Socialist Press no. 2

BEHIND THATCHER "COUNTER REVOLUTION"

TORIES PREPARE

SOCIALIST

PRESS *

The sharp turn to the right in the Tory Party rep- resented by Margaret Thatcher's election as Tory Party leader is an important stage in the preparations the Tory Party are making to take on and defeat the working class when they return to power.

These changes are in response to Governor of California, at the head.

the new situation created by rising Speaking last Saturday Reagan cal- unemployment, short time working, led for a new right wing party if the "liberal" wing of the Repub- plant closures, speed up and redun- dancies which arise out of the world lican Party cannot be quickly crisis of the capitalist system and "purged". He said Americans are which are being carried out under a "hungry once more for a sense of Labour government. mission and greatness". Tory MP Angus Maude, writing it the Sunday Express, put it this way:

MISSION

"I see these events not as a revolu- tion but as a counter-revolution - Joseph speaking recently in simi- the beginning of a sustained cam- paign to halt and reverse the march lar vein to Reagan said "there is a huge evangelical job to be done" For this campaign I OT SO CIa LAM. have no doubt the Tories have pick- There is no doubt that Joseph stands firmly behind the Thatcher• ed the right leader. This is a development from the front. Joseph is the chairman of moves last autumn when a group of the recently formed right wing grouping Centre for Policy Stirdies - Tory MPs including Angus Maude and Airey Neave (Thatcher's cam- the vice chairman is Thatcher.

In a TV speech on January 28th paign manager) began a campaign Joseph said Thatcher would under- for a force of volunteers to aid the police. write his speech completely.

But the preparations of the Tories Joseph has been working for some are first and foremost an ideologi- time to provide the ideological and theoretical base for a right wing cal preparation, a struggle to resolve movement. In a speech to the the crisis of leadership within the ruling class itself, and win around he said "I began my campaign for and whip up forces from the middle class against the working class.

. He went on capitalism in June to say that the Tory party should "leave the defensive

'LAW AND ORDER'

In order to rally round sections of the middle class, who feel their Issues around which they are existence threatened both by big active are 'law and order', the anti- business and by the organised wor- abortion campaign, defence of king class, Thatcher last Monday private senools, pavale mealcie, addressed a mass ralv of smal opposition to comprehensive edu- businessmen in Central Hall West- cation, the 'Festival of Light' cam- minster, bidding for the leadership paign, and similar middle class of their revolt over rates and taxes In speaking against a call at the What forces the Tories to turn to rally for a march on Parliament, whipping up these layers is the Mr. Lesley Seeney, Director Gene- political crisis produced by the ral of the 350,000 strong National forward movement of the working Chamber of Trade, shouted above class internationally reaching its the uproar: "If we break the law sharpest point in Britain with the now we are no better than the removal of the Heath government people we are attacking. Don't by the miners in February 1974.

parade yourselves like a lot of This decisive turn to the right trade unionists. ends all talk of coalitions.

In a speech on January 26th, Sir

'MARXISTS'

Keith Joseph called for a Bill of Rights, "to protect individuals against politicans and bureaucrats".

This development, alongsie the He went on: "Once the state can attacks on Labour leaders as 'Marx- take away your property, your ists' - now levelled by a number home and your income, make you of Tory spokesmen - are reminis- dependent on the kind of health cent of the early stages of the capi- service you receive, how your chil- talist preparations in Chile prior dren will be educated... your to the counter revolution, which home and your income, make you brought down the 'socialist' govern» Powell in the Shadow Cabinet"for dependent on them for the kind ment of Allende. of health service you receive, how He is pressing Thatcher for the your children will be educated......

key shadow chancellor position and for the decisive voice in Tory

HOAAT 1A10 01 0090 A

will be in danger too." policy making. His determination This is the world crisis, and the te take on the working class using same problems are posed for capi- talism internationally. In the Uni- weapon is clear. ted States the right wing emerges On January 10th he condemned in a similar way, with Reagan, ex- the Labour government's Santa Keith Joseph Claus' policy of bailing out ailing giants of industry "whilst subsidi- sing the unviable, the overmanned and the undermanaged." He said his policy would "slim" the com- panies that were over manned; there was no substitute for restor- ing profitability. The temptation to reflate must be resisted.

Joseph went on to put the follow- ing points of policy: Company tax must be cut, last year's tax repaid and companies allowed to draw their accounts 2., to cure "inflation-blind taxation". home pay produced by the deal according to the real value of mon Removal of price controls.

3. Cuts in government spending and increases in indirect taxation He called for an economy based on free enterprise with prices vary- ing to meet market conditions, with firms disciplined by competition and bankruptcy and rewarded by profits. This has for a long time been the position of Powell.

Powell has shown that he under- stands this change. When asked re- cently if he was moving closer to the Tory Party he replied that the Tory Party was moving closer to Thatcher, on World In Action' on February 3rd said only that she does not see a place for Enoch the present". There is no doubt that the elect- ion of Thatcher is the prelide to big class struggles. Every employer is strengthened by this move to the right. In the factories the big employers feeling the new strength of leadership are hardening their aluludes and moving on to tne •offensive with redundancies, speed

FORTNIGHTLY PAPER OF THE

WORKERS SOCIALIST LEAGUE

NO 2 * 20th FEBRUARY 1975 * 10p

BY THE

EDITORIAL

BOARD

up and victimisations held back over une recent penoa At the same time that the ruling class prepare for class battle the trade union leaders stoop to ever greater depths of class compromise.

Dennis Healey, who has said that workers must accept a substantial- ly lower standard of living or face mass unemployment is able to back up his position by saying that Jack Jones - "The leader of one of our great trade unions was war- ning nis memders last autumn ludl it was no good pressing for enor- mous wage increases at the cost of bankrupting the firm which gave them work. This is an exact parellel with the statement of Alan Fisher "left" leader or Nurt wno sald. "if all this money is paid out in large wage settlements, I very much feel that what we are going •to see in the next budget is a heavy increase in taxes "This is going to damp down the home market and the economy, and consequently we are going to see a large increase in unemploy- ment'

RETREAT

The same retreat is shown by the NUM leaders who have agreed to recommend a deal which will mean a cut in real wages in the pits The deal is paraded as a 'victory and a 'breach of the social con- tract, and many miners are con- fused by this talk, but the fact remains that the additional take- is substantialv less than an inta- tion rate which could well exceed 25% this year. But the biggest betrayal is that the deal is recommended with no sliding scale of wages clause - or even the previous threshold agree- ment. It is now clear that any settlement. even it the lump sum exceeds the rate of inflation, can • be eaten away in a few short mon- ths by the current soaring prices if it is: not protected by a sliding scale of wages clause to compensate in full for the rising cost of living, on figures worked out by trade union committees. Gormley's betrayal is backed up by McGahey of the Communist Party who cynically talks of this as an 'interim deal' and of a "threshold deal' at some time in the future, in order to obtain ac- ceptance. The Workers Socialist League will campaign in the pits for the rejec- tion of the deal on the basis that continued on back page, col 1

NUT

LEADERS

BETRAY

Disciplinary action by their school governors is to be taken against five London teachers who took time off work to support the TUC of Parliament on Jan lobby 14th calling for the release of the Shrewsbury Two. One of the teachers is secretary of Hackney Trades Council, and all were taking part in an officia action called by the TUC, yet the NUT Executive has already stat- ed it will not defend them again- st discipline. This acceptance of the employ er's offensive links in with the NUT's refusal to fight the cut- backs in education spending, despite the enormous support that can be won on such an issue.

In Aylesbury on Friday 14th February 1,000 teachers, parents and trade unionists demonstrated in the Market Square against spending-cuts of £3,500,000 in Buckinghamshire Yet all a succession of trade.

union speakers could say was that the local rates should be increased in order to make up fos the government cuts. Thus the NUT leadership along with the other teaching unions.

is presiding over a massive ons- aught on education, with staff- ing cuts and an all-round drop in standards now inevitable as inflation combines with govern-

NICH CULS

SALARIES

At the same time they have refused to fight to defend their members' living standards, and accepted at the Special Salaries Conference on January 25th the • Houghton report on teachers pay. This gives heads increases of f40 per week - more than the new ve Jy rate of pay I01 teaches. who get only a 24.30 g per week increase The WL put out a leaflet in lobbying the Salaries Conter ence, calling not only for a f15 across the board increase, but also for a clause in the agreement linking salaries to the rising cost of living The leaflet also called for ed- continued on back page, col 5

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SOCIALIST PRESS, Thursday, 20th February 1975

THE OIL CRISIS

Lebanon, Syria Egypt Saudi Arabia Sudan S. Yemen, Ethiopia One of the many important effects of the international oil crisis has been on the poli- tical and social developments in the oil producing areas of the Middle East. Although the oil industry itself reeds few workers, its expansion nas an enormous enect on une national economies of the region, and has done much in recent mon- ths to sharpen the national libera- tion struggles going on at the fringe of the oi producing word.

The politics and economics of the area are now dominated by the ettorts of the internatiore monopolies and their impe:a.3: oackers to nola ten coston.

the quicksands of the internationai payments crisis, and in the face of Arab capitalism. Hal as oile The capitalist press sets out con- sciously to obscure the lact that the Arab countries and their neigh bours are not simply inhabited by 'sheikhs and "terrorists' but re- flect in their own way the same class contradictions to be tound in the richer capitalist countries.

In many different parts of the area, bloody and bitter struggles are going on whose fate is intima- workers in Britain and elsewhere in the Western world. The Palestinian struggle, and the threat it has posed not only to the Zionists but also to pro-imperialist regimes throughout the Arab world, has provided inspiration for the development of many other natio- nai liberation movements through- out the area. Like the Palestinian struggle itself, movements can be confined to the borders of one country, not least because they quickly come into conflict with the strategic interests of imperialism While Kissinger tours Arab capi- tals in an effort to get them to come into line politically, he and orners make l plain tnal the unl- ted States is again prepared to con- sider intervention in the area, as they did through the CIA in estab- lishing the present regime in Iran in 1953, and in 1957 by sending the marines to the Lebanon to end threats to the oil companies.

listsy whe plea of the teedmperia- the area would need the parl. pation of the British govern- ment. The United States now are not only demanding the joint use of the island of Masiri, which is an RAF base, but also of the Omani- held Messendam Peninsula, which commands the entry to the Ara- bian Gulf, and is passed by the tankers containing a large propor- tion of the world's oil supply.

The state of Oman, which con- tains a small but significant amount of oil, was ruled until 1970 by the siave-owning Sultan bin Taimur, one ot the most reactionarv and back ward rulers in the world.

In 1966 a guerrilla struggle against" im began in the Western province i Dhotar under the OTHER SIDE OF we Alan Clinton United Aral losendam Emirates Peninsular Masira Island Dhofar Indian Ocean 500 mls leadership of what came to be known as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Occupied Arab Gulf. The growing success of this movement led to the overthrow of the Sultan and his replacement by his Sandhurst-trained son Qabus.

The state of Oman is a British Members of the Cabinet colony. are also supposed to be officers in the British army. British companies, notably such well-known anti-trade union firms as George Wimpey and Tailor Woodrow have been at the centre of the capitalist development of •he courer since 1970. mostil wading military installations and The army has teer cur F3aies. •i ocer: who are either si members of the British army, or ex-members lighting as mercenar 1Cs. Despite continual claims to the contrary, the bombing of herds and water holes by RAF planes did not defeat the Dhofari guerri- llas, who began to extend a whole system of schools and hospitals in the liberated areas of the coun try, (insitutions which had never been seen there before). By 28th January 1974 The Times said Oman was unable to continue to fight the war, at the same time as doing anything else with its national budget. This statement in tact appeared within a month of the invasion of Dhofar by the armed forces of the Shah of Iran, who had recently concluded the largest arms deal in history with the United States.

The significance of this invasion was two-fold. It indicated the failure of the British officers to hold back the rebels; and it showed that the United States, albeit at one re- move, was taking on the policing activities in cne bull. ine snan saw his invasion as defending the general interests of imperialism in the area. The liberation fighters during the course of 1974 pur up a bitter struggle against a new group of foreign invaders of Dhofar.

ding to Le Monde of 4th February, they have killed up to 50 a month of the 3000 odd Iranian soldiers sent against them. The question of how successful the Iranians have been is difficult The Times of 18th No- Lo assess vember, said of the Iranians that 'they have now all returned home' 1n1s was a lie. A communique from the liberation forces of 28th January admitted serious losses including important lines of com- munication. However, their strug gle goes on despite claims of the capitalist press of the West that it

IS VET

Whatever sei backs are suffered by those in the Middle East who are fighting for national freedon ind independence, +l growth of a working class brought about by the industrial development of the area foilowing on oil revenues will undoubtedly in the end pose the biggest threat of all to imperialism:

ONCE AGAIN

THE WIGAN

MARCH

The centrist politics of the Workers Revolutionary Party are wreaking terrible damage on their much-vaunted Wigan- London march, which is osten- sibly organised by the Wigan Building Workers Action Com- mittee. As the march entered Daventry on Saturdav its numbers had dwind- led to 30, with few building wor- kers in evidence and the numbers clearly boosted by WRP delegations.

The party leadership, which clear- ly hoped that jumping on the band- wagon of working class anger at the alling of the pickets would pull round some much needed trade union contacts, is discovering that this is not a magic key to a work- ing class base. "Socialist Press" in its last issue stated that it would have been pre- pared to give conditional support to the march even though disagree ing with the politics of the WRP - if it were genuinely a campaign to unite opposition to the jailing of trade unionists. We stated also that since trade unionists were being banned from meetings on the march this clearly was not the case.

We challenged the Wigan Committee to anwer why this took place.

There has been no response.

REVISIONIST SUPPORT

Only the revisionist IS and IMG now give the march a veneer of credibility, devoting substantial coverage to it in their press despite the obstacles put in their way by

:: URP

The IMG for example states in Red Weekly' ... all the forces of the revolu- tionary left have to give all-out support to the march." though they do recognise that: "The force behind the march are not going to welcome such action" In Oxford, it was IS members who called for support for the march from the Trades Council (there being no WRP delegates).

Yet the 'Workers Press' maintains firmly the position that the revisio- nists are really opposed to the march!

CHANGED POLICY

But it is on the basic question of policy that the WRP has performed the most blatant manoeuvre, so rapidly as to leave its own members confused. (see 'Workers Diary' p. 6) On the January 14th TUC Parlia- mentary lobby the WRP distribu- ted only one leaflet, in the name of the 'Wigan Builders' Action Committee', which did not ever call for a General Strike, but de- manded solely: "Free the Shrewsbury 2! Defend Democratic rights! The Workers Socialist League alone on the march leafletted and shouted slogans calling on the left Ps to fight to remove Jenkins lome Secretary, and led the ca.

for a General Strike. The WRP maintained its positior if not putting any demands on the left MPs until last Saturday (8th Feb) when they adopted, withou a work of explanation of the switch our slogan. Worse, however, they combined it with a fanfare of welcome for Sidney Bid well, opportunist "Tribu- neite' fake left, who voted for Jenkins' so-called anti-terrorism Act, onto the Wigan-London pro- Thus the slogan 'make test march! the left fight' is printed in the paper but in a way which makes it mean- ingless. This resolution was passed at the Charing Cross Branch of ASTMS on Wednesday February 12th: "Branch supports the march of the Wigan Builders Action Com- Page 3

WHAT IS THE

WORKERS SOCIALIST

LEAGUE?

The Workers Socialist League was formed on December 22nd after over 200 members were expelled from the Wor- kers Revolutionary Party.

The reason for the expulsions was that Alan Thornett, who was at the time a Central Committee member of the WRP, set out to bring about a discussion within that party on the wrong positions being taken by the Healy leadership and the Workers Press.

The issues were first raised on the Central Committee, and that com mittee agreed to circulate a document written by comrade Thornett, containing a statement of his differenoes, and to arrange a "full and free. discussion within the party prior to the first annual conference That free discussion never took place. Anyone who in any way sup- ported the document was expelled.

This split was a product of particular political conditions.

The ra- ¡pid development of the economic crisis and the forward movement of the working class all over the world produced the conditions to Yet it was precisely in this period that build revolutionary parties.

the WRP began to decline in all its areas of work. It was this decline more than any other factor which raised questions which led to an examination of the political positions of the WRP leadership and to Alan Thornett's documents.

As the split emerged, the sectarianism of the WRP, its departure from the Transitional Programme, and the way its maximum programme isolates the WRP from the working class became clear. To understand the response to comrade Thornett's document in the WRP it is necessary to recognise the period we are now in.

The defence of jobs through the fight for the sliding scale of hours without loss of pay; the defence of living standards through the tight for the sliding scale of wages related to rising prices; the challenging of the employer and the preparation of the struggle for power by the fight to open the books and establish workers control in the fight for nationalisation under workers' management; are now called for in this situation in the form of a programme of transitional demands which will form a bridge between the present consciousness and Yet the struggles of the working class to the need to take power.

WRP right up to the opening of the discussion by comrade Thornett had never seriously fought for any of these demands.

Instead it re- stricted itselt to the sterile maximum demand "nationalise the econo- my without compensation under workers control" The impossibility of any kind of opposition within the WRP forced us to found the Workers Socialist League as an independent organi sation which will maintain and fight to develop the traditions and principles of Trotskyism We will continue to maintain a critique of the WRP leadership, but most important for us is our ability to brea' from WRP method and turn to recruiting and training the new forces thrown into the struggle in this period - trade unionists, professional workers, housewives, students and youth - in the fight to construct the new party. We will fight against all forms of revisionism - state capitalism and the Pabloite revisionists of the IMG, against stalinism and reformism.

Already it is clear that: our: struggles for Trotskyism in Britain take lace under conditions which aust create similar splits and discu sions throughout the world.

will soon be able to play an important role in the strengthening of the Trotskyist Fourth International and the development of revolu tionary parties in every country to fight capitalism.

Only five weeks after forming the League we were able to assemble the necessary political, editorial and material resources to begin regu- We are certain we can win lar publication of a Trotskyist newspaper.

a big response and very rapidly go forward to a weekly paper as the organiser of a movement of considerable political strength.

I would like more information about the

WORKERS SOCIALIST LEAGUE

Name.... Address..

SOCIALIST PRESS

6 Issues... ....84p ...£1.68p 12 Issues.. 24 Issues... ...$3.36p COMPLETE THE AND SEND TRe.

I would like to take out a subscription to SOCIALIST PRES I would like.. .....subscription Name... Address port in "Socialist Press" of Feb- mittee against the jailing of the ruary 6th, that trade unionists were Shrewsbury pickets Warren and Tomlinson, and resolves to send excluded from its public meeting in London on January 14th is cor- a branch delegation, with banner to its rally in Trafalgar Square.

rect, and, if so, what justification there was for this. "Branch also requests the Secre- four Not members sed with in.

ry to write to the Wigan Build tion Committee asking if the

The WRP school of Page 4 Since its fondation in 1938, in opposition to the international betrayals of Stalinism, the Trotskyist Fourth International has al- ways been a living leadership.

Part of that life is the struggle to grasp objectively its own the Socialist nistory, with all its strengths and its limits. British section. As Trotskyists, we can never let pass falsifications and distortions of our own history That is why we take up im media- tely some of the central distortions contained in the Workers' Revolu- tionary Party four-volume so-called 'documentary history' *Trotskyism a split. versus Revisionism' (1974, edited by Cliff Slaughter) and the review later, by the of it (four months previously unheard-of "Richard Bryant') serialised in 'Workers Press' of January 31st to February 8th, 1975. Pablo. A fuller account will be published shortly by the Workers Socialist League, but some points must be laken up ai once.

REVISIONS

The key political crisis in the International developed between In 1951 the Third 1951 and 1953. World Congress adopted many of Michel Pablo's revisionist positions on Stalinism, with only the French leadership opposing him. Pablo's line, put simply, was that under pressure of class forces, the Stalinist bureaucracy could lead revolution- ary movements, and could reform itself. Bill Hunter, of the British SLL, was able in 1957 to summarise the essence of Pablo's revisionism Cannon. in this way: • Then in 1947-53 came the per- iod of the Cold War. The question was contantly posed: could we nation buld revolutionarv parties in time before war was upon us? During inis perioa certain prominent ina• ividuals in the Trotskyist move- ment, headed by a man named Pablo - under combined pressures of European Stalinism anc worla ing debate imperialism - began to revise and reject the fundamental principles criteria and method of analysis of' the Trotskyist movement. The Slaughter says: result of all this was a profoundly pessimistic world perspective and a false orientation based on a scep- tical ranonanzanon. ine wima ence and inevitability of the Third World War. This prognosis presum.- ed not only the organic incapacity of the American and Western Eur- opean working class to prevent such a war/and thereby dismissed its revolutionary potentialities) but conversely it also attributed to the imperialist bourgeois a po- wer, homogeneity and stability x/ill ) which it did not possess. Trotsky's prognosis of Socialism or Barbar- ism was consequently replaced with the Pabloite schema of Bar- varism first, Socialism afterwards.

Pablo developed the theory that the French. ince the next war would be again- si the Soviet Union, it would by ts very nature be transformed on to Pablo trom Healy or the almost immediately into an inter- British leadership before a (confi- national civil war. Under these dential) letter to Cannon of May conditions, so the argument went 27th 1953. the Stalinist parties would move to the left and in certain circum-

SUPPRESSED

stances could be expected to take the power as has happened in Eas• This seems bad enough - but tern Europe and China." (Trotskyism v Revisionism Vol 3, there is worse distortion, since the four-volume series deliberately page 3, emphasis added) suppresses at least one letter written by Healy in February 1953 which

EXPULSIUNS

not only supports the politics of Pablo, but also the expulsion of the Early in 1952 Pablo bureaucratic- Freach, and describes Pablo as the ally expelled the leadership and best international secretary the majority of the French section International had ever had!

when they refused to follow his Since the WRP is too embarassed directive to liquidate the Trotskyist party by "deep entry" into the Stalinist Communist Party.

Pablo was supported to the full in this by both James Cannon and : Workers' Party leader- ship in the USA, and by Gerry Healy in the leadership of the Only in the autumn of 1953, after it had become clear that Pablo was supporting a faction (the Cochran- Clarke faction) within the SWP, did Healy and Cannon take up a politi- cal struggle against Pablo.

This struggle very soon resulted in Following the famous (Open Letter' of the SWP leadership (Nov- ember 16th, 1953), Cannon, Healy and Lambert (leader of the expelled French majority) came together to form the International Committee of the Fourth International against The International Committee, therefore, although it was based on a wholly principled opposition to Pablo's liquidationism, had also great weaknesses (some of whic!

are only now coming to the surface!)

It did not come out of a thorough and developed theoretical struggle within the world movement, and to reprint this letter, it was left to two of its main leaders (Healy and the degenerated SWP to print it in Cannon) had supported Pablo al- their selection of documents on most up to the last minute.

the split. Appropriately, they group it to-

DISTORTION

gether with the documents written by supporters of Pablo (the Inter- How do Cliff Slaughter and 'Richard Bryant' deal with this cru- those of the future International cial period? They try to prove that Committee. Gerry Healy and the British majo- We reproduce it here in full: rity were essentially right all along, and that the real blame lay with danale wallcs. 'From the start the British section Dear Morris, Farrell and Joe, viewed the struggle as the organic Please excuse my delay ın com- expression of conflicting class in- menting on your recent letter terests within the Fourth Inter- which M. showed me nele was Tol d seen the letter from E.G. & P. to trace of idealism in this attitude you and in addition it has been which was totally opposed to possible for me to discuss with treating the oppositon aamınıs® them on the spot. tratively, as a conspiracy, or to ever, is purely personal, although any propagandistic view of the John expressed himself in agree- factional struggle as a point scor- ment with the general line I take.

'Trotskyism versus From your letter and minutes, Revisionism', Vol. 1, p.xiv) the situation appears extremely Of Cannon, on the other hand, sharp. What is abundantly clear is that the SWP leaders were only too eager to get an unprincipled com- promise with Pablo based on a re- while definition of Stalinism .

allowing Pablo a free hand in Eur- ope to liquidate the Trotskyist movement into a Stalinist milieu.'

(Vol. 1, p.xix) Cannon's support for the expul- sion of the French majority Slaughter calls 'two-faced and in- credibly unprincipled' (Vol.1, Yet neither in Slaughter's volumes nor Bryant's review is there one single mention of the fact that Gerry Healy, as a member of the international leadership in 1952 also backed Pablo's expulsion of In fact Slaughter is unable, in the whole four volumes, to quote a single word of oppositi-

FALSIFICATION

ences of such things count for no- thing. On occasions such as this we must bring all our thoughts to bear upon the overall picture of our world movement. lem is not simply Cochran - all sorts of questions can be posed, with serious consequences for our whole work. First, the war seems to be getting Since the end of the very nedi. last one, our sections in Western Europe have had a rough time, splits and sharp internal fights have taken a severe toll, both in England and France. In other countries, lack of cadres has held us back considerably. Over the Healy: suppressed letter on "nearness of war" past year, it is my distinct impres- sion that the picture on an overall scale has distinctly improved (de- spite the PCI split). Some very serious work in the mass move- ments is being done now, and in France in particular. wantsfo get on with the job and national Secretariat), and not with the nearness of the war adds to their determination. My first feeling, therefore, is one of extreme worry - are we threat- ened with another international London split? If so we must avoid it at all Feb. 19,1953 costs. Our movement must not go into the war, smashed up and divided. Please do not misunderstand me.

I have also I am for the fullest political clari- fication - this is basic, but it is not wrong to consider all things an objective way before the This letter, how- fight starts. .ns s e worst dus sible time for yourselves and the international. It is not 1939. The steady activity of the Secretariat has co-ordinated and guided our work to a semblance of world or- Something big is coming up the line - or all our past experi- ganisation entirely unknown then.

Whatever happens with you will have almost instantaneous reper- cussions over the most important countties. Let me add one thing more.

fully aware that our secretariat has some defects, but it is the best - the very best we have ever had.

Their letter to you, is not too good. tically is O.K., but there was no need for a sermon on Stalinism.

The line is what is important.

There is agreement to support the SWP against a propaganda orienta- tion towards Stalinism, agreement on the line of the 3ra Congress - these are the things which are most important. (empha- sis added) So far as we are con cerned here, we will stand firm on these two blanks. Stalin SOCIALIST PRESS Thursday, 20th Februar: 19"3 I realise that there may be some comrades in your majority who oppose the 3rd Congress resolution on Stalinism. That is a complicat- ion. Negativism on this point The prob- could very well feed people in the Cochran camp who may be dither ing about on the Stalinist issue.

We must have clarity all round, no matter whose toes may be trodden on. For instance: S. (Sam Gordon) here took it upon himself to bring to G's notice that he opposes the 3rd Congress on Stalinism. O.K., but it is not our line and we should certainly defend the 'line of the international if called upon to do SO. y backed Pablo Cannoni til late 1953 It is absolutely necessary to pro- ceed as cautiously as possible (1 know you are doing your best) be- cause we do not wish to have a split on our still very weak inter- national movement. Best wishes, Everyone 29 Jerry

INVOLVED

Notice Healy uses the term "PCI split" to refer to France - whilst having been personally involved in carrying out the expulsion of the maiority of that section.

Healy seemed blind to the im- His May pact of these actions. 1953 leiter, mildly critical ot Pablo, says, for instance: "Pablo suffers badly from isolati- That French move- on in Paris. ment is a 'killer". It really is im- possible to hold an international centre together when you have no national section to help it.'

(Vol. 1, p. 113) What Slaughter and Bryant want at all costs to conceal is that Healy had backed Pablo (and Cannon) in 'killing' 'that French movement' through bureaucratic abuse before, only to reunite with the so-called "k'illers' six months later.

1 am Bryant's review, rather more so- phisticated than Slaughter's intro- duction, attempts the impossible he seeks to prove that Healy analy- in my opinion, sed and fought Pablo's revisionism What it says poli- before the SWP leadership and Cannon. He tries, therefore to quote from Healy's scanty and non- political letters. The one quote he manages is it- self a brazen distortion and an at- tack on Marxism. "The distortion is that he omits the sentence imme- diately following his quote which says the very opposite of what is The omitted implied in the review. words are here italicised:

SOCIALIST PRESS Thursday, 20th February 1975 "The trouble with Pablo, Jim, is that he is a little disappointed with our terrible struggle to build however, that he has been at the gress has been made over the post- (Penguin 1975, 95p) Healy was sharply critical of Pablo!

The Labour Party and the CIA The attack on Marxism emerges as Bryant, desperate to find some attributes Pablo's opportunist capi- ing programme for CIA agents tulation to Stalinism and whole- has given His official sanction sale revision of Marxism to his sub- •... this impatience with the con- gence in Philip Agee's grip- of the Marxist method.' perialism's Central Intelli- Pablo's impatience? Or does Bryant want us to believe that moods and budget and employs its consciousness aclermme mstory, as Mr. Agee worked for the CIA in a quotation from Healy, not from 1953 (the time of the split) but from 1966 (a mere 13 years later!), oi a diary based on memory anc • both gives a detailed "This retrospective judgement of light on its world-wide activit.

'The President of Mexico, Luis the heated activity of the months cheverria worked in the closest

IS WIRELCH

The CIA was regularly advising 1957 - four years after the split, dreds of left-wing students on a tical attack on Pablo by a member demonstration in October 1968 Bryant's job however is to

"INFALLIBLE"

expensive) surveillence of 'hostile' ous ame evasions. Soviet'establishments and have of the WRP conference last Decem- up-reading! International is not to be cynically and it is the property of the whole liberation of the oppressed We shall defend the memory of James Cannon against fabrications.

And we shall defend the principled opposition built by Cannon, Healy the ruling class "What does this power con- sist of? It consists of special face the leadership of the WRP.

Will they now publish the essenti- relating to the expulsion of the Lenin; State and Revolution pudiate the distortions of "Trots- of workers retust 1952): "Our workers cannot Pollitt or Stalin. They to have a clear understand- mine of Wed. January 29th, reprinted ations. CIA-nide ices. Hundreds of foriegn police Police Academy in Washington Enormous effort and funds go ion of left-wing political organis ations against the Communist Party of Ecuador. At one time its eight man Political Bureau cont- ained no less than threeCIA agents!

What emerges from the book is assassinations, fake trade unions, and all manner of espionage and some of the people and organis- Young Men's Christian Association Though Mr. Agee's standpoint is and peace', this cannot disguise the importance (and courageous the CIA and expose their methods.

He retains the exact, heutral' style el-revolution His detailed, factual narrative press over official revelations the province of the FBI ign Vice-President Rockerfeller second world war reflects the fäct that the USA, as the leading imp- cent wave of CIA 'resignations' was that of James Angleton, Dir-

BODIES OF ARMED MEN

the Marxist understanding of the is about the demonstrations by Germany. These movements are which in 1968 brought about a that members of left-wing parties are being prevented from being "training" is inadequate, and not enough "real combatant courses" ording to the CP, must be trained going to fight? The army of the ector of Counter-Espionage, who came to London to be trained by British Intelligence in the latter part of the war. His rise to the too reflected the conversion of the pre-war intelligence services from small teams of ingenious amatuers to the vast standardised bureaucracythat is today's CIA

SHAKE-UP

Angleton himself was one of the main CIA figures pressing for a thorough shake-up of British Int- elligence over the Burgess-M clean- Philby fiasco in 1951. A fanatical cold-war warrior from the begin-

CENTRAL

LENTED STATE ON

ning, his counter-Espionage Div- ision is licenced by its role to con- duct spying operations against 'alien' organisations in the US it- self, and was therefore the obvious section to pry into the affairs of American citizens suspected of left-wing or radical sympathies.

As Miles Copeland - unofficial 'expert' on the CIA - has pointed out (in the Times of January 11th) the 10,000 names already admitt- ed are only the tip of the iceberg.

Not all CIA activities involve given tasks which have nothing to a little more blunt he would say force, and the "nation" it is de- Not content, however, with de- ment of the Armed Forces Move- Page 5 The Radical Research Services pamphlet on The Labour Party and the CIA (based on an article supressed by the editor of The Sunday Times) shows how tens of millions of CIA dollars have been channelled since the war to support anti communist political groupings and publications in the European Social Democratic par- LIes

RIGHT WING LABOUR

Leading right-wing Labour Party men, includingDenis Healey (Chancellor of the Exchequer) Anthony Crosland, Dick Taverne (leader of the right-wing break- away from the Labour Party)and Gaitskell himself, have been heav lly involved in magazines, such as Encounter and Socialist Comm- entry financed by such bodies as the CIA's 'Congress for Cultural Freedom' As even Michael Foot remarked when Gaitskell attacked in 1960 as being a Communist Party fellow-traveller, 'But who are they travelling with?'

INTELLIGENCE

AGENCY

AMERICA!

Both these publications - and especially Philip Agee's book - are of real value. They must be used to arm and build a revolut- ionary leadership in the working class, ready to deal with all the vicious and devious methods used by the protectors of imperialism. reviewed by

ADAM

WESTOBY

"The British Road to Socialism" vice and diplomatic services are loyal to the Socialist Government"' arms bill and for only the with.

drawal "to their barracks" of the ment of the 4th International, army of a peoples militia, indiss- are the basic nuclei of the prolet- . This is our point of ation, it is imperative to propagate of creating workers'

Workers Diary

KIDS' STUFF

Are you concerned acout what your baby might be put- ting in his (or her) mouth?

You won't find out from the two biggest US baby-food manu- facturers, Gerber and Heinz.

ines have turned down repeated re- quests from an American research team to reveal the ingredients in their main products. 'The formulation of products in a highly competitive business is privileged information and I think this is as true in the food industry as in any other industry', said a spokesman for Gerber. The researchers claim that many baby-foods are padded-out with sugar and modited starches which disguise their high water vitamins and minerals are elimina- ted in processing. Flavouring is designed to increase appeal to mothers - the babies themseives not being articulate unough to influence marketing policy. One frequent additive is sodiam nitrite - known to be linked to the occurence of cancer in animals The tight-lipped Gerher spokes- man denlea nis lin was moll- vated by commercial rather than nutritional interests'. But (reassuringly for shareho!- ders) he added 'We have been in the baby business for 28 years.

We say it's time to open both the hones and the bottles.

AFTER SALES SERVICE

The American car giarts seem to have entered a new area of competition that of who can produce the biggest laugh in the history of capitalism's blunders. At present Chevrolet is lookins like a sure winner with its latest model the Monza, developed al inassive cost Ill grcal daste 1l1 a pathetic gamble that new models will lift the demand out of it's slump. Unfortunately for Chevrolet the designers did not have the time to consider such mundane tasks as changing the sparking plugs - tlic Lo remove them is by lifting out the whole engine with a Since this isn't yet a Chane dole standard feature of the American private garage, Chevrolet have been forced to agree to do the job - tree of charge every time.

CONFLICT OF OPPOSITES

G. Healy of the WRP has just produced an internal bulletin explaining 'philoso- phically' why all opposition and discusion within that party must be met by mass expulsions and suppression.

Yet there seem to be divisions ever within the pages of the Workers Press, 'organ' of the WRP.

On Thursday 13th February WP carrien a lengthy statement by Mick Farley of the Wigan Builders Action Committee, which includ- an this astounding passage: "It is not a question of 'replacing Roy Jenkins, as the revisionist have said. The question is replac- ing the Labour government with a socialist government that will repeal all anti-working class laws, release al ponncal prisoners.

nationalise the building industry without compensation and esta- " (ie a rev- blish workers control. olutionary government). Yet on page 2 Royston Bull, (obviausly in cahoots with Far- ley's 'revisionists') asks baffled caucio. "Is it not high time that Roy Jenkins was expelled from the Labour Purty......? Clearly the purges must continue even to the editorial board level in the WRP! What dominates this film is the hatred of the popula- tion of the Catolic areas in the North of Ireland for the

IRELAND BEHIND'THE WIRE

British imperialist army.

The film continuously returns to interviews which show this - FILM REVIEW by Tony Richardson irom a renublican woman who thought the first question had to The film shows the profusion: be to get rid of the British army ‹ comiuseo reeas unal dre cult- before you could think of Soc- ent in Ireland today, not least ialism - to the two torture victims.

¡hose of the producers them- interviewed who, even though The first Civil Rights pro- selves. ayoshowed great detennation: test movements, the rent strike movement, and the woman spea- and including the coachload of ker in 'Free Derry' ' who said : wives and other relations visiting •Y our first civil right is yOul internees. nutionality. If you can't call your- One wife told how her husband self Irish you have nothing." all had first been picked up, and an- of course bring ont the strength other told how her husband was and importance of national feel- first put on trial, found not guilty.

ings. then picked up and interned Yet this is inadequare to explain Vivid scenes of the RUC 'B' why British imperialism suppres- Special raids on the Bogside, the ses and divides the Irish people.

army (sent in by the Labour gov- Eamonn McCann shows his com- ernment) conducting continuons plete support for political spont- aneity, and on the question of the ularly brutal scene filmed in clo- ence ene a de can se un where a man reluses to be say is: "You are now dealing with led off and in beaten with clubs a community which understands as he bes on tne ground, is aragg?!

that when it remains together it by the hair, and finaily hauled isive effect on what con hace e away, together with scenes of happens to it". Bloody Sunday, rive some of the Th tis compliments the worship Mis hatred. background i.. of simple trade union militancy ind the refusal to fight for polit-

POLITICS AVOIDED

ical consciousness which is the main characteristic of the I.S. whi A long section of the film Jenlt have heen showing the film on with the 'Free Derry' experience tour. (In introducing it they con- and it is clear that the producirs veniently forget that they suppor- of the film very much idealise tel the troops being sent in by the 'liberation' of 880 acres ai Wilson in 1969). The film is thus 20,000 people.

THE MYTH OF CO-OPERATIVES

general average in the area The closure of the Imperial In other words, in order to make Typewriters factories at Hull itself 'viable', the co-op was forced and Leicester will bring fur- despite the absence of individual ther unemployment and dis- capitalist owners, to carry out capi- talist policies: wage cuts and re- ruption to the lives of workers aunaarcies in these cities if it is allowed It is vital to understand why this In Hull, the clo- to go ahead. kind of result is inevitable for wor- sure of the IT factory will add ker co-ops. 20% to an already above aver-

DEPRESSION

age unemployment rate. The situation facing the IT wor- The capitalist, as Marx pointed kers repeats that facing thousands out, is only the carrier and the per- of other workers especially in Steel sonier et the capitalist relations and the car industry. The physical ab- As a resul of production. of the inability of the capitalist sence of the capitalist in a parti- ecinomy to meet the needs of the cular case does nothing to annul working class, sections of workers those relations. have begun to raise the question At a time of increasing world eco- of the working class itsell taking nomic depression, the laws of capi- over the management of product- talist production dictate wage cuts, 10n. redundancies and speed-up as in- Such questions however are posed, dividual firms compete ruthlessly initially, from within the existing or the diminishing mass of surplus reformist traditions of the working alue and profit. class, and for this reason take the "he Hull 'social audit' does not existing capitalist relations of pro- st. t from these facts, but starts duction for granted. from the standpoint of 'good' ver- su bad management

'LEFT' UTOPIANS

bitrary and remote decision - making combined with trequent This fact is of course seized upon and unpredictable switches of by the reformist leadership, espe- production programmes and a cially through its 'left' face: Benn and his Wedgewood Benn. security were the constant ex- left talkers seek to steer the rising perience under Litton in Hull.".

resistance of workers to the capi- All this is no doubt true.

But the talist crisis into all sorts ol sale report suggests that the release of utopian adventures in 'industrial 'hitherto untapped resources of democracy', and even more radi- human motivation and worker par- cally sounding, 'workers' co-opera- ticipation in management and per- tives. formance" could somehow over- Such tactics as these have one come the objective development aim: to subordinate the working of the world capitalist crisis!

class to the need ot capitalism in this period for wage cuts and un-

PROFITABILITY

employment, while appearing to tight them The report is concerned to ques- The unions involved in the Hull tion whether the piant is "inévita- bly loss making" In other words lactory or li navecalreduy puo- lished a 'social audit'. This has the purpose which these "untapped been presented to Benn in an at- resources" are to serve is boosting tempt to prove that the factory profitability. And in concitions could form a viable basis for of capitalist slump it is inevitable that the restoration of profitability continuing production in the form of a workers' co-operative.

involves speed-up, wage cut and Before rushing into such dan- redundancy gerous diversions, IT workers This is absolutely clear if the pro- would do well to consider what blem of markets is considered. As has actually happened at previous dong ds caplals production 1e examples of such schemes.

Des- mains predominant in the world pite the struggle involved, tor economy the IT 'co-op' would be example, to set up the motor forced to make money sufficient cycle co-op at Meriden, the end to pay their own wages, replace result was in tact very simular to worn plant and purchase raw mate- that which a capitalist manage- rials on the market at rapidly rising ment would have aimed at.

prices. The labour force was halved from To do this, IT workers would have 1750 to 870, all demarcation was to be assured a market for their But the capitalist ended. and wages are at a liat rate tvnewriters. of £50 a week - lower than the world economy is now entering its hankrupt of political perspective to resolve the problems it exposes The commentary on the film shows how this avoidance of pol- itics and general confusion can lead to a reactionary position They were unable to film in the Protestant areas, and the only mentions of the Protestant work- ing class are when one woman says that some of the siums in Protestant areas are as bad as the Catholic ones, and when the con- mentators in winding up the film say: "The Protestant community is beginning to learn what the British government is" to link up the reactiona y bourg- eois-led Ulster Workers Council "Strike with the fight of the Civil Rights movement SELf-- DETERMIVATION One thing that is brought out clearly is thet for the revolution ary movement in Britain it b more than just a question of see ing Ireland as a 'treinire proand for repression in Tritain We have to support the right of the people of Ire'ind to self-deter the British army mination, which has been sent over to prevent.

The fight in Ircland can only be succes fil if fought for with the most serious slump since the 1930's Production is falling and unemploy This leads to ment is increasing. massive reductions in purchasing power of both capitalists and wor- kers and so a fall in demand for production including typewriters.

The volume of sales tor typewriters Britain alone fell by 1/5 during 1974. This is precisely why Litton Indus- tries decided to ciose down IT in the first place: it was no longer pro- fitable.

SPEED UP

If IT is to be reopened as a pro fitable concern, even if under the regime of a workers co-operative, this car only nicar tost the pro- ductivity and the intersity of la- hour in the tactorv ha. increasec as a result of speed-up ind the re- placement of some wori ers by machinery together with a cut in the wage bill. It is precisely by such methods as these thr. individual capitalist firms seek to reduce the labour time content of the finished pro- duct in order to sell it in a shrink- ing woria mainei ai a price mar ginally below their competitor's.

There is no other course open to IT if it is to remain 'viable' in a caritalist economy. in the last analysis the Hull report openly admits that it has no strate- gy to detena the i1 workers "We do not underestimate the difficuities in maintaining pro- duction in the current curcum- stances of economic recession We are aware for example that we can do little to prevent the cyclical decline of the Us market . but we assume that the re- cession, however severe, is tempo- rary and urge the gover ment to ask itself whether when the re- covery occurs it would be desir- so vulnerable to imports" (emphasis added) In other words in the final analy- sis all IT workers can do is to bury their heads in the sand and await the passing of the recession!

The workers at IT and all ovel the capitalist world, are looking for a policy not for atter the re- cession but for now to defend their living standards.

PROGRAMME

The WSL therefore rejects com- pletely as a diversion the strategy hese utopian schemes can lea : to nothing but defeat and demoralisation.

The starting point has to be the SOCIALIST PRESS, Thursday, 20th February 1975 working class at its head. The fight for leadership in the work- ing class must be carried through against all the confused ideas shown in this film. The will to fight is clearly present, but can only reach its full potential with a Marxist leadership as a part of the Fourth International fighting for a United Socialist Ireland.

The film shows why in Britain we must fight not just for the end of internment, and not for 'Bills of Rights' to be passed through the British Parliament.

thus continuing colonial rule, (as proposed by the Stalinists of the Communist Party together with the reformists and liberals) but primarily for the complete with- crawai of the British imperialist ariny from Ireland and the end- ing of colonial rule.

DISBAND ARMY

The withdrawal of troops must ue combined with the demand io disband the standing army and replace it with a workers militia based on the trade unions.

The actions of the army recently, in driving lorries through picket lines and threatening pickets with guns make it clear that if this forcu is not dishanded then it will remain as a threat to the organ- ised working class in the coming struggles. The demand that Labour disb- and the army will divide socialists from the 'stop our boys getting killeid' brigade, and stresses the international class nature of this struggle. by John Lee leveiopment of an independent working class policy to meet the CrISIS On closure both the Leicester and Hull factories must be occupied and a regime of workers control established to prevent the owners from selling off machinery or Wor- separating the two tactories kers committees must be elected There must be no lay-offs.

The re-establishment of production at IT must be on the basis of division of the work available among the total worktorce with no reduction.

in pay Yet only in the context of a plan- ned economy can this demand be realised. Therefore as part of the struggle tor such a planned econo- we demand the nationalisation of TT under the management of the workers themselves The books of IT must be forced open by the lactory committees, and the figures exposed to show the case for nationalisation without compensation. Workers management is vital to prevent IT becoming subordinated to the needs of capitalist profita- bulity through the State.

STATE CONTRACTS

Furthermore we have seen only too clearly recently how the Labou government is prepared to subor- dinate the State sector to the de- mands of the capitalist market through the cut backs in social ser- vice and education expenditure and the threat of redundancies in the state steel industry Therefore an essential part of the struggle for effective nationalisation under workers' management is the demand for government finance and government contracts to maintain prouuction al ll All these demands mean workers must force a fundamental change in the policy of the Labour government.

The present reformist leadership of the Trade Unions and the Labour Party attempts through the social contract to subordinate the actions of the working class to the capitalist crisis. Those leaders who will not take up and fight for these demands must be driven out and replaced by The Editorial Board would wel- Icome readers comments and view: Lon this or any of the articles in "Socialist Press" Where possible letters will be published.

SOCIALIST PRESS, Thursday 20th February 1975 astms: The preliminary agenda for 'the annual conference of ASTMS, the white collar, and technicians union, shows that as far as the union member- ship is concerned, the econo- mic crisis, and particularly inflation, is now the dominant factor in shaping Union poli- cy. In the section devoted to general 'industrial affairs, a new 'Cost of • Living' subsection contains several motions calling for the establish- ment of threshold agreements to enable wages to keep up with in- flation. Clearly, the Tories' ploy to hold wages down, has now rebounded, and there is a strong more amongst Trade Unionists to establish auto- matic intlation-related increases in wages to defend against the soaring cost of living. It is also clear, however, that threshold agreements based on the Government's cost-of-living index are inadequate, since these under- estimate the true increases in the day-to-day expenses of the wor- king class. What is required here is a body established by the Trade Unions to establish their independent measure of the true rate of infla- tion, and wage agreements to be increased commensurate with this rate. By far the largest section of the agenda is devoted to political mo- tions, and amongst these there seems little confusion as to the role of the Labour Government's Social Contract. Motions from all areas condemn the contract, correctly linking it with wage cut- ting and attacks on living stand- ard is left to the Ellinburgh branch, however, to point out that ASTMS National Executive accept the contract and that no fight was put up against it at last year's TUC.

OCCUPATION

The mounting threat of factory closures and redundancies as the crisis deepens, is reflected in a number of calls for occupations of threatened factories as a step towards forcing their nationali- sation, and another Edinburgh motion insists that trade unions polists. must have access to the books of industry to establish the basis of workers control as a defence against closure. A decisive section of ASTMS membership lies amongst the technical and paramedical wor- kers in the National Health Ser- vice who show determination to defend the NHS in the face of in- flation and Government cuts.

Demands for an immediate in- this task. jection of capital into the NHS are linked by calls, such as the £ 500 monthly development fund The escalation of mass unemp- ut as the crisis bites deep

HOVI

into industry, driving the employ- ers to sackings and plant closures, has already demonstrated that an eight page fortnightly paper is in- adequate for the role which must be played by the WSL. We are therefore appealing to our readers for a £500 monthly dev- elopment fund to expand " Socialist Fress It is vital that the policies our paper fights for are read widely in Studios redundant. the workers movement as leader- Film Unio ship becomes the crucial question.

Donations should be sent to: Socialist Press, 11 Lower Basildon, Near Reading, Berks.

CONFERENCE

AGENDA

REFLECTS

ECONOMIC CRISIS

one from Oxford Health Service branch which wants elected com- mittees of Trade Unionists repre- senting NHS workers and other sections of workers to examine the day to day running of Area Health Authorities so that they may be best used for the benefit the building industry. of patients. This is linked to the need to abo.

lish private practice, a call taken up by most of the other NHS re- on the dole. Closely linked to the NHS cuts are those in the education sector.

Here the Government cuts are re- mer. sulting in a cut-back in the num- ber of technical, academic and administrative staff employed, with a consequent increase in job- load and productivity, as well as a fall in the number of students being trained. felt in working class areas by the shortage of both teachers and tea- ching materials. Branches in education are there- fore to be supported in their de- mands for restoration of the edu- cations cuts, and for further grants to meet the rising costs of

LEADERSHI!

But although many of the mo- tions are able to identify the pro- blems facing the working class un- der the impact of the economic crisis, and recognise that the Labour Government is acting (Jan 21st) against the interests of trade unions and their membership, few of them go beyond demanding that the leopard should change its spots.

sing basic rates. Without any programme for in- dependent action, the Union mem- bership is thus left in the hands of •hose who. actively or tacitly, sup port the Labour Government's at- loss of earninmo. tempis lo delena brillsn capital- ism at the expense of workers.

In ASTMS, it is now clear that must be linked to the continuing even the much vaunted 'left' General Secretary Clive Jenkins, union 'lump' labour. must be ranked amongst these staunch defenders of capital.

He has shown, in his recent co- habitation with extreme Tory, Enoch Powell, that his opposition to the Common Market has no- kers must demand that the books thing in common with defence of of the firms be opened to elected the working class against British and European capitalism, but, rather, with the defence of British of the building industry without monopolists against foreign mono- compensation will be proved In doing this Jenkins lines up not workers' jobs is the demand for a only with Powell, but also with the Stalinists of the British Com- munist Party, and the fascists of the National Front. cillors and MPs have voiced conc- To break workers from the grasp ern over the housing and home- lessness crisis - will this 'concern' of reformists like Jenkins is now the urgent task facing us, and a ever be transformed into action?

Increased finance must be made programme tor independent ac- tion of the working class is the available to Local Authorities to provide decent housing for all, to method by which we can achieve reverse the cuts in the school building programme and to build new hospitals urgently needed.

EMI

for last year has declared that the studio will be reduced to a skeleton staff of less than 50 - a tenth of the work-force three years ago.

Only the shameless retreat of the FFU bureaucrats could have made this new EMI offensive possible.

Faced with the grewing re- And now they run once again to head off any counter-offensive of cession in the film industry the work-force. (which in this country is on At the first breath of the word the point of vanishing altoge- 'occupation' at Elstree, Alan Sapper, ther, and in Europe is scareely General Secretary of ACTT, tol better) EMI has launched a he workers to 'do nothing as ye so as not to interrupt the one cur- programme of 'rationalisation'.

rent production at Elstree, 'Con- It is already affecting the studios tessions of a Pop Singer'.

directly, and in the near future Delfont has been so encouraged Thames TV workers are to get by Sapper's utter servility that he some of the same treatment.

has now offered to let the work- Last year Bernard Delfont, the force run the studios on a yearly day after publicising combine pro- grant of f¼m - precisely the ligu- fits of £17m, announced plans to re he claims to be losing at Elstree.

make half the workforce at Elstree Why has Delfont made this chari- table offer? Because the last film The leaders of the Federation of made at Elstree - 'Murder on the as, atter the usual ritua Orient Express' f left-talking, have allowed the profit and well on the way to being redundancies to go through unchal- a block-buster. lenged. Now Delfont, having an- made in distribution and exhibition nounced pre-t x piofits of £35m (which EMI together with Rank Slump on Sites Over half of the 300 workers Swindon, once the centre of at the Blue Circle Cement thriving boom time light engi- Works at Shipton on Cherwell neering and electronics indus- near Oxford are to be made re- tries, is now faced with a rising dundant at the end of this tide of redundancies, short month due to the recession in time and factory closures.

The Swindon Branch of the Over 3 million families depend in Workers Socialist League has been some way upon the building trade actively involved in fighting for a and already 130,000 workers are programme of opposition to these A survey of companies attacks. A WSL leaflet issued on showed that 75% will be working Friday, 14th February set out the at half capacity or less by the sum- situation: "The announcement by Garrards Connected directly to this is the that 2,000 workers go on to a two slump in demand for furniture, car- and a half day week with 200 sack- pets, etc. and new office equipment, ings and the closure of Cheney therefore carrying over the recession Manor Factory is a disaster into these manufacturing industries.

2,000 to 3,000 lay-offs at Plesseys last year and the Plessey Intercon-

COLLABORATION

nect occupation in defence of jobs, it is a savage blow to the hopes of Plessey workers and over 2,000 The treachery of the trade union Swindonians already signing on at bureaucrats is again exposed; at the dole. Blue Circle where, refusing to strug- "The international recession is gle to protect jobs, they are colla- driving deep into the heart of every borating with the management in industry. Engineering, transport, seeking alternative employment manufacturing, building, plastics tor the 'surplus' workforce: and everything is being affected while nationally by their refusal to fight workers have real wages slashed for a sliding scale of wages agree- and the cost of living escalates be- ment in the recent pay deal which yond control. was accepted under conditions des- cribed by the Financial Times "the

CLOSURES

necessary majority will have been "The closures at H.B. Panelcraft achieved mainly because of fears of wide-spread unemployment..."

and Southern Anodising, huge cut- backs at Garrards, Plessey and Ray- The CP bears predominant respon- chem, Torins, Cloverleaf, Square D, Shorko Films, Metal Box and stollity for the lack of fight on this Howards Tenens are swelling the issue by the Building Workers Char- ter which fought merely for increa- ranks of those on the dole in Swin- don. This shows the way in which The employers who threaten re- the working class is made to take dundancies must be fought to con- the brunt of the employing class' cede instead a sliding scale of hours for the whole workforce, with no "Swindon's largest employe Pritish Leyland, needs £50,000,000 The unions' fight for this demand of taxpayers money for survival.

Rationalisation and speed-up are struggle to eliminate the use of anti- being demanded as the price of the Government loan. "The workers at Plessey Intercon- nect were expected to solve its

PUBLIC WORKS

crisis by accepting redundancies and going on to the dole, but deci- This of course will be impossible ded to put up a courageous fight."

for capitalists in their crisis so wor- The leaflet went on to show how the call for a workers co-op at Interconnect could offer no escape from the capitalist crisis which had committees of trade unionists, and the necessity of the nationalisation Crucial to the fight for building massive programme of public works.

For years and years Labour coun- monopolise completely). In other words EMI wants to keep the profitable sectors whilst the workforce takes all the losses - a new concept in "workers control"!

Sapper meanwhile has pushed through, with the aid of the Stalini- sts in ACTT, a new feature agree- ment based on the one under which 'Orient Express' was made which increases the rate of exploitation Workers at Elstree must respond to the threats to their jobs and pleas of bankruptcy by EMi by putting into practice the growing demand for occupation of the studios.

A committee of trades unionists - is now well into from all the cratt sections in the studio must then examine the books Big profits are being to expose the corrupt economic manipulations of EMI - how they sell the products of the studio Page 7

SWINDON GOES

ON THE DOLE

produced the original rationalisa- Lon toreal "The plan was that an indepen- dent workers controlled co-opera- tive could somehow compete in the cut-throat capitalist markets of electronics where the recessior had itself necessitated the rationa lisation of Plessey Interconnect to Northampton because the Swindon factory was not economically vi- able "This minimum programme was separated from the cuestion of the nationalisation of the Plessey com The separation of the fight yally to retain jobs and the demand for nationalisation enabled tle right wing to isolate the Interconnect • After occupation and ensure its defeat."

FACTORY

COMMITTEES

The leaflet continued to stress the need for a programme for ac sed of threatened factories, and joint factory committees elected ment and make contact with other workers in linked factories and on open the books and expose the real dealings of the company.

leaflet stresses the importance on the basis of these figures of a strug- gle to force the firm's nationalisa- tion without compensation, and tracts - in the case of Plesseys electronic equipment for hospitals Since this would create inflation it must be linked to the demand fo: In showing the betrayals of both and right wing in the Labour be forced to fight for the workers meeting which has been called by the 9a District Committee of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and jobs crisis in Swindon. The WSL remains at the forefront build new leadership in Swindon.

Plessey Interconnect Workers cheap (to themselves!) thus crea- ting a "loss', and then in the sphere of film distribution and exhibition transform this 'loss' into massive profits - little of which finds its way back to the studio where the film was created In this way a case will be made for the nationalisation without compensation of all EMI's massive holdings in film, TV and entertain ments, beginning with Elstree itself, a case for which ACTT, NATTKE and the ETU must press with all i eir industrial strength.

ACTT is committed to this policy for the industry as a whole. Its leaders must be forced to put it into prac- and film production must be LIc. established, financed by govern- ment grants and under workers management.

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