Shipyards-the first casualty

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...ACTION PACKED WITH CONTROVERSIES THAT AT TIMES EVEN THREATENED MAJOR SPLITS... ...THEN SOME EVEN WANTED MARCHES AGAINST THE TORIES, BUT OTHERS TOOK A MORE SOBER VIEW (continued) and Cartsdyke on the Clyde on a "'care and maintenance" basis in the hope of an upswing in 1981 is no more than a cynical fraud.

The crisis in shipbuilding is one aspect of the recession in world trade with 9% of the worlds fleet laid up this time last year and few indications of an upturn in sight. As the recession deepens, so will further decimation of the The men at Robb Caledon are well aware that talk of oil related work and "possibly some ship repairing" will not create the 550 jobs promised and, even if it did, that would still mean the loss of another 550 existing jobs.

UNION DUES The so-called "promise" of British Shipbuilders that there will be no compulsory redundancies is completely worthless.

That the management and union leaders are aiming at a policy of divide and rule is clear from the announcement on the same day as the delegate conference of a new order worth £18 millions which will go to Sunderland Shipbuilder, one of the few 'yards to make a profit last year.

The obvious intention of giving the order to Sunderland rather than to one of the yards more seriously in need of orders is to split the shipyard workers •and so head off a united Yet this latest capitulation should not be seen in isolation from the U.C.S. crisis in 1972.

Then, as now, the options were either to accept the cuts or to go forward in a defence of jobs which would become a rallying point in the struggle to oust the Tories.

In 1972 the Communist Party leadership of Reid, Airlie and Barr in U.C.S. consciously avoided that struggle by their spurious tactic of the "work in" instead of a straightforward occupation and a challenge to Tory rule.

Whilst the Tories proceeded to implement the terms of the Ridley Report to decimate the U.C.S. workforce, Reid, Airlie, and Barr manoeuvred to sell off John Browns (Clydebank) at a bargain price to Marathon, the Texas-based oil rig construction WELL I CAN TELL YOU, IT WAS A TOUGH CONGRES....) company.

Since then the Clydebank men have faced a very uncertain future every year and are saddied with an agreement containing a no strike pledge.

Meanwhile the reduced labour force at Govan and Scotstoun were screwed down through the removal of demarcation lines.

A section of the workforce at Govan were even persuaded recently-to work during their Glasgow Fair Holiday to help complete an order.

The betrayals and misleadership of 1972 prepared the way for that capitulation, and also for the scandalous vote last week to lift sanctions and leave the Robb Caledon workers isolated in their struggle for jobs.

TUC An important difference this time round is that the Stalinists have been unable to create the 'left' smokescreen in the way that they did in 1972.

Reid has left the Communist Party and unsuccessfully ran as a Labour Party candidate in Dundee East at the recent General Election. Airlie has become a full time official in the engineering union.

As for Barr, despite being convenor at Scotstoun Marine, he has prudently kept a very low profile. throughout the recent campaign The fight in the yards is far from over, but to be successful, it must be led by revolutionary leadership which has grasped the lessons of these struggles.

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•GIN St As Irish Prime Minister Lynch grovelled to Thatcher, and the British media screwed the final crocodile

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