Socialist Press no. 14

SACK THEM!*

SOCIALIST

PRESS *

SAY UNION

CHIEFS

In the steel industry the trade union leaders have accepted compulsory redundancies. In doing this they have not simply retreated in front of the employers, but have actually advocated redundancies as a means of "solving the problems" of the industry. At the same time in Strathcłyde the national leader- hip of the Fire Brigade Union has expelled the nine member.

if the Dis riet Committee who were istance to both of the se actions are of majos This is because they start from importance. For a union leader to the complete support of the capit- advocate redundancy is to conscious- alist system. Therefore, when ly fight to make the working class.

capitalism needs to attack the work- pay for the crisis of capitalism. To ing class they are there to do the expel workers who want to fight job. the pay laws is to act entirely as Unemployment and inflation are the policeman of the working the two ways that the capitalist class in the interests of capitalism.

system disrupts the powers of pro- These actions show that the only duction and becomes unable to way any section of workers can provide the basic requirements fight to defend their jobs or living people need in order to live.

standards is to fight the trade umon lcducis wao ale lne malistay of this Labour government as it

SLASH WAGES

fights to prop up crisis-ridden cap- italism. In their actions these leaders The creation of a pool of unemp- attack the very basis on which the trade union movement was estab- loyed is designed to force a further slashing of workers' wages. Mean- lished in struggle- to defend and while price increases drive the improve the wages and conditions of the working class. lower-paid, the pensioners and the unemployed below the bread line.

The leadership of the steel unions In the midst of massive technol- has argued that redundancies must ogical resources and scientific be accepted in order to "make the knowledge, with huge factories industry viable" and thereby avoid capable of producing goods of further redundancies later.

value working at only 60% or half But when he launched the state capacity, workers are finding their pay laws at the T&GWU conference living standards cut, and their live- Jack Jones argued that the working lihoods destrøyed in the name of class should tighten their belts to private profit. end inflation and thus avoid unem- Only a socialist programme, est- ployment and bring better days ablishing a planned nationalised later. He is still claiming more economy, can resolve the contra- would be unemployed if not for dictions of this economic crisis.

the pay laws. Capitalist nationalisation is no answer. British Steel, as a national- ised enterprise is still run by capit-

WILSON

alist managers in the interests of the capitalist state. In this situation of crisis it acts no differently from the Whilst the trade union leaders big private employers. were in this way organising attacks against their members, the Labour

WORKERS' MANAGEMENT

let Norton Villiers Triumph go to une all This marks a major change in policy and must lead to the bank It is important therefore in fight- ruptcy of many similar firms up ing speed-up and redundancy that till now propped up as 'lame ducks'.

the demand for workers' manage- Wilson takes these decisions with ment is actively fought for. Electer unemployment already over one Ormittees of workers must be set million and rising fast, knowing up to control the nationalised industries. school leavers are finding it imposs These committees must defend the ible to get jobs. jobs and living standards of workers and form the basis of workers' man- The WSL has warned continuously that the issues of wages and jobs agement. cannot be separated. The decision The more the socialist solution is of the TUC leaders to accept state seen to be the only solution to the pay laws has led quickly on to probiems facing the working class.

outright ›avocacy ci radundancies.

the further the and with them the lefts', retreat from the call for nationalisation, the main plank of a socialist econ- omy. The new sittiation of mass unem- ployment and state pay laws has been met with a deepening silence from the 'lefts' It was the "left', Benn, who prod- uced the plan to 'substitute' nation- alisation for redundancy at British Steel only a few months ago.

We warned at that time that speed-up and nationalisatiom - far from being an 'alternative' to red- undancy, would in fact create it.

This is exactly what happened.

Steel-workers, thanks to Benn and their leaders, have ended up with both. But Benn's role was not restricted to BSC. It has now been revealed by NVT shop stewards that at the same time as Benn was posing as the champion of the Meriden co- operative he had written to Roy Hattersley, local MP for one of the NVT factories, saying that the co-operative would at no time be given preference over the privately- owned NVT company. Portugal could not be other than the central item of the agenda of the Helsinki 'summit' last week. Stalinism, the European Social Democracy and many of the world's most reactionary capitalist politic- ians met in the Finnish capital to 'restabilise' Europe against the pro- letarian revolution. As Harold Wilson, who was one of the main organisers of meetings among the social democrats, said on his return, the 'spirit of Helsinki' will be "judged not by what wa. signed but by how far the promises were carried out" In a word, by how soon capitalist rule can be securely reestablished in Lisbon. His statement came in a situation where Soares and other leaders of the Portuguese Social Democracy vee boomy consomng wen ten- *onca and the fascests who

FORTNIGHTLY PAPER OF THE

WORKERS SOCIALIST LEAGUE

NO 14 * AUGUST 6th 1975 * 10p Benn went on to say that the financial aid given to the co operative was a once off thing, and.

would never be repeated.

BENN

Benn has, therefore, been a part of the Labour Government's attack on the working class from the beginning Today Wilson has called his top ministers to a discussion at Chequers to prepare the next round of the attack, which will take the form of further and harsher cuts in gov- ernment spending and social serv- ices, again directly creating unemp Under these conditions the working class must have a pro- gramme on which to fight.

Inflation must be combatted by the demand for a sliding scale of wages linked to figures compiled by elected committees of trade • Jobs must be defended by the

WILSON BACKS PORTUGUES

COUNTER REVOLUTION

back him. It is this threat which has forced the reorganisation of the AFM leadership under a "Troika' in which the central figure is the "revolutionary' Otelo de Carvalho, head of the COPCON internal security force:

POPULAR FRONT

The Supreme Council of the AFM is to be relegated to an ad- visory capacity and a number of officers have already resigned in protest or are on the way to being orced out. Among them is so called moderate Melo Antunes, former foreign minister and arch- itect of the AFM's abortive 'econ- One plan The new Troika is expected to announce plans for a 'United Port Talbot Steelworks demand for work-sharing on foll pay, and, when redundancies a wond closures are threatence, must demand that the books of t employers be opencd. to tradi union committees In this way the case for nationa isation can be established and the fight prepared for workers' man- agement of the industry Nationalisation must be linked t the demand for state contracts to keep the factories open and is production. Preparations must go ahead within the Labour Party to defeat the right wing at the Party Confer ence. Motions for the removal of Wilson and the right wing, for the ending of the pay laws and agains unemployment must be submitter Workers must demand that the 'left' MPs begin not simply to talk about these demands in the LP and PLP, but that they actively campaign for them in the trade union movement. to bring the greatest possible forces to beat Those 'lefts' who against wilson refuse this challenge will be expos ca as notany more can toe gener men of Wilson. itical organisation supporting this outside the AFM leadership will of course be the Stalinists of the whose hands Communist Party, are still covered with the blood of workers betrayed and defeated by previous 'popular fronts - in Spain and Chile The APM leaders' Popular Front - meaning the subordinat ion of independent working class organisation and struggle to the defence of the capitalist institut- ions - has to be seen in the contex of Gomes' call for a slowdown' il the revolution and for Portugal to realise its dependence on Western Europe Alongside this goes the continu refusal of the AFM regime to relir quish power in Angola despite the MPLA call for the withdrawal of the remaining 27,000 Portuguese troops. continued on Page 2 co: 1

Page 2

ITALY

'Why is it so hard to find an honest man?' This was the question being asked - in one form or another - right across last week. It was by the Benigno replace Amintore national as of the Christian secretary Demo political sprawl that has done the fall of party Fanfani was Democratic and was an apologist for Mussolini's state Boss of powerful party machine in the round the and home ground. what finally swing to the elections held the ANIl-

UNISI

Fanfani led the Christian Demo- crats the campaign on thoroughly anti-communist, law and order platform. His intention was to procure an overall shift to the right and to put an end to the behind-the-scenes negotiations by tendencies in his own party and in their main coalition partners, the Socialist Party, with the Comm- unist Party leadership. The Communist Party fought the election ticket tailor- made their of to strategy historic compromise entry into a coalition with the Socialists and most of the Christian Democrats.

Far from putting forward programme to meet the sharpening economic crisis, they

ARGENTINA

The repressions against, working class organisations in and Argentina, in particular the assassinations of militants carried out by the fascist AAA (Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance) are notorious. But despite the defeat inflicted on Peron's government by the general strike against wage restraint, more than 1,100 militant workers, students and popular activists are still held in jail by the regime, most with no formal charges against them Many are themselves members or supporters of the Peronist move- Right Wing met and unanimously endorsed the public statement by party secretary "democratic' campaigned and .on 'anti-corruption' slogans such 'Our hands are clean!'. And since the they carefully econ have held back from any struggle to remove the present coalition and clear the Christian Democrats out of office. None the less, the vote of June 15th - which showed an increase of almost 6% in the Communist and Party poll losses for the Christian Democrats and all other right-wing parties - forced open the suppurating crisis the Christian Democratic leadership.

As the inner-party manoeuvres to remove Fanfani came to a head, the leadership of the Socialist Party De Martino in favour of a 'new relationship with the Communists'.

This means that the present centre- left cabinet 'of Aldo Moro - which has been state of virtual suspension since the election result - will almost without a more explicit agreement with the Stalinist leaders.

At the same time the election crisis leadership direction of the Christian Demo capitalist class they crats and tne represent. Virtually unknown betorehand, Zaccagnini 'emerged' leaders of the oecause the currents within the were party unable to find a majority tor leading figure which would leave the organisation intact. doctor by profession - specialising in the care of babies - Zaccagnini also had the TaTe advantage of being (so far) untouched by rumours of scandal or, in fact, by fame of any sort.

minor member of Prime Minister Moro's faction chosen with the hope of some sort of continuity in the new round of clandestine negotiations opened up with the Socialist and Communist party leaders. But within the party he has already collected bitter enemies, including the 'clan' • supporting Release Political Prisoners ment, held because of Peron's fears of the further mobilisation of the working class. the most outstanding of those in jail are: of the Pichinini regional enter branch of the UOM (Metal Workers Union) in Villa Constitucion (prob- ably the most militant area of the working class in Argentina). workers there struck for two demanding the release Pichinini and the rest of the UOM leadership who were imprisoned on the basis of an alleged 'subversive plot to halt industrial production" in the region. Talento: student leader of the JUP (University Youth), Peronist and

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

in Disarray of French Flaminio whose candida- initially backing from factory workshop occupations remove Fanfani. defence of in All the of their Italian jobs, in support of wage claims the Demo- by the main crats round French dominated Communist now pass

CGT

- at the But recognises that place. political crisis. or not he Party - the 'Popular for the and the Christian employers Democrats lace continuing crisis them. of beginning the month were still more widespread were on At the Singer strikers accepted at at the underground won 18 while the fascist groups last few

SIL

the in Nevers the pretext for

HONES

Fanfani to pass to 15 per cent. legislation giving Yet even The Communist continuing rise in the cost of issues living even and the official index. conceded not ody class any way to defend itself requires with precisely on short-time. Alfa-Laval agreement those most pokers The within the movement is ary leadership, organise with who seek out through compromise the Christian Democrats. • Carvalho president of the student union of he University of Buenos Aires But it is equally clear that Ongaro: leader of the FGB (Union Socialist Party leader Soares' call of Press Workers of Buenos Aires).

for 'Government of National Ongaro took part in many of the Salvation' simply 1S reaction 1974 struggles of workers, which assuming another face although then defeated, paved the Soares calls for the defence of way for the present labour upsurge.

the Constituent Assembly The repressions have also kept decision making body' in which socialists have a majority imprisoned members of the

PST

the of (Socialist Workers Party), of most seats. At the same time he calls for 1974. limitation them since November In of of the power

PST

addition fourteen regional workers' committees and legislation headquarters have been bombed. to enforce their election by secret Those still held include: ballot. Luisa Segura: a student leader arr

BONAPARTIST

ested on November 14th while of standing the dining room The 'radical face' of the AFM Tucuman University. leadership's consolidation of power Juan Carlos Orsonio: he was arrest- as a bonapartist dictatorship 'above ed and tortured during the federal classes' is represented by Carvalho take-over of the Ledesma sugar head of the security force COPCON workers union in northwest Argen- on his way back from Cuba.

tina, and is a long-time member of But while the new leaders the PST. attempt to short-circuit the 'parl- iamentary democracy' that Soares Resolutions appears to be defending, they seek tie the working class directly to 'Portugal's Western Europe through The defence of workers' councils into and these and all • orating political prisoners held by the reac . under the control of the AFM tionary Peron regime is the task of hierarchy. Soares' call for "democracy' socialists. In Argentina it must be an integral part of the struggle meanwhile opens the door for the to oust the Peron government and mobilisation of all the reactionary replace it with a workers and peas- elements seeking to return ants fascism. government, along with the Soares' attack on the AFM break from the Peronist movement leadership is the excuse for anti- of the trade unions SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday August 6th 1975 FRANCE vave of Occupations workers successfully struck for an all-round reduction of hours with no loss of pay. They are to be paid the rates for the former 48 hour week, while working time In twenty three plants the struggles on threatened sackings or off fight for closure example at small Lartigue of France. of the French class. Since the 1968, factory have Many of

SCOLON

to fight for even the elementary and the time the CGT and uniting them workers

CGT

officials report nas been questions control and campaign for nationalisation. is acknowledged visited Europe July, met ers in Paris. Army AFM is they an armed attack. constitutional the such against in the rubber envisaged as the working the winning can defend solve the deteriorating economic mounting This requires the involving tion the and OI landowners, comes into absolute with the

AFM

of Europe. The of democratic counter- ance of

AFM

through the rank and file an workers' militia prepared

WHAT IS THE WORKERS SOCIALIST LEAGUE ?

STALINISTS

HELSINKI

BETRAYAL

On August Ist, rulers and representatives from every trade European country (except Britain the United States Albania), Canada, gathered in and Helsinki to sign a book full class countries of resolutions, at once vague and compromising, on questions of" European ' secur- ity' and 'cooperation'. one country Just thirty at the quo ago, y cars conference following the own facade Potsdam Soviet defeat of Germany, agreed with Union treacherously the Western capitalist powers to a partition of Europe, ensuring their bureaucratic control of the own while buropcal Stalinist consciously committing The parties to a policy of holding back the revolutionary tide in the West.

The Helsinki agreement, which much the Soviet Union began to WOrk as 1954, towards the days the apotheosis of detente. confirms Moscow's willingness of sell out the working class western Europe and determination keep a firm thumb on her satellites.

TEXT

revolutionary The Helsinki text is full of pious sentiments and much of it is downright meaningless. The section trade, which ran into partic ular difficulty during the pre conference negotiation, is a model of. how to say nothing at great length. The articles on non-agression mean statements

MUST

always mean: they express forces, assessment natance mutual advantage, and would not survive for moment all y substantial change in that balance.

More interesting clause 1s the 'The participating on sovereignity: mutually their respect their sovereign equality 4.114 individuality, well all the rights inherent in and comprising their sovereignity, including, particular, the right of each state juridical equality, territorial liberty integrity, and political independence. They respect as well the right of each of them choose and freely develop its political, economic and social, well the cultural system, as right to determine its laws and regulations'.

ACCEPTANCE

For the Soviet Union these high-sounding Phrases the accolance European capitalism to solve its problems expense working class, whether through the stealth of the Labour government The Workers Socialist League was formed on December 22nd 1974 as Pransitional Programme the ording decorate prest Treas Transitional onal. The WSL now represents the continuity of the struggle for thes rinciples in the workers' movement The formation of the League nembers from the Workers Revolutionary Party, carried out bureaucrat ically by the WRP leadership in order to prevent discussion of their own abandonment of the Programme both in theory and in practice expulsions showed that there could be no hope of correcting the mass WRP - an independent organisation had to be founded to maintain the fight for Trotskyism. Such a split came out of particular conditions. The rapid development of the economic crisis of capitalism and the forward movement of the world working class, which has now overthrown imperialism in Vietnam and Cambodia, began to produce the conditions to build revolutionary parties internationally. At such a point the importance of a fight for the method and principles of the Transitional Programme, against both sectarianism and opportunisn s paramount in the preparation of revolutionary leadership. After a har period of isolation from the mass movement, as the only tendency with a programme andha history of struggle to lead the working class in the taking of power The defence of jobs through the fight for work sharing on full pay, run by trade union committees; the defence of living standards through the fight for all wage agreements to include a sliding. scale to compensate for all increases in then of lo the ere of teen or and e committees; of the struggle for power through the fight to open preparation books • of industry; and to and the class collaboration of the Great union leadership General Franco's by opoulos military fascist repression in Spain.

Instead of helping the working of Western European the bourgeois democratic govern- to defend its vital for struggling state ment of Karamanlis. power, the Soviet Union - true to the Stalinist policy of socialism in ing the same laws as the old regime - embraces the status of the price for its as part the working class omic stability", pontical and econ- jobs and living standards.

week Last took place in Athens when attempted to

CRISIS

stration of building workers.

Here Socialist views a Greek world crisis of capitalism worker on hardly figured in the conference's of lessons the formal agenda, although it was very of the flurr Centre of talks between heads of state in before their converging on the Finnish capital. Were you on the Events in Portugal, Greece and on July 23rd? Turkey, however, show clearly that Why the working class is little interested place? was in the machinations of the thieves' kitchen in Helsinki. faced By This latest betrayal by Moscow 45% are out of work Stalinism points up once again the urgent need to build a Trotskyist leadership in they tried European country, in order to fight and strike, but about for the independence of the work- held a meeting in ing class and to lead it to power.

day 23rd July. From Street, where level of political consciousness class to take the power. followed the expulsion of over 200 For this reason These workers, Trotskyism now emerges hammer out and adopt establish workers: control in the fight for

GREECE

MASS DEMONSTRATIONS

From Tony Richardson in Athens The removal of the Papad- junta in Greece has been followed by the election of the right wing This government continues, us act against the mobilisation of in defence of violent struggles break up a demon- inter- Press Trotskyist building lne demonstration. demonstration Yes. did the demonstration take Greek builders confront armoured cars a 24-hour strike against the levels of unemployment in the middle of the building workers today - special police armoured cars known which had been built by as avres, The Greek TUC officially sup- the Papadopoulos regime. ports the Karamanlis Government, this Sabotari 7,000 builders

DIVERTED

Athens, ơ'clock on the morning of Wednes- The police talked to the strike committee members, who were the Peroke Theatre we moved off to Agiou Constantinon Stalinists. They agreed we were confronted police that the march be away from the Ministry of Employ- ment. The Stalinists led the way into the smaller streets where they were confronted by avres and police who started to fire tear gas The police were specially technique copied by from the Paris police. The diversion was a trap. The builders fought back for fifteen minutes, ten to splitting into groups to police in different sections - which is a usual tactic. The fighting between the groups of by builders, joined workers, along with other profess lonal people irom Athens, and the state power, continued until mid- night. The police have a long record against the working class. Two days before in a very big cloth factory

ETMA,

they also used tear against strikers. The day before the march the students had had a big stration against the new state laws aimed at bringing theit trade union under the control of the Karamanlis "democratic" state. The were not attacked because the pol ice had plans to attack the builders the next day. The Greek TUC said that the troubles were started by "provocat- nationalisation under workers' management: all these policies are now called for in this situation. As they are fought for and workers are mobilise to win these demands, they begin to form a bridge between the present of workers and the need for the working Yet the WRP refused to take up a fight for this the most important developments in our work have centred on a break from WRP sectarianism and propagandism, ime ortantelini in to de union work ind opening up completely new areas.

are beginning to recruit and train from the new forces thrown into struggles in this period - not only trade unionists, but also professional housewives, students and youth - in the fight to construct the Our record shows that we continue to fight uncompromisingly expose all those who attack and revise aisq the rank and file' policies of the IS group who refuse to defend the ionary movement into unprincipled blocs and liaisons with anti-revolution- ary tendencies, as well as against Stalinism and reformism.

Already it is clear that throughout the world the movement of the working class poses similar questions for those groups calling themselves Trotskyist, particularly sections of the International Committee of thi Fourth International, producing similar splits and offering a rich possibility truly international of developingor this reason the WSL is now engaged in a process of inter.

movement based on the Trotskyist nal discussion prior to a full founding conference, a vital part of which is to perspectives for the building of the Trotskyist Fourth International, and the development of revolutionary parties based on the Trotskyist programme in every country in the struggle to end

KARAMANLO

REPRESSES

road by "junta supporters", and Ne Täxis ('New Orde The following morning, all th papers (including the Stalinists) saic ne ontes чете мнев! by provocatuers. one voice they all said it had not Maoists and in together Fascists,

STONISTS

with the Some MPs, including PASSOK diverted members, despite the fact that their leader: Andreas Papandreou denounced this, wanted laws against Parliament. This was beepine pre the semipina per pare attacks on the semi-lega grenades. armed, a oleasation Was it an official demonstration?

Karamanlis official 24 hour strike was of all building workers throughout demonstration but wanted to divert before it. fight the

PROGRAMME

students. What was the programme of the demonstration? There were five points: 7-hour working day to legislated. * A rise in wages. * Security of employment.

An increase security. in social gas Now for example a building worker who has been permanently unem ployed for 2 years will have Ie demon- time only 9,000 ceived in that Drachma (£1,300). * Independence of the trade unions from the state. students; The Trotskyists fought for these demands, along with a sliding scale of wages and the establishment of trade committees of employed and unemployed workers to organise the struggle.

SOCIALIST

PRESS

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SPANISH CIVIL WAR

WOMEN

MILITIA

PART ONE

When, on July 17th 1936, General Franco took command of Spanish troops in Morocco.

and issued his manifesto calling authoritarian state in for an Spain one thing was very clear.

The army was not in this case supporting one bourgeois tac- tion against another as it had done so often in the past. The advanced by programme same in its Franco was the essential that of points The wor- Mussolini or Hitler. of Spain and peasants kers deadly threat of faced the fascism. the method of rule Fascism is capitalist class resort to that the hen they no longer tolerale of independent wor- existence As long class organisations. is the capitalists can dominate the working class through the reformist leaders the Social Democracy But in a period they will do so. of acute economic crisis even the and existence of social democracy trades unions which provide a rally- point working class resis- ing intolerable tance become for the ruling burden Class. order to impose measures of slump on the working class, the capitalists can feel an end tne neea to pul all independent working class organisations.

SUPPORT

In preparation for this, Fascist parties which have for years remained small in size, rejected by the bour- geoisie as unnecessary for the time the full suddenly receive being, support of the ruling class, from the banks funds pour in, enabling the strength, fascist party to grow in attacking workers organisations and polarising layers of support, particu- arly amongst the petty-bourgeoisie.

it takes power fascism Where immediately sets about smashing up trades the political parties Once unions ot the working class.

working class organisations are des- bodies sub- troyed, ana state-rul stituted for them, workers confront the bosses from position extreme weakness and are open to the ruthless repression and most Before the fascists could come in Spain, however, they to power had to defeat a powerful working which fought the class resistance, stronger because it had seen Hitler's liquidation of the German labour movement after his victory in 1933.

It was not simply a question of the impose bourgeoisie "deciding hut onlv decided in

LESSONS OF THE

the most dire economic and political crisis forced the bourgeoisie to take the fascist road. Spain had For over a century, been a monarchy straining to give But if birth to a new regime. bourgeois democracy was to be able a number tasks develop, would first have to be. carried out capitalist class. the Spanish by was their inability these to solve fundamental problems that led to the crisis in which the alternatives of socialism or fascism were posed.

• Spanish capitalism had only been able to develop in the period before World War. and during the First Spanish neutrality had then opened the world's markets to its capita- But the end of the war List class. meant that Spanish industry had to compete on the world markets with more advanced industrially other, nations, a task for which it was ill- equipped.

'PROTECTED"

Not only was Spanish capitalism of competing on world incapable incapable of markets, it was even producing goods for the home mar- ket cheaper than its foreign rivals.

to- protect

OTOCI

Dictator, Primo Spanish market, de Rivera introduced enormous This tariffs on imported goods.

in turn led to retaliation, particularly which by England and devastated the prospects of Spanish agriculture. Agriculture in Spain accounted for over half the national income, two thirds of Spain's exports and half the government's income.

The division of land was the worst in Europe. Of the five million peasant families in Spain, only two million owned their land. Most of these holdings were on poor land that these famities such like the other three million landless peasant families were forced to hire big land- themselves our to une owners, some of whom owned half a province. The peasantry lived in a state of perpetual poverty and frequent were continual starvation. here seizures of land raids on granaries, The even guerrilla wastare. First World War gave Spanish agri- culture a boost fiom which the landowners benefited, but not the peasant. Yhen Spanish agriculture ollapsed after the war, however the landowners were very quick to pass on the effects to the peasantry.

Spanish blow biggest came in 1930, when agriculture raised tariff Britain and France barriers against Spanish agricultural It was this crisis that products. ushered in the Republic. democratic rev- The bourgeois 1931 with olution began April as no surprise. Trotsky ution came as early as 1905 had explained that of imperialism the the epoch tasks of the bourgeois democratic revolution could only be completed under the dictatorship of the prolet- ariat, supported by the peasantry.

Indeed it was the working class Spain, with a series of strikes, of gun battles and the threat risings, of an all-out general strike in 1931, who had been instrumental in the setting up of the republic. Within weeks after its foundation, workers bloody clashes were involved took up a soldiers, with struggle against the Church.

REFORMISTS

class While the working actions independent going into against their enemies their reformist arguing for particip leaders were ation in the bourgeois government.

Rejecting the theory of permanent socialist Spanish revolution, the leaders argued, as had the Menshev- Russia in 1917, that before iks in socialism could come a long period would capitalist development have to take place. The task of socialists therefore uncy claimed was to recognise that the revolution was a bourgeois one, "defend 11 and to support reaction" joining the against is the formula This government. of social democratic class collabor- of and ation every completely contrary to everything that Marxism teaches us • was that the working The only class fight against reaction can through its won independent class organisations. In Russia these had of the Soviets. In taken the form Spain the call had to be likewise- and for committees workers take safeguard and peasants forward the gains of the revolution To tie the struggle of the working the creation of the bourgeois rep class to a bourgeoisie that fears the however, ublic. The carrying incapable masses is to Invile Ielanation de proved by July and In Spain, through the tasks this development August 1931, Republican artillery posed. used to crush a strike could only Spanish industry was Delig while the socialists claimed in an expanding world develop market but in the early 1930's the this was written on world market was contracting as a the first article their initiative Wall Street consequence of the new Spanish Constitution Spanish industry could only Despite the collaboration of the be developed with the protection of leaders with the bourg socialisi a monopoly of foreign trades The coisie, the working class and peas- government bourgeois COME TOl try and solve continued because it feared this introduce the democratic tasks of the bour- further reprisals from the imperial- geois revolution in their own way, through attacks on the Church, the ist powers. The Similarly with agriculture.

seizure of land and economic and only solution to the terrible starv- political strikes against the govern- ation and poverty confronting the the redistribution of peasants was the whole peas- land amongst But even this in itself which antry.

REPRESSION

called for dispossessing the land- owners would not be enough. State The refusal of the socialist lead- aid on an enormous scale would be support the masses in these needed to help the peasant introd- ers to struggles and their open support for uce more modern techniques repressive measures increasingly and increase the product- farming against the masses led to a govern- ivity of his land. Confiscation of the which the ment crisis in 1933 in land would also mean confiscation right wing were elected to power.

That is why the of bank-capital. This reactionary government step- bourgeois republican government, ped up the repression of the work- defence of private committed to property, felt unable to confiscate ing class and this led to greater unity between the political organisations the land. class movement, institutions also of the working major particularly at a local level.

stood in the way of the bourgeois The largest trade union in Spain revolution, the army democratic

UGT,

the socialist trade Church. The had was the the and dillly The anarchists, who were always palyed a large part in the union. wort particularly strong in Catalonia were when government of Spain even organised in the CNT. The Stalinist the government had been a civilian Communist Party at this time was The army was very top heavy, one. small. The Socialist with one officer for every six men still extremely in the ranks and it was provided Party was the largest single workers party in Spain and its forces were with an enormous budget. organsied around Caballero on the middle class in Because the the officers left and Prieto on the right.

small Spain None of these organisations were were mainly drawn from the old imbued with a Marxist understand- ruling class and had ties of kinship organise the and friendship with the major ind- of the need to ing supported by the peas ustrialists and aristocratic landown- proletariat ers. The army therefore represented antry to take the power in spain as way to complete the tasks but the a threat the republic the only and of the bourgeois republic refused to break the power revolutIon defeat the reactionaries and fascists.

of the army. from

POUM,

centrist Apart organisation of ex-Trotskyists, only

CHURCH

the paper of the Socialist Claridad, forward Party left a Marxist position put anything like a The Church was also the enemy this was centrist Because of the republic. It had opposed to tended tendency, however, 1t of the every previous waver from a correct policy exactly 19th century and wielded enormous was most at those the Jes times wach ll economic power. In 1931 urgent that a correct policy should uits owned a third of the country's be fought for. wealth. The task of separating the there- Church from the State was fore posed, but again the republican

THREAT

government, valuing the restraining Church the influence of the working class, refused to tackle the Despite the class collaboration enormous anti- despite and inadequacy of the leadership of feeling throughout the clerical these organisations, there can be no doubt that they, and their members For Marxists, the failure of the doubly so, recognised the threat to bourgeoisie to complete the tasks From the very beginning working class power was used against fascist rallies. Gil Robles, the fascist leader of three shows planned maJor at Escurial near Madrid, strength, in Madrid itself and at Covadongas, 1934. In each area Asturias, in called, general strikes rails torn up, trains stopped, food and accommodation roads blocked and the impossible, fascists driven back and dispersed, setback inflicting maJor fascism. •In answer to this the right wing attempted to bring three fascists Within six into the government. hours the reformist-led UGT called a nationwide General Strike. Armed clashes took place between workers and soldiers Bilbac and other In Madrid cities, production and commerce were paralysed, but in Asturias the solid took place. most resistance with dynamite Workers. armed up a Workers from the mines, set which gave Peasants' republic and seized the land the peasants, to and put reactionaries on trial.

ALLIANCES

For fifteen days they held oft Legion and Moorish Foreign the of this centre troops. At struggle, which was finally defeated through only Isolatio WOll Workers' Alliances, committees of different from the workers organisations, which the Trotskyists had fought to build losses and the Despite the this confrontation of setback (3,000 workers were killed in the Asturias, mainly after surrender) it in no way weakened workers' resistance to the contin- uing fascist offensive. Realising that real battle was still to the come, meantime set about fighting they those for an forested in the General Strike.

amnesty A highpoint of this was May Day 1935, when despite preparations of the government, a general strike paralysed the entire the public country except OHEy manned by government Service troops.

MASS RALLIES

rallies Great anti-fascist demanded dissolution of the Cortes elections. Meetings of a and new hundred thousand became common the right-wing Pressure on so intense government in enruary 19e% they called fresh elections expecting centre parties to win. In the 1936 elections the left socialists rejected a joint election bourgeois repub with the TiCKeT lican parties. The right socialist. under Prieto and the Communis agreed Party, joint however, • republican. programme with elections and formed the

WOL

Peoples Front government.

arrive at a join order programme with the bourgeois rep couk be that of the moe ublicans, the bourgeoisie only programme thus The of the banks an industry, proposed more effectiv tariffs, opposed the nationalisatio and free distribution of the land te

SOCIALIST PRESS. Wednesday August 6th 1975 the peasants, and left the church and army intact. The People's Front, once in moved sharply to the right even of programme as the

BIES

working class continued to move leftwards. The President, Azana, prolonged press censorship and postponed municipal elections order appease the fascists and the land- aires. support. strike, called by the anarchist attacks on workers, and

BASCISI

the winning of

UGT

of Yet the Socialisi middle. The organisation the bourgeoisie the tasks revolution, that proletarian revolution order was of the day. Though "left' leader with Popular policy, he re-elected him leadership

UGT,

and he Socialist Party and lcau

STRIKES

All the while, despite the bankruptcy of leadership, the work- Port ing class gamca m strengin.

and ship workers won nationwide strikes, and workers had rat way just voted a national strike when Franco declared his revolt. Peasants began seizing land. The miners, former Prieto supporters, political oul strikes. Mass strikes and general strikes continued throughout June and July 1936. The Popular Front clearly incapable of holding Was back the masses. The immediate response of the People's Front government to the fascist uprising was to hold back news from the working class Tne and attempt to come to terms with rranco. The four bourgeois parties in the People's Front government were more frightened of the masses than ther Franco. The were masses threatened social revolution whereas Franco had no intention of overthrowing capitalism and was fact defending from it working class. The fascists refused to compromise with the republican government and as of the news uprising spread the workers did not wait for the government to organise 19th ane HeDes. the workers began storming army barracks in the main towns and cities of Spain. In this industrial Catalonia led the way. Half the Spanish prolet- ariat were in this concentrated and province the parliamentary reformism of the socialist-led UGT

(PSUC)

had ist parties July 19th than did on

HECHOVID

the centrist POUM: The workers wholly organised in were almost the anarchist union, the CNT.

ARMS REFUSED

workers, nevertheless, hands of the workers. story was Spain. repeated acted to army from the mainland. now was In Catalonia their organisations the "Central committee of Catalonia" all the workers province. Peasants the land, organised by workers' was committees the factories, though still by the capitalists, brought were workers control. Catalonian liberation. the placing captured trial on before the assembly and thus the village, the Catalan columns knowing that creating were civil wat politics is the determining Peasants formed of the fascist for the army that republic had the given them If nothing. the working class could establish organise production of trans- portation and then the armies Deaballl melt away. the only way fascism could be going beyond power to the social revolution, peasantry. when the way the struggle the central working class and Popular Front.

CENTRISM

Unly with the sharpest struggle for clarity and principle against the centrist movements could leadership be built. Thus in April 1936 Trotsky wrote that the situation in Spain has again become revolutionary and stated clearly "Marxist action' in Spain can 34023 by of begin only fil calls irreconcilable condemnation of the of Nin and whole policy Andres Andrade

(POUM

centrist leaders who had ioined with Front) which was and remains not only false but criminal."

Thus fighting to unite workers peasants against the alre Franco danger of fascist annihilation of their basic organisations, Marxists should in no way abandon principle.

Only defending the through complete political independence of the class from the bourgeoisie can massive strength it displays be the mobilised successiully struggle for power.

LENIN & WOMEN'S

ORGANISATIONS

mentality as regards women.

Could damning probf of

LETTER

there be MONe who see women grow from P.C., London their time and stale, As your article in Socialist Press minds makes clear, when Lenin says 'No their hearts slowly. their We must root organisations for women', he is re- ferring specifically to special organi- the 'old idea. to its sations within the party.

Otherwise This is, and in lact Lenin emnhaticalv was in among the favour of forms of of tasks. special one organisations among women.

Trotskyist ot clo implications movement. le raI group commissions, committees, bureaus women's committees or women call for special investigations by union crimination women. the Similarly opposed ['Women, and Working the yery Lenin Zetkin and considered necessary, used, for non-party Congress It order to them towards trade nism. untons. for are included in the etc. to deal gether with tor equal educational WOrK, provision child, has pointed use such of The revolutionary How this of congress to purpose should be was dealt with only abstractly Press Alute of women, peasant and i tty 9. will not magi- NO. won as DIo letarian women to deal seriously of all questions and to the family' Canese well drive direct their attention to Communism the family and

OPPOSITION

Of course be involved women in In fact, as Zetkin had feared, organisations workers. control, the congress into opposition from Communist women comrades, equivalent int the spher of reproduction Lake the waiter of the article in we of the article in writer Socialist Press, these women were opposed to special forms of organi- sation for Lenin's res women. ponse was, 'A pity, a great pity!' The comrades have slip away politics way of hope to masses of pemen brilliant opportunity open workers, and so to bring them into Most the revolutionary struggles of the groups have You must find working class a way of reaching the women who have been thrust by capitalism into You must, frightful misery. must find it. and have no political The necessity cannot be strategy evaded. Without organised mass activity under Communist leader- And the personal behaviour ship there can be no victory over capitalism. comrades Again Lenin said "It is right for us the 'old to put forward demands favourable and of to women. The demands would the problem. show "That hate, yes hate everything and will abolish every- thing which tortures and oppresses the woman worker, the bousewife, the peasant wife of the petty trader, yes, and in many movement women's cases the woman of the possessing are no substitute for Clearly they classes. The demand revolutionary struggle, but it should would also show that the proletarian dictator- be acknowledged that it was out force of the ship would have consideration for that the the interests of women. women's all movement grew These which would its hybrid forms and with its con Genates. change according to prevailing cir- siderable influence on the trade cumstances, but which would always union movement, as well, latterly on groups on the revolutionary left be connected with the general inter- ests of the proletariat, would not They haye also contributed impor lull like tant understandings of women into in activity sexism in reformist demands, but call upon bourgeois society, how it is trans take action from women as equals to mitted the earliest Of course, of children, in transforming society. socialisation induces oppressive attitudes and behaviour the struggles for our demands for both and women must be bound up with men and severely weakens class struggle. the object of seizing of power, Rather than viewing the division establishing the prolelatlan of sex dictatorship. being above the class also criticised the atti- struggle, many tendencies in the Lenin women's movement regard it as a tude of male party members to problem in addition to and linked work among women. There was with but certainly not reducible tendency treat it to the class struggle. This is clearly occasional issue and as an affair the Leninist position, and similar omy conceng women comrades to the question of racism Instead recognition of the necessity The entry of women on a mass and value powerful, clear. oi a headed Communist women's move- scale into production has not proved sufficient ment should be the constant care their emancipation, The and obligation of the Party. He as Engels implied it would 'Unfortunately it is still true women's movement has taken the SalO theories of the to say of many of our comrades early Marxists an "scratch a Communist and vou find further imnortant sten its

TTOM

_women's oppression and exploi eff stressed the It has reproducti women's role in the home on the contin sexual division of labour in and in the subordin duction of women in the labr position One in three man movement. women now work, compared one in eight in the 1930s, virtually all women work for of their stantial periods in women two jobs those i their jobs tend to that are an extension of their r in the reproduction of labour po in the home, in food and cloth manufacture, in cleaning hea service. as his dias well as Culcol commercial services. of labour will not necessarily socialisation from independen Our diffic in struggle least task also the worki class that functions of t oppressively more efficien by sation full day provision for but children, designed The work Kaylaye capills accorded oth as workers.

REPLY

The author of the article Socialist Press 7 writes: While I agree with the points in this letter, it does prove that the "bodies, worki commissions" groups, etc. Lenin speaks of should consist or of women. "sexist" atl udes revolution groupings the past that it 1n for the Socialist Lea members. the

WRP

oppose spect The

WSL

fights through trade isation fight must the who strength struggle for better organis overthrow thing. difference under politically layers which worki conditions party For the revo So organised, Here the beginning of fundamental

IRELAND THE WAY FORWARD

Two months after it was discrimination in employment to housing and local government tied set up the Northern cland Convention is still in the Protestant to workers their own employers. siness. The Convention, As the economic base of Ulster has little capital declined, the British gov- never, more ernment moved to reform the of a peaceful con- ance structures which made sectarian sion than any of British Ulster unattractive to foreign cap- perialism's previous att- ital. Britain's attempts at reform "Irish pts to solve its met the resistance of the Unionist oblem'. alliance it had itself encouraged to maintain the division of the work- The partitioned Ireland which ing class. formed after the First World The strength of Unionism had was never an ideal solution not declined in proportion to the With Britain. the first fall of local Ulster capital. Under erialist war, the Russian revol- 'Paisleyism' it the title of new n, and the Easter Rising dealing frustrated everv attemnt to date of blows to the old methods the British government to reform • penanst control, une mexidie ine Northern irelana staterer. 1nus lish ruling class responded with the three Unionist leaders, O'Neill, essay in neo-colonialism.

BAYI

Faulkner Chichester-Clarke, and The compromise of Home Rule who tried to initiate the reforms accepted wholeheartedly Michay that monopoly capital needed and Fein politicians Sinn ains and Arthur Griffiths.

the Catholic population demanded argeois politicians of the North Tory by the Party couraged demanded they mly that be cluded from Home Rule and w the Protestant workers behind campaign maintain Tne Ctarian structure of Ulster aital. The social revolution that maid have been necessary to over- unionist in resistance the was feared both by bourgeois nationalist politicians the South and by the British class.

UNFINISHED

The result has been inished national revolution ich has left the South econom- ly. dependent, the nationalist ulation of the North within the repressive nge statelet, and the Protestant kers trapped in a reactionary with their own Unionist loyers and local gentry. The ace of a revolutionary workers capable of leading, the ional struggle to its conclusion Loyalist leaders West and Paisley partial results directed to wely against the working class.

found themselves toppled, one The bourgeois leaders of the after another, by what had been onalist movement in the South their mass base. apromised with imperialism, Thus all Britain's plans failed, ial Labour leaders abandoned squeezed as they were between the national question and Republic- loyalists' reactionary determination became the ideology of those.

to maintain Protestant ascendancy who imperialist and the struggle of the oppressed minority in the North, headed by without a working class the

IRA,

for national self- rship capable of developing a determination. ement against both imperialist Britain's latest attempt to aination and its own exploiters produce a stable regime for capital imperialism's allies the Ireland is the The revolution could not be Conventin. honal first that the moves loyalist ried through. majority made in the opening The problems she day. They guaranteed that the

SCSSIULIS

have not gone away. finished report to be offered to the renewed force in out with British government will be more or North East in the late 1960's the United Ulster Unionist less ough the Civil Rights movement.

Council's election manifesto decline from the time it was set demand for a restored Stormont.

the This they did the simple by othern state accelerated after the device of using their majotity ond World War. the of rule against presentation 30 years 47,500 minority reports. The nature of the disappeared in agriculture and Convention is clear. two traditional industries, linen for a more than a preparation shipbuilding, which were the return to Unionist control.

nstay of Ulster capital declined The SDLP who remain in the with intensified stically. Raced Convention, by IneT presence petition and now sharpening enable the British government to on the world market the the Convention capitalists driven out ler wee attempt to reconcile the business. communities'. The Unionists, confident that

INVESTMENT

the Convention will their do bidding, have felt strong enough to that a sourit reconciliation will inform the Only the intervention of the Convention's proceedings creating directly and

SDLP

its The ectly 75,000 jobs over the clutches at these straws to disguise war period, prevented a

TOTA

its capitulation before the schemes of employment. local As of British imperialism. tal drained away to the more successful The boycott rative London market and with the Provis- mounted by the 1950's at an Colocau ional IRA against the Convention of 9,000 ge year, mont government with British alist population despite five years couragement moved to create the of military occupation are not of infra-structure necessary to this latest British act outside investment. day accol Ulster solution. had been Coolast The rhetoric of the British gov- centrated in small and medium 'two ernment uniting ed labour-intensive firms geared the UK market. It was here that communities thinly vented disguise for restoring regime Orange alliance had gained its based on the unionist forces which agth through its control of the ation of jobs. This structure of will conle me savage repression of the Catholic workers and main- which extended from tain the Protestant workers chained an alliance with Unionist capital. loyalist politicians' new The willingness to condemn Protestant sectarian murders is not an indica- tion of a change of heart, but their response to a changed situation.

minority in the power- As a sharing Craig, Paisley and West organised as part of a strategy to walkouts against rally Protestant. support British that particular solution, thereby setting the scene for the strike by the Ulster Workers' that Council brought down the Convention Executive. In the things are very different. A major- that confidently for wants Britain transfer to its power hands itself in

8 USI

different fashion. the leader of the Jan Paisley Unionists in the Convention, rode to power on the back of Protestant sectarian violence. Out of his Ulster UVF and the Association devoted itself The leaders from "Civil to Rights ¡Costalle government can entrust with In for power the distance loyalist their own petit- bourgeois base the groups thought they earned, were and loyalist prepared leaders the not cause reconciliation, of preserving imperialist rule. policy vital. carried independence ship The of the Repub- programme working class. imperialist fight we must We must be clear that in no way is the the necessary away Igal I01 working class. Party struggles only on a reformist doned the fight for a united Ireland, while the Republican turns its back on class questions.

In this epoch such a nationalist solve the national question. In the North, however, as well as the South, the economic crisis of British and Irish capitalism and the rapid growth of recession opening up new avenues of struggle. In the South this the poses break of the Labour Party from the reactionary coalition, and the fight for to defend jobs and the living standards o wages small farmers. In the North it presents oppor- tunities seriously to pose a united struggle of Catholic and Protestant workers, in which advanced Prot- estant workers can be won to the struggle for a united independent Ireland cutbacks in government 11lt spending and its support for nation- aused industry, the slashing of health and education services being prepared the Labour govern- ment's limits, spending together with the drop in demand for ship- building and aircraft threatens the jobs of workers in Northern Ireland - both Protestant and Catholic.

At the same the £6 time limit on pay • increases

SLATEO

imposed by the Labour govern- ment is an attack on the living of all standards workers Northern Ireland who are subject the massive inflation same British workers. This opens the opportunity for advanced Republicans Have of whom (many are increasingly aware of the inadequacy of pure nationalism) and organised sections Catholic to take the workers and publicly initiative propose united struggle with Protestant workers in defence of all jobs and living standards. While way relaxing no vigilance, and while stating clearly that any provocations or armed attacks on Catholic workers will be met by the full armed strength of the Republican forces, the fullest must be support given to every struggle of workers whether Protestant or Catholic - in defence of jobs or against the pay laws, whether this takes the form occupations, or other industrial action. Such support would provide a living proof in struggle that the main enemy of Protestant workers is not Catholic workers, and that the main threat to their jobs and living standards is the capitalist system defended by Craig Paisley. By selectively defending those who begin to break from loyalism by fighting the employers over jobs and wages, and condemning those who aci puppets of the Orange order, some advanced layers of Protestants can be won on the of basis principle towards the struggle for socialism. Central to such unity must be the demand for work-sharing on full pay. It must be • fought IOI through committees which attempt to unite the mass unemployed with those at work. It connects immed- workers? iately to the fight for of and the control production demand for the nationalisation o industry under workers' Manage with a full programme of ment, useful public works. mobilising defending its interests against the employers, the Protestant workers soon encounter the armed wollie intervention of the British imperial- ist army which used would against occupations. The campaign remove imperialist troops from Ireland and for self-determination would gain immensely in strength.

such committees, from the inevitable small beginnings, started to gain in strength, the terrorist tactics of the outright fascist wing of Loyalists would be turned against them in an attempt to prevent the independent action • of workers It would therefore be nec a class. essary for joint forces of workers' militia drawn both from Catholic and Protestant workers to protect the class and its leaders trom attack. Through all these struggles the demand immense for the complete independence and unitication would more forcibly established, since at the enemies every point the working class would be exposed as the : Loyalists, their fascist gunmen, and the British army.

SUPPORT

Yet the destruction of the reactionary statelet in the North cannot be carried through without the mobilisation of workers in the of South the removal the

STOT

coalition government, and replace it with workers' and farmers' which full materiant, must and give materia ponica support to all anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist struggles of workers in the North. There can be no economic solution to the problems of North or South without the expropriation of the large capitalists, landowners and banks. Further, the state-isation of credit to facilitate the development of industry and cheap credit for agriculture, together WILl imposition of monopoly state of foreign trade, are the only way Ireland's prevent continued domination by foreign capitalists.

Within such a united Ireland be made clear that musi religious minorities would guaranteed equal rights and opport- while for the first time in unities, their history Irish workers would be free to determine their way forward in the fight for socialism.

The Labour in government Britain, which sent the troops into Ireland in 1969, today attempts to disguise its role by pleading that it is concerned to overcome sectarian the 'two and reconcile communities. fact, JusI as l attacks the working class in Britain, it is protecting imperialist interests in Ireland.

'LEFTS'

The 'left' Labour MPS who their belief self- express determination for the Irish, but call for the immediate and complete withdrawal of British imperialism, aid the preparations of British to capitalism establisn a new Loyalist regime. Stan Orme, so-called left who holds a Minister's responsibility for Ireland, is the clearest example. of British imperialist domination of the Irish working class. Orme must be at once and to forced to resign fight alongside Irish and British the WorKers troops. A fight must be taken up in support the the trade unions to right of the Irish people to self- determination and for the immed- of withdrawa British Tale imperialism from Ireland. Only in this way can the struggles of British and Irish workers be united.

LABOUR'S FIRST 'LAME DUCK'

SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday August 6th 1975 Hard on the heels of the government's decision to refuse further aid to stricken Norton Villiers Triumph, management has liquid- already declared the ation of the subsidiary Norton Villiers Ltd. threatening the of over jobs 1,000 workers at the Wolverhampton plant - mention not to those in components industries. Tory The press has been full of praise for this example of the government's conscious moves unemployment over and increase million mark and hold above the down public spending in defence of capitalism. the Midlands already way unemployment above the national average.

Mant made redundant through of those Varley's decision could be unem- ployed for clear that the timing of It is to Varley's announcement coincide with the annual holidays, conscious attempt was opposition from those minimise

SKILLED MEN OR

leaflet issued by the A Newark Action Committee of the AUEW (Engineering and Construction) and the Boiler- makers Society highlights one of the ways the economic recession is attacking skilled workers. It shows how construction wor- kers (or worker unemployed) can be bran- •becomes "seasonal workers" by the •ded as denied Social Security and thus benefit. This available to many skilled Steel Erec-

WSL PUBLIC MEETINGS

LONDON

Tuesday 12th August, 7.30pm Limehouse Public Library 638, Commercial Road, E.14.

"A Programme to Fight the Cuts" in the Social Services"

BIRMINGHAM

Tuesday 19th August, 7.30pm.

Digbeth Civic Hall, Lecture Room 3 "The Labour Government's Attacks on Jobs'

LIVERPOOL

Sunday 24th August, 7.30pm The Mitre, Dale St. «The Fight against Unemployment" The opportunist nature of officials the who are union members of the Communist Party was shown clearly by the recent move of Bernard Panter, after losing who his job as an AUEW district off- icial, gave up his membership both of the AUEW and of the CP, in a bid to get a job with the right-wing Electrical and Power Workers Union. another leading Comm- Now unist Party member, Pat Farelly, who was recently defeated in the Divisional election Southern Organiser, and " and who had been a

VARLEY SINKS NORTON VILLIERS TRIUMPH

imports" and tried to lay the basis threatened with loss of jobs.

for an appeal to workers to save as June 30th the As long ago. the firm. Credit Guarantee Depart- Export a f4m. Their argument for restrictions refused to renew ment is reactionary. It ties line of export credit. on imports workers to defence of "their" firm

"SLIMMING DOWN"

other nation against and workers and diverts them from a struggle to detend jobs. Dennis Poore, NVT chairman, posing as a friend of the has said that the future situation workers, has even hinted at support depends the the altituat for a sit-in. An intensive speed-up and further sinister has de-manning exercise, like the appeared in the shape of the Tor carried out at Meriden, is projected Heseltine his and demagogic for NVT. "full appeals for public hoped with drastic chal inquiry". of the labour "slimming force to a 'realistic' level of 50%

OPEN THE BOOKS

and greater productivity an annual production of between 15,000 and 20,000 units will be possible.

Together with a carefully orch- There must be no redundancies.

estrated press attack on Benn the available If insufficient work Tories, (who have been clamouring then a programme of work-sharing for just such savage cuts in public with full pay, across all factories, expenditure), along with the administered by trade union comm- management, seek to turn attention ittees must be fought for by from the real cause of the aWay unions. This must involve all three crisis problem an increasingly factories inclyding Meriden.

ridden capitalist system.

NUT

management have Yes, there must be an inquiry The but one organised and run by the "foreign blamed loss of sales onl

"SEASONAL WORKERS"?

tors, Fitters, Riggers, Tubers and repair of boilers Welders is in the for the Electricity Board.

Such work is vital to maintain plant and equipment, but is con- centrated in the summer months, when demand for electnicity 1s al its lowest. Therefore despite the lack alternative OI despite the dangerous, dirty, insecure and important nature of the job, the that this Social Security argue "establishes a pattern of seasonal employment" and rules out pay- ment of dole money for the inter- vening period. situation has oi course been worsened by the Labour Gov- ernment's policy of mass unemploy- restricting government and spending. As the action committee s their Anxious to cover leaflet points out: • the Construction and Building own complete absence from the first to always

T&GWU

Conference industries are the feel any cut-back in Public Spend- had neither (where they ing. In the Newark area there has delegate nor a single been no major construction work single since the completion of Cottam resolution passed at any one Power Station in 1968" T&GWU's 9,000 of the The action committee calls for the Workers Rev- branches), union action to change the law on olutionary Party has launched payment of benefits to those out of a double page attack on Alan work. Far more important, however Thornett, a delegate to the is the fight against unemployment for the nationalisation of the Conference, construction industry and a prog- of the WSL tamme of public works to provide work for the thousands of builders and tradesmen made redundant by bankrupt capitalism. The clear direction of the Lab- our government however is towards further The mass mobilise must therefore against these attacks by forming from which he joint committees of employed and unemployed workers on a ocal regional and national level to lead

WSL

moved by the fight. declared

YET ANOTHER BROAD

and defence conecave scale of call to

LEFT'CAREERIST

through fight the fork-lift truck ions. Bagnali, firm used company, he to behalf of his with members! Johns' article is stadded with

FIRST-CLASS

breathtaking lies (such as: "Thor nett echoed a familiar defence of The firm said: the social contract) and the usua "With his union background WRP distortions, but concludes or an issue which is of great import- we feel he is a first class man for this employee relations job."

Wee see Marismosa science.

those unlike As long as Farelly was ready, while an official, to do the job of the Johns writes: It the one lee to more CP and attack Trotskyists during The one leads to the occupation struggles against out. through the building of the the closure of the BLMC Thorney- power WRP, the other road leads to th croit's • factory in basingstoke the couple of years ago, the CP made bureaucracy and corporate no criticism of him state. Thomett and his followers have workers. The government and NVT must be forced to open the books to trade union investigation.

The fighting spirit of the NVT . Already a 24-hour workers is high. picket has been put on the Wolver- with instructions hampton factory to let nothing out.

UNITY

There has already been talk of a sit-in. What remains is the need for a clear policy on which to fight. Along with work-sharing on 49.9% pay, the remaining NVT (now Manganese owned by Bronze) must be nationalised with- and compensation of state contracts programme opened up to guarantee jobs shrinking threatened by Tane capitalist world market for motor cycles. The opening of the books by workers must lay basis for trade union committees which can begin to draw a planned dev- up elopment of the factories into the future. Only in this way can the unity

FORWARD WIT

WRP COINS

'MARXIST' TERM

omic form of organisation imposed after the by monopoly • capilalsin physical liquidation of the indepen- dent organisations of the working class. To impose it, the trade union leaders and militants shot imprisoned and imposed on the working class.

state" "Corporate is therefore Mussolini's the correct term for Germany, for Fran- Italy, for Nazi co's fascist Spain, or for Portugal before the coup which ousted the Caetano dictatorship, and present- day Chile.

FASCISM

To say then that Thornett and "cor- the WSL have opted for the porate state" is to say they nave of fascism. become advocates this what the WRP intends to say?

his iq is toot mes lyr ther But is not merely tham. this.

WSL

who accused of being The WRP has coined the fascists. 'corporatist" which clearly term means an advocate of the corporate or linked with the bourgeois state, drive to fascism. This term has been applied for several years by the WRP indiscrim- and inately to class collaborators reformists in the trade union and Labour movement. This not only looks back to the extreme ultra leftism of the Stalinist movement of the 1930's which branded Lab- "Sociad ourites and union leaders fascists" but avoids all distinction of th e degree of the betrayal Thus in his article on Thornett social contract Johns describes the (which was a leaders to get thei agreement by the TUC leaders members' living standards) as "cor- but is then without the poratists" means to differentiate between this betrayal and their present collabor- ation with state-imposed pay laws Worse still he is even incapable of seeing the difference betweer laws against the unions, and the destruction of trade unions through of the workr and job security Meriden, Small Heath and W hampton be established The intervention of the La 'lefts over the past months graphically illustrated the role play in delivering workers the right wing. Nuneaton MP, Leslie Huck the forefront of the cam) 1n for a co-op at Meriden,

SHON

inguishes himself by writing ar need to explaining Labour's anti-working clas Benn's • promises to the workers stand exposed can only der working class fightin ise defend its standard of living

ACTION

Now Renee Short forward with tales of "depressed" she is at the go ment's decision. The working class needs a tears. These so-called Li not must fight. for the leaders pO outlined above or make wa those who will.

UNITY IS STRENGTH

T&GWU Confere course the WRP notion that fi could in some way be intro Britain, peacefully into through the trade union joining with the employers.

an absolutely revis and reactionary conception held the WRP has not only from mobilisation to d the labour movement against 1 (in the form of provocations) but which of separates the WRP from trac ionists who, though they dail ness the class collaboration of find it leaders, see them as fascists of the bureaucracy and of Trotsky was clear on when he wrote: "monopoly capitalism is les less willing to reconcile itself of trade independence unio demands of the reformist cracy and the labour aristo pick up the crumbs banquet table, that they b transformed into its political in the eyes of the working cla But here Trotsky about the trade unions still es on their old foundations - as ers' organisations, though hand and foot by the class c oration of their leadership therefore goes on to say: "If that is not achieved, the l bureaucracy driven replaced by the fascists.

ally, all the fforts of ti ristocracy in the service of i ialism cannot in the long ru them from destruction". [Marxism and the Trade Unior

REVISIONIST

The WRP has long ma their revisionist position of poratism" which is fatty o to the whole of Trotty's • on fascism is importams ibertion the

ISI

representine to

SLUMP TO LAST

means that large quantities of cap- scale recession is ital. (now embodied in factories, way in Britain, acc- stocks and labour force) must be , to the latest survey taken out of production, while the ed out by the 'Finan- ptoductivity of labour, the only source of profits, must be increased.

limes. figures, and their inter- on by this moutholece The Financial Times' survey ish capitalism, serve shows that British capitalists are certain that the slump must deepen , to expose ine 1ul of state pay laws protect- in the pursuit of profit by the Indeed the Financial fittest firms. Thus its subsidiary "'Pay main headline, headlines announced: Industry is has Failed to Boost Con- still pessimistic; The recession worsens; and Unemployment ish capitalism goes much will increase. : than simply seeking to Among those replying to the • pay cuts on the work- survey only 5% o. companies expected their labour force to increase in the next 12 month s,

CREDIT

while 45% expected it to drop massive expansion of credit (among building and construction the "boom firms 72% expected a drop in the period which sed the establishment of number employed). In adation to this 42% expected capital expend- * industries is now working y through the capitalist iture (new and replaced plant) to a in the twin forms of mon- decrease, and 36% expected to inflation and a continually run down their existing stocks of rate of profit. components and raw materials.

The gloom from the FT survey acrease this rate of profit

WHISTLING

IN THE DARK

factor here) and export less. They = a drowning man therefore tend to become less ing a serpent, econom indebted to each other. politicians in Western Nevertheless, mesmerised by and the USA cling this consequence of their own bankruptcy, the governments of "certain ind- ately to the USA, France, Germany and that an economic Italy prepare to reflate - increase is under way. government spending and the issue of credit - to cure "unaccept- indications are two-fold.

able" levels of unemployment.

, the improvement in the of payments in Western They do this totally oblivious of the fact that until just recently and the USA; and second- they were boasting about how fact that the rate at which the massive unemployment they production is declining tral managed to unleash on the work- * United States has recently ing class had cured "unacceptable" * improvements in the balance levels of inflation! Of course they cannot have it hyments, far from establishing ae-conditions for an economic both ways. In the USA, President gery, is an indication of the Ford after slowing down the rate of increase of the slump proclaims y of the crisis! it has ended. But as he begins urging reflationary policies he the rate of infla- now finds that: tion in the US has shot up from 6% in May to 9.6% since June while unemployment remains at over 8 million. Reflation under such circum- stances would push up inflation as increases in credit enabled sectors of industry otherwise certain to go bankrupt to remain in business. Such reflation would also increase the severity of the slump in the long run as price increases pushed up industrial costs. The inherent laws of the capit- alist crisis cannot be wished away.

Until massive amounts of capital value are destroyed to leave room for the restoration of the rate of profit for the survivors, involving the creation of mass unemploy- Arthur Burns: US whistler ment throughout the capitalist world and bringing the increasing industrial production has threat of imperialist wat, capital- psed and millions are thrown ism cannot be put on a stable of work, of course capitalist

D4NN.

tries import less (and the in oil imports is the main £ 500 Monthly Fund bankruptcy of leadership in the working class in the face of the grow- he hon bennel con The building of the Workers Socialist League and the cono mic recession. ire vital, if the right wing is to be fought.

is almost matched by that of Phillips & Drew the brokers who conservatively forecast a drop in workers' real earnings of 4 - 5% as a result of the pay laws, and anticipate a drop in consumer spending, while unemployment reaching a 1.5 million 'peak' in 19/0 will, they esumale, Iomal at around 900,000 until at least 1979.

DEEPENING

The expected deepening of the slump is reflected in the mortal crisis of the British machine tool 'industry - a sure barometer of future growth. Hardly any of these companies are now working at more than 60% of capacity, and one major company did not receive a single order from a British com- pany last month. Only production for export has kept the industry going at all. The case for socialist nationalis- ation as the only alternative to long-term slump can hardly be more clearly expressed. Jenkins While many members of the white-collar union ASTMS may not be mourning the loss of Stal inist trainee officer Judy Cotter, her dismissal raises questions tar more wide-reaching than the sec- urity of jobs of the other full-time ASTMS officials. The fact that the contract for The refusal of the leaders of the Transport & General Workers Union to use the industrial strength of the union as a whole to force the Labour Govern- ment to nationalise NVT threat- ens the jobs of the labour force in each of the factories.

Because of the lack of a pro- gramme on which to fight, NVT workers in the Wolverhamp- ton and Small Heath factories may be forced into hopeless workers' co-operative projects supported by the trade union leaders as "safe" utopian actions with all the politics left out.

NVT workers should reject this trap, which would lead them When dealing with the trade union bureaucracy the capital- ist class always knows the kind of men it confronts. As news came over that steel union lead ers had agreed a programme of mass sackings the capitalist press along with BSC officials were sympathetic to the task faced by Bill Sirs, ISTUC sec- who has to sell the retary scheme to his members. The Financial Times write for instance: Union leaders agreed to the deal, which foresees the dis- missal of several thousand men ana cares cons be tre carmings of numerous others, because over the past few months they

JONES MUST GO

Jack Jones, leading advocate of the TUC's wage-cutting plan to limit rises to £6, which is now being entorced. by law by the Wilson government has now claimed that the wage- cutting measures have held down unemployment. In an article in the T&GWU Record, Jones appeals for union "solidarity" behind the govern- ment which, through deliberate acts of policy has thrown 1 million on the dole.

LIE

Still peddling the lie that the wage controls are "voluntary" Jones refuses to oppose what he hypocritically calls the "shocking figure" of unemployed, and offers no prospect of defending the thousands more jobs threatened by government spending cuts, by speed-up and closures in the com- ing months. Instead, he claims the figure would have been worse if the union leaders had not "come to the aid of the government." In fact it has been Jones' complete solidarity with the CBI and the right wing leadership of the Labour government that has ensured that workers are confronted with both a cut in real wages, and mass un- employment. But all is not going Jones' way even within the T&G itself. The Democracy Needed trainee officers says "For the first six months employment will be on • basis, as a trainee official ... at the end of that period.

the appointment shall be reviewed by the General Secretary, acting on behalf of the National Executive Council of the Association." raises the question of democracy within the union. The need for elections, not sel ection of officials (including Clive Jenkins) is immediately posed.

A letter circulated throughout the union by Len Wells (ASTMS President) and Clive Jenkins (Gen-

CO-OP DANGER AT N.V.T.

into speed-up via the 'viability agreement and eventual defeat.

MANAGEMENI

The real nature of co-operatives is shown by the attitude of the NVT management, who have said that they support the idea, and by some of the NVT suppliers - who have already offered credit to a future co operative. It is through the suppliers and the distribution that a workers' co-operative remains within the orbit of capitalism and workers

SIRS RIDES THE TIGER

want to secure its survival."

But thẹ capitalist press, unlike the bureaucracy, know that there can be no protection of jobs through speed-up and closures - indead the same art- icle goes on to say many of the 135,000 BSC workers "are being asked to make consider- able sacrifices now for what at best can be uncertain future gains."

ORIGINAL SCHEME

The author shows how, under the original six-point speed-up scheme agreed between ISTUC chiefs Wedgwood Benn and BSC chairman Finniston, many work- ers stood to lose up to 33% of their previous earnings in the vival" name of "securing the : This of British Steel. Socialist Press Wednesday, August 6th, 1975.

Jones London and Home Counties Reg ion of the union has voted 48 - 4 to urge the union and the TUC to abandon the social contract.

This move is just a first reflection of the struggles against bureau- crats like Jones which will break 'out as workers fight to defend jobs and wages in the coming period. The demand now must be not just rejection of the social con- tract and complete opposition to the reactionary policies of the Labour government, but the rem oval of Jones, the architect of this historic TUC betrayal of the work- ing class. Jones, who now speaks for the extreme right wing must be re placed by a leader prepared to use the power of Britain's largest union to give full official support to all workers fighting now for jobs and wages eral Secretary) to explain the situ- ation says: "These matters are very difficult to deal with simply because one is looking for qualities of excellence in all our officer staff, and there must always be room for differ ence about this. There certainly must be room for difference! Socialist Press would like to in- vite letters from any ASTMS mem- bers who may have come across a full-time ASTMS official with any qualities of excellence!

become super exploited, through massive speed-up, as an article entitled. The Myth of Co- operatives said in February this year: "The capitalist, as Marx pointed out, is only the carrier and the personifier of the cap- italist relations of production.

The physical absence of the capitalist in a particular case does nothing to annul those relations.' The only course of action for NVT workers is an occupation to force the nationalisation of NVT under workers' manage- ment and with state contracts to keep the factories open.

local officials refused to co- operate with the deal, prevent- ing its implementation. Now Sirs has the task of imp- osing what he estimates as 6 000 compulsory redundancies on his own members, while telling those left in work that he has agreed the guaranteed working week can be "waived" by management, throwing temp orarily "unwanted steel wor kers on to the dole. As a BSC official told the "I am sorry Financial Times, for the man, his job is like try- ing to rise a tiger between Scylla and Charybdis , In other words Sirs a diehard reformist, refuses to challenge capitalism and must balance between BSC and his members. The need for new leadership in the steel industry has never