TUC RULE 14 Move to strangle Trades Councils
Socialist Press1976 1976-03-24Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 11 →
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Seven London Trades Councils have now voted to reject the reactionary 'Rule 14' which the TUC have attempted to impose, which would have the effect of shackling Trades Councils hand and foot to TUC policy. This policy includes support for wage cutting and unemployment at present being carried through by the Labour government. Main advocates of the new Rule are the Communist Party Stalinists, who, from being the main targets of Rule 14 in the 1930's are now the main prop of the right wing in the TUC.
This new rule is the latest in a series of blows against union democracy from a corrupt and reactionary bureaucratic leadership.
Oxford Trades Council march against the cuts At their recent AGM, the Camden Trades soundly defeated the imposition of the TUC's gag "Model Rule 14 by a vote of 37 to 31. The vote came after much discussion of the risk of disaffiliation by the TUC.
It was clear that a battle would have to be waged against the bureaucracy on a level which embraced all forces in the trade union movement prepared to fight against the TUC's attempt to make easier their reactionary collaboration with the Labour government on pay policy and public spending.
But the Stalinists of the Communist Party, who in Camden were the main • supporters of the TUC on Rule 14, did not give up. At the meeting of the trades counci on March 16th they were back in force, having put the question on the agenda despite heavy opposition on the executive committee, DE at whose meeting they refused to put issues to the vote!
The Stalinists tried scare tactics, brandishing a letter which they claimed threatened immediate exclusion of the Trades Council from They shed crocodile tears over the rule, and tried to push the fight against it off into the trade union branches. (Of course it is important to struggle there too, but the Stalinists also refuse to do this).
Even so, they were unable to call forth the two-thirds majority needed to adopt the rule, although
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OXFORD AREA PLA: UNIT IS STRE