THE NEWSPAPER STRIKE The newspaper strike had important political implicaprospects in the election, and it showed that one of the most militant and advanced trade unions was more interested in the struggle for wages than it was in getting a Labour Government returned.
It is true that Briginshaw, joint general secretary of Labour ("Harold Wilson can provide the better guvertment from the main choice... The Labour Party is a party of social reform... They do some excellent work...
There WAS a balance of payments mess when it came in....I would have liked it to challenge the old order of things... " but "Wilson can wint"), It is also true that in members after the strike was over he said defensively (and with a veracity which has been questioned) that he had not known there was to be an election in June when the application was put in, and.
living up to a reputation for back-slapping relations with Wilson, claimed but for the early initiatives by the Prime Mifister and assistance of Mrs. Castle, the dispute would have drifted. " But these were words; in action, the Sogat leadership put the trade union struggle before the par liamentary stroggle. Again, one militant Labour Party supporter and trade unionist, subject of the strike's effect on the efection, defended Sogat's action by saying that it would silence Tory propaganda; but he had to admit that the strike was likely to have some negative effect on the Labour Party's election chances, and that the decision to strike had been taken in spite of this-or ratner, with little discussion on the question.
Such a strike would have been inconceivable in the past. In previous election periods, the trade unions have actively campaigned for a Labour Government:
in 1945, for example, the mass of the workers really believed that socialism vould be introduced through a Labour Party victory. To throw what appeared to them to be such an opportunity away for the sake of extracting a few extra Es from the players would obviously have been sensele ess. In 1970 we are left with lame arguments from the Workers Press, actively "'camparigning for a Labour victory", that the workers were right to strike for better living standards "regardless of the election" since the election was about living standards anyway. Few, if any. Sogat members have any illusions about the Labour Party.
The clearest positive connection between the strike and the election wes simply a matter of effective trade union tactics. The print-workers struck at a time when the employers were weak, and when there was much pressure on them, the Goverament and the • TUC ta reached quicky. Some of 2 10 80 0n 0 the ons, even if it did not immediately introduce a wage-freeze. If the ne go tiations had been allowed to drag on i until after the efection, there is no doubt that the unions" position Of course the strike was not a political strike in any positive sense land except in the sense that all as the BMA's an son government. Even less was it a revolutionary act, anything to do with any idea of disrupting the elections. There were no militant nents about striking regardless of the politicians" games. The strike probably indicated, as much as anything, that many workers are profoundly apathetic about the elections, even about politics in general. (But it should be remerbered that the strike was actually called by the Sogat leadership, with little or no consultation with rank and file members, and the leadership is not politically apathetic). There was considerable bitterness over the strike among Sogat members. But this had nothing to do with the political the fact that the decision to strike was "sprung" on implications of striking at that time; it had to do with Sogat rank and file members, that many of them thought that they could have got what they got out of negotiations without sacrificing their wage-packets, that the strike, in comparison with other Sogat-ted strikes, was very badly organised and prepared, and that some thought that once they were out they should have stayed out, and got more. Above all, the unions agreed to the employers" "rationalisation" plan, which will facilitate the process of running down employment in the industry which the printers unions have so far failed to resist effectively; this in spite of the fact that Sogat Division A at its conference passed resolutions rejecting any form of productivity dealing Dy a large majority Even with the prospect of a Labour Government, workers and trade unionists showed that they had few illusions about the importance of parlamentary struggies. Now that we have a Tory Government, there is likely to be an increasing tendency for the most advanced and active trade unionists to concentrate on fighting their battles through the trade unions, rather than through Parliament, and to demonstrate final disillusionment with parlamentarism. Left wing trade union leaders will probably, as they did at the time of "In Place of Strife'", again lead mass actions against the Government on particular issues. Revolutionaries should welcome these and support them. But they must try too to ensure that these mass actions are not diverted again into support of the Labour Party. and they will have to concentrate on the important task of building an alternative political leadership in industry Teresa Hayter ahead against any rank-and-file opposition to artificially whipped up just prior to an election the factories where, to meet the present conjunctural economic crisis, there is the paramount need to discipline the labour movement - a task which the Wilson Government has already paved the way for.
The red-baiting of Rosemary Whippe is a prelude to this offensive. By victimising a worker today who has the nerve to stand up against "productivity deals" and advocate workers' control, they are preparing tomorrow to victimise any other militants who are prepared to fight against attacks on their living standards and working conditions. For this reason alone-and in our own self-interest-the defence of Rosemary Whippe against her unfair dismissal and the distortions, lies and insinuations in the bourgeois press must be a central issue for socialists and the trade union A very concrete way in which this "red-baiting" can be used against any workers in struggle was demonstrated only recently during the Pilkington strike where the upsurge by a super-exploited but traditionally "conservative"
section of workers in the glass industry received the same blaring headlines of a "red plot".
The Pilkington strike was not merely important because it was the first strike the plants had seen, but because it brought out very clearly the role of the ossified trade union leadership -doubly ossified in the case of the GMWU. The dynamic of the struggle by the glassworkers for higher wages inevitably, in this present period, brought them into conflict with the oficial strata-provoking the militant majority to eventually "opt out" of the Union and decide to join the more militant T&GWU.
ir is precisely this type of unofficial actionwhich we will undoubtedly be seeing more of in the coming years-which is the cause of the "red plot' campaigns by the bourgeois press who are distinctly worried by any action which breaks through the crust of bureaucrats in the labour movement.
It is at once both disgusting and inevitable in the present situation that the official trade union movemeat has not come out with a clear rebuff to the smear campaigns which have been anstigated against the Pilkington workers-and Rosemary Whippe. "Inevitable" in the sense that, worried themselves about the fragility of their authority in the face of a growing militancy on the part of the rank and file, they are indeed forced to give credence to such attacks to maintain their own positions and control. It was only recently that Vic Feather himself was quoted in the Financial Times as admitting the presence of 50 red "agitators" stirring up trouble in Liverpool and Merseyside.
This sort of compromise is identical with the attitude the TUC adopted over In Place of Strife where they finally were prepared to take over the "policing" of the militants themselves-and whose latest proposals in A Programme for Action go a long way towards destroying any form of shop-floor democracy.
The "red scare" campaigns which are now quite clearly on the cards are a tactic of the ruling class to try to head off any move to the left by the rank and file, before whom political problems will come increasingly to the fore. In this sense, these smear campaigns serve the same function as the attempts to divide the class along racialist lines-a service provided by Powell who, although not serving as the main Tory thrust, has been kept carefully in the wings to try and acentuate racialist divisions in the class.
It is the duty of the labour movement to stand absolutely firm against this type of attack launched by the ruling class-and often given tacit support from their own leaders-whose long-term aim will only be to divert the labour movement from the major struggles it will soon be entering into.
Pat Brain (P.O.E.U.)
TONY SOARES TO BE RELEASED FROM JAIL ON JUNE 23rd.
Tony Soares, the original founder of the Universal Coloured People's Association, who was sent down for two years at the Old Bailey in February 1969, is to be released from Maidstone Prison on June 23rd, having served 16 months of his sentence.
He was charged with incitement to riotous assembly, inciting people to have offensive weapons and with distributing threatening writing with intent to provoke a breach of the peace-all these charges stemming from a duplicated leaflet. At his trial Tony denied having any of the leaflets in question or distributing them, and none were found on him or in his room. He stated that the leaflet had originally been an arte He was found guilty and sent down for a punitive sentence of two years, one of the longest sentences on record for this kind of charge. The charges were made in connection movements, and the police could, had they so wished, have brought the same charges against many white people. The fact that they did not do so, and that Tony Soares was arrested and viciously sentenced, can only be because he is black and was organising black people in a militant way. He was at the time working as Secretary-Organiser of the U.C.P.A.
A campaign for his early release was Tony Soares was dismissed. With the result that Tony has been the longest-serving political prisoner outside of the Irish Movement to date in recent times.
Tony Soares came to Britain some eight months ago as a political exile from Lisbon where he had been involved with the liberation movements for the Portuguese Colonial Territories in Africa-Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea.
Tony Soares has just sacrificed 16 months of life and activity for the Black Movement and for Socialist Revolution. We should not forget that many other comrades from the Black Panther Movement are at this very moment facing jail sentences ranging from three months white comrades to support the Movement and its Defence Fund in any way that they can.
Afro-American Solidarity Committee, 9 Huddleston Road, London N.7. 01-607 8395.
AEF EMPLOYEES STRIKE AEF (the Amalgamated Union of Engineering and Foundry Workers) does job evaluation on its CAWL (Clerical and Administrative Workers Union)
employees. They threaten to strike for a E5 interim during a long wait for the job evaluation results. CAWU refuses to back them, arranges to have taiks with AEF. AEF claims if the the CAWU clerks employed at AEF headquarters poy na was grantec would get higher AEF refuses to talk to strikers while they are out.
Pickets outside the AEF headquarters displayed placards which said: "AEF should practise what they MERSEYSIDE DOCKERS STRIKE On June 22nd the Merseyside dockers had a one-day token strike. A mass meeting of about 2,000 members of the Transport and General Workers Union and the National Amalgamated Stevedores and Dockers Union nad voted to support the Merseyside port stewards demands for full nationalisation of all ports and 100% workers control.
SPYING ON WORKERS The Evening Standard (June 4th) reported: *.several companies are said to be using closed-circuit TV to watch workers in action. The checks are not for security, but to enable executives to watch how employees cope with their jobs and the customer have also been told disturbing stories of phones being "bugged'". At least one big financial institution is said to listen in to employees' phone conversations to make sure they are dealing with customers win a proper manner". From several bank employees / hear OTTERMILL SWITCHGEAR STRIKE At Ottermill Switchgear in Devon workers have been on strike since early May. This is the first strike in their factory, in a backward area of the country. The management is clearly antedifuvian A company director, having accused the pickets of having no guts, bunched in the face a 60-vear-old picket who disagreed, bruising and cutting him. Meanwhile the management, in an advertisement in the local newspaper, announced that it "emphatically denounced mob rule and violence, and advertised tor new workers, while threatening the strikers with redundancy. (See Morning Star, June 12th)
By mid-June, management had made no pay •offer. Instead, it had offered "to reinstate strikers at existing pay rates in batches ot about b0 a week: but "because of orders lost" about 30 would be ,declared "offer"", said to "Final Accordingly the anar ourer was with workers "who had terminated their employment by breaking their contracts" were no longer employed Since the workers had rejected the employers "offer"
STOP PRESS-NATIONAL DOCK STRIKE ANNOUNCED Just as we go to press we learn that the docks group of the Transport and General Workers Union at a delegate conference has decided to give notice of its termination of the contract on June 28th; this meaning a national docks' strike on July 14th, The dockers are demanding an improved wage offer from the employers. Naturally, there is a strong likelihood that the employers and government will go through some measure to prevent the clash.
However, there will be a strong pressure for the employers and government "to stand up to the unions.
In the event of the strike taking place it would have a decisive nature: victory would have the employers on the run; defeat could mark the start of a Tory offensive. This being the case, it is up to the whole movement to pledge its support for the dockers and take steps immediately to set up committees of solidarity.
ALL OUT TO SUPPORT THE DOCKERS!
JUNE 30th: Frank Keane press conference (see elsewhere), 11 a.m., Conway Hall.
JULY 3rd: Spartacus League public meeting. Speaker from Ligue Communiste (Francel on the theory of th student movement; JGS (Belgium) on students and thi workers moverent; Spartacus League preparatory omittee on the British student movement. Conwa nal. 1.30 0.m JULY 4th-5th: Spartacus League Founding Conference. Ring Peter Gowan or Dave Kendall, 01-837 6954 tor gerais.
JULY 4th: BCPV demonstration in solidarity with American anti-war movement, Grosvenor Square, 3-7 p.m. Contact BCPV, 6 Blenheim Close, SW20.
JULY 6th: North London Red Circle public meeting Tariq Ali on "After the Elections'". Sir George Robe pub, opp. Astoria, Finsbury Park. 8.00 p.m.
JULY 10th: Public Forum, "The Struggle in Ireland"
JMG. Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, WC1. 7,30 a.m JULY 10th: South London Red Circle public meetin farig Ali on "Black Power and the Struggle for Socialism". Ring Red Mole, 837 6954 for details.
If you live in or near any of the areas listed below, you can contact these people for any queries about The aper and sending in local reports. In a number o hese areas (asterisked), functioning Red Circle already exist. Others will be added to the list as they are formed.If there is no Red Circle in your area at present, write to us here at 182 Pentonville Road.
*BIRMINGHAM: Gerald Hitman, 28 Brighton Road.
Balsall Heath, Birmingham 12 *CARDIFF: Oliver Black Oak Road, Cyncoed, Cardiff CF2 6Q7 *COVENTRY: John Presland, Rootes Hall D16.
University of Warwick, Coventry. *DERBY: John Hewitt, c/o The Red Mole, 182 Pentonville Road, London N1 Barnton, , Edinburgh .*GLASGOW: Murray Smith, 61 Fergus Drive, *HAMILTON: Walter MacLellan, 37 Smyllum Road, GIESLOW N.W Scotland HULL: John Bearpark, 88 Park Street, Springbank, KEELE: Jason Hill, 6 Cherry Hill Lane, Knutton, TULE Staffs Linar Scolanal LEEDS: Gwyn Vorhaus, 89 Victoria Road, Leeds 6. LEICESTER: Alan Lenton, 22 Berners Street, Leicester LINCOLN: Mike Smith, Flat 7, 27 Cross o'Cliff Hill, *NORTEI LONDON: Dave Kendal, 182 Pentonville Road. London N1 of Education. Welham *WEST LONDON: Tom Mole, 23 Brackley Road. LOUGHBOROUGH: Ann Black, 4 Russell Street, Loughborough.
NORWICH: Paul Franklin, Norfolk Terrace, University Norwich 88C Bridgford, Nottingham *OXFORD: Bernard Reaney, Corpus Christi College, Oxford PLYMOUTH: Martin Durham, c/o 19 Clifton Street,
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tions. It took place at a time when it was assumed to be likely to do some damage to the Labour Party's
The recent victimisation campaign against Rosemary Whippe should be a warning to the labour movement. It should be a warning in the sense that it indicates the methods and tactics the employers are preparing to use in the period
their intention to "discipline" the work force. It is no accident that this scandal has been
with the Vietnam demonstration of October 1968, at which time similar material was being widely circulated throughout all the protest
launched unsuccessfully by the Working People's Party of England, and an appeal by
to an indefinite Borstal sentence imposed upon a young brother, and that it is incumbent upon
clerks employed at CAWU headquarters. The CAWU clerks at the AEF headquarters strike nevertheless. The
that all incoming post is opened and checked, even the letters marked "personal" or "private'"...
& Bruce Bebbington, 41 Leopold Street, Derby *EDINBURGH: Robin Duncan, 13 Blackthorn Court,
*SOUTH LONDON: Jim Clough, 2 Almeric Road, *o Education, Ne ham Joad, Furzedown College