West German battle lines drawn

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The prospect of battle on two fronts now looms before the capitalists of West Germany.

As the skirmishes of protectionism steadily mount to the scale of full blown trade war, the bourgeoisie in Japan and West Germany is under sustained pressure from other national sections of imperialism.

Their object is to secure from these states sacrifices that will supposedly lead to an ending of the international capitalist crisis.

But the strength of these two economies is only relative and they have been unable to escape the consequences of world crisis. Every effort has been made by the West German employers for workers to bear the cost of capitalist anarchy.

Most of this work has been carried out under sub-contract by the Social Democrats in the coalition government.

Envy

Their skilful endeavours have benefitted from the rigidly bureaucratic union structure which was imposed on working-class still weakly organised after the years of fascist rule. The envy of class traitors everywhere, this system was designed to stifle any independent action from workers.

The two major disputes which have now driven a way through all these obstacles, are a telling indication of the forces that have built up within the proletariat in West Germany.

Deadlock has been reached between IG-Metall (the metal workers union) and employers in talks on the union's wage claim.

Members in two key industrial areas (North RhineWestphalia and North Wuerttemberg-North Baden) are being ballotted this week on the question of strike action.

The vote is expected to produce the 75% majority required by law for action to take place.

But the ballot itself is only taking place at all because of the determined militancy of rank-and-file workers, already engaged in a long-running struggle with inflation.

It is their mounting demands which have pushed the union's president into muttering reluctant threats of a lengthy strike, while he searches around for a new formula to sell out the claim of 8%.

Schmidt At the same time, the dis pute in the printing industry is swiftly reaching national proportions.

In place of inadequate guarantees as to the security of jobs, the printers are demanding full protection of pay and conditions.

Ballots in printing plants at Munich, Duesseldort, Kassel and Wuppertal showed an overwhelming majority in favour of an indefinite strike.

Official strikes were called there from Tuesday while one-day stoppages and unofficial action increased elsewhere. No major national daily appeared on Friday. .. Along with the recent dockers' strike, these two disputes give the lie to any theory that West German workers are hopelessly passive -a deadweight of cosy reformism and class collaboration.

In these struggles, the social democrats and other labour bureaucrats will reveal their endless capacity for Whatever economic gains they may win from their present action, the real test of success will be the extent to which the printers and metal workers are able to make that hasic political assessment. tion campaign with definite moves now for CP-SP unity.

Co-operation

Stalinist leader Marchais, seizing on a statement by the reformist trade union confederation the CFDT, about the numbers of nationalisations has now spoken about the possibility of a closer co-operation with the Socialist Party over the election and an agreement on voting in the second round.

In Proposing this Marchais obviously responds to the desire for workers' unity on the part of numerous rank and file workers and also to the electoral interests of the CP.

It is necessary now for revolutionaries to demand that the treacherous leaders до well beyond this before they come into inevitable conflict with the actions and expectations of the working class.

SYN DES.

French workers on the march OU on the Chavan-Reddy faction of the old Congress, and all the opportunist rats are now scurrying at full speed to escape imminent shipwreck.

"Reunified"

The first step towards a new realignment of forces will be the submission of the Congress (R) to Gandhi's leadership in a 're-unified' These elections have proved a sombre indication of the political consciousness achieved by the oppressed Indian masses from their long and arduous struggles.

The vicious repression of the Emergency dictatorship was ended less than a year ago, when workers and peasants solidly rejected Gandhi's government in the national elections.

In a perverted form, the votes recently cast for Gandhi express their hostility and resistance to bourgeois rule, their search for a new leadership with policies that can fulfil their demands.

No faction of any bourgeois party could, ever satisfy these requirements. Armed with populist rhetoric, personal charisma and an efficient party machine, Indira Gandhi has been able to step in to fill the yawning void created by the absence of a revolutionary workers' It is only the proletariat that can prevent this demagogue's return to tyrannical power by uniting the peasants, unemployed and petty-bourgeoisie behind its independent leadership in the fight for revolutionary pro-