government. So are workers who demand wage increase. In recent months this has included 34 million engineers; 800,000 railwaymen; 560,000 miners; 160,000 Post Office workers; 146,000 Civil Servants; 70,000 ock workers; 60,000 explain it to others.

Some are already doing this. During the recent one-day strikes of engineers some unilateralists — for instance the North-East Committee of 100 and the Hull University CNDissued leaflets to the strikers linking the fight against the wage pause with the fight against the bomb.

This is absolutely on the right lines. Unilateralists must link up with the working class in this way, must tie up the campaign against the bomb with struggles over wages, pit closures, rents and colonialism.

They must work to get a response inside the working class organisations by turning their activity towards what is going on inside the working class movement. Otherwise, they are doomed to impotence.

When the Campaign is cut off from other real struggles there is a tendency to seek short cuts. This results in a pull away from unilateralism.

Leading this tendency is the Communist Party which rapidly moving back to the position it held prior to 1 959, when it condemned unilat eralism as sectarian.

The Communist Party is now concentrating its efforts on gaining a Summit meeting and an agreement on tests. has ceased to campaig 1 for un latepeace, but preparing for war.

In September 1960, members of the Communist Party stood at London Airport with banners saying 'Good Luck, Mac', as Macmillan flew to America to speak at the United Nations.

What happened? Macmillan spoke about peace-and two months later announced that during that same trip he had arranged for the Polaris to come to the Clyde.

Therefore, before anyone pins his hopes on any future Summit, he should look at the past record. It is the job of socialists to blow away the smoke-screens laid down by capitalist politicians, not to add to the confusion.

This confusion is increased by the 'positive neutralists' The notion that Britain could become 'neutral' ignores the harsh realities of the forces in the world.

For Britain to be wrenched out of the Western Alliance would unbalance the whole strategy of American-European militarism.

It would be a major breakthrough against imperialism and could take place only as a result of a huge social upheaval here and as part of a rapidly changing situation internationally. Such a development would be 'positive', certainly, but hardly 'neutral'.

The Socialist Labour League stresses the international and class aspects of the struggle against war. The basic divisions in the world are not national, but class divisions.

We oppose the ultra-patriotism of the 'Daily Worker, its anti - Germanism, its anti-Americanism and its ridiculous air of outraged moral virtue because American sailors are carrying on with British girls.

Of course, we oppose German troops and American bases in Britain, but because they are a part of international capitalist preparations for war, not because they are German or American.

The German and American working class are our allies in preventing war, and the task of socialists is to knock down the national barriers that prevent us from forging that alliance.

It is because of this international, class attitude to war, that we have always insisted on a turn towards the organised working • class in the trade unions and Labour Party.

That is why we were the first to put down a unilateralist resolution at a Labour Party Conference (at Brighton in 1957 — calling for an international campaign) and the first to demand industrial action against the bomb ('Black the H-Bomb and Rocket Bases' 1958).

But what about the Blackpool Labour Party Conference? Doesn't the reversal of the previous year's unilateralist victory show that it is useless to pay any attention to the Labour Party?

Some people certainly think this and have begun to advocate independent CND candidates in elections.

Such action only cuts off unilateralism from what is really happening. All the recent by-elections show a swing against the Tories, a : esentment the massive "Yes' vote in last Sunday's referendum, de Gaulle stands equipped with dictatorial powers formally endorsed by popular vote. The plebiscitary character of his regime becomes clearer from his broadcast declarations: contempt for parliament, for the old parties, even for his own ministers, is clear from his actions.

Now more than ever the fate of French society hangs on the life of one man: before it the abyss gapes wider than ever.

The vote for de Gaulle does not mean a secure regime. It represents the clinging together of frightened people clutching at a necessarily temporary salvation.

Of course, the vote was nominally for the Algerian settlement and it was on this plausible plea that the followers of Mollet and Thorez were induced to vote 'Yes'.

But the question of self-determination for Algeria is no matter for decision by the French electors. That alone ought to have determined a at the pay pause, at the fear of unemployment, a disgust at the class privilege that is at the roots of Toryism.

It is possible to build up a strong anti- Tory movement that could bring down this H-bomb government. Unilateralists must be a part of this, instead of cutting themselves off by "protest' candidatures.

Gaitskell's victory at the 1961 Conference shows how essential it is for unilateralists to fight even harder in the Labour Party, to penetrate more deeply into the working class movement-and to realise what that implies.

The political struggles inside Labour Party reflect the decisive problems for capitalism — who shall own the means of production, and whether capitalism will be allowed to start a third World War. No one can fight seriously on these questions except by taking part in the struggles in the Labour Party.

This is a hard struggle. The right wing is backed up by all the brain-washing facilities of capitalism, and Transport House itself has a powerful machine.

But there is a deep-going contradiction inside the Labour Party, between its roots in the working class and the nature of its leadership.

The right-wing leaders carry into the movement ideas that are in the interests of capitalism —no more nationalization, keep the H-bomb.

But the Labour Party is based on the trades unions, and evokes a deep loyalty from workers, who, as they move into action, gain their political experiences from their organizations - that is, from the trades unions and the Labour Party itself.

The ranks of these organizations, despite their leadership, continually throw up demands of fundamental concern to the working class — nationalization "No' vote by the working class parties, quite apart from the fact that to vote otherwise represented an endorsement for de Gaulle.

These parties — including the Communist Party-had already become supports for de Gaulle. Their betrayal has simply gone a stage further.

The relatively large number of 'Noes', abstentions and spoiled papers means that there are many on the left who understood the issues.

The main body of the working class, bewildered by their 'leaders', see in the 'Yes' their illusory desire for peace in Algeria and a quiet life. They have been disarmed by these leaders once again.

Yet it is clear that de Gaulle cannot realise the hopes of the working people. As an agent of French capitalism he is bound to oppose their demands, to strengthen the repressive forces aligned against them and prepare for the coming showdown.

On their side, the task of preparation will never be undertaken by the Social Democrats or the Stalinists.

and opposition to war.

The split in the Labour Party can never be healed. The right wing is an ally of capitalism, acting as a false opposition, holding back and miseducating the working class. It is because of this that capitalism has a stake in preserving the right wing as the leadership of the Labour Party. That is why the unilateralist victory in 1960 was not only a defeat for Gaitskell but a threat to capitalism.

That is why that victory should have been the beginning of a much sharper fight in the Party. It could only have been consolidated by driving the right wing out. Anything short of that was bound to lead to a reversal the following year. The Socialist Labour League said this at the time ('After Scarborough, the Battle Begins').

But the leadership of the left in the Labour Party, Michael Foot, 'Tribune' and VFS, were incapable of fighting to a finish. While the right organized ruthlessly, these 'leaders' did nothing.

They did not organize a single big meeting or campaign during that whole crucial year. Even when Foot and four others were kicked out of the Parliamentary Labour Party, they still did nothing. They gave no leadership whatsoever.

But the failure of the 'left' is not an argument for staying out of the Labour Party. On the contrary, it is an argument for getting in, in a much more organized and class conscious way. And it is positive proof that the fight against the bomb and against the right wing cannot be led by a 'Tribune'-VFStype leadership.

Fortunately there are stronger forces around. As the 1962 Aldermaston takes place, the second National Conference of the Labour Party Young Socialists meets. THE friends of the FLN are - meanwhile busily seeking to present the Evian agreement as a capitulation of French imperialism and as no barrier to the social revolution in Algeria.

They do this, of course, as blind partisans of the FLN leadership and by a favourable interpretation of the agreement made with de Gaulle.

The fact that the Sahara will be considered as part of the Algerian state is made to seem much more important than the continued stranglehold of the oil companies over the petroleum resources, including the upholding of France's privileged position with respect to them.

The status of the European inhabitants of Algeria is less important, in considering the nature of the settlement, than the question of property rights. In fact, the property rights of French capital are fully protected.

The only kind of agrarian reform which will be possible is one in which European estates will be re-purchased by the Algerian state. The latter, if it embarks on agrarian reform, will only be able to do so by calling The agenda for that conference contains 12 unilateralist resolutions (against three pro-Gaitskell ones) plus a demand to send messages of solidarity to the Aldermaston marchers and to the six imprisoned leaders of the Committee of 100.

It also contains 10 resolutions demanding withdrawal from all military alliances, five opposing any re-introduction of conscription, 13 against the immigration bill, four in favour of more nationalization and three against the pay pause.

These young people flocking into the Labour movement in large numbers, and the thousands of trade unionists moving into conflict with the employers and the government, constitute a force which can break the grip of the Tories.

Unilateralists have now got to face the question: what must be done to make their protest effective? The marches and demonstrations are growing— but so is the number of H-bombs.

To some unilateralists the demonstrations have already become an end in themselves —an expression of personal conviction—while the real object of getting rid of the bomb recedes into an unattainable future.

The only way to prevent this is to to tie unilateralism to the real, living forces of the working class. There is no other way. Macmillan, Kennedy and Khrushcher will not do it for us. The Tories will not be converted by our logic and devotion. Mr. Gaitskell will not be won over by our self-sacrifice.

Those people who try to keep the movement 'out of po itics' are an obstacle to getting I id of the bomb.

La ge hree for French economic aid vided for in the agreement.

The most that can be expected, therefore, is a purely token redistribution of land with a few former landowners being paid handsome indemnities.

Such evident compromises are, by a process of political contortion, being made to appear as a great conquest by the Algerian revolution.

According to a writer in the Belgian paper 'La Gauche', all the important concessions have been made by France and all the real gains have been made by the Algerians. What is left to France are purely prestige satisfactions! The naval base at Mers-El-Kebir and which is to remain in French hands for 15 years, for example?

In fact, of course, such an agreement cannot be judged only from its words, as other friends of the FLN, with greater misgivings, are aware.

The Pabloite journal, 'La Verite des Travailleurs, (March 1962), while claiming 'a great victory for the Algerian Revolution' goes on to say, 'of course, it is a compromise peace, many elements of which constitute a menace for the development of the Algerian revolution' Where will the menace come from? 'Not only from the OAS and its gangster methods, but also from the innumerable manoeuvres of the agents of capitalism and of the French government like those in many other former French colonies in Africa' The imagination of the writer in 'La Gauche' evidently did not extend as far as this.

Nevertheless, both of these papers share illusions in the revolutionary character of the FLN leadership.

The Pabloites, so long the counsellors of the FLN, have decided that the FLN leadership is neither 'Marxist-revolutionary' nor bourgeois.

It is representative of a complex combination between different Algerian social classes of which the poor peasantry is the dominant part associated with the intellectual and commercial bourgeoisie, the proletarian kernels in the big cities and the proletarian emigrants in France'.

The fact that the poor peasantry is the most numerous section of the population does not make it in any sense "dominant either in social weight or in the leadership.

The question of the nature of the leadership is, in effect, skated over.

What is clear is that the Pabloites are aware that this leadership could turn what they call a compromise' into a betrayal. Imperialism will oppose the development of a socialist Algeria. They ask, then, will it receive support from a fraction of the FLN? 'That is an eventuality which cannot be neglected, let us say that is it possible. But the most probable perspective is to see the majority of the FLN set out unreservedly on the socialist road.' The supporters of the FLN, who claim to be Marxists, have tied themselves to an unstable, petty bourgeois type of colonial national leadership, which seeks not to lead, but to manipulate and dominate the poor peasant and worker masses.

If there is one thing which the Evian agreements demonstrate to the full, it is that such a leadership cannot carry forward the struggle against imperialism and cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be considered as the basis for 'working class power' in Algeria.

THE big pay-off at the Rothes pit, Fife, started thi Lists of 300 men who must sign on at the Labour E: have been posted. Miners collected their pay from the shouldered their kitbags containing working clothes. few have an immediate job to go to.

Miners with more than three years' service in the pit can draw redundancy pay, but there are many young miners who will not qualify for this.

Some of these have found other jobs locally but there are some whose 'good job for life' as advertised by the National Coal Board, is now over. Their future is uncertain, but this week they will be signing on the dole.

W. Stabler, Rothes NUM delegate, said, 'After hundreds of interviews, comparatively few men have been placed in other pits in Fife?

Most of these men have gone to lower paid 'on cost work', getting only the minimum rate of pay.

W. Clark, the Rothes NUM chairman, said: 'It is a tragedy that so few jobs are available and it seems clear to us that there has been no proper organization for ensuring that the maximum number of men would be placed elsewhere?

The activity of the NUM cadership and the strike-breaking f Alex Moffat and his officials in cotland has resulted in a rout at lothes.

change pit and Very There has been no intervention by the Queen or anyone else in high places to help the Fife miners and their attempts to fight by strike action were crushed by the NUM officials.

Now there is a complete collapse of leadership and every man fights for himself in the best way he can.

It is a scramble to secure decent jobs and provide for families as quickly as possible. The men no longer fight as a pit, simply as individuals.

More closures are to come in Scotland. Glenochil pit will shut down soon. Others will follow, probably 16 during this year. Robens has the list and it is known to the NUM officials.

The Rothes closure is a defeat hrought ahout hy treachery Rut auvul vy livavuvey. JuL lost battles can result in future victories if the lessons are learned and good leaders emerge.

The twin towers of Rothes pit are symbolic of the two enemies of the Scottish miner: capitalism backed by right-wing Labour and Stalinism as represented by the leadership of Moffat.

But Rothes can also become the starting point for the building of a new militant leadership in the Scottish coalfield.

AORE than 80 people attended he funeral of Joe Fitzgerald, lational committee member of he Socialist Labour League, at Cose Hill Crematorium, Donaster, on Thursday, April 5.

About 30 miners were present rom Brodsworth Colliery, where oe worked, and there were also niners from Bulleroft and Bentley collieries in Yorkshire, Bradford Colliery in Manhester, and the Rising Sun Jolliery, Wallsend.

The Socialist Labour League vas represented by its National ¡ecretary, Gerry Healy and by wo National Committee mem›ers, Cliff Slaughter and Jack Sale. Members of the League rom Leeds, Doncaster and Vormanton also attended.

The editorial board of The Miner, which Joe Fitzgerald dited, was represented by Joe Ryan, Jim Swan and Roy Woodward. A number of Koung Socialists were also present.

Speaking at the ceremony, lack Stones. who worked with TY LIU TY U. vu Joe in Brodsworth Colliery, in the Brodsworth NUM branch and around 'The Miner', said Joe's great characteristics were his truthfulness, his determination and love of his fellowmen. There were never any halfway measures with Joe Fitzgerald. Everybody who knew him — his family, his friends, young people getting interested in socialism, his colleagues around 'The Miner' and his comrades in the Socialist Labour League-all knew that they had lost a true and great fighter. Speaking on behalf of the Socialist Labour League, Gerry Healy said that Joe was a confirmed socialist who was born and died a member of the working class.

Although he was no longer with us, he lived on in the work he had done amongst miners and amongst socialist youth. Joe gave almost the whole of his time, outside work, in preparing for the establishment of socialism. He worked in the conviction that this would be achieved. We were all greatly saddened by his death and our deepest sympathy went out to the members of his family. But we were confident-as Joe was himself— that the future lay in the hands of the millions of Joe Fitzgeralds who live lives of toil in the working class.

We look forward to the day for which he fought. been recognized both in law and by the IC as a trade union.

"Two years ago a crane driver

Industrial Miners OUR MERSEYSIDE -EXT Monday morning will be a critical time for Merseyside dockers. It is then that Alderman P. J. O'Hare and other right-wing officials of the Transport and General Workers' Union may attempt to stop the hiring of docker members of the National Amalgamated Stevedores and Dockers the 'Blue' Union.

This is not the first time that docks' officials of have tried to deprive NASD men of their jobs. ago the rank and file of both unions gave them answer.

In January 1958, TGWU officials stopped two 'Blue' Union men from being hired for a bulk-sugar job which pays a higher rate than most dock jobs.

Within a week, 12,000 men were on strike in Liverpool. There has been no discrimination on this job since.

During the past fortnight Merseyside 'Blue' Union leaders have been speaking every day to members of both unions at dock gate meetings. It was clear at these meetings that the rank and file of the TGWU did not support O'Hare's attempt to have a final showdown with the NASD Members of the TGWU decared there should be no show o ards on Monday unless the ' Blue Union men were recognized as members of a trade union.

TGWU officials on Merseyside he is ted are mere sin the employers that TGWU members should be hired first.

The agreement, however, reads that the 'employers undertake not to engage non-union labour at the controls when union labour is available'.

This does not mean onl TGWU members and OHar knows it, said Peter Kerrigan, full-time official of No. 5 branch NASD. 'The "Blue" Union has the TGWU Four years a very swift in No. 5 control, a "Blue" Union member, was refused hire by the Port Labour Officer on the instructions of the local trade union official. Subsequently, the Dock Labour Board was forced to pay them at his full wage in a settlement out of court.

'I'd like to say a word to Mr. Frank Cousins. He should be reminded that in 1955 Mr. Tiffin, then General Secretary of the TGWU, was forced to hold back these right-wing officials.

'As a politician Mr. Frank Cousins is to the left of Mr. Tiffin. As a trade union leader, is he going to back the most right-wing section of his union and be more blind to the situation on Merseyside than was Mr. Tiffin?

"These officials have fought Cousins' political policies and are now trying to split the dockers and weaken their fighting strength on the eve of a struggle with the port employers.

'I have said we have been recognized in law and by the TUC as a trade union. But far more important, of course, is that we have been recognized by Merseyside dockers.

'The rank and file of the TGWU know our members as militants who stand by their mates in trouble.

'I have confidence that the rank and file of the TGWU, the ' White' Union, will defend the right of the "Blue" Union docker to earn his bread and butter and will feel that now is the time to defeat once and for all these attacks on the NASD which can only help to strengthen the employers.'

and-file members of VFS than its leadership, a thought with which Zilliacus, Silverman and Mikardo clearly sympathized.

Birmingham ETU Protests expulsions THE Birmingham Midland branch of the Electrical Trades Union, which has a membership of approximately 2,000, unanimously passed the following resolution:

" This branch meeting condemns the decision of the Executive Council to expel Brothers Haxell, Frazer, McLennan and Humphrey from the Union as a vindictive act which discredits those who made that decision, and gives notice that subject to the validity of the 1958 Rules being established this branch will avail itself of the provisions of Rule 3 (Appeals Machinery).

"Furthermore, we ask that the EC minutes containing the above decision be published without delay?

Registered at the G.P.O. as a newspaper Published by The Newsletter, 1861 Clapham High Street, L18. 0, SWA 80 Clapham High Street, London, S.W.4

By Our Midlands Industrial Correspondent LAST WEEK The Newsletter cited the sit-down strike of dayworkers at Austins car factory, Birmingham, as a magnificent example of the workers' will to hit back at the Tory wage restraint policy.

On Monday this week the strike was called off and work resumed at the giant Longbridge factory, amid a chorus of approval and relief from the Tory press.

The very size of Austin's and the number of workers involved in the stoppage, both at Longbridge and at other BMC factories in Birmingham and Oxford, made this strike 'a crippling blow' to the worried BMC bosses.

So much so that when the 3,000 day workers rejected the advice of their union leaders to return to work early last week the management were still ready to meet the union leaders for talks on Friday, in spite of their previously declared intention of not negotiating 'under duress'.

The result of these talks 'formula' which was submitted to the shop stewards at an earlymorning meeting at the factory on Monday.

The shop stewards were addressed by Mr. S. R. Cresswell, secretary of the Birmingham district committee of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions.

He declared: 'I want to emphasize the spirit of the intention of the management to do something for the day workers. They seem as anxious and as ready as the unions to do something on this issue' What this 'something' is that the management are so anxious to do for the strikers will no doubt transpire during discussions following the resumption of work.

The day workers are claiming a weekly increase of 36s. It can only be assumed that the management have kept an iron restraint on their anxiety to benefit the men, since negotiations on day workers' rates had dragged on for two and a half years prior to the stoppage.

'HE annual general meeting of Victory for Socialism held last Sunday at the Cora Hotel, London, was attended by only 60 people, a sad reflection on the leadership given over the past year. moving the annual report, Sydney Silverman, MP, chairman of VFS, denied that there was any question of it being dissolved and declared that "so long as the present type of leadership in Transport House remains there is a need for such a body as VFS '. le meeting unanimously agreed to an emergency resolution on Cuba. 'This AGM of VFS declares its solidarity with the Cuban Revolution in its struggle against imperialism and in particular condemns the economic blockade of Cuba by the Organization of American States as an attempt to starve into submission a whole nation and make it accept US control of its resources. We therefore call upon the incoming executive committee to support all attempts by the British Labour movement to help break through the blockade? reaking from the floor, Russell Kerr, a prominent member of CND, expressed the hope that the executive council 'will take up this question at its very next meeting and not allow this to lie around ' Sidney Silverman said that the EC would go straight ahead with action on this resolution. The meeting also carried a resolution demanding a campaign for greater democracy in the Labour Party and the right of constituency labour parties to select their own parliamentary candidates. lere was considerable criticism of the way VFS had handled the question of the expulsion of five MPs from the Parliamentary Labour Party and the absence of any campaign in support of the Scarborough decisions. reply to some questions on the annual report, Stephen Swingler MP, felt that lack of support for VFS was due more to the rank-