The Newsletter, vol. 6 no. 266

THE Scottish area committee of the Socialist Labour League held the first of the area conferences on September 22 and 23. A series of similar conferences is being organised in the North - West, Yorkshire, Midlands and in London. le main purpose of the conferences is to launch a recruiting drive amongst trade unionists and youth; to map out a campaign of activity in the coming industrial struggles and against the growing threat of unemployment. le conference was opened by G. Healy, general secretary of the League, who dealt with the main points of a political letter which has been under discussion in the League for several weeks. He stressed the need for training new branch officers as a key requirement of the League's recruitment policy. elegates gave reports of their activities in industry, the Labour Party and the trade unions. A special part of the discussion revolved around the allocation of certain comrades to strengthen the work in various industries. ›b Shaw, the Scottish organiser, spoke of the favourable response to the work of the Socialist Labour League in the Kincardine power strike and to the activity of our members during the miners' strike in Alloa. 'ague members who are shop stewards and convenors on the Clyde provided the conference with an up-to-theminute picture of the struggle taking place in industry and the problems facing 'the trade union movement in Scotland. report on the area's finances was presented to the conference. This disclosed a very encouraging response from members and supporters of the organisation which has enabled the League to expand its propaganda. It is hoped to move from the present office in Glasgow to a new and larger premises early in 1963. now. But their leadership sold them out and is preparing to sell them out now.

Mr. Tallon, leader of the railway shop AEU members is a crony of the arch right-wing president of the Amalgamated Engineering Union, Carron. Tallon is making militant noises urging a week's stoppage instead of a day. He knows as well as the Right wing of the railway unions that this will not resolve the problem: It can, however, wear down the fighting spirit of rail workers and weaken them in the fight against the Tories.

Mines Too The fact of the matter is that railroads in many parts of the country are going to be shut down, just as coal mines have been over the past few years and are going to be shut down in greater numbers, particularly in Scotland.

The only demand which can meet this situation is the demand that every railway worker and coal miner who is put out of a job because of such shut-downs must be guaranteed alternative work without any dislocation of his home life and paid his full wages until such a guarantee can be met.

His new conditions of employment must be subject to agreement between the unions and the government and be to the satisfaction of the man concerned.

No Answer The National Union of Mineworkers and the NUR leaders are running away from this. Instead of negotiation now to maintain the standards of their members and to save them from the demoralisation of the dole, they talk about one-day stoppages and such activity which is in no sense a positive answer cont. p.4, col.

William Webber, General Secretary of the TSSA, who announced the railway clerks' decision not to back the NUR, must surely be voted the right-wing man of the week.

Not only does he let down the railwaymen, but as a member of the Commission on the Press, he was a party to recommending the sacking of thousands of print workers.

Earlier this year, he accepted the pay pause 3 per cent award on behalf of his members.

Now he is appointed full-time member of the National Coal Board (£7,500 per annum) in charge of industrial relations.

He will be in charge of the task of closing down a large part of Britain's coal industry.

Busmen back rail stoppage Wednesday DESPITE the decisions of the leaders of ASLEF and TSSA not to back the railway stoppage next week, rank and file transport workers will be giving it widespread support.

London's busmen today voted to stop work next Wednesday in support of the one-day rail strike.

Even before the vote had been taken by the London busmen's delegate conference this afternoon, 400 men at Bow Garage had decided to refuse to run buses next Wednesday. Other garages will be holding meetings to discuss their action in the next few days.

Frank Cousins has refused to take any action, on the grounds that he has not been asked to do • cont. p. 3, col. 1 to his policies. it will not be in order for socialists, left-wingers and pacifists to visit Moscow to make speeches. The stage is being set to expel, at a convenient time, all those opponents of Mr. Gaitskell who will not conform There is building up inside the National Executive Committee a crisis around the whole question of party discipline.

As things stand now, it is possible for one individual to denounce another under conditions where the person concerned has no opportunity to study the charges. When the disciplinary committee of the party meets to interview a person scheduled for discipline, it may have before it information which is denied the accused.

UNNAMED

In other words, the way is open for the Right wing to expel left-wingers who have been denounced by people who remain unnamed. There is no opportunity for a 'defendant' to question the witnesses nor will Transport House put down in writing the charges against the person concerned. This antidemocratic procedure is constantly dragging the NEC into one mess after another.

Unless they have definite proof they cannot present the accused with charges in writing. If they did they might well be challenged in a court of law. Here is the reason why the full-time officials carefully refrain from stating the real reasons why people are not permitted to be parliamentary candidates.

ALLEGATIONS

Others are expelled, under the vaguest of allegations, from membership of the party. So far as discipline in the Labour Party is concerned the rules are largely made up by the Right wing as they go along.

Full-time officials conceal from the National Executive many of the facts behind disciplinary action. The NEC has not adequate time to consider such matters, with the result that discipline is often operated by people who are not elected but who hold considerable power in the party apparatus.

There has long been a need to investigate the role of certain full-time Labour agents and their connections with the apparatus in Transport House. We saw a glimpse of what they were capable of doing after the Scarborough 1960 conference of the Labour Party.

All of a sudden, as it were, a whole series of 'Meet the People' meetings were organised for Gaitskell to fight, fight and fight again against the conference decisions, without any direction from the NEC. Simultaneously, the full-time officials in Transport House successfully blocked the publication of any policy pamphlet in relation to unilateralism even though this was the policy of the party from 1960-61.

LEGAL ACTION

It is clear that these officials are nothing more than the paid custodians of bureaucracy. Their activities must be brought into the light of day—if necessary in a court of law.

Legal action, though it may not win the day, would still be worthwhile if it thoroughly ventilated the ramifications of the activities of certain individuals in Transport House.

Such an exposure would greatly strengthen the Left in the struggle to democratise the party.

A mere change in the party constitution today would be worth about as little as the Scarborough policy conference decisions, unless firm action is taken to control the full-time officials. When they have these new revised rules of 'guilt by association' at their disposal they will proceed even more ruthlessly against the Left wing. The only alternative is for the Left wing to organise an enquiry into all cases of discipline. If this were done in conjunction with sympathetic legal assistance, then the present bureaucratic stranglehold might suffer severe jolts.

• OUR INDUSTRIAL CORRESPONDENT By OUR INDUSTRIAL •AILWAY workers are demanding action against the Tory threat of unemployment.

The one-day strike is a token gesture of opposition and it cannot solve the problem. It is instituted by a leadership which only 12 months ago accepted the miserable pittance of 3 per cent after a talk with Macmillan. At that time, the Tories called upon the railmen to help the nation.

Now comes the pay-off. Thousands of men who have devoted their lives to work on the railways are to be thrown on the scrapheap. Had railway workers fought last year they would have been in better shape to fight unemployment will \HE the now left •11' takings, are unaffected. gag bid

HE serious technological \HE serious technological Flag of British industry is one of the major results of its relative stagnation. It bespeaks the fact that business organisation and methods have not yet caught up with the 20th century. The past still hangs heavy over the practice of British businessmen. Easy profits in the sellers' market of recent years have not dispelled illusions but have encouraged them.

British industry spends less on scientific research than its major rivals. It pays less attention to the needs of foreign customers. Many firms have scarcely bothered to Hands up for strikı action-—as section after section of the Labour movement begins to mobilise against the Tory plans for redunda

participate at all in the so-called 'export drive' - which has largely been ministerial exhortation and other guff.

Those exporters able to make profits have been there, of course, with the big monopolies in the lead. Government concessions on exchange control, tax concessions and export credits benefit mostly these firms.

Although, as we have seen, the poor performance of British industry has been in part a result of the conflict of interest within British capitalism between industry and finance, the latter cannot hope to maintain its world position if competitiveness continues to decline. An American economist has put the issue bluntly in a recent issue of Lloyd's Bank Review.

Unless technical progress is stimulated by Britain's entry into the Common Market-and he thinks this unlikely because it is going on over a much wider front in the European countries -then sterling will inevitably lose its present international standing.

'A country which has lost its capacity for technological change cannot have its currency serve as an international unit of THE production of a history of the Communist Party of Great Britain, awaited since 1956, is held up because the files containing Party documents have been mislaid in King Street. At least that is what John Gollan told a party meeting recently.

After the Easter Conference in 1956 decided that such a history was needed, the EC appointed an Editing Commission, with the late Harry Pollitt as chairman. The main author of this work was to be none Last of TOM KEMP's articles on THE CRISIS OF BRITISH CAPITALISM account in a world of technological change' is his conclusion. It is one which evidently cannot be to the liking of the City of London which draws its wealth precisely from the international position of sterling which, in a sense, is an anachronistic survival of Britain's former monopoly of the world market.

Playing for safety has led the Tories to apply an alternating policy of rapid spurts forward and sudden braking. This has been their answer to the dilemmas of British capitalism— a timid, cautious, half-hearted sort of policy. Its fruits are evident in the lower rate of investment and growth in Britain compared with her rivals.

Fear of inflation, inhibition about intervening more actively in the economy, desire not to provoke a showdown with the working class, faith in manoeuvring and muddling through, have characterised economic policy in the past decade. Gollan and the strange case of the missing history other than James Klugman.

Now editor of Marxism Today Klugman was the author of From Trotsky to Tito. This collection of lies and slanders was withdrawn from circulation in November 1956, as it was found to contain 'historical inaccuracies'. Clearly, James was just the man for the job of preparing the new history.

Nothing has been heard of the Commission for years. An article dealing with the prehistory of the CP appeared in Marxism Today long ago, but nothing else is known of the progress of Klugman's work.

Communist Party members should demand an end to this prevarication. A critical and objective study of the 42 years of CP history is vital if the lessons of this experience are to be applied in present and future struggles.

It is now increasingly obvious that a more 'positive' approach will have to be tried.

But even this conviction has been slow in dawning and its acceptance is still half-hearted. There are too many conflicting interests to be reconciled.

Some believe that things are not really so bad and that a radical departure is unwise.

The old fears and inhibitions stand in the way of a more vigorous policy. But it must come.

The National Economic Development Council points the way to more overall state control in the economy. The pay pause indicates the need for a more fully-worked out 'wages policy, which is a polite way of indicating that the burden of British capitalism's adjustment to changing Klugman and his like can never produce such a study: they have to cover up too much of the Stalinist past for that.

A history written by Tom Bell was withdrawn as unsatisfactory soon after its appearance in 1930. The only available book on this subject is Henry Pelling's The British Communist Party: A historical profile. Despite many shortcomings this is a useful contribution.

For a Marxist account of conditions must be the working class.

The trade unions are virtually presented with the threat that they must accept voluntary integration into the state or face crippling legislation. Cut-backs in the mines and the railways by Robens and Beeching and in the arms industries are being effected on a bigger and more ruthless scale.

The need for an overall holding back of 'demand' is being favoured: which means not only checks to wages, but reduction in social services and a miserly policy on education, old people, pay of government employees, and so on.

Such policies actually strike at some sections of business, as well as against the middle class electorate upon which the parliamentary strength of Toryism depends. With an election coming nearer, therefore, the government has to move circumspectly. And the economy drive which seems dictated by the some periods of CP history, readers are referred to the articles by Brian Pearce (some under the pseudonym 'Joseph Redman') in the following issues of Labour Review:

Vol. 2, No. 4, July-August, 1957 Vol. 2, No. 5, Sept.-Oct., 1957 Vol. 3, No. 1, Jan.-Feb., 1958 Vol. 3, No. 2, March-April, 1958 Vol. 4, No. 1, April-May, 1959 These are available from New Park Publications, 186a Clapham High Street, S.W.4, price 2/6 (post paid). need to safeguard British capitalism cannot be pursued regardless of the short-term situation.

Here the prospect of a slump is being taken into consideration The economic indicators in the US and in Europe suggest that it is possible that the latter part of this year or the first part of 1963 may see a recession of unknown dimensions. Such a possibility holds back the full-scale use of measures which might only accelerate its appearance as in 1957 and turn the electoral scales definitely against the Tories.

In general, then, the internaRobens: cut-backs in the mines tional difficulties of British capitalism are imposing a sharper class line-up than at any time in recent years.

All the problems discussed in these articles intimately concern the working class, the source from which Britain's capitalists derive their wealth and power. The future of British capitalism is not decided in an abstract manner by argument, but by the clash of living forces.

First time ever English translation, by Brian Pearce, Other ialism Order Londo Culture and Socialism articles include: Art & Revolution by Trotsky; What is Imperby Tom Kemp; New Trends in Imperialism; book reviews. now from: New Park Publications Ltd., 186a Clapham High St., 1, S.W.A. Price 2/6 (post paid)

Capitalism shows itself more and more incapable of harnessing the forces of modern technique to the solution of the problem of humanity. The conscious intervention of the working class is called for to use the difficulties of capitalism to hasten its end.

RRESTS and police repressions have brought the ration of Rhodesia and Nyasaland back into the Sept em 29,1962 age Three

On Thursday, September 20, Sir Edgar Whitehead, Minister of Southern Rhodesia, banned the Zimbabwe A People's Union, the largest of the country's nationalist ‹ sations. ZAPU was formed soon after the banning National Democratic Party, and continued the activities latter under a different name.

The main charge against the Party concerned the question of violence, and Sir Edgar Whitehead's chief worry in this respect has been the ZAPU Youth League.

Many members have already been arrested and police raids on prominent members' homes have disclosed large stocks of explosives. Numerous riot police and regular troops are now patrolling the African townships to clamp down on any trouble.

In Lusaka, N. Rhodesia, Mr. Joshua Nkomo, ZAPU President, declared that the ban was *the beginning of the end for Sir Edgar Whitehead'. He later announced that a kind of governent-in-exile would be set up in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanganyika, headed by the Rev. Sithole. Just how capable this gentleman is of conducting a fight against the Southern Rhodesian police state is not quite clear.

Nkomo and his friends have led the African masses up a blind alley. After agreeing in London to the Tory constitutional proposals, he was forced to change his mind when he got back to Rhodesia.

WITHDRAW TROOPS The Labour movement In Britain must demand not only that the ban on ZAPU be lifted and all political prisoners released, but also that British troops be withdrawn. The idea, propounded by Denis Healey, that Whitehall will protect the African people against the minority of white settlers is treacherous.

The Tories, protecting valuable investment in Central Africa, will fight every real advance of the African workers RAIL STOPPAGE cont. from page one so by the NUR leaders. In this, he imitates Sidney Greene's action in 1958, when the NUR boss left the London busmen to fight alone.

The sacking of 18,000 railway workshop men is not only related to the shutting down of railway lines. It is also a result of the BTC policy of 'farming out' lucrative railway contracts to private firms.

Only last week in Darlington, 200 redundancy notices were issued while an order for 350 diesel locomotives was given to private enterprise.

The policy of the Tories will mean the closure of 300 branch lines and the loss of a further 150,000 jobs.

This is part of the shake-up in British industry which Common Market entry imposes on the monopolies. All sections of the trade union movement should follow the London busmen in uniting with the rail workers in their fight.

Prime African organiof the of the Whitehead: repressions and peasants. They seek for stooges among the nationalist leaders with whom a compromise can be fixed up.

Last month, when Sir Edgar had just brought in his police-state legislation, Mr.

Butler gave the country a loan of £3,500,000. This represented a vote of confidence in the new strengthened government.

Southern Rhodesia is not the only part of the Federation which is in difficulties. In Northern Rhodesia new increases on import duties on consumer goods of between 2} and 15 per cent have come into force. Explaining the necessity for this policy of 'national incentive, Sir Roy Welensky stated that 'idle factories, unemployment, and empty stomachs ... play into the hands of extremists who seek to gain power by destroying the economy.

Sir Roy doubtless means those militants who are fighting to remove his oppressive regime and to slash the bonds of British and South African investment in Northern Rhodesia. It is interesting to note that there was no increase in tariffs on heavy industrial and agricultural imports. Only consumer goods will become more expensive.

LEADERSHIP

The British Labour movement has an important role to play in aiding the nationalist movements in Africa. We must help them to take every advantage of the difficulties faced by our common enemy —imperialism.

But the solution to the problems of the African masses cannot be found under the leadership of men like Nkomo. THE Shaweross Commis- Shawcross Commis• sion's Report on the Press is a blueprint for mass redundancies amongst print workers and journalists. The capitalist press, which gave a cautious welcome to the Pilkington Report when it criticised its holdings in commercial television, has unanimously and ecstatically welcomed the Shawcross recommendations which, when put into effect, will mean vast reductions in staff in order to bolster the profits of the giant newspaper monopolies.

Take-overs, monopolisation, more and more power concentrated into fewer and fewer hands - all these facts are glossed over in the report which, in effect, sees no cause for great alarm at the enormous combines controlled by Thomson, King, Beaverbrook and Rothermere, and merely expresses concern at the loss of the News Chronicle and The Star, and calls for a Press Council with 'more teeth' Papers die, the report suggests, because they cannot get sufficient advertising. In other words, it's the system that is to blame — but Shawcross and company have no wish to do anything about that.

The unions are criticised for not working in closer co-operation with the employers; two of them, in particular, are attacked for not agreeing to participate in a study on overstaffing.

THE building societies are hesitant about reducing interest rates, though the Bank Rate was cut nearly five months ago. This, in spite of the fact that money is pouring into the societies at a faster rate than it can be used.

The attraction of the giltedged markets and of building society shares lies in the high interest rates than can be 'earned' by investors. Money has, in fact, been transferred from shares in companiesequities as they are called-for this purpose.

Yet after their recent meeting the building society chiefs declared that present interest rates are to remain. The reason for their reticence is that, in spite of the tendency towards 'cheap money' which normally results in a high degree of investment, they believe that the economic future for Britain is bleak.

In other words they do not see the point of lowering interest rates now, only to have to increase them again in a few months time.

This cautious approach is based on hard facts. Production shows no real sign of emerging from its downward trend. Projected expenditure in the coming year on capital investment is to be 10 per cent less than for 1962, itself a bad year. Unemployment continues to increase and it is The Labour movement n ust congratulate these unions for refusing to help in plans to prepare staff reductions of 30 per cent throughout the industry.

All printing unions should be urged to immediately prepare a joint plan to fight against the latest vicious attempt by the Tories and the employers, backed by ex-'socialist' peers and union leaders, to bring redundancy to another section of the Labour movement. • The Newsletter will publish a more detailed analysis of the Shawcross Report in a future issue.

Mutual aid ' For political and social reasons therefore IDA (International Development Association) is being reinforced. Aid will pour out and some of the poor and needy countries will be able to put up mighty steel and engineering plants long before they have perfected the techniques needed to run them. This will bring work for the British manufacturers of capital equipment whose order books have recently been running 'down. One company which is expected to participate in this industrialisation of new underdeveloped countries is DavyAshmore, one of the most efficient of our engineering firms. Its shares have fallen this year from 33s. to 15s. Another admirably placed concern is Simon Engineering whose shares were quoted as high as 33s. 6d. earlier this year and are now around 26s. These may not be bargain basement prices but they must be fairly near the ground floor.' (Punch City Column, 19/9/62) expected to reach the 600,000 mark in 1963.

Some of this unemployment is 'planned', as in coalmining and the railways. Some is due to the realities that the Common Market will bring. (British Aluminium is closing down its plant at Stoke-onTrent. The production of aluminium in the Common Market countries is 15 times greater than in the UK.)

These economic facts and their political significance so far as a general election is concerned, would indicate, if past history is any pointer, a re-introduction by the government of a 'cheap money' policy.

But the balance of payments situation reveals that sterling has lost a good deal of the strength it gained after the July 1961 measures. Imports are increasing due to the necessity for manufacturers to make good stocks

Fedenews. is threat to REPRESENTATIVES of trade unions and other working class organisations have formed a committee to combat fascist and racialist activities in Lambeth.

At its inaugural meeting on September 19, the Committeo passed the following resolution:

This Committee recognises that the effects of the activities and propaganda of the fascists and anti-racial organisations is to split and weaken the working class at a time when the greatest possible unity is essential. It therefore resolves to launch immediately a campaign to prevent this propaganda from being disseminated and to show that the responsibility for the rapidly worsening conditions of the working class lies not with immigrants and racial minorities but with the employers and the Tory government.

Activities planned by the Committee include weekly meetings at 2 p.m. on Saturdays at Rushcroft Road, Brixton, to put forward socialist answers to the problems facing the working class. A Fund has been set up to meet the costs of the campaign and also to help victims of fascist attacks and the payment of fines.

Readers wishing to help in the campaign or to contribute to the Fund should write to: The Secretary, Lambeth Anti-Fascist Committee, Flat 5, 4 Aldrington Road, London, S.W.16. which they had allowed to decline in the face of poor trading conditions, and this will cause further deterioration.

These circumstances influence the building society chiefs in their interest fixing policies. Their future attitude will, to a large extent, depend on the new Chancellor's fiscal policies. If he is to encourage a boom, he will be faced with much sharper balance of payments problems than ever before. Drastic remedies such as devaluation may be taken, particularly since the talks at the International Monetary Fund meeting did not appear to pave the way for a spending spree for Britain.

The Tories have many problems which are, of course, incapable of solution in the long term. To make things easier for them, by allowing TUC co-operation in restraining wage increase demands or men to be unemployed whilst overtime is worked, would be an act of folly.

The need for strong working class organisation, employed and unemployed, to combat these moves is vital if the Tories are not to succeed.

Cont. from page one to the government threat.

THE NEWSLETTER has consistently supported workers in strike struggle against the employers and it calls now for the fullest support for the railwaymen next Wednesday, but we warn against the dangers of such sporadic struggle.

There can be no mistaking the temper of the railwaymen who want to fight. Engineers and miners should be drawn into this fight. A strike organised by such important sections of workers 1 ith the full support of the Lal our movement could bring down the Tory government within a matter of weeks.

Force

Gaitskell and company are calling for the government to resign. Now is the opportunity to force the government to resign. If all sections of the trade union and Labour movement support the railwaymen and miners in a national stoppage to drive the government out, then such an appeal will be irresistible.

But there will be no call from the right-wing Labour Party leadership on this issue. They will keep their mouths shut in Parliament and outside. They have no answer to the crisis of British capitalism.

Election

The rank and file of the Labour and trade union movement must now decide its policy. The answer to the threat of unemployment is: work or full maintenance. The purpose of a strike must be to involve the largest possible number of workers. It should be directed towards forcing the Tories to resign and the holding of a general election.

IN the fight for socialism, The Newsletter is playing a vital role. Do you get it regularly? Don't leave it to the chance encounter, fill in this form and send it to:

Subscription Department, The Newsletter, 186a Clapham High Street, London, S.W.A. 7s. for 12 issues, or £l 8s. per year Name Address THE call for an immediate ban on overtime in last week's Newsletter received practical backing from 80,000 workers in English Electric factories throughout Britain this week. This lead should be followed by shop stewards' committees throughout engineering. The demand must be pressed through to District Committees for official support.

At this month's meeting of the South London District Committee of the Amalgamated Engineering Union it was clear that unemployment is going to be one of the biggest issues facing the trade union movement. The meeting heard a long report of the growing list of sackings in light engineering in and around South London.

The situation is particularly bad in Crawley New Town, where two or three small engineering concerns have already announced their closure within the next few months. One firm has built an identical factory in Italy where they claim a much more efficient exploitation of labour is possible.

With unemployment growing in the town, attacks on the organised trade union shops have increased. This is best seen at Edward High Vacuum where workers have been on strike for four weeks to prevent the sacking of the active shop stewards.

SCHOOL-LEAVERS

In London, unemployment has increased by 57 per cent in the last three months, and now stands at 73,290. Over one in eight of school-leavers are out of work according to official Ministry of Labour figures. This leaves out of account the numbers who have returned to school for a further 12 months.

They have returned to school rather than join the queues at the youth employment eXchanges for non-existent jobs. Classes for these unaccounted for 'school-leavers' are now severely congested and are causing alarm in schools already understaffed.

LONDON

Below are some increases unemployed figures from sor boroughs during the past moni Lambeth 167, Battersea 163, Wandsworth 97, Camberwell 128, Lewisham 102, Deptford 95, Bermondsey 151.

All of these boroughs have a preponderant concentration of working-class homes. Unemployment will seriously aggravate the exist ing problems of slum housing a nd over-crowding workers ban overtime Newsletter Reporter Industrial Saturday September 29, 1962 -already being exploited by racialist groups.

The effects of this growing unemployment will be felt particularly in new towns like Crawley where council house rents- are in the region of £3 10s. per week. It is almost certain that many families will be forced to begin the trek back to London, where the number of homeless families is already growing alarmingly high. According to the Observer last Sunday there are now 4,200 families on the LCC list.

That is why the points made in last week's Newsletter on the fight against unemployment must be fought for and won amongst trade unionists. The unity of trade unionists, employed and unemployed, is vital to hold back the attacks of the Tories who will seek to divide them in order to force down wages and working conditions.

ANGER is mounting at Tractors and Transmissions factory and in union branches at the shabby way the T & T shop stewards have been treated.

When the District Committee of the AEU met the shop stewards at the 'enquiry' last week, everybody was forbidden to say anything of what was said until the District Committee made its own findings on this matter and until its minutes were ratified.

This means a delay of two or three weeks in which time T & T stewards are not even allowed to tell their own members in the factory what went on.

This treatment means that all the smears and allegations of so-called irregularities at T & T made against the stewards, and put in the Tory local papers, must go unchallenged by the stewards.

Whilst hints have been let out that the stewards at this meeting were able to rebut all the lies and slanders, the fact remains that until the information is released they are at a complete disadvantage.

drivers Newsletter Industrial Reporter PETROL tanker drivers gained another victory by solidarity and determination this week. The arbitrator, Professor C. F. Barker of Manchester University, speedily announced his offer of a Sz per cent wage increase.

More remarkable still, the offer was made over the heac of the Transport and General Workers' Union (who have swung between pooh-poohing the strikes and attempting to break them) directly to the unofficial strike leaders, who have remained anonymous.

This, and the lightermens' victory should be taken as an important lesson for the whole Labour movement. The tough' line of the Tories and the employers is part of the preparation for the big monopolies to enter the Common Market.

The timidity of the official right-wing trade union leadership in the face of this attack has greatly encouraged the employers. So has their readiness to co-operate with big business to preserve its profits.

This great demonstration of solidarity and militancy have shown that resolute action can force the employers to concede wage claims. They also show that important sections of workers have no intention of falling for the at T& T In union branches last Friday the DC delegates informed members that the document of allegations did not have an official union branch seal. Yet the fulltime Divisional Organiser of the AEU saw fit to send this 'document' to the Executive Council of the AEU.

Whenever militants send in letters on matters of importance they are quickly told by officials: 'Get your branch seal on that letter, otherwise we cannot do anything about it.' At Tractors and Transmissions, I was told, workers have informed the convenor and other stewards that if, as a result of this witchhupt, shop stewards' cards are removed, the workers will re-vote the same stewards in and would refuse to vote for anyone else under such circumstances.

This is the type of rebuff needed. Provided the campaign is continued and supported in the branches the machinations of the witch-hunters in the AEU can be decisively repulsed. phoney appeals to their patriotism l and the 'nati‹ nal interest by the Press, the employers and the Tories.

This militancy must be seized upon by Labour, to demand the removal of the Tories and to campaign for a Labour government pled ged to extend nationalisation.

Tories

THE settlement of the lightermen's dispute over wages and hours early this week marks a heavy defeat not only for the employers involved, but also for the Tory government.

Three weeks ago, 3,800 lightermen in the Port of London and along the Thames estuary came out on strike for one week, demanding that the Association of Master Lightermen and Bargeowners implement in full the May agreement between port transport unions and the employers.

Despite the barrage of 'advice' from the national press urging the employers to 'stand firm—don't be dictated to and heartrending pleas that the nation's economy could not stand such demands, the solidarity shown in the strike has forced the employers to retreat.

The final award concedes the reduction of the working week from 48 hours to 42 hours, with a compensating rise on the basic wage rate of 14.3 per cent. The calculation of overtime is to be on the customary terms of time-and-a-half and double-time for all hours above 43.

This award is a severe blow for the Tories 'guiding light' policy of 2½ per cent increases. It is also a sharp slap in the face for all those union leaders who condoned the entry into the Tories' NEDC, and who settled claims for a paltry 2 per cent and 3 per cent on behalf of their union members early this year.

The stand of the lightermen should act as a warning to Frank Cousins and the other port transport union leaders who are preparing to rush through a decasualisation scheme for the docks. This scheme will cause a rapid deterioration in conditions and security for all port workers. Registered at the G.P.O. as a newspaper Published by The Newsletter, 186л Clapham High Street, London, S.W.4 Printed by Plough Press Ltd. (TU), I.O. 180 Clapham High Street, London, S.W.4