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had been spent on redecorating the plant director's offices.

By Wednesday widespread pressure in the factory and demänds for the circulațion of the report resulted in an approach by the convenors to management asking for the reports in order that they could be distributed. Management refused, saying that the reports were now impounded as "subversive literature"

When the Oxford Mail appeared that evening it carried a lengthy 'refutation' of the report headed $23.000 spent on office claim denied and went on to say that they had only spent £300 on the office.

DERISION

A roar of derision went up from the plant at the £300 figure and the widespread demand was voiced -Why go to the press? Open the book and prove it!

Next day television and national press coverage, although completely biased and continuing to ignore the main body of the report (which took up the management's case for speed up, demolished their figures and demonstrated how they can manipulate their cash flow, placed demands on information required when the books were opened, and called for Leyland to be nationalised) stimulated expectancy for the opening of the books the next day.

On Friday morning a representative of the open the books committee waited with the -convenors, who had informed management of the demand that the committee be in attendance, for confirmation of this and the place of the meeting. The reply eventually came that the elected committee would not under any circumstances be allowed into the meeting.

On this basis the convenors also refused to attend and no meeting took place.

The interest the fight had developed in the town was shown by the Oxford Mail stop press item: "Open the Books Committee, formed at Cowley Car Assembly Plant, refused admission to talks at which BL plan to reveal further details of factory finances."

SECRETS Management was meanwhile pressing on with their fight and developing an argument to defenc business secrets. The Oxford Tim, on the day the books should have been opened had this to say: "But if participation is to be effective; there will be many occasions when Leyland will have to give confidential information to workers' representatives. And they will be reluctant to do so if The employers' offensive against jobs and wages found political expression last week in the lory Party conference.

Strengthened by Wilson's reactionary policies, the Thatcher leadership was able to claim that mass unemployment and plummetting living standards were the outcome of "socialism"

Of course, the usual Conservative Party rabid right-wingers paraded on the platform in support of Franco's murders, capital punishment and "law and order" But behind this was a determined preparation of the leadership to bid for the mass support of the middle class in order to drive out the Labour government at the next election.

Not that kind words were not said about the efforts of Wilson': cabinet on behalf of the employ. ers. Sir Keith Joseph defended ex-left Michael Foot as "patriotic": «To his credit he has learned lesson number one - that inflation destroys jobs," quoted Joseph, before proceedin to slam into the offensive against "socialism" . William Whitelaw differentiated between good and bad points of Wilson's policy, stating confidently clearly that «When they are pursuing socialist measures we shall do everything in our power to defeat them."

But conspicuous also was the call for "worker participation" schemes put forward by Tory Peter Walker, stressing the imp-