Faucrats Prepare to Pull Out

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"What the report said to Mr. Ward was that he should make a gesture and take a few of them (the strikers) back to give the unions a chance to save their faces ... Mr. Ward was not being asked to surrender anything essential".

Knowing Socialist Press to be the only newspaper to have consistently exposed the Scarman Report as being nothing short of a sell-out and effectively a shield behind which all the trade union bureaucrats both "left" and right would hide, regular readers will be forgiven for thinking the above quote is drawn from a past issue of this paper.

If this isn't the case, then perhaps the centrist waverings of Socialist Challenge or the rank and filism of Socialist Worker have somehow or other finally dragged them into a position of opposition to the Scarman proposals and out in defence of the strikers jobs?

Regretfully such an about turn is asking too much from those who have without fail lined up their forces in effect behind the bureauIn fact the lines above represent one of those rare occasions when verification for our point of view comes in a hysterical outburst from a representative of the ruling class, in this case James Prior, arch right wing Tory and Shadow Secretary for employment.

Prior's frankness is matched by the story on the front page of the Times last Friday.

Under the headline "Union preparing for withdrawal from Grunwicks dispute", APEX leader Roy Grantham shamelessly revealed that he had:

... finally recognised that there are no tactics available for winning the dispute that are not either illegal or damaging to the electoral chances of the government."

The only surprising thing about this disgusting sabotage is that it's taken so long to bubble to the surface.

For this decision to abandon the strike represents the logical culmination of the whole APEX strategy and fitting tribute to the series of talks between trade union leaders, all with strike breaking records as long as their wage slips, and various strike committee members, ostensibly set up to transform the spineless TUC resolution calling for "an intensification of financial and practical aid" into concrete action.

SECRECY

From the very outset it was clear that these talks, destined to head off demands for immediate action, would be conducted under a heavy veil of secrecy.

Even the strike committee itself has been kept in the dark about the progress of these negotiations and "persuaded" not to lobby these meetings.

Indeed the increasingly blatant and vicious attempts by the APEX leadership to gain total control over the strike committee and steer it into certain defeat confirms the pressing need for the committee to reassert its independence from the Elements of demoralisation within the strike must be consciously fought by the strike committee. The call for a mass lobby of the TUC General Council meeting issued last week is clearly a move in the right direction.

ISOLATED

But this turn must not be an isolated shift in policy. Whatever the outcome of this meeting, a strong call should go out for the immediate resumption of the mass pickets, thereby cutting the ground away from those who will suggest continuing negotiations.

From his recent statements it is clear that Grantham sees the strike dragging along till at least Christmas and he will go to any lengths to cut short any independent action by the strikers.

The strikers can expect no help from the likes of Grantham, but must appeal for support to the labour movement as soon as possible, as well as demanding an immediate end to the secrecy within the strike.

* For mass pickets now!

*For the blacking of post, water and electricity now!

*No to Trade Union sell-outs!

*Scarman proposals out! For full reinstatement and recog-