Singing for his supper

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-cer ive 1976 gave an mination of the The annual awards by the British bourgeoisie to the labour leaders who serve their interests OK. JACK... RAM HOME PHASE 3 AND YOU CAN TAKE YOUR PICK!

KNIGHTHOODS & PEERAGES.

EMPIRE, MAPE complete determination idea of the deter- at all costs. TUC leaders to Such topsions wit When Tribunite MP Norman Atkinson was elected as Labour Party Treasurer, the Tory press hailed it as a victory for the left".

But Atkinson's latest effort at fundraising for the Party's new headquarters is an unmistakable sign that, like so many other Tribunites he is completely in cahoots with Labour's coalitionist right wing leadership.

In appealing desperately for an astounding £l.6 million Atkinson embarks on an extended defence of the bloodstained history of the From Socialist Press of 5 January 1977 Sition gon, Labur dise tins tr cL of with "lef therres Coni comi lamir Britist faster atte Al sharpi forcit furt! on Ger trad Main *Soon after the First World War ended in 1918 the Labour Party set about the task of building a new Socialist movement in Britain based on mass individual membership. Primarily it was to be an electoral machine geared to winning parliamentary majority.' AtkInson, with cap in hand, is tactfully silent on the record of leading reformist politicians in supporting their own ruling class in the First World War-and on the 'pacifist' stance of the ILP lefts' who held back from support for the war effort while refusing to lead all-out struggles against the British capitalist class.

And of course he stays mum on the treachery of the Second International-to which the Labour Party is still affiliated-which found its parties in each major capitalist country lined up alongside their 'own' ruling class in the war.

False pretences

But while such dishonesty to be expected of any reformist, the next sentence indicates that Atkinson determined to appeal for finances on false pretences:

*The whole concept developed as a consequence of trade union opinion moving away from the idea that industrial power could persuade Tory and Liberal governments to bring in progressive legislation capable of ending dreadful conditions suffered by working people."

Atkinson feels it necessary to cover up the fact that, through the Lib-Lab deal, the Callaghan government gone back and attempted to reverse this early and partial move towards working class political independence.

For this reason he ignores the fact that the government's programme for the current session of parliament PHOTO: Chris Davies Report aghan's determination to appease the Liberals and to abandon any hint of progressive socialist legislation while providing a stable foothold to impose a further round of wage controls.

And he ignores the fact that today's TUC leaders, by propping up the Lib-Lab government and its wage contros hack the wheel of have to turn working-class history.

Meanwhile the reality of working-class hostility to the wage-cutting, job-slashing policies that have distinguished the Lib-Lab coalition and the Labour government that preceded it, is lost on Atkinson.

From the comfort of the House of Commons leather armchairs he straightfaced'y men of the North and a mere 34% in favour in the South.

Even in this sample, ot which the larger southern element is clearly unrepresentative of the truth, the Daily Mail could find just 9% in the South and 6.5% in the North who said they would vote to accept the employers' offer, But the most brilliant stroke was in answer to the following question: 'Should the union delegate conference be recalled?' (What for is carefully excluded from the To this 47% of those in the South and North said yes.

Loaded sample

So the Mail, with a loaded sample and a question almost devoid of real meaning find in their most favoured area a minority in favour of a recall conference. Surely this must be a story to tuck away on In fact the Daily Mail displayed their figures proudly on page one and draw the following startling conclusion.

'The results of the survey are remarkable and show a definite cracking in the firemen's resolve.' And the minority? That's easily explained away.

*The men questioned were Norman Atkinson suggests that shop stewards organise shopfloor collections towards the new Labour Party headquarters!

'Memorable years'

For anyone foolhardy enough to attempt such an exercise there is little doubt that, in Atkinson's words, 1978-79 will be 'memorable years'-in which they were lucky to escape lynch-mobs.

And for anyone still harbouring illusions that Tribunite MPs are in any real sense politically distinct from the Lib Lab coalition, Atkinson's begging bowl patter makes sobering reading.

The Lib-Lab deal must be broken and its grovelling defenders-both "left' and right alike-driven out of the on picket duty and deliberately chosen as such, and so could be expected to be antagonistic to any kind of climbdown.

It should not be lost on readers that although the "crack in resolve' bears no relation to reality it bears a close resemblance to the message that the Daily Mail wanted to give to the FBU executive at its meeting that very day.

It also bears a remarkable similarity to the wish fulfillment practiced by the Press after the firemen's lobby of On that day as hundreds of firemen besieged the TUC and even threatened the traitors with physical violence, the ability of the Press to twist events through 360 degrees was shown in its full glory.

The almost universal posttion adopted the next day by the Press was that the firemen surrounding the bureaucrats were not firemen at all-but "left-wing extremists" dressed up as firemen!

Perhaps there is no strike either. Left wing extremists may have simply Kidsapped the firemen and be masq* erading as FBL members ou the picket line.