Red Weekly readers might be interested to know that last week a general meeting of Essex University Students" Union, attended by 300 students, voted to send a telegram to intersindical (the Portuguese TUC) declaring their solidarity with 'the strugale of the revolutionary workers and peas ants against fascism and for socialism' This was adopted after the defeat of a resolution moved by the Communist Party expressing support for the Government and the Armed Forces Movement.
IMG speakers opposed the CP motion. As one put it: 'It is not the Govenment or the armed forces to whom we should send our support, but those who reaily count-the workers and the peasants. Otber students shouted 'Remember Chile we've heard all this before".
The CP's resolution was heavily defeated, and the alternative resol ution carried by a big majority.
The Essex students have shown that they, at least, have understood the lessons of Chile and the problems facing the workers' movement in Portugal, even if the Communist Party has not.
The Red Weekly is nothing if not inconsistent. Your cloction manifesto says there should be a minimum wage of £30 a week.
However Jeff King has the attitude of a poker player. In his article in the 12 October issue of Red Weekly, he says the demand of the hospital ancillary workers union for a f30 minimum is woetully inadequate, Does King write this to show that the IMG is more militant than the trade union leaders? Or does King Just have a bad memory and cannot remember what your paper said a few weeks ago.
Would you please tell a rather bemused reader whether you are for a £30 minimum wage, whether that wage is inadequate or not, and if it 5, what minimum wage you do favour?
Finally, are you serious about all this or do you think up your demands on the spur of the moment?
John Chapple (Birmingham)
REPLY:
The election manifesto called for = 230 minimum as the first step to a E40 minThere are large numbers of workersparticularly in the service industries- who get a lot less than E30 a week. Those workars have little economie bargsining pow er and many of them are not organised in At present sections of the trade union burmaucracy, for example Jack Jonas, are talking of a E30 minimum. Our tactic to them must not be to ongage in a poker gamer, but, while pointing out 30 is in adequate, demand they take action to DUCK UD INDIE MOTE Fied Weekly 17 October 1974 Page 10 enough to mark time. On the level of the Government, the Armed Forces, the democratic forces, the trade union organisations, the popular masses - all of those who believe in securing the road to democracy and decolonisation and blocking the return to fascist tyranny it is vital to take practical measures to bring about the collapse of the counterThis position was spelled out further in both the editorial and the Political Committee statement, where workers were urged to retuse all cooperation which would help publicise the demonstration, or transport demonstrators to Lisbon.
As the PCP Political Committee REPLY:
We did not have avilable the issue of Avantel to which ede, de Sousa refers when we wrote last week's article, and had to rely on other sources.
However nothing in that issue dras tically contradicts what we said. We did point out that the PCP-faced with a phys ical threat from the far right and the political danger of being outfianited by milimonstration.
The most that the quates offered by COM, CHAR CINCTIONH IN CANETTY took this step a few hours earlier than we had implied.
In fact, however, the 27 September Avantel continues to place all its confidence in the Government and the Armad Forces. The Government and the MFA are urged to stop the demonstration, but salves to ban the demonstration if the Government refused, or to enforce the ban if the Government did act Avante/ only served up a vague call for 'vigilance" and proposals for passive