[It is crucial for a Trotskyist movement in…]
Socialist Press1976 1976-04-07Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 5 →
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It is crucial for a Trotskyist movement in today's crisis of leadership to have a correct assessment of the manoeuvres of world Stalinism. We take these questions very seriously.
Comrade L's letter raises some important questions on the current evolution of world Stalinism -questions which cannot satisfactorily be answered in the space we have available in this edition of 'Socialist Press.
For this reason we print the letter only, with an extended article to take up the questions involved to appear in our next edition.
The same union bureaucrats who accepted Measured Day Work, though at the time they pronounced themselves in solid defence of plant bargaining, are now the same ones favouring corporate negotiations. These same gentlemen are also the backbone of the state pay laws of the Labour government - which is corporate bargaining on a national scale.
Today, the key role in forcing in new wage structures will be the 'participation' committees. This emerged clearly: in the March meeting of the BMC Joint Shop Stewards Committee, where Derick Robinson - a leading Stalinist who is also chairman of the highest body in the Ryder set-up - announced without warning that he was now in favour of corporate bargaining.
CHANGE
He went on to argue that the Committee should consider A management sub-committee of Ryder is now carrying out an "investigation' there which will be the basis for a further confron tation and attack on individua operators and working conditions.
One of the arguments of the right wing against the shop stewards Open the Books Committee in Cowley was that Ryder provided for the books to be opened to the participation committees anyway and therefore no Open the Books Committee was necessary.
Six months later the myth has been exploded. Not only have the books been kept firmly closed (with the exception of selected information to strengthen manage. ment's "viability" argument) but participation' committee members are now sworn to secrecy and walk around with confidential docu ments highly damaging to worker concealed in their pockets.
From this it is clear that ever attack of the employers and thi Labour government is aimed at des troying the independence of thi