[page 3]
Tories and Workers - Political perspectives in Britain cannot be understood except on the background of the development of world capitalism. century, in the main industrialised countries, there has been an expanded or semi-colonial, have fallen behind; capitalism in the present epoch has aggravated the contradicitions between the growth of the countries in the West, including Japan, and the much slower growth or even relative decline increase in power of the economy of the deformed worker-States, China and Even though there has been a steady growth of the economy in the West, despite minor recessions or small slumps, the economy have been due to the enormous fictitious capital injected into the economy by arms production and other means, have bedevilled the economy• In addition to arms, there has been the injection artificially into the world economy of dollars, without a backing in the balance of payments. At the same time, the enormous potential of world economy and the world division of labour has been shown, even if in a distorted form, by the between the industrial powers, has given an added impetus to the development These factors interacting on one another, have given a boost to technology and invention, which in its turn has meant the development of new products and the intensive search for new resources of raw materials The growth of the economy in its turn has meant an increased power share of the enormous wealth they have been producing is a feature of all Europe, Japan and American, are an indication of this tendency. Thus the beginning of the revolution in France in May 1968 and the pre-revolutionary by Ted Grant of the economy• growth of the underdeveloped countries.
the Russian bloc.
plagued with the illness of inflation.
expansion of the world economy.
of all the industrialised capitalist economies.
interactinin and minerals on all the continents.
turn has added to the expansion process.
for the working class in numbers and cohesion.
the capitalist countries in the West.
the coming clash In the last quarter The so-called undeveloped areas, formerly colonial This period has also seen a steady Continually rising prices, partly The increase of world trade, particularly The discovery of such resources in The demand for an increased The wages offensives in Western 1.
[page 4]
situation in Italy are an indication that the growth of the economy by no means solves the problem for the ruling class of relations between the The very explosive development of the economy with all its effects This epoch has been one of preparing for new clash battles on the part of a generation of workers, who have never experienced the defeats, and British imperialism economically, diplomatically, militarily, has seen a slow decline in its world position in the last quarter century. it not been for the above mentioned factors of world economic growth and the world economic upswing, this would have resulted in a catastrophe. source of resources and tribute has become to some extent a burden on Britain. As a market, it has grown more slowly than the industrialised countries at any rate in the ex-colonial and colonial sections. has looked towards America rathern than Britain, to a great extent, as an United States and New Zealand and Austrialia and South Africa show the same and the New, begin to outweight the connections of the past. In the past, British capitalist, of course, always looked towards Europe, but always with the policy of the Balance of Power. European middle powers, similar to France and West Germany, in contrast to the enormous continential super-powers of America and Russia. perspective of the development of a mighty China and the colossal development economically of Japan, further accentuates the process At the same time, of all the big powers, Britain's growth rate has This has meant a steady attrition of power in comparison Not only Japan, but West Germany, has outdistanced her, tain British power by enormous arns expenditure has further drained the resources of British Imperialism in the last quarter century. this expenditure has been an expendittire in effect on scrap. It is this changed position of British capitalism which has dictated as a last desparate throw to attempt to enter the EEC. Coming late, it is a delusion of British imperialism that they will solve their classes.
acts as a stimulus to class. conflict.
NEW CLASS BATTLES the pessimism induced by these British Empire has been slowly dissolving.
economic and military partner.
process at a slower pace.
been shattered by history:
British power in the world.
BRITAIN'S SLOW GROWTH been the lowest.
with her rivals.
and France and Italy are rapidly catching up.
20 defeats, in the interwar years.
Britain has been reduced to just one of the Had The The Commonwealth, from being a The old Commonwealth Canada has become almost a province of the Thus the demands and burdens of the old Dominions This has now The of the reduction of The futile attempt to main.
Even so,
[page 5]
It is a naked calculation in material gain that dictates to balance up the loss and the gains of entering the EEC. for the great combines of chemicals, electronics, engineering, motor manufacturers, the market of nearly 60 million people in the British Islands (Eire is, in reality, an appendage), is too small. Consequently, they have a greater market if they are to expand at the maximum limit of their Britain has an advantage in scientific research and development, her expenditure alone being equal to two thirds of that of the six Common The ruling clique hopes that with the spur of the bigger single market enclosed in its own tariff walls, there will be an incentive to The disadvantages lie in the common agricultural policy which would abolish the advantage of generations of cheap good. _ In its turn, it will markets for food, they in their turn would look elsewhere for the exchange of manufactured and capital goods, and this. Britain would be deprived of certain markets. Thus whether they enter or not still remains in the The inevitable increase in prices of food and other necessities, which entry would mean, would stimulate even greater demands for wage an increasing mood of resistance on the part of the workers. hand, the inflation continues in Britain as in other countries, with steady cannot solve the problems of British imperialism, while entry on the other hand, though in the interests of the most modern sections of the monopolies, The victory of the Conservatives in the General Election was a reaction to the Tory policies of the labour Government; policies adopted under the direct pressure of Big Business in the City. increasing taxes, while subsidising the investments of the entrepeneurs; the whittling away of some parts of the Welfare State, with increased prices for school meals and charges for medical prescriptions; and Incomes policy with its attempt to limit wages while profits were increased, were all indications of this capitulation to Big Business. All this, plus the constant pre-occupation with the balance of payments syndrome, were all indications of the lack of vitality of British While American with enormous production and power, can (of course temporarily) ignore her enormous deficits and still proceed financially and economically as the worlds' major power, Britain is immediately problems thereby.
the policies of all the Powers.
to find capacity.
Market countries.
lags behind.
invest and thus a greater growth of the economy. cut off markets in the old Dominions and the New. balance.
increases on the part of the working class.
increases in prices, unabated.
could not solve these problems either.
CONSERVATIVE VICTORY capitalism.
It is in the development of these techicues that she As far as Britain is concerned, she has On the one hand, Deprived of the British Consequently, it would provoke On the other Thus, staying out of the Common Market The burdens of the Prices 3.
[page 6]
affected because of her now puny weight, in comparison with the past, in She is a lesser power and has dropped from third position to fifth in her industrial output and capacity. France is now within This explains the feverish preoccupation with the balance of payments. The deficit in the balance of payments in its turn is caused by the competition in manufactured goods on Britain's home market, where despite the second highest tariffs in the world - America's are the highest - Britain All these factors are a demonstration of the fact that Britain has that developments after the General Election must be viewed. The Tory programme, leaving aside the demagogy about prices, can be compressed into that of "dealing" with the Unions and lowering taxes on companies, corpor- "The Banker", journal of finance capital, commenting in its July given a mandate to reverse the interventionist policies of the last six years, to restore incentives, at personal and commericial levels, and to instill greater competition through industry .... The failure of the economy, and particularly industry, to gear itself to a high-growth pattern. This, of course, was the real meaning of the Tory programme. to the workers, millions to big business and the directors: operated by the Tory Government in Australia in boom conditions. provoked the first mass political protest strike on August 25th of lž million Australian workers. Any attempt to carry through the Tory programme will provoke a storm within the labour and T.U. Movement in Britain. It is the reaction to this significant strike which probably resulted in the changed attitude of the Financial Times against a "Hard" attitude to not a word about this strike appeared in the popular press! aroused apprehension that the British workers might follow this example, The Tories came to power with a promise of a new style of government. Gone were to be the frantic scurryings of the Labour Government. inaction and 'deliberate' enjoyment of the part of the Prime Minister and his Cainet. Deliberate government has meant deliberate nothing, as the world affairs.
challenging distance.
ations and the rich.
many strands to this:
4.
is often defeated in price by her main rivals.
been pushed down to the level of the lesser powers. 'DELIBERATE GOVERNMENT'
issue on the Conservative election victory, declared: labour relations, a low savings ratio...."
the workers dealt with further on in this article. when and if the Tories as they intended, introduced government would be the watchword.
low investment, failure of industry to regroup, poor This government has reflected itself in It is on this background "He (Heath) has been There are Coppers a programme This It is significant that It obviously a similar budget.
Deliberate
[page 7]
capitalist press has cautiously complained. In the lightmindedness and inaction of the bourgeois leaders are reflected the decay of capitalism For fifty years, they have suffered one staggering reverse of fortune after another, in a monotonous and gloomy decline. aristocrat Home is followed by the nitwit upstart Heath. the bourgeoisie, in this period, reflect the impasse of The only sections of the programme of the Tories which are intended seriously, are those which intend to cut down on the expenditure of the of the nationalised sector for the benefit in the main, of Big Business, the main consumers of transport, electricity, gas and fuel, giving only a marginal benefit to the individual consumer and housewife. Even in this, it is doubtful whether they can succeed in carrying it through to a conclusion. As far as the prices of general commodities are concerned, they have decided Thus, those housewives who were deceived into voting for the Tories on the issue of rising prices will be the hardest hit by the policies of the government. The defeat of the labour Party in the election can be partially explained by the overweening confidence of the labour leaders, who in statesmanlike fashion, hardly put forward any policies - let alone Socialist policies - in order to provoke the necessary enthusiasm and apathy and abstention of the more politically backward layers. In the General Election, the Conservatives gained 13,106,965 votes; Labour got 12,141,676 and the Liberals 2,109,218. The Welsh and Scottish Nationalists, C.P. and various freak candidates received a total of 900,473. The Conservative vote rose by 1,600,000 and labour's fell by 900,000. was a 72% turnout in comparison with a 75.9% turnout at the last election. Labour's vote fell in spite of the increased electorate and the fact that The organised workers are not at all demoralised by the political They have turned their attention to the industrial front and the already developed out of disillusionment with the policies of the labour The measures which the Tories have projected for the future of strikes will merely provoke even bigger strikes on the part of all sections The demands of the transport workers, of the miners, railwaymen, the engineers and public employees of anything from 15% to over 30% increases are an attempt to make up for the lost wages due to the prices and incomes The dock strike was intended to mark a stand on the part of the The Conferederation of British Industry and the Government itself announced that the economy and the country could not stand further itself.
nationalised industries.
to do nothing.
confidence of the rank and file.
secondary defeat, rather than a debacle.
youth of 18 voted for the first time.
defeat.
struggle for higher wages and better conditions. Government.
can only strengthen this mood.
of the working class.
policy.
government.
The nitwit The leaders of the system.
The Tories intended to hold down the price increases The defeat was more of a setback or a It is due in the main to the This militant mood has The Jeremia of the Tories on the question 5.
[page 8]
the workers, or an attempt to catch up on the steadily increasing prices. months of this year according to the official index which is artificially the capitalist press that increased wages cause increased prices is falsified by the admission of the financial press - not read by the workers - that devaluation and world inflation are having their effect in Britain. It is not prices that chase wages but wages that chase prices! The politically illiterate and savage journal of the right wing Tories, The Economist, was screeching for action and a firm stand to withstand to the other sections of the working class. In more decorous terms, the Financial Times and the Times editorialised in the same vein. strike of the dockers was greeted with delight by The Economist - its effect on the balance of payments was considered secondary, from the point of view of these ruling class spokesmen, to that of teaching the working class a thus helping safeguard an increased share of the profits for Thus we see it is not the 'country' and its interests that dictate the policies of these loud-mouthed representatives of the cavitalists, but the naked and selfish interests of capital. The Economist greeted with screams of pain the minor concessions to the dockers which amounted to 7% increase on their wages. (Of course, this was a major "concession" in comparison with the past guidelines of Mr. Michael Nobel, President of the Board of Trade, at Cumbernauld on 21stAugust, gloomily said that "Britain was not in a period of slump but to be the "curbing of inflation" even before solving the problem of economic The Financial Times for 21st August points out editorially: "taking a half-yearly comparison (of industrial production) the rise in the first half of 1970 as against the second half of last year has been less than 2% per cent .... Even (consumer spending increase) is unlikely to bring the rate at which output is rising quickly into line with the underlying rate of increase in productive capacity even if the latter is now somewhat less productive capacity cannot be utilised because it would not help to increase ducing goods because they are wanted but only for the purpose of increasing "wage inflation", i.e. an increase Retail prices are steadily rising.
weighted not to show the extent of price rises.
lesson, and the ruling class.
32% increase of the Prices and Incomes policy).
CAPITALIST RETREAT we were very much on the borderline".
growth".
than has been widely assumed."
the profits of the capitalists.
6.
in the share of the wealth produced by They rose 32% in the first seven poisoned argument of The as a lesson The actual He declared that number one priority Thus even the miserable increase in Capitalists are not interested in pro-
[page 9]
the mass of profits in relation to the capital laid out. The TUC and the labour leadership, pointing out the slack capacity which is not utilised, are making the mistake of asking capitalists, their Government and system, to do things which are not possible. iction of want and low wages, amid the possibilities of plenty, are results and causes of the problem of the maximisation of profit under capitalism, which is interested in this and not maximum production. The mood of the working class to oppose attempts to cut living standards or even to prevent improvements in the standard of living is almost universal throughout the industrialised capitalist countries. class in Britain is not prepared to tolerate a disguised version of a Prices and Incomes Policy from the Conservative Government. The Financial Times of 26th August presents the dilemma of the Government can either accept the argument of the National Institute (Economic Review) that there is little the Government can do about inflation one way or the other and that it, therefore, might just as well reflate. If incomes policy does not arrest the rise in British costs relative to those of our main competitors, then sooner or later the exchange rate must take The Government's alternative to this spectre of a new devaluation, before adopting any new "stimulus" to the economy was first: Institute premises that inflation and devaluation "could in time become a vicious circle, with one triggering off the other in turn. But the real argument against accepting inflation is a much more fundamental one. Inflation even at the present rate, sets up considerable social, and therefore Neither inflation, meaning steadily rising prices, nor deflation meaning depressing standards and leading to even higher unemployment, serve which were supposed to have solved the problems of capitalism and explained the post-war economic upswing are shown in all their bankruptcy. In the In the first seven months of 1970, more than a millions workers were highest number of industrial conflicts since the General Strike. The Government and the emplovers are set on a collision course with the Trade Union and Government editorially:
the strain."
have to get to grips with wage inflation".
political, strains.
become all the greater."
the interests of the working class.
combining both deflation and inflation!
"planned capitalism" in America and Britain.
next issue we will deal with these questions).
on strike, about l in 25 of the labour force.
since official statistics began in 1947.
amounted to 6.05 million.
the same period last year.
The contrad- The working "The choice is in essence a simple one.
"We would It then argues on the National If the rate were to accelerate these strains would What then of the present impasse Such is the result of so-called All the high-flown theories This is the largest number The number of working days lost This is double the number of days lost during As things are developing 1970 could record the
[page 10]
Because of the complete incapacity of the employers, and the virtual stagnation of the economy, not enough has been invested to British capitalism in a strong position in relation to her competitors. Devaluation, an indirect attack on standards of living, gave them a breathing to accept passively attacks on their standard of living, or to accept the not even pretending to limit prices, has demanded a virtual standstill on to do the same - of course, in effect the message the As the Daily Express of 28th August puts it: "since the unions have made it clear that they will fight any interference in wage bargaining, mines, railways and local government services could all be disrupted before The TUC reflecting the pressures of the working class, as shown by the election of left-wing leaders in the AEF and T&GWU, has announced in the mila words of Vic Feather, TUC General Secretary, that the Government's efforts to control wage rises were "a misguided and dangerous course of action". According to the Financial times of 27th August, "members of the TUC General Council have clearly not yet decided how best to react to the Government's imprecise ideas on wages, and accordingly are not pressing forward to a premature confrontation •... The desire not to slide into a major wideranging battle was voiced especially by Sir Fred Hayday, of the GåMwU, who stressed that the TUC should not start on a path which could lead to a Thus the right-winger leader tried to scare the TUC with the apparition of the titanic battles of the past. By trying to be conciliatory and placate the Tory Government, they merely embolden it and increase its obstinacy. The only thing holding the employers and their Government back is the fear of the consequences of social conflict and its effect on their position warning them of the consequences and advising restraint and comprise. Dealing with the inactivity of the Government, the political editor of the "an all-out attempt at 'union-bashing' would simply The policy of the Government is not "misguided" but dictated by the interests of the employers and the present difficulties of British capitalism. The only thing that would hold them back, at least for a period, is if they saw that it would cost the capitalists more than they would save by the strike struggles and their effect on the economy. The lack of resolution of the TUC can only lead to the employers and the Government believing they can "deal" with the workers with the minimum of damage to the capitalists' interests. Labour Movement.
space which has not been used to retool.
continuation of their present standards.
"high" wages increases.
industries to resist "inflationary" wage increases. private employers employers "ordered" to be given to them.
the year is out."
repetition of the 1926 General Strike".
both at home and in the world.
Financial Times writes:
produce more problems than it would solve".
8.
put Now the workers are not prepared Meanwhile, the Government, while They have "asked" the chairmen of nationalised They have "asked"
The biosts of the ruling opass a Deal -
[page 11]
Spinelessness always stiffens the resistance of the employers. If the Government and their publicists and tools in the Press and mass media are hesitating, it is becuase of the militant uncompromising attitude of the Despite all manouvres and the threats to take action against "wildcat" strikes by legislation, it is this mood which is being reflected in the attitude of the union leaderships, including that of the G&WU. Since the Second World War, when it came to the issue of a "showndown" which would mean a confrontation between the classes, the ruling class representatives in the government preferred to retreat.. Under Churchill, Eden and Macmillan, faced with shattering industrial struggles which would have exacerbated class relations and weakened the position of British capitaleven with Britain's slow growth, because of the development and expansion of world economy and world trade. Thus, at each stage, the ruling classes preferred to put off the decisions and the gruelling struggle to the morrow. However, the government, under pressure of Big Business, has dutifully raised the question of a showdown with the workers. the chairmen of the nationalised industries, Barber, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, 'offered' full support to their resistance to inflationary wage increases even at the expense of national strikes. Chancellor, the CBI solemnly agreed to make the same recommendations to It is for this that Big Business piles up its contributions to the servant "instructing" his master, of course, not in the interests of the latter, but "of the nation", and that is the attitude of the working class has now lasted five weeks, of four thousand building workers on the Shell They refused the offer of 1s6d. per hour increase or £3 per week or more, demanding 3s6d. This is a symptom of the mood of the organised workers, and of the difficulties of operating an unwritten restraint on the prices have continued to increase faster than before. capitalist class could retreat as a lesser evil, because of the upgrowth of the economy - though this was shockingly low in comparison with its rivals. rank and file.
private industry.
coffers of the Tory Party.
and its organisations..
wages of the workers.
Gross Domestic Product - 1963 Prices JAPAN 110 11 ITALY FRANCE 100 11 U.K.
90 11 80 GERMANY USA SPA IN CANADA ism abroad, they preferred to give increases.
site at Guesmere Port was taking place.
OECD FIGURES 140 billion dollars 11 11 There is only one shadow on this comedy of the At the time, when he was aveaking the strike which Particularly as after the Tories' coming to power, 11.3% This they could afford to do, Meeting with 'Summoned' by the In the past, the 1960-70 Average Rate of Growth 5.7% 5.6% 2.7% 4.7% 4. 2% 7.4% 4.9% 9.
[page 12]
The gross domestic product rose by only 27 between the first quarters of 1969 and 1970, according to the calculations of the National Institute Nevertheless, this increase was sufficient to allow concessions to the stronger sections and the highly organised. But in the last few years, is the first important one involving all its glass factories, was sympto- It was the first strike at the St. Helen's glassworks for fifty years. It involved the right wing labour town of St. Helens, and the G&MWU. (Partly owing to the intervention of a tendency which the workers referred to as having "socialist measles", in dubbing the G&MWU as a "scab union", they conduced to the formation of an indepedent union of Glassworkers, thus tragically separating sections of the militant workers from the more politically and industrially backward elements.) This played into the hands of the G&MWU leadership, which, of course was responsible for the situation, by its bureaucratic mishandling and remoteness from the rank and file. split and the strike which followed helped the employers and the G&MWU dissidents by carrying through some reforms in the organisation of the provoking the temporary demoralisation of the workers. It is no accident that after the experience of Pilkingtons, the Tories have announced that in their projected anti-union legislation, they will make provision for split unions and for the "Right" of workers to decide by ballot what proportions should be represented by different "unions". They understand the weakening and demoralising effect that split unions have on the organisa- G&MWU, they would have been elected as shop stewards and controlled the new There have been strikes of the dustmen, teachers, and other sections in recent months. The working class have remained firmly committed to the unions, even where these unions have been bureaucratically run. recent period, the seamen's union has transformed itself from a semi-company union into one more responsive to the pressures and demands of the rank and This is the most dramatic expression of the process. the left in the AEF and the T&GWU are indications of the same process. radicalisation of the white collar unions is another sign of these develop- The process will continue and even be intensified in the coming There were 3,021 industrial disputes in 1969 as compared with 2,378 in 1968. The number of workers on strike was 1,619,600 (including 227,000 indirectly involved) compared with 2,257,000 in 1968 (including 182, 000 indirectly involved). But the 1968 figure includes 1,500,000 in the one Economic Review of May, 1970.
PILKINGTON STRIKE the revolt of the low paid workers has reached bitter struggles and strikes.
matic of this.
bureaucracy to crush opposition.
workers in the plants.
tions of the workers.
union branches which had been set up.) file.
ments.
year• 10.
The attitude of the ultra-lefts has helped in Undoubtedly, had the militants stayed inside the the stage of increasingly The strike at Pilkington glassworks, which In the The move to The
[page 13]
In terms of days lost, the increase was significantly greater, rising from 4,690, 000 in 1968 to 6,772,000 in 1969. include the approximately quarter million in 1969 who struck in protest against the projected anti-trade union laws. The figures for 1970 bid to The battles of the Australian workers at the present time are an ment, they swept aside anti-trade union legislation and engaged in militant They are demanding their share of the expanded profits of the In the 1968-69 financial year, Australia lost 1.9 million working This was double the previous year, and that was almost double the year before that. Even the Financial Times (28th August, 1970) as a demonstration against the vicious budget which gave millions to the upper income brackets in lesser taxes and pennies to the workers, while steeply increasing taxes on hardware goods such as cars, fridges, transistors, Civil servants have worked to rule, and there have been strikes of oilworkers, milkmen, teachers, brewery workers, container depot workers, electricity workers in Melbourne, gas workers in Brisbane, airline strikes but they indicate the trend. There have been strikes against inflation, or to put it in rude language, steadily rising prices. The bitterness and resentment of the ruling class at the strength of the unions was shown by the campaign of all the mass media for anti-trade But bitterness has to be tempered with realism if it is the commitment of the Tory Government to anti-union legislation. with the Minister, delegations of this body have actually asked for a watering down of anti-union legislation! And not at all from kind heartedness or philanthropy do these narrowminded and faithful members and representatives Their main pre-occupation is to aim at the funds of the unions, to try and frighten the bureaucrats of these unions into docility, at the same time, trying to enmesh the unions in the state machinery of arbitration and The threats of the CBI and of the Government to the unions have 19th August has some very interesting material on the negotiations between the T&GwU and the giant oil and smaller oil distribution companies in relation to the wages of the lorry drivers of these concerns. on the fact that the employers were forced to grant, in full, the 333% wage the strength of the T&GWU and, in particular, the shop stewards. day engineering strike.
exceed the figures for 1969.
indication of the process.
strikes.
Australian industrial boom.
days in strikes.
remarks that this year will be a record.
kitchenware, etc.
maintenance men, and even nurses in Canberra.
union legislation.
of Big Business take this action.
other 'conciliatory' machinery.
met with a sceptical echo from the financial press. increase demand of the workers.
Not dismayed at the election of a Tory Govern- This does not 250,000 Australian workers struck Most of these have been local The CBI has not wholeheartedly welcomed In meetings The Financial Times of It sourly comments This, the Financial Times felt, showed
[page 14]
These negotiations, as the Financial Times wryly remarks, were taking place at the very time that the CBI and the Government were issuing their dour warnings on the effects of wage inflation, and the necessity of The real tenor of the Government and the reactions of the workers to it, are shown in relation to the question of establishing a second line of air transport, apart from the State concerns BEA and BOAC. BUA, which was preparing to sell out to BOAC, as it was virtually bankrupt, has now seen the light and is trying to merge instead with Caledonian Airways. This is to be a reminder of the advantages of private (un)-enterprise. As a blessing tothis marriage, the Tory Government wants to hand over air routes which would bring £7 million a year profit to the new airline at the expense of the State airlines. Even the chairmen of BEA and BOAC despite their increases of £2,500 a year, have protested strenuously at this racket. Naturally, the "progressive" press, such as the Observer, has welcomed this suggestion. None of the mass media have explained the repulsive character of the suggestion that the State hand over a new "license to print money", to monopoly concerns, without these having spent a penny of money, or forethought, to the development of such routes, which were created at This pleasant transaction, as was to be expected, has hardly been Manchester, Glasgow, Catwick and other areas, have responded indignantly by declaring that they not touch any of the aircraft of such a line, and will have it blacked by their brother unionists in all the airportsof They demanded that the original BUA-BOAC merger go through. Thus, whatever direction the rulers look, the prospect is that of their policy would provoke the biggest industrial storm of the postwar epoch. Yet in this weather, they have at the head, Heath, who may be good at sailing small crafts, but hardly has the stamina and the understanding to steer the ship of state through the stormy years that lie ahead. For more than two decades, the ruling class has constantly proclaimed through the mouth of its statesmen, the mass media and individual capitalists, that investment is the kev to progress in the future. in investment in Britain that they are falling behind. Investment abroad industries is actually more than 50% of the total of investments in Britain. At the same time, so-called private industry comprises 90% of manufacturing amounts invested in America and Japan and the proportion of national income absolute resistance!
great cost by the State airlines.
met with enthusiasm by the workers at the airports. STORMS AHEAD stormy political weather.
totals up to €l, 000 million in 1969.
and productive industry in the country.
Any attempt by the Government to carry through enthusiastically The workers at Heathrow, the world!
Yet it is precisely The investment of the nationalised In comparison with the colossal
[page 15]
which goes to investment in Western Europe, the sums put into new industry At the same time, the tendency of the falling rate of profit has begun to affect all sections of the capitalist world. provokes an universal reaction of the capitalists, to try and limit wages as a means of insuring a bigger share of the wealth created by the working class. In Japan and Western Europe, this has partly been overcome by a higher growth rate, which, of course, ensures bigger profits. crisis and the measures of the government to overcome it, have added artificial impediments to the already slow rate of growth. The disparity between America, Europe and Japan on the one side and Britain on the other, in the rate of growth, was further accentuated by the higher investment in proportion to the national income in these countries in comparison with Britain. The industrial production figures of some important countries between 1957 and 1967 indicate the trend. Sweden increased at the rate of 6.1% annually, France 5% West Germany 4.8%, In 1970, the level of investment will only be 3 to 4% higher than the miserable level of 1969, according to a forecast by the CBI after Technology had forecast 7% Even this abysmally low figure will not be The level of fixed investment (including housing) fell by 1% in The increase in world trade was 14% by price but by volume only 10%. increase disguised the slow rise of British exports. In the field of machine tools, Britian's industry now stands fifth This is the indispensable base for the re-tooling of industry. Deliveries of machine tools in 1969 reached the figure of £180 million. Exports were over £67 million, but in return £40 million worth were imported, In the field of electronics, exports increased from £140 million in in the same period from £82 million to £241 million. The favourable surplus dropped from £57 million to f16 million. The trade is forecasting an actual The Midland Bank Review also complains: "profit margins, if not generally falling, are at least rising less rapidly than previously, thus restricting the availability of internal funds, the main source of finance amount of new money raised in capital issues was £159 million in the first half of 1970 (compared with) £469 million in the first half of 1969...." It expected a modest revival in consumer expenditure. by British capitalism are puny.
USA 4.6% and Britain only 2.7%.
consulting their member firms.
reached.
1969.
This West Germany and Japan leaped ahead; by contrast. in size.
leaving a favourable balance of only £27 million. 1965 to £255 million in 1969.
deficit in 1970 in electronics.
for capital development .... Interest rates (are) at high levels .... the Falling profits The chronic Under Wedgwood Benn the Ministry of The exports of An apparent success; but imports increased 13.
[page 16]
The rate of interest has increases from 5.8% in 1960, already a high it states baldly: "The international interest rate war has, of course, been of over-ambitious growth rates and employment levels, to the detriment of price stability and international payments equilibrium". Consequently, the Tory Government looks with equanimity at the prospective growth of three-quarter million by the end of the year. It is afraid of "stimulating" production for fear of "stimulating" the workers' demand is not for the sake of production but to increase the profits of the ruling According to The Banker, "Gross Domestic Product at constant prices fell by 1% up to the end of June. Consumption remained virtually unchanged, investment has since been revised to show little change on the previous quarter for manufacturing industry . ... Indeed the Treasury has since suggested ...•the outcome may be more in line with the lower estimate of 3% 4% reached for manufacturing industry by the CBI .... Investment plans seem to have been revised downwards because of the failure of the economy to expand, and also the severity of the liquidity pressures (lack of cash and banking limitations on lending) on the priviate sector .... failures in the first half of 1970 were 21% above that of the corresponding These figures are an estimation of the weakness of British Nevertheless, there has been a growth of British industry to a far greater extent and far faster pace than in the inter-war period. Despite the limping character of its progression, Britain has seen more mergers and concentration of capital than any other country in the This concentration on the one side, with the development of mass industries, has not been confined to industry, but to the commercial side While the industrial workers, because of their organisation, have defended and éven extended their standard of living, the white collar ship between managers and staff has largely disappeared, the big commercial firms employing hundreds and even thousands of white collar employees have Some white collar workers have taken militant action. Especially in the engineering industry, where the big firms are strongly organised, figure, to 9.1% in 1969.
very much a reflection of the economic times:
unemployment to of which the ruling class get a greater share.
class!
with exports levelling off.
period of 1969.
capitalism.
world.
as well.
workers have fallen behind.
their standards have declined.
begun to be organised.
14.
In the same issue of Ihe banker quoted above, for an increased share of the wealth they produce. lower levels of fixed investment and stockbuilding. a consequence of the pursuit Rather a smaller "cake"
Production under capitalism The fall in total spending reflected slightly The estimate of fixed Business Relative to the organised industrial workers, At the same time, the old paternal relation-
[page 17]
the staff side, which is close to the workers, has organised militant action involving DATA and the clerical workers' organisations. not reached by unionism in the past, and in which the employers have organised company unions to prevent genuine union organisation, have now been affected. Bank clerks and insurance officials have rejected company unions and joined unions affiliated to the TUC. Civil servants, post office workers, typists, clerks, among whom strikes had been unheard of, have conducted to the TUC as a symbol of solidarity with their blue-collared brothers. If they have not yet drawn a political conclusion by the dialectic of history, this has partly been becuase of the experience of the Labour Government. This has delayed the process but cannot prevent it. Any big movement of industrial workers will gain sympathy and in certain circumstances support by strikes by sections of the white collar workers which would have been been won to the principles, in however vague a form, of Trade Unionism. On the fringes, in Northern Ireland there has been a struggle of the Catholic minority for equal rights and against the artificial partition of the island. This raises a whole series of questions which have been dealt with in an article on Ireland in this issue.) of the struggle of sections of Irish workers, must have a powerful echo in Britain, where an important segment of the working class is of Irish origin. The problem of the coloured immigrants threatens to form an Because of the whole background of rising militancy on the industrial the inevitable disillusionment of large sections that voted for the hold down rising disconent expressed in the waging of strikes or because they will be compelled to partially capitulate to such struggles on the part of the workers, it is unlikely that this government will last out its whole Even if they are able to, they will be compelled to retreat in face her world power must mean at some stage a real showdown with the working class to try and compensate for the loss of positions abroad. The ruling class is probbing and pressing and taking the line of least resistance, while they are capable of making concessions. continue so long as the upward swing of the economy hides the relative fall in the power of Britain. But even such an unhealthy process as inflation can better be cushioned by her rivals, than by Britain herself. Britain has accumulated over a period of centuries helps her to alleviate the worst effects of the slow but continuous decline of capitalism. strikes for better wages and conditions.
considered impossible formerly.
explosive issue in the next turn of events.
field, Tories will have a big effect.
of working class strength.
are much less than those of her competitors.
Layers of workers Many of these unions affiliated From a reactionary attitude, they have However, the effects Above all because they will not be able to But the very continuous decline of Britain in This can Her margins Only the great wealth that 15.
[page 18]
EFFECTS OF THE LABOUR GOVERNMENT'S DEFEAT The defeat of the labour Government has had a big effect within the ranks of the advanced elements in the labour and Trade Union movement. anti-working class measures of the labour Government were resented by large sections of the Labour Movement. Big sections have understood that the defeat was due to the adoption of capitalist policies by the labour Government The abandonment of any pretence of Socialist policies and the effect that that has had in the defeat of the labour Party at the polls, has aroused widespread criticism of the policies of the labour Government. resulted already in the first signs of attempts by trade union militants to become active within the labour Party in order to fight reactionary policies. In Liverpool, for example, trade unionists in some areas have gathered together a caucus to discuss policies and activities in their local They are uncertain as to programme and policy, but they are determined to change the Party policy on Socialist lines. always is the most sensitive barometer of political developments, is moving towards the left. The section, however small at the moment, organised in already convinced of the necessity for Marxist policies, as the only solution lack of militant policies by the labour leaders are increasing. Meanwhile, Wilson and the other members of the former government stand aloof from the attitudes of the working class. In the hot-house atmosphere of the House of Commons and the exotic atmosphere of government in the Cabinet, the class struggle seems far away and the rocking of the boat of the "national" economy, ie. the vested interests and the privileges of private ownership and the status quo are accepted as the basis for the It is in this atmosphere that after the post election defeat and following apparently severe strictures on Heath and the Tory Party, that Wilson declared that he always knew that Heath was a good and capable At the Macleod funeral, Wilson walked abreast of Heath and Macmillan. Thus, the class struggle in the comfortable atmosphere of Parliament seems an invention of foreigners like Karl Marx. It doesn't apply to Britain. The game of politics they view as if it were a game of cricket. Wilson in The grin realities of life and the hard struggle of the working class to maintain and increase a little their standards of living; the necessary vigilance to maintain trade union and shop stewards organisations, with the endless pinpricks and provocations of the employers, see the working class, particularly the organised sections in the trade union and Labour movement, taking a different standpoint on the realities of the class struggle. parties.
the Young Socialists, is moving politics of the nation.
fellow.
16.
for the problems facing the working class.
effect declares "it's your innings, fellows".
rapidly to the left.
This has The youth, which A big section is Critical protests against the In
[page 19]
their daily life, and at work, they are constantly brought up before the exchanges in the House of Commons and in the smoking rooms; theirs are not the port and whisky, caviar and limousine existence of the tops, but on the contrary, the matter of fact realities of fish and chips, and down to earth details in the struggle for wages and prices in the factories, plants and Thus despite the Iabour leaders, and even more, in spite of the threats of the Government and employers, pressures from below will force these her way over in the criticism of the employers and the suggested measures of At this stage of the process, the bankruptcy of the reformist and Parliamentary left is clearly shown in the feeble programme they are putting It really does not differ radically from the programme put forward Yet the explosive possibilities that exist within the working class are shown by the general mood. Should the Tories cling to power and try and maintain this for the whole of this Parliament, big industrial struggles and even the possibility of a general strike, loom on the horizon. current in the labour movement is taking place: a current not afflicted with infantile delusions and frivolous preening of themselves as the mass leader- Events are moving in favour of Marxist ideas and a Marxist tendency, if it knows how to work with the real currents of history as they really are In the last fifty years, it is in the Trade Unions and their political reflection in the labour Party that the radicalisation of the working class has manifested itself. The mass of the workers, especially the organised workers, will never easily leave their traditional organisations, particularly their unions, as they have partially pushed to the left the T&GWU and AEF Labour Party will be refreshed and renewed by the Trade Union branches sending militant and left delegates and the transformation of the wards shop stewards' committees and in the trade union branches, and in the a high level in the youth organisations will be repeated in the adult who are becoming unionised and union-conscious, will be politicised also, necessities of a other undertakings where they work.
leaders - at least in words - to the left.
the government.
forward.
by the right in the past.
ship of the working class.
history• and not in fantasy.
in the early stages of mass radicalisation.
into fighting organs of the working class.
in the constituency parties.
political labour organisations also.
organisations and trade union movement also.
adding to the ferment in the movement.
struggle for existence.
They have understood the sober realities of New elements will push to the fore in the Theirs are not the rosy, pleasant Barbara Castle is already edging They will seek to transform Over and over again, the The process that has reached quite I'he white collar workers 17.
[page 20]
With the movement into action of big layers of the trade union workers, and the development of political crisis in Britain, the most oppressed and exploited, the most quiescent section of the working class, small sweatshops which have succeeded in preventing union organisation, in clothing factories, retail shops and other sweated trades, the workers capacity for struggle in the Tailors 'and Garment Workers' Union in Leeds and other cities, are forerunners of real mass action on the part of the The clashes and struggles will harden and push out a layer of advanced political workers, convinced of the correctness of the ideas of forces will be gathering for a struggle against the workers. the weapon of racialism is still only a reserve instrument in the hands of Discontent at the fumblings and hesitations of the government in the ranks of the Tory Party will be expressed in a drift to the They will know how to use the weapons of demagogy rather than the old fashioned Toryism of Powell, while using the powerful poison of In the Tory Party, the process will complement those taking place Tabour Party will move towards the left, opposition in the Tory Party towards the right. But these processes will not reach fruition till there with the pressure of the workers demanding a radical transformation of The counter-pressures of Big Business, the City, the mass media, would far outdistance the mild pressures on the last labour government. Thus, a new Labour Government would begin its activity with a far different an embittered ruling class, the stage should be set for explosive Read the brilliant analysis of stalinism and bolshevism today in: Lenin and Trotsky: what they stood for will begin to awaken.
will move into action.
women.
Marx, Lenin and Trotsky.
the ruling class.
right wing.
racialism.
is a change of government.
society.
atmosphere than that of the last.
possibilities.
From W.I.R. Publications, 18.
in the labour Party but in the opposite diraction. WOODS ALLAN 375 Cambridee Heath Road, London, E.2.
The submerged, unskilled workers in catering, in The exploited workers, who have shown their At the same time, at the opposite pole of politics, A new Labour Government will come to power With a watchful, wary working class and a reply to Monty Johnstone of the British C.P. by & Powell and Opposition in the TED GRANT Price: 5s.
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