The statement by Egypt's foreign minister Zayyat that his country is ready to grant Israel Tormal recognition and everything demanded by the State of Israel before the 1967 war should come as no surprise. Egypt and Syria only launched the latest war in order to put pressure on US imperialism to forde Israel to reach a 'negotiated solution", an imperialist peace which the Arab ruling classes could accept without losing face. The challenge was not to Zionism, but to its right to hold on to the territories occupied in 1967. The terms announced for the ceasefire are not based to any extent on the military relationship of forces. The Soviet Union and the United States (who, despite the sabre-rattling, are as thick as thieves in preventing any revolutionary development in the Middle Fast) look quite favourably on Egyptian demands as long as they don't go beyond the terms of the Security Council resolution. To cut Israel down to size since she categorically refused to hand back the occupied territories -it was only necessary for the Arab armies to show that they were capable of striking serious blows at Israel without being wiped out in the process.
IMPERIALIST PEACE The peace which is now being cooked up with the outright collusion of the Soviet bureaucracy -while the Chinese studiously refrain from using their veto-is an imperialist peace. The way is being prepared for a complete capitulation to Zionism by the Arab ruling classes. Thus the seal will be set on the woeful inadequacy of petit bourgeois nationalism. Three main points are likely to be dealt with in any forthooming agreement: evacuation of the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, recognition by the Arab states of Israel's right to exist, and, finally, demilitarisation of most of the occupied territories. By demilitarisation In the struggle against Phase 3, the group of workers which presents the biggest challenge to the Heath government is the miners. It wus the initiative taken by the miners in closing down the power stations in the 1972 strike which led to the humiliating defeat of the Government's 'unofficial" pay norm. Both the union leaders and the Government know that the future of Phase 3, and with it the short-term prospects for British capitalism. could well hang in the balance if the NUM were to go into struggle.
OIL CUTS The Goverament's fear of a miners strike has now been sharpened by the oil cuts imposed on the imperialist countries by the Arab states, which make worse a situation that has already been a cause for concern to the capitalists, Both Labour and Conservative politicians have recently been arguing for a slow down in the rate of pit closures as the price of imported ail continued to rise. On top of this, some 600 miners are estimated to be leaving the pits cach wook owing to low wages and dangerous working conditions.
The only remedy would be to pay miners much more money for their dangerous and unpleasant work, but Phase 3 rules out this particular solution, With the Arab oil cuts however, the threat of oil rationing this winter will turn the unscratchable itch of the ruling class to capitulate to the miners" claim, into a sharp but incurable pain.
The miners have never before been in such a strong bargaining position, and it would be difficult under the best of circumstances for Heath to meet their demands.
But Heath's room for manoeuvre is restricted by the Phase 3 norms, and only the 'unsocial hours" clause in the Pay Code gives the Government any leewar at all.
For those miners on permanent night shift, is meant the direct military control of the Soviet Union and the United States. One conclusion logically follows: the liqwidation and repression of the Paiestinian cause.
This was of course the precise intention behind the Security Council resolution -to get rid of the trouble-makers' who are threatening the social order in the Middle East. this cinuse could yield total rises of up to E9 a week, including the Phase 3 cise in basic rates. But the number of men who would receive the full benefit of this clause is reckoned to be no more than 15,000. The groat majority of miners stand to gain little more than £2.50 under Phase 3, which, furthermore, cannot be paid until next March. According to the NUM this is in violation of the Wilberforce deal which promised a rise this November. But the NUM claim is for E12.71 for underground workers, £9.71 for surface workers. and EB.2l for those on the power-loading agreement. So the Gosernment's attempt to buy off a section of miners in advance through 'unsociul bours" payments and thus weaken the unity of miners is unlikely to sucosed. The most it will do is buy time, as the NUM negotiates with the National Coal Board to get unsocial hours payments spread over other miners.
OVERTIME BAN Last week, a delegate conference of miners gave the EC authorisation to call an overtime ban. Such a ban would be aimed at runnirig down the coal stocks held by the power stations, in preparation for a strike in the new year. This year, the safety men will also join in, making the cut in out put even more effective. Each of the 20 area councils are now voting on whether to apply an overtime ban, but so far the Executive has avoided saying whether such a ban would be implemented before Christmas, even though it is absolutely essential preparation for an all-out struggle.
The leaders of the NUM are obwously frightened of having to lead unother miners' strike. Joe Gormley made this clear when he warned that a strike might enable the Tories to win the next General Election, presumably by once again wheeling out the freezing pensioner and the dying hospital patient to prove the irresponsibility of the trade unions and boost the Tories' electoral fortunes through a unionIsrael was taken aback by number of casualties inflicted by Arab forces HASTY INTERVENTION bashing bingo. struggle.
Mass picket at Saitley last yea them our.
PREPARATIONS The hasty intervention of the big powers and their go-betweens, Kosygin and Kissinger, no longer comes as any surprise. Neither side hus any interest in a long drawn out war. On the Arab side, a continued war effort could only increase the mobilisation and organisation Zionist State"
Gormley did not suggest any ways in which the miners might forestall this threat: for example, by massive propaganda to win sympathy for their strugple, by ensuring a rapid victory through coordinating their claim with otber workers such as the engincers or electricity workers, or by pressing the TUL to draw up a plan of action to fight for pensioners" claims. Gormley was simply interested in trying to frighten the miners off the prospect of a seriou In fact a massive victory by the miners would leave the Tories" policies in shreds and raise the self-confidence of the working class to new heights: it would be a major step towards driving the Tories out of office and keeping Several pits in the Durham area have already decided to go ahead with an overtime ban intespeclive of the EC. This initiative should be followed by other areas so us to reduce the chances of the EC putting off any action until the new year, But this is not the only danger in the situation. The EC have been streasing recentLy how the oil crisis proves that the miners are exceptronally valuahle to the national economy There is more than a hint in this that the EC will see an overtime hah, not as preparation for a strike, but as a substitute. As the overtime ban begins to bite, the NUM leaders will argue that this is sufficioot to pressure the Government, beleaguered by an energy crisis, into granting substantial concessions. Vague offers and promises could then be turned into an excuse for discussions and negotiations that would drag on until the spring, when an allof the masses, a development of which the ralang classes are mortally afraid.
On the Israeli side, failure to achione a clear-cut victory in such circumstances could have disastrous consequences, destroying the myth of Isracli invulnerability and opening the way for internal social strugrles challenging the expansionist nature of the Zionist regime, As a leading figure in the Jordanian regime put it to the French daily, Le Monde: 'A new defeat would poison the atmosphere still further, and would inflict a new and deep going bumiliation on the vanquished, who would seck -quite naturally -not peace but revenge, whether in a month, a year, or ten years time. (Le Monde, 20 October). The big powers stepped in to make absolutely sure that their plans for the area were not frustrated by a clear-cut defeat for either side in the contlict MATZPEN STATEMENT Last wunk wt published a shitement by bur comrades in Isruel, the laraeli Socialist Organisation (Matipon-Mardst). Through an error B peragraph of this statement was omitted.
Trunediately after the section concluding that 'our enemice are not the Arab masses who wish to recover the lands conquered by Israel and restore the rights of the Palestinians, but they are our own fulling cleses and the Zionist Sute.
"For us, the political struggle does not and when the firing opens up. On the contrary, our comrades must une the acosion of this war, buth inside and outside the army, to axpose the meaning of Zion Ism and the pries which tha workars of rael are called upon to pay tor the criminel policies of the out stoppage would be much less of a threat to the Government.
But it would be a mistake to think that the 1972 strike can be repeated in every single respect in 1974. Last time, the Government under-estimated the threat posed by the pickets to the power stations until it was too late. This year they will be prepared to intervene before things reach that stage. All the rank and file initiative displayed in 1972 will be needed to win again. But the rank and tile should not wait until a strike breaks out before making proparations. The flying pickets should be planned and prepared in advance Groups of workers who gave support in 1972, such as the railway workers who cut off supplies to oil-fired power stations, and dockers who blacked coal imports, should be approached straight away to line up support, The miners can deal with this situation only by using all the resources at their disposal, and this must include joint action with other groups of workers who are facing the prospect of a struggle in the new year. Rank and file miners should seek to forge links with groups such as the engineers, with a view to co-ordinating their struggles as closely as possible, For example, area councils of the NOM and district committees of the AUEW should hold joint meetings and these ur other bodies should spousor joint conferences, with a view to coordinating actions and fighting within their respective unions for strike action to be taken at the same time, with no one group settling without the other and with all negotiations subject to mass meetings of all those involved Fled Weekly 2 November 1973 Page 3