The Newsletter, vol. 8 no. 350

Nor cy nigh with ta vio of £1,800 Lne youth after the Margate incidents, Mr. Henry Brooke the Home Secretary, presented a Bill in the Houses o Parliament last week, proposing to raise fines of £20 to £100.

to 'widen and strenaten the bowers or powers of malicious damage. cases of Since many of the victims of "malicious damage' were policemen Brooke is presumaviv asking unal. as well being paid by the state for hauling the youth wholesale into count the • ponce should compensated by their victims as well.

This is vet another attempt b the capitalist class to crush the working - class youth. Brooke and his colleagues are well aware that f100 is an enormous summ comparison with the wages earned by the 'Mods' and the contrary by the national NOCKeIS . despite press. some lory Mis wanted bring back corporal punish ment, confiscate motor scooters and cycles and enforce greater discipline in child upbringing. re Tories, as representatives of big business and Britist imperialism, show themselves be really afraid of the youth's hatred of the state machinery.

was no accident that the police were the main targets of violence at Margate. Young people dislike the way they are pushed around by these so-called 'guardians of the peace. woke and bide maiy friend, whilst condemning violence and irresponsibility of youth, condone the mos atrocious acts committed ir the capitalists' interests in Aden, Cyprus and South-east Asia.

the Labour leadership, Wilson, Brown and company have made no policy stateMinds on the Question of the and political support for the young working class has been forthWilllig.

They la.ve remained with a few tricks of debate in he House of Commons an eft it to others to organis oung people into the labou movement. fact, afraid to recruit any more youth into the labour movement. especially voung Mods' and 'Rockers'.

Labour gets into power in Rockers ca, 'Mods"' and expect very ¡tue enange in une artude or the government towards them. 1 Mods aks Rockers to ot with The Newsletter and the Socialist Labour League in taking a firm stand against attacks on the youth and the working class.

Ve reiterate that call. he real enemy if youth is the Lory governt nt and British mperialisn •National Union leading member of the C favour of accepting the miserly pay offer at the last week-end.

Only a week before, the off delegate conference of the NUM Mr. Paynter is now a spokesman for the right wing in the mining industry. Not only is he inseperable from the right-wing members of his union's executive, but his recent speeches have put forward the same argument against a large wage increase for day wage miners as those the NCB.

His speech last week-end dismayed rank and file Communist miners who have been fighting hard against the right-wing Lancashire Area leadership on this issue.

At a time when there is widespread revulsion against the offer of a 7s. 6d. to 12s. rise, Paynter declares: "There is no vital principle involved in the difference between the 9s. 6d. and 15s. claimed ... the general policy of trade unions is to pocket the increase offered and then discuss the possibility of a future claim.' Communist Party militants may well ask themselves what An editorial in Tuesday's 'Daily Worker' entitled The Miners Can Win', supports the miners' claim for 15s.

It talks of 'a majority on the executive in favour of acceptance (of the NCB offer).

"The arguments of the majority of the executive of the NUM do not hold water, it adds. But not once does it mention CP member Paynter who was part of that majority. Are his actions too embarrassing for the 'Daily Worker and the CP, or are they just blowing hot air at an opportune moment?

is the point of having a Party of Mineworkers and a ommunist Party spoke in National Coal Board's Lancashire Miners' Gala ir was rejected by a national , Paynter: representative of the right wing The answer to that is to fight to make a Labour government nationalize the entire oil industry, but Paynter never mentions such a thing. -No wonder the 'Sunday Times' could say: 'As an executive member of the Communist Party, Mr. Paynter was making a remarkably open confession to the Lancashire miners of just where his sympathies lie.' •Miners should not strike, Paynter said in Lancashire, because 'the government becomes immediately involved where strike action is taken in a nationalized industry'.

This is the consequence of the politics of the Communist Party's programme, "The British Road to Socialism'. Advocates of socialism through parliament and peaceful co-existence end up by telling workers that they can't strike because it would be against the government. (Continued on page page, col.

Port

A DISPUTE over loading rates for cars brought all 140 dockers at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire out on strike for six days last week. The dispute began when the employers, the Manchester Ship Canal Company, refused to improve the present allowance. The dockers are asking for the same rate as that paid to London dockers.

With the Vauxhall Motor Company's new £36,000,000 factory now in production nearby, they feel a settlement on this longstanding problem must be made.

In an attempt to break the strike, the employers have sacked Mr. Morris Cavanagh, one of the leading spokesmen for the dockers in the port.

Although all dockers decided to return to work this week, they have issued an ultimatum to officials of the Transport and General Workers' Union that unless a substantial increase on the car rates is won and unless the seven days' notice on Mr. Cavanagh is withdrawn, then they will taike further action to win their demands.

member at the head of a union if he is just going to-carry out the 'general policy' of trade unions which have a completely right-wing leadership?

They should also compare the following statements:

'A national strike placing at risk thousands of miners' jobs could only be justified if some vital principle were at stake? Paynter at the Lancashire Gala.

'If we went on strike some pits would never open again.' Sam Bullough, right-wing Yorkshire NUM official at the national delegate conference on May 29.

'We would be only too happy to meet the 15s. a week pay claim in full, if this could be done without risking miners' jobs.' Lord Robens in 'Cual News'.

The threat of redundancy is held over miners' heads to prevent a real struggle for a decent wage by the Coal Board, the right wing-and Paynter!

None of these people say a word about all those men who have already lost their jobs in Scotland, Northumberland, Durham, Lancashire and South Wales-without a pay increase and without a strike.

Instead, they repeat the same threat about the oil industry gaining customers from coal. The Newsletter received the following letter from the Sunday Telegraph' after writing to its editor about allegations of violence by Trotskyists in a 'Sunday Telegraph' article entitled 'Police Give Protection to Young Socialists two weeks ago. Below that we print a further Dear Sir, Thank you for your letter June 4, the contents of which noted.

We have every confidence in the accuracy of our report. As an editor you must appreciate that we cannot possibly reveal names of those concerned in an affair of this kind to a third party. Neither you nor your paper was named in our report, Yours faithfully, Managing Editor Dear Sir, Thank for your letter of 5/6/64.

The report of Mr. Gladstone Smith on the Young Socialists contained explicit allegations that Trofskyists were using violence and the threats of violence as an integral part of their political activities.

To emphasise the point, I have now read an extended version of the article in question, published in your Northern edition.

Referring to the 'frightening' attitude of some of the "Trotskyist extremists Mr. Smith in an interview with a loyalist' states:

'One had told me of an alleged assault by an opposing faction. He said: "I was seized by the shoulders, turned round and held ago. Below that we print a further while a photographer took a picture of me."

"The other said: "I was grabbed and pushed violently along a wall." › Again Mr. Smith quotes a 'loyalist' speaking about "Trotskyists.

I know of three cases where physical violence has been offered to members trying to get out of their ranks.' He continues: 'The Labour Party Stresses that the "thug" element is a small minority, and then adds cryptically:

"Trotskyists are Marxists who follow Leon Trotsky's revolutionary doctrine' It is quite correct that neither The Newsletter nor myself were mentioned, but the implications were clear.

As I pointed out in my last letter, The Newsletter is the only Trotskyist weekly paper in Great Britain and is also the organ of the Socialist Labour League, the only authentic Trotskyist organisation in Britain and thus any adverse comment on Trotskyists is a slur on the paper and myself.

Both editions of your paper on May 31 refer to quite specific criminal assaults.

If your accounts are accurate, that is, if they can be substantiated, may I ask if you and Mr. Smith reply sent this week to the paper. have reported the matters to the police?

What evidence did you adduce in support of your complaints to them?

For example: did your reporter state that he was shown the burns which would undoubtedly be inflicted by a 'hot poker. Were photographs of the scars produced at least!

I should be happy to share your confidence in Mr. Smith if I were first given the opportunity to examine the solid core of evidence which, as a writer for a well-known national newspaper, he was assuredly asked to produce before you went to print.

At any rate, I should be content at this stage for your personal assurance that the evidence exists, and that it is already in the hands of the police.

In the absence of such an assurance I can only infer that in interests of spreading lies against political opponents Mr. Smith descends to the land of make-believe and you, as the editor, give him tacit encouragement and support.

I should be glad if you would publish this correspondence in your issue of June 14, 1964.

Yours faithfully, M. BANDA

'The truth is this: during the period of England's industrial monopoly the English working class have, to a certain extent, shared in the benefits of the monopoly. These benefits were very unequally parcelled out amongst them; the privileged minority pocketed most, but even the great mass had, at least a temporary share now and then.... With the breakdown of that monopoly, the English working class will lose that privileged position; it will find itself generally — the privileged and leading minority not excepted — on a level with its fellow workers abroad. And that is the reason why there will be socialism again in England' (Engels, Preface to the 1892 edition of "The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844)

DICK RENO, well - known right-wing Electrical Trades Union member, was hard pressed in the recent election of an additional full-time official in Area No. 27 (London) by leftwing socialist John Hallam.

In the first ballot Reno received 3,291 votes, Hallam 1,835, right-winger F. R. Townley 1,720 and Communist Party candidate R. G. Day 1,465.

Transferable votes put

final result at:

Reno 4,568 Hallam • • • 2,710 Important Since the conference was of great importance and interest to the international Trotskyist movement, The Newsletter sent Gerry Healy, national secretary of the Socialist Labour League, to Ceylon to cover the conference and report on the current crisis of the government and left parties.

The leaders of the LSSP, however, refused to allow Cde. Healy to enter the conference while saffron-robed Buddhist Monks and a representative of the revisionist Pabloite clique from Europe were allowed admittance.

This act by people preparing to drown the LSSP in a cesspool of parliamentary

No. 350 Communist Party remains silent when EDITORIA on youth / ILL PAYNTER, June 13, general secretary of the Price Rate dispute at Ellesmere TWENTY-NINE years after Sama Samaja Party suffer at its special annual confere The conference was summoned to decide two questions: whether a new Central Committee should be elected and whether the party should enter a coalition government with Mrs, Bandaranaike's Sri Lanka Freedom Party.

The old Central Committee was dominated by the left and the centre who together defeated the right on the coalition question.

The right wing, led by Dr. N. M. Perera, packed the conference and carried both motions with large majorities.

In the course of the struggle the centrists, who constituted the closest supporters of the revisionist Unified Secretariat of the Fourth International and who want a coalition with the United Left Front and SLFP, were decimated.

Internationale When Dr. Perera's motion "to go it alone' on coalition was carried, the revolutionary opposition, who opposed any form of coalition, walked out of the conference hall singing the Internationale-thus consummating the split.

Dr. Perera's platform does not contain a single socialist demand and (as the London "Times' remarked) has not affected the stock market in any way.

Dr. Perera summed up his own contemptible ambition for a ministerial portfolio when he told the conference: 'I who have sacrificed my entire life in the cause of politics can say one thing: the time has come now for us to stop playing the role of critics permanently and to do some constructive work.' its foundation, the centrist Lanl ed an irrevocable three-way sp ice last week in Colombo.

Healy: report next week reformism betrays their renegade hatred for revolutionary Marxism.

However, Cde. Healy was able to get a reliable account of the proceedings of the conference and its repercussions in the labour movement.

His exclusive report will begin next week in The Newsletter.

Be sure to get your copy.

OPPOSE

ARMS DEAL.

WITH FRANCO DESPITE porter, Chapman Pincher that the government has pulled off a £14,000,000 arms deal with the Franco regime, Labour leaders decided to 'save their comments' until the foreign affairs debate next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Spokesmen in Madrid denied that the deal had been clinched. It is believed that the Spanish government is still negotiating with the U.S. and French governments over military aid Whether the deal is completed or not is noi the question.

Even a hint of a move to bolster up the fascist regime of Franco by helping it to build several 2,300 ton frigates and supplying it with arms, should be immediately condemned by all members of the labour movement.

BLOW

In a press statement, the National Confederation of Labour of Spain in Exile says the deal would be a great blow to the Spanish people 'who have fascist Franco by the throat'-his regime is being challenged by demonstrations and strikes.

The Tory government, Pincher reported on Tuesday, is anxious to offset its £2,000,000,000 defence Bill.

But if Franco's army were strengthened it would also bring his country nearer to inclusion in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation — an international force to defend the interests of imperialists (and those of fascists, it seems).

Pincher also says the deal could cause a storm "because many socialists are opposed to the sale of any arms to General Franco'.

But what opposition is expressed by the 'Shadow Cabinet?

- On Wednesday they met and 'noted' that if Spain is to build the frigates under licence from Britain, it will not create employment in this country.

The Newsletter calls on all members of the British labour movement to immediately support Spanish workers by opposing any rearmament of the reactionary regime of Franco.

•GlasgowPUBLIC MEETIN( Greet The Newsletter Speaker:

(Editor of The Newslett Sunday, June 14, 7.30 p.m. ırtick Burgh Hall (Lesser Hall Burgh Hall Street (Underground to Merkland St. Station)

IN SIZE AND PRICE It is now almost four months since we increased the size of The Newsletter. The results have been most encouraging.

Not only have we maintained a weekly circulation of 10,000 copies and sometimes over, the pledges for our guaranteed fund have also been paid in as regularly as clockwork. But we are still far from being satisfied.

Our staff are overworked.

We need important up-to-theminute news features which in turn require additional expenditure. Despite the technical standards which have established The Newsletter as the best produced political weekly in the labour movement, we are anxious to improve still more through the use of more blocks and colour illustrations.

In short, we need an even bigger paper which will give us the necessary experience and flexibility so important for our daily paper in the not-too-distant future.

Our whole organisation is fighting hard to make this realisable well within the five years we set ourselves early this year.

The Editorial Board has constantly discussed these problems over the past few weeks and we have now agreed on a proposal which we think will meet with the overwhelming approval of our readers.

We are going to increase the size of The Newsletter format by an extra two inches in depth. Taken alongside our other requirements we feel sure that our readers will also endorse the proposal to increase the price to We know that 6d. will not mean hardship since many of our readers give 6d. for the paper every week at the moment.

When we first started The Newsletter in 1957 much smaller paper than now the original price was 1/- a copy, so we became known in the labour movement as the only publication which made successive reductions in the price to 3d.

In November 1960 we reluctantly raised the price to 4d. while retaining the same format.

The position is entirely different today. The Newsletter is, in fact, paying for itself but we need the extra space and extra money to make the improvements.

The first issue of The Newsletter in its still further enlarged format will appear on June 26. We appeal to all our readers to push up the sales of the paper and help us on the way to the daily.

WALK FORTY-TWO dockers walked out of No. 5 area in Liverpool docks on Wednesday, after failing to secure a satisfactory agreement for unloading rates for timber. They had registered a protest on Monday, against the • abnormal conditions of work which were imposed upon them by the employers.

N the first article, we looked at the rise of a privileged layer of aristocratic workers in the British labour movement as a result of the world dominance achieved by British capitalism during the nineteenth century.

What changes have occurred in the composition of this layer during the twentieth century, years which have been dominated by the decline of British capitalism? What are the prospects for the labour aristocracy in Britain? These are the questions we shall examine in this article.

Technical changes which have occured during the present century and especially those of the last 25 years have tended to undermine the leading position of the layer of skilled craft workers who formed the core of the aristocracy in the last century.

In the engineering industry, for example, 80 years ago an unskilled man's wage rate was about 60 per cent that of a skilled worker's. By 1940 it was over 75 per cent; today it is over 80 per cent.

This narrowing of differentials is connected with mechanisation and technical change which has undermined the position of many skilled workers. Production is tending to be carried out by semi-skilled, machine operators who can be trained in a comparatively short period of time.

Barrier

The continued existence of highly organised groups of skilled workers in most branches of industry now presents a barrier to the employers in their search for more 'rational' methods of production.

This factor largely explains why formerly conservative sections of the movement (notably Bevan: salary from "News of the World' the engineers who occupied a premier position in the working class in the nineteenth century)

have increasingly been the most militant and aggressive sections of the class.

The recent attempts of groups of skilled workers (notably the bricklayers) to preserve their position in the steel industry in the face of growing attacks from the employers is an indication of the role which these formerly conservative sections will increasingly play in the defence of the whole class.

Displace

The displacement of the skilled man by the machine can be clearly seen in the case of the office worker. Here the typewriter, the dictaphone, the adding machine, etc., have removed the highly specialised and respectable clerk and reduced him to little more than a semi-skilled machine minder.

The increasing use of the computer in the largest offices threatens to wipe out even this category of office work. Computers are currently used by Lyons and the Yorkshire Electricity Board and their impact upon the size of the clerical staff is a grim warning of the disastrous effect of unplanned technical change for office workers.

In the USA where rationalisation of office work has reached a high point, unemployment amongst clerical workers has roughly doubled over the last five years. Once more, the gap between the earnings of clerical and manual workers has narrowed considerably during the post-war years.

Unaffected

Some highly paid groups have, oi course, remained intact since 1945, either unaffected to any great extent by technical change —as in the building industryor else protected by monopoly and State regulation from foreign competition-as in the steel industry and to some extent in motors.

In industries like steel where, until recently, markets have been assured, groups of workers-in this particular industry the oldest, longest-serving sections-have managed to share to some extent in the rising productivity of the industry.

But even in these cases, important changes are taking place which threaten to undermine the gains of these groups.

In steel, for example, the emergence of the Common Market and increased competition abroad is forcing the employers to carry through drastic schemes of reorganisation which are bringing them into inevitable conflict with the craft workers of the industry. In the building trade, new methods of prefabricated construction demand ' large-scale attacks upon the craft sections of the industry.

Perhaps the most important trend in the twentieth century has been the rise of a privileged group of workers centred around the State and its many activities and institutions and the giant monopolies such as ICI, Unilever, Shell, Ford, etc. To a large extent this group has replaced the highly skilled sections as the core of the labour aristocracy in Britain.

Monopolisation Since 1914 there has been growing monopolisation in the leading sectors of British capitalism and the State has increasingly intervened to speed up and regulate this process.

During the Second World War the State assumed overall responsibility for the functioning of the capitalist economy and afterwards, under the direction of the right-wing Labour leaders, stepped in to salvage the more backward parts of the economy by nationalizing coal and the railways.

Apart from its direct involvement in production, the State has assumed increasing responsibility for education, the medical and welfare services and for the varied activities of local government.

In addition the State is now actively involved in the promotion of scientific and technological research, centred mainly around the war industries.

As a result, a layer of techCarron: knighthood for the nicians, administrators, scientists, social workers, teachers, etc., has been created around the State apparatus which, until recently; enjoyed greater privileges than the majority of the working class — privileges in terms of greater security, stable employment, pension and sickness schemes, better working facilities and conditions, longer holidays. These benefits were denied to the majority of the working class, even during the post-war period of full employment.

Tradition

This is largely why these workers have traditionally considered themselves to be separate from the mass of the working class and why, politically, they have tended to identity themselves with the Conservative Party.

Another important aspect of the changed composition of the labour movement since Lenin has been the expansion of the full-time, semi - permanent bureaucracy in the trades unions and the Labour Party.

Seventy years ago the officials of the unions were largely confined to those craft unions which had emerged during the hey-day of British capitalism.

Today there are over 2,600 full-time officers of the unions in Britain, compared with about 1,300 40 years ago. The Transport & General Workers' Union employs over 500 full-time officers; the Amalgamated Engineering Union and National Union of General and Municipal about 150 each National Union almost 100.

In terms of pay, many of the local officials enjoy a guaranteed salary of around £1,000 a year, often plus expenses for car, travelling, hotel bills, etc. National officers in the larger unions often receive salaries of €2,000, plus expenses.

These figures do not take into account many part-time officials nor the money which certain union members receive for participation in delegations, conferences and so on.

Expanded

Not only has this bureaucracy expanded in size during the present century but it has moved much nearer to the State. The trade union bureaucracy now actively participates in 'planning' bodies such as the National Economic Development Council and draws up plans with the employers and the State for 'wages and incomes policies'.

Many of the faithful can, in fact, be readily accommodated in highly-paid comfortable jobs in the State institutions-Peerages, Knighthoods (for such as William Carron) and seats on the Boards of nationalized industries (Lord Robens, £12,500 a year chairman of the National Coal Board; William Webber, exTransport Salaried Staffs Association, now a member of the National Coal Board).

Parallel to the permanent officialdom of the unions stands that of the Labour Party which has arisen since the formation of the Labour Representation Committee in 1900 and the development of a large-scale electoral machinery.

Parliament

The working class now regularly sends over 200 Labour MPs to Parliament; many of them from the safe seats have sat in the Commons for nearly 20 unbroken years.

Enjoying high status and salary, a secure income and many privileges which are bestowed by the capitalist state they remain a body of people alienated from the working class and subject to very little control by the class.

Many of these Labour MPs have the closest connections with capitalist industry, often sitting on the same Boards of Directors as Tory members!

They also, in many cases draw handsome salaries for work done for the Press Lords. Such a "left' as Nye Bevan drew a regular salary for his contributions to the 'News of the Workers and the of Miners World' and his leading follower, Michael Foot was, until recently, a regular feature writer for Cecil King's 'Daily Herald'.

Alongside the Labour MPs stands the Transport House machine with its collection of full-time officials, Youth (!) Officers, Agents, research workers, etc.

Bureaucratic

This bureaucratic layer, largely removed from all form of control by the active Party workers is an important feature of the development of the labour movement in this century.

On a local level, the bureaucracy digs very deeply into the working-class movement. Hundreds of Labour councillors and aldermen, together with trade union and Labour Party representatives, sit on local employment, welfare, housing and many other committees. Time off work is arranged and wage losses and other expenses paid.

This layer of national and local officials and functionaries rests upon and draws strength from the labour aristocracy and is, in fact, a vital part of it.

Foot: worked for the Press Lords Only if the 'leaders' of the trade unions and the Labour Party can win concessions for a privileged minority in the class can their reformist politics have any power.

Balance

Their role is essentially to strike a balance between the capitalist State and the working class, but only if they are able some particular monopoly position.

Finally, we have to examine that stratum in the trade unions and the Labour Party-the fulltime bureaucracy-and its place as a section of the labour aristocracy.

What of the future for these sections of the working class? Can this aristocracy hope to maintain its benefits and privileges?

Changed

As Engels stresses in the passage above, the main consideration is the changed position of British imperialism and its loss of world dominance.

Reformism was rooted in the dominant position of Britain as the leading capitalist power. This was the economic basis for the creation of an aristocracy in the working class.

It is now clear to all that British capitalism is currently facing severe problems; the loss of markets and the falling share of world trade; the slow rate of growth and persistence of high, uncompetitive, prices and a smouldering balance of payments crisis which threatens to burst into flames during the summer months when the Labour leaders are put into office.

In many iadustries workers have been able to achieve comparatively high levels of earnings on the basis of the post-war boom. With markets on the whole easy, employers have, under organised pressure, been willing to grant wage increases, to raise price lists and introduce bonus schemes and so on.

With the increased struggle for markets, Britain's exclusion from Europe means that the employers must beat down the high level of earnings achieved in areas like the Midlands and Sheffield. The movement of industry to low wage areas such as Scotland and the north-east is an integral part of this campaign.

Leadership

The lack of any firm political leadership in such areas (as opposed to one based simply upon conceptions of militant trade union activity) leaves these highly paid groups of workers in motors, engineering, steel, etc., dangerously exposed to attacks from the employers and the State.

Wilson's plans for a 'scientific revolution' will only assist the employers in their battle against these highly organised and paid layers of the working class.

No one now denies that automation and mechanisation-so close to Wilson's heart — must produce a steep rise in unemployment.

Wilson's plan to streamline and modernise British industry, while leaving it in the hands of the private owners, must bring growing redundancy for those craft sections who will inevitably be displaced by machinery.

New processes in engineering, steel, motors, and printing threaten to wipe out large sections of craft workers. The impact of unplanned technical change is being clearly seen in the USA where there is a permanent pool of five million unemployed with the possibility of this doubling by the end of the decade.

Privileged

How will the state employees fare under the coming Labour government? Will they retain their privileged position?

Recent experience has shown that the State, in an attempt to impose a wage freeze upon the working class, has turned first of all upon workers engaged in nationalized industries and other state employees.

By imposing a wage freeze upon such groups as civil servants, postmen, schoolteachers, doctors, etc., the government hopes that this will make it easier for the trade union leaders to argue for wage restraint and 'moderation' in the private sector.

It is clear that Wilson and the "lefts' in the Labour Party intend to use the National Economic Development Council as a major instrument of policy when they are elected to power.

Clashes

This must entail increasing clashes between the State and its employees. Much of the deep dissatisfaction amongst such groups as civil servants, teachers and postmen stems from these new developments and the changed position of these formerly leading groups of workers.

If the case argued here is substantially correct, the possibility for a real exposure of social-democracy now exists.

Traditional methods of the Labour leaders - negotiations around the table for minimum concessions for a small minority of workers—are now drawing rapidly to a close.

The Labour leaders are being driven more closely into an open alliance with the State. A conscious fight, led by the Marxist movement, against these people can drive them out of a position of influence in the labour movement.

to win improvements for a significant minority of workers can they hope to continue this role and have any relationship at all with the organised labour movement.

As we have suggested, the core of the aristocracy in Britain today consists of those workers centred around the State and its many activities and bodies along with those better paid workers in industries which have either been unaffected by technical change and automation or else those industries enjoying A short, masterly and topical analysis of capitalism and the prospects for the trade ward and advanced capitalist countries.

NEW PARK PUBLICATIONS LTD., 186A CLAPHAM HIGH ST, LONDON, S.W.4 trends monopoly unions the backPrice 3d.

World News Round-up

GREAT prominence has been given to the twentieth anniversary of the D-Day landings— the prelude to the final bloody stage of World War II. Little Is said, however, about the political background to these events.

In fact the Anglo-American invasion of Europe was beset by one great fear, that the people of Europe would rise and overthrow capitalism.

This was a very real danger because of the successes of the Red Army in the East and the role of the resistance movements in the occupied countries.

The great pre-occupation of the Anglo-American strategists was to confine the conflict to a military operation between disciplined armies. It was necessary to prevent the great anger generated by Hitlerism from taking on a revolutionary form.

There was fear, as well, that the people of Germany would take a hand in overthrowing Hitlerism. The massive terror raids on German towns can only be understood against this background.

Resistance

The raid on Dresden in February 1945 caused 135,000 deaths in one night, almost twice as many as the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

But the military significance of Dresden was negligible.

Throughout Europe tens of thousands were enrolled in the resistance movements, predominantly under communist leadership.

Local leaders, however, did not, at this time, see role as merely opening the way for Allied armies restoration of discredited regimes. They wanted move resistance revolution.

Knowledge of this fact resulted in the resistance being kept short of arms. They were supplied with just enough sabotage material and communications equipment maintain them as an adjunct to the military invasion.

Petty disputes

As a result, thousands lightly armed resistance units were massacred by the Germans in the weeks after June 6, 1944.

In some places the resistance fought pitched battles despite their incredible inferiority in arms Not only this. Casualties in the invasion forces were necessarily heavier on account of this.

Many troops died, in effect, to prevent the danger of revolution in Europe.

The petty disputes between the participating generals, which have reduced them to the puny men they really are, should not lead us to forget that they were agreed about one thing.

Their task was to install in Europe regimes which suited the interests of Anglo-American imperialism as speedily as possible.

Military operations were geared to political tasks: to prevent the downfall of Hitler's 'New Order' from opening the way for the power of the working class.

Jets destroy Pathet Lao guns Union-Rumania split

ON orders from President Johnson, eight American jets have destroyed the Pathet Lao (communist) anti-aircraft guns that shot down two US reconnaissance planes.

Scared by the recent advances of the Pathet Lao forces and their routing of the neutralist government forces of Prince Souvanna Phouma, the US government has openly declared war in Laos by this action.

It will also be a cue for attacks Vietcong forces in North Vietnam who are humiliating the Americans by their attacks on South Vietnam.

A White House spokesman said that 50 Canberra jets practising in the Philippines will be used on supply routes in North Vietnam.

Monday, June 8, two American aircraft, which were taking part in reconnaissance flights over Laos, were shot down by the Pathet Lao.

A statement in the national press earlier this week reported that the reconnaissance planes would be given cover by American fighter planes.

Washington has said that these flights, which were first started at the alleged request of Prince Souvanna Phouma, will continue.

All this is an indication that the American government is getting more and more desperate over its position in South-east Asia.

With a war in South Vietnam, which is costing the American government far too much money, Johnson and his colleagues can see no alternative but to attack neighbouring countries which may become communist-dominated as well.

United States army generals met in a top-level conference last week to discuss the situation and it was probably at that meeting that they decided to start a provocation in the form of anmed reconnaissance flights.

Retaliation by the communists in Laos would give American forces the perfect excuse for moving into the country under the guise of giving support to Souvanna Phouma Meanwhile hopes are also pinned on the six-power conference in Laos. Representatives from Britain, Russia, Canada, India and Poland will take part and it is clear that they will settle on neutralism for Laos.

The Pathet Lao, which is opposed to the obvious farce of neutrality, has refused to send representatives to the conference.

a ge Four

RUMOURS have been growing in the Wes leaderoid that K the differences between the differences between the Rumanian leadership that of the Soviet Union will finally harden into a split. that of the Soviet Union will This dispute in Eastern Europe reflects the strains and distortions in the economies of both countries.

When Moscow radio recently announced that the Rumanians had taken an 'intentionally perverse attitude towards the Comecon (communist Common Market), Rumania acidly replied that the Soviet broadcast was 'not a constructive contribution to the development of friendly relations'.

Such a situation is the result of the Soviet policy of socialism in one country, which, far from being a defence against imperialism, has merely led to the present impasse.

When the Soviet leadership renounced workers' revolution in the West, it denied the building of socialism throughout the world.

Such policies of isolation led to distortions in the Soviet economy, chiefly expressed in the inability of the bureaucracy to provide workers with food, housing and consumer goods.

SUBSTITUTE

After the Second World War the bureaucracy tried to substitute the Eastern European countries for the rest of the world as far as trade was concerned, especially industrialised East Germany.

The economic strains which then arose were given their first major expression in the Hungarian revolution of 1956 and in the Polish uprising the same year.

The only way that the Soviet Kureaucracy. can lessen these strains is by completely integrating the economies of Eastern Europe and the USSR.

But the nationalist sentiments. once fostered by Stalin, now stand in the way of integration of the East European economies.

In line with this idea of the Rumanian leadership inally harden into a split.

army is played down.

Its place is taken by a broad popular movement' under the leadership not only of the Communist Party, but also of the traditional parties and of the king.

Under the division of labour as foreseen by. Comecon, the Soviet leaders want the Rumanian economy to confine itselt to the production of petro-chemicals, synthetic fertilizers and foodstuffs.

Gheorgiu-Dej, secretary of the Rumanian Comunist Panty, on the other hand wants to build socialism in Rumania as he understands Stalin to have done in the USSR. Hence his accent on the building of a heavy industrial base in the country.

NEGOTIATIONS

Unable to obtain equipment for the project from the Soviet Union, the Rumanian bureaucracy has turned to the capitalist West.

The intention to increase this trade is also shown in the fact that they have been negotiating with GATT (The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), which the Soviet leadership last week denounced as a rich man's club.

In answer to Soviet charges on the question of their trade with the West, the Rumanians point out that the USSR itself, Poland and Czechoslovakia conduct deals with capitalist countries.

The Soviet leaders may fume at this, but Rumania's 'nationalism' and the strong hold that impenialism is gaining in East Europe is the result of a continuation of Stalin's policies-socialism in one country.

'nationalism' the Rumanians argue that the Comecon 'contradicts the basic principles of independence and national sovereignty' At the same time, the official Rumanian history of the war has been rewritten. In the new version, the role of the communist ove in Laos IN his article on Cyprus last week in The Newsletter, F. Tofallis clearly exposes the role of the British capitalists, who do not hesitate to plunge countries like Cyprus into civil war, any more than they would hesitate about throwing thousands of British workers on the dole.

They deliberately imposed the Zurich agreement on Cyprus as a means of splitting the Cypriot working class along racial lines in order to maintain a privileged position in the Middle East.

However, despite his militant past, Tofallis fails to develop his ideas further and seems completely unable to understand the role of the Makarios government in this crisis.

Representative

In fact he somehow manages to mention Makarios only once in the whole article and even then quite casually informs us that the British 'bargained with ... (him) •.. for the bases.' Yet Makarios is today the chief representative of the Cypriot ruling class. His church is the biggest single landowner in Cyprus and ruthlessly exploits landless farmers who have to hire the worst church lands for crippling rents.

The government is also backed by both the native and foreign capitalists and is responsible for the notorious scheme of emigration of workers to the Common Market.

There, instead of the promised land of plenty, the Cypriot workers find themselves poorly paid, overworked and under long-term contracts they cannot break.

Such a government is unable to defend the interests of the Cypriot workers and farmers or to free them from the stranglehold of imperialism How could it be otherwise?

The interests of the class Makarios represents (employers and church hierarchy are completely opposed to the interests of the rest of the population.

Tied-up

In fact, they are completely tied up with the interests of British and American big business which controls the Middle East.

As far as Makarios is concerned, the present struggle is not for freedom of the people, but a struggle between the Greek and Turkish sections of the ruling class for a greater share of the spoils.

As we have stressed in previous articles, neither the Greek nor the Turkish masses have anything to gain from this struggle.

Again, Tofallis runs away from the question of the United Nations troops. Does he think these can aid the victory of the masses'?

But is it noit a fact that these troops who, incidentally, come almost exclusively from NATO countries) have, by their aotions, legalised the forced partition of the island?

The article talks 'epoch of triumph of the masses against the colonialist system'. Tofallis implies that such a triumph is possible without the need to overthrow the native capitalist rule.

By avoiding these facts, the Revolutionary Council of the Fourth International (Cyprus), ot which Tofallis is a member, is— consciously or unconsciouslytailing behind the tracks of the Stalinists and helping to maintain the imperialist hold on the island.

Out of fear of isolation, the RCFI seems to have abandoned the task of building a revolutionary mass party around a programme that will unite the masses against the ruling cliques of both nationalities.

We sincerely urge Tofallis and his comrades to abandon this apportunist road.

Mobilize

There is still time to mobilise the Greek and Turkish workers around a programme of no confidence in Makarios or Kutchuk; immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops and bases; immediate distribution of the land to poor farmers of both communities and the nationalization of the mines and factories, now in the hands of foreign or native capitallists.

This road is the hardest in the face of the wave of nationalism that has been created by the Makarios and Kutchuk factions.

It is, however, the only one capable of uniting the masses and of bringing peace and prosperity to the island. Asian bloc that will be the bloody day.' This sharp division between the right-wing government of Southern Rhodesia and the Tories in Britain represents a deop split within the Conservative party.

EXPLOIT

For many years the white minority has been used by the British Tory government to exploit the African workers in the mines for big business.

Now, in line with the newlygained independence of many other African countries, the pending revolt of the Southern Rhodesian lower classes is forcing Home to change his policy.

But some of the right-wing sections of the Tory party are not in favour of this latest move. They still believe in the supreme power of the British Empire.

At the week-end the United Nations sub-committee — presumably acting as neutral-decided on four points to be presented to the Southern Rhodesian government in the hope of ending the deadlock.

The committee urged the British government to secure the release of Joshua Nkomo and other nationalist leaders, restore political liberty, ensure the introduction of an 'equitable system', and repeal the various discriminatory laws.

However, the United Nation's suggestions only serve to maintain Smith's white minority rule with a few reforms to keep the Africans happy.

They do not solve the real issue which is whether the Southern Rhodesian workers are going to be completely free from not only the white minority rule but British domination through & puppet nationalist government as well.

IGERIA has been Strihe winch noW service in the country.

The strike, which began on growing militancy of all sectic organised, industrial working government.

This government has reluctantly groped its way—since Nigeria was declared a republic in October last year-for an answer to the demands for wage increases.

But each time this despised lackey of capitalism has made a move, it has been too late. The trade union leaders, who have formed a Joint Action Committee, have been one jump ahead.

Commission

Before the government could hold out any longer on issuing a report of a commission-set up last year following a strike, to look into the question of wages - along with a White Paper, the union leaders called the strike.

Even the Tory press in Britain, worried by the amount of union consciousness and militancy of the Nigerian working class, has charged Sir Abubakar Tafawa Belwa's government with a 'lack of finesse' in dealing with the wage demand.

'It is extraordinary,' says an editorial in Tuesday's "Times', 'that the Nigerian governments, especially the federal government, have been so slow to see the danger implicit in the discontent of the workpeople and their new found unity'.

Later its stresses: "The dilettantism of some of his (Abubakar's) Ministers has aggravated his problem.' Absent, In fact on several occasions when the Joint Action Committee, led by Alhaji Adebola, tried to meet Ministers they have been absent on personal or political jaunts.

The final insult came when the report of the commission was delayed for more than a month.

It was promised for April paralysed bv a general attects every essential May 31, is an expression of the ns of an ever-increasing, union class against a blind Federal 30 but had not appeared by May 30 when, after a mass rally, hundreds of union members and their leaders tried to cross the Iddo Bridge into Lagos — where political gatherings are banned - to storm the government buildings. Many people, including Adebola, were injured in clashes with the police.

Rises

The wage rises recommended by the commission would mean a minimum of f12 a month (!) for Lagos workers and f6 10s. in the rural areas.

But the government has offered £9 2s. and f4 15s. 4d. respectively.

There would be no increases for people earning over £600 a year.

Even on a minimum wage of £12 a month, says a weekly magazine 'West Africa', a man with a family would find living very difficult in Lagos and other Nigerian towns.

Workers were told they would get a wage rise when the coun try gained independence. This was ignored by the new "leaders' who have shown complete indifference to the sufferings of the industrial and agricultural workers.

Solution

As 'West Africa' points out: •... if Nigeria's political leaders do not stand together to find a just and peaceful solution to the present crisis, they might fall together.' The Newsletter supports the struggle of the Nigerian workers and calls upon all members of the British labour movement to do the same. Only through unity between workers colonial countries and those in metropolitan countries will they be able to overthrow capitalism and its puppet regimes in order to introduce socialism.

FOLLOWING. weeks of prime minister of Southieh, Rhodesia has been refused admittance to the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' conference to be held later this year.

The conference will discuss the now explosive problem of Southern Rhodesia's independence and the terms on which this can be carried out.

After months of haggling the Tories have decided that Smith's extreme right-wing ideas can have no place at a conterence with African independent states, where it is important to preserve Britain's democratic image.

However, Britain's shameful history, as carried out by the white minority in Southern Rhodesia, could hardly be called democratic.

Alec Douglas-Home is well aware of the Africans' seething hatred of the British rule in Southern Rhodesia. For this reason he wishes the Commonwealth Conference to have a semblance of representing the black masses of Africa.

Whilst determined to maintain British influence in Southern Rhodesia, when the country gains its independence, Home and his Smith: bitter attack collcagues do not want a revoluionary situation provoked by the government of a white minority.

Their hope is to influence some careerist nationalist — possibly Nkomo who has been jailed by Smith-who can be relied upon to sugar the pill of British monopoly interests for the African workers and peasants.

After receiving the letter from Home, Smith made a bitter attack on the British Tory government.

Before mouthing a few sentimentalities about the Queen not being representative of her people he stated: 'If anyone expects Southern Rhodesia to lower its standards to appease the AfroGustin

riot MARTIAL law was enforced in the Seoul area of South Korea after 10,000 students demonstrated in the capital last week, shouting slogans against the Pak regime and its American backing.

After taking severe repressive measures to prevent any more student demonstrations, President Pak stated: "The government can no longer tolerate excessively destructive activities or student demonstrators whose aim is the overthrow of the constitutional government.?

He was so disturbed by the force of the demonstrations that troops, including parachutists were called in to guard the presidential mansion and government buildings.

Over 400 policemen were injured when they tried to hold baok students who were demonstrating their hatred of Pak's pro-Western policies.

Tear gas

As the police tried to stop them with barbed wire and tear gas bombs, the students hurled stones and bricks. Two police stations and four police boxes wert wrecked.

A dozen army and police vehicles were seized by students who stormed through the streets.

While Seoul was under martial law demonstrations took place in some of the other cities. More than 6,000 students clashed with police in Kwanju.

Obviously alarmed by the nature of events, the United States ambassador, Mr. Samuel Berger and the commander of the United Nations force in Korea, General Hamilton Howze flew to Pak's presidential home for talks.

Redundancies

strengthen French CP FRENCH workers in the Lorraine industrial area of Longwy voted solidly against de Gaullism at a bye-election on May 31.

In a second ballot the Communisit candidate secured 55 per cent of the votes cast, which included votes of those who had supported the socialists at the first ballot.

Like other heavy industrial areas in Europe, Longwy has been affected recently by redundancies and shut-downs. There have been a number of strikes.

This obviously helps to account for the size of the anti-Gaullist vote. In fact the candidate who supported de Gaulle-an executive of Lorraine-Escaut, the big iron and steel trust—was recognised by the workers as a bosses' man.

Most of his votes came from the residential and non-industrial parts of the constituency No doubt As this election result in Lorraine has shown, there can be no doubt that French workers have not been deceived by the 'economic miracle, particularly now it has been made clear that such a miracle does not mean security or freedom from the fears of unemployment.

Workers in this area still set the Communist Party as the main force against capitalism, that is why they continue to vote for it.

At the same time, the Communist Party has no real intention of leading struggles against the French bosses.

Recently the party made moves against militant trade unionists in the Nantes area of Western France.

The Communist Party wants to use its electoral strength to make political deals with other parties, with an eye to the 1965 Presidential eleations.

and enriched shareho millions laid out by Ford two years ago, Chrysler's stage in the creation of a industry.

On the car assembly lines where those aged 35 are already too old, the production pace will be stepped up even further under the dictation of Ford, General Motors, Chrysler and BMC.

The sacking of 270 at the Rootes" factory at Linwood, near Glasgow, two weeks ago was clearly part of the deal with Chrysler. The dispute over bonus pay at the factory had dragged on for over three months.

The sudden decision to sack the 270 men was dictated by the need to assure Chrysler that no nonsense would be permitted with their £123 millions investment.

The Scottish TUC General Secretary, James Jack, expressed himself as being happy over the deal. He hoped that everyone would 'make a contribution to peace at Linwood to ensure its continuation and expansion' This is the kind of servile statement which Jack can reel off by the yard and may one day merit him some small decoration by royalty.

ENEMIES

The workers at Rootes and Pressed Steel should recognise such people as their enemies.

Assembly line workers were being taken back in small numbers last Friday and called in to report for work by telegram. They were required to give a personal assurance that future conduct would be as required by the management.

The shop stewards' committees of both Rootes and Pressed Steel at Linwood played a passive role throughout the dispute. They cannot hope to meet the further threat which the Chrysler deal brings without getting clear on some basic class issues.

Action should have been taken in both factories to black all 'Imp' work in Rootes and the 'Apex' line in Pressed Steel, immediately the men were sacked.

The fact that this decision was taken at Pressed Steel five days after the sackings had been announced and one hour before the company announced that it would reinstate the men, can only be taken as a demagogic trick designed to save face.

CONFUSED

A large proportion of the stewards at Pressed Steel were more concerned with getting the factory back on to five days full working than with solidarity with the sacked men. This is the extent to which the Emerson bonus plan has confused this once militant factory.

The most urgent task facing both Rootes and Pressed Steel workers is the building of a strong, united, joint factory committee with close co-operation between the two factories to fight the management's plans. It is only in this way that a further drive by Rootes/Chrysler for speed-up can be defeated.

The Emerson bonus nonsense should be rejected and thrown out, and a fight begun to force Rootes and Pressed Steel to bring earnings in the Linwood plant in line with those in England.

Registered at the G.P.O. 8S a newspaper Published by The New letter. radon, S.W.4 Printed 1 • (TO). 180 Cisphuan High Street. Le 1 Rootes sent shares up last week Iders by £6,700,000. Like the £130 ol Detroit for the Dagenham plant investment in Rootes is a further few massive competitors in the car cell' at

THE Tory press has attempted to whip up a campaign against strikers at International Harvesters in Doncaster.

A report in the 'Sunday Telegraph' alleged that a communist cell of eight was causing disputes.

But this is just a red herring to take the workers' minds off the real cause of the struggles—the bosses.

At the moment International Harvesters is reported to be seething with discontent. In the last few weeks several departments have been out on strike and working to rule over pay claims that have not been met.

In one department men are reported to receive about 5s. 6d. an hour on piece-work. The basic rate is alleged to be 2s. 10d. an hour. The men are fighting to get this raised to 4s. an hour.

After the toolroom workers were given a 2d. an hour rise the electricians and maintenance men also put in for an increase. They were turned down by the management.

Workers in this factory have a big fight ahead and they should see attempts to brand the disputes as communist instigated as moves to break the united strength of the union rank and file.

The question International Harvester workers should ask themselves is whether or not the Communist Party can provide the leadership to win the strike and, if not, help to build a leadership themselves.

All those who join with the local officials of the Amalgamated Engineering Union in witch-hunting communists will help to defeat the struggle.

Len Philips, convenor of the shop stewards is reported to have said: 'Young hot-heads are to blame; they should leave their affairs in the hands of experienced union men.' The truth is that union officials, who are urging the Trades Union Congress to investigate the disputes, do not want to conduct a fight against the bosses.

In trying to stop the disputes they will discredit certain sections of workers and help conduct a witch-hunt against them. Support for fitters claim AMALGAMATED Engineering Union workers at papermaking machinery manufacturers Millspaugh Ltd., Tinsley, Sheffield, are united in support of a wage claim by fitters.

The history of this claim has been one of wily manoeuvres on the part of the management.

Over two years ago the fitters came off piece-work on to a lieu rate which they accepted when they were told that the firm's financial position was unfavourable. They worked on this rate for six months before applying for an increase which the managemen refused. Shortly afterwards orders dropped again and the demand was left pending.

On May 7 this year, when the hitters applied for an increase of Is. an hour, to bring their rate into line with that of other AEU members in Millspaugh, the management used delaying tactics. The fitters replied with an overtime ban. •The management, however, complained to the Employers' Confederation which in turn contacted AEU District Organiser, George Candelot. Candelot appealed to the fitters to return back to normal working.

The fitters acted on Candelot's advice only to find that the management became even more evasive when it came to settling the claim. Eventually the overtime ban was re-imposed and labour withdrawn for half a day.

In other departments workers decided at independent meetings to support a token strike on June 2. In the face of this show of solidarity the firm is beginning to respond. They agreed to settle the matter if the measures taken by the workers were lifted. When the workers complied the management offered 3d. an hour.

This is only one-quarter of the original claim and the workers will be asked what they think about it when they meet on Monday. The management, however, is clearly hoping to wear down the workers' resistance by temporising and when that fails by offering a few crumbs. what all dockers must be on guard against is any attempt to turn aside the fight, which is now imminent, for a substantial increase in the basic wage.

'For too long the issue of the basic rate has been obscured by the continued attempts by the employers to prolong discussions on issues like this one of "decasualisation'.

As the employers now begin to prepare for the showdown on the docks, the need for unity of Blue and White rank and file members becomes vitally necessary.

The latest outbursts from O'Hare, although disclosing just how far removed he is from his members, shows also the role which can be expected from him in the coming struggles.

Dockers must give him the reply he deserves by continuing the preparations already begun to unite to unite all ports and all dockers behind a policy which must demand the support of the next Labour government to fight for the nationalization of the docks.

Industrial Chrysler-Rootes join hands ILLLLA M to read in the Liverpool Echo' that the port ERSEYSIDE dockers were amazed this week employers' decasualisation scheme, the 'new deal', was still being negotiated. In an interview with the 'Echo', Mr. P. J. O'Hare, the Transport and General Workers' Union docks secretary, claimed the 'deal' had not been rejected.

Dismissing the votes at statement to The Newsletter this packed meetings of the week said:

TGWU's 11 docks branches "Dockers in Merseyside have earlier this year, which de- greeted the statement of O'Hare cisively rejected the scheme, this week with a mixture of Mr. O'Hare said:

"The dockers were free to agree makes a farce of the pretentions or disagree, or to suggest amend- of democracy in the Transport ments, but not to slap the 'new and General Workers' Union. deal' down and reject it. How can 'At the time when dockers conanyone talk about the scheme sidered his proposals, they were being rejected when we haven't got of the opinion that they were so down to discussing it with the bad that none could be accepted employers? T7A4AA 422No union branch has either rejected or approved a new agreement, because none has yet been put before them?

Just who does O'Hare he is kidding?

Rejected

Is he saying that the 'new deal' is to be rammed down the throats of Merseyside's 11,000 dockers whether they like it or not?

In January each one of these dockers received a copy of the 'new deal'-signed and sealed by O'Hare and chairman of the Employers' Association of the Port of Liverpool, Mr. John F. Wise—in their pay packets.

In a succession of TGWU and National Amalgamated Stevedores and Dockers (Blue Union) meetings, the 'deal' was rejected and, in many cases, resolutions of no confidence in O'Hare were passed by TGWU dockers.

The 'deal' incorporates most of the Rochdale Committee of Inquiry proposals to improve working methods on the docks.

It would give the employers the individual right to hire and fire, to discipline dockers, decrease manning scales, increase mobility of labour and create a four grade system for the labour force.

Answer

The Blue Union area committee decided last Monday to hold a series of meetings to answer O'Hare and re-emphasise their own proposals made last January.

O'Hare's, statement is an ominous warning for all dockers, not only in the Port of Liverpool, but throughout the country. It shows clearly the determination of the employers to smash any resistance of dockers and carry out the reorganisation on the docks.

Area secretary of the Blue Union, Mr. Bill Johnson in a anger and amusement. His claim and consequently the scheme in full was rejected. Mr. O'Hare now says that only a few amendments have been received and that after discussion with the District Committee within the next ten days, the "deal" , as amended will go before the employers for agreement.

'But the latest statement of O'Hare contains some points which could have a serious consequence if they are allowed to go unchallenged.

Emphasise

'Firstly, our union emphasised in January that one of the main reasons why we could not accept the "new deal" was because it was a scheme dealing with Merseyside ports alone.

'We insisted then, and insist now, that any decasualisation scheme must be a national one giving parity to all dockers in all ports. The one we were offered was substantially worse than the one that London dockers . had rejected, and we were not prepared to undermine the fight of the London dockers by allowing Liverpool to become a scab alley.

'Mr. O'Hare says that the 'new deal' is for Liverpool alone and that Liverpool is blazing the trail on decasualisation. But what Mr. O'Hare omits to tell his members is that a similar 'new deal' 'has been tried and rejected in Glasgow and that attempts are being made at the moment to force agreement on a similar one in Bristol and Avonmouth.

'Secondly, he says that a leaflet put out tarlier this year outlined a scheme for London docks and mentioned a fall-back rate of £15 a week. He regards this claim as unrealistic and proposes instead a wage of £ll a week.

I would remind Mr. O'Hare that as far back as March 1962 it was said in his own union's journal 'Record' that "a claim for £15 a week was not something to be laughed at".

'In the opinion of my committee £11 is entirely inadequate and, regardless of the issue of wages, the remainder of the scheme is still totally unacceptable on principle.

Obscured

I think also in conclusion that censure union officials BIRMINGHAM car workers last week led an attack upon the national leadership of their union for failing to show militancy in disputes at two factories in the district.

At the Folkestone conference of the National Union of Vehicle Builders a resolution was passed censuring the executive committee for overriding local officials by taking top-level decisions ordering its members to return to normal working.

Delegates described how this action by head office had resulted in the collapse of a 'mobility of labour' strike at the Nuffield Metal Products factory, Washwood Heath, and an overtime ban at the Rover factory, Solihull.

INDIGNATION

The resolution, from the Sheldon branch of the union, was moved by Mr. B. Lamb, who spoke of the great indignation of members at Nuffield Metal Products on being ordered overnight to return to work, thus leaving unsupported, members of the Sheet Metal Workers' Union also involved in the dispute and causing the collapse of the strike.

Mr. A. Kileen, of the Saltley branch, supporting the resolution, told a similar story of events at the Solihull Rover factory, where NUVB members operating an overtime ban in solidarity with other unions had been ordered back to normal working by head office.

Mr. Charles Gallagher, assistant national secretary, pleaded that the union 'was spending more money on militancy in the Birmingham district than in the rest of the country. He declared that the strike weapon would be used only where the NEC felt it was justified. In spite of this plea, however, the resolution was carried.

ATTITUDE

There is considerable anger among rank-and-file members in Birmingham over what they term the 'attitude of appeasement' of the national leadership. They accuse head office of 'not backing the shop floor.

In the case of the Rover factory go-slow, the claim was for a substantial increase in piece-work rates. All that was achieved after the return to normal working was a 'totally unsatisfactory' agreement over a Christmas bonus. Workers are asking: 'Who changed the terms of reference, and why?' angers Durham miners MINERS in County Durham who want to fight low wages and bad conditions, are incensed at a recent statement issued by their area leaders.

This statement, which had very sympathetic treatment from the local press and television, told the miners they could win a demand for more money but it would be disastrous.

Issued by the local executive committee of the miners' union, which is supposed to represent 67,000 pit workers, the statement continued: It is quite within the bounds of possibility that we could force the Coal Board into a position where they have to give way to a demand for more money.' But...

'Only by paying the price of restraint and caution at this stage can we hope to buy the continued life of the Durham coalfield.' Production What words can be used to describe leaders like these who issue a statement seeking to instil into the Durham miners a slavish acceptance of their lot?

Production in Durham is being concentrated in mechanised pits on the east coast. These leaders know that more pits in west and south Durham are going to close in any case.

While pit closures have kept the wages low, the union leaders have never had any policy for the miners apart from telling them to be satisfied with what they have already and to keep out of struggles for better wages and conditions.

Improvement

Now such leaders are saying: 'We must redouble our efforts to bring about an improvement in productivity figures and a reduction in the tonnage lost through unofficial stoppages, restrictions and absenteeism?

What shows quite clearly through this statement is the officials' fear that the grip of the right wing on the union will be loosened.

The executive darkly warns 'our people' against others with "all sorts of motives. And the shrill voice of the demagogue seeking cheap quences will not fail to make itself heard'. must

In the Nuffield's dispute, workers say that the inducement: 'Go back to work and we'll pay you strike pay' was used by head office to put pressure on members to end industrial action. Shipyard clerks want union recognition DEMANDING recognition for their union, 50 young girls, the majority of them under 21, walked out of a Teeside shipyard last week.

The strike began when the firm, Furness Shipbuilding Company, sacked three members of the union - National Association of Clerical and Supervisory Stafts.

One of those sacked was the branch secretary, who had been active in forming the branch.

The strikers, some of whom are getting their first experience of this kind of action, alloge victimisation. They are picketing the gates of the shipyard.

Support for the strike has been expressed by the shop stewards' committee in the shipyard.

An attempt to enrol volunteers from the nearby ICI works to do the clerical work was unsuccessful. When the workers found out they were being asked to blackleg they refused to do the work.

Yet it is government policy to streamline the coal industry by a programme of pit closures and mechanisation, sackings and victimisation.

A real communist would prepare workers for a struggle against such a government and would point out that there can be no solution to any of the miners' problems without such a struggle.

It Paynter and the Communist Party really wanted to fight against the right wing in the NUM, they could never have a more favourable time than now, when the right wing has been defeated over the wage claim in all the large coalfields and at a special conference.

But reports now available from the special national conference show that it was Paynter who led the fight against the men who wanted to reject the Coal Board offer.

Here Paynter accepted in full the arguments of Robens.

It was no use going back to the Coal Board because there was 'no more money in the kitty. (No mention of the €428,000,000 paid out in interest payments.)

He rejected every alternative to accepting the offer. A strike was 'unthinkable'—it had 'never been known in the trade union movement to strike for part a claim' , he said.

He pulled the usual bureaucratic 'fast one' over the workto-rule proposal. 'Are we saying to the world at large that we are not working to the rules now, that we are not working safely?' And an overtime ban could not be introduced, according to Paynter, because it would be 'unconstitutional' and against the five-day week agreement.

No communist miner can now fight against the Coal Board without fighting against Paynter and the national execu tive of the Communist Party.

As long as the Party leadership does not disown and discipline Paynter it must take full responsibility for his behaviour.

Communist Party militants must begin to seek the political reasons for this development and to understand that a party with a reformist political programme cannot be a militant force in industry.

They must overcome the separation between politics and industrial affairs which the Communist Party seeks to maintain within its own ranks. They must examine critically the politics and consequences of the Parliamentary Road to Socialism.

men • Leaders' statemen CASES of typhoid in Aberdeen continue to rise alarmingly. As the outbreak reaches epidemic proportions it has been revealed that the Ministry of Agriculture has known since last March that there was the danger of typhoid baccilli being contained in tins of corned beef purchased from South America.

With cynical disregard for public health the government allowed this food to be distributed for human consumption without even a word of warning as to the possible risk.

It is all very well for the Tories to hide behind the fact that the government has no statutory powers to prevent the sale of the meat once it has entered Britain. The Ministry of Health or local health officers can demand the withdrawal from sale of such foodstuffs only if they can prove that it is bad and likely to harm public health.

But the protection of workers' families from the threat of epidemics is of little concern to the Tory profit makers.

COMPENSATION

There has been some talk of compensating those in Aberdeen who have suffered as a result of the typhoid outbreak. But the people who shout loudest about compensation are concerned only with the loss of profit for the tourist trade and business concerns in the city.

Nothing is said about compensating the typhoid victims who will Jose several weeks' wages.

Belatedly the government have decided to hold an inquiry. It is almost certain that the terms of reference will not include an inquiry into the housing conditions in Aberdeen.

The gleaming granite city presents a facade to the tourist which completely belies the squalid conditions in which something like 37 per cent of the population struggle heroically to maintain reasonable standards of health and hygiene.

Labour has had control of the city council for almost the whole of the period since the end of the last war. It was pledged to build 1,000 houses a year. Since 1961, 1,500 municipal houses have been built.