The Newsletter, vol. 6 no. 257

Global

Assassins THE most terrifying thing 'about the explosion of Kennedy's 'rainbow bomb' is not that its effect is unknown but that men who wield such tremendous power were prepared to take the risk. any scientists had warned the US government that nuclear explosions at such high altitudes might cause long-term— if not permanent-changes in the Van Allen radiation belt. Few of them would claim to be able to predict just what this would lead to. espite world-wide protest, the State Department still went ahead. They wanted to find out whether it would be possible to detect or destroy a rocket by means of such an explosion, or to disrupt enemy radar systems so as to enable an American rocket to reach its target. he global assassins-the protagonists of the 'New Frontier' of nuclear genocide - were eminently successful. They punched a massive hole in the Van Allen belt and turned night into day, and made millions of people in the Pacific region agonisingly aware of the potentiality of nuclear destruction. ; this explosion took place, a conference was beginning in Moscow. The World Congress for Disarmament and Peace, attended by delegates from many countries, has already sent its protests to Washington. it however good the intentions of the participants, congresses of this kind are quite inadequate. The hydrogen bomb and the ballistic missile are part of a dying social system. The ruling class, in defending the interests of imperialism, is clearly capable of taking decisions which can lead to the destruction of humanity. ennedy's megaton space bomb should blow away any illusions that peace can be achieved by agreements between the powers. Logical explanation and discussion are quite irrelevant where people like Kennedy and Macmillan are concerned.

NDers must draw the lessons from Monday's explosion. Petitions calling on the imperialist governments to take action cannot stop men like this. ily a movement involving working - class action and a fight to end capitalism can stop the threat of nuclear destruction which capitalism has produced. Ben Khedda's new programme:

STATEMENT BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE editorial in the 'Daily Worker' of July 9 depleres the expulsion of Frank Foulkes, president of the Electrical Trades Union, from membership of the union as 'a disgraceful decision'. It goes on to quote his record as a trade unionist, which is certainly much hetter than most of his ex-colleagues in the trade union movement. But for the 'Daily Worker' to base its case on that alone is to evade the real issue.

What are the political reasons why the Communist Party has lost control of the ETU? What are the reasons which drove Frank Haxell and others to engage in activities which are now admitted by the Communist Party to have taken place?

Mr. Peter Kerrigan, the industrial organizer of the party, has a department at his disposal for constantly checking the work of Communist Party members in the trade unions. Either these people were asleep for a number of years, or they were aware of what was going on.

We believe they were aware and are now looking for scapegoats like the unfortunate Frazer, Wolff and O'Neill.

A real investigation into the party's activity in the ETU would reveal that, because of the reformist nature of Stalinist policy, which arises directly from the policy of 'peaceful co-existence' with the employers, the party leadership lost ground in the union.

Instead of correcting the serious political errors which were the cause of this, the leadership of the ETU was driven into a position which led inevitably to the courts.

The Communist Party Congress will meet at Easter 1963. All trade union members of the party must demand a strict accounting, free from scapegoats, for the reason why the party has lost its positions in the ETU.

from the union is a savage blow against the ETU and can only result in weakening it still further. I intend fight against this expulsion in every way that I am able?

This was Frank Foulkes' immediate reaction, in a personal interview given to THe NEWSLETteR, a few hours after his expulsion from the Electrical Trades Union by the right-wing dominated Executive Council last Sunday:

Frank Foulkes has been a member of the ETU for 47 years, 26 years as a full-time official, 17 as General President. The vote to expel him from the union was taken after four hours' discussion at the union's headquarters at Hayes Court. Most of this time was taken by Mr. Foulkes in presenting his statement which answered the charges brought by the Right wing against him, a statement which reiterated his innocence in relation to the recent charges of ballot-rigging heard in the High Court.

'But let us be under no illusions, Frank Foulkes said, in his interview with THE NEWSLETTER. 'The decision today was not taken because of the declaration of the High Court last year but because I am a communist and because of the things for which I have consistently fought in the union.

DISSERVICE

' In expelling me the EC has done a great disservice to the membership by removing the experience and ability as a negotiator which I have been able to gain out of 26 years' service to the members of the union as a full-time official. I am confident that the vast majority of the members will come forward in support of me and the things for which I stand.

'The EC is, of course, well aware of this. That is why they have insisted on expelling me under Rule 38, the rule for disciplining ordinary members of the union, instead of Rule 12. Under Rule 12, which applies to officers of the union, I would have been able to immediately circulate my case to every individual member and a ballot of the membership would then decide on the expulsion.

" If I were able to go to the members in this way l am sure they would reject this reactionary decision. They have got rid of me because they are afraid of my influence in the union and the Labour movement generally.

SADISTS

'I have called the EC members who took this decision sadists. That may seem a harsh thing to say. It is not said out of any personal animosity towards them, but because of what they are doing to our union. Like all sadists they are humourless-the hallmark of frightened men.

They are now working at top speed, holding special sessions of the executive in order to make the union safe for their policies. They cannot allow my appeal to come forward to the members in the next few months. They cannot allow me to be present at the special rules revision conference in September.

' I have been asked by the press if the EC can prevent my expulsion being brought up at this special conference. Let us have no illusions. This executive is capable of doing anything it likes. Look at their record over the past few months.

• Nominations for delegates to the Labour Party conference and the Trades Union Congress resulted in an overwhelming support for left-wingers like Jack Hendy and Sam Goldberg. Action was immediately taken by the executive to avert defeat for the right-wing candidates by suspending these candidates.

• For the first time in the history of the union, the delegation has been arbitrarily chosen by the EC and will doubtless fight for right-wing policies at the Labour Party annual conference and at the TUC.

NO RIGHT "Take the case of the annual policy conference. This year, members will not have the right to discuss the policy of the union at a time when important decisions face the Labour movement. In its place, a special rules revision conference is to be held at which branches will not have the right to move resolutions or amendments to rule unless these are first accepted by the EC. These resolutions are first to be sifted by an appointed representative of the EC.

• The intention in my case is to proceed under Rule 38 in order to prevent my case coming before the membership before I am due to retire in March 1964.

'I am nevertheless determined to fight back. It is not a question of Frank Foulkes or his job as president. The union is being weakened as an organisation for p. 2, col. l 6-PAGE NEWSLETTER NEXT WEEK The Newsletter on July 21 will publish the full statement of Frank Foulkes which he made to the Executive Council before he was expelled.

This statement is of great interest to all trade unionists and we urge them to order extra copies of the paper for sale and distribution in trade union branches and on the job.

by Michael WHILE talks between the two rival bourgeois factions in the FLN have broken down, the war against the Left wing in the national movement continues with redoubled vigour.

According to recent news broadcasts, any Moslems found assaulting a European in Oran will be shot on sight. Dozens of extreme nationalists have been arrested in the working-class district of Oran.

The attacks against ALN leaders also continue. On this question Ben Bella, in a recent interview, stated explicitly that ' In my view the ALN constitutes the surest guarantee of the Algerian Revolution and I think that there must be seen in the measures taken against its general staff the wish to liquidate the ALN itself. It is a political act ot the mosi serious importance.

' It must not be forgotten that there are still French troops in Algeria, that half a million French soldiers occupy our territory, and that the OAS, though weakened, still exists.' At the same time Ben Bella also made explicit his acceptance of Evian. 'I gave my approval to the Evian agreements. 1 followed the negotiations while still in prison ... I will further tell you that I gave a mandate p. 3, col.

THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL

by the Socialist Workers' (USA), which appeared in The RUSHCROFT ROAD is Monday, July 2, together with a resolution adopted by the Fourth National Conference recognised place for public of the Socialist Labour These two. statements should serve to meetings in Brixton, South London, yet in recent months of the two in relation to the discussion the police have closed down Keep Left, the Socialist Young Fourth ional. meetings organised there by paper banned National by the the Young Socialists, YCND Executive of the Labour Party was right the di spute to justify the Trades Council.

at the end of May, has con- 1953-54 and to hold over they are When the South London tinued publication this week later discussion such Marxism. Aid for Cuba Committee dewith the appearance of the resolution, based as might still be elate Pabloism, with its theories cided to hold a street meeting July Keep Left states in tions taken at the last conven- differences.' 'war-revolut on', 'centuries last Sunday, a member of the clear and uncompromising terms that intends to fight tion of the Socialist Workers' Party (published in the summer capitulation to the Stalinist degenerated workers states, to inform them that they Committee phoned the police in the Labour Party and trades union movement Socialist 1961 issue of International Review), was sub- the bourgeois-nationalist leaders bureaucracy, subordination to intended using Rushcroft Road. She was told that it have the ban lifted. mitted by the majority of the in the colonial countries is pre- would not be possible 'as the le editor, 23-year-old Roger Political Committee the cisely such a tendency. Our National Union of Fascists Protz, who has been expelled National Committee. This This conference movement can only take a big meets there Saturday afterfrom the Labour Party, says stressed the Socialist Labour League step forward when the lessons in a front-page article that the quences ol an interdependent ports tl call of the of the split and the source of paper has been banned for process-the great upsurge in the national Committee of Pablo's revisionism, fully Determined to hold meeting, knowing supporting the Scarborough colonial world, the tendency of Fourth International for grasped by the movement.

conference decisions and for the Soviet people to restore conterence early in 1965 ot all The r rext stage in the inter- legally no one can book in advance, the Committee went fighting for socialist policies proletarian democracy, and the affiliated sections. The dis- national discussion must thereby people who call the paper struggles of the workers in the cussion before and during this fore be a definitive clarification Rushcroft Road and started undemocratic and factionalist imperialist centres for security conference is the pre- essential of the p volitical ons for the up. After about 10 minutes the —the very people who ignored and a better standard of living. condition for the reconstruction split of 1953, settling of fascists arrived. Furious at the the Scarborough decisions and • These movements have given of the Fourth International. with the revisionist competition, they began hurling abuse at Committee members tried to remove Clause 4 rise to fresh political currents, Without political clarification which have developed the constitution. some of considerable scope and of the problems facing • the within Marxist and le paper reports that Mr. of leftward direction, above all international working class and Protz had written to the NEC in the colonial world the the Marxist movement and to request the right of a ppeal without a thoroughgoing two loudspeakers going once and a crowd beginning against his expulsion, but analysis of th e experience of the In facilitate his indicate unlikely press reports that the to gran his request. executive are this week particula The having opened Fourth can be International International. Any at- no rebuilding the since 1940, there of cussion, sub-com League mittee of will the take Socialist Labour in the Inter- scene, followed by two inspec- form, it was not long before policeman arrived on the le Rigt t wing have taken socialist revolution in tempt unify and organise the national Committee Inter- tors. I'm closing both meetings further steps to weaken the Western Hemisphere, was forces at present claiming to be national Secretariat propo: sed in of them said.

militant Young Socialist singled as exceptionally Trotskyist without such a dis- the IC's letter of February 1962. Turning the driver movement. Four members of meaningful. cussion would be a backward We believe that if this car carryi the loudspea the elected National Com- ' In the light the encourag- setting aside of the most im- mittee can necessary make the equipment, added, 'And mittee have been suspended ing vista, the ir ¡ajority resolution technical arrangements for ex- you don't get this car out pending further investigations expressed the fraternal opinion portant questions and conse- change of written discussion here immediately I'll have you into their activities. Three of that an effort was now quently the failure of the documents, then the various for parking.' The Committee these were supporters of Keep needed to unify the world revolutic nary movement to face sections throughout the world moved on to another site where Left, whilst the fourth sup- Trotskyist movement which has politi cal responsibilities. can be drawn into the necessary they were able to draw ports another independent remained split into two main of political clarification. and sympathetic crowd.

youth paper, Young Guard. factions for some nine years. discussion our aim will The events of last Saturday has been suggested that he Unification is feasible in view of ask in the to make the necessary are important. The papers were has been suspended as well in substantial agreement the of political clarification is to analysis and exposure of re- full of the scenes in Trafalgar order to guarantee a right- day. Differences that do remain major political issues the expose the revisionism which visionisı n, and to clarify the Square when the police prowing majority on the com- produced the 1953 split, and forces who will rebuild the tected National Socialist mittee, which met for the first nature and should not block are largely of an organisational which has since then led the Fourth meeting but there must be many time since the Easter con- International Secretariat further other pl like Brixton where, reconstitution of a united moveference of last along the path of opportunism without any publicity or public week-end. ment long goodwill and liquidationism. time, protest, they 1 leftis understood seven vails, Since the death of Trotsky, Labour League will co-operate wing mı eetings members of committee the great weakness of the Fourth in proposals for limited joint for the fascists.

still allowed to participate The resolution asked International has been its failure practical campaigns on such It is obvious that were told by a Labour Party groupings in the Fourth to develop theory. Where this questions as 'Aid for Cuba' and expect the police to official that unless they ac- national headed by the happens, the Marxist movement the reopening of the Trotsky minority groups or the cepted the NEC's proscription national Secretariat and is in danger of adaptation to the case and the publication of movement from fascist of Keep Left the youth move- International Committee to ideas of other classes. Marxist Trotsky's works in Russia, as The working class must ment would disbanded. history be the final judge of v phrases and formulae used proposed in the of the IC. defend itself. FO IG 7 votes to 4. Feathers (Liverpool) was barred This campaign defeat the The four voting aga ist from holding office for three right-wing executive council will H. West (Manches er), years and Ronald Sell (London) be part of the struggle in Britain Kernon (Belfast), Sharman for five years. The last action to remove the Tories and preprotecting members. secretary present batim report of (Northampton) and (Bristol). O'Neill of the EC on Sunday night was to expel Pat O'Neill (London). the can be reversed. I not pre- ' I am confident meeting SO that he would have As ruled the chairman, motion Frank Foulkes out of will reign in the union when they To the Right wing, 'democracy' Such campaign pared to accept the pension and this in his possession to on the grounds that the have succeeded in suppressing all linked the fight against retirement which the executive whatever statements were wrong rule was being applied. It opposition. Gaitskell in the Labour Party. offered me some time ago. I knew sary and to prepare his case is reliably reported that Chapple Any confusion which may have The union must demand the I was risking my future, but I am should he wish to appeal. This angrily reminded Foulkes that existed amongst rank and file ETU extension nationalisation, as prepared to leave this in the hands request was turned down follow- 'only the Executive Council has members because of repeated the focal of the struggle of the membership, many of whom ing the objection of L. Tuck any authority here. You have claims that the present EC is not for better and conditions. know me personally and have (London EC member). none. anti-communist or Right wing trusted me to negotiate their living An objection by Mr. Foulkes This would appear contradict should now be dispelied. Such demands will form standards many years.' four members of the "jury, the very charge upon which he The rank and file can no longer integral part of the drive Chapple (London), L. Tuck was being expelled-that he failed remain disunited or undecided on a democratic union, tree (London), T. Breakell (Merseyside) in checking the administration of to use his authority as president the ETU. The maximum unity bans and proscriptions and E. Hadley (Sheffield), because can and must be built to restore right-wing domination. IT understood that when they had shown by statements in the ballot. Frank Foulkes president. item to take action against the past that they were biased The expulsion A campaign must be mobilised Frank Foulkes was reached on against him, was also rejected. Foulkes has now almost com- immediately to secure the support the agenda at the After Mr. Foulkes had presented pleted the immediate objective of the 70 branches required under meeting, the right-wing seconded that 'the charge be his case, Blair moved and Breakell to remove all communists and of Byrne, Cannon and Chapple is circulated. The judges of this Rule 38 to ensure that his appeal 'Telstar' space satellite has led THE success the American made no attempt to remove proved'. This was carried. Hadley left-wingers from the leadership appeal must be the members of to statements that it will soon be him from the chair. According then moved that Foulkes be ex- of the union. Three other the union through a ballot vote, possible to receive American teleto report ;, Mr. Foulkes then pelled from the union Tuck members disciplined and not a special sub-committee vision programmes Britain for that he be allowed seconded, the resolut: and the Bro. James appointed by the executive. 24 hours a day!

uly. 14, 1962 No gains for Death to Moslems Cont. from page 1 written to President Ben Khedda to vote in favour of the agreements when the National Council

VEN while the chorus of praise for the FLN and Algerian independence was still welling up from all manner of ' Lefts, from liberals to Stalinists, events were showing that life does not at all conform to the wishes of such people. The agreements made with part of the OAS were closely followed by the split between Ben Bella and Ben Khedda and clear signs that part of the National Liberation Army was not prepared to accept the latter's leadership.

The reaction to this on the part of the supporters of the Evian agreement has been revealing. Some have seen merely a struggle for power between leaders, some of whom want to go a little faster than others. Others, of whom, not surprisingly, Fenner Brockway is one, reveal a fear of a radicalisation of the Algerian movement and come out openly for Ben Khedda, whom they believe to be more moderate and responsible.

On all sides the cry goes up for reconciliation, to make possible a smooth operation of independence in accordance with the Evian agreement.

When rifts appear in a nationalist movement we should expect to find that they have social roots. The leadership of this movement in Algeria is drawn from a narrow section of the population which it is correct to describe as 'pettybourgeois'. That is to say, its social basis lies in those spheres of professional and trading activity which were left open to Algerians under colonial conditions.

Although leadership inevitably came mainly from this section, the great mass of the Algerian people are poor peasants and plebeians. It was their irrepressible demand for land and bread which was the motive force of the Algerian revolution, and still is. The leadership, propelled forward by these energies, at the same time sought to control them.

The aims of the leaders diverge from those of the masses. The realism, for which they are praised by 'friends' like Mr. Brockway, consists of substituting the aims of the social stratum to which they belong for those of the masses. These aims can be satisfied by agreement with imperialism, if not within the confines of the old imperialist relations.

CORRECTIONS IN the article on Maurice Thorez in last week's Newsletter an error occurred in the extract from his speech in 1961 to the Central Committee of Ivry. 'He (Trotsky) opposed the militarisation of the Soviet trade unions' should have read: 'He proposed the militarisation ...

IN the article concerning Mr. Frank Foulkes and the ETU the statement appeared: 'Meanwhile Byrne, Chapple and Carron took further steps this week to consolidate their control over the union.' This should have read: Byrne, Chapple and Cannon The essence of this agreement is not to carry through the social measures, involving inroads into property rights. Without such weapons the claims of the peasants and workers cannot be met.

Such a task involves them in a web of contradictions. It produces inevitable divisions and hesitations in its own ranks. These divisions, and the precarious nature of the social balance, makes for single-party, strong-man rule in which, when the decisions are taken, the dissenters, if they are not liquidated, find themselves in prison.

The situation in the Algerian movement can only be understood against such a background. The Liberation Army, recruited from the peasants, oppressed and impoverished by colonial rule, is very different from the suave politicians, trained in the school of Tunis, Cairo and Rabat and more at home in the United Nations than in the villages.

The peasantry is thus pushed towards a radical course: in some places they have taken over estates, or have tried to do so. Some leaders, without altering their fundamental conceptions, have shown themselves responsive to this pressure. The uneasiness and open schism in the leadership of the FLN reflects the need for agrarian revolution.

At the same time, as the armed struggle developed, more and more former collaborators of French colonialism - landowners and big bourgeois—came over to the FLN. In the course of becoming a 'national' party it has tended to become not more radical but more conservative, with the weight shifted towards consolidating a bourgeois state, for which the French administration, at Rocher Noir, had been carefully preparing the way.

Now that 'independence' has been achieved it can be seen more and more clearly that as far as the FLN leadership was concerned talk of 'revolution' was nothing but a sham intended to conceal the sell-out which it was preparing.

It is now necesary for Ben Khedda to bring the dissidents in the National Liberation Army to heel and find a compromise--if that can be done-with the Ben Bella tendency. This difference remains one of tactics, for the moment.

Among the army, however, there are obviously illusions about the possibility of carrying out some kind of a peasant revolution. Such an attempt would be doomed to failure, however, not only without the support of the towns, but also without the support of the French working class. For all the independence now proclaimed, the victory that measured up to the 'metropolis' for Algeria remains French capitalism.

The deliberate evasion of these facts by the Stalinist press is a model of its kind. Not content with claiming the Evian agreement as 'an historic victory for the forces of France led by the French Communist Party and the whole camp of peace and democracy' (International Affairs, Moscow, June 1962) it asserts that the Algerian Communist Party, by its policy, 'has made a great contribution to the development and strengthening of the liberation movement in Africa'. ('The African Communist, April-May 1962).

The hollowness of these claims is shown by another article, this time by Abdelkader El Ouahrani in 'World Marxist Review' (June 1962). Presumably unconșcious of what his comrades had written elsewhere, he poses the question of why the struggle of the Algerian people lasted seven and a half years.

The answer which he gives is twofold: 'Primarily because France possessed modern means of warfare: planes, tanks, artillery and warships. The Algerian patriots lacked these weapons. Secondly, because France was supported by the aggressive NATO bloc ... There THE Tories are now endeavouring to create favourable conditions for their re-election.

It is not going to be easy for them this time to wave the magic wand of cheap money to stimulate production, increased consumer spending and all the appearances of a prosperous society. Surplus capacity means that heavy capital investment will not be undertaken by big business, and one of the ingredients necessary for buoyant trading conditions is a high degree of investment.

Big business embarked on large capital programmes at the time of the last boom period generated by the government's pre-election fiscal policies. It will be considerably more cautious in the future, faced as it is with falling profit margins and the fact that investors are unwilling to get their fingers burnt.

In any case the government has already relaxed controls with a view to stimulating trade. Bank rate reductions, decreases in the banks' special deposit obligations and a reduction in hire purchase deposits from 20 per cent to 10 per cent over a wide range of consumer goods, have already been introduced but there is no sign of an increase in retail trade.

The government will have to think of other measures that they hope will increase their popularity at the polls. Their difficulty is that they cannot fail to upset one sacrifices, but ã compromise?

can be no doubt that if the French colonialists had not had these weapons, the Algerian people would have saved the lives of hundreds and thousands of their sons.

What about the French and Algerian Communist Parties, not to speak of 'the democratic forces of France'? Ouahrani does not speak of them, and for good reason. He is trying to show that the best way to struggle against imperialism is to 'force' it to disarm, 'so that peace and freedom may triumph everywhere and for all time. Such an assignment precludes bringing in the role of the working class or any mention of real struggle.

But, throughout the course of the Algerian national struggle, the policy of the Communist Parties has been along these lines. That is why the Algerians had to bleed for seven and a half years and at the end of it get not a victory that measured up to their sacrifices, but a compromise.

The French and Algerian Communist Parties, despite the devotion of many militants, have an unequalled record of betrayal. section of big business, but this would be part of the cost of running a successful election campaign.

Whilst the government obviously does not intend to legislate against monopolies it has decided that resale price maintenance is expendable. The Tories believe that their brand image would be improved if they appeared to be on the side of 'cheap prices' even though they antagonise some •3 7 ff f manufacturers and the small shopkeeper in the process.

The most blatant attack on resale price maintenance has been carried out by supermarkets and discount stores, resulting in court decisions unfavourable to them.

Whilst manufacturers of consumer durables such as refrigerators, washing machines, television sets, etc., have seen advantages in resale price maintenance in boom times, they are now often only too glad to use the cut price stores as outlets for their goods. of the Algerian Revolution met in extraordinary session to examine the drafts of the Evian agreements.' Implicit in the Evian agreements, however, are the punitive actions against the Left and the agreement with the OAS!

Some of these measures will shock even the most credulous supporters of the FLN-and, perhaps, amaze its most severe critics. The French Federation of the Algerian Communist Party, for example, has protested against the re-arrest and imprisonment of Auguste Chatain, an ALN fighter who was sentenced to 20 years' hard labour by a French military tribunal.

In April he was released but was re-imprisoned by the Provisional Executive for non-payment of fines imposed by the French tribunal! At the same time that he was re-imprisoned, OAS prisoners and murderers were being reprieved!

Many other militants still remain in prison despite the appeals of the Algerian Communist Party to Ben Khedda to release these freedom fighters and also to stop the intimidation of party members during the referendum campaign.

The most scandalous case so far is the arrest of Djemila Bouhired and Zohra Drif on June 26 by FLN officers. The officers-faced by an indignant public-were later forced to release these two well-known militants of the Algiers underground.

An international campaign was waged on Diemila's behalf in 1958 to release her from the parachutist torturers in Algiers.

More than 200 militants of the ALN have been arrested and are being kept incommunicado.

British Labour cannot and must not allow these flagrantly anti-communist and anti-labour measures to go unanswered. It must demand of the GPRA and Provisional Executive that all these political prisoners be released immediately.

They do not, however, give them their usual well-known brand names but are identical goods sold under special names.

In this way they have the best of both worlds. They have taken advantage of a retail outlet for their surplus production but have preserved the dignity of the brand image- and their basic price structure.

The smaller retailer, however, has been under no illusion as to his ever-decreasing ability to survive.

The abolition of RSM would not only affect the consumer durables. Clothes, footwear, foodstuffs, groceries, beer and tobacco would also be affected.

Where manufacturing industries maintain a monopolistic position, as in the brewery and tobacco industries, their profits will not unduly suffer, and a cut-price war will simply result in a number of bankruptcies and smaller profit margins.

In textiles and similar industries one can expect a large number of mergers, so that price domination in the hands of the manufacturers. On the retail side only supermarkets and large multiples will survive. The day of the small trader has ended.

TT uly 4. 1962

THE prospect of mass redundancy at the Whitworth-Gloster Aircraft factory, Coventry (as reported in THE NEWSLETTER of April 28), now becomes a grim reality. The management have given notice that they intend to lay off between 3,000 and 4,000 workers by July 1963. The lay off starts immediately.

The real crime at the factory has been committed by the shop stewards' executive body, the Joint Negotiating Committee. They have refused to lead any fight against the threatened redundancy, despite the fact that they have had ample warning of the coming lay off in the form of the general trend in the aircraft industry, together with the statement by the company in early April on the weak position of the Coventry factories.

Instead of organising the workers to fight to maintain their present standards, the JNC have actively worked with the management to undermine the energy of the men they represent.

Defeat

They were able to bring about a defeat of the policy which was outlined in THE NEWSLETTER three months ago by assuring the stewards that there would be no redundancies during 1962. By planning to lobby Parliament they were able to prevent a call for a more positive approach. : They have ridden rough-shod over the many motions that have been put before them calling for a policy to resist redundancy and institute work-sharing. Only a week before the management issued their redundancy figures, the stewards were saying that the workers would be all right in 1962 and that the most important issue was to meet the Minister of Aviation.

Now that the figures have been announced, the JNC have accepted redundancy on the basis that it is impossible to fight as there is no more work scheduled to come into the factory in the foreseeable future.

There is no excuse for the JNC's lack of effort to organise the workers inside WGA;

shortly after the first rumours of the lay-ofis, the management tried to cut wages on the Argosy production line. Instead of a firm line from the JNC, individual stewards were left to fight the cuts on their own.

At that stage the management did not press their attempts to cut wages, realising that they Coventry Correspondent would be in a much position later.

The small group of militants inside the factory, who have been fighting for a more positive line, now believe that the management will institute the first lay-offs by registered post during the works' annual holidays, which start this month.

Angry

WGA employees are becoming very angry with both the management and the stewards for what they consider to be active cooperation in working against their interests.

At the annual general meeting of the Hawker-Siddeley group a month ago, the chairman said that no further Hawker cutbacks were foreseen and that they hoped to sell a further 100 Argosy freighters, which represents about 4 years' work. He thanked the employees for their hard work.

It was also announced that net profit after tax was f4,717,325 and dividends were to be increased. Sales were £320 million and the order book stood at £350 million.

The workers at WGA want more than thanks- they want work and they seem prepared to fight for it. At meetings last Friday the shop floor demonstrated their willingness to tackle the management, but the stewards seemed determined to hold back.

Showdown

But the new militant forces may be able to break out and engage the management in a show-down. The convenor himself was unable to get his own section, the toolroom, to accept redundancy; the men decided instead upon a policy of work-sharing and short-time working.

Reports from other sections, as well as other factories in the area, show that more and more workers are opposing the policies of the stewards and calling for a clear-cut fight with the management.

They are part of the growing force that must break out of the trap which has been sprung around them. A new leadership is waiting and willing to lead the workers. If they can gain control by ousting the present stewards, the whole question of the run-down of the aircraft industry could be completely changed.

Industrial lewsletter sharpened last week-en sharpened last week-end when delegates representing token protest strike.

The 147 delegates representing railwaymen from four district councils, covering Newcastle, Darlington, Leeds, Hull, York and the West Riding were very critical of the official NUR campaign to fight the closures, which was launched Secretary, a fortnight ago.

One delegate insisted that if the executive council of the NUR fails to take notice of their strike call, they should 'go it alone and call for support trom other areas. It is impossible to fight Beeching with one hand tied behind your back'.

More and more delegates demanded an end to compensation payments and the interest rates now going to the private money lenders, who had put up the millions to pay for the compensation to exrailway shareholders.

These payments are one of the biggest burdens which the railways are forced to carry.

AXEING

The plans of Beeching and the Tories involve the axeing of over one-third of the track and stations of British Railways and the sacking of more than 150,000 workers.

This call by railwaymen in the North-East is a convincing sign of the anger and frustration which is felt both against Beeching and the Tories and against the measures proposed by Sidney Greene.

It has, however, its own serious limitations. The plans of the Tories for the railways cannot be fought in isolation by railway workers.

As long as the major industries in Britain remain in private hands, the nationalised railways will be governed by the plans of big business.

The huge monopolies require a cheap efficient transport service. The demands of smaller enterprises and the private passenger will be comFollowing in C SHACKLED by the capitulation of the engineering trades union leaders last week, who accepted a 3 per cent pay increase for their members, the shipbuilding section of the Confederation met the employers on Tuesday, dutifully asked for 7 per cent and 'reluctantly' agreed on 3.

This settlement will give unskilled workers an increase of 5s. a week, intermediate grades 5s. 6d. and skilled workers 6s.

The claim for a 40-hour week was decisively rejected by the employers on the grounds that it would 'inevitably increase costs' Greene: rank and file angry pletely ignored, in order that the rate of profit of these industrial giants is maintained.

It becomes urgent that railwaymen, road transport workers and busmen build an alliance of transport workers to resist the attacks the Tories are now making upon them.

REMOVE

The fight against Beeching's plans for the railways is a fight to remove the Tories and replace them with a Labour government which will extend nationalisation to the major industries and immediately stop the interest payments to the financiers.

But that requires also a fight against the present leadership of the Labour Party, who through its spokesman, Gunter, supports the Beeching plan and ditches the take-over of major industries like ICI.

It is for this reason that the call for strike action must be linked with the fight of those in the Labour Party against the present leadership so that a Labour government could renounce the Beeching plan and organise the railways in an integrated socialist economy. rron's footsteps This miserable increase comes at a time when more than 20,000 workers are unemployed in the industry and are beginning to feel the full effects of the employers' drive to cut back on conditions and build a pool of unemployment.

The despicable action of the engineering leaders, who in accepting a 3 per cent rise last week, set the pattern for the claims of hundreds of thousands of workers, can now be clearly understood.

A determined fight on the part of all unions in the Confederation will be necessary if the employers' plans are to be defeated. sell-out

CONSTRUCTION workers at the new Ford site at Halewood, Liverpool, went on strike on Tuesday, July 3, in support of six AEU members who were sacked for alleged lack of productivity. lese members formed the basis of the shop committee who had been in the forefront of the fight for better wages and conditions. le all-sites stewards' committee believes that this was one of the many attacks against trades union organisation on the site, and that Fords are directly responsible for the situation.

At a mass meeting on Friday, July 6, it was decided to send two delegates to Fords, Dagenham for support.

Following this meeting, two well-known officials of the ETU, Messrs. J. Feathers and C. Bibby, called a separate meeting for their own members.

fter two and a halt hours, on their recommendation and by a vote of 98 to 91, the electricians decided to return to work on Monday.

le explanation given for this decision was that if the AEU asked for support officially, it would be a different matter.

was through this development that the site meeting reconvened on behalf of the stewards' committee and reluctantly recommended a return to work on Tuesday.

CLERKS GO-SLOW AT BMC CLERICAL workers at the British Motor Corporation works at Cowley, Oxford, started an unofficial go-slow on Wednesday. A meeting of more than 200 clerks decided on this action because demands for a substantial wage increase had not been met, although an increase for manual workers has been agreed.

Local CAWU secretary, Mr. Arthur Pearce, told the clerks to maintain normal work. ' Your union does not recognise this meeting,' he told them. He said that a meeting had been held with the management but it had failed to reach any agreement about a wage increase.

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