A RUGG

No.IO March 1977 ~10NTHL Y FIVE PENCE

STRUGGLE TO END THE SOCIAL CONTRACT GROWS

After 2 years of vicious wage cuts, many -Shop stewards representing 16,000 sections of workers throughout the workers at the British Aircraft Corpor­ country are militantly proclaiming their ation; opposition to a 'phase 3' of the social -Fords Convenors, representing 50,000 con-act. workers, demand pari ~ y with Fn~rl r f Europe and a 35 hour week; (co~t 'd on p2) They include: -Vauxhall Combine Committee Stewards; -Dockers at Hull and Southampton, at CONTENTS INCLUDE: large mass meetings; -The National Busmen, T&GWU; WORKERS OPPOSE TU PAYMENTS TO LABOUR -Nottinghamshire Miners' Delegates rep- IT IS PEOPLE, NOT WEAPONS, THAT ARE resenting 34,000 men; DECISIVE -British Leyland Shop Stewards, who plan a national campaign of opposition to BUILD THE REVOLUTIONARY . COM~~UNIST the social contract and a one day - PARTY - Central Task in Britain s~rike, while 10,000 Leyland workers NO INFLATION IN SOCIALIST CHINA marched against the social contract;

JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST FEDERATION OF BRITAIN (MARXIST-LENINIST) Struggle to end the social contract grows

(cont'd from p.l) -ASLEF, train drivers,demanding £20 p.w. is excellent and must be strengthened. rise, to make up wage cuts over last Only direct action by the rank-and-file two years; can sweep aside the opportunist TU -Arthur Scargill of the Yorkshire miners leaders and destroy Healey's anti­ urged the TU movement to "kick out the working class schemes. social contract"; -44 resolutions to end social contract will be made at the NUPE national con­ WAGE/TAX DEAL ference in May; Last year, Healey offered a 'deal' of a -Engineers at the London Transport wage increase plus tax relief. This Underground depot said they were not sounds pretty good:- we get a pay rise, prepared to wait until the end of the and he takes a cut in tax revenue. pay policy in July. But what are the facts? If inflation is These facts show that an increasing running at 15% we need a 15% increase number of workers are not prepared to in take-home pay, just to keep in step. accept a f ~ ~ther cut in their living To get this, we need a 15% increase not standards. . ,~./ only in gross pay, but also in our Many of the TU leaders who are now untaxed income, or else Healey will shouting their opposition to a 'phase 3' be taking most of it in taxes,instead have in fact supported wage cuts for 2 of us in wages. (The chart shows it is years and have actually suppressed any only 72%). ring rms resistance from the rank-and-file. Like Using figures :from the Labour p so true opportunists, they have switched Party's own pamphlet on the 'deal', we their stand because of the rising shop­ bann can see ~hat Healey's generosity amounts floor militancy. This is an attempt to to. The example is for a single person f th an a retain some credibility with the rank­ earning £60 p.w. and-file. No matter how loud they shout 1ut e :onti! now, this fact will not pass unnoticed. Original rate Increase % Gross Pay £60 £3.00 5% 'uppl! But in the coming weeks, the struggle :he between the workers and the Government Untaxed Pay £15 £1.15 72% and TUC collaborators will intensify. In Take-home Pay £40 £2. 18 5!% I'he this struggle the opportunists cannot ishl be trusted. So with inflation at 15% at least, and take home pay risint., by only 5!%, the result TAX 'DEAL' FRAUD is a savage cut in living standards. Healey indicated, some time ago, that And what about the apparent cuts in taxes? "the the 'deal' this time would include Considering the facts, for the- same weap another so-called tax cut. It's the old worker:- the rise in untaxed income of game of the carrot and the big stick:­ £1.15 means a saving of 40 pence in an i1 dete1 "If you accept a low wage rise, I'll tax (at the rate of 35 pence in the £). weap reduce your tax; if not, I'll hammer But he does pay tax (at this rate) on Unio with tax what increase you do get." But the £3.00 rise in his gross income, situ as our example shows, even the so-called and this equals £1.05. So the net tax cut is just a big con-trick. Healey, reault is an increase in tax of 65p! Both along with Murray and Jones, claim that Thi the social contract will benefit the It's Healey and his bosses' state that pol working class. But their real aim is to wins both ways, cutting our real wages, Ame and increasing taxes! Last year the fool workers into accepting a wage cut, tha government took 15% more in tax than while profits soar. Healey's fraud is wil designed to save capitalism, and is the year before despite the 'tax cut'. Healey's 'generosity' amounts to giving modi directly opposed to the interests of the the the illusion of tax cuts, in return for working class. All wage cut policies - the I statutory or voluntary - serve the · wage cuts! It's like a t hief ·.rho has interests of capitalism. stolen your watch, givin0 oa~ k the Sov strap in exchange for your wallet! dan The present opposition to these policies it soc in 2 wor WORKERS OPPOSE TU PAYNIENTS TO LABOUR Recently , a meeting was held between down en bloc to the TGWU offices and the financial chiefs of the Labour Party contracted out of the political levy. and the Trade Unions to discuss the This has led other sections of workers The growing financial crisis within the such as chemical workers, along the of t Labour Party. In the past, because the Humber bank to begin to contract out. repo Unions are the main source of revenue As we ll as contracting out the polit­ mana for the Labour Party, such a meeting ical levy, Union branches are refusing would be a formality in as much as the t o affiliate to the local Labour Parties. The the Unions have always readily come to the THE STRUGGLE ROUND THE POLITICAL LEVY rescue of the Labour Party's financial Jone problems. On this occasion, whilst some of I n the long term we must fight for notn the Union chiefs, like Fisher of NUPE and the abolition of the political levy capi! Buckton of ASLEF were happy to pay over as a s eparate item within the Union the their members' money to the Party that is struc tures. We must aim to bring back trying to save capitalism through its · such questions as political support assault on the working class , others and the political payments to the were reluctant to agree to increase con t rol of the rank-and-file their contributions because of fears membership within the Unions and not of a backlash from the rank and file. administered by some obscure unrepres­ Why has t..LJ. S situation come about? It entative committee. In those Unions is because in ever growing numbers where there is a degree of control workers are contracting out of paying by the rank-and-file then we must fight the political levy to the Trade Unions for the levy to be used in the which in turn, in the main, goes to interest of the working class. In the support the Labour Party. meantime we must give support and leadership to those advanced workers British imperialism is in the throes of who are contracting out of the to an ever deepening crisis. At home this political levy in groups because of is reflected in greater exploitation of their opposition to the Labour Party. • of the working class, unemployment, cap inflation, social service cuts and an cle ever declining standard of living. The gua Trade Union leadership is locked in a SOVIET SANCTIONS­ eff tri-partite alliance with the Labour WOR Government and the employers in an BUSTING EXPOSED attempt to prop up capitalism. In the Th absence of a workers' party or a co­ who The United Nations Security Council's ordinated leadership, workers are react­ res Committee to Police Economic Sanctions ing to their oppression by spontaneous pr against Rhodesia issued a report last actions. Many workers are contracting ot month accusing the Soviet Union and out of the political levy as a protest fo1:1 three other revisionist East European against the Labour government, and their Ma countries of conducting "major Labour Party Trade Union leaders. was sanctions-breaking operations" on a ma HUMBERSIDE WORKERS CONTRACT OUT OF "regular basis". wo POLITICAL LEVY The Soviet Union claims to be the waa The political levy is a percentage of 'natural ally' of the national liberat­ in the Union contribution that is paid to ion movements. It has frequently crit­ re a separate fund within the various icised the US superpower for importing Ja Union structures and in the main chrome from Zimbabwe, but now it has wo administrated separately in support of been caught with egg on its face. fu unions' political activities which is th The Soviet state-owned 'All Union almost wholly the propping up of pre the Labour Party. On Humberside lorry Corporation for Trade in Miscellaneous is drivers who are members of the TGWU Goods', trading through Geneva-based whj have been the first to give a positive companies like 'Centrex' and 'Intrabex' lead in contracting out. Dissatisfied has been exchanging Rhodesian tobacco All with the T&G's failure t~ tackle th~ for metals, chemicals a ~ d tgricultural CO· goods·. Labour government over such issues as Th the Tachograph (spy in the cab) which Such is the hypocrisy of the social th records the driver's movements and imperialists who are helping prop up which is opposed by drivers, whole the fascist settler regime of Ian groups of drivers, in some cases the Smith at the expense of the people of whole of a particular firm have gone Zimbabwe. I 3 fascists are finding themselves increas­ ingly isolated, despite their sugary words of peace and detente. Their socialist words hardly amount to a fig leaf for their e fascist deeds. Within the armed forces, the Soviet rulers are facing increased opposition, despite the rigid controls they place over their soldiers. An army whose main task is to carry out aggression, and suppress the people, can never maintain a ...D&TEMTE high morale • AND THE GROWING OPPOSITION IN SOVIET ARMED INTERESTS FORCES OF WORLD Po Soviet soldiers believe they are PEACEP "discharging an internationalist oblig­ ation" when they face the denunciations of the Czechoslovak people, suffering uJPERPOWER 'DOVBLETALK under Soviet occupation? )nee again the two superpowers are play­ Do the looks of hatred encountered by ing at their hypocritical game of Soviet soldiers in Poland, Hungary and 'detente', talking of peace while prep­ wherever they go in Eastern Europe have aring for war. A new round of Strategic no effect on them? rms Limitation Talks (SALT) is coming pp soon. US President Carter talks of Did Soviet armymen feel honoured after hbanning nuclear weapons from the face they were driven out of Egypt amid shouts f the earth", and the Kremlin speaks of of "Russians go home"? . .. an atmosphere of confidence". Fine words­ The answer to these questions is but empty ones. Both superpowers are definitely no. Although the Soviet leaders continuing to build up their arms try to gloss over the acts of protest, supplies in their attempts to control it i~ well known that many soldiers are the whole world. inmates of prisons and mental hospitals, The USSR in particular has been fever­ and the Soviet fascists cannot cover up ishly building up its nuclear arms in all acts of resistance. ake order to back up its policies of aggr­ In November 1972 a mutiny broke out on ession. The USSR even claims that this a Soviet submarine in a Norwegian fjord. is in the interests of peace. The In November 1975, the crew of the Soviet s? Russian paper 'Soviet Russia' said that "the appearance and development of missile carrying destroyer 'Storozhevoi' weapons of mass destruction have bedome mutinied, and the boat had to be bombed an important new factor favourable to before the mutiny was put down. de ten ten. In other words, the more nuclear On September 6th 1976, Soviet pilot weapons and guided miss.iles the Soviet V.I. Belenko defected with a MiG 25 Union has, the more "relaxed" the world fighter plane. He refused to be repatriat­ situation will be! ed, saying among other things that "the Both superpowers are staggering, as the Soviet Union today resembles Tsarist Russia". Third World ~litantly struggles for Seventeen days later, Lieutentant V.I. political and economic independence. The Zasimov flew an AN-2 plane from the Soviet Americans and Russians have both said Union, saying that he "could not put up that the main aim of ~he SALT meeting with the Soviet system .any longer" .. will be to limit or stop the sale of modern weapons to the Third World.(Only With the development of the revolutionary the superpowers can be trusted with struggle of all peoples living under these arms!) Soviet fascism, the discontent and resist­ ance of the Soviet soldiers ~s intensify­ Soviet Social Imperialism is the more ing. No matter what they say about peace dangerous superpower, partly because and detente, the Soviet leaders make it covers up its actions with words of more and more weapons. But weapons must socialism. But with the rapid increase be used by man. The more they attack the in Soviet aggression throughout the people, the more their own armies will world, Brezhnev and his fellow . social- turn against them. • 4 ... R and .evy. BULLOCK PLAN THREATENS WORKERS 1rkers The latest ~ttempt to stifle the struaale Committee disagreed with the Report, .he of the working class is the Bullock but ~ with its aim The disagreement out, report on workers' participation in is on details. The bosses on the lit- management, Committee want workers on a separate using "supervisory•• Board. The CBI want to Parties. The bosse~ interests are enshrined in begin participation on the shop floor, the majority Report, signed by Jack LEVY not in the boardroom. All the bosses Jones and Clive Jenkins, union leaders want 'industrial democracy', so that r notorious for their service to the capitalist class. They recommend that workers will co-operate in their own vy exploitation. on there should be one-third workers' "representatives" on Boards of The revisionist fake 'Communist Party' back of Great Britain, pretends to oppose the rt Directors, together with one-third bosses and one-third chosen by.the plan, but is· really hedging its bets. In other two sides. Workers would have the 'Morning Star', they praise what they call the "positive aspects" of the Report. lOt to vote whether they want this in all private companies with over 2000 They say the plan is good for workers in )res- nationalised industries, "where it does't lS employees, (1,800 firms in Britain, employing ~million workers in all). conflict with their c;:lass interests", · l and support the Labour Party demands for fight The bosses' agents ..ke out that this the Bullock plan to be tested in the plan heralds a new dawn of 'industrial nationalised industries. the democracy'. In fact, it is a plan to prop up the parasitic system of capit­ The nationalised industries have proved ~rs alist exploitation and persuade workers most effective"at exploiting the workina to sacrifice still more for the sake class, holding down wages, and creating maas­ tf of the profits of private and State ive redundancies (!'ike the 167.,000 jobs loat ·ty. capitalists. Bul~ock himself put it in British Rail). The revisionists pretend • clearly: "nothing will do as much to that industries owned by the bosses' . guarantee the continuation and increased state serve the interests of the working efficiency of the mixed economy". classt In truth,. they thoroughly reprea- ~nt he interests of the capitalist WORKERS PLANNING THEIR OWN REDUNDANCIES class, just like all the industry in the The Report says it will involv.e "the fascist Soviet Union. whole of the workforce in sharing INDUSTRIAL SLAVERY l's responsibility for the success and ions profitability of the enterprise". In The real aim of•the bosses and their ast other words, workers working all out agents in the trade unions, and of the d for the interests of the bosses' class. revisionists,is to sap the fighting Managing capitalism means controlling strength of the working class and cripple wages and conditions, productivity and their organisation, In the name of manning, to get maximum profit. Workers 'industrial democracy', they offer would be involved in clamping down on industrial slavery, with workers helping wages and conditions, and even presid­ the slave drivers, In both capitalist ing over programmes for their own and state capitalist industries, the ~rat­ redundancies. only reply can be total opposition. ~it­ :ing Jack Jones and other traitors in the There can 'be no true democracy, in industry lS working class are likely to offer or in any part of life, while the tiny further "pay restraint" in retur.n for minority of the ruling class are in the government carrying out these control of society. The working class proposals. Workers' massive opposition can defend its interests by making the ~ous is already showing the likes of Jones unions fighting weapons against the ~d what he can do with his pay restraint. bosses. When the workers seize control bex' of the state, and suppress the co ALL THE BOSSES WANT WORKERS 1 capitalists, they can bring about a ral CO-OPERATION democratic society run by the mass of The bosses' organisation, the CBI, and the working people. Only then can there the private capitalists on the Bullock be any true industrial ~ ~u~~racy. • p Suggestions and criticisms help strengthen the paper. Contact the of CFB{ML). c/o NEW ERA BOOKS. 203 Seven Sisters Road, London N.4. 5· 'Bri

'BRITISH ROAD'.... A DIVERSION (Cont.

The leaders of the •communist Party of demands' and thus 'tae essential causes Great Britain~ have just published a of the crisis', are •tackled'! But by us new draft of their programme, 'The nationalisation, the directing of clas British Road to Socialism'. First investment, limiting export of capital 'top published in 1951 the redrafted progr­ and social service spending are all and ' amme again dis·torts and revises the being done by different capitalist govern­ be p main lessons that are there to be drawn ments. The 'CP' is another capitalist whi c from workers'· struggles over the last party just wanting more of the same medicine. of y hundred and fifty years. While LEFT GOVERNMENT workers are fighting back against the iona oppressive capitalist Labour government, All this, they say. would be done by a revi the so-called 'Communist Party' leaps Left government. In addition it would leav to its defence. have to 'extend democracy'. To the 'CP', figh present capitalist democracy is excellent The 'CP' is in decline in membership and REV! in the number reading its paper 'The but we just need more of it. So MP's need 'greater control' over the government, Morning St~ ;· '. It admits that it sells The a third of its copies to Eastern Europe . there should be proportional represent­ colo and less than 30,000 here in Britain. ation, no House of Lords and a 'more to b Many of its leaders leave, seeing that democratic' Civil Service. The fact that wil there is little hope for them forwarding the vast bureaucracy of the modern 'de their opportunist careers in the 'CP'. capitalist state could not possibly serve Jimmy Reid, the 'Party' golden boy, the working class, is glossed over. John Tocher its ex-Chairman, Max Morris The Left government would 'open the way can . \ ex-Political Committee member and lead- to Socialism' according to the 'CP'. t o ing reactionary teacher, Pant ~ r, While carrying through these economic Lab Farrelly and Norton - leading AUEW and 'democratic' policies under capitalism :il i revisionists ••• the list goes on and on. living standards would improve and r i production would expand. So according to is The new draft of the 'British Road' is our revisionists capitalism can be made an attempt to restore the 'CPs' fortunes. to work for the people if only we have a Left government, a Labour government. no Lenin said that the bourg ~ oisie needed By trying to disgui e the nature of the ac servants in the working class, "who capit list crisis of over-production, mo would divert the people from revolution they hope to slide smoothly into state Co by depicting in glowing colours the capit li&m managed by them, themselves. pe charms and possibilities of the reformist LABOUR PARTY of path". al The 'CP' depicts the capitalist cr1s1s This Left policy would be carried out by le as soluble, says capitalist democracy ' new type of Labour government'. Central fa can be saved, boasts that it can rescue to the revisionist programme is a campaign Sc the Labour Party and that socialism can to restore working cl ss faith in the discredited Labour Party and Labour B' be achieved peacefully and gradually. a1 These 'charms' and 'possibilities' are government. It claims the Labour Party is "the mass Party of the working class" WI quite fals~. and gro sly xaggerates its membership c CAPITALIST CRISIS by repeating Tran port House's claims. lt hides the fa~t that the Labour Party 'Th lritiah Road' pay lip aerviee to th taet that ther i1 a criaia nd u1 1 ia the main 'arty to hav . fought for the acc ptanc of e pit liam nd ita policies the term• of Communiam to daacribe it, within th work£n cla1 • Thia ia b cauie in & pal and abatr ct way, But it then 11 th y aay "tho 'Communiat' P rty do outline• it1 plan to 'tackle' "the not 11ek to raplac th Labour Party llll~tial C&Uiel of the cri1i1"• a federal Party of the wot"kina cl•••"• All that need1 to be done it claim•, ,t• It ju1t wantl to join it and b coma ita to nationali1e top firm., direct inve1t• leadina force within the Labour Party. mant, and bar the export of capital and 1pend more on 1ocial 1ervice1. That SOCIALISM would m.an that 'union• would taka thi1 The reviaioni1t1 d ny th t the preaent into ccount in formina their waa rulin claaa would d f nd th ir prop rty (Cont 'd. on p'l ) 'British Road'- a diversion Revolution (Cant 'd from p6) THEORETICAL JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL es COMMITTEE OF THE CFB(M-L) by using violence against the working Building the revolutionary Communist Party class. It says that by changing just the to lead the revolution is the central task tal 'top personnel' of the State and the Army for all genuine Marxist-Leninists in and 'mobilising' the people this would Britain today. •Revolution', the theoret­ overn- be prevented. The very State and Army ical journal of the CFB(M-L), has been t which have been built up over hundreds founded to be a sharp weapon in the medicine. of years to defend the ruling class, are struggle to build that Party. mortal enemies to workers and the revolut- Issue Number Three contains: ionary transformation of society. To UNITY IS THE AIM OF STRUGGLE a revise this experience is to attempt to The Marxist-Leninist movement in Britain d leave workers defenceless in the real is still small and disunited. The key link CP ', fight for socialism. in uniting the ML movement for Party build­ llent ing is active ideological struggle. This need REVISIONISM THE MAIN DANGER statement criticises the main errors of the Communist Party of Britain (Marxist­ t, The revisionist 'CP' paint in glowing Leninist) as part of the struggle for unity. t- colours tlu! reformist path. They hope to become popular by saying how easv it The struggle for unity is a high priority will be to change society in a . for Marxist-Leninists at the present time. The Communist Federation of Britain 'democratic' way. They want to be Wt .... '-vuled into the Labour Party and become its (Marxist-Leninist) has drawn some import­ leadership. That is the only way they ,,~ ant lines of demarcation with the proposal can see of getting into power. They try of the Communist Workers League of Britain to win workers back to support for (Marxist-Leninist) for a Commission on Labour and cover up for Labour's capit­ Party building. These are explained in the article 'Ideological Struggle is the Key alism alist policies by blaming it on a few right-wingers. On the surface their's Link in Party Building'. to is an attractive offer. INTEGRATE THE UNIVERSAL TRUTHS OF MARXISM­ LENLNISM WITH THE CONCRETE PRACTICE OF THE de With a Labour government cutting living e BRITISH REVOLUTION standards as never before workers are In the contradiction between theory and t. not going to give the Labour Party any e practice, theory is primary at the present active support. The revisionists are stage. This means that the universal truths most dangerous because with some of Marxism-Leninism must be grasped in the Communist words they try and 'direct struggle for correct policies which show people from revolution' fo the illusion the way forward to the socialist revolut­ of reforming the present rotting capit­ ion in Britain. These universal truths alist system. Support for them would by reflect reality of the class struggle, and lead to an ever more oppressive sum up the last hundred years of working tral fascist-type system like that of the aign class struggle throughout the world. In Soviet Union. the struggle for a revolutionary Communist . But their confusions and distortions Party, and for state power, they must be are crude and transparent. In the 'integrated with the concrete practice of s'' working class struggie against ruling the British revolution. class attacks their decline will continue• Issue No.2 still available. Price 25p e es &e NEW ERA BOOKS A PROPAGANDA WEAPON IN THE STRUGGLE TO BUILD THE REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST PARTY NEW ERA BOOKS stocks and distributes the works of MARX, ENGELS, LENIN, STALIN and MAO TSETUNG, and MARXIST-LENINIST journals and literature from around the world.

Subscriptions NEW ERA BOOKS, REVOLUTION £1.50 4 issues 203 Seven Sisters Road, London N.4. CLASS STRUGGLE £1.60 per year Tel 01-272-5894 subscriptions also available for CHINESE, open 10-6pm Mon-Sat ALBANIAN,and VIETNAMESE publications. Late night Thursday to 7.30pm 7 BUILD THE REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST PARTY Stev; plar orgc: -Central Task In Britain / pro1 Feb1 by Like workers and oppressed peoples_ and. wer nations throughout the world, the 250 British working class is locked in wer continuous struggles against the bosses. ste This is nothing new; it has happened pla ever since the beginnings of class society. Class struggle will continue the The as long as there are classes. The worldwide crisis of imperialism is showing all the time that the capitalist system works against the interests of Lenin: "In its the people. The bosses' politicians, struggle for power~ themselves, tell us everyday that wage the proletariat has cuts, unemployment, cuts in education no other weapon but and heal t-'_:, homelessness, work speed organisation. " io up etc. etc. are 'necessary' and wo 'inevitable'. For the capitalist system th it is! It is also 'necessary' and th from on hig~, act to suppress the 'inevitable' that the working class struggle or divert the wor king class tb is fighting back- against the social from the only road to socialism, the contract, for the right to work, Th revolutionary road. The Labour Party th and against the cuts and against all is the Party in power attacking the the other ways that the system exploits working class, its members in the TUC and oppresses the people. have policed the social contract - cutt­ THE WORKING CLASS NEEDS ITS JWN ing wa~, and sabotaging struggles for REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST PARTY the right to work. The Bullock Report aims to divert the struggle by preaching Communists did not invent the class the common 'national interest' of the struggle, but without its own Party, exploiter and the exploited. All the the struggle of the working class will opportunists from the social democrats remain in their present state - local­ to the revisionist 'Communist' Party of ised, fragmented struggles aimed at def­ Great Britain to the Trotskyites hide o· ending its conditions. These inevitable the class nature of the s tate; they call 0 struggles are absolutely necessary, but for State ownership of industry by the a they do not strike at the basis of the capitalist state,and dress this support bankrupt system. We need our own Party for state monopoly capitalism up as to transform the fragmented defensive 'socialism' . struggles into a single united offens­ ive struggle to destroy the capitalist The defeat of capitalism calls for the system, and the state that manages and defeat of these and other bourgeois ideas protects it, and to establish working within the working class - for the defeat class state power - the dictatorship of opportunism. This struggle can only of the proletariat. be won through the leadership of the revolutionary Communist Party - the We need the revolutionary Communist organised vanguard detachment of the Party to lead the working class in the working class. socialist revolution. Only through the socialist revolution and the struggle to BUILDING THE PARTY - CENTRAL TASK build communism, can our class rid The working class absolutely needs its itself of the exploiters, of inequality, i : own party to lead it in a united unemployment, homelessness and all the J ;·· revolutionary s truggle for other rotten abuses of the capitalist · ~ensive socialism. The task of building the system. Party is the central ta P:~ v:. all our THE ENEMY WITHIN work. 57 varieties of opportunists claim to BUILD THE REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST PARTY act for our class. These 'saviours TO LEAD THE REVOLUTION! • PRiN!En-XNn-PuB1isliEfi-BY-CFB~M1)-c7o-NEW-ERA-BooRs:-zo3-sEVEN-sisTERs -Rfi::-1oNnoN-N:4: 8 y FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO WORK Stewards at Liverpool's Lucas Aerospace Why the change? Lucas have stated their plant in Broadgreen have started to intentions. The Combine Committee KNOW organise a militant fight back against when and where t he redundancies are proposed redundancies. On Wednesday planned. They should be giving leadership February 16th stewards were called in now, and planning solidarity action in by the boss and warned that 500 jobs advance, as the Liverpool s tewar ds · were to be axed in August, and another are proposing. In the end this i ssue 250 in Birmingham and 280 in Burnley affects all Lucas Aerospace workers. were planned for the same time. The - Since 19~the company has cut t he work­ stewards have also heard that the bosses force by 7,906. Now they are planning plan to phases out 1 in 5 of the jobs at more than a thousand more! It is time the the Netherton plant. Combine Committee led a national action The bosses also informed the stewards to stop the redundancies. Solidarity 1n that they were sending letters with general, and particularly solidarity their plans to the local and national within a company, is the basis of officers of all the unions involved. shop floor strength. The comb ined action The stewards stated flatly that they of the 4 directly affected sites will be would decide if and when to call in strong, but obviously action by the full-time officers. Later the stewards whole combine will be even stronger! committee "nanimously passed a resolut• ONLY SOCIALISM THE FINAL ANSWE R ion that National Trade Union Off i cers would not meet the management without The bosses see workers as a "dispensible the site shop stewards being present; cormnodity", as one steward pointed there will be no negotiations over the out, that they can use and dispose of according to the needs of their profit s their heads. margins. There has always been unemploy­ e That afternoon a mass meeting supported ment under capitalism, it is part of the the stewards' call for total opposition system.Only under socialism can there be to the redundancies. In the evening no unemployment, as in Albania and China the stewards' committee aereed that ·. where the right to work is guaranteed. they would not negotiate the question But we must also fight for the right to of redundancies on any basis - no work now, by ~aking direct action against negotiation on redundancy payments , the boss class. Workers who have suffered because they would not accept any form e ~ ~m the TUG-supported wage cuts of the of redundancies; no 'voluntary' . past two years, and from massive redundancies; no 'natural wastage' . An unemployment, have had enough of ts overtime ban was called. of collaboration and capitulation t o the e One of the Lucas workers explained his bosses. Lucas Aerospace has got a fight call opposition to 'voluntary' red undanci~s on its hand! and 'natural wastage': "That would NO REDUNDANCIES IN ANY FORM! just be accepting loss of jobs. FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO WORK! Unemployment is already over I! mL1lion; • we're fighting to keep all jobs". Their ~Actions by Health Service workers stand on the right to work, and against shows their determination to fight for these weapons of the bosses, should be the right to work. eas firmly supported. feat -At St. Bartholomew's Hospital in East y FOR NATIONAL UNITED ACTION London, 3 night porters were s uspended The Broadgreen Stewards Committee also after refusing to sort out medical called on the Combine Stewards Committee, records. The joint shop stewards which has delegates from a ll Lucas committee had told the management that Aerospace factories, to call a national 2 clerical workers should be emp l oyed strike as soon as any worker is handed to deal with records. 500 ancillary a redundancy notice. workers went out on strike in support s of the porters, and succeeded in getting At the emergency Combine Commi t tee meet­ the suspensions lifted. ing on February 22nd, whilst s uppor ting - 75 catering workers walked out in the opposition to the redundancies, protest over 9 threater1ed r -·dundancies the majority Gf the Combine Committee at Cardiff Royal Infi-;: •• ,ary. ammended t he resolution for a nationa l strike t o say that as soon as any - Porters at the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Welwyn Garden City are redundancy notice is served, " ••• the refusing to take on any extra duties site involved wou l d pursue a policy of after the man~gement had announced they • withdrawal of labour, and seek support would not be replacing a porter who of other sites throughout the comb ine" . 9 had retired. • SOCIALIST CHINA HAS NO INFLATION All over t he wo rld the capitalist of average monthly income. The equival­ economy is in turmoil. I n the countries ent in Britain would be a rent of where the capitalists and revisionists £2.50 per month. are in power, industrial production is stagnant or fall i ng, unemployment has reached 100 million, currencies are devalued, i nflat ion shoots ever upwards . ' Every British worker knows the results of.this crisis. Wages are held down, wh1le rents, transport costs and food prices soar. The capitalists - whether 'Lab our ' , 'c onservat1ve· ' - are try1ng· to solve the crisis by further oppress­ In addition medical services are free ion and exploi t ation of the working for all workers, schooling costs only people. 2.50 yuan (75p) for 6 months and day WORKING CLASS PO WER - NO INFLATION nurseries cost between 3! and 10 yuan per month. It costs almost nothing Contrast this with t he situation of for workers to go out and enjoy them­ the wo r~ - ~ >in Soc i a l is t China. selves (about 3p for a cinema seat). Compar eu to Brita i n, Ch i na is still a All of these prices have remained the poor country . Yet, because the working same for years. On top of all this, there class is in powe r there , there 1s no is no income tax in people's China. unemployment and no infla t ion. CHINA 1 S SECRET The Chang family are a typical workers' family. The husband and wife work in Things were not always so. Before the Peking No. 2 State Textile Mill. Liberation in 1949 the Chinese people They have two children. Thei~ : otal suffered from some of the worst inflation monthly i ncome is 154 yuan ( 1 ~ out £45). the world has ever known. The reactionary Out of this money each montr they spend Kuo.mingtang government printed vast only 0.84 yuan (25 pence!) on rent, amounts of money to finance its wars 3.90 yuan (£1.15) on wa ter, gas, against the people. The result was electricity and transport, and 67 yuan galloping-inflation. So much so that the (£19) on food . They are able to save money needed to buy 2 cows in 1937 would 40 yuan (£1 2) each month. Apart from only buy a grain of rice or a sheet of spending on food and clothing which has toilet paper in 1949. When the Communist increased because of the birth and Party of China led by Mao Tsetung took growth of their children, the Chang power, one of its first priorities was to family's expenses have not increased to stop this inflation which oppressed since 1965! the working people. The power of the money speculators was destroyed. STABLE PRICES Production was taken into the hands of In China mos t food prices have remained the people, and it is used to serve the the same for years. For instance in interests of the people - nc- ·- of the Peking a kilo of pork cost 2 yuan in profiteers. Prices were regularised and 1965, and 1.80 in 1974. The cost of the circulation of money controlled. All housing is always decreasing as more of these measures are summed up in the and more ho uses are built. The Changs answer of a Chinese worker to the have a low r ent, even for China, but question 'Why does China have no in­ the average rent for a family apartment inflation?' - "Well it's because we're in Peking i s 5 yuan per month, or 4!% a socialist country". The real 'secret' of China's success is the socialist t system, :economic planning and reliance on the masses. The example of China shows us the truth which the capitalists - the social democrats and revisionists - are trying with all their strength to conceal; that capitalism causes inflation, and that the only way for the working class to escape from the crisis is revolution. • PAMPHLET: 'WHY CHINA HAS NO INFLATION'. Price lOp+ postage from NEW ERA . BOOKS 10