Eec Is Class Issue

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Harold Wilson's sacking of Eric Heffer from his ministerial post last Wednesday because he spoke in Parliament against Common Market entry must be the signal for a campaign to remove Wilson as Labour leader. Heffer's statement, inadequate and limited though it was, was a straightforward defence of Labour Party policy which Wilson has thrown contemptuousiy overboard in his rush to defend British capitalism through entering the EEC - the means by which the European employers are attempting to regroup their Heffer correctly took a stand against Wilson, on an issue which is vital for the working class, and showed he was prepared to lose his job on the issue. Yet this correct position immediately raises important questions.

Where were the other 36 ministers who voted against Common Market entry, yet hung back in shameful silence in the debate cowed by Wilson's threat to sack any Minister who opposed his pro-Market line? Was it more important to them to keep their ministerial pay cheques and personal position than to detend the decisions of the Labour Party and of the majority of the trade union movement?

The opportunism of this group is characterised by Wedgewood Benn' statement after the event. greatly regret the dismissal of Bric Heffer." he said, knowing full well that he himself had no intention of fighting Wilson or risking his job.

LIMP Yet this kind of submission to Wilson's threats is also shown in Hetter's own position in refusing to fight his dismissal. Wilson, within one hour of the Commons vote, had published a blunt letter which did not even take the normal steps of inviting Heffer's resignation, but which merely told him that "I am therefore informing the Queen that you have ceased to be a Minister, and I shall recommen a new appointment in due course." Yet Heffer having made his stand, now tamely accepts Wilson's right o purge him from the government, tating that he leels no bitterness' and concluding limply "l expected the Prime Minister to sack me." At the same time he urged some Tribune group MPs not to act in his defence.

This kind of capitulation sees the Common Market question simply as one of individuals, where as what is involved is the defence of the working class. More and

Heffer

more the class lines are drawn the BEC. With the exception the few ultra-nationalists the whole of the bourgeoisie has now swung in support of entry - as is shown by the tiny handful of Tory MPs who eventually voted against. Out of 170 votes against entry, 145 were Labour MPs, while Wilson is forced to depend on the willing support of the Tory Party in order to win a majority in Parliament.

For the British capitalist class Common Market entry is vital. As the world recession continues to gather momentum, with production and sales falling in the major capitalist countries, competition becomes more intense and the threat of protectionist barriers between the major trade blocs - Europe, the USA and Japan, grows stronger. British capitalism caught outside Europe under these conditions would be immediately racked by enormou economic and political crisis, opening the possibility of the successful struggle for power by the working class.

This is precisely why the Tory press is now attempting to whip up a witch-hunt against the antimarketeers, branding them all as "Marxists" and extremists. Tory foreign affairs spokesman Eidon Griffiths, for example, said on Saturday that "Behind the hubbi over the sacking of Eric Heffer, the stark choice now confronting the Labour Party lies between the EEC and Communism. At the same time William Whitelaw, the Tory Party's deputy leader. was stating that the anti-markete were people "who want to see a completely socialist Britain"

These statements, aimed at win ning votes by inducing an anticommunist frenzy in the middle class, nevertheless show the decisive nature of the Common Marke as a capitalist alliance against the working class. Within the conomic and political structure of the EEC is the strategic line of defence of the British ruling class. It would open for them the possibility of international "rationalisatio of industry - closing down "unece nomic" plant with strong trade union organisation in order to move to impoverished areas in Europe, and attempting to combine forces with European capital through military alliances aimed at preserving the "stability" of capitalism against revolutionary upheavals by the working class.

It is no accident therefore that Vilson, who has always slavishly lefended the 'rights' and interes of employing class should find himself united on the Common larket question with nearly the hole of the Tory Party. For Wilson however it is only a part of an overall plan to preserve British capitalism, which includes also the massive injections of state finance to underpin private industr incoporated in Benn's Industry Bill, together with attempts to use an alliance with the trade union bureaucracy in order to impose wage-cutting proposals of the social contract.

OPPOSITION Yet at every point Wilson contr the determination of the working class to resist attacks on its living standards and to fight his open alliance with the Tories and the employers. This class opposition to Wilson in the trade unions and As we go to print, the armer workers and peasants have entered the outskirts of Ph Penh and taken over the Pochentong airport and su ounding villages.

The US ambassadors and his stooges just pulled out in time picture p21 but they have made sure they maintained a supply of food and ammunition parachuter in to the puppet army of the fugit ive President, Lon Nol. This expos nakedly the hypocrisy of the talk about "refugees". The whole effo of US imperialism is to keep up the fighting, spill the maximum amount of Cambodian blood, and attempt in this way to ensure that Phnom Penh is reduced to rubble by the time it is taken by the Khmer Rouge.

Exactly the same tactics apply the suicidal "defence" of Saigor Thieu's forces against the NUF. Imperialism is attempting to save face, and will continue with the slaughter in norder to do so.

But nothing can obscure this victory by the liberation forces as a beacon to the impoverished and starving masses throughout Asia a the rest of the world. It is a major blow against world imperialism. Already the governments of Thailand and Malaysia, themselves con fronted by the outbreak of guerill warfare, say they will recognise whatever government is in power