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anarchist fortnightly , l 7 No.1 TWE LVE PENCE _ lllllli IS, THE NATIONAL Enterprise Board paying Mark Phillips to drive around ostentatiously in his new Leyland A Rover 3500'? The integration of the nominal state, the actual state and big business has never been plainer. It's TI-IE SHIP of state has been allegedly officialdom is so ashamed of everfihing only fitting that the first product of springing leaks in all directions - child which they do that they do not wish any- NEB financing should be that symbol of allowances, immigration, thalidomide - one to 1(IlOW'..Wh8.ll they are doing so they oligarchy and plutocracy, the executive and fears are expressedithat this must make everything possible an Official motor car, supreme polluter and des- lead to the sinking, not to say scuttling Secret with penalties for disclosure. troyer of the countryside, and well be- of the grand old vessel. On the other yong the pocket of even the highest paid hand, the frequent discharge of the bilge 0 of the workers who are said, by their water like the relief of an overloaded It is ironic that public figures in poli- tics who parade their private and pub- union officials, to be so proud to pro- bladder is a necessary function conduc- lic virtues every election-time retreat duce it . (Though the fact that the cus- ive to the good ordering of the body into coy secrecy once they have attain- tom-built facory is only operating at politic. half capacity, might make one sceptic- ed public office. This is not to say that the individual should have no priv- al about the depth of the ‘British pride‘). The whole of public and governmental acy but those who live by publicity can life is cloaked in vast swathings of sec- have no cause for complaint when their Obviously the NEB is not "a step on recy. In war-time, and increasingly‘ activities (once they have, as it were, the road to socialism" since its functi- i.n the so-called peace of preparedness, "gone public") are exposed. on is to facilitate the working of the the activities of the state are classified present economic system. "Left- as ‘ Secret‘, ‘Top Secret‘, ‘Stratosphe- A second argument for secrecy is wing" Tribunite M. P. s are said to at- ric Secret‘ with bureaucratic degrees of that of the experts who claim that we tribute its lack of socialist potential to secrecy and bureaucratic reluctances to do not really understand what it's all its inability to nationalise at will and de-classify or re-classify ‘secrets’. about and facts, freely giyen ,, would undercapitalization. The "social dem- Peace, being merely thenontinuation of only serve to confuse us. Therefo‘re ocrats" who run the Government agree war by other means (particularly the we are left to our ignorance. It is with the last point, since despite huge war of the State against the non-compli- possible, indeed probable, that for cuts in government spending, they are ant individual), has seen the intensifica- to pump another £ 100 million i.nto the tion and preservation of official secrets. every ‘leaking‘ official expert judge- ment there can be found another ‘ex- N'EB‘s funds. In fact, the N'EB‘s fin- pert’ judgement contradicting it. Why ances are shrouded in mystery -- six With the growth of public ownership months after British Leyland and Rolls (who, me?) whole areas. of once public then should we not be left to judge on the basis of our prejudices and prefer- Royce shares were transferred to the life have become official secrets. The NEB, no value for them had yet been forces, naturally, the police certainly, ences between two experts‘? It is high- ly likely that the official expert wel- agreed, and the Department of Industry the Prison Service assuredly; the Post has not as yet agreed on the appropri- Office of course; the Civil Service un- comes the Secrets Act as protecting him. from disclosing his errors. ate capital structure for the board. doubtedly not to mention other minions in that vast enterprise designed to pro- In fact the NEB bids well to become INSPIRE D LEAKS tect them against us, are all subject to another unaccountable financial monst- a fearful oath not to divulge official sec- er on the model of the Spanish INI rets. It is not known what solemn ritu- At present we are the prey of inspir- ed ‘leaks’ and of the manipulation of (National Institute for Industry) and the al or esoteric ceremony marks the Italian IRI (Institute for the Reconstruc- transmogrification of one of ‘us’ into 'lea.ks‘ for party purposes. We are told by a Sunday paper that the leak of tion of Industry), both products of the one of ‘them’ but it is certain that some a government report on exam results fascist era, which have survived well bloody ritual or voodo ceremony seals into the 70's and are the well-springs the lips of the Civil Servant who is by could be the prelude to G-LC revision E-C04/1f" OM of financial power for the techno- such an oath scarcely a Servant and bureaucratic elites, which determine rarely Civil. $EcR£T the patterns of economic development, R C T'S to their own advantage and perpetua- It is claimed that such tribal taboos in;-_-_~ :-.'.:'- Q II -can-In 31;‘ tion. ----.@0001 ":-,-..-..0’: (even at Cabinet level) as ‘confidential- gill:I , , - I an ;::;r.' :..-.'::2 ity‘ safeguard good government Li?-'1 xii: At the moment the NEB has very William Haley (former Moscow ambas- limited powers for the restructuring sador, editor of The Times, governor of industry - it has to have the agree- of the BBC) writing in the Sunday Times J ment of the shareholders and directors (27. 6. '76) about the Crossman diaries of the companies concerned, but when says "Human nature being what it is a company crashes and turns to NEB good government in our kind of demo- for help, its objections to restructur- cracy would be impossible" without ing can't be too virulent. The "Trib- strict confidentiality." It is pointed unite" 1VlIPs want to increase substan- out in press coverage of the child allow- tially the NEB‘s power to nationalize ance ‘leak’ that this leak "might hinder companies "purposively". Eric good government but in this instance " Heffer, writing i.n the Guax'di.a;n for (my underlining) "it can be argued to July lst, talks of the problem of ad- expose bad government." vancing "from the present system of‘ _h_ i controlled capitalism, to a fully plan- From an anarchist point of view the ned socialist economy, while avoiding Z_i--14.3- best government is that which governs the growth of a massive bureaucracy not at all and therefore such degress and maintaining and developing human and divisions are purely academic. Hm-ruuq l’4ovss_,-. "JUST' some FOR A LEAK, I freedom". And they call anarchists One is forced to the conclusiontthat PRIME MINISTER’ ' £C""‘~‘" 0" 2'; I 2 reader knows of what happened (in some THE NAKED TRUTH "zaonf-&flP/Z version, that is) aiwinson Green prison when Irish ‘bombers’ were assaulted by of examinations. ‘Left-wing‘ and wardens and prisoners. It is highly Illt ‘right-wing’ factions in the Labour probable that such a story (or any of cabinet are undoubtedly responsible them’.)wou1d not have ‘leaked’ were it not for the~leakages'.'.to Child Poverty that the police were obviously afraid of being accused of having beaten up the IIAIIIIINMY IIIIIS Action. Such leaks, inspired or un- inspired, help such Cabinets to keep bombers. The Official Secrets Act HARRINGEY's Labour controlled coun- going. The socially-conscious left prohibits publication of what happens in cil finds itself in a perfect ‘Catch 22' feels it has done its duty by disclosing jails. Even prisoners’ correspondence Situation. Ithas been ordered by the how the dirty deal was done or how the is still read, and if necessary in the in- government to cut £ 5 vmillions of its workers were once more betrayed. terests of security, censored. Many Current budget by the end of the current Their acquiescence.)is thereby atoned such incidents as those at Winson Green financial year. Large ‘scale cuts have for. take place unrecorded and unpunished. already been made, despite assurances to the contrary; overtime is strictly The thalidomide ‘scandal’ was not Another form of official secrecy is in controlled for many council workers strictly an official secret but the offi- the field of local government planning -- and a no-replacement system is in ope- cial reaction to the implied criticism and in central govermnent. Secrecy of ration when staff leave. of the Ministry of Health was predict- fdevelopment plans and road planning is able. The laws of libel and stander preserved in order, it is said, to pre- There are of course no plans to sell were sufficient to make impossible vent speculators. But speculation goes the mayoral Daimler or haltthe redev- free comment on the responsibility for ;on nevertheless and it is not unknown elopment of-the Wood Green commerci- the sanctioning of thalidomide with its for those with knowledge of the plans to al centre. shockingly horrifying consequences. benefit therefrom; also intelligent Not only do governments but also large guesses are possible. The last person Harringey is already London's second corporations safeguard their detrimen- to know is the private individual who is, highest rated borough. It has little in- tal secrets. i as usual, more planned against than dustry to provide lucrative industrial planning.