[Another Trades Council has set up an unemployed…]

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COMMITTEE SET UP

Another Trades Council has set up an unemployed workers' committee as a special sub-committee to unite employed and unemployed in the struggle against unemployment.

The line of policy of the committee is complete programme to fight redundancy and wage cutting. It advocates a fight for:

*An end to state wage controls *A return to free collective *A sliding scale of wages to compensate against inflation *A sliding scale of working hours (work-sharing on full pay *A ban on all overtime *The occupation of all plants threatened with closure *A scheme of public works with guaranteed government contracts.

In taking such a programme into the struggles of the local labour movement, the committee can play a crucial role. At a time when every bureaucrat is desperately seeking to knife the slightest struggle against the policies of the Labour government, the fight for programme of action is essential.

The WSL is continuing its campaign in every area for Trades Councils to set up such committees and to lead a drive to recruit the unemployed into the trade unions to prevent their isolation from the organised labour movement.

A battle is developing in Kelly, now Secretary of the Newham North East Constituency Labour Party, has given crucial leadership in that constituency's campaign to oust right-winger Reg Prentice as their candidate.

Consequently, Prentice is out to discredit Kelly by any means possible and to strip him of his union credentials.

ASTMS, which has a reputation as a "left" trade union, should have come out squarely in support of Kelly, who has been an active member of the Charing Cross Branch since last November. But ASTMS Generai Secretary, Clive Jenkins, no doubt responding to pressure from high places, first questioned Kelly's membership on the grounds that one of the spaces in the application form had been left blank by the Branch Secretary FAKE The Branch cleared up this charge easily enough, so Jenkins thought up another fake charge -that Kelly was not employed at the time he applied for membership.

The Charing Cross Branch has documents to prove this charge to be false, but Jenkins has none the less manoeuvred to push through a decision on the NEC against Kelly's membership.

The Charing Cross Branch rejects the NEC's decision on the grounds that it has been arrived at on the basis of false and contradictory evidence, and the Branch has sent an emergency resolution to the ASTMS delegate conference, to be held this weekend, censuring Jenkins for his manoeuvres and calling on conference to conserve the validity of Kelly's membership.

It is vital for ASTMS to come out strongly on this issue. The Labour movement must protect the democratic rights of trade unionists and Labour Party • members to oppose right-wing Labour MPs and Labour Party policies which ate against working class interests. Socialist Press: How tory organised occupation?

Innocenti workers: It was inore or less an assembly operation producing the Mini and later also the Regent.

Very few parts were actually produced in Milan and so the factory had no productive or technical autonomy.

There were about 4500 workers who during the occupation have been reduced to about 4000.

Socialist Press: What is the organisation in the factory?

IW: As throughout_italy, the main organisation is the Factory Council (Consiglio di Fabbrica). This has about 55 members who are directly elected by the workers and are in close and continual contact with them.

Then there is the higher structure of the trade union federation at various levels - the zone, province and national levels.

The factory councils vote for some delegates at these levels but the candidates are nominated from above as a result of deals between the political parties to have an agreed share of posts at all levels.

The Metalworkers Federation to which we all belong is an amalgamwas the facbefore the ation of the three previously separ ate metalworkers unions (those of the Communist Party, the Socialist Party and the Christian union).

The higher bodies of the union are not representative like the factory council and so the two were in frequent conflict.

Socialist Press: What is the political balance on the factory council?

IW: As in most of Italy, the Communist Party had the numerical majority and had hegemony of the counci. There were four or five socialists, no Christian Democrats, quite a number of people to the left of the Communist Party, supporters of Proletarian Democracy (an electoral alliance of Avanguardia Operaia, the PDUP and other small groups on the left) though not members of any party, and a small number of members of revolutionary groups.

Socialist Press: How exactly occupation begin?

IW: It started on November 26th, the day after Leyland announced the liquidation of the company. The management did everything it could to block the activities of the union.

But the factory council met, Inside the Milan fa story Socialist Press: What were demands of the occupation? Socialist Press: reactions to the were made?

Socialist Press: ment which led occupation?

subsidiary, Leyland Innocenti in Milan.

by a 'Socialist Press' reporter.

unanimously voted for an occupation, and this recommendation was unanimously supported by a mass meeting of all the workers.

the IW: There was continual conflict between the Communist Party and the left about both the demands of the occupation and its methods.

The left put forward a demand for nationalisation without compensation under workers' control and the conversion of the plant to produce public consumption goods such as buses.

The CP opposed all of this: their solution was a takeover by a joint state and private capitalist enterprise.

As to the organisation, the CP tried to keep the organisation in the hands of a small group of the factory council while the left argued for the greatest participation not only of workers in the factory but also outside.

The CP tried to put a brake on every initiative but in spite of this seyeral demonstrations of solidarity were organised outside, such as the blocking of a major railway station, of a motorway and two vast demonstrations of support (one of 100,000 workers in the streets of Milan).

The CP opposed all these initiatives, and the leaders of the Metalworkers Federation gave a press conference condemning this kind of action.

What were the demands which IW: First, Leyland refused to pay the redundancy pay which it was legally obliged to and launched a lawsuit against the occupiers for the recovery of machinery which it wanted to ship out.

Second, the government and the Italian capitalists arranged a series of rumoured "possible' solutions which were all welcomed by the Communist Party and which had the effect of disorienting the occupying workers.

One of these was a widely publicised plan for Fiat to take over the company to make small cars - for which it already had a huge overcapacity.

agreeto the end of the IW: The occupation of the factory ended nominally because of the agreement reached with Leyland for the payment of redundancy pay and the release of the machinery.

Half of this has been paid and the rest is due next week. But the A march through the to wn. (photo: Quotidiano die Lavoratori) Leyland agreement was only possible because of the inter vention of the GEPI (an agency o. the Italian government rather liki the National Enterprise Board along with De Tomase, the head o the motor cycle firm Moto Guzzi.

Through a joint enterprise the! plan to make Japanese cars unde licence. The agreement guarantee the pay of 2500 workers for fou months, 1000 for 16-18 month and 400 for three years. For thes periods the wage is guaranteed b the state redundancy fund.

This plan for a joint venture i very like the CP's plan and the Cl has welcomed it. When it was firs put to a vote in the factory counci the voting was 35 to 7 in favour.

But in fact the new compan has not yet been formed and because of the political crisis th government still hasn't given it assent to the agreement. Th factory is still closed and no one i Socialist Press: Was this put to a mass meeting?

IW: Yes it was accepted and th occupation ended on March 7th This was almost inevitable becaus of the propaganda of the Com munist Party in favour of the sel tlement and the materially de perate position of most of th workers.

During the four months of th occupation workers had receive only 80,000 lire a head (abou £55) from the union federatior Under the settlement they will ge about £300 per head from Leyland Since this interview was given, further mass meeting has confirme the acceptance of the 'solution' t the occupation; and work at th factory has resumed under the ner management.

The Communist Party presented this outcome as a victory And indeed it marks a clea 'victory" for their own policies o class collaboration:

It is no victory for worker whose jobs are 'protected' unde the agreement for a few month only with no further guaranteer •* The alternative positions pu during the occupation by group to the left of the CP were capabi of attracting considerable suppor both from workers in the factor and from the rest of the worker movement in Milan.

But they were not capable in th end of giving real conviction t these more militant positions b presenting them as part of The defeat cannot be attribute merely to the material problems a the workers, which were rea enough; it also has a politica dimension.

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SOCIA. PRESS, Wednesday May 5th, 1976 Street fighting, July 191 Even the district committee of the Bolsheviks was dragged in, deciding it could not leave the workers to their fate but would go along, if only to 'maintain order' At 3 pm. an all-city conference of the Bolsheviks were informed of the demonstration. Tomsky, for the Central Committee declared: "it is impossible to talk of a manifestation at this moment unless we want a new revolution"

The offensive at the front would inevitably fail, but had not done so yet, and time had to be gained for compromisers to ruin themselves completely.

SCAPEGOATS

Premature action could provide the excuse to use the Bolsheviks as scapegoats for the failure of the offensive.

The conference appealed to the masses to hold back and to the Executive Committee of the Soviet to take power.

But the party call was not heeded. Factory after factory came out, lined up, and armed its detachment of the Red Guard. Trotsky describes it:

"Samsonevsky Prospect, the chief artery of the Vyborg side, was packed full of people. To the right and left of it stood solid columns of workers. In the middle of the Prospect marched the Machine Gun Regiment, the spinal column of the procession. At the head of each company went an automobile truck with its Maxims; over every detachment streamed a banner: 'All power to the Soviets!"

A participant wrote:

"The cockades of the officials, the shiny buttons of students, the hats of lady sympathisers were not to be seen. Today only the common slaves of capital were marching"

Faced with a great crowd outside the palace of Kshesinskaia, the Bolshevik headquarters, clamouring for instructions, for leadership, its demands backed with rifles and bayonets; the party had to abandon its fruitless restraint.

PEACEFUL

It resolved to call for a pea ceful march to the Tauride Palac 3, to elect delegates and through them present their demands to the Executive Committee.

The demonstration moved out,

----- pull-quotes -----

ASTMS over Tony Kelly's membership of that union.