The Newsletter, vol. 6 no. 276

Chinese and Albanian Communist parties. le recent differences over Cuba and India must inevitably appear inside the ranks of most of the Communist parties outside the Soviet Union. lere are, of course, exceptions. At the Czechoslovak Communist Party Congress, Mr. Novotyny, who bears a major responsibility for the murder of Slansky, denounced in no uncertain terms the behaviour of the Albanian party. = omitted, however, to refer to his own share of responsibility for Stalinism and in particular for Slansky's death. is doubtful whether the Czech party will enjoy much discussion on the Soviet-China differences-at least in the open. le British Communist Party in some respects, also, comes into this category. The Daily Worker has developed a technique for reporting the news which could be described as laughable if it were not so serious. its issue of Tuesday, December 4, it featured on the front page a cartoon of 'Our Alfie' which shows a large pot inscribed 'Arms for India' with two top-hatted gentlemen 'stirring it up' as the caption says. et the next day, Wednesday, December 5, the Worker, on its front page, proudly announced ' MiGs coming says Nehru. Soviet commitments stand'. esumably, the editor, Mr. George Matthews, thinks that all his readers are idiots and deserve no better treatment of the news than that which his paper provides. le same issue of the Daily Worker announces that Mr. S. A. Dange, the chairman of the Indian Communist Party, will shortly come to Britain on a tour calling for aid for India, financed by the Indian ruling class.

Mr. Dange is calling for assistance for Indian capitalism in the fight against the Chinese workers' state.

Officially, the CPGB have not taken any position on the China-India war. is very doubtful if there will be much discussion about the Soviet-China differences inside the British party unless it is forced upon the leadership by the rank and file between now and the party congress next Easter.

By the Editor ORY ministers are unconcerned about growing unemployment. It was their policy which started it and apart from a few sympathetic gestures to the hosts of delegations now thronging the ministerial chambers, they do not intend to take any action.

It would indeed be ridicul ous to expect them to. The Tory government runs the capitalist system which now requires unemployment as a means of lowering wages, increasing working hours and intimidating the trade union movement.

This is a grim warning not just for the unemployed but for those who are still working. Tens of thousands of trade unionists are working excessive overtime and still bringing home the kind of wage packet which will make their Christmas reasonably enjoyable.

The establishment of the 40hour week now would do a lot to absorb the unemployed.

The right-wing trade union union leaders are always denouncing so-called unofficial action. But trade union after trade union has gone on record for the 40-hour week. This is official policy.

Of course the implementation of the 40-hour week would only be an interim measure to halt unemployment, just as an increase in the dole money would only make life a little more tolerable for the unemployed.

Yet these demands are necessary as a means of building up an offensive on the part of the working class to force the Labour and trade union leaders to fight for the nationalisation of all the industries which would put an end to capitalism in Britain.

As long as there is cut-throat competition between capitalists then there will be unemployment, hunger and war. It is not possible to get rid of these things without dealing decisively with the source, which is the system.

The Newsletter says:

For the 40-hour week; An increase in unemployment pay to the wage level earned by the worker when employed. Nationalise all the industries and rid Britain of capitalism. THE ‹ Mersi Plain right-wing tirely upon By Our Industrial Correspondent ›fficial trade union and labour moven yside simply cannot answer Sir Patric speaking from an employer always reformist speechless, because his case collaboration with th: emplover.

The moment the boss says, 'I want my pound of flesh' then his stooge in the labour movement is lost for an answer.

The Lord Mayor of Liverpool has invited Sir Patrick to attend a conference in a fortnight's time when leading local trade union officials will be present.

Apparently the only people who will not be invited are the workers on the Ford site-the most important people of all. lent on the k Henn ssy.

leaves the is built enthat the col. moves

The Western imperialists, especially the Americans, are doing their utmost to foster the conflict between India and China and to pour arms into India. ...

6 The same imperialists (who now) seek to spur India on in the conflict with China Statement by Political Committee, CPGB, Daily Worker, 31.10.62 Premier Nehru told the Indian Parliament in Delhi yesterday that there was no question of the Soviet Union backing out of its commitments to supply MiG jet fighters.

• Defence Minister Chavan said the Soviet Union had confirmed that it would help India build a plant to manufacture the MiGs. ...

• Difficulty over the MiG delivery arose from the world situation and did not involve China' Worker, 5.12.62 we UNOFFICIAL figures for the recent New York City elections show considerable advances for the American Socialist Workers' Party.

McRae, SWP candidate for Attorney General polled 15,863 votes. Garza and Weinstein, running for Governor and Lieut. Governor, pulled in 15,215. Taplin, standing for Comptroller, polled 14,983 and Feingold, for US Senator, 13,510.

These figures must give great encouragement to the Socialist Workers Party. They are as yet subject to official verification.

BAD FOR APPETITE Perhaps the sight of such workers would not be good for the appetite of the Ford boss who will undoubtedly also be treated to the best luncheon that Liverpool can provide.

We can say with certainty this will not be cooked in canteens on the Ford site.

Since this is presumably to be paid for by the ratepayers no expense will be spared to persuade Hennessy that the local workers aren't so bad after all.

All this is nonsense. What Fords are looking for is a scapegoat. They know they face keener competition on the world market for their cars and tractors.

Sales over the next year will most likely decline, not due to anything that the men in Halewood have said or done, but because this is capitalism with its cut-throat competition.

EXAGGERATE

Sir Patrick wants to justify the policy of the Ford Motor Company in Britain for the shareholders in the United States. So what could be easier than to exaggerate the difficulties at Halewood.

No trade union official in Liverpool can attend this conference unless representatives of the men on the site are present.

In an interview with The Newsletter, a leading steward on the site said:

" In spite of the recent crop of weak-kneed statements by leading trade union officials and councillors, we are still of the opinion that the persecution and witch-hunt of trade union militants on the site will continue until these people join us in the struggle for what we feel to be socialism.

back page,

Khrushchev's on policy serious one is not aware historical background Soviet Russian Revolution November 1917 leader: by revolution in leash. Bolshevik Party together with Cub a and the The impressionist a favourable political situa- October the field. He begir to extent than rapid conclusions to tion, both within Russia aroused the study by generalise them into assions in Marxists. It is of Marxist theory. The preparatory first of all, The centre of against imperialism work for the revolution 'After the maximum sufferings into definitive developed countries. thinks, now shifted to he under- He notes same edition of the Pabloite This comes an article in the have the struggle it not siderably. They cherish this im- of 1917-1921, the proletarian masses improved their status conor about the that in the countries where it journal L'International. It undertaken, above all by provement, hopeful of its further revolution in the less has suffered setbacks the work- appears from this that Lenin's Lenin, against all those development. But at the same loped countri ing class is small and there was main task after 1917 dencies which in one way or time their own experience has effective Marxist leadership. teach the working class not shown them the extreme gradualthe basis have illusions in bourgeois par- ness of this process of improveits ment which has only today reached liaments as road to socialism. the the pre-war standard of living. capitalism In Cuba has suffered a set- true, American exaggerates both the of the new regimes and the first aim of Lenin, expressed In fact, it is 'forgotten' that Bolshevik type incalculable significance to "This living experience is back and fears the challenge viability. He proclaims in the foundation of the Com- take state masses, especially the older which exists to its strangle- healthy 'workers' states" munist International, the was SuCCI issful fer ration. They have grown hold over Latin America. least indicates, as in the formation in all co. untries of of power achieved, the cautious, more sceptical, Algeria. French capitalism. of the Ben Bella Communist parties based Party set planning the directly responsive to revolutionthe shape of the big financial their rulers new Marxism, breaking with interests, has made a deal which their opportunism and pa rliamer ary has involved the sa crifice of the " If one asks', cretinism of the par the European ettlers and small the rise of Second Inter national. capitalists; has so far safe- revolution always guarded the essential, but mass revolutionwould clearly have preferred ary party, in the light course, such a concessions at Cuba one would rather easy to forget if one now In neither led on the lieves that such parties are not revolutionary party consider that essential and will be formed, in country's resources. This ary slogans, less receptive to exist which was capable of number of cases the course of the struggle, by no means an easy task. major generalizations. taking the lead in the popular the rise of the by petty bourgeois leaders. The decree workers' after the ordeals of the civil war • These moods which unfolded upsurge against in perialist do- which permits Building such parties is a hard trol was part a transitional and after the successes of economination. tion of such course. It is tempting to look whereby workers were mic restoration, and which still both cases no effective In countries where the work- for substitutes for the organisa- to control the capitalist manage- remain undisrupted by new shifts given by the labour move- ing class is small, therefore, it tion of the working class, in- ments of industries whose of class forces- these moods ments of the advanced countries unlikely that revolutionary cluding that of the advanced ownership had not yet passed constitute the basic political backof the past decade and the domination which thanks to the prosperity by bureaucratic parties trouble, any way, tion-conceived as be built. Why is the revolu- a sp countries. have long The Pabloites been others, for to the state. were in some by elements ostile area the Soviets dominated the Bol- "law and order" and "tranquillity" ground of party life.. bureaucratism-as an element of " These are the moods which Nous emanation of the substitutes. they At shevik Party. -banks on. The attempt of the macces-will hrino the hoped that the Communist Then came the natio malisation opposition to pose new questions LETTER ship as it goes forward! VALLIS Parties, Stalinist under their and with them workers' before the party ran against The model is Cuba. Castro leaders would 'project revolu- replaced by workers' precisely these moods. am aware News- issuing from the petty bour- tionary orientations'. management. At the Ninth Party Congress in letter is the only paper in geoisie, with the political pre- Now ›lutions We have 1920, Lenin obtained agreement country which has supported judices of his class, becomes a which as pea insur- on the principle of one-man The older generation Chinese Republic against Marxist-Leninist. There 1s rections, or perhaps as indivi- management in industry against working class, who made and his imperialist backers. hope that Ben Bella will dual terrorism, and give birth those 'who considered that every revolutions, or the last one, the capitalist papers, of likewise. to Marxist parties somewhere decision must be a ginning with 1917, is now nervous, course, deliberately distorted the along the line without the inter- committee.* exhausted, and, in large true position in a barrage of antivention of the working class It was the Bolshevik Party fearful of all convulsion ,Chinese propaganda. Tribune follow Gaitskell into the same murmur even against the arrest The Daily Worker sits fence, hardly raising a is been concisely This new theoretic follows: al position formulated fighting imperialism-regardless and with a leadership might come from anywhere. Any leadership Which which periences in the early part of the revolution. The party which had through ail its most difficult ex- which guided the Soviet Union up with the perspectives havoc, famine, epidemics on. 'A bogey is being made of the Indian CP leaders. • The first lesson, of its origins or social basis led the workers and peasants to the theory of the permanent " Tribune finds an ally' points out, port their 'own' expressing their these pretended 'lefts' are only As your article last week, ruling class, when intention to sup- in our epoch of the revolution, is that of the Permanent Revolu- firms, in deeds, the theory October Revolution future leadership who knows, it deserves confidence Leninist of a may Marxist- workers' because, be the the accomplishment of a success- following that revolution to times difficult. ful revolution had in the on retreats which decide years kers, who are not at all careerists, volution precisely for the purpose of exploiting the psychology of a considerable section of the wor- acquired families... but who have put on weight, they sympathise with the treacher- tion, that is to say that the " The theory of the permanent OuS line of the Indian completion of the bour- revolution which is being utilized raised in the be clarified international upheld. majority. Lenin's attitude to the First However, there are some if the traditi socialism article which to geois democratic revolution requires its transformation into a socialist revolution. proletariat can, in the back- ward countries, lead the In other terms, only the inevitable outcome of Marxist responsibility teaching. It is necessary forewarned against the easy Such an abdicati Pablo's is the to be he organised generation of plained the November 26, In a letter gre atest the this conditions for 1926, Trotsky to Bukharin hat de- the ex- in this sense, is of course in no relegated to the archives, but simply raises the phantom of new convulsions — heroic "invasions", way related to old disputes, long violations of "law and order"; a World War was that, in this struggle and by so doing complacency which follows rise of the Stalinist bureaucracy threat to the conquests of the period; a new struggle between the imperialist establishes a workers' state from it. as follows: bandits, socialists must take adwhich begins constructing should be remembered be wrong, he wrote, vantage of the difficulties of the socialism. that to suppo t these revision- 07, ignore the fact that the ruling class to further the fight to Since then events have ist ideas it is indispensable to proletariat today is considerably overthrow them.

While he argued that the defeat enriched this notion, in that cling to the idea that Cuba less receptive to revolutionary of one's own ruling class was the the peasant rising can under is a worl ‹ers' state and that the perspectives and to broad generallesser evil, he was not in favour a worker's leadership assure Evian izations than was the during case the October overturn in the and of the victory of either the Kaiser [the success of] the revolu- victory ensuing few years. or the Tsar. In Liebknecht's tion, without the full inter- people. revolutionary par y home. words, The main enemy is at of the Chinese revolution means On the other hand, our defence cumstances that leadership vention of the proletariat. And even in certain cir- with the fore to Every se dogmas has there- be twisted and de- fact which clashes not passively align itself in ac- cordance with every shift in the moods of the masses. But it that Marxists are quite definitely may be petty bourgeois at formed: at all costs the words cannot ignore any alteration which on the side of the Chinese army. the beginning of the revolu- 1--C Nand is produced by causes of profound It is this which makes the position tion and become Marxist- historical order. of the Indian CP majority and the failure of King Street to condemn *Lucien Collange * 1921 and All That' it, so disgraceful. tional, Nov., 1962 Pearce. abor Re Nov. 1 Lo

cembe CASUAL reading of the bureaucrats Khrushchev's recent speech on economic on economic policy" could easily lead to

The pot stirrers 'HE Rome conference of the Italian Communist Party has dragged into the open a new batch of differences between China and the Soviet Union. Togliatti and Koslov, the 'fraternal' delegate from Moscow, attacked both the 40-hr week "No deal!' hit hard at Trotskyists and other militants. In the last month a wave of arrests and an intensive smear campaign have been directed at the Movement of Revolutionary Forces (MFR) and the Revolutionary Workers' Party (POR).

The trouble began over large demonstrations at the end of October in support of the Cuban revolution. These were savagely dealt with by the police, who arrested many leading Trotskyists.

This, and later bomb explosions by terrorists, was the signal for a fierce witch-hunt against the militant section of the Chilean labour movement. For instance, Clotario Blest, leader of the MFR, has 23 charges against his name arising out of his activities in defence of the Cuban revolution.

Police are conducting an intensive search for- the Trotskyist leader Luis Vitale (an Argentinian) whom they are trying to expel from the country.

Meanwhile a campaign has been organised in the Chilean labour movement in opposition to his forthcoming deportation order.

It is not simply because the Chilean capitalists dislike the views of these militants on the Cuban question that this wi chhunt has come about.

They face serious problems on the home front, too, and the arrests came at a time when the cost of living rose by su per cent in two weeks. This arose out of the increase in the price of the American dollar and the devaluation of the Chilean currency.

At this crucial time the Chilean Communist Party has played a shameful role. Its weekly magazine Vistazo accuses the MFR of being an instrument used by reactionary forces and alleges that it receives money from the Central Intelligence Agency.

It also publishes photos of Trotskyists not yet arrested together with information about them. This is of invaiuable aid to the police.

The deplorable actions of the CP leadership has fortunately not prevented rank-and-file CP members from working with the Trotskyists in street demonstrations and meetings.

The official policy of restraint in the face of attacks on living conditions and Khrushchev's retreat over Cuba have deeply shaken many party members.

It is quite clear that the only lead for the Chilean working class is coming from the MFR in which the Trotskyist POR plays a decisive role.

The Newsletter warmly congratulates the leaders of this movement on their courageous stand in the most adverse conditions.

serious misunderstandings if one is not aware of the one not aware historical background Soviet The Russian Revolution November 1917 Bolshevik Party together with imperialism and would. weakened the most valu: a favourable political situa- Making bogey encourage the Russian working the Soviet Union has tion, both within essence, speculation upon permanent revolution class to step up their efforts to military methods.

moods that section of working class, including get rid of the bureaucracy itself. Like the Labour bureaucracy in Cuba, to which Khrushchev sent We now have the example of The preparatory ground- masses. members who have grown Britain the Soviet variety wants rockets and military equipment work for the revolution could 'After the maximum sufferings fat and semi-conservative' vith the capitalists. such as jet bombers only to withnot for undertaken, above have been laid were the theoretical struggle all by it not provement, hopeful of its further masses improved their status con- of 1917-1921, the proletarian siderably. They cherish this im- the political rights enjoyed by ship led to the suppression of all Stalin's bureaucratic dictator- reason constantly draw them as part of his diplo- matic bargaining with United States imperialism. Everyone in his right mind Lenin, against all those development. But at the same the working class as result of harps on the theory of peaceful should know that if Kennedy another dencies which opposed the idea that in one way or time their own experience has ness of this process of improve- shown them the extreme gradual- embarked upon more and more the revolution. To justify his dictatorship, replacing the Marxist conception co-existence which means in effect of the class struggle with reform- promises not to invade Cuba his word is just as worthless as that of Hitler during the period of the the working class needed its ment which has only today reached repressions such as the Kirov ist ideas of class collaboration. Soviet-German pact of 1939-40. own revolutionary party of the the pre-war standard of living. assassination, the frame-ups and Despite the efforts of Khrush- The defence of the Cuban Bolshevik type in order incalculable significance to the "This living experience is of were leading members of the Bol- physical destruction of people who chev to obtain peaceful co- existence, the harsh fact remains volution, like the defence of Soviet revolution, can only the be take state Once tr SUCCI essful trat fer ration. They have grown more masses, especially the older gene- revolution in the infamous Mos- cow Trials. shevik Party at the time of the that the international class struggle strengthened and consolidated the preparation of the interna- by of power was achieved, the cautious, more sceptical, less It is this factor tional working class to fight to Party set about planning the directly responsive to revolution- sponsible for constantly upsetting weaken world imperialism and the equilibrium between the Soviet eventually destroy it. thousands people Union and the imperialist powers, disappeared into jails vithout and it is the reason why trial and thousands more the Soviet Union has constantly most brutally executed. The Khrushchev t cracy, Khrushchev, the present leader no less than Stalin, abanof the Soviet bureaucracy, spends doned Lenin's road, this is a lot of time talking about the responsible a great extent for to crimes of Staiin without explain- the present economic difficulties. ing the political reasons which country's resources. This ary slogans, less receptive were responsible for these crimes. solution can be found for by no means an easy task. major generalizations. He leads one to believe that these without a political revolutrol was part a transitional The decree workers' on of after the ordeals of the civil war • These moods which unfolded and from this Stalin suddenlv a tvrant came the became 'cult of tion within the Soviet Union which will restore the demostep whereby workers were and after the successes of econo- mic restoration, and which still the individual'. cratic institutions established by to control the ownership ments of had not industries capitalist yet passed manage- whose remain undisrupted by new shifts constitute the basic political back- of class forces— these moods reasons for Stalin because if did he would have to reveal Of course he cannot explain the his he sitic influences over Soviet life. the revolution and destroy the bureaucracy and its evil paraown collaboration and responsito the state. Even the Soviets ground of party life.. bility for the actions which des- The political revolution canwere in some area dominated • These are the moods which troyed the Bolshevik Party. He, not be accomplished without by elements ostile the Bol- bureaucratism-as an element of too, personifies the bureaucratic the rebuilding of the Bolshevik "law and order" and "tranquillity" shevik Party. degeneration. Party within the Soviet Union -banks on. The attempt of the Then came the natio lalisation opposition to pose new questions Khrushchev's bureaucracy carries itself. decrees and with them workers' before the party ran against over from the Stalin era the to maintain an enormous military control was replaced by workers' precisely these moods. determination to maintain its force at considerable overhead management. privileged position. But the cost to its At the Ninth Party Congress in servation of these privileges The military might the Soviet 1920, Lenin obtained agreement mean that the bureau Union is one of the safeguards on the principle of one-man The older generation which the bureaucracy substitutes management in industry against working class, who made for what should be reliance on those 'who considered that every revolutions, or the last one, be- the struggle of the international decision must be taken a ginning with 1917, is now nervous, working class against capitalism.

When Khrushchev proposes committee.* exhausted, and, in large profit comparisons of various This abandonment Lenin's of It was the Bolshevik Party fearfu of all convulsion industries he is talking about a internationalist policies, besides APPLYING little arithmetic which guided the Soviet Union up with the perspectives form of book accounting placing a considerable additional to informati disclosed by the through ail its most difficult ex- havoc, famine, epidemics between them. economic burden on the Soviet Chancellor the Exchequer led the workers and peasants to revolution. The party which had periences in the early part of the the theory of the permanent on. 'A bogey is being made out work harder it is an entirely to make the Soviet workers When the bureaucracy plans Union, nnot, in USSR. fact, defend the can about concentration of fascinating data the accomplishment of a success- volution precisely for the purpose different relationship from the wealth. ful revolution had in the years of exploiting the psychology of a exploitation carried out by the The bureaucracy led the ' What the estimated following that revolution to decide considerable section of the wor- capitalist class. Soviet Union to the brink of yield of an annual wealth tax on retreats which kers, who are not at all careerists, disaster on a number of occasions. of 1 per cent on total personal times difficult. but who have put on weight, its share of the national income After the bureaucracy has In his memorable speech to the wealt 1 in any case where the acquired families... to maintain its privileges and the Twentieth Congress in 1956, latter exceeded €20,000; and revolution which is being utilized 'The theory of the permanent workers and peasants their wages, resisted any idea that Hitler was Khrushchev explained how Stalin how many persons be gre itest hat in this sense, is of course in no way related to old disputes, long the remainder is ploughed back into the national plan. going to attack the Soviet Union. chargeable to the tax? Mr. Boyd-Carpenter replied for he organised generation of In a letter the this to Bukharin de- convulsions — heroic "invasions", simply raises the phantom of new relegated to the archives, but tion in the Soviet Union have an entirely different meaning from The terms 'profits' and 'exploita- for the Soviet Union being greatly resistance which was responsible He showed how it was this thousand persons.? the Chancellor: 'About £250 million from about four hundred November 26, 1926, Trotsky violations of "law and order"; a those used to describe what weakened in the initial fascist Now by the process of division, rise of the plained the Stalinist bureaucracy conditions for threat to the conquests of the reconstruction period; a new zone on in capitalism. Despite the bureaucracy, the onslaught through the loss of key fighting units and territory. per person is some £65,000. If finds that the average wealth as follows: property forms in the Soviet But Khrushchev continues you are strong on multiplication be wrong,' he wrote, Union are still the same as those such a policy. Without a word you will find that the total ignore the fact that the established by the overall na- of preparation, he resumed personal wealth enjoyed by these proletariat today is considerably tionalisation decrees following the Soviet H-tests last year and people comes to £25 billion. less receptive to revolutionary Russian Revolution. succeeded in confusing the But that is only part of the perspectives and to broad general- The Soviet bureaucracy is world labour movement as to story. Many of the assets inizations than was the during primarily concerned with the intentions of the Soviet cluded in this mammoth total the October overturn in the taining its privileges. It does not Union. given historic values. ensuing few years. want an extension of revolution Real property-jewellery, works • The revolutionary pary which would bring it into conflict of art—have rocketed in value in not passively align itself in ac- recent years and doubtless their true worth is not reflected in these cordance with every shift in the figures. moods of the masses. But it cannot ignore any alteration which These persons are able same add to wealth not only their is produced by causes of profound 'normal' accretion arising out historical order.

the fact that they are unable *1921 and All That' by Brian Stalin with cronies spend all their income, but Pearce. abor Re: Oct.- bottom left) at other ways, too. Nov. 1 Congress The government

Page Thre the bureaucrats

run for to power imperialism and would. weakened the most valus Making bogey encourage the Russian working the Soviet Union has permanent revolution class to step up their efforts to military methods. essence, speculation upon of moods of that section of get rid of the bureaucracy itself. We have the example of working class, including Like the Labour bureaucracy Cuba,. to which Khrushchev sent fat and semi-conservative? members who have grown Britain. the Soviet variety war rith capitalists. rockets and military equipment such as jet bombers only to with- war, the CND Council, in defiance organising draw them as part of his diploStalin's bureaucratic dictator- matic bargaining with United Conference, puts forward appeals ship led to the suppression of all States imperialism. aimed at 'regaining Britain's the political rights enjoyed by reason constantly Everyone in his right mind independent voice the working class result of the revolution. as harps on the theory of peaceful co-existence which means in effect should know that if Kennedy promises not to invade Cuba his national affairs'.

To justify his dictatorship, replacing the Marxist conception word is just as worthless as that As Professor Ritchie embarked upon more and more of the class struggle with reform- of Hitler during the period of the CND vice-chairman puts it, repressions such as the Kirov ist ideas of class collaboration. Soviet-German pact of 1939-40. 'We believe that this short- they will soon be telling us that assassination, the frame-ups and physical destruction of people who were leading members of the Bol- chev to obtain peaceful co- existence, the harsh tact remains Despite the efforts of Khrush- Soviet revolution, can only volution, like the defence of The defence of the Cuban the be policy one which all in the British parlia- criticisms into we've got an Mr. Gaitskell cold storage for the best leader will put their revolution in the infamous Mos- shevik Party at the time of the that the international class struggle strengthened and consolidated by ment should the duration of election Trials. the preparation of the interna- practic able.' campaign. It is this factor which tional working class to fight to The three 'steps' advoca In its sponsible for constantly upsetting weaken world imperialism and involve 'a British initiative' Tribune the equilibrium between the Soviet eventually destroy it. thousands people Union and the imperialist powers, secure withdrawal of line. disappeared into jails ithout and it is the reason why nuclear weapons outside Ametrial and thousands more the Soviet Union has constantly rica and Russia; nuclear free most brutally executed. The Khrushchev urea cracy, zones in various parts of Khrushchev, the present leader no less than Stalin, has aban- world; and the strengthenin the Soviet bureaucracy, spends doned Lenin's road, and this is the Ur ited Nations.

lot of time talking about the responsible a great extent for crimes Staiin without explain- économic difficulties. ing the political reasons which Canon Collins and his friends were responsible for these crimes. solution can be found for are thus devoting their energies He leads one to believe that these without a political revolu- to trying persuade the British and from this Stalin suddenly became a tyrant 'cult of tion within the Soviet Union which will restore the demo- ruling class its allies that the individual'. cratic institutions established by they can disarm gradually and without any loss of interest.

Of course he cannot explain the the revolution and destroy the reasons for Stalin because if he bureaucracy and its evil •para- These gentlemen want to did he would have to reveal his sitic influences over Soviet life. the H-bomb, a product of own collaboration and responsi- perialist decay, without bility for the actions which des- The political revolution canturbing the imperialists. troyed the Bolshevik Party. He, not be accomplished without too, personifies the bureaucratic the rebuilding of the Bolshevik This CND retreat is related degeneration. Party within the Soviet Union the collapse of the Tribunite murder Khrushchev's bureaucracy carries itself. opposition to Gaitskell. spite th : CND leaders over from the Stalin era the to maintain an enormous military When, at the recent Brighton and Tribune, determination to maintain its privileged position. But the force cost to at considerable overhead its economy. take 'lefts' made no attempt to Labour Party Conference, the make fight will go But it is on.

servation of these privileges The military might the Soviet a fight over the H-bomb clearer than ever that it not is mean that e bureau which the bureaucracy substitutes Union is one of the safeguards tion, it was clear that they be part ment's of the labour movepreparing for their usual for what should be reliance on election 'unity' period. the struggle of the international working class against capitalism. As have done before, When Khrushchev proposes profit comparisons of various This abandonment of Lenin's industries he is talking about a internationalist policies, besides APPLYING little arithmetic form of book accounting placing a considerable additional to informati uc disclosed by the between fhem. economic l burden on the Soviet Chancellor of the Exchequer to make the Soviet workers When the bureaucracy plans USSR. Union, nnot, in fact, defend the can fascinating data about concentration of work harder it is an entirely wealth.

different relationship from the exploitation carried out by the The bureaucracy led the •What the estimated all sorts of ways. Huge life indirectly enjoy tax relief.

capitalist class. Soviet Union to the brink of yield of an annual wealth tax assurance premiums help to secure The beneficiary reclaims After the bureaucracy has disaster on a number of occasions. of 1 per cent on total personal future wealth and tax relief means tax due to personal allowances its share of the national income In his memorable speech to the wealt 1 in any case where the that the cost of endowments, entitlement. to maintain its privileges and the Twentieth Congress in 1956, Khrushchev explained how Stalin latter exceeded €20,000; and retirement annuities and life Once more we refer to Hansard the remainder is ploughed back workers and peasants their wages, resisted any idea that Hitler was how many persons would chargeable to the tax? ' be assurance is less than ultimate benefits derived. for evidence of the Revenue by means of the deed of tax lost to the going to attack the Soviet Union. into the national plan. Mr. Boyd-Carpenter replied for Yet another question in covenant device.

The terms 'profits' and 'exploita- He showed how it was this the Chancellor: 'About £250 revealed the fact that The Chancellor was asked retion' in the Soviet Union have an resistance which was responsible million from about hundred four cost to th e Revenue of cently for the number of deeds entirely different meaning from for the Soviet Union being greatly thousand persons? relief far as of covenant in favour of indiweakened in the initial fascist those used to describe what Now by the process of division, viduals now current in which on in capitalism. onslaught through the loss of key finds that the average wealth there is a taxation advantage, the Despite the bureaucracy, the fighting units and territory. per person is some £65,000. If total annual sum paid under these property forms in the Soviet But Khrushchev continues you are strong on multiplication covenants and the estimated Union are still the same as those such a policy. Without a word you' will find that the total annual sum of tax and established by the overall na- of preparation, he resumed personal wealth enjoyed by these surtax foregone. tionalisation decrees following the Soviet H-tests last year and people comes to £25 billion. reply: 'No comprehensive Russian Revolution. succeeded in confusing the But that is only part of figures are available but on a The Soviet bureaucracy is today world labour movement as to story. Many of the assets is totals rough estimate the number of primarily concerned with main- the intentions of the Soviet cluded in this mammoth total yearly. covenants between individuals may taining its privileges. It does not Union. given historic values. Of course, good always a be of the order of 150,000 inwant an extension of revolution Real property-jewellery, works plan to be generous one's to volving a transfer of income which would bring it into conflict of art-have rocketed in value in family; but if there is a positive the order of £35 million and recent years and doubtless their financial incentive to do so, it reduction of of the order true worth is not reflected in these becomes much. more attractive €20 million' figures. give. The taxation of the These same persons are able We are treated the fiction Tory government over the last add to their wealth not only that private schooling receives no ten years have been directed 'normal' accretion arising out government subsidy. In fact by towards putting the heaviest the fact that they are unable the use of deeds of covenant, burden on the mass of the people; spend all their income, but under which payments are made there is no shortage of schemes other ways, too. to beneficiaries after deduction of whereby the wealthy are enabled The government school fees paid by the rich reduce their commitments.

ETU and Boilermakers \HE large engineering firm of Davy United (She has ceased production as a result of a strike in the following the management's sacking of 44 workers. management claims that these men are surplus to needs.

The strike, now in its second week, originally concerned AEU members but it is being supported by members of the ETU and by the Boilermakers.

It is widely believed by the workers that this is no simple redundancy issue. Davy's have just won a £14 million contract from Yugoslavia and it is estimated that there is about £26 million of work available over the next four years.

The sacked men-the management simply stuck up a list— include six active shop stewards and a number of ex-shop stewards.

Many of the strikers feel that these and other workers have been put out because they have always fought for prices and conditions in the past.

VICTIMISATION

Bill Walker, convenor of shop stewards at Davy's said that as far as the strike committee is concerned this is a clear case of victimisation.

There has been immediate local pport for the strike. The AEU istrict Committee has granted This Paper is your Weapon 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.4. 78. for 12 issues, or £1 8s. per ycar Name Address support AEU field) plant The £20 and the local Confederation Committee £50.

In addition, many shops are organising a compulsory levy upon their members, and collections and meetings have been organised in many other factories.

The strike committee has sent representatives to the Midland motor factories, to Derby, London and elsewhere.

The Executive Council of the AEU has yet to grant its official support. This is despite the fact that AEU members in Davy's are carrying out union policy in relation to redundancy.

It has been known for six months that the Davy management were going to reduce their labour force.

ON HOLIDAY It is also widely reported that Executive Council man, Hanley, who should be dealing with this strike is on holiday in Geneva. The workers at Davy's are very scornful of his opportune departure.

One of the sacked men has worked for Davy's for 27 years and last year was awarded a goodconduct medal and a £25 cheque.

When he asked his Departmental Manager why he was on the list he was told that he mixed with the wrong people and has recently been seen reading a book The Elements of Socialism.

The strike is solid and the are confident they can win.

FOR ALL 22,000 As one worker said, 'We are striking not only for the workers at Davy's but for the 22,000 AEU members in the Sheffield area?

Donations should be sent to Mr. Bill Walker, Davy United Strike Committee, AEU Offices, Stanley Street Sheffield, 1.

industria newslette ti RTY-FI R construction work this week in a fight Nine Elms Gas Works' new west London.

The men, members of the Constructional Engineering Union, had been working for some time a strict 42-hour week with a ban on overtime because of the high unemployment amongst construction workers.

West Works, the steelwork contractors at Nine Elms, last veek sacked nine men, in a move nove clearly designed to break the control on working hours.

Included in the list of sackings vere one steward and a member of the Executive Committee of the CEU.

When attempts to negotiate at site level were rejected by the firm, the rest of the constructional engineers stopped work.

OUT-OF-TOWN LABOUR CEU members are •concerned at the growing policy amongst steelwork contractors of employing 'out of town' labour as a means of combating militancy and the fight against unemployment.

The firms clearly consider that a worker away from home, with two homes to keep, is more likely to work extensive overtime.

One of the steelfighters at Nine Elms told me that as a result of their overtime ban they had forced West Works to employ more labour.

He said the men were determined to fight these sackings workers stopped against sackings at extension in Southwhich were a clear case of victimisation, and were also determined to continue their fight for the unemployed.

It is expected the strike be made official. Friends of Sir Patrick Newsletter Reporter Tside worle of the Met sey.

side workers against the arrogant Ford boss, Sir Patrick Hennessy, has the full support of all militants in the Northeast.

The same cannot be said for some of their so-called political representatives.

Two of these gentlemen— Edward Short, a Newcastle Labour MP and Councillor E. Leadbitter, prospective Labour candidate for Hartlepools—have written to Hennessy asking him to build a factory in the North-east instead of Merseyside.

ASSURANCE

They assure him that he will find fewer labour troubles up here. 'As you will know, we have the best record in the country as fa. as industrial disputes are con cerned, writes Mr. Short.

Militant workers in the North east will contemptuously reject these appeals to one of the woisi representatives of the boss class and will label them as a stab in the back for their brothers on Merseyside.

The unemployment problem in this region will only be solved by a determined struggle against Sir Patrick Hennessy and the rest of his class-not by seeking their support to betray workers faced by unemployment. USDA W fights for sacked girl THE Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers called a special meeting in Cromer on Wednesday evening to discuss the case of 16-year-old Eileen Keeler.

Eileen claims that she was sacked from the local firm Argent Box Co. for collecting union subscriptions.

USDAW area organiser, Richard Seabrook, said: 'I feel we are justified in claiming that the firm is intimidating workers from joining the union?

But a spokesman for the firm said Miss Keeler was sacked because they were cutting staff.

PUBLIC MEETINGS Falkirk MARXISM AND THE TRADE UNIONS Speaker:

G. HEALY (National Secretary, Socialist Labour League) lay, December 9, 2.30 it Hall, 11 Calander R Falkirk (at bus station)

Glasgow SOCIALIST POLICY TO FEAT UNEMPLOYM ENT Speaker:

G. HEALY (National Secretary, Socialist Labour League)

nday, December 9, 7.30 Woodside Hall, Clarendon Street, St. Georges Cross, Glasgow Registered al the G.P.O. as a newspaper Published by The Newsletter, 186A Clapham High Street, London, S.W.4 Printed by Plough Press Ltd. (TU), r.o. 1x0 Clapham Hirh Street. London, S.W.4

FIVE draughtsmen at Solex Carburettors, West London, are on strike against the victimisation of one of their fellow draughtsmen.

A few weeks ago the five joined the draughtsmen's union DATA in order to improve their conditions and bring their wages up to the local level.

At present they are £2 a week below the union rate and f4 a week below the local average. Last week one of them refused to carry out a printing job (not a draughtman's job) and was sacked.

The five came out on strike in support on Tuesday, November 27. DATA is paying the five full wages during the dispute.

At present only the overtime of the production workers is affected, but within a few weeks production will be stopped com. pletely. British Road Services' drivers have blacked all deliveries to the firm.

MR. BILL HOGARTH, GenFeral Secretary of the National Union of Seamen, has threatened militant ship representatives with expulsion from the union.

After years of struggle the highlight of which was the national seamen's strike of 1960— ship representatives will be introduced on some foreign-going ships next spring.

But writing in the current issue of the union magazine The Seaman, Hogarth says that if the representatives become 'unofficial trouble-makers' they will be disciplined by the union, even to the extent of expulsion.

It is clear that a real struggle against this union bureaucracy is still needed.

Fords: 'no deal' say workers Cont. from page one "If the conference takes place, all stewards should be invited and no deals made unless we are present, as we are the people who will have to experience them and carry out these decisions on the site and therefore it would be wrong for full-time officials to make agreements without consulting us at every stage?

We entirely agree with him. He should enjoy the support of every rank-and-file trade unionist in the Merseyside area.

Italian CP condemns Chinese ROME, Wednesday SPEAKING at the Communist Party Congress Giancarlo Pajetta told the Chinese delegation: 'Our party unanimously condemns your unjust position.' Delegates rose to their feet, cheering, but the Chinese ignored the noisy scenes.