TUC heavy squad prepares to

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at all. €80 minimum wage. who have no intention of As Guardian: reporter Keith mounting any fight for the also been using its muscle Harper shrewdly pointed out: removal of the Tory governMurray-lashing out at 'Trotskyist boot-boy's' in 1976 Last year's TUC Congress was chiefly memorable as the orchestrated send off for the General Election bandwagon-which in the end Callaghan refused to set rolling.

But its paeans of praise for the right wing Labour government and dark warnings of the dangers of a Tory return were only the thin public facade that covered the frantic efforts by AUEW leaders to beat back unofficial strike action by Leyland toolroom workers.

Prelude

Terry Duffy's ignominious failure in his bid to browbeat the toolmakers back to work proved to be what every TUC bureaucrat feared: the prelude to a rushing onward tide of pay While fat cat Callaghan has been awav on holiday, the Transport House mice have begun timidly to play with policies that he has explicitly denounced.

Callaghan | is on record as denouncing in advance any attempt by the unions to use industrial action to halt the implementation of Tory government policies.

But in an unusualiy darıng editorial Labour Weekly, the Party's house-journal, comes perilously close to calling for precisely such action.

Pull no punches

Pointing to the savage impact of the Tory cuts and resolutely ignoring its own record of craven support for the Labour government's cuts, the article stresses that:

"The only way to fight back is to organise a campaign against the cuts that brings in all the trade unions affiliated to the TUC, and which will pull no punches. [!] "A political campaign alone wil! not be enough. By the time the next Labour government is elected, and the Tories are thrown out of office, most of the damage will have been done.

"The trade union movement has to act now to protect the public services. And inevitably that must mean the threat of industrial action."

"Threats"

Yet while even Labour Weekly is talking of "threats" of industrial action against the cuts, there is no hint whatever that Labour 'lefts' or union leaders have any intention of launching any campaign for the removal of the right wing leaders who oppose any form of action against the Tories.

In this way, in the style perfected by its "youth" stablemates Left and Militant, Labour Weekly uses a blather of left talk to mask its acceptance of the continued dominance of the right wing. battles, beginning with Fords but quickly spreading to other sections of private industry and into the public sector.

A similar kind of fear now plainly haunts the TUC leaders in the run-up to this year's of anger They sense that their hoid over the membership is threatened by the wave of anger building up as Tory inflation, Tory spending cuts, Tory sackings and "Tory anti-union laws fuel working class militancy.

Though a deft combination of spluttering left wing speeches and a complete absence of tangible policies to fight the cuts has so far prevented the outbreak of major struggles in the public sector, union bureaucrats recognise how fragile is their control.

The strongarm work behind the scenes this year has therefore been directed towards suppressing any resolutions that offer a hint of positive direction in the struggle against the Tories or the Labour traitors.

Socialist Worker has revealed how a top level gang of TUC bureaucrats-Len Murray, ACTT leader Sapper and TGWU deputy leader Harry Urwin-last week got together to ensure that two resolutions and an amendment calling on the TUC to break off talks with the Tories were removed from the Congress agenda.

They had no problem persuading UCATT General Secretary Les Woods or CPSA Deputy General Secretary Alastair Graham to drop the resolution and amendment put forward by their unions.

But they had more of a problem with the motion from ity 'over union resolutions to the TUC, finally bludgeoned him into agreeing to the withdrawal of the motion.

The result is that-unless there is unexpected opposition from the floor-there will be no motion even proposing an end to talks with the Tories.

"Vigorous"

The vague TUC talk of "vigorous" ramnainne viyuruus campaigns in thic context means breciselv nothina But the TUC heavy gang has against ASLEF in a bid to get The last thing the bureaucracy wants is to open up any discussion on the role of the last Labour government or-heaven forbid!-of the tasks of a Labour government returned after the defeat of the Tories.

Murray and co. will also jump with both feet on the motion from the Furniture workers (FTATU) calling for "mass demonstrations" against the Tories and emntv moves "wUU bv health workers to call for an 'because they [the TUC] do ment.

TOA There could scarcely be a bigger contrast between the privileged, reactionary conservatism of the union leadership and the increasingly dire plight of the working class facing the full brunt of mass unemployment plummeting living standards and speed up on the shop floor.

It is from the real struggles on the shop floor that a new leadership must be developed and trained to challenae and ms am .. _C.. -= - = nn dé NO RETURNI

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