It now looks certain that the trial of the first six of the Shrewsbury 24 is to be used by the Government as a showpicce. So far, the prosecution has dredged up a series of alleged quotes and a variety of circumstantial evidence, The fact that pickets had the check to hit someone who was threatening them with a shotgun seems to have shocked the learned judge. Meunwhile, support for the 24 is growing throughout the labour movement. Even in areas such as Brighton and Portsmouth moves are afoot to hold conferences on picketing. Now is the time to take stock of the work. that has been done to mobilise solidarity so far and to examine the lessons of Shrewshury. BUREAUCRATS MANOEUVRE The trade union bureaucrats are clearly fright ened. They are facing the prospect of a massive working class offensive against the Tory Government and its policies developing around The talks over the future of the Lip watchmaking factory in Besancon in eastern France were broken off by the Government's negotiator, M.Giraud, on Tuesday 9 October.
This followed the refusal by the majority of workers representatives to accept M. Giraud's plan involving over 150 redundancies and no guarantees over wages and conditions. A vote by the workers' general assembly on the Friday contirmed this stand: 626 voted to continue the struggle and only 174 voted for a counterproposal by the representatives of the Communst Party-ed CGT union federation to accept the Giraud plan.
SLANDER CAMPAIGN Immediately the negotiations broke down the CGT launched a campaign of invective ind slander against the local members of the CFDT union federation who had taken the lead in advocating rejection of the Giraud plan. In a press conference on Wednesday, 10 October, CGI leader Georges Seguy bamed them almost as much as the Government for the continuation of the dispute, saying that they had failed to show the necessary spirit of unity and a loyal and realistic attitude.
Seguy also denounoed elements from outside the factory for fomenting trouhle, claiming that "their only colcer is to prolong the conflict, to exploit it for political ends which are contrary to those of the workers. This scatement was welcomed by the night-wing daily. Le Figuro, which pointed our that it had been saying the same thine for months. Fortunately. the worany struggle launched by the miners and engineers. Heath's Phase 3 has not given them many crumbs with which they can try to sell a deal to the rank-and-file. Their only hope of avolding a showdown with the Government is to play a waiting game; hold action down to a minimum, manoeuvre, and engage in as lengthy talks as possible.
Above all, they must keep a tight grip on the situation to avoid any initiative by the rank-and-file setting off the whole tinder-box. Contral to this is the question of picketing: during the miners strike the trade union bureaucrats watched the conduct of the strike being taken increasingly out of their control as rank-and-file militants mounted flying pickets across the country, brought more and more industries to a halt, und mobilised thousands of other workers in SOUGHTER In the struggies to come picketing will be ever more important, from the standpoint of both the bureaucrats and the rank-and-file militants, For militants mass flying pickets will be a central means of winning many struggles and will be a major weapon enabling the rank-and-file to take control of their own struggles. For the bureaucrats such pickers will be a threat to their control and to their attempt to avoid at all costs a major confrontation with the Govern ment.
RANK-AND-FILE ORGANISATION For these reasons, the interests of the bureaucrals, on the one hand, and the rank-and-file, on the other, are totally opposed on the question of picketing. This makes it urgont that trade union militants build up an apparatus in every area to coordinate and defend the use of pickets in the struggles ahead, Such a move will have to be taken in the face of opposition from both the bureaucrats and (as the case of Footprint Tools shows) those groups, like the Communist Party, who try to balance botween the burcaucracy and the rank-and-file cerned with the defence of the Strewshury 24 must take -practical application of the leasons of that strugele throughout the entire labour movement to prepare for the coming fight, At the same time, the Shrewsbury defenoe committees around the country must build even bigger solidarity demonstrations, both to show the Tories that we mean business in defending these mibtants and to popularise the lessons of Shrewsbury. More and more trade union bodies must commit themselves to industrial action if any of the 24 are convicted. All Defence Committees should take up the question of Footprint Tools in the local labour movement and begin to organise the defence of pickets. This can only be done by preparing for mass action on the part of the local labour movement in the event of any attacks on a picket line in that area, The solidarily given to the miners during their picketing of the Saltley coke depor shows the way to victury We must repeat this example whenever necessary and ensure that another Shrewsbury car never be imposed on the trade union monoment by the ruling cliss and their agents.
arics. It is therefore unfortunate that one of the