The Newsletter, vol. 8 no. 337

NHE 'Sunday Mirror' was not exaggerating when it stated on its front page: "The British Nation [read Capitalism-ed.] is fighting for its life... It is all just an economic-BUT DECISIVE — struggle for existence? hat this jingoistic rag omitted to mention, of course, was the palpable fact that the working class is the first casualty in any economic war between capitalist nations.

Tory strategy is as clear and as dangerous as a pikestaff On the one hand it tries to placate middle-class resentment with the bromide of R.P.M. and the monopolies report. On the other it tries to stem the surge of working class militancy with wage freezing, redundancy, shutdowns and the threat of legislation against the trade unions.

The i dividends had already paid dividends-and this no metaphor. Since 1952 dividends have increased b O per cent per annum whil wages have increased by a miserable 5 per cent.

And siece italy ges a sendBala still while continental wage rates have gone up consideraDV.

Yet despite an effective freeze made effective becaus TUC compliance - the Teries face an ecore mic crisis.

measures are obviousl required —and they must carr statutory authority. egislation alone cannot accom plish the change atmos here needed to carry throug he programme of rationalis ing British industry.

This is where the witch-dootors management consultants they are known) come in.

Great prominence was given to Mr. William Allen (a leadng member of this tribe) b the 'Sunday 'imes' anc 'Mirror'.

Their aim is simple: to increase productivity by exploiting the available availe be labu a do intensive manner.

Their method: to confuse gullible with TAGGERED bv the collapse of its pre-election GERED by the collapse of its pre-election inflationary boom, the Tory Party reeled into what may prove to br , Party reeled into what may prove to be an even more serious crisis during the second reading of the Retail Pric ring the second reading of the Retail Price Maintenance Bill.

Twenty-one Tory MPs voted against the Bill and 35 abstained. This is far more serious than the Suez crisis, when 15 abstained, and during the Profumo crisis when 27 abstained.

Behind the crisis is the worsening economic situation and the urgent need for the monopolies to fight the trade unions over wages and working conditions, if profits are to be maintained.

The Retail Price Maintenance Bill is designed to build up a case for wage freezing.

Already Mr. Maudling has spoken about the need of the government to make considerable increases in taxation, which, in effect, will amount to wage cuts.

These are measures which the monopolists immediately want to institute in order to bolster up their tottering economy.

The Labour Party abstained in the vote and refused to expose the real nature of Tory policy.

Wage Harold Wilson is already heavily committed to this policy so far as freezing wages and increasing taxation is concerned.

Tory opponents of the Bill, of course, also evaded the issues and concentrated their fire on the defence of the small shopkeeper.

Many of those who abstained are representatives of marginal seats with majorities of only a few hundred in several cases. will confront the Labour Party when it takes the power.

The right wing play with the idea of doing business with the monopolists. Labour candidates have in fact declared this in their pre-election speeches.

They turn completely away from the strength of the working class to compromise with the most reactionary capitalist elements.

Harold Wilson and company are already paving the way for more authoritarian forms of right-wing government in this country.

These Labour leaders are, in fact, opening the doors for a dictatorship of the de Gaulle type to be established in the next few years.

If the economic crisis is driving the Tory Party out of office, how is it possible for a Labour government to succeed when it proposes to carry out the same policies as the Tories in relation to this crisis?

Sharp warning

The right wing are today leading the labour movement to disaster.

The Tory crisis is a sharp warning of the dangers ahead.

We must redouble our efforts to build an alternative Marxist leadership within the labour movement which will carry forward the fight for socialist policies and against the right wing who are in fact agents of the Tory Party. to A South Vietnamese woman flees with her children as troops burn down the houses in her village.

Throughout the country peasants have en terrorised by the Americanbacked government troops as fighting with the Vietcong (communist guerrilla troops) continues.

Atrocious retaliatory measures have been taken against the peasants who are supporting the communist army in a fight to get American troops out of the country. U.S. moves towards war with North Vietnam SPECULA LIUI about the • possibility of all-out war in Vietnam has been strengthened by a series of happenings in the USA.

Roger Hilsman, the Assistant ecretary of State, who strongly canned or any emot ditend one ar beyond the 1 to recenly resign North Vietnam. parallel into

mumbo jumbo about 'gros etc Mr. Allen bases his entire argument on mine platitudinous sumption that productivi • America is higher th Kriain.

one so is deciate it ear ployment.

The programme advocated by This merchant scientine exploitation is the programme of the big monopolies- -and leads directly to the corporate state. For example, Mr.

Allen's DroDosals make shop stewards permanent officials with negotiating minis is a sule m integrate the unions into the structure of management. In a sense there is little to dis.

tinguish between this and the nhonev 'scientific revolution' of Mr. Wilson.

What Britain needs is not American methoda management and industrial relations, but the abolition of capitalist industrial relations by expropriating the monopolies.

the Tory state way

Wilson: already committed

They depend upon such middle-class elements as the small shopkeeper to maintain their parliamentary seats.

However, their defence, as usual with the Tories, is a sham.

The crisis of the small shopkeeper arises from the growth of monopoly capitalism.

By refusing to challenge the Tories through a policy of nationalization of the great monopolies, the Labour Party is driving the small shop-keeper into the arms of semi-fascist tendencies.

Attract A policy to attract the vote of the small shopkeeper to the Labour Party could only be successful if an all-out attack against the monopolies by nationalization was launched.

The Tory onisis is very much the same crisis as that which that which THE work-to-rule and ban on overtime by 130,000 men in the electricity supply industry is to be put into operation on March 23— the day after official summertime begins.

They are demanding a 40hour week, higher pay and longer holidays.

Their action follows a breakdown in talks with the Electricity Council.

Domestic supplies may be affected by the ban because, the papers say, "supplies to industry must be kept going at all costs'.

Supplies to hospitals and similar places will be kept going.

The union leaders have agreed to this militant step at a time when it is least embarrassing to them.

Last year when similar steps were taken during the cold spell, the national press and union leaders hounded the 'unofficial" leader of the action, ETU member Mr. Charles Doyle.

Messrs. McNamara, Secretary of Defence, General Maxwell Taylor, chairman of the chiefs of staff William Bundy the new Assistant Secretary of State John McCone, director of the Central Intelligence Agency made a sudden visit to Saigon.

There has been a US proposal to create a separate Acia (mmand and a new com. mand structure in South Vietnam in direct contact with Washington.

ASSURANCE

President Johnson gave an explicit assurance on February 7 that more US troops will be sent into South Vietnam if needed. At present there are 15,500 soldiers and marines and 19 US generals (!)

(The present cost of the war to the US taxpayer is something like 1,500,000 dollars a day.)

There have been diplomatic moves initiated by the US to seal off the borders of Cambodia and prevent supplies from reaching the Vietcong in South Vietnam.

Finally, Mr. McNamara, in a recent statement, said that he would 'take all necessary mea-

EDITORIAL U.S. methods for Britain?

electioneering force in their youth section conference of the Young Socialists will be a for them.

In her very own contribution to the top pops, Bessie Braddock has written • an electioneering song which says: 'Labour Party leaders have got youth on their side.

As far as policy is concerned the youth are not at the side of Bessie and her mates, they are way out in front.

Whilst Wilson conducts sham "schoolboy' fights with Sir Alec Douglas-Home in the Houses of Parliament, Young Socialist branches up and down the country have got down to the serious task of drafting a programme for Labour.

In the amended agenda released by Transport House last week a whole section calls sures to prevent a communist victory.

In Vietnam today, however, there is a wide gulf between what is necessary and what is possible-between the two there falls the shadow of a nation in arms and an army with a 20year record of sustained and heroic struggle.

Logistically speaking there is only one 'possibility' for American imperialism: to step up the supply of arms to South Vietnam and simultaneously bomb the northern cities.

PREVENT

General Giap has demanded merely had an then the Easter rude awakening for extensive nationalization by the next Labour government.

Demanding that the Labour leaders learn from the experience of the last Labour government, South Shields calls for nationalization of all the major industrial combines without compensation.

This will 'avoid the debts placed on the mines and railways when they were nationalized by the last Labour government, which have prevented their proper functioning,' says the resolution.

After their successful unemployment rally in February, the Young Socialists are determined to take the fight for jobless youth even further.

Implement Clause Four of the Constitution as part of a planned economy which will ensure full employment, is the demand from Leeds North West.

HOUSING

On the question of the appalling housing conditions which people are forced to suffer, Nottingham North states that a repeal of the Tory Rent Act, nationalization of the banks and building societies, industries and the land is the only answer to Rachmanism.

Resolutions on immigration come early on the agenda and many branches have sent in resolutions calling on the Labour leaders to repeal the Tory Immigration Act.

Kirkdale, Liverpool Railwaymen put in claim AFTER Dr. Beeching, chairman of the British Railways refused to give a 40-hour week to 250,000 railwaymen, two agreed to put in a new pay claim. "The National Union of Railwaymen and the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen decided to consult with members of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association before taking definite steps.

At a meeting of the Railway Staffs National Council last week the claim for shorter hours was turned down on the grounds that the 'principle of shorter hours had not been generally established in industry'.

Debt

Three weeks ago Dr. Beeching proudly declared that £17 million had been wiped off the railways' debt. Perhaps he hopes to make that figure even better this year by keeping the wages of the men down to a minimum level and making them work long hours.

When the National Union of Railwaymen and the Associated needed for more pay

'youthful' Bessie

says the Act is 'an attempt big business and the Tories split the working class racialist lines'.

The actions of the Parliamentary Labour Party in failing to oppose the renewal of the Immigration Act are described as 'cowardly' by Leicester South East.

Eight branches sent in resolutions declaring their uncompromising opposition to any kind of conscription.

FORCES

*The strengthening of the British Armed Forces can only be in the interests of big business,' says Dulwich.

There are many more resolutions demanding opposition to apartheid in South Africa, deploring the action against socialists in Spain and Portugal, improvements in the educational system and Labour's opposition branch to the new Police Bill. Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen put in for a 10 per cent rise last December, all they got was 6 percent.

Then, Beeching said that any further application from the unions in 1964 would be regarded as a special case.

Presumably this latest pay claim will be so special he won't even grant it.

•Passport' for Soviet workers IN A LONG speech made at a conference called by the Soviet Presidium to discuss the agricultural crisis, Khrushchev outlined his new proposals for working conditions in the USSR.

In a plea for greater wage differentials, he said: 'We must boldly adopt a path of material encouragement for the quantity and quality of products. We must fight against egalitarianism and for the principle of pay according to work.

He also demanded greater freedom for the farmers to grow what they wanted after state deliveries had been met.

To implement this policy, he demanded a system of "labour passports'.

Record

Every worker will be issued with one of these passports, which will contain a record of the holder's personal history.

This, according to Khrushchev, would make it difficult for 'criminals and parasites to live without working. The present police documents', he continued, 'are inadequate for this purpose.

These proposals are part of a Khrushchev scheme to overcome the agricultural, economic and trading difficulties which Tom Kemp has been examining for The Newsletter for the past five weeks. This week on page 2 he deals with the USSR and the world market.

that Britain and the USSR, as co-chairmen of the 1954 Geneva agreement, prevent an escalation of the war.

But sections of the US ruling class, it seems, are looking forward to 'police action' in Asia.

Stewart Allsop quotes one policy-maker in Washington as having said: 'If the Chinese intervened we would at last have a heaven-sent opportunity to hit certain targets in China.

'In any case, overt hostilities with the Chinese could hardly be more dangerous than communist victory in Vietnam, which would be the beginning of the end for Asia.' Such enthusiasm will soon confront the world and the US with the prospect of an enlarged war from which there might be no return.

The British labour must give a resolute any such adventures. THIs is the first three-colour Newsletter. Now that the new plant at our printers is settling in, our technical staff are able to turn their attention to even greater improvements.

There is, however, room for many more improvements which can only be carried out it you, as the reader, assist us in finding a solution. We need more local correspondents who will regularly furnish us with news of what is happening in their localities.

We regret that The Newsletter is unable to pay for such reports because our finances at the moment are extreniely limited but we will cover any expense incurred in obtaining photographs from local newspapers.

Our bankers' orders guarantees have now shot up to f115 monthly. We are still f85 behind. Nothing would give us more pleasure than to wipe out this deficit by the end of March. What about it?

Page 022222000 EWSLETTER March 1

Miners in Scotland, where redundancies, sackings and unemployment have followed the introduction of modern means of mining, and in the booming areas of Yorkshire and the Midlands are asking what mechanisation holds for them. In this article, The Newsletter examines several aspects of Lord Robens' plans. IT is only since 1957 that mechanised mining has got under way. In that year only 20 per cent of coal came from mechanised faces. This figure now stands at 60 per cent.

Technical advance has been very rapid in the Midlands where now over 80 per cent of the coal is won by power loading and cutting machines. This is followed by Lancashire 80 per cent and Yorkshire over 60 per cent.

During the last five to six years, the labour force has fallen by 150,000 to its present level of something around 500,000.

This has been caused by a rise in the demand for other fuels such as oil and atomic energy with a consequent fall in the demand for coal of around 10 per cent.

Output

At the same time, as : the number of miners was being reduced, mechanisation greatly increased the output of each man in work. On an average, each miner at the end of 1962 was producing about 30 per cent more coal than he was in 1957.

Although coal production has fallen by only 10 per cent since 1958, the labour force has been cut by roughly 20 per cent.

Given a stagnant demand for coal and the rising output per man as a result of more machinery, miners can be sure of a fall in employment in their industry with more closures and redundancy.

Have wages risen for those lucky enough to be employed by Robens? about 10 per cent.

Has mining become more pleasant as a result of the installation of machinery?

On the contrary, it is now more dangerous.

Accidents of all kinds have shot up by 24 per cent in the last five years with deaths and serious reportable accidents increasing by 18 per cent.

The biggest increase-50 per cent - has occurred in the handling of machinery and with the use of tools-33 per cent. Robens: Rapidly replacing the old with the new In order to make coal 'pay' the miner has had to work faster and harder to keep pace with the speed of the machinery over which he has little control.

Robens plans may have increased output per man.

But they have also increased accidents per ton mined.

What these accidents reveal, in fact, is the sharp increase in the rate of exploitation on the part of the Coal Board. The problem of dust, bringing pneumonicosis and other lung and chest diseases, has increased considerably during the years of mechanisation. mines fell by 20 per cent, the decrease was twice as sharp in the age group under 21 while those employed in the age range 21-30 fell by 30 per cent.

Manpower in the higher age range fell by only 4 per cent or at a quarter of the pace of overall manpower reduction.

What lies behind these figures?

In the first place, mechanisation has reduced the chance of jobs for school leavers.

Robens, backed by the Tories, aims to produce the present volume of coal using fewer and fewer miners. Opportunities In Yorkshire and the Midlands, where output is expanding, jobs are offered to transferred miners from Scotland and this tends to reduce the opportunities for youth in the pits and also allows the Coal Board to play off miners from one field against those of another.

In the second place, miners are now tending to stay in face jobs until a later age: although mining under mechanised conditions is as unpleasant as formerly, it is, in some respects, physically easier.

This enables miners to work on the face until their late 40s and 50s and means that school leavers in many pit villages are unable to get work as miners.

Many of these villages are completely isolated and depend totally upon coal as their means of livelihood.

For the youth who do manage to get jobs in the pit the prospects are not much better. Many young miners, once trained, are unable to get highly-paid tace jobs and are forced to remain in low-paid, day wage jobs for many years.

Entrants

Some of the large pits in Yorkshire and the Midlands say that they do not need any new entrants for several years: they are unable to absorb the young miners who have already been trained.

How has the capitalist class gained from Lord Robens' mechanisation plans?

During the last five years the miners have put $200,000,000 into the pockets of the money lenders in the form of interest payments.

In 1958 (after allowing for depreciation) the NCB showed a surplus of nearly £20,000,000. By the time the money lenders had taken their £33,000,000 share this turned into a loss of £13,000,000.

In 1962 the NCB showed a surplus of f45,000,000, but after interest had been paid over this was whittled down to €1,000,000!

The NCB also manipulates its accounts to justify uneconomic pit closures.

With the cost of producing a ton of coal roughly 40 shillings less in the East Midlands than in Scotland, the NCB has to use every device in order to shut down all pits in Scotland where costs are 'too high'.

Despite the fact that many pits have been closed in Scotland, the reduced number of pits has to bear depreciation costs for the whole of the field.

This makes them appear still less 'economic' and gives the Board more ammunition in their attempt to close down the whole industry in Scotland.

Thus in 1962, despite the fact that eight pits had been closed during the course of the previous year, the area had to bear increased depreciation charges of over $2,000,000, partly to make up for the loss of scrapped capital incurred in these closures. The new ... a view along an automated coal face showing the supports In a similar way, two years ago the NCB deliberately raised the price of Lancashire and Scottish coal so that it would become even more uneconomic compared to that of the other more highly mechanised fields.

It is clear that the capitalist class alone has benefitted from mechanisation, Robens - style.

Accidents

The miners have been forced to produce more coal, to suffer greater insecurity and to bear a sharp rise in the accident rate.

What is the answer to this?

An extension of nationalisation by the next Labour government to cover the rich fuel industries such as oil. partially advanced Immediate increases in wages for all miners so that the rising productivity of recent years is matched by higher earnings.

A sharp reduction in working hours, without loss of pay, to overcome the threat of redundancy as a result of further mechanisation.

Special provision for young miners, to include increased basic. pay and full pay when trained.

The suspension of interest payments to the capitalist class until the miners can reorganise their industry.

Strict enforcement of all satety regulations, under workers' control, and reduced working speeds of machinery so that accident rates can be cut down.

Human life must come before productivity.

Advance

The struggle to implement this policy inside the National Union of Miners will bring the rank and file into collision with the union leaders, whether 'left' or 'right.

But, if implemented, it will ensure that the workers in the coal industry will benefit from technical advance, and not the Tories.

It is a policy which should unite miners of all ages from either the 'declining' or the 'expanding' fields.

The blunt truth is that wages in the industry have risen by about one-fifth in the last seven years, which has just kept pace with the rising cost of living. In real terms, miners' wages have not increased over this period.

The lot of the lower paid miner is espeolally acute.

Although average earnings in mining remain comparatively high, this obscures the fact that well over 100,000 miners still earn under £13 a week.

For surface workers mechanisation under Robens has brought about a fall in their real standard of living. Wages for this group have increased by only about 25 shillings over the last five years, which means a drop in real earnings (taking price increases into account) of and old walk

The National Coal Board have not found a successful method of combating the large quantities of dust associated with power loading and cutting.

Before the full effects of the mechanisation drive can be known, the latest figures show that already one in 12 miners examined has some degree of pneumonicosis with over 5 per cent suffering from the disease in some advanced form.

Labour

Increased mechanisation has also brought serious problems for young miners.

This is true in both • the declining areas and the relatively prosperous areas such as the Midlands and Yorkshire. Mechanisation has brought with it an older labour force.

In the years 1958-62 while total labour employed in the Tis presual of fell in time Soviet Union and East European countries because it still retains a dominant position in the world market.

Stalin's theory that there are two separate world markets has been quietly forgotten by Soviet theorists.

When an article appeared under Khrushchev's name setting out the Soviet position on international economic relations in last September's 'World Marxist Review' there was no mention of it and the policy laid down was based on different conceptions.

In this field, as in all others, the bureaucracy has to formulate its needs in Marxist terms and justify them as being in the interests of the working class.

ANALYSE

It is by analysing the needs, not by examining the texts, that the real situation can be estimated.

Soviet leaders have shown they are more than anxious to increase trade with the capitalist countries. Politicians and businessmen bent on trade are frequent visitors to Moscow. Russian trade missions are meanwhile busy round the world.

A stock Soviet proposal is for an international trade conference with the capitalist states to set up a permanent trade organisation.

Soviet representatives at United Nations commissions tirelessly put forward such suggestions and also the proposal for joint aid to underdeveloped countries.

How badly does the Soviet Union need trade with the capitalist countries?

Judged by bare statistics, trade with foreign countries is not important —the vast size and varied resources of the USSR account for this.

TRADE

In fact foreign trade only accounts for about 3 per cent of total output against 25 per cent for Britain and 14 per cent for France.

Comprised in this small percentage, however, are commodities of great economic importance.

Moreover, the rapid growth of the Soviet economy has been accompanied by a big increase in the volume of foreign trade, though its weight in the economy has remained about the same. This places the USSR in sixth place as a world trading nation.

Soviet trade has to be conducted on the basis of bilateral bargains with foreign governments extending over a term of years. This need flows from the existence of a planned economy.

But political hostility from some governments restricts trade. In particular the USA maintains a list of prohibited exports to Russia and East Europe and tries on her allies.

An important instance last year came with the embargo on the export of large-diameter steel pipes from West Germany and Japan.

These pipes, required for the construction of pipe lines, were held to be strategic goods. It was obvious that the Americans hoped by preventing their export to hold back the development of the Soviet economy.

Whatever they say to the contrary, it seems evident that Soviet leaders are worried by such actions.

Appeals are made to the self-interest of Western capitalists in order to try to break through American trade restrictions.

Irade plays a prominent part in the "peaceful co-existence' propaganda.

RELATIONS

The bureaucracy seeks normal economic relations and expanding trade with the capitalist countries in order to facilitate its tasks at home.

It cannot carry the heavy burden of investment still needed to 'catch up'—especially with the technologically more advanced industries-and satisfy the demand for more and better consumer goods without severe strains at home.

The development of trade becomes a substitute for that appeal to the world working class which the Soviet leaders are unable to make.

What this means, in short, is that the Soviet Union has not broken out of the grip of the capitalist world market; encirclement still persists.

The existence of the Peoples' Democracies scarcely changes this pioture. It only means more problems. Under Stalin little effort was made to coordinate the economies of the East European countries; instead, each was encouraged to build up its national economy on the same lines as the Soviet Union.

CO-ORDINATION

The Council for Economic Mutual Assistance, sometimes known as COMECON, showed little signs of life until after the events of 1956.

Even today, despite Khrushchev's talk about the socialist international division of labour', co-ordination falls far short of the possibilities. It was only last year, for example, that an international bank was set up for the area as a whole.

Because the East European countries are small and tend to be specialised, they have much more need than the Soviet Union both for imports and exports.

In particular they need raw materials which, in important cases, can only come, under present conditions, from the Soviet Union.

Since 1956 the governments of these countries have been more sensitive to questions of price relationships between what they buy from, and what they sell to, the Soviet Union. Closer co-operation between the eight members of COMECON is impeded by mutual suspicion.

Co-ordination of plans on an area-wide basis is still far from being a reality and the biggest advantages so far have gone to the Soviet Union.

The announced aim of Khrushchev, to build the socialist world economy as a single entity' is still far from achievement.

It is admitted that planning on a COMECON scale is in its infancy. Member countries still depend upon the capitalist world market and cannot solve their problems in isolation from it.

DENOUNCE

Khrushchev proposes favourable terms for such trade while denouncing regional economic groupings like the Common Market.

He takes as his beginning a situation in which, for a protracted period, the 'socialist camp' and the capitalist world will exist side-by-side.

'Socialism' in a number of countries, even when grouped together in a body ake COMECON, is no less reactionary than the Stalinist policy of 'socialism in one country from which it stems.

Guerrilla Warfare March 4 WORKERS of the Florida East Coast Railway Company Three

WHILST NEGROES in the United States fiercely fight for civil liberty, American capitalism attempted to deal a blow against their solidarity last week.

In a courtroom at Monroe, North Carolina, Judge Walter E. Brock sentenced three American Negroes, Mrs. Mae Mallory, Richard Crowder, Harold Reape and white Freedom Kider John Lowry to prison on a charge of 'kidnap ping' Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Stegall.

Mrs. Mallory received a vicious sentence of 16 to 20 years, Richard Crowder seven to ten years, Harold Reape five to seven years and John Lowry three to five years.

Another man mentioned in the trial was prominent Negro leader Robert Williams, now a political refugee in Cuba.

Under a cloak of respectability with Judge Brock as the figurehead, the real events of August 27, 1961—the day of the alleged kidnapping — were distorted.

At that time police were whipping up hysteria against Negro demonstrators in Monroe. It does not need much stretching of the imagination to see why they should be so eager to arrest militant leaders of the movement.

Demonstrators

Not one Negro sat on the jury, which heard evidence that Mr. and Mrs. Stegall visited the town in their car and were besieged by a crowd of demonstrators.

They were taken to the home of Robert Williams by Lowry and tied up, the prosecution alleged. Mrs. Mallory sat guard over them with a rifle.

Mrs. Stegall identified Richard Crowder as one of the people who tied them up. Harold Reape was said to have been one of the crowd.

It took the jury only 33 minutes to come to a verdict of guilty. In that short period they also had to elect a jury foreman. Time left for discussion of the trial must have been very short indeed.

The accused have stated that they will appeal against the court's decision.

Segregationists

Although the trial had outward signs of justice being upheld', actions by segregationists in Monroe made the outcome of the proceedings obvious from the start. The defendants will have strong grounds for appeal.

At one stage the defence lawyers complained that prejudice was being stirred up in the local press against the accused.

Obviously the jury would see such articles and they could not fail to become influenced by them.

In a deposition to the court sent by Robert Williams and his wife from Cuba, all the accused were absolved from having any part in the so-called kıdnapping.

Williams described how Stegall and his wife were brought to his house. They entered of their own free will, he stated. Zanzibar nationalizes the "Old Boys' HAVING a drink at the Club— nounced that all that has been one of the hall- would he taken marks of British imperialism in the colonies for decades. It was the place that made all the white colonialists remember 'dear old England'.

However, these strongholds of the 'old boys' out in Africa are now being taken over.

In Zanzibar, which has just had a revolution, it was an- was anhave been out on strike for January last year.

The strike began when the company refused to accept a government arbitration tribunal's award of a pay rise of 10.28 cents an hour to all 'nonoperating' railroad personnel (that is shop repairmen, office workers, signalmen, telegraphers, etc.).

In September 1961, the unions put in a national claim for 25 cents an hour and six months' notice of any redundancy sackings. The claim had to go to arbitration, and all companies and unions accepted the court's award, except the Florida East Coast.

They claimed that as they had withdrawn from industry-wide bargaining in February 1962, before the court was set up, they were not bound by its findings.

Consequently, on January 23, 1963, the non-operating workers of the company came out. The company's 600 'on train' workers decided not to operate the 'black' lines.

Submit

In the first 10 days of the strike, the company lost 750,000 dollars. The management decided to use 'other methods' to force the workers to submit.

With the use of blackleg labour, made up of students, former factory workers and foremen, it began gradually to re-open the railway.

By August 1963, it was running at 75 per cent of the pre-strike level. It is now at 95 per cent of the pre-strike level—with one difference: instead of 2,100 workers, the company only employs 850.

This is the secret of the management's tough attitude.

It is not so much concerned about the question of wages as reducing the work force. In fact in July 1962, it offered the workers a pay rise of 4.5 per cent, in exchange for new work racial clubs un over by the state.

And who better to see the nationalization of the clubs than Britain's Commonwealth and Colonial Secretary, Duncan Sandys.

As he sat in the English Club drinking tea in an unperturbed 'British' manner armed guards positione d themselves at the doors of the building.

almost 14 months-since strikers claim that the high accident rate must be due to the inexperience of the scab labour now running the trains.

Support has been won from other workers. On September 11, 1963, two pickets from the 'Order of Railroad Telegraphers' picketed the Merritt Island Launch Area site near Cape Kennedy.

Immediately, 1,400 union construction workers walked off. Altogether, 11 out of 19 major sites in the area have stopped work, in sympathy for the railwaymen.

The Federal government were scared this would lead to national repercussions.

Return

In November, a Federal emergency board was set up. This should have meant that both sides return to the conditions before the strike, during the time the board sat.

But the railway bosses refused to accept this.

When the board's findings, in favour of the unions, were published just before Christmas last year, the company refused to accept them.

The Federal government's report contained this warning for the management: if the demands were not implemented, other firms would follow their example 'thus provoking bitter and disruptive disputes in other sections of the country'.

The company have still fused to budge.

Clearly they are out to set the pace for the railroads in the Whole country. They have managed to change a pre-strike deficit of 574,000 dollars a quarter into a profit of nearly 200,000 dollars a quarter.

Their example is being watched very carefully by every railway employer in the USA. U.S. 'FAIR PLAY' our American correspondent, Tom A FEW weeks after the assassination of President Kennedy a smail news item appeared in the 'New York Times' announcing the formal dissolution of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.

This organisation was, at one time, the major sphere of work for the American Socialist Workers' Party. The SWP paper, "The Militant', gave no publicity to the event.

However, the disbanding of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee is not without some political meaning. The first question to be asked is: Why was the organisation dissolved at this time?

There is still a need to defend the Cuban revolution as the United States continues its campaign against Cuba. Recently it seized the Cuban fishing fleet, and opposed Britain's trading with the island.

The witch-hunting of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, which followed the Kennedy assassination, had a lot to do with the decision to dissolve the organisation.

But those who want to defend the colonial people from within the United must expect States must expect COMMITTEE persecution. The United States government will not gladly accept opposition to its policies.

The Fair Play for Cuba Committee tried to defend the Cuban revolution by 'apologising' for it. Major activities consisted of reprinting speeches of Fidel Castro and other prominent members of the government.

The Socialist Workers' Party made Fair Play for Cuba its main organisational work for a long period of time.

SHADY DEAL

But when Cuba faced the threat of a war two years ago these people, including the Socialist Workers' Party, could do little to aid the island. Many of them supported Khrushchev, who came to a shady deal with Kennedy at the expense of Cuba.

As soon as things got a bit 'sticky' after the Kennedy assassination these people were nowhere to be seen and the Fair Play for Cuba Committee was hurriedly dissolved.

Workers in industry cannot, however, just give up their struggle for better conditions, like the scared rabbits of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.

Where was the Socialist Workers' Party in the period of 1961-63 when unemployment grew, working conditions deteriorated and the Negroes waged a struggle for their rights?

Where will this Party be in the future? Now they are seeking to defend the Algerian revolution in the same way as the one in Cuba was defended. There is not the slightest doubt that they will take to their heels and run should things get a bit too hot again. Call for Turk-Greek unity THE Central Committee of the Cyprus Workers' Freedom Party issued an appeal amongst the Turkish populatior of the island last week.

This pointed out that it world capitalism which started the bloodshed in island. to Cyprus 'These last months have shown quite clearly the manoeuvres of imperialism,' it stated. 'Lots of blood has been spilt, lives lost and property destroyed, innocent children and women killed. The feeling of fear and mistrust has become commonplace.' SOLUTION • Both sides must be 'calm' says the statement. "The only solution lies through negotiations based on mutual respect and understanding.' But the committee does not point out that the Makarios government is as much a party to the bloodshed in Cyprus as the capitalists of America and Britain.

In its appeals for 'the good of the fatherland' the committee fails to mention a joint working class struggle against imperialism, united with the world labour movement.

Weak pleas for a loose kind of brotherly co-operation are made instead of a united stand by the Greek and Turkish Cypriot workers and peasants behind socialist policies.

Than golk Bet of che talky in THE collapse of the talks ir and Indonesia, and the breakdown of the cease-fire, may mean the start of a lengthy guerrilla war in the jungles of Borneo.

Indonesia, which took over a part of the island from the Dutch, is opposing control of Sarawak and North Borneo by the British-backed Malaysian Federation.

CONSCRIPTION

This week, Malaysian ministers are discussing preparations, including the introduction of conscription, for stepping up the fighting. At present it is largely the British forces and Ghurkas who are engaged against the guerrillas opposing Malaysian control.

Over 7,000 troops are now reported to be involved.

The dispute hides a conflict between Britain and the United States. The Americans have Europeans strike BLACKLEGGING European technicians were flown into the Wankie •colliery, Southern Rhodesia last week to help maintain services during a strike of 300 Africans.

The strikers are demanding cash payment for their work instead of food rations.

Winston Field, prime minister of the country, has announced Field: 'outside influence' that 'political influences have taken advantage of the situation'.

Meanwhile the mining managers refuse to enter into talks with the workers until the strike is stopped.

After the strikers had been out for two days police fired on them during a demonstration and a strike leader was hit.

had Missiles sent was the A FEW WEEKS before the United Nations peace force is scheduled to arrive in Cyprus Britain sent a shipment of missiles with anything but 'peace' in mind.

Four huge transport vehicles passed through Limassol travelling towards the British air base. Each carried one missile believed to be of the Bloodhound two type.

When the Empire Rose docked at Cyprus, numerous armoured cars were unloaded and two huge crates, which may have contained more missiles.

Great precautions were taken and the crates were placed under military guard to the base.

Presumably such war material will not be taken off the island when the United Nations troops land in Cyprus with their mission to enforce law and order.

They may take guns and ammunition off the workers and peasants so that the British capitalists can maintain control over a relatively peaceful island but meanwhile some of the most horrific war weapons will stay at the island's air base. in Borneo tended to back Sukarno in an effort to dislodge the last remnant of British influence in the Far East.

It was Bobby Kennedy who arranged the cease-fire and the abortive negotiations.

PERSUADE

Present in Bangkok is a third party, Mr. Lopez, the Philippines foreign secretary, through whom Washington is working at this stage.

The British have so far failed to persuade their United States allies that support for Malaysia would be in the interests of 'Western unity'.

While they attempt to prop up their own puppets in South Vietnam, the Americans compromise over Borneo.

On Monday Sukarno presided over a four-hour meeting with his military and political leaders who all agreed with his 'crush Malaysia' policy.

Dr. Subandrio, the Foreign Minister said afterwards: 'We will take new steps on the basis of revolutionary offensive thinking?

rules. Naturally the men rejected this, seeing that it would involve major speed-ups.

Reduced

The trains are now running with reduced crews — firemen have been eliminated. Instead of having separate crews to operate the trains inside the yards, this is now done by the crews who operate it on the track, Maintenance teams have been drastically cut.

There have been few blacklegs from among the regular workers themselves. Those that have gone back have received rough treatment from those remaining on strike.

•There are signs painted on walls, with messages like 'Bruce McCray, you filthy, scabby son of a bitch' and 'It was a brick last time, it will be 00 buckshot next time'.

A strike leader commented: "They're bitter.

They have a right to be?

There have been a large number of derailments since the management reopened the company.

Some of these are supposed to have been caused by the line being dynamited, and chains tied round the rails. The From our American correspondent, Tom Jackson JAMES HOFFA, president of the one and a half million-strong International Brotherhood of Teamsters, was found guilty in Chattanooga, Tennessee of allegedly trying to "fix' a Federal jury.

Hoffa, who is to appeal, faces a maximum sentence of 10 years' imprisonment and a 10,000 dollar fine.

This is the fifth criminal proceeding against him by the Federal government since he became president of the Teamsters' union in 1957. Juries failed to return verdicts of guilty in the four previous hearings.

Attorney - General, Robert Kennedy, is alleged to have received a phone call from the Government Prosecutor as soon as the trial ended, in which happy congratulations on Hoffa's conviction were exchanged.

'Clean up'

The United States government has been running a campaign for nearly 10 years against the Teamsters' union. Its aim is to 'clean up' the workers' organisations.

But the government wants to go even further with the Teamsters' union. The aim is not to 'clean' it up, but to destroy it completely.

Rank and file truck drivers understand this and steadfastly refuse to support governmentinspired opposition groups which emerge in their union.

They are not uncritical of Hoffa, their present leader, who earns at least 75,000 dollars a year, but the members firmly reject any attempt by Kennedy and his followers to foist a government-sponsored leadership on the union.

Police and bureaucrats hound Hoffa because he represents the huge militant strength of the Teamsters. He is followed night and day by spies within the union.

Phone tapped

During the Chattanooga trial his defence claimed that the Federal Bureau of Investigațion had tapped certain telephone conversations. A local official admitted taking at least 723 photographs of Hoffa and others.

But in spite of government spies and manoeuvres the union is conducting a militant fight on behalf of many workers.

Eastern Kentucky miners received strong support from the union and members of the Teamsters refused to drive trucks across a Negro picket line in Philadelphia. Unemployed in Kenya THOUSANDS of jobless took part in a riot outside Nairobi's emergency employment bureau in Kenya last week.

Police moved in with tear-gas and charged the crowd with batons.

Clerks hid under tables as the unemployed stoned the building and streamed into the offices.

In an attempt to solve the serious shortage of jobs in Kenya the government has agreed to try and find the large number of unemployed jobs to go to.

Four 1964

break to rail strike OVER 4,000 African railway workers came out on strike in Northern Rhodesia on Saturday after alleged insults from a white engine driver against a coloured worker.

All services in the country were brought to a standstill whilst members of the Railway African Workers' Union and the administration discussed the strike.

The dispute arose from the African worker's refusal to fill the white engine driver's water bottle. Later he insulted the African by calling him a 'Kaffir'.

A demand by the union that the engine driver should transferred has been rejected.

Coloured workers feel that now there is an African government in power in Northern Rhodesia, white workers should recognise the African workers as their equals.

A feeble attempt to gloss over the issue and hurriedly solve the position has been made by the rail officers, who want the men to 'settle the matter amicably by mutual apologies'.

But it is hardly likely that such a question can be solved merely by apologies. The white workers have had a position superior to that of the African under her a very long time the arrogant rule of British imperialism.

Even though Northern Rhodesia has become independent with its own government tensions are bound to arise between white and African workers.

The Railway African Workers' Union has insisted that an apology be made on the condition that the white worker is transferred.

This strike will obviously worry employers in Northern Rhodesia. Already a shipment of copper out of the country has been halted and mining companies are dependent on stocks of coal carried by rail from Southern Rhodesia.

'Shoot rioters' LICUU says 1 Mba AT THE orders of French puppet ruler, President Mba, anyone creating a disturbance in Libreville, the capital of Gabon, West Africa, will be shot by police.

This announcement came after anti-government demonstrations in the city last week. Appeals have been made for law and order.

Only a few weeks ago President Mba was deposed by an uprising led by the opposition party. French troops quickly moved in to squash the rebellion.

But it is obvious that the President's troubles are far from ended.

room. this firm employed 2,000 people. On Monday men and women queued to sign on the dole.

Other Ford workers have only been retained to dismantle and scrap equipment at the plant and transfer equipment to the Greyfriars Road factory which will be opened as a toolThe shut-down came three at Doncaster At one time morning 500 where wages are considerably lower.

The local position will become even more serious when the Easter and summer school-leavers join the long unemployment queue. Industrial climax Castle and Tremorfa

AFTER they were told there was no more work, girls at the Truline Bras factory in Sheffield signed on at the dole office last week.

Earlier in the week a Wages Inspector announced that the employees were not being paid enough money by the management and ordered that between five and 15 shillings, back-dated to October, should be paid.

Short time working was hurriedly announced and only a few union members were able to continue employment in the factory. Most of the girls who did not support a recent strike at the firm were allowed to stay on.

The management has made it quite obvious that, although union members won over the question of correct rates of pay, no militant victory would be allowed to last for long in the factory• Union officials maintain that they can do nothing about 'lack of work'.

Meanwhile they drag on the negotiations over the seven girls sacked after the union was tormed at the factory.

At a meeting last week, the officials stated that the supervisor had threatened to leave if the workers were taken back.

In this way the girls are made to look as if they are troublemakers.

But union leaders must not be allowed to cover up their inability to fight with excuses. the area. months earlier than expected. About 200 of the original labour force have decided to move with the firm to Liverpool.

But family ties and the expense of uprooting a home has forced many to stay in Doncaster. For these people Ford have 'granted' one week's pay for each year of service.

This will be poor compensation for many of the older workers who, on the admission of the local Ministry of Labour, will have little chance of finding immediate employment in Future International Harvesters have bought the site but no news is given of future use of the plant. No one knows whether additional labour is immediately required at the firm.

It may be towards the end of the year before production gets under way.

Employment prospects are not very good. Although there are over 600 vacancies in the area, 450 of these are for men who have mining experience.

This excludes a large number of the Ford men. For those with special skills in the motor trade it is impossible to find jobs at similar rates in Doncaster.

Some workers have been forced to work in small garages Under the Beeching axe over 70 Doncaster rail workers will lose their jobs by the middle of April. By the end of the year between 330 and 340 will join them.

Grave

As a response to this grave situation some local Labour leaders have called for direction of industry to the town. But it was because the government gave Ford such lavish financial aid that the firm was moved to Liverpool resulting in sackings in Doncaster.

Direction of industry can solve no problems of the unemployed. Only the nationalization of such ruthless monopoly giants as Fords can do that. LONDON FIREMEN DEMAND 48-HR

By A. COPE, PORT EMPLOYERS have made their aims for complete authority over dockers quite clear ever since 1945.

Before the present scheme was introduced, their Proposals for Decasualisation, made in September 1945, said a system of regular engagement and a guaranteed wage to the workers was not enough. What they also wanted was economic working.

These proposals were made when the industry was under the Wartime Docks Corporation. The present National Dock Labour Board was introduced in 1947 and embodied what is known as 'dual control'.

This means that docile officials of the Transport and General Workers' Union have a say in the running of the industry.

The employers are now fighting to bring the docks more into line with their 1945 proposals and they count on the weakness of certain trade union leaders on the docks to press on with these aims..

What was just a hope in 1945 has become an urgent necessity for the employers in Britain. They must introduce big changes in handling ships and cargoes at the expense of dock workers.

anised.

port costs have to be cut.

prices.

recent years.

for this sole purpose. fied.

petitors.

MEETING Leeds Sunday, March 22, 7.30 p.m. ly, March 22, 7.30 Leeds Art Gallery Speakers:

Banda-Newsletter Editor C. Slaughter Kerrigan (NASD)

Since the war large continental ports like Rotterdam and Hamburg have been completely reconstructed and highly mechTo compete with them British Employers will try to do this by cutting the number of registered dockers, building up the force of weekly workers and revising manning scales and The drive to shorten the time taken to turn the ships round and cut the costs of cargo handling, follows intensive study by the bosses' representatives in An organisation called the International Cargo Handling Co-ordination Association exists It has an international executive committee and holds conferences at which experts read papers on how to squeeze more work from fewer workers.

The dockers' fight against the 'New Deal' is linked with workers in other industries where speed-ups and time and motion studies are being intensiBritish employers are certainly learning from their foreign com-

WHEN London County Council Chairman, Victor Mishcon, went to open the new fire station at Clapham Old Town, London, last week he was greeted with angry shouts of 'What about a 48-hour week', !, from 150 London Fire Brigades Union members If Mr. Mishcon thought he was just going to unveil a plaque, hand out a few compliments about how hard the firemen work and then disappear as quickly as possible, he was mistaken.

Waving banners and issuing leaflets explaining their position, the firemen demanded that the Labour - controlled London County Council do something immediately about reducing their 54-hour week.

ACTION COMMITTEE In an interview with The Newsletter, union district chairman, Walter Wright, said: We think that the County Council could give us the 48-hour week before it merges into Greater London.

"The men were getting so angry with the council's refusal to do anything that the district committee decided to form an action committee in January this year,' he added.

"There are not many men who work over 50 hours a week without overtime pay so why should we?

"The men are working about eight hours' overtime but they just are not being paid for it.

ATTRACTIVE PAY

If the London County Council would consider making the recruits' pay a bit more attractive we might get more new men into the fire brigade. Then they could cut down the hours. But the council wor't do either of those things.

'We don't particularly want to embarrass the Labour Party just before a general election, but we do think they owe us something' Mr. Wright explained that the hours were dropped from 56 to 543 last October.

The action committee will consider putting an emergency resolution before the next Labour Party Conference.

REDUNDANCY TALKS DISCUSSIONS are to be held on Friday between AEU officials and representatives of S. G. Brown Ltd., Watford, Herts, over redundancy at the firm.

Workers who went on strike recently were persuaded by union officials to return to work last Thursday.

works of Guest, Keen and Nettlefold in Cardiff are still on strike against redundancies.

They came out three weeks ago in sympathy with three workmates who were laid off. The management claimed the men were only taken on for a certain job.

SPEED-UP

The strikers feel that this claim was an attempt to hide the speed-up being imposed by the management. In the last few years the number of brickies has been progressively broken down from 23 to 16.

Pickets have been parading in front of the two works with placards saying 'Our fight is your fight. We say no to redundancy, 'Our fight today— Yours tomorrow' and similar messages.

The men think the strike is now reaching a climax.

The furnaces in the works have not beeen maintained for six weeks. This should force PAPER PRECTICE 18Some of the firemen demonstrating at Clapham Old Town fire station At the same time their attitude is toughening.

They have threatened to sack all the bricklayers if the strike proceeds and forces a shutdown.

They have also belied their own previous statement that the sackings were not intended to intimidate the brickies by stating that, even if there had been no action on redundancies, they would not have allowed the overtime ban to continue.

SUPPORT

Financial support for the strikers has been received from the Guest Keen Iron and Steel Dowlais and Llanwern works.

Branches of the British Iron and Steel and Kindred Trades Association in the Castle and Tremorfa works have also promised support.

Contracting bricklayers inside the works have agreed not to "blackleg' and are also giving financial support. WEER 1965

ALL 55 POLISHERS at the Newtown Polishing Company, Birmingham, who were sacked for refusing to leave the Metal Mechanics Union, were reinstated last week.

This is a big victory for the men who have refused to let the management intimidate them. They have picketed the factory every day since they were sacked and turned lorries away from the gates.

When the employers offered to take 26 of their number back again the polishers stood firm and insisted that every single one of them be reinstated.

As soon as the men returned the management agreed to an employees' committee of six which would represent the workers in any negotiations. .. The bosses must have had anxious second thoughts about this because they later amended their decision to a committee of only three workers with two management representatives. One of the polishers would be selected by the bosses.

A union spokesman told The Newsletter that the men were certainly not satisfied with the firm's latest proposal. 'We must not allow people picked by the management on our negotiation committee,' he added.

So far the bosses have agreed to abide by the 42-hour week but overtime and piece-work rates will still be a major issue in the factory.

Injunction

against pickets IN AN attempt to break a strike of Metal Mechanics Union members, a firm brought a High Court injunction against pickets in Birmingham.

The action came after workers tried to stop two oil tankers entering Tufnol Ltd.

The factory is a subsidiary of George Ellison Ltd., Perry Barr, Birmingham, where men came out on strike two weeks ago over a pay dispute.

Employers maintain that in spite of the strike, production is carrying on and 170 employees are reporting each day.

However, the pickets report that only 50 workers are going in each day.

Delivery lorries have gone into the firm and the management maintain that orders have been sent to some of their customers.

the management to act soon or risk closing the works altogether. Sheffield have waged a fierce struggle against their racketeering landlords.

One landlord threatened a family of 11 with eviction after he had refused to do repairs, demanded by the Corporation.

Seven other families, also facing eviction, have found it impossible to get other accommodation and have refused to leave their flats.

They know that until a court order is served no landlord can throw them on to the street.

No assistance has been forthcoming from the Corporation officials whose only role has been to try and enforce improvement orders, which the landlords just ignore.

A spastic mother of five has tried to get decent housing in another area, after health officials said she needed a threebedroomed house.

Insults

But such houses are for people who earned over £20 a week. She was told that it was her own fault for having too many children.

These are the kind of insults that tenants are subjected to. In addition housing agencies demand a f3 tip before finding homes for the tenants.

Another desperate case is Mrs. Wathall who expects another baby in April. She is afraid that her husband, in an open jail, will escape and come to Sheffield to help her out.

Some families, who have been on the housing list for seven to nine years, have received offers of lodging from the Corporation. Wives and children go into a home whilst the husband is found accommodation elsewhere.

"There is plenty of alternative accommodation,' say the officials glibly. They never state exactly what kind of lodgings they are going to herd these families into.

Alderman Mrs. Sheard had this handy piece of advice to give to tenants: 'You must remember your rights. You cannot be evicted except by a court order?

It is all very well for Mrs. Sheard to say that but the tenants know exactly what their nights are. They are afraid the few privileges they have will be abused by landlords.

BY THEIR determination Nottinghamshire strikers have managed to get the executive of the Amalgamated Engineering Union to black all goods for the Raleigh cycle firm.

In spite of intense bostility from the local and national press and the stubborn attitude of the Raleigh management, the men have stayed firm in their seven-week-old fight to get 25 of their mates reinstated.

After 60 of the strikers VELAALYAU lobbied the union headquarters in London last week, the decision was made that work in Midlands factories who supply Raleigh will be 'blacked'.

As a result of this victory many of the men have changed their minds about going back to work. At a strike meeting on Monday there were only two Victory for Glasgow dockers DOCKERS at Princes Dock, Glasgow, won a victory over their employers by determined action last week.

They were given a job handling 'wet' cargo and demanded extra payment.

This was refused and so work stopped. A meeting was held and the men decided to refuse to handle the cargo unless paid extra for the job.

When it became clear that the dockers really intended to carry out their decisions the extra money was agreed by the employers. votes against out on strike.

Last week the strike was only continued by a majority of 14 votes.

Although the local press have given wide publicity to Mrs. Marion Hendley and her anti-strike wives-she was complimented by the 'Daily Express'strong support for the strike continues.

In Derby and Sheffield, union моны пишишного ат vamunmg diatrint committeas are hallattina their members on the possibility of a levy.

Fund

Ilkeston branch of the Electrical Trades Union was visited by the strikers and a whip round produced money for the strike fund. More was promised after faotory collections were taken.

According to the local press, difficulties over the "blacking' of supplies arose at Lockheeds, Leamington this week.

An engineering union official went to speak to the workers at the factory and the matter was sorted out.

To ensure support for the Raleigh strikers the whole question of blacking' goods, redundancies and work-sharing has to be explained.

Only by workers at factories like Lockheeds joining in the struggle, can the Raleigh bosses be made to reinstate the 25 men they sacked.

Registered at the G.P.O. as a newspapor Published_by The Newsletter, 186 Clapham High Street, London, S.W.4 Printed by Plough Press Ltd. (TO). т.o. 180 Claphare High Street. London. S.W.4

DISGUSTED with vague promises and long speeches by Labour councillors, tenants in St. Barnabas Garth, Leeds, have formed their own committee.

Their 84 council flats were fitted with an electric heating system some months ago although many would have preferred gas.

Electricity bills in many cases have shot up to f3 a week.

The Labour councillors for the area have promised to raise the matter on the local council and discuss it with the Yorkshire Electricity Board.

Meanwhile the tenants have refused to pay their bills until they get a satisfactory answer.

An ex-Tory councillor in the area has claimed that the council Minutes contain no mention of the complaint. Another councillor maintained there was no time for the question to be raised in council.

'Solution'

In a letter to the tenants Labour councillor, Alfred Tallant reported that: "There is no hope of the electricity bills being reduced.' He added that the only solution was for the tenants to negotiate their bills with the electricity board themselves.

Councillor Tallant is typical of many other such fakers all over the country who have excused failure in the housing policy by saying they have to work within a Tory system.

Why cannot the Leeds Labour councillors insist on non-payment of the bills until the matter is settled and fight for financial provisions to meet the situation?

St. Barnabas tenants are realising the need for strengthening their own organisation to fight the authorities. They have now formed a permanent committee and are joining together with other associations in the town.

Alongside these necessary steps must be a fight from the Leeds Labour Party to commit the Labour Group on the council to a fighting policy.