Workers Socialist League

Socialist Press, Trotskyism Today and the Trotskyist International Liaison Committee, 1975–1984

Break This B Li Coalition! Demand Public Works

Socialist Press no. 66, 3 August 1977 · scan p. 4 · about 1,261 words

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and smaller business headed by David Steel and a motley gang of would-be European parliamentary careerists.

The Lib-Lab "pact" has so far borne fruit in Healey's unilateral declaration of a 10% overall limit on wage increases over the next year, backed up by the TUC urging union negotiators not to try to catch up living standards eroded since 1974 in this year's wage claims.

In reality the "pact" amounts to an undeclared Parliamentary coalition in which the Labour leaders are quite consciously using the TUC bureaucrats in order to shackle the working class movement to Liberal policies.

The base of this coalition is widened by the increasingly open support being given to the Callaghan government both by the Tory press and by the Tory Party itself.

THATCHER Tory leader Thatcher last week "gladly" accepted Callaghan's invitation that she join him in urging union negotiators to be "moderate" during the next pay round.

The Tories clearly recognise that, with growing militancy wages building towards confrontation, the Labour and TUC leaders together may stand a better chance of heading off the working class than a Tory government.

So while they continue to sound ONE PERSON NOT suffering as a result of Chancellor Healey's viciously anti-working class policies is Chancellor Healey himself, who is negotiating to purchase a £65,000 8-bedroom mansion in Sussex as soon as he has sold his existing £60,000 country home.

Healey has already reportedly sold his Highgate house for an undisclosed sum thought to be in the region of £100,000.

He will certainly fit easily into most of his new neighbourhood which is described as "75% Tory, 20% Liberal and about. 5% off from time to time to pressure the Callaghan government further to the right, the Tories are far from attempting any repeat of the March motion of no confidence which brought down the Labour government and forced on the coalition Meanwhile, with the_Labour Party's conference in Brighton approaching in October the Labour Party runs daily further from any senous struggle to break this reactionary coalition or challenge the Callaghan-Healey leadership.

Last week produced the disgusting spectacle of Eric Heffer jumping up in the Commons to reassure the Tories that there was stil life in the hated Social Contract.

At the same time the 'left' on the Labour Party's National Exacative was beating a humiliated retreat when Callaghan poured cold •sie: en rous plans to slash defence perding by 157 The these left 5: 000030=0 find issues War to fight CELE ising the Amid predictablé crocodile tears and monotonous hollow cries of "intolerable!" from TUC bureaucrats, unemployment has soared to a new peak of 1.6 million, while unfilled vacancies fell by over 5,000 during last month.

While of course every 'left wing' waffler latches on to the emotive issue of youth unemployment, the overall figure includes a staggering 1.39 million unemployed creation" and "work experience" frauds represent any consolation whatever.

But even for school-leaving youth, 253,379 of whom are now on the unemployed register, the prospects of finding regular employment at a living wage are worse than ever.

Every employer in both private and nationalised industry is looking to ways of trimming and speeding up his existing workforce-not for additional workers.

The public services are being ravaged by cuts in government spending.

DOWNTURN And building trade employers forecast a continuing downturn in an industry in which over 300,000 workers are already unemployed. 55% of building firms expect to employ less over the coming year than they did last year.

Slim.

So they collapsed ignominiously as soon as the right wing challenged their attempt to get a tepid series of changes in the election of the Party leader passed at Conference.

But they clung tenaciously to a meaningless mish-mash of opposition to the Common Market and Tribunite economic policies, which will be put to Conference with NEC backing, but will be in any event ignored by Callaghan and The break from the coalition is the most decisive question to be fought for now within the Labour All CLPs and union branches that have declared against the coalition mast prepare now to lobby the Brighton conference around this demand.

Discussion must centre on developing a programme of socialist policies on which the coalition deal must be broken.

And the Labour 'lefts' whose Parliamentary votes have propped up the coalition ior three months muSt se called to heel by their local In this situation the feeble or outright reactionary notes struck by the various union leaders voicing demands ranging from 'reflation' to calls for import controls offer no solution to youth or adult workers.

Unemployment must be fought on two fronts: the outright defence of all existing jobs, and the fight to create new ones.

Wherever employers threaten existing jobs the call must be for work sharing on full pay to apply to the whole workforce.

The employer's claim he cannot pay must be met by occupations and the demand that the full accounts of the firm be opened to elected trade union committees and their representatives.

If indeed the employer is unable to sustain the full workforce the Jenkins: "intolerable!" occupation must continue with the demand the firm be nationalised without compensation, under the management of the elected union committee, and sustained by government contracts.

The fight to create new jobs requires both a campaign to recruit the unemployed into the trade union movement, and a combined struggle of employed and unemployed workers in both the unions and the Labour Party.

At the centre of this struggle must be the call for a break in the Lib-Lab coalition.

This would open the way for the removal of Healey and Callaghan to proves crast programme of to useful public works under workers control, creating new jobs at trade union rates of pay.

Basnett: "priority" • Authorities at Essex University have announced the expulsion of five students who took part in occupations earlier this year in protest at Shirley Williams' proposals to drastically raise tuition fees.

10 other students have been suspended for periods of one to two years, and fines totalling £2,000 were imposed on others.

Altogether 73 students were "tried" by the University Disciwere found gitte, and 67 of those When the fee increases were announced last November, Essex's Vice-Chancellor Albert Sloman was one of the first to register his 'horror" at the proposals and proclaimed from the rooftops his claim to be concerned with the students' plight.

The true nature of such sympathy was revealed, however, as soon as students began taking direct action to ensure non-implementation of the increases.

High court injunctions were sought to end occupations; university lecturers physically attacked students; and a whole array of disciplinary measures were enacted against the militants within the student union.

Clearly, the authorities have chosen the holiday period as the optimum time to boot out the students.

The Students' Union has thus been sorely hampered in effectively challenging the victimisations.

Nonetheless it is crucial that the university's attempts to crush the union as a fighting force be overturned.

For that a clear strategy for taking up this struggle next term is required. But the events of the past six months have shown that the students alone lack sufficient social power to protect them from attacks-be they in the form of fee increases or expulsions.

Colchester Trades Council has passed a motion in support of the students; they must now be forced to act on that motion-only in this way will the reinstatement of all students be achieved.

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adult workers, for whom none of the gimmicky „government "job

← Contents of Socialist Press no. 66, 3 August 1977