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Continued on P. 3 Col. 2 but Troops Are Not All Anti- in the Militarv for This Funct- REVOLUTIONARY PATH the EXECUTIVE of the National Porters

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Continued on P. 3 Col. 2 but Troops Are Not All Anti- in the Militarv for This Funct- REVOLUTIONARY PATH the EXECUTIVE of the National Porters ---------- - x — weekly Vol. 35 No 6 9 February, 1974 m CIMMUNISTS HOT.... * ON JANUARY 14th, before the great , working class. Many of them ion. Shades of Sydney Street! blow-up about the ’Communist con­ are miners' sons - son of the In the General Strike of 1926, spiracy in the Unions’ the Morning working class. As far as I am troops were called in to protect Star had a streaiirer front-page concerned, if tfye Government em­ blacklegs driving convoys of headline: 'Saboteurs are in Cab­ ploy troops, if necessary I will lorries. The simple function inet. SAVE COUNTRY FROM TORY appeal for them to assist and of troops doing the work them­ WRECKERS'. Inside, in an account .aid the miners. You cannot dig selves is very rare; in 1945 of the same party executive state­ coal with bayonets. My attitude (under a Labour government) ment was the same sentiment. is straightforward. This nation troops worked in the docks un­ 'Communists defend national int­ requires coal. To get coal you loading ships. erest, says John Gollan’ . One need men. And to get men you can understand the necessity far must pay. The day of the cheap It is obvious that the funct­ a patriotic image created for miner is over." Fair enough. ions of guarding property, of the general public but why, in But Mr. McGahey besides back­ maintaining order and protect­ the party organ, should such na­ tracking later on some of this ing blacklegs are the functions tionalist sentiments take pride speech, failed to emphasise of the troops with the ultimate of place, or indeed, seem to be other uses of troops in times deterrent of shooting to scare the policy of the executive? The of\ industrial or civil strife. and to kill. It is, of course, simple answer is: this nation­ necessary to read the Riot Act alism is the policy of the Com­ Full well can working-class first. munist Party. It is as evident historians recall Peterloo (1819) So it was no wonder that in in this as it is in the wildly when soldiers rode into a peace­ 1912 in a climate of industrial anti-Gernan and anti-American ful crowd of Manchester Reform­ unrest, Tom Mann (then a Syndi­ lines pursued by the Party after ers and killed ten, injuring a calist, later a Communist), Fred the war and subsequently. hundred or so. Previously the military had been employed to Crossley, a railwayman, Guy Bow­ Mick McGahey, Communist vice- harass the Luddites. As late man, B.E. and C.E. Buck (the president of the National Union .as 1912 soldiers shot two men printers) were sentenced to var­ of Mineworkers made a speech on during a railway strike at ious terms of imprisonment, up January 27 in which he said, re­ Uannelly; on that occasion the to nine months, for circulating ferring to a probable coal strike, •military were called in to 'keep a leaflet 'DON'T. SHOOT'. An "It may be that they will call extract is: order' by Winston Churchill; 4 in the troops to move the coal, previously and later he called continued on P. 3 Col. 2 but troops are not all anti- in the militarv for this funct- REVOLUTIONARY PATH THE EXECUTIVE of the National porters . Union of Mineworkers now has the authority from the members to The miners' executive say that embark on a national strike. there has to be more money on Rank and .file members have clear­ the table before they are ’will­ ly shown where they stand on the ing to negotiate. Now Mr. Heath, government' s attempt to put following the Pay Board's new re­ wages and collective bargaining port on Relativities, has offered* into a political straitjacket. to set up "straight away" a new All those "tories" and those who review board to examine the min­ say they support the country's ers' pay claim. This board would Family Income Supplement (FIS) is a benefit of up to "democratic traditions" called have the status of a Royal Com­ It is payable to families where— £5 a week. for a ballot qt the beginning of mission, but it would still op­ 4 the total family income is below a certain lc\d and the dispute, have now got their erate within the confines of the # there is at least one child in the family answer. In fact these same government's wages policies. Mr. SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN people were quick to grab at any Heath has in fact got himself tin-pot report of irregularities into a corner. His cabinet is ! especially strikers'children ! in the voting. These people just divided with his Secretary for Employment, Mr. Whitelaw, favour­ wanted the miners to accept. stand but privately their mem­ ing a settlement that would av­ bers like Lord Stokes are obvi­ The government and the miners' oid a strike. However, while ously worried about the effect a executive have fought out on the most Tory backbenchers and party strike would have on their profits. mass media, joined since Christ­ workers favour the government's mas by the T.U.C., a propaganda standing up to the miners there Vhat big business would really war in which each has tried to is a growing feeling among big like to see is co-operation be­ seize the initiative. Each is business that the strike must be tween the TUC, themselves and trying to work out a settlement avoided. The Confederation of the government. The proposed which cannot be called a "sell British Industry has, it is true, ..continued on back page Col. 1 out" by their respective sup­ said that it supports Mr.Heath's * IQ* "REST ASSURED___IT'S ONLY AN ECONOMIC, NOT A REVOLUTIONARY SITUATION" !!t ***• % Sweden, etc. Pat Arrowsmith is presently on the run after refu­ sing to appear in Court at War­ WHIFF SEDITION ? minster to answer a charge of "incitement to disaffection" THE HYSTERICAL reaction from Con­ to break a strike. Of course, he (and other lesser charges) fol­ servative and Labour politicians wouldn't want to overthrow the lowing the distribution of the to the tentative suggestion by Government other than through leaflets last year. Many more Mick McGahey, Communist vice- the ballot-box. Of course! people are needed to continue president of the National of Some Conservative MPs conclud­ this work and to undertake new Mineworkers, that he might "ap­ ed from McGahey's original state­ initiatives. peal to troops to aid the min­ ment that he was contemplating It is clear that the Govern­ ers" if soldiers are sent in to the breath-taking crime of sedi­ ment is preparing for a violent break the miners1 strike under­ tion which sends a shiver of de­ confrontation with the miners lines the importance of the Army light down the spine of every and pther militant groups of in maintaining the status quo. red-blboded revolutionary, but workers. Chief Constables have It also demonstrates the fear the legal experts soon put them been sent a copy of a speech which is inspired in politicians right and decided that what he made by Sir Peter Rawlinson, the at the suggestion that soldiers was contemplating might consti­ Attorney General, last September might be encouraged to stop tute an offence under the Incite­ when he indicated that the Gov­ playing a repressive role. ment to Disaffection Act 1934* ernment expected more "vigorous" Sedition is now generally taken Harold Wilson and the Labour enforcement of laws against "il­ to mean advocating the violent Party leaders who have been try­ legal" picketing. Police dos­ overthrow of the Government but ing to walk the tight-rope of siers have been compiled on mil­ the law is so wide that it could political opportunism with their itants previously involved in and would be used to suppress half-hearted "support" for the the organisation of "flying any kind of opposition to the . miners made it clear that they pickets" and the police are rea­ Government if it felt sufficiently would not allow any state of af­ dy to arrest them on the slight­ threatened. Indeed, the existing fairs which would take power out est pretext. A special control laws of incitement and conspir­ of the hands of the politicians room has been set up at Scotland acy could be used for the wide­ and give people control of their Yard to control the police anti­ spread arrest and detention of own lives. They repudiated Me picket squads which will be all militant opponents of the Gahey's statement which they be­ moved from area to area to con­ lieved "foreshadows an appeal to Government. What the liberal (as trol the "flying pickets". The the forces of the Crown, and opposed to revolutionary) oppon­ Daily Telegraph on 29 January earlier statements seeking to ent of fascism always fails to revealed that local police for­ invoke the strike weapon as a realise is that fascism can est­ ces already have supplies of CS means of changing an elected ablish itself merely by the more gas, riot shields and batons. Government other than through a ruthless use of the existing re­ Recruiting campaigns for special democratic General Election." pressive legislation and legal constables and the TAVR (Terri­ 1 Clearly, McGahey had overstepped apparatus of "democracy". torial Army) have been stepped the mark in view of the Communist Less spectacularly them Mick up. The TAVR would be very use­ Party's policy of trying to ope­ McGahey but on a practical bas­ ful for strike-breaking because rate as a "respectable" left- is, the British Withdrawal from of the large number of transport wing of the Labour Party.
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