Socialist Press no. 3

ACT NOW: DEFEND ALL JOBS!

SOCIALIST

PRESS *

REJECT BOSSES' BLACKMAIL - OCCUPY

BY THE

Every day it becomes clearer that unless a determined struggle is waged now to defend jobs against the offensive of the emloyers, then NO gains - whether wages, working

EDITORIAL

conditions, or agreements - can be defended. This fight

BOARD

raises the most basic questions on what kind of leadership is now necessary in the labour movement.

enge capitalist property relations- Nobody doubts now that Britain, Other employers move straight to accept the dictates of the employer as a part of the world economic redundancies and closures - Pilking- and the rule of the market.

tons have announced a planned crisis If workers now oppose speed up gripped in a recession, in which 3,000 redundancies, largely in St.

Helens, BLMC's Jaguar works with the employer will say it is necess- inflation eats away at the employ- undermines the cash ary for the survival of his company ers' profits, 1,000 redundancies, and the closure liquidity of their firms, and relent- of Imperial Typewriters throwing - and to reject it means the sack (in BLMC Cowley management lessly cuts the purchasing power 3,200 johs. These are just some of workers' wages. Through falling the biggest countless small firms threatened to send the new ADO 71 to Longbridge). If a worker is are laying off labour all over the production, close "uneconomic country. This is in addition to victimised fighting speed up the plant, and speed up the ettorts large scale hidden redundancies emolover will threaten to cost of those still in work in order to the plant if victimisation and speed throughout industry from untep- maintain a 'viable' (or profitable) laced "natural wastage". up are not accepted - and the trade business. At the same time weaker sections of industry, unable to compete close down altogetner.

The result on a world scale is In America, the world's most powerful capitalist country, there are now well over 8 million un- employed. 20.8% of teenagers are unemployed and 13.4% of blacks. . In the car city of Detroit alone 26% are officially out of work, with the real figure almost certainly double this. Black wor- kers, half the population of Det- roit, suffer most. 96% of all black youth are officially out of work.

Company supplements, which maintain 95% of wages for workers laid off , begin to run out in two weeks time, and with this goes many medical and dental schemes.

As John Pilger in the Daily Mirror reported(28.2.75): "In the last three months since the lay-offs began in earnest the Detroit Health Department has reported 150,000 cases of mal- natnton mosty amongst womer Mass meeting at Chrysler's Linwood factory.

and children... [in a city of only 1.6 million) *it is not. Under these conditions the biggest union leaders will say

"NIGHT MARE '

the time to fight" In Renault in question facing the working class is leadership. The reformist Trade Paris, where workers have been Union leaders are incapable of de- His article was headed with the stances against victimisation link- fending jobs in this period because words: "The ending fo the great their political position starts from ed to speed up, the management American dream in Detroit shows the acceptance of capitalism has intimidated worlers by putting what tomorrow's nightmare could This means acceptance of the all 35.000 on indefinite short time.

be like for Coventry and Cowley, right of the empioyer to private Everywhere the weakness and Luton and Longhridge.......

collaboration of the union leaders property, to have a profitable and The car industry, construction viable' business. and accepting opens the working class to attack and textiles are the main focus that workers should be subject to beyond the immediate issue in- of the recession in Europe also, "rights" market conditions. If these volved. Following Moss Evans' unemployed in the Common come into conflict with the rights acceptance of short time, Fords Market countres - an increuse ol of workers to jobs then for these immediately seized on this retreat 1.2 million over last year. In Britain leaders, the "rights" of the capitalist and a week later announced Dag- itself there are now 800,000 unem- must prevail. enham workers would have only ployed and a further 250,000 on 11 days work in April. Next day short time according to latest est-

ARROGANT

they followed this by leaking to imates. the press that: Here, as in France, some of the This is clear just from the exam- "Without the agreement of the big employers have tended to back unions the company intends to away from the prospect of bitter ple of Fords. On February _9th impose three as opposed to two Fords arrogantly announced, with- resistance including factory occup- shift working from next week out consultation, that 8,000 Dag- and with the passive acquie- ations in a bid to make the (Dagenham) sence of the Trade Union leaders ennam workers were co go on saor!

time from March 3rd. The shop- plant more efficient and reduce have opted for short time rather Already floor was incensed, and stewards than outright redundancies.

[Financial Times 28t every motor manufacturer has moved threatened "disruptive' protest Feb emphasis added] to introduce short time - Chryslers action. Moss Evans, T&GWU auto- Fords therefore increase effic- have had it since December 31st.

motive group national organiser, But it extends into other industries iency without consultation with however, opposed all action with the assistance of Moss Evans.

- the textile trade, ICI fibres, GKN; the statement : "Destructive action To fight on any issue today means Lucas, and Dunlop are among the will not persuade people to buy to defend jobs, and for this reas- largest firms involved. cars". In other words, don't chall- on all threats of short time with loss of wages, or redundancies, must be fought by factory occu- the pations. This is the only way initiative can be taken from the employer and the class strength of the workers mobilised to de- Tend jobs.

PERSPECTIVE

Yet it is one thing to occupy - but with no perspective this can be the point of greatest danger leading to confusion and demoral- isation (as at Norton Villiers at Meriden where only 250 of the original 1750 workers remain in occupation, or Plessey Interconnect at Swindon where a six-months *stay of execution' has been accepted At the centre of every occupation has to be a clear perspective. Occ- upations must centre on the de- mand that the books of the company claiming financial problems be opened to elected trade union committees, who would then have the task of exposing the concealed workings of capitalism to the wor- kers whose jobs were threatened.

Any employer who threatens the livelihoods of workers has no right to 'business secrets' or indeed to remain an employer. Once it is proved that indeed a firm, with its full labour force, is 'non-viable" then it must be under capitalism, taken out of the "free market".

NATIONALISE

The case will thus be proved to back the demand that the Lab- our government nationalise the company, not under a state mana- ger, but under the management of the workers, through their elected committees that already control the factory under occupation.

Compensation must be paid only to small savers. continued on page 8 col 1

FORTNIGHTLY PAPER OF THE

WORKERS SOCIALIST LEAGUE

NO 3 * 6th MARCH 1975 * 10p

TUC

DESERTS

"TWO"

The TUC announced yet another betrayal of the im- prisoned Shrewsbury pickets last Wednesday when, despite a lobby calling for strike ac- tion, they refused even to call a one-day protest stop- page to attempt to free the Two. These bureaucrats now stand right behind Jenkins, Prentice and the whole of the Labour right wing which supports the Tories' actions in jailing these trade unionists for picketing The TUC announced yet another betrayal of the imprisoned Shrews- bury pickets last Wednesday, when, despite a lobby calling for general strike action, they refused even to call a one-day protest stoppage to attempt to free the Two These bureaucrats now stand right behind Jenkins, Prentice and the whole of the Labour right wing which supports the Tories actions in jailing these trade unio- nists for picketing. This whole betrayal has been protected by the covered up and "lefts' of the P.L.P. 'Tribune' group, who have retuser to tight to re move Jenkins from his position of Home Secretary, and who did not even turn out to support a call for a further Parliamentary debate on the issue At the sam: time the Communist Party, with a whole group of full time offic- ials and militants in the building and other unions has consistently opposed industrial action to force the government to free the pickets and has set out to divert the cam- paign into harmless protests.

The only answer now must be to step up the struggle within the trade union movement for a gen eral strike to be called, and for the exposure and removal of those officials who want to prevent this.

As a part of this fight the demon- stration called by Leicester Trades Council, to take place outside Leicester jai on Saturday, March 8th, must be supported by all those trade unionists who are not prepared to leave these brothers to rot in prison. The 250-mile Wigan to London march organised by the Wigan Builders' Action Committee ended on Saturday 22nd February with a demonstration of 2,000 in Lon- don and a rally in Tratalgar Square.

continued page 8, column 5

Page 2 The fear of revolution dom- inates the thinking of the bourgeoisie in Spain today.

as the working class contin- ues a massive wave of strikes and demonstrations, which have now engulfed much of major industry for three or four montns. Major industrial struggles, with thousands of workers takine ile.

gal strike action or demonstrating against lock-outs by the employers, have been taking place in the car industry, and in steel, plastics, telecommunications and typewri- ters factories. In Navarra province a virtual general strike paralysed production, leaving over 16,000 workers idle through much of January. At one point barricades were erected to defend working class districts against attacks from the police, and were only torn down by Tot police using tear gas and rubber bullets. Priests in the province have been fined a massive £28,000 for giving "subversive" sermons in support of the strikers, who included carworkers from Pam- plona and potash miners, and many of whom had been almost continuously in disputes for the previous two months. In Vizcaya province about 20 companies were standing idle be- cause of strikes and lock-outs, and early in February these move- ments spilled over into the pro- fessional classes, with strikes of actors, actresses, nurses and aux- illiary hospital workers, with sym- pathetic action from workers in belevision and radio. At the same time the Asturian coal mines were halted by a strike of 12,000 miners.

Increasingly central to these struggles, which nearly all start with the question of wages,is the struggle for recognition of the the semi-legal trade unions, Workers Commissions, by the empioyers.

THREAT

This poses a fundamental threat to Franco's fascist regime with its corporatist system of state unions or "syndicatos". A further setback to this system was the recent drastic cut in jail sentences on the "Carabanchel Ten" - a group of militant workers who were self-confessed m CInDerS O. the Workers Commissions. As this takes place, the 20% in- flation continually creates further class confrontation, as housewives in a Madrid market showed re- cently by pelting police patrols with tomatoes in protest against soaring prices. The Financial Times of January 29th admitted: "Spain's security forces are having their work cut out to cope with the economic and political challenges to the regime of 82 year old General Franco." Police intervened in a number of Spanish cities last week to put down demonstrations by Student marches were attacked in Madrid and Malaga, and in Barcelona on February 25th po- lice invaded a church to arrest the wives of workers at tne giant SEAT car plant, who had barri- caded themselves in the church in protest against the sackings of car-workers.

POLITICAL CRISIS

In the same week the political crisis of the Franco regime took a further turn with the resignat- ion of Minister of Labour de la Fuentes on February 24th..

Fuentes, a lifeiong member of Franco's "Falange' political ma- at the same time as a number of other ministers associated with the "liberal' Opus Dei wing of Spanish fascism. Opus Dei (Latin for 'Work of God" ) is closely linked to the Catholic Church heirarchy, and

FRANCO FEARS REVOLUTION

has stood for gradual "reform' of the regime, and a swift entry into the Common Market. The immediate cause of Fuentes' resignation was his draft labour law, which was to attempt to head off the movement of the working class by the concession of "legai- ising strikes. The majority in the cabinet, backed by the major would not accept the employers removal of bosses' right to sack striking workers on the spot and without pay. The fascist bourgeoisie correctly see that in the climate following the uphcavals in Portugal, even the smallest concession to the working class could lead to a revolutionary ferment.

FRANCO

Without commenting directly on Fuentes' resignation, Prime Minister Arias Navarro - in a tele- vised press conference on February 26th - tried to heal some of the divisions in the ruling class. He was himself opposed, he said, to any constitutional-reform which would permit universal suffrage (i.e. the restoration of capitalist 'democracy') and warned that "professional revolutionaries" were out to undermine the nation.

But, while specifically banning Communists from political legal- ity, he suggested that leftist" groupings which accepted the principles of Franco's National Movement would "always find the Government to be understanding."

COMMON MARKET

The real divisions among the Spanish ruling class are on tactics, With one eye they not strategy. look towards Western Europe and the Common Market, where they all would like to take shelter in the world economic crisis. The bourgeois politicians of West- ern Europe are cager enough to have Spain - last week French Pres- ident Giscard d'Estaing entertained Prince Juan Carlos, Franco's nom- ince to succeed him as head of state on an 'amiable shooting ex- cursion near Paris - but they are unable to negotiate immediate entry. So deep are the scars left by the Spanish revolution and the civ- il war of 1936-9, and the following four decades of Fascist rule, on the European working class, that the bourgeoise cannot satelv admit Spain without more visible trapp- ings of "democracy'. To do so could upset delicate relations of ciass compromise within the EEC.

With its other eye Spanish fascism is keenly watching the development of the Portuguese revolution, now resonating through the whole of Spanish society. Dozens of army officers in the Barcelona region are already involved in protests against me use or troops agamst civid turbances'; when two junior off- icers were arrested in February many others, including a Lieuten- ant -Colonel, signed a petition in their defence. But on one question the ruling class are ciear and unitea, uncy face revolutionary struggles with the working class. The growth of semi-legal workers' INTERNATIONAL nEWS organisations in the 1960's was only temporarily halted by the 1969 em- ergency decrees - nominally direct- ed against 'unrest' in the universit- ies.

STRIKE WAVE BEGINS

During Franco's illness last sum Imer 10,000 workers shut down over thirty factories in Catalonia (the region around Barcelona) and faced the police in street demo- nstrations which lasted over a week.

In the Autumn 10,000 workers of the Barcelona SEAT plant struck, were locked out, and then held the first mass meetings seen in the city since the days of the Republic.

Shortly following this 12,000 workers in the northern Basque country carried out a three day general strike against inflation and the continued imprisonment of Basque leaders. Now such struggles are increasing in frequency and intensity, embra cing an ever-wider cross-section of Spunish socicty The regime intends to face the renewal of the Spanish revolution with a combination of repression and manocuvre. What is in question is the character of the manoeuvres required. As a first step, important sections of the Spanish ruling class waat greater "flexibility" of polit- ical arrangements - particularly the ability to deal openly with the Workers Commissions which now clearly have the major represent- ative voice amongst workers in most of the biggest industries. In this Stalinism plays a central role. The official' Communist Party has made it's readiness for class- collaboration crystal-clear.

CLASS COLLABORATION

Last summer Party Secretary Santiago Carrillo joined hands in Paris with former Opus Dei min- ister Rafael Calvo Serrer and other capitalist politicians, such as Carl- ist monarchists, to form the Span- ish Democratic Council'(Junta Democratica de Espana). Their "Declaration' explains that the civ- il war is "now distant and that there is no 'plan more reasonable, than that of the restoration of the dem- ocratic state' Among the parties which the Dec- laration credits with opposition to the dictatorship' are both the Carlists and Opus Del.

POPULAR FRONT

The Spanish CP's policy, therefore, is far more than a repetition of the Popular Front with which Stalin destroyed the Spanish revolution in 1936-9. The Junta Democratica already embraces capitalist parties far to the right of those in the Rep- ublic's government on the eve of Franco's revolt in 1936 The class essence, however, rem- ains the same - to check the inde- pendent movement of the masses and strangle the worker's revol- ution in the name of 'unity with all supposedly 'anti-fascist' elements This is the Spanish CP's concept of the "peaceful road to socialism" - an alliance with the representati- Not even Franco's officer corps is excluded - the declaration app- eals to the patriotism and prof- essional honour of the armed forces." Thus the tragic lessons of Chile are kept from the Spanish worker, and the class nature of the army is obscured The fascists too, have learnt from the 1930's and they know that the defeat of the Spanish Social Rev- olution will require not only arm- ed repression, but treachery in the Icadership of the workers' move- ment. The most urgent task facing class conscious Spanish workers and socialists is to ensure that the less- ons of the counter-revolutionary role of Stalinism in Spain in 1936- 39 are learnt to the full. This means it is necessary to build a revolut- monary Trotskyist party to lead the fight against fascism on a class basis. SOCIALIST PRESS, Thursday, 6th March, 1975

USA

make the workers pay for recession.

In any event the complete econo mic confusion which is rampant in much of a decisive move at this stage. The Democrats for instance are now in support of petrol rationing and a "prices and incomes policy If President Ford cannot take while Ford concentrates on welfare decisive steps to impose mas- cuts, perro taxes and persona las concessions. sive unemployment on the Neither course offen much hope of a solution to the American working class, an crisis, yet the employers are hesi ultra-conservative third party tant to reject their traditional par- may come forward to do the job for him. But Reagan is sure to be heard This is the message from a four- While the ruling class have two day conference of 500 right-winger held last month in Washington D.C., parties and the seeds of a third to under the joint sponsorship of protect their interests, American "Young Americans for Freedom' workers have no political party.

The Democratic Party, unlike the and the American Conservative British Labour Party, does not owe Union' The delegates sharply expressed its existence to the working class but to 18th century aristocrats their disappointment with Ford's vacillating response to the economic with populist leanings. crisis, and there was strong feeling The Democrats have been many for a formal break with the Repub- things to all people, apologists for the decaying slave society in the lican Party. The man on whom 1850's and salvage men of capita- many of the American extreme right pin their hopes is the former lism during the 1930's through governor of California Ronald Roosevelt's fraudulent "New Deal" Reagan. of public works and social welfare.

Reagan is a natural for the job. As They have long had the collusion 'the "liberal Democrat" president of of America's right-wing trade union the Screen Actors Guild from 1947 bureaucracy, who will now cooperate in every way possible to stifle the to 1952 he distinguished himselt rising militancy of workers in defence by trequent denunciations or "Communist infiltrators" in true of their jobs and living standards.

Workers of the United States must McCarthy style. In 1952 he appeared as a "Demo- fight to build the independent par- , and after a crat for Eisenhower" ty of the working class in prepara- decade as paid propagandist for tion for the struggle against capita- General Electria Co., joined arch- lism in crisis. conservative Barry Goldwater's This party must be based upon the 1964 presidentall campaign organised working class in the trade Reagan's tenure as governor of unions, and within such a Labour California from 1966 was marked Partv the rotskysis will continue to fight for the demands and pers- ov increased taxes on tne poor ane drastic cuts in spending on social pectives of the Transitional Pro- welfare, all in the name of a "balan- Thus the qualitative struggle to develop revolutionary ced budget". leadership must be combined with For the time being Reagan has not committed himself to a third party the broader fight in the US labour - much to the chagrin of grass-roots movement to turn trade unionists from capitalist to working cias suggesting that big business still hopes to teach the slow- politics in the building of the US Labour Party. learning President Ford how to

TURKEY

MEXICO

Luis Echeverria is President Right-wing violence erupted of Mexico. Last week he was in over fifty Turkish cities standing on a red carpet at during February, with attacks Mexico City airport wel- on trades unionists, teachers coming the Queen and His and students, and the sacking Royal Highness the Duke of of shops whose owners were Edinburgh on their state visit suspected of left-wing sym- to Latin American countries.

pathies. The week before Echeverria was the keynote speaker at the One dead and twenty-nine woun- third session of the Internations ded was the toll in Malatya, in Investigative Commission of the eastern Turkey, and similar "pogroms" whipped up with the aid of Muslim Crimes of the Chilean Military Junta', being held in Mexico City religious fanaticism and anti- A hundred and thirty delegated - communism, took place in the largely Stalinists and Social Demo- other cities of the Anatolia region.

crats - from thirty-five countrics The moving force behind the were in attendance. attacks was the fascist National press carried photographs of Front, formed last year by the Echeverria embracing Mrs. Allende, merging of four extreme right-wing widow of the murdered Popular tendencies, and unofficially encou- Unity Chilean president. raged by the Irmak government.

Opening the 'investigation', he But while the fascists ran riot in said for reasons of ethics and of the more backward eastern areas survival itself, Latin America can- of the country, massive marches not remain unmoved by situations and demonstrations took place in such as those which have arisen the western cities, mainly led by from the overthrow of the regime the Stalinist-influenced "TOB-DER headed by Salvador Allende, whose (All-teachers" unity and solidarity memory exalt today before you associa and the entire world. In Izmir, on the Agean coast, What's odd about this? Only that, according to former CIA officer 20,000 marched against inflation in Mexico Philip Agee (author of and unemployment in mid-February There were similar demonstrations an expose or Ine GIA ICIeWCo I Socialist Press of February 20th) in Istanbul and the capital, Ankara The Irmak regime is finding itself Echeverria has also had other, 'unofficial responsibilities.

unable to use the occupation of According to Mr. Agee he was on Cyprus as a diversion from the eco- nomic crisis now gripping Turkey.

me cias payront win tue code The cost of living increased by about name LITEMPO) in 1968. In October of that year he was Mini- 30 per cent last year, and urban on- employment rose to about 2 million, ster of Internal Security, directly responsible for the Army inter- with a further estimated 3 milion in the countryside. vention against left-wing studen demonstrations in which several It is to deal with this situation that hundred were killed. the government continues to en- Even the CIA chief of station in force laws and a curfew in the major Mexico at that time thought that Echeverria had 'overreacted'.

SOCIALIST PRESS, Thursday, 6th March, 1975 Immigrant workers in West Germany are first in line - as far as the government and employers are concerned - to pay the price of the economic crisis and recession. There loyers. are over four million so-called guest workers' and their families in the federal Rep- ublic. Over a quarter of them are Turkish, with large num- states. bers also from Yugoslavia, Greece, Italy and Spain. They were drawn into the con- try by industry's labour shortage and thirst for profits during the boom. Now that unemployment is biting they all foce attacks.

CUTS

Immediate cuts in family allow- ances came into force in January.

Payments are to be based on the cost of living in their home-coun try, not in West Germany - where it is much higher. These savage measures threaten to break up tens of thousands of working Clans Tamules. Regional governments are urg- ently debating' a bill drafted by the Federal government to limit "But for the oldest industrial country whose industry was anyway." geared to the world market and lead an offensive and conquering character, the transition to pro- tectionism is historical testimony to the beginning of a process of mortification, and signifies in practice the maintaining of certain branches of industries that are 1 less viable in the given world situ- ation, at the expense of other branches of the same British in- dustry that are better adapted to the conditions of the world and the home market. The programme of senile protectionism of Baldwin's policy can be countered not by an equally senile and moribund Free Trade policy, but only by the po- Litical programme of a socialist But in order to tackle this programme it is necessary as a preliminary to purge the party both of the reactionary protec- tionists like Guest [right wing Labourite and reactionary free deficit." traders like Macdonald. (Trotsky: Writings on Britain, Vol. II. p. 116)

SAVE

IT

IMPERIAL

TYPE

OU

BRITIS

IN This is how Trotsky in 1925 saw the policy of tariffs and protec- tionism that we now see raising it: head once more. The policies of sections of the ruling class who complain of many Japanese cars, televisions, radios and even ball-bearings being imported and calling for tariffs to be raised at a time of capitalist cri- sis find their echoes in the trade union bureaucracy together with the Labour leadership, even inclu- ding the "lefts" of the Tribune Group, who are all in favour of in the statement by the Tribune Group MPs on the 31st January they said "......there is a strong case for selective import controls

EEC: IMMIGRANTS UNDER ATTACK

the proportion of immigrants in the work-force in urban areas to 12%. Some districts of West Berlin have already banned the hiring of further foreign workers by emp- Moves are afoot to delay or preve vent free movement of workers between Turkey and the Common Market - due in 1976 according to Turkey's agreement of assoc- iation with the Common Market Market.

LAWS

Stricter enforcement of the law: against immigrants without work permits is expected. Employers are legally bound to pay for the deportation of immigrants discov- ered to be working "illegally" But in the past the authorities nave turned a blind eye to many of these workers, allowing the employers to use their "illegal" status as a weapon against teade unionism. The German ruling class has an experience second to none in us- the working class. ing racialism to split workers and rally the middle class to reaction.

Their political moves now include public opinion polls organised by the capitalist press to show that immigrants - and not the choice.

TARIFFS NO ANSWER

in dealing with the current crisis

TUC

Stalinist in Fords, Sid The TUC in their proposals to Healey for his budget recommend that import controls should be imposed as a temporary measure.

The paper of the Communist back in this country. Party, the Morning Star, says about this in an editorial: "It's that the call for the temporary imposition of import controls is also a meas- ure which is long overdue, and is now a matter of urgency in view to discontinue the building of of the serious crisis shown by the Cortinas in Amsterdam. huge deficit on the balance of payments." "As a result, without physical controls on these imports.

exp- ansion would become difficult to maintain for it would suck in umports and add to the trade • Labour MP Robin Stott said to a demonstration of mill wor kers in Ince-in-Makerfield: "Bri- American tone. "social audit" tition. No. Swedish firm Imperial Typewriters workers demonstrate ment the bourgeois ideas of pro- tain has for far too long been the tectionism. dumping ground for every under- developed country in the world."

"the main enemy is at home" There is no solution to workers

INTERNATIONAL

Their efforts are to divert trade list internationalism. union struggles along nationalist lines rather than class lines The possibility of uniting internationallv by the struggles of the working class can be seen clearest in the motor industry where workers all over the world are laid off or on short time.

capitalist economic crisis - are the cause of unemployment.

BAN

In France, too, 800,000 Algerian workers face a state-sponsored campaign to repatriate' them.

Since July last year the Gaullist regime has imposed a ban on the kers Revolutionary Party.

entry of further workers from all countries outside the Common five million workers overseas - the government has called a nat- ional conference on migration policy. Their real concern is not the conditions of workers living That free discussion never took place.

abroad, but the impact on the ported the decument was expelled.

balance of payments ofcthe fact that emigrants remittances to their families at home have fallen by more than half since 1977 build revolutionary parties.

DIVIDE

All of these moves reflect the world wide crisis, and seek to Alan Thornett's documents.

divide and weaken the ranks of The Workers Socialist League class became clear, rejects this reactionary nation- alism and stands squarely behin the right of all workers to live and work in the country of their But instead of any international perspective of fighting for car wor- kers all over the world to struggle for transitional demands leading to the struggle for power, leading Harraway, a We believe that the profits Ford principles of Trotskyism.

has made out of British workers are being used to build this plant (in Spain) instead of being ploughed thrown into the struggle in this period As well as telling the company the new party work for a new light car - destined for Spain - could equally well be done in Britain, Dagenham stewards also pressed the compan sions throughout the world.

JOBS

lar publication of a Trotskyist newspaper.

At the beginning of the moves in defence of jobs at Imperials, a 350 strong demonstration in London chanted "Yanks out", having been led to the conclusion that British capitalism is less ruthless than the Tis was played up to by-the Hull produced by the union which advocates export sub sadies coupled with "some kind o unport contro, possibly of a tem- porary nature to protect the hom Name market against "foreign" compe- Address On the 25th February, thousand of Plessey workers in Liverpoo demonstrated against short-time working and against a C30m Post Office contract being given to a The leadership were calling for a public inquiry 6 Issues..... into the cranting of this contract.

12 Issues, 24 Issues.

MAIN ENEMY

Trotsky's demand to clear our the Macdonalds means just as much a fight against all these leaderships who bring into the workers move- I would like..... Name... As Lenin correctly established at the opening of the First World War Address, problems in any country without an sil out fight against their "own" riling class and the fight for socia- Send to: 11 LOWER BASILDON,

TONY RICHARDSON

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- 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 differenes, and to arrange a 'full and free! discussion within the party prior to the first annual conference.

Anyone who in any way sup- 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 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 As the split emerged, the sectarianism of the WRP, its departure from the Transitional Programme, and the way its maximum programme isolates the WPP from the working To understand the response to comrade Thornett's documen in the WRP it is necessary to recognise the period we are now in The uefence of jobs through the fight for the sliding scale of hours without loss of pay; the defence of living standards through the fight 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 struggles of the working class to the need to take power.

Yet the 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 itself 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 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 trade unionists, professiona wotkers, housewives, students and youth - in the fight to construct We will fight against all fonas of revisionism - state capitalism and the Pabloite revisionists of the IMG, against stalinism and reformism.

Already it is clear thatcour struggles for Trotskyism in Britain take place under conditions which must create similar splits and discus- We are confident that our mesement will soon be able to play an important role in the strengthening ot 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 assembl the necessary political, editorial and material resources to begin regu- We are certain we can win a big response and very rapidly go forward to a weekly paper as the organiser of a movement of considerabie solitical strength.

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Page 4

BY HAND

AND BRAIN

A STUDY OF

MICHELANGELO

by ADAM WESTOBY MICHELANGELO Buonar- When Martin Luther returned otti (1475 - 1564), one of the from Rome to nan his tamous most skilled artists of all time ninety-five theses" against priest- was born exactly 500 years at Wittenburg in 1517 (thesis 50 ago today. reads: "Christians must be taught His anniversary has called forth that if the Pope knew of the ex- a deluge of ink from Fleet Street actions of the preachers of indul- and the universities - much of

SENCE TE WONG TALECT BEEN

which expresses less than a single Peters basilica reduced to ashes than built with the skin, flesh and pen-stroke of one of his most fragmentary drawings. bones of his sheep.') he spoke Why is this? Michelangelo was for the advance-guard of the Ger- above all else a sculptor, a highly man bourgeoisie. trained worker of stone. At the He also set the match to a cen- same time he was a supremely tury and a half of religious wars: imaginative and profound thinker, and the reaction to him brought continually struggling to grasp and the Counter-Reformation, the rework the inner significance of Jesuits and the Inquisition. A the figures which his hammer and side-effect (the result of disastrous chisel drew out of the marble.

Papal diplomacy) was the Sack of He was a genius because this Rome in 1527. unity and conflict of manual and mental work was carried to a poi- nt from which he seemed to tow- er above his time; even his cont- empories called him •Michelangelo the divine' Most of the art critics now spill- ing words over this or that aspect of his work are reduced to wor- shipping him as an individual 'spiritual' genius, spicing their enthusiasm with anecdotes about his working methods or the ecc- entricities of his life and times.

At the same time they belittle him Michelangelo was a genius bec- ause he was a man working, think- ing among men, not in spite of it.

Only historical materialism, grasp- ing the importance of the class division between mental and man- ual work, can begin rationally to celebrate him.

RENAISSANCE

When, in the early 1490's, Michel- angelo was a young apprentice at the Florence palace of Lorenzo the Magnificent (head of the Med- ici banking family, and effectively 'king' of the Florentine republic) the first period of the Italian Re- naissance was reaching its peak.

Enormous wealth from trade and finance allowed cultivated and self-confident patrons to spon-

MARY HOLDING

sor circles of intellectuals: poets, philosophers, mathematicians,

THE DEAD CHRIST

scientists - and for the first time a few artists, previously regarded as mere 'mechanicals'. To the uncouth young Michel- Michelangelo was in Florence at that time. But in 1534 he ret- angelo, coming in from the dust urned to Rome to work for the ot the stone-vards tolsten to tal of the Greek myths and Plato's Papacy - still rich but now highly unstable - for the last thirty years ideal forms at Lorenzo's sump- tuous table, life must have seemed of his life; in 1546 (already aged 71) he took over the completion fresh and bouyant. of St. Peter's. But by the time he died Italy and Europe, had entered social

UPHEAVALS REFLECTED

upheavals on a scale unequalled until this century. Each war and These social and religious con- crisis embroiled the Church, the vulsions are reflected in Michel- Papacy (and therefore God).

In 1494 the monk Savonarola angelo - both in his public works was haranguing the Florentines and in his more private thoughts known to us mainly through his to burn all "voluptuous" (i.e.nude) paintings and to return the Church poetry and letters. The abstract side of his thinking from "luxury" to religion. In 1498 Florentine rationality reasserted was concentrated within an int- itself and Savonarola was himself ense religious belief. But the main subject, and symbol of his work burnt (having been previously excommunicated by Alexander was the human body - generally VI). the male nude. Savonarola looked back towards His relatively early drawing of the resurrected Christ, (illustrated) the 'simplicity' of the middle ages But he was the Italian preface to can be seen in the excellent exhib- ition of his drawings now on - free the German Reformation. - at the British Museum. The fig- ure has an astonishing life, reflect- ing the miracle of the resurrection.

It's proportions are perfect. It seems both to rest and to turn on a single, impossible point, a toc resting on nothing. The slightly exaggerated muscles give it a more- than-human energy. Even without knowing what it represents we can see Michelang- elo intended to convey some- thing miraculous. And it does come . quite literally, from the dead - Michelangelo gained his knowledge of anatomy from corpses. But Michelangelo understood his own knowledge of the human body mystically. As he wrote in a poem "1 can never now perceive Thy eternal light within a mortal being without great longing.

For him it is faith, not his own training, that draws his pencil across the paper. But these two elements do not yet conflict; it is a work of youth and self-con- fidence. (The drawing also has something of sculpture in it. It fills space out to become three- dimensional. But it does so with the limbs and muscles themselves - particularly the foreshortening with the painter's devices of per- spective and background.)

ARTISTIC CRISIS

In his later years Michelangelo went trough a complex mon and artistic crisis. He was idolised by the rich and famous (he out- lived twelve Popes, most of whom vied for his services) He was surrounded by mediocre hangers-on and fame seekers. The commissions foisted on him out- weighed even his energy, but per- fectionism prevented his using many assistants. He developed an intense emot- ional relationship with a hand- some and intelligent young man, Tommaso de Cavalieri. Self-doubts and guilt carried him towards an austere, reforming and sterile current of intellectuals within the Catholic Church. By the time he came to paint his huge fresco of The Last Jud- gement (153441, Sistine Chapel, Rome) he could no longer use idealised figures as his symbols - most of the bodies are heavy, and in a sense, ugly. The composition as a whole has lost the balance and sanity of his earlier paintings on the ceiling of the same chapel. And he in- cludes in The Last Judgement a grotesque portrait of himself (lustrated) as a damned soul - a wretched head and skin hung over the abyss Michelangelo never resolved this joint crisis of conscience and art. But his struggle to do so pro- duced sculpture that reaches across the centuries to the same problems that face the best of today's sculptors - for example, Henry Moore, in his rocks carved into massive harmony with them- selves.

SCULPTURE

A piece of stone sculpture is essentially just a piece of stone, cut and finished to a particular

GROTESQUE

SELF-PORTRAIT

shape and surface. It abstracts place all its meaning in shape.

But this shape is no pure lonn - it exists only through the stone.

If the form is to accord with the content, the meaning of the scul- pture must come not only from its snape, buttrom Ene quanties of the stone itself - in the case of marble, cold and hard. The true job of the sculptor, therefore, is not to work up the stone mto a semance or beig other than what it is, but to bring its essence out of it. To do this he must find, and form in his mind, a notion, an image which expresses the inner nature of his material. Then he must physically, materially, attack the stone to bring this notion into being - as Michelangelo did, wor- king quickly without scale models (an eyewitness described how "he allacked the work with such en- ergy and fire that I thought it would thy to pieces. With one blow he brought down fragments three or four fingers in breadth, and so exacts abane pout mat ked, that if only a tiny piece of marble more had fallen, he would

THE RESURRECTED CHRIST

SOCIALIST PRESS, Thursday March 6th 1975 have been in danger of ruining the whole work. Michelangelo was, at least in part, conscious of this need for an image adequate to the mater- ial. He wrote that" the greatest artist has no conception which a single block of marble does not potentially contain within its mass, but only a hand obed- ient to the mind can penetrate to this image" , and that the sculptor goes to the 'tugged live stone, then claims that which the chisel promised, and the conception lives again in such beauty that none may confine its spirit" (Poems, between 1536 -1546). The sculptor's mind, therefore must itself be obedient to the limits which confront his hand and chisel - that is to the qual- ities, the life', of the stone. He must consciously unite mental and manual labour in the sculp- ture as a whole. In the late 'Pieta' (Mary holding the dead Christ; illustrated), left unfinished when he died, Michel- angelo was struggling for this unity. He works within the images of his time - religious human figures.

But the image is not accidental- Case a Curse bal the pallor and cold of the marble fully express itself. Its hardness lives in the stiffness of the dead man's legs. The sculp -ture is an experiment, and in a sense a failure. The severed arm is the relic of an abandoned form. And in his struggle to get within the stone's nature Mich clangelo has almost forgotten anatomical realism, so that the upper part of Christ's body is already far too thin. But this 'failure' shows a strug gle far more intense than his most virtuoso works. , now that the scien- In our time, tific theory of Marxism shows the material basis for the work- ing class to end class rule, and with it the false seperation of mental and manual labour, we can see new significance in the work of Michelangelo, who fought to unite these two opposites It is through this struggle, though shackled as he was by mysticism and religion, that Michelangelo reaches out to us todav in thi sense the modern working class is the inheritor of Michelangelo.

MOUTHS STUFFED WITH GOLD:

the consultants and their private patients SOCIALIST PRESS, Thursday March 6th 1975 The National Health Ser- vice is now the scene of great battles, which will decide whether or not it survives.

At a time when it is strugg- ling from day to day on cri- tically short finances, wor- kers are now demanding an end to the parasitic private practice that continuously drains the NHS resources.

The presence of pay beds means that the half-a-million people waiting for treatment on nod- urgent lists (where the patient will not die, but may suffer a long period of discomfort or dis- ability) are subjected to a form of blackmail: if they pay they can be treated almost immediate- This is a powerful argument since the average wait is 3% months, and one in three has to a long time to wait over a year watch private patients jump the queue. It is intolerable to health wor- kers to see two standards of medi- cal care, and a boom in private treatment while the NHS is starved, especially when the former is riddled with abuse.

Private patients get, besides far superior amenities, more medical care to the point where it is alleg- ed that consultants neglect their NS patients for the lure of pri- Certainly they can use vate fees. their position as hospital top-dogs to stifle any criticism by their junior doctors.

MONOPOLY

The consultants, top-paid hos- pital doctors, have a monopoly of the right to treat private pati- ents in NHS hospitals, freely using the wide range of specialised service and equipment available in a large modern hospital, but which no private finance could provide. They can pocket the fees - the 12,000 consultants earnt E20m this way last year - but have no expenses. One Midland surgeon does one private operation a week which earns him an extra £5,000 a year and as a part-time consultant in the NHS, he can offset £2,000 of this, his car, private secretary and consulting room at home against tax. In fact private care is subsidised by the Government - an average charge for a pay bed is 174 pe week, while fees at the private London Clinic range from C182 to £252, and start at £371 per week at the luxury Wellington Hospital, where suites cost C100 a day, and the cellar is full of Chateau Mouton Rothschild at €23.60 a bottle. Dr. Arthur Levin. Ine director admitted "If they (the NHS) ac counted properly, their costs The fees would be much higher. do not benefit the NHS anyway, but go straight to the Treasury.

It was the cowardice of the Labour Party that put pay beds in the NHS. The Labour govern- ment had a 200 majority when, in 1946, Bevan moved the NHS Act through Parliament, for a Health Service free at time of use and financed out of National In- surance and general taxation. In July 1948 the Minister of Health duly took over 3,600 hospitals and clinics in England and Wales.

But the consultants were furious.

Their organisation, the BMA, complained that this over-rode local authority responsibility, and thereby their power and that of other Tories; that the voluntary The leadership of this union, or principle' had gone (the situation ganising 480,000 nurses, ancillaries where the country's health de- and local government workers, pended on flag-days for charity were taken aback at this enact- hospitals) and that consultants had to take state patients. Strike ment of official union policy, and its spread was discouraged and action was threatened. umpeded by local officials.

The BMA had always been ex- in 1911 it fet, five weeks later, COHSE; tremely reactionary union, de- had even objected to the intro- the other main nurses duction of National Insurance on cided to ban all private patients and agency staff in the NHS, and the same grounds of freedom for the profession! the national headlines were caught when on July 2nd the NUPE Bevan gave in. "Ill stuff their mouths with gold" he said as he branch at Charing Cross Hospital made teaching hospitals indepen- stopped all services to the patients on the private 15th floor, and de- dent (to give consultants more power), put a Tory-dominated manded that the beds should be made public immediately. burcaucracy in charge, and gave them private beds to make their fortunes with. The Tories always loved private

CASTLE

practice - the Heath government encouraged BUPA by giving com- As the ban spread to Manchester, panies tax benefits against their Blackpool, Norfolk and 7 hospitals insurance in industry and com- in London, the consultants threa- merce, and more private wards tened to treat only emergency were opened while Barber cut cases if their pay beds were ended £111m from the NHS budget.

On July 6th Barbara Castle, her self recently emerged from the private ward of Guys Hospital in London, made both sides call off action with the promise that pay beds would be dealt with by the Owen Working Party, then en- quiring into consultant salaries.

Pay beds would stay till then Albert Spanswick of COHSE led the retreat: "Private practice has no home within the NHS. This agreement with Mrs. Castle has in effect, whether the BMA likes it or not, put private practice on notice to quit" But Castle did not reduce pay beds at Charing Cross, did not support the action there and had no intention of "arbitrarily redu- cing numbers of pay beds" However, she would cut the NHS - only £47m of the E111m CASTLE: Minister of cut by the Tories was replaced, and inflation is doing even more Health......... and damage. private patient! The NHS is presently being sabo taged by the work-to-contract of the consultants which started on in 197 rode da Minded Paper This is no ordinary January 2nd. pay claim, but a deeply reaction- pay beds were to the overall bene- ary rearguard action. it of the NHS. It claimed, incre- dibly, that NHS patients had the The consultants, now earning between £5,433 and £7,947 same medical care, and that abo- asked Barbara Castle for a new lition of pay beds would not af- contract early last year to climi- fect waiting lists - a complete nate unpaid overtime due to in- lie since the turnover of private patients (122,000 a year) would creased work-load. The Owen Working Party was set up in Apri reduce the list by 25% a year un- 1974 and Castle reported the new til it vanished. The whitewash was perhaps not contract on December 20th This pays for extra sessions surprising since most who drafted (overtime) but is far more gene- the report were Tories, one of Timothy Raison,a Tory MP rous to whole-time consultants them and director of Private Patients not allowed private practice in- come than to part-timers who do Plan, second largest private health private work. insurance company! But a new force was to arise to challenge the Tories' determined

NEW CONTRACT

The months lefence of privilege since early 1973 had seen an un For example, whole-timers will precedented series of wage strug get a 'total commitment allow- gles in the NHS, involving ancillary ance of possibly E1,700 p.a.- workers, technicians, ambulance- private practice brings in an ave- men, nurses, junior doctors and iage of 22,000 p.a. Additional These workers radiographers. 'extra effort' awards and extra fought, many for the first time, work will go mainly to whoks with great determination and a timers. new enthusiasm to end their This would cut the income of the chronic low pay, and were suc- 57% of consultants who do pri- cossful to the extent that they vate work so much that the BMA burst through the compromising estimates that 80% of them would and delaying policies of their give it up. union leaders. It has rallied its members under the old banner of freedome for

N.U.P.E. BAN

the profession which means the right to knock up huge fortunes at the expense of the NHS: Last summer this confident movement came to the defence of Since January 2nd the consul the Health Service when in May, tants have been penalising NHS patients to demand that their lu- at the height of the nurses strug- crative private practice carries on, gle, the first ban on private pati- This has severely hit the already ents in NHS hospitals was started crisis-ridden health service.

in 40 hospitals around Newcastle by the local NUPE branches.

In Crewe the sanctions started by R.ROBERTS Consultants use NHS facilities free on December 11th and outpatient waiting times are now 7 months; In Birmingham there is a 70% re- duction in son-acute treatments.

The Labour Government cannot stand up to the consultants be- cause they will not abolish private practice, which is why the health trade unions must take the initia- tive. The consultants' bluff of resign- ing from the NHS must be called.

The NHS gives them their reputa- tion, their full medical back-up and access to both NHS and pri- vate patients under the same roof As it is the cost of private treat- ment and poor facilities of pri- vate nursing homes meansthe NHS gets most acute illnesses and major operations. Said one con- sultant: *I don't do an acute case privately unless it's easy money" The consultants wield power over their junior doctors by the allocation of 'merit awards ranging from £1,506 to E7,947 termed by one ASTMS doc- for ** a political weapon to keep people in line" , and also by the guild-like "firm" system they pre side over in hospitals which ob- structs promotion of medical staff and means juniors are depen- dent on them for references, ie the whole progress or their train- ing. They oppose the expansion of their grade because it will mean they have to share the local pri- vate practice revenue. To call their bluff means to abo lish the post of consultant and replace it with groups of special- ists in which there is continuous promotion of doctors for seniority and actual skills. Neither can the Provident Asso- ciations and the other companies be allowed to reap fat profits from nursing homes for the weal- thy run on NHS-trained personnel.

and on agencies hiring such nurses back to the short-staffed NHS at Page 5 twice the rate an NHS nurse is paid. Allied Investments, a tin mining group, has three nursing homes and the British Nursing Association, the biggest nursing agency.

BUPA has not only an income of £28m a year from its insurance subscribers, but 24 nursing homes with 800 beds in the Nuffield Nursing Homes Trust, and a nur- sing agency The Harley Street Clinic, 75% owned by Americal Medical Inter- nationa, which wanted to put up wings of NHS hospitals for private care, has a Elim turnover.

Only the expropriation of these private agencies, bospitals and clinics and of the monopoly drugs and equipment suppliers can gua rantec the provision of a free medi cal service of the highest quality for all This situation calls for action by all workers To defend the Health Service health workers must demand that all private admissions be stopped immediately and that private wards be made public. The Labourites are quite willine to preside over the collapse of the NHS, which in many areas had not the finance to replace workers who leave or to continue to keep wards The fight against pay beds,

OUCH

to defend the NHS, to defend standards of living for health wor- kers must raise more and more the ownership and control of the whole health service. Joint committees must be set up of all health service unions to look at the accounts of the Area and Regiona. Health Authorities, and to fight for a controlling voice in the allocation of finance.

This fight must begin in the Labour and trade union move- ment without delay. Every day that nothing is done, more work- ers and their families are put at risk by the collapse of the NHS.

MARXISM, MINORITIES,

AND THE WORKING CLASS

Page 6 In the British Leyland Body plant in Cowley, where the under heavy pressure from workers as they collaborate with management over speed- up, and hold back a wages struggle on the annual wage review, the entire strategy of the right wing has been to attack minorities. Every action by a group of wor- kers against speed-up or in defence class - of their conditions is taken to a mass meeting where they are label- led a 'minority and voted down.

This of course is notconfined to Cowley. The right wing have de- veloped the technique through- centre. out the trade union movement.

The campaign against minorities begins with the employers, how- ever, and is essentially an argum- ent of capitalism. British Leyland preceded the victimisation in Cow- icy with a prolonged campaign against minorities. But it finds its reflection in the actions of the lackeys of capitalism in the labour movement. It is important to recognise that it is not just the right wing and the employers who attack minorities.

The revisionists of the IS and the TMG, through their 'rank and file' positions, arrive at the same point.

In the recent tuners' strike at Cowley for example - a dispute which very much reflected the strength and combativity of the working class - the IMG attacked the tuners for a "sectional dispute" (Le. a minority) and criticised them for splitting the 'unity' of the plant.

This attack came at a time when the only basis of any real unity was through full support for the tuners and through their victory, strengthe- ning the whole plant. Wilson uses the same terminology as the IMG in his attack on Brit- ish Leyland workers on January 3rd, when he said: "We cannot afford any avoidable surge in pro- duction costs, which would work through relentlessly to household costs, caused either by thought- less or by calculated sectional demands for higher living stand- ards which are unrealistic in the year Coday, theretore, as thie working class moves into struggle against both the employers and their own social democratic and stalinist Leaders, a clear understanding of the relationship of both the revolution- ary party (the advanced revolution- ary minority and the advanced layer of the working class to the broad masses is crucial to the deve- lopment of leadership

RANK AND FILEISM

Rank and fileism means in pra- ctice the subordination of the advanced minority to the spon- taneous movement of the work- ing class as a whole. This is a centnst conception, wavering between open reformism and resists. revolution, It prevents a clear understanding of the role of minorities and is thus in line with the requirements of the employers and the tasks posed for them by the crisis. In attacking minorities in the inte- rest of 'unity' the revisionists make sation. the issue of unity into an abstract principle, a quantitative question - sation, starting from agreement between the largest number of workers.

They are unable to understand the development of consciousness of example of this the masses through contradiction and conflict between the advanced minority and the mass of workers, and within this struggle, the fight of the communist workers for programme through the building of the revolutionary party.

Today the victimisation of mili- tant workers is on the agenda as the employers are forced to imple- picketing ment speed-up, short time, redun- dancy and plant closures.

They know that to carry out such attacks against the resistance of the wor- King class brings the prospect of all out confrontations, of sit-ins, st occupations and the struggie of workers to establish workers Chalfont. control over production and to defend jobs. The employers also know that ents in our society" central to all these struggles is the influence of the most class conscious section of the working the advanced minority - which forms the focus of the resis- Lance around which less conscious layers rally, and around which, as spontaneous struggles emerge, the fight for leadership and programme this country" He went on to

EMPLOYERS' MOVES

Central to the employers strategy.

therefore, is the need to victimise members of the Communist party" this minority and attempt to iso- late them from the broad layers of workers. In this the ruling class are moving tremists in the Parliamentary in a number of different ways Labour Party. Firstly by direct action of the em- ployers in the factories, where strengthened by the emergence of the right wing in the Tory Party, the victimisation of individuals and

SALGAMATED SOCTATY OF

SMITES, AND PATTERN MAKERS

@natterit The Amalgamated Society of Engineers (1851): a membership certifi- cate of one of the 'new model' unions which organised the skilled trades small groups of workers has escala- ted dramatically with workers king class, being driven to speed-up by the

OPPRESSED CLASS

instant victimisation of any indi- vidual or group of workers who The employers also carry out value extracted from workers in well prepared victimisations of key workers in which they are pre- pared for bitter conflict and to which they assige considerable because the working class is an op- resources, knowing that if they pressed class, it is a revolutionary win, a blow is struck at the very foundation of shop floor organi- The road would then be Sm. opened to speed-up and rationali- The victimisation strugele crough strength organised in the in Cowley last April (carried out trade unions to remove capitalism with the collaboration of the form the stage of history, but of trade union leaders) was an itself it cannot do it. economic strength of the working The other line of attack is the class requires political leadership if direct use of the capitalist state it is to be the instrument of revolu- through the law to deal with mino- tonary change. rities as with the imprisonment leadership has held back the wor- of the Shrewsbury builders pickets king class from all out struggle for and the arrest of Franco Caprino power during successive capitalist the young Italian worker arrested crises. As Trotsiy says: "Were the under section 42 of the Immigra- proletariat as a whole capable of tion Act after being involved in grasping its historical task, it would need neither party or trade union.

The main attack comes on the Revolution would political minority, in particular neously with the proletariat: those workers fighting for revolu- (Marxism and the Trade Unions, tionary leadership in the working p24) class. Last Wednesday a motion In the development of capitalism was introduced into the House of the working class first appeared as Lords by a Tory Peer - Lord a force in history without any form of organisation. This motion called attention to eariy stages impressive displays of "subversive and extremist elem- working class unity took place, par- - Chalfont ticularly on economic questions - said his main concern is not the such as wages, conditions and hours.

IRA: "My intention is to con- Under the harsh conditions of ex- centrate upon other forms of panding capitalism, in the cars subversion and extremism which, 1800-1850, the repressions of the although not yet as spectacular employers made building unions as the indiscriminate violence extremely difficult. of the IRA, nevertheless consti- this period small groups of workers tute, in my view, at least as ser- dedicated themselves to the struggle ious a threat to the security of for independent organisations for the working class, prepared to risk talk of the "disproportionate sentences of transportation (as in power wielded in the unions by the case of the Tolpuddle Martyrs in 1884) or jail and fines for organi- and "ultra-left revolut- sing against the employers.

ionary organisations," and of These small groups, though a mino- the "increasing influence of ex- rity, reflected the historic strength of the working class as a whole, and contained its most conscious eleme- Yet all this is only a beginning for nts. The employers attempted all the employers — a test run for kinds of tactics to defeat them.

the principles fought for by these much bigger struggles which must first trade unionists laid the basis be fought if the capitalist class is to for a broader development of unioni- restore protitability to bankrupt sation following 1850 The minority fought the first bat- tles, marking out the way for the Similarly the gains won from this initial organisation of Skilled sections then constituted a base for the struggles to establish general cunions in the period from 1880 onwards Today, as in these carly days, the strength of the majority is reflec- ted through the determination of a class conscious minority to fight for principles and for class inde.

pendence -which is the backbone of the trade union movement.

Again as Trotsky wrote "Would not a trade union mas: organisation, not containing a class conscious minority, be a purely formal and meaningless rganisation?" (Marxism and th 1.U.s, p24. Trotsky goes on: "For it is only through its class conscious mino nity that the working class gradual- ly becomes a factor in history."

CONFLICT

To win this active minority to the revolutionary party means that the Marxist party must come into conflict with the hist- orically rooted reformist and syn- dicalist illusions deep-set in the thinking and daily activity of trage union militants. What is to be Done? dealt with the conflict between the revolut- ionary party and the daily trade union and "economic" of the working class, which is dif industry at the expense of the wor= ferent in its origin and content trom scientific socialism: "We have said that there could Under capitalism production takes not have been Social-Democratic place only for profit - for surplus the production of commodities. All wealth in society is produced hy the working class. For this reason, and class, and the only force which can end capitalism and establish sociali- The working class has more than The enormous The lack of such "For it is not enough to call our- selves the 'vanguard", contingent; we must act in such a way that all the other contingents recognise and are obliged to admit that we are marching in the van- guard. Lenin in What Is To Be Done p. 83 come simulta [ie. revolutionary consciousness among the workers. It would have to be brought to them from without. The history of all coun- tries shows that the working class, SOCIALIST PRESS, Thursday, 6th March, 1975 exclusively by its own effort, is able to develop only trade-union consciousness, i.e., the conviction that it is necessary to combine in unions, fight the employers.

and strive to compel the govern- ment to pass necessary labour Yet even in the legislation, etc. The theory of socialism however, grew out of the philosophical, historical and economic theories claborated by educated representatives of the Yet throughout Yet "It is the very reasonableness and moderation of the majority coupled sometimes with lack of action, which allows determined Janatical minority groups to manipulate events in the interes of extreme political cults Thatcher -speaking to Tory trade unionists - last Saturday March Ist. propertied classes, by intellectuals By their social status, the founders of modern scientific socialism, Marx and Engels, themselves be longed to the bourgeois intellig.

entsia." (PP 31-2) In Britain the working class has a long history of reformism, of precisely trade union conscious- ness. The historical advantage of British imperialism - the first country to undergo a bourgeois industrial revolution and develop a capitalist economic system - was that it could exploit the Em- pure for cheap raw materials and sweated labour. This meant that although the employers fought the working class every inch of the way, they were when necess- ary, able to make considerable concessions in wages and condit- ions.

IMPERIALISM

. Lenin in Trotsky says: "Britain had far earlier based her capitalist devel- opment upon Imperialist plunder.

She gave the upper layer of the proletariat an economic interest

SUITES

in her domination over the world.

In upholding its interests the Bri- tish working class confined itself to pressure upon the bourgeois parties which had in tarn accust- omed it to the idea of capitalist exploitation of the backward cou- ntries. It began to start upon the path of an independent policy only as Britain began to lose her positions on the world market being squeezed out in the proces by her main rival, Germany......

(Trotsky Writings on Britain, Voll pp 13-14) This has had a contradictory effect in the workers movement.

On the one hand it has establish- ed conditions and living standards which are now unsupportable by a capitalist economy, , and which have to be attacked by the empl oyer - conditions which will be defended in the coming revolut- the advancea monary struggles. Yet these same concessions have strengthened the illusion that these conditons can he defended by trade union militancy alone that politics should be kept ou of the unions, and that the system can be reformed through the pressure of the Labour party- which is a workers party with a bourgeois leadership. Continued...

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page 8

DEFEND ALL JOBS

continued from page 1 A firm nationalised in this way must be integrated with the beg- innings of a planned economy through state contracts, in order to guarantee the job of every worker. The sliding scale of hours - dividing the work available amon- gst the whole labour force at no loss of pay - must be introduced.

This is the socialist alternative to the capitalist policy of short time Clearly, until the capitalist econ- omy itself can be replaced by a scenes. planned socialist economy inflat- ion will continue at a rampant pace, Government contracts will add to this. The way to fight inflation is to struggle tor the sliding scale of wages, linked to the rising cost of living (as estab- lished by trade union committees) Without such a programme to defend jobs and wages the work- ing class faces an onslaught from the employers with no leadership whatsoever. The TUC and Labour leaders who allow the Shrewsbury Two to rot in jail and support the class-collaboration of the social contract will not challenge the right of the employers to exploit.

That task. must be undertaken by the undefeated strength of the working class, under a new leader- hip, which starts from the defenc of the rights of the working class

PRENTICE BLOWS THE GAFF

It might appear that there is a split on policy develop- ing for ing between former left' Employment Minister Michael Foot and extreme right wing Education Minister Reg Prentice. This is the way the Tory press has built up the row over a speech leaders. made by Prentice last weekend, on the question of the social con- take into Launching a vicious attack tract. against "Marxists" who reject the contract, Prentice said: "It is no good blaming the de- grappling with clared enemies of the social con- The fault lies with those difficulties. who allow them to get away with Every member of the TUC General Council should stump the country in support of the social Every leading figure at district and branch level should Every individual trade unionist must accept his personal share of res ponsibility. The contract was

PTEE NICE

agreed by his delegates in his name. er see of the barn Kee (reported, Times 1/3/75) demanding the trade union lea- own ministry by eagerly pursuing Prentice speaks straight Tory policy from the bureaucratic Yet Foot is unable to challenge any of these aspects of Prentice's in SuppOrt press regard him as the Cabinets most passionate supporter" of TUC Leaders into selling out legi- dancy, with statements such as in Lincoln. such a degree that they would of unemployment" increase the risk What then is the basis of Foot's anger? There is no essential dif- movement. Printed and Published by the Workers Socialist League 31, Dartmouth Park Hill, London NW5 1HR Printed by Trade Union labour.

SELL- OUT

HATCHED

AT COWLEY

The sell-out of the annual wage review, due on February 3rd, for the 20,000 manual workers in the Cowley complex is being hatched behind the It is now a month since talks broke down at the final stage of procedure with a top offer of £5.60 and the claim put in the hands of the national officials.

The tacticsof the sell-out are on the plant. clear. Things will be allowed to drift on until the employer can come forward and otter a large sum of back-pay (which is workers" own money anyway) hoping that thie will intuence the vote. At the same time the employer will say that to increase the offer will endanger everyones job, and the Vanessa Redgrave last May.

trade union leaders will say - this is not the time to fight.

Workers in Cowley must not sit Meetings back and see this happen.

must be demanded immediately and preparations made to tight for the full claim. concluded. in full by February Miss Redgrave. - both are fight- terence in policy wage cuts to preserve the Foot is petur- employers profits. bed because Prentice's open att- empt to call the TUC to heel just at the moment Foot is selling the social contract with a "left" colouration, in the aftermath of been made, the miners strike, could upset the agreement he has with the TUC gullty of tabrication. This is why he replies "failed to that Prentice's speech acoount all the pressures and problems on trade unionists and their leaders have to face in the nation's imm- ense and complicated economic The same reason motivates Prime Minister Wilson, who angrily took the view that the nett, Education Secretary's choice of words could create much more isation is difficulty for the Government in its attempts to persuade the union leaders to honour the con- tract with greater wage restraint."

is under the then, hammer from Wilson and Foot dif- for bad tactics, not for any ference on the strategy of defen- ding capitalism. methods. story, and the story behind the don Stock Exch inge is one of newed attacks on workg class official trade union leadership.

FOOT

Very different however, are the increasing moves amongst rank and file trade unionists and Labour Party members to clear est level since 1954. out Tories like Prentice from the because of inflation, Labour movement. This must begin by fighting to remove him from the T&GWU list for spon- soring as an MP, and for his Newham CLP to withdraw sup- port for him as a candidate and expel him from the Labour Party, as took place with Taverne All out war must be more solid foundation. declared by workers on all those who, like Prentice, defend the employers within the workers money to finance investment.

sharp fall in interest rates.

WE REPLY TO

PRESS SLANDERS

The decision of Vanessa Redgrave, a Political Committee member of the WRP, to take Alan Thornett into the High Court for the return of £4,000 lent to him last May became - by last Monday - the basis of a witch hunt against the Trot- skyist movement in the capitalist press.

Most of the press slanders in one way or another, seek to connect suggesting that at the time workers Comrade Thornett with corruption, were on strike in support of him last year Thornett was receiving large sums of money. Any such insinuation under the atmosphere of witch- hunt prevailing in British Leyland is highly damaging and endangers not only Comrade Thornett and the WL but the trade union movement Because of this Comrade Thornett issued a written statement on Tues- day which was deliberately confined to an explanation of the circum- stances and purpose of the loan and specifically excluded any political material in order this being used against the WRP or the WS under witch-hunt conditions. The full text of the statement was as follows: *1 am making this statement to clear up the distortions and inferences which have appeared in the press over the past two days concerning the writ served on me regarding the 4,000 loan made to me by Miss Following my divorce, I was left with the choice of either selling my house or raising half its value (E4,000) as a settlement. The loan from Miss Redgrave was a personal arrangement to deal with this problem and was considered only after it had proven impossible for me to raise the money through any of the building societies.

Having received the loan it never remained in my hands but was passed on immediately to The loan was made on the basis that repayments would be made in the normal way once the details were agreed In June the solicitor acting for me wrote to Miss Redgrave pressing for a final arrangement to be A reply was received six months later demanding repayment 11th 1975. I replied to this through my solicitor proposing a reasonable monthly figure for repayment. This was rejected The loan therefore was received in good faith and with Miss Redgrave having full knowledge that I would only have the resources to repay it on an instalment basis. In these circumstances it is regrettaore that this entirely unnecessary action has been brought.

No other statement has been issued by Comrade Thornett or any othe member of the WL on this matter. Newspapers such as last Wednesday Telegraph which give the impression that other statements have , or that Comrade Thornett has spoken to them, are The WRP Political Committee statement of Wednesday March 5th, made during this witch-hunt and attacking the WL publically, is gross political irresponsibility.

The statement accuses Comrade Thornett of triggering the witch hunt when it was entirely precipitated by Vanessa Redgrave's completely unnecessary High Court action pressed under conditions where she was also pressed after a knew full well the consequences. This action reasonable arrangement for the return of the money had been offered the details of which were still negotiatable The most incredible claims made in the WRP statement are that Thor who is being witch-hunted by the capitalist press, the employers and the right wing in the IdG as a continuation of a previous vicum- the darling of Fleet Street" , that he has had a "great reception in Fleet Street circles". It goes on to say that "the same papers that vill- ified him are encouraging him " and that he is "feted in the capitalist The most obvious lies contained in the statement are the expulsion figures - put in to lend credibility to the argument. All the figures are invented but Oxford and Yorkshire are the most blatant. The statement says that there were 26 expulsions in Oxford and 1 in Yorkshire. Yet at the August Central Committee meeting there were 109 registered ince there are now only two members lett th ould appear to leave 107. In Yorkshire the WSL has three branch made up almost entirely of members expelled from the WRP.

The WRP statement directs away from politics claiming a "personal split. In reality the expulsions were to silence criticisms by organisationa.

STOCK MARKET RISE

Behind every picture there lies a from 13% to 10%%. talists not prepared to accept re- doubling of the rices on the Lon- duced interest payments on their cash deposits are trying their deepening world recession and re- luck on the world's stock ex- changes. This is the first main living standards aided and abetted reason for the increase in share the Labour Government and the prices The second main reason is to In May 1972 the F.T. index be found in the activities of the stood at 543.6, but in the follo- Labour government since the wing 31 months it plummeted by beginning of this year. more than 70% to reach 146 on attacks on the working class have 6th January this year - its low- accompanied repeated concessions (In fact, to the demands of big business.

shares were actually worth only half of their persistent rumours of There are an end to all divident and price et by the end of Februar Big concessions have

COLORS.

the index had mote than doubled.

been made on North Sea oil tax, What lies behind this unpreced- on the Capital Transfer Tax, and on the pensions bill. of course. is pever confident of concession absent. But the recent rise has a on the Industry Bill. The government's efforts to pro- The world wide recession has tect profits are reflected in the been accompanied everywhere by rise in share prices a sharp drop in the-demand tor On top of this the city is streng thened by the shift to the right Consequently, there has been a in the Tory party with the emer- gence of people who are prepared to use unemployment to take on The Bank of England has redn- the working class. ced its Minimum Lending Rate SOCIALIST PRESS, Thursday March 6th 1975 TUC Deserts Two (cont'd from pl) The march had succeeded in raising the demand for general strike action amongst many layers of the trade union movement, but suffered by being dominated by the centrist politics of the Workers Revolutionary Party. The WRP throughout the march published a number of lengthy and hysterical articles making various charges against the Inter- national Socialists and the Inter- national Marxist Group, both of whom supported the campaign, as justification for having excluded these groups from the march.

ATTACKED

Workers Press has also attacked the Workers Socialist League for "wanting to disrupt" the march, and stated this as the reason for escluding trade unionists members of the WS from "public" mee- tings. Needless to say all the allegations against the WS ar baseless, and generally too ridiculous to refute in detail.

The hostility within the trade union movement to these unprec- edented political exclusions car the 5/293 BLMC Assembly Plant T&GWU branch in Cowley On February 17th the remaining WRP member in the branch moved plus £20.00 donation

SUDDOLL.

for the Wigan Builders march.

Speaking on the motion, Alan Thornett reported that the entire branch delegation to the TUC lobby (the WRP member did not attend) had been physically ex cluded from the Central Hall meet- ing of the Wigan Bullders Action Committee, and moved an amend- ment to the resolution of support.

EXPLANATION

The amendment called for the €20.00 to be withheld unless an explanation was given by the Wig an Committee as to why such action had been taken, and an ass- urance that branch members would not be excluded in the fut- The next day the branch secre- tary contacted Mike Farley, sec retary of the Wigan Builders, who said that the exclusions at Central kers concerned had been distrib- uting leaflets outside (which is not even true). He went on to say that workers would not be excluded if they attended as mem bers of the 5/293 branch On Wednesday the 19th Alan Thornett and another member of the branch went to the Wigan Builders meeting in Watford and were excluded at the door on the basis that they were not branch delegates. (who heard After hearing this report the branch meeting on March 3rd voted by 28 to 3 to with-hold the £20.00 and then with only one against decided not to let Mike Farley to address the next Those capi- € 500 monthly development fund Constant The escalation of mass unemp loymunt as the crisis bites deep 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 SL The CBI is We are therefore appealing to our readers for a £500 monthly dev- elopment fund to expand "Socialist Press" It is vital that the policies our paper fights for are read widely in the workers movement as leader- ship becomes the cruciar question.

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