Workers Diary CBI'S FIB

Scan page 6

idealism.

There is much else in this volume revealing the intellectual odyssey of the young Engels. We can study his wide range of interests in music and (as he spent a year in the Prussian army) in military matters - and also in the flavour of beer and the flirtations of his acquaintances.

CAPITALISM But it is when he comes into contact with industrial capitalisn and the working class that much of his religion and idealism begins to break down. Thus he found the workers in the textile factories at Wuppertal were deprived of all strength and joy in life' , and as for their employers, that they 'have a flexible conscience, and causing the death of ore child more or one less does not doom a pietest's soul to hell, especially if he goes to curch twice every Sunday'.

His visit to England late in 1842 shows how contact with the political and industrial struggles c the time served to break down I adherence to the categories of Hegelain idealism. Despite his Hegelian training, he was amazed to that the laws of England di iot ref. et the working out c iny "world pirit, , but were a much more mundane compromise amo: : the interests of different sections or the ruling class: Furthermor: "these people" know nothing of " ruggles over principles and are concerned only with conflicts over material inti is' . It was indeed a world where 'philosophical categories' proved insufficient "to show the contradictions in which England is enmeshed"

Moreover, Engels saw a situation where "the working class is daily becoming more and more imbued with the radical-democratic princ iples of Chartism and is increasingly coming , to recognise them as the expression of its collective consciousness". He describes the growth If you haven't got a good argument, just abuse your opponents. Roy Jenkins' proCommon Market campaign clearly accepts this cynical old adage, for it seems that the abusing of their adversaries is the only card they have left.

Jenkins' allies at thè CBI did try to produce a serious case for continued membership of the EEC. In their notes for "spokesmen, lecturers, and writers" they described "The Success Story for Britain" . In the first year of British membership, they claimed investment from EEC countries intr Britain exceeded that from Britain into the EEC by about £2,400m -a staggering boost for the British How embarassing, then for the CBI to have to agree that the true figures are: EEC investment into Britain, £105m; British investment into the EEC, £519m. In other words, far from a £2,400m boost, there was a net loss oi more than £400m - a little error by the CBI of about £3,000m! The CBI's deputy director, John Whitehorne, was forced to write to the Financial Times confessing to this £3,000m "inexactitude' '. (His sister, Katherine, has better luck writing for the Observer - she's just disembarked from the QE2's six-month world cruise.) Ah well back to blaming the workers and the reds under the bed.

Scan page 7

SOCIALIST PRESS, Thursda May 29th, 975. Several thousand trade unionists attended a demonstration called by the TUC to "celebrate"

Women's Year and marched from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square last Sunday. A panel of speakers from the TUC addressed the demonstration ending with Murray, who said that the demonstration was for 'human rights'.

No attempt was made by any of the speakers to explain why many of those on the platform calling for 'equal rights for women' are actively pursuing policies which remove rights from the entire working class. Jones for example has a member of the T&G in prison for picketing and does nothing about it.

The revisionist groups had not organised for the demonstration. The IS had four banners, the IMG one and the WRP were nowhere to be seen.

The Workers Socialist League had a delegation on the march and distributed a statement that took up women's rights in the context of the struggles of the workins class as a whole. We quote some sections from it:

66 Faced with a rate of inflation By a Socialist Press correspondent. of 25%, the working class is now fighting, through its unions, for wage increases to protect its living standards. The Labour government has replied with nearly 1 million unemployed and is attacking the jobs and standard of living of the working class.

In this situation workers come into conflict with their treacherous leaders. Benn presents the 'left' cover for Wilson's attacks. The TUC calls for the social contract to be upheld, and the level of wage settlements to be reduced. Jack Jones calls for wage restraint in the "national interest" , and the Labour government moves closer to state control of wages.

Demands It is in this general situation that we consider the particular problems of working women. The trade unions, whilst advancing a few (mainly economic) demands on behalf of women, do so while at the same time defending some of the worst aspects of the oppression of women. Some progress has been made towards equal pay for equal work for instance, but no trade union pressure has been brought to bear on the major issue of job opportunity. Huge sections of industry remain inaccessibte to women.

As public services are cut back as a result of the Budget, women workers are the worst affected. Women who have found jobs in these industries are thrown back on to the dole and in to the family situation. We say working women must not retreat back in to the family and attempt to find an individual solution to the problems by 'making do' on a reduced income.

The Working Women's Charter presents its demands as if they can be achieved under capitalism, when in fact the emancipation of women is inseparably linked to the revolutionary task of the working class: the overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of socialism.

It is only socialism which can release women from the oppression of domestic drudgery and isolation through the establishment of communal catering, laundry and child care and the application of technology to eliminate many of the tasks now imposed on women in the hom Yet this understanding must not exclude a struggle now to defend those rights which have been won in struggle. The basic right of abortion on demand, for example, must be advanced with the full weight of the workers' movement and the reactionary Abortion Law Amendment Bill put forward by James White MP must be opposed. This in itself shows the need for new leadership - White is a Labour MP.

Likewise, when Wilson attacks Chrysler workers, threatening unem ployment, he attacks the whole working class. The demand for equal pay for equal work in this situation cannot therefore be separated from the fight to defend the standard of living of the working class as a whole through a sliding scale of wages - point for point pay increases based on a cost of living index worked out by committees of trade unionists and housewives. Such a sliding scale must be fought for to protect the value of all new pay agreements. Women who come forward to the centre of the class struggle in this way can play a major role. Their action would open the way for the inclusion of women on factory committees, and begin a real fight against chauvinism in the unions under conditions of struggle.

Workers' Control

The involvement of working women and housewives in the fight for workers' control at every level is central to the fight for political and economic as well as social equality. This fight is inseparable from the fight for the independence of the trade unions from the state, the struggle against anti-working class laws and for the release of the Shrewsbury Two.

Redundancy and short time working affect not only men and women workers but equally the housewife. When. the demand is advanced for the books of the employers to be opened and taht business secrets be ended before redundancies are proposed, then the housewife, who is directly affected must be involved. When the committees are set up to fight for these demands, the housewife must be represented.

The demand for the basic right to work for women has never been seriously advanced in the trade unions. Today this demand can only be advanced as part of a programme to defend all jobs. Central to this is the demand for a sliding scale of hours - again administered and worked out by trade union committees. The inclusion of women workers in these committees involves them in elements of workers control over production and distribution and connects powerfully with the struggle for women's rights.

We must demand full nationalisation of industries threatening Ie dundancies under the management of elected committees of workers. We must demand that any compensation is paid only on the basis of proven need, and that the Labour goveinment provide state contracts to keep the factories in operation.

It is only in this context, as a part of an overall programme, that it means anything to advance the demand for an end to sex discrimination. Today only a revolutionary leadership can advance and struggle for such à programme.?

The 9 month struggle to improve working conditions at the Brook Hospital in S.E.

London continues aa inflation combined with spending cuts

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

STRUGGLE FOR CONDITIONS IN \HS