AUGUST /SEPTEMBER A 20p

MAN AND PARTY MACHINE IN PERFECT HARMONY

The TGWU likes me as well as USDAW NUM NUR FBU ASTMS Foot Thatcher Reagan Andropov The Pentagon TUC CBI CIA KGB MIS MY MUM FREDDIE THE PARROT

SURVIVOR-Neil Kinnock stands by his wrecked car on the. ~H early today. The car somersaulted for 100 yards. But the l\IP walked away with minor cub.. Popu ar yarns 'SOMEONE of class war INSIDE : France/Aire Valley Strike Co-op~/NGA/F .. T /EEPTU /LT /More UP THERE Initials/Jargon/Small Type/etc etc e INSIDE : France/ Aire Valley Strike Co-ops/NGA/F .. T /EEPTU /LT /More Initials/Jargon/Small Type/etc etc e INSIDE : France/Aire Valley Strike LIKES ME' Co-ops/NGA/F .. T /EEPTU /LT /More -BUT WOULD YOU BUY A USED VEHICLE FOR SOCIALIST Initials/Jargon/Small Type/etc etc e INSIDE : France/ Aire Valley Strike TRANSITION FROM THIS MAN ? St James Infirmary Blues

Hospital workers in Leeds who displayed high levels of militancy during last year's Health Service strike have been at it again. At St. James Hospital a strike by laundry workers over pay cuts is· currently in progress. We were sent this account of a technicians' s.trike at the same hospital by a member of the Northern Communications.Grou).l (Leeds).

Having been threatened with dismissal· this equipment has a· 1 or 2 year service unless they returned to work by May guarantee from the manufacturer. As a reversed and management refused to 13th, fourteen medical physics workers ·result, it is very difficult for such a strike comply. The worker remained out in the - all members of the Association of to affect the hospital and squeeze cold. Scientific, Technical and Managerial management through -!he withdrawal of Staffs (ASTMS) - went back after 12 services to patients (same problem as in In the end, because of intimidation, the weeks on strike. the national dispute ! Same dubious workers ·went back. The victimised targets.) worker found another fob outside the The strike, coming in the aftermath of NHS. However a new training scheme has the official Health Workers dispute, was The technicians knew that the support of been established, and contact with the over the dismissal· of a trainee technician ot.~er workers was essential to get a technicians has shown that a good spirit (who won't allow his name to be favourable resolution. Hospital drivers still exists; 1n fact one has said that published, because of future possible were willing to strike· in solidarity, and maybe the mistake was 'going out' victimisation), who was taken on from said as much to the pickets. However, maybe we should have 'stayed-in'. technical college and told he would be COHSE Branch Secretary and failed given training to do the job. He was Labour councillor Susi Armitage refused There was no talk of a sell-out either. sacked for alleged incompetence. He had official support b!J the drivers, saying that Graham Johnson. was an irrelevance. The been given little training. In fact, he was there had been no official call for workers themselves ran the strike, and sent to college to learn more specific solidarity. By official call, she meant decided to return as a· group freed from skills, and at the end of the course got written request .from ASTMS full-time manipulative leaders. 100% on a theoretical paper. Even though officer Graham Johnson, who was cons­ an enquiry into the Medical Physics picuous by his absence from the picket How many other workplaces are taking · Department, headed by a District Nursing and from the workers. He did however these tentative steps to freedom from the Officer, had concluded a year before that have a few meetings with management, dead hand of Labourism? training was essential, ·the management details of which he would pass on to the SAS • had given this worker about one day's other workers when the urge took him. practical training. He was then sacked. SENTENCED TO WORK (2), The decision to strike came not from the As a result it was 14 men alone, picketing technicians' shop stewards, but from the in freezing conditions, with harassment membership. They called a meeting and and ejections meted out to them by Soviet jails then informed their stewards so ·they hospital security staff. Financial support could attend. By a majority vote, they came from other workers in the NHS, and 'an example decided on strike· action until re\fistate­ physical help on the picket lme, but the ment. call for a mass picket in support got little to the West' response.· By Rupert Morris Medical physics technicians service the Prisons in China and the complex machinery of modern health ; After an appeal, the management was Soviet Union provide out$tand­ e.g. X-Ray machines, life support instructed by the health authority to ing examples which the West machines and dialysis ·machines. Often, reinstate the worker, but this was ·tater ~ould do weD to study, Mr Warren Burger, Chief' Justice of the United States, said in I..endoa last Bight. Chief Justice Berger told law students at the Middle Temple Hall: "On my visit to the Soviet Union, I was compelled to conclnde that the· one correc­ tional institution ·1 was invited · to see - a juvenile institution - ha.. training programmes in advanee over anything I had seen in other countries." -He added: Wfhe prisons in China literally are factories with fences around them, and the prisoners are trained · in THERE IS marketable skills by producing pfiof'ef;

At the end .of a 2-month pay and prod­ uctivity strike by 270 NGA printworkers, the Financial Times was back on August 8th.

The strike was in support of 18 machine managers, who were demanding an £18 rise and extra shifts. Their claim was in response to an award made to SOGAT machine assistants, and was said to be in defence of pay differentials. The manage­ ment has been insistil'lg on more product­ ivity and an end to the 'leapfrogging' pay demands NGA and SOGAT workers have used so effectively in the past to hike up their wages. J At various stages in the dispute, the bosses·threatened to print theFT without union labour, or at least without its NGA workers ~ either by persuading SOGAT printers to scab, or by having the paper Poached- or printed abroad (it already publishes a European edition). The TUC put pressure on the union to force its printers back on ACAS terms the workers had already Hard Boiled ? rejected, since ACAS backed the manage­ ment. A group of workers seeking to break ving, that is, leading the membership. away from their autocratic union leader• Through this attitude the interests· of The strength o( Fleet Street printers is ship and by doing so challenging a closed the labour movement come in direct their ability to inflict large losses· on the shop agreement ought to be ·causing big conflict with those of workers; the way company very quickly and without headlines in the press and noises of that they will sell out their members in hardship to themselves, since they can get support from the government. But these order to serve the best interests· of the casual work at other papers. ·Falling are not an 'ordinary' group of workers. industry bosses. profits, however, are at last persuading newspaper bosses· that they need to break Those involved are part of the Fleet St. SUNNY SIDE UP this power once and for all, even at the branch of the electricians union EEPTU. expense ·of a massive, Fleet Street-wide They previously gained front page prom­ The decision of the electricians to break showdown. New technology would be a inence in defying Tebbit's 1980 Employ­ away was in part a wish for a stronger weapon in their hands. ment Act by stopping production of all craft position within Fleet St.. Electric· national newspapers for a day. Moreover ians hold 'the key' to the print process - In the end, the printers won a £13 rise, they are seeking to join SOGAT '82 in an it is they who not only keep the machines taking them to £317 a week, and more attempt to gain more industrial influence. running but actually start them up (or shifts. Nobody is claiming total victory, refuse to as the case may be). But while but the workers have once again staved this was in their minds their actions were off a catastrophic attack. The TUC Their arguments for this are couched in a response ·to the immediate problems couldn't face expelling the NGA, a union appe¢ng liberal terms ·- · individuals posed by their own union leadership. which lives in fear of its own members, should be free to choose between various and prefers subtler methods of griilding democratic forms of union organisation. Tension between branch and union down strikes it doesn't like. The FT This in itself does not challenge the form, executive built steadily from the activity bosses -couldn't bring themselves to let alone role of Trade Union 'democracy'. during last years NHS strike. The Fleet dispense ·with the NGA's services either, It is simply a wish to swap the hypocrit­ St. electricians defied both a High Court although they would have loved to sack ical democracy of the EEPTU for the injunction and Union directives forbidding its members. And 'Wobbly' Bill Keys of more devious sort peddled by SOGAT '82. them to stop work in support of the SOGAT couldn't bring himself to stab It goes nowhere near the electricians hospital workers. Sean Geraghty, branch his opposite number in the back. desire for autonomy. A further claim that secretary, was sub~equently fmed by the this entails '\ . how we will best serve the courts, banned from holding office by But the FT strike takes craft printers one interests of our members, our industry courts, banned from holding office by step nearer having to choose ·between · and the trade union . and labour the union, and overnight became a hero· total surrender, and all-out attack in movement" gives a· better perspective on of the working class (well, leftist folk­ alliance with· other groups of workers. the type, limitations and false ·choices lore). There was a further notable available in an inter-union dispute. All industrial confrontation; a two week SeePage 16 • union leaderships see themselves as ser- stoppage of the Times at the end of last "l year. During this a despairing Frank • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• Chapple, leader of the EEPTU, showing a ·1· • rare insight, was moved to exclaim "The Workers Playtime is produced by some Next Playtime deadline is September13th trik , 1 members of the London Workers Grogp. Back issues and subscription rates are I men seem to enjoy bein:g out on s · e. · I It is not the public face or theoretical available on request from : Box LWG, I Despite a further statement that he journal of the LWG. Articles reflect the Cl Metropolitan Wharf, Wapping Wall El " . really could not care what happens to 1 thoughts, fantasies and inadequacies of • them" - whether they were sacked by I· their authors (in no particular order). ~e LO.. NDON WORKE~ GROUP !a an open • al iiscW!IIIon group involvmg autonomists, coun- the Times or not - his re concern was Playtim . . t d d e e disc cillists,•anarc!Usts and anyone else interested in I th t thin h d t b do b t I e 18 m en e as a IOrum IOr · • workplace class struggle from a revolutionary a some g a 0 e ne a ou ussing the reality of class struggle. If you point. of view. It meets.every Tuesday a! 8.15, their disregard of union authority. 1 have something to contribute-news upstaus at· the Metropo~an Pub, 95 Farnngdon I · ' Road, ECl (2 1J).ins Farnngdon Tube). Anyone 1 feedback, whatever-we would like to is \Velcome to join in, except party recruiterli. I The executive's response was to take hear from you. There is no editorial line- ~f you want .to know more but can't face meet- I f mg us, or if you want a copy of our free cont ro1 o f the b ranc h' s uncti on t o fiill I but that d oesn •t mean we d on•t know bulletin (a stamp would be nice), write to the . vacancies that arise within Fleet St., 1 what we disagree with. address above. . I bringing branch recruitment under the • I control of the full time area officials. Published and Printed by Workers Playtime I~c. Thanks to Little @Printer& (481i 0602) for help . . Various branch records and minutes were I • • • • ••:•• • • • • • •. • • •• •.••.••.• also · called in: for examination. These ship cards already issued by its London and survival". It is a choice he has­ actions were seen as preliminary to Machine Room Branch to the electricians. imposed upon his merp.bers, and it has Chapple dissolving the branch and disper­ lionically, at the time Keys was busy dictated their response.· sing the membership among others, a helping force the NGA to capitulate over tactic much used on troublesome branches the Financial Times dispute with threats At present; and possibly for some time to in: recent years. The electricians response of their expulsion. come, the electricians are effectively was to open up negotiations with SOGAT without union representation. As such '82 and the NGA to affiliate the branch The EEPTU's attitude is the usual patern­ they are in: jeoparcti 'iuid.er ·the ·closed­ en masse. alist unio~ one : that we know what is shop agreement. But their . position best for the members. Anything at odds is demonstrates how the closed shop only EGG ON IDS FACE "irresponsible advice" from the politically confers power upon the union; the power motivated. The Unions .argument is that of the workers arises· from their position At the end of May the branch voted to the industrial impqrtance of sk:iDed elect­ within production, the · degree of their leave the EEPTU and join SOGAT '82. ricians would not be recognised in a militancy, and their willingness to take on Led by Geraghty, half the branch general print union; especially at a time and hold out against their union. Regard­ members filled in resignation forms and when electrical and electronic skills Me less of what union they belong to, their returned them to head office. Chapple at a premium, whilst more maimal skills sectional industrial strength will still refused to accept them. Backed by Len are declining due to new technology. remain, but allying themselves 'to one Murray and the Newspaper Publishers union or another will not further solidarity Association, he threatned that any elec­ Mter the breakaway, the EEPTU branch within, let alone outside, Fleet St. - trician employed on Fleet St. who is not managed to reconstitute itself, electing where disputes are contained by unions as a member of the EEPTU is breaking the new officers and bein:g recognised by the seperate struggles in different papers. closed shop agreement and would there­ union executive. Those ·remaining see fore lose their job. themselves as an "autonomous'' indepen­ The age old dream of one union within an dent branch, as they have had the emplo­ industry obscures the maintenance of The EEPTU regarded all the resignations yment register returned - the touchstone vested interests and positions that the as invalid and accused SOGAT of of Fleet St. autonomy. The split in the electricians hope to gain by joining 'poaching' members. Under the TUC's branch has not been a left/right political SOGAT. The question- is not one of Bridlington agreement, members need the divide. We are told that those remaining which union best serves the interests of consent of the union they are leaving in: contain prominent 'left wingers' equally its members or maintains the higher craft order to change to another, Branch seces­ opposed to the conservatism· of Chapple. status. Any '

4 The strike at Aire Valley Yarns began on Two support groups were created. One in sideratlon made textiles attractive to March 15th. 21 of the 22 Asian workers Bradford was organised by Asian comm­ industrialising nations in Europe and the had joined the TGWU. The eight odd unity activists who sensibly had no faith third world, who also had supplies of white workers - getting more for a 40 in the trade union movement. They saw it cheaper and less militant labour. hour week than the asians were getting as a job for the 'community' and hoped British firms needed ·to re-equip and for 60 hours - refused. Having fll'St tried to mobilise the Bradford black community reduce wage costs. They began using to bribe and then threaten Liaquat Ali, to support the strike (and to stop the immigrant labour - at first from Eastern the prime mover behind unionisation, he scabs which were being shipped in by Europe - and investing in new machinery. was fmally sacked. The other workers management - both black and white). The new machinery had to be run contin­ downed tool in protest. When they came However on a demonstration in support uously to be profitable. The rattern of an to work the next day they found they of the strikers only 500 turned up - 8 hour day and short evening shift, was had all been sacked. much less than the Bradford 12 demos. replaced by 24 hour working - a 12 hour or split day shift and a 12 hour night A 24 hour picket began. The fmn recruited The other group in Leeds seemed more shift. Traditionally women had been scab labour by sending a man round dominated by RCP activists· although not employed jobs. It was Bradford knocking on doors aking people totally -some health workers were invol­ illegal to nights and most if they wanted work. They were driven in ved in this. This group wanted: to mobilise the long hours and through the picket by management. rank & me union support. full Attempts were made to intimidate the strikers including a campaign of anony­ mous phone calls. gap, and immigr­ the early sixties, esp. The TGWU made it official and then left to take up this available the strikers to it. The strikers organised blacking and attempted to Asian community to !W''a"'""' ..E· The tment of scabs. claiming they TGWU their workforce's of the were not ·encouraging them. The court did not levy any fmes and simply instructed the stewards not to 'their' workers to black the The sent to us by the Group. The did all vote to return and accept·. the deal and when we met them they seemed very happy with the result. Whether this extends to liaquat Malik ·and Salim an is. a They have is about rise in COIH111:1011 alities. However 'settlement' has been which 10 years ago another 'Grunwicks' but more than show the poverty of both ·'union' and 'community' politics as they new technology meant traditionally manifest themselves. losses (in Wool textiles from in 1970 to 37,000 in 1980) and The 'once great' TGWU was reduced to increased exploitation. The picture paint­ bargaining for the crumbs from the table ed by management is of an industry in of a tin-pot racist management of a One .thmg crisis - in fact the immense increase in backward sweatshop. later that output per head has meant that despite out and that they could have fought a closures and job losses, the level of When we turned up after the strike had stronger fight from inside the mill where production in the industry has remained been going a few weeks there were no no scabs could have got in. constant. official T.U. strike notices- Quote of the SAB The unions (GMBU and TGWU) are year 'TGWU doesn't have any official uninterested in this outpost of their picket noticesin the region' : Peter Booth. labour empires. They havent bothered An article in the March 83 issue of Race to pretend to be interested in their The strikers launched a 24 hours 7 day Today gives the background to this strike. women or Asian members. The result picket huddled in a tin shack donated by Asian immigration to the area began in the has been a series of struggles like that the TGWU. This exposed them to fascist late fifties. Textiles were then the largest at Aire Valley which ;1ave been consi­ and/or management attacks including one industry (1/3 of employment locally). stently sold out by the union. Among striker being beaten. (On being told the Neither ·machines nor conditions had Asian workers the consequent disen­ police said 'Prove It'). Northern Commu­ changed much in 100 years. However chantment with the union, seen as an nications Collective towed our caravan employers faced intense overseas compet­ arm of management, ha5 '~d to talk of (preViously used by the water workers) ition. The attraction of textiles to small organising indeper dently Only time to support their picket and it became an capitalists was the relatively low levels of will show what they mean by this and established feature of the strike. capital needed to start up. The same con- what becomes of it. loyal and preferentially treated and paid workers are generally rabidly pro-boss NASTY BRUTAL and company.) Recruitment in firms up to a certain size is normally 'internal'. Companies start up with the boss hiring old friends, friends of AND SMALL friends, his relatives and so ·on. Most of these people will be a dead loss from the Another commentary on a strike a long way away by someone with no direct point of view of worker solidarity - involvement with it ? being effectively what would be middle management in a larger firm, and often I believe the Aire Valley Strike demands some comment becanse its a classic example becoming same. The first actual 'workers' of the problems of workers organisation in small companies. Small fmns come in all ~-as distinct from management will be sizes and the situation facing workers in them is always to some extent unique. But people hired· as assistants to this 'core' from the workers point of view they can be roughly divided into two kinds. Very small of management. \Again these people are 'paternalist' businesses (typically employing.fewer than 20 people), in ~hich relations more likely to be recruited from people between owner/manager and workers are direct. And small to medium sized firms in recommended by existing employees than which clear divisions between departments (office/factory/warehouse/transport etc) from the dole office or by advertising. are established, and a hierarchy of middle management (forepersons/department heads) Bosses like to think of these new recruits oversee the workers and mediate between them and 'the owner/manager. as part of the family. Its with the growth in company size to the level of seperate In small paternalist firms relations with departments that deliberate recruitment the boss are direct ~ people are oblige~ of a distinct 'workforce' will take place. to have a personal relationship with him. Its now that departments will be expand­ Wage rises and promotion (or more exact­ ed around recruitment from particular ly increased responsibility) depend on strata of 'cheap labour', depending on dealing with him on an individual basis. · whats available locally. It involves competition· with your fellow wage-labourers. Those competing hardest In the boom years after the last world grass up their rivals and everyone else to war pools of cheap labour were built up the boss.· Loyalty between workers may through immigration, while women and exist,· but it is often only as strong as youth were being exploited on a hitherto loyalty to the boss who is 'almost cme of unknown scal.e. The advantage of using us'. ·The degree of responsibilty in eacll COREBLIMEY such pools of 'reserve' labour is not only job is much higher than. in large'r flrins, its cheapness ~its also ·the possibility of because · the division of labour is less. · All this in the hope that some incident exploiting the inevitable divisions between People thus tend to be mu~h more will arise (or more usually some change in se~, age and race. This was particularly 'involved in their jobs' ~ are usually oblig­ the company will take place), which will important where these ·'reserves' were e4 to be in order to hold them dowfl. The catalyse this latent solidarity into a coil· used in the process of breaking up and divisions between 'workers' or 'manage­ ective struggle, and hopefully a more reorganising established industries, ·as ment' and who's on what side are difficult collective unity afterwards. Hopefully is Asian and Female labour was used in the to see· or determine. Fellow workers will the key word. Agitating in a small firm is Wool Textiles industry. often be relatives or friends of the boss - a dodgy business ~ 'success' can ohly evel or as at Aire Valley will share a common be a matter of hope rather than expecta-, Today of course labour needs are totally nationality with him as opposed to the tion, and equally a matter of many reversed. Mass unemployment has swollen workforce. months, even years. The problem is alway~; the numbers of the 'reserve army' of that the company is liable to change~ available cheap labour. Offering one This sitliation presents difficulties for the faster than the growth of unity in the might think, immense possibilities of aspiring militant. Collective discussion is workforce. exploitation for sweat shop proprietors. usually hampered by the impossibility of However the same economic climate thats communication out of earshot of the boss • Small firms like this essentially consist of produced mass unemployment has sharp­ or his toadies. Perks, dodges and fiddles a 'core' of wage labourers closely tied to ened the competitive pressures on small have to be worked on an individual basis the boss - a community already establis­ businesses as well. Hence the state inter­ and hidden not only from the boss but hed in relation to him, with little space vention by the Tory government to red-. the other workers.(Part ofthe.patemalist for any 'autonomy' from him. Aire uce wage costs by establishing a supply of bosses power derives from 'allowing' Valley Textiles by contrast)s ailexample cheap youth labour, and by' reducing fiddling). The development of unity of the other sort of small firm I defined unemployment and suppleme~tary amongst the workers is a· slow process of · above. Why dwell so long on this first benefit - putting on pressure to reduce building and testing interpersonal solidar­ sort you might ask? Because the problems low pay. The end result is supei-~exploitat­ ity at a friendship level, and trying by all faced by militants in the second kind are ion as industries are forced to restructure · means possible to stoke the natural very similar - what has changed are the and still greater numbl)rs of job losses. antagonisms between boss and. workfotce possibilities offered by the sittmtion. As companies expand· or are merged into concrete divisions. Without getting · together (though not so much where sacked. Its absolutely not a matter of The 'core' group about the boss doesn't companies are merged into a group but winning pe·ople to 'revolutionary' posit· di~appear in larger firms. It merely forms maintained as seperate·firms) the possibil- ions. -Indeed it will normally involve a. th() top layer of the hierarchy. When a ities for workers unity and struggle mult- conscious choice between building relat­ firm grows in size those who were there iply dramatically. Where a section of the ions of trust or discussing 'politics'. I will at the start become the first department workforce has been employed (usually return to this later. heads (and those that donit often- const- , around a particular process), in the way itute a proble~ .on the shopfloor. Olfl, ! the Asian workers are at Aire Valley the whole idea is that they are paid less utionary' hot air as most of our rivals do). personal collectivity or arguing about and treated worse than everyone else - politics. ·Both are obviously necessary an obvious source of grievence. However Inside large industries its the degree of - but often enough they are contradict­ the isolation created by their seperation relative job protection provided by formal ory needs. I am also saying that neither as a particular department or shift increa­ negotiating and grievence structures which can be done outside the workplace coll­ ses the possibility of unity developing. allows the growth of rank and me groups/ ectivity. Of course people can choose to This can be helped by a common sex or isolate themselves politically and argue racial background. To start off with this for 'pure communism' if they want, just is usually a solidarity of the oppressed - as they can isolate themselves by becoming a defensive response to common treatm­ devotees of 'conspicuous militancy' and ent. But it can build into something more attempt to 'lead' their fellow workers especially in small firms where the sophis­ into Struggle (or into bringing in The tications of personnel management are Union). In the latter case they make it lacking. As often as not middle managem­ easy for management to pick them off (or ent will create immense problems for buy them off). In the former they make themselves through incompetence comp­ it easy for their fellow workers to discount ounded by racism, sexism and general what they say, and for themselves to keep unpleasantness. The possibility for comm­ clean hands in the "reformist mire" of unication out of earshot of middle mana­ defensive struggles. gement increases as departments become. well seperated in terms of function and It is often said despairingly by leftists, geography. It can equ!lliy develop in confronted by struggles like that at Aire those · situations where a language or Valley, that the "unions have forgotten patois is shared in common as distinct how to organise or struggle". Of course from management. That said in the factory groups organised around a polit­ these struggles actually reveal most clearly context of Asian workers obviously not ical platform/even party cells. Whether the anti-working class ·nature of trades all Asians speak the same langua~e or these are loyal oppositions to unionism ; unionism~ But even revolutionaries, busy share the same cultural background. or 'anti-union' they exist in the space setting up autonomous groups in big opened by the existence of unionism; industry, will shrug their shoulders and Its equally .important to avoid the idea and <:an concentrate on being a militant agree that its an impossible sitiiation for that its always a question of white bosses 'political' opposition to the official organising. I believe that such arguments stand the priorities for revolutionaries exploiting coloured or black labour; In negotiations over wages and conditions. today on their head. Because they presup­ the rag trade there a large numbers of sweatshops owned or managed by people POLITICAL CELffiACY pose a level of class ·consciousness,· of class ·community and solidarity which from one national or racial group, exploi­ does not exist. For soine 'revolutionaries' ting their relatives, and co-nationals as the In most small buinesses by contrast this 'core' group, and then exploiting other space for 'political' militancy doesn't this is no problem. The crisis will reduce us to the same intensity of exploitation racial or sexual groups as the workforce. exist. ·As I said above where the isolated militant decides to openly proselytise and our 'spontaneous' response will be to his 'revolutionary' views he usually does throw up autonomous fighting institut­ so at the expense of ·isolating himself as ions ~Workers Councils. This ignores the WHY BOTHER? at best a standing joke and at worst an obvious fact that where Councils have active nuisance. I am not suggesting for been set up by workers themselves (as So what does this all mean and why am I a moment that people abandon their opposed to by politicos (1917) or 'anti­ writing it ? A large and expanding sector political views about the need to destroy politicos' (1936), it has been on the basis of the working class are employed in capitalism in favour of militant sectional of existing working class community and small to medium size businesses without self interest. · I am saying that political solidarity. Community clearly doesn't unions and often without any negotiating discussion can't be forced on people but presuppose solidarity, but it is its necessary machinery whatever. Ih such firms the should arise out of whats being commonly precondition. first priority of workers is self defence discussed. And more importantly that against exploitation. The task of militants militants have to decide for themselves COMMUNITY SERVICE and 'revolutionaries' ~ almost invariably the question of what is more important isolated individuals - is to help generate in any given situation - building inter- In Britain since the last world war we shop floor solidarity and increase the divisions between shop-floor and bosses.

But whats this got to do with revolution ? Hard core 'revolutionaries' will doubtless .l.OVt tT. alread.y be dismissing the above as mind· less economism, mere demand militancy or somesuch. 'Revolutionary' papers like Workers Playtime normally concentrate on struggles in large unionised industries. (The 'Key' sectors of 'The Class'). Its comparatively easy· to cobble together accounts of strikes in them by assiduously reading lots of newspapers and then draw­ ing political conclusions from a distance. (Though to be· fair to Workers Playtime it still takes more effort than fleshing out a· single press clipping with a lot of 'revol- 7 have seen the diSintigration of the 'old' rebuild. collectivity and unity in the face 'Key Sectors' ~ (as all the various con­ working class communities ~ through of management. ceptions of 'Workers Autonomy' do) - the restructuring of industry, through or which see class ·consciousness and 'urban planning' which has destroyed Within small firms that goes hand in hand solidarity as ·something which the working class communities and cultural with the need for everyday self-defence. developing contradictions of capitalism 1ties, and through the relative prosperity Even if the· unions were fighting, anti­ will 'spontaneously' solve for us. Of produced during the post war boom. The capitalist bodies they would be impotent course its true that capitalism: as a· crisis period has seen the .destruction of many where there was no collective strength on ridden system suffers from periodic of those ties of mutual dependency which the shopfloor. In reality of course their breakdowns, offering an opportunity those working class communities. Capital­ power is rooted in our impotence. for class ·struggle against the system isms tendencies towards a society of itself. But its equally true that if that atomized individuals -Citizens, Workers, sitliation finds the majority of the Consumers ~ has proceeded apace as- the What does a new working <;.lass community VJOrking class · atomized, divided and space for 'individual realisation' has mean ? After all we can have no truck for confused, then all the courage, militancy grown. Wider communities of dependency peddlars of socialist nostalgia with their and radicalisation they'll undoubtedly crumbled in face of the rise of the nuclear lies about how wonderful it used to be. display will not prevent capitalist family as an independent economic unit, A subject for further debate in these pages barbarism re-establishing itself over our and now we see· the 'crisis of the family' I'd humbly suggest. (Yeah all right I'm dead bodies. • as jobs for women and youth give them not really sure either.) the potential for economic 'autonomy' enjoyed by many men. I'll leave off with a couple of conclusions :

The primary task · of a revolutionary We must get away from the idea movement in this situation is not fighting that isolated individuals in unorganised to build up power bases in the 'Key Sect­ workplaces can only participate in the ors' of society - even where its genuinely 'real' class ·struggle at second hand by 'autonomous groupings' as opposed to joining political groupings, or acting as people getting themselves elected as back-up to workers in the 'Key Sectors'. stewards. For militants in those sectors Where you are - however 'unpromising' this is obviously one task. But the basic or 'difficult' - is where . the fight is, task · of revolutionaries everywhere is where the basic ·struggle starts. · helping to rebuild class community and solidarity in the face of its obvious deco­ We must get away from concept­ mposition. In workplaces of whatever size ions of the struggle which start off from that means doing the basic work of helping the construction of 'Power Bases? in It's a Fare Cop!

Well before the final election results had There is also ·much concern about fare­ for a while. As DL Keith Bright, LT come in Ken Livingstone suggested that dodging, which is reckoned to cost ab­ chairman, puts it, "We now believe that the reason for Labour's disastrous show­ out £40m a year. Hence plans t<:> employ the problem of fraud, and the public ing was that the party had failed tQ put more inspectors. J)oes this mean the end visibility of fraud, is 0f such a dimension forward policies which were · fmancially of the 30 pence Amersham to Brixton that we must ·spend money. initially realistic given the depth of the recess­ journey as we know it? Unlikely, at least without a gu~antee of an immediate ret­ ion. Modest as always, he neglected to urn". mention that he and his GLC cronies were already perfecting moves in this A GLC policy document sums it- all up by direction. saying: "Walking remains one of the most popular methods of transport in London and no doubt will continue to be. so'1• At the beginning of this year the High Court ruled that the recent fare reduc­ However, we must remember that these tions could only be brought in as part policies are not simply 'realistic', but of a general 'efficiency' drive. Not wish-· also ·'socialist': The Londoners who get ing to trample on the rights of ordinary the best value for money from the new working London judges Ken complied. travel cards are those who live in the two central zones which include most of the This efficiency will take the form of a boroughs which are still under Labour 10% cut in staff over three years tog­ control. ether with substantial cuts in 'bus miles' and increased one-person operation of As Ken recently stated in an interview in buses and tube trains. This will inevitably City Urnits (1/7/83), the appeal of Lab­ involve a greater pressure of work for LT our Party politics (in London at, any rate) staff who are left, which will lead to inc- . EVER WANTED TO DRNE THE is no longer to the white, skilled working reased sickness and absenteeism meaning PUBLIC ? OUR KEN EARNS A class but to the 'dispossessed', many of yet more delays f<:>r passengers. GOOD LNING ON THE BOSSES. whom live in Westminster. R • is challenging the criteria for production, workers'co-op at GEC's Associated Aut­ or offering as you suggest 'advantages' omation plant has already, according to to the workers- then ..~ should be supp­ Socialist Worker (2 July) folded up am­ orted. Similarly, if local authorities are idst much demoralisation and discont.ent. prepared to fmance such initiatives then Similarly the decentralisation schemes of in. this respect they too shoulrl be supp­ the London boroughs of Islington and Letter orted. Hackney have been criticised by the paper Big Flame (April/May issue) on Clearly co-ops are open to being 'co­ the basis · that they are being imposeci REPLY 10 'YOUR CARING opted' into the type of progressive from above without genuine support or· SHARING COP-OUT' in June W.P. mixed economy package that left ref­ interest from the 'community. ormists· dress up as socialism· but this is not always going to be the case. Evetl' It is specific and detailed ·reports like At a time when the Labour Party's in a recession such as this the extent and these ·that we need in order to assess 'left' credibility rests largely on the the unevenness of Capitalist economy the role that particular co-ops, local auth­ claims to 'local socialism' of vari· allows for developments that are not nec­ orities, or alternative plans might play. ous local or metropolitan author­ essarily revolutionary, but which are not · It is simply not the case thatthey are all, ities, your article on co-ops and lo­ directly serving the interests of capital . always, necessarily the friendly face ·of cal authority initiatives in 'popular either. Finally we should consider the capitalism out to lull the workers into planning' provides a welcome and possibility that alternative plans, imple­ side stepping the class struggle. necessary critical analysis. mented on a wide scale would place in­ creased pressure on capitalism's already The analysis in Workers'Playtime is inip· You are however quite wrong in declining rate of profit. If not why was ressive - but in this case it has provided your assessment of the Lucas Shop Mike Cooley saCked from Lucas? a uniform stamp by which all manner Stewards' Corporate Plan. Far of initiatives have been condemned with­ from being simply a request for the Returning to the Labour local authorities out being fully considered. state to provide funding and soften - of course ·they do not adopt a revol­ 'the demands of profitability on utionary. communist perspective and can ANDY PORTER Brighton. Lucas', it was a demand that Lucas be criticised on this basis·~ but beyond shift its production from anna· that the various reforms that are curre­ ments to goods which would meet ntly being implemented should be crit­ Reply: indisputable social needs in any in­ ically analysed for their content and eff­ dustrial soeiety (e.g. kidney mach­ ect and not dismissed out of hand. If ines, heat pumps, fire fighting for example the GLC is fronting the equipment etc.). money for co-ops providing 'street thea­ Thankyou for your letter. tre, organic food,' and cheap printing fac­ This shift in production would ilities and if the GLC is attempting to In response, let me say I agree co-ops may have required an initial input of 'step in where the more grotesque and ob­ indeed be engaged in anti-capiMist act­ state capital and clearly it would vious injustices arise' can we really con­ ivity. It is the form which {for example) not have fundamentally altered the clude that this serves to 'safeguard revolutionary printing presses· fmd most relations of production inside or capitalism1s existence as a whole'? So appropriate. outside Lucas. Yes - it was a re­ much depends on the exact details of form. Th question arises as to whe­ each initiative that blanket condemnat­ Alternatively, working conditions may be ther or not some reforms are worth ion ends up simply as ideological rhet­ better in some co-ops than in 'ortho­ fighting for. True, 'communism is oric. dox' set•ups {although this is often at the the destruction of wage labour and expense of lower wages). As far as this the commodity, of production for There1s plenty to criticise the GLC for, goes, it is true you can't generalise - exchange, and of the state, demo­ however. For example, the newly formed certainly individual case stuwes might be .cratic or dictatorial..' The quest­ useful . ion is how does such a communism becomean immediate possibility? But this is not the issue I was immediate­ ly concerned with. I was attacking the It is nonsense ·to suggest that all notion that co-operatives, or other more capitalist commodities or all tasks democratic management and ownerShip within the hbour process are structures are inherently anti-capitalist equally 'useless and wasteful' - as institutions. If they exist to compete clearly they are not. If workers are as commercial concerns, the worker~ demanding that they produce kid­ managers will be obliged to respond to ney machines instead of high tech­ market forces in the same way as man­ nology weaponry then revolution­ agers in 'normal' flrms. This is why, after aries should be supporting these .. an initial enthusiasm, workers in co-ops demands and not dismissing them ·often end up :very cynical - as exemplif­ as irrelevant. ied by GEC and the Unicorn factory in Taunton. The same approach should be applied to workers' co-ops. · If workers are simply Beyond this, it is the content of an taking over unprofitable plants and cont­ organisation's activity which determines inuing to market the same product w:~h­ whether or not it is anti-capitalist, ·rather out guaranteed state support, then n than its institutional expression. :s: "It's a socially useful device for a recipe for both redundancy and demor­ use on the man(tgement" alisation. If however a workers' co-op Continued Page Nineteen. 9 PlaytiJne. Travel: FRANCE ONCE AGAIN WE'RE FACING THE MOST IMPORTANT DATE IN ANY REVOLUTIONARY'S CALENDl\.R. THE ANNUAL HOLIDAYS. TWO WEEKS - EVEN A MONTH - WITHOUT BORING MEETINGS ONCE A WEEK, NO GUILT ABOUT NOT -HAVING SOLD THE PAPER, LOVELY STUFF. FRANCE IS ALWAYS A POPULAR DESTINATION WITH RADICALS. TORY-VOTING EX-STALINISTS CAN RECALL THE POPULAR FRONT, LABOUR-VOTING EX-MAOISTS CAN RECALL MAY '68, AND BROKEN-WINDED EX-AUTONOMES CAN RECALL THE HOT SUMMER OF 1978. BUT FOR THOSE WHO CAN'T ESCAPE THOSE NAGGING DOUBTS ABOUT NOT UNDERSTANDING THE POLITICAL SCENE TODAY, WE PRESENT PLAYTIME'S FIRST HOLIDAY SUPPLEMENT. NEXT MONTH THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT IN FLORIDA......

The Rigours of High Office

British Socialists upset by ·the triumph of debt has jeopardised the governments This entailed curbs in public spending, a Thatcherite reaction in the General Elec­ declared aim of rationalising big industry continuation of the wage freeze, increased tion may take comfort. Across the chan~ without redundancies. (This in spite of tax and national insurance and a currency nel the red flag is flying and can be a the fact that the socialists nationalised 36 limit of £188 per year for anyone travell­ source of inspiration to all devotees of commercial banks). French borrowing on ing abroad. Together with the third the parliamentary road ! international money markets has doubled devaluation of the Franc in 18 months, since 1981 to 14.6 m dollars. In 1982 this amounts to a much greater attack on When Francois Mitterand defeated V. France borrowed more from international spending power than anything under the Giscard d'Estaing in the presidential banks than any other industrial nation government of Giscard and Raymond election in May 1981, twenty three years apart from the USA. Barre. of right wing power was brotlght to an PARIS-ITES end. The socialists subsequently gained an The heavy burden of servicing the interest absolute majority in parliament, but on these debts - the annual cost is 3000 Mitterand honoured electoral pacts and francs (£250) per household - and The government again followed up the has governed in coalition with the Comm­ restoring profitability to French capital publication of May's trade figures - a unist Party and the small Movement of has meant that the modestly reflationary deficit of 7.7 billion francs (£650m) - Left Radicals. programme of 1981 has given way to a with the announcement that a further series 0f austerity packages. The latest dose · of austerity was on the way. Since then the few measures apparently round was introduced in the Spring Mitterand warned of rises in transport, beneficial to workers (39 hour week, fifth following publication of the disastrous postal, telephone and electricity charges week of paid holiday, retirement at 60) trade figures and evidence of a continuing - "public services will have to pay their have either been emptied of any content upward trend in inflation (currently way". Government spending is to be cut by a stricter control of work schedules, 11.9%). back about 5% in real terms over the next and unemployment (currently 10.2% but year, and civil service recruitment halted. set· to rise sharply), or else have been (The government took on an extra counterbalanced by increased inflation, 200,000 staff in its first 18 months in taxes and national insurance. office).

The socialists ·ambition has been to fulfill Further levies on tax and social insurance the old Gaullist dream of creating power­ - already averaging 42.7% of incomes - ful French or French-dominated comp­ were proposed a week later. This entails anies capable of beating off the Americans a compulsory loan from taxpayers, and Japanese. This is to be achieved equivalent to 10% of taxes on income and through nationalisations and state-inter­ wealth, and a levy of 10% of taxable vention to help buy- ups and merge income. competitors. · The aim is to produce nationalised corporations, cutting out the If these · measures sound depressingly waste of competition on a national level. familiar to English ears, the rhetoric and This "socialist experiment" is being presentation is rather different. True, assisted by a growing protectionism Mitterand is posing as a hard realist a la (exemplified by the famous Poitiers Thatcher. In recent interviews he has customs house,.the only permitted point emphasised that .he has always been a of entry for imported video recorders. man of "rigour" .(the French left's The resulting bottleneck keeps imports euphemism for austerity). "I knew down without the political consequences reflation would not work," he has said, of "official" import controls). "But I was elected for that kind of policy : Jean-Pierre Chevenement : hands up for the people wanted me. to apply it. The ~But the inability of France's :financial austerity. -French are stubborn. They have to see for ·. institutions to finance growing company themselves that a thing cannot work". 10 FRANCE

F;lsewhere, others are blamed for standing (in contrast to the idle rich). This was · patriot is no contradiction for Chevenem­ in the way of Monsieur le President's echoed ·by President Mitterand's TV chats ent. "Since there isn't a European Patriot­ great vision~ "Right from the Spring of following· the May disturbances. He ism·we have to use the one we know: it's 1982 I wanted rigour. But the Germans praised the working class's ·restraint by the natural way to get people mobilised".' were not ready. And everyone, economists contrast · to the impatience of more (Guardian 23rd June). journalists· and the advisers, were saying priviliged social strata. growth was coming back .... I lacked the The unions have been the most active in basic· information to tell them they were Secondly; the French left is promoting ·:-mobilising people to "save the nation". wrong." (Reported in the Guardian, 12th the ''lack of investment" theory in this The CFDT, the socialist-led confederation, July). and many other .statements. This says has stood faithfully by the government, that the recession is caused by the but reminding it that it· will only succeed CHEVVY WANTS A LEVY decadent boss class gambling its profits if it wins the adherence of workers at the on property and stock-market speculation grassroots. It demands a more self-manag­ But "rigour" is now being pushed as mstead of spending it wisely in factories. ed austerity. Its general secretary, Edmond something progressive and salutory in Maire, welcomes '~the new solidarity" of itself far more than in Britain, where a . nation in times of adversity. The CP­ call for a return to the good old austerity is presented as an unavoidable This controlled CGT, the union of "class but necessary evil. Jean Pierre Chevenem­ 'bourgeois values is meant to obscure the struggle", never ceases· in its ealls to . fact that industrial investment falls ent, leader of the socialist left, speaks of struggle .... for better management. It is a ·~e~d · project to . break ,£?Ut of deca ence." His

Chevenement and the Communist Party are using the old left rhetoric about the "unpatriotic rich", starving the country of the money needed for. investment. Andre lajoinie, the parliamentary leader of the Communist Party, says of tax exemptions from stock exchange earnings: · "These · are bad psychologically and politically. People are asked to accept' sacrifices and they see priviliged people virtually untaxed. Besides we need the extra money to pay for industrial · investment". precisely when industrial profits are low trying to organise workers to keep an eye This demagogy is calculated. The true - if profits were high enough industry · on managers, ensuring that they invest psychological intent of such attacks on would automatically attract more funds. wisely and don't buy too many foreign the rich is to make workers feel superior It is capitalism's difficulties that causes goods. to the morally depraved bourgeoisie : investment to fall, because profit expect­ they are more prepared to make sacrifices, ation is low, not vice-versa. During a THE LEFT IS GAUCHE more dedicated to the National Economy. recession is is only by 'rationalising' - There is dignity in their labour and their merging firms, developing plant special­ poverty. isation, .automating production - that The currently popular chauvinism is capitalism· ' can return to profitability. indeed best illustrated by the absurdities of the Communist Party's "let's produce OWN GAULLE So the extra investment the French Communist Party calls for will only lead and consume French" campaign. Recently to redundancies for some and more CGT officials at the gas and electricity The political intent is to make people intense work for others. company EDF requested that management demand equality of sacrifice (as if there stop buying"'tyres with American trade­ could be such a thing under capitalism) The belief that the national economy can marks, and start "buying French". "This rather than question austerity itself. All be managed for the benefit of all French­ will provide work for our workers", they of this amounts to workerism· - the men and women naturally implies national declared, "this is the solution to unempl­ glorification of the social ·condition of chauvinism~ The French left exploits crude oyment". But to the unionists embarass­ the proletariat as itexists under capitalism anti-americanism and economic 'depend­ . ment, it was later discovered that the The left is particularly adept at claiming ence theories to the same end as the "American" brand was manufactured in :for the proletariat the positive role of Gaullists; and frequently even the rhetm}c France, whilst the "French" brand had defending values and regenerating society is identical. 'Being. a socialist and a fiery been produced .....ih Belgium. 11 FRANCE

In Britain, the Labour left also advocates import controls. The old lie that trade causes· unemployment used to be a prop­ aganda weapon of the right wing (imperial preference etc. in the 1930's). Some industries may not be able to match the degree or intensity of the exploitation of labour by their foreign competitors. But tariff barriers and tough import regulat­ ions only serve to intensify competition. The point of the propaganda is to ensure workers understand that they have to participate in such competition-~ : they have to produce more goods more cheaply than "foreign" workers.

THE LEFT IS SINISTER

It is only a short step to take from attacking foreign workers abroad to The Talbot plant at Poissy : Unions blame 'mistakes by management' for job losses. attacking foreign workers at home. The racism of the French Communist Party was confirmed in spectacular fashion by fact that, in spite of the government's Fabius in the industry ministry last March the Vitry-sur-Seine atrocity. (At the end professed liberalism, it has cut immigration means that the claptrap about socialist of 1980 the communist mayor of Vitry­ to a trickle and cracked down on illegal rejuvenation will be translated into job sur·Seine and his accomplices attacked a immigrants who failed to register during losses sooner rather than later. Already new immigrant hostel under the pretext an amnesty last year. massive job losses· have been announced of combatting 'drug abuse',) CP calls for (9,000 at Peugot, and perhaps 4,000 to stronger immigration control are a President Mitterand has recently claimed follow at Citroen) at France's largest cynical attempt to regain lost ground that there is "no parallel between French privately owned firm PSA. The nation­ within the working class, mainly at the policy and that of its economic partners. alised metallurgical group Pechiney will expense of the 1.4 million north Africans. Employment, for example, remains a shed about 2,500 jobs by the end of the priority here". It is true that the rate of year. At the same time, its trade union the unemployment in France is still well CGT has had the cheek to proclaim below most industrial nations. But Because the French left had been out of great victories in "organising" immigrant austerity measures are only just begin­ power for a quarter of a century, many workers in the car industry, where they ning to bite and are becoming more British socialists believed that the new contribute a large proportion of the semi­ urgent as France's debts accumulate. It Mitterand government could be a beacon and unskilled workforce(%. of the workers seems likely that France will call in the of light amid the monetarist forces of at the Paris Talbot-Citroen plant). International Monetary Fund to convince darkness. But events are showing that the people of the need for more sacrifice, just rotting corpse of leftism gives off the same as the Labour Party did in 1976. The putrid stench in France as here. • SHAT-EAU TALBOT replacement of Chevenement by Laurent

These workers tend not to share the same enthusiasm for blue white and red capital ~------as their union bosses. Immigrant workers were in the forefront of last winter's Subversion strikes, when entire plants at Peugot SA from L'Eveil Internationaliste and Renault were brought to a standstill. BP 221, The unions manouvred with the manage­ 44604 St Nazaire. ment to get the more combative workers laid off or brought before tribunals, where La Banquise, union representatives denounced militant BP No214 actions : ·"Such doings lead those respon­ 75623 Paris Cedex 13. sible to be excluded from the community If you're the sort of person who can read of work" (CFDT). "We have proved once a whole issue of Workers Playtime, you'll Insecurite Sociale more that we are not responsible for the robably spend your holiday with your BP243 violence. The baileffs have confmned that ose in a book anyway. Here are some of 75564 Paris Cedex 12 we have returned to work, which is what the more interesting of the current crop we always wanted." (CGT). Prime Minister of French Autonomist/Communist pub­ Guerre Sociale Mauroy went further by publically lications. (If you're worried about wasting BP88 blaming the strikes on "moslem fanatics". stamps they're all currently publishing). 75623 Paris Cedex 13 We've been forced to omit some due to The recent scandals over West Indian day­ space and/or lack of addresses. Beware - trippers to France have highlighted the fluent french s eakin dialecticians only ! 12 FRANCE

THE RIOTS IN 'FRANCE THIS SPRING PROVIDED SOME SPECTACULAR T.V SCENES FOR THOSE OF US WHO HAVE BOUGHT VIDEO RECORDERS TO RECORD THE REVOLUTION. BUT THE ORIGINS AND PURPOSE OF THEM REMAINED WELL OBSCURED. WE ASKED A COMRADE FROM 'ECHANGES' TO EXPLAIN THE BACKGROUN.IJ. The Oldest Professions

Strike Back MAY'83 THEFORCEBEWITHffiEM

Looking at France from abroad during the Spring of 1983, you could be excused for fortnight, and, at the same time, a gen­ thinking that it was a very disturbed country on the verge of chaos - living a kind of eral strike all over France: nothing that replay of May 1968. happened in May 1983 even bears com­ parison. Nevertheless, despite their variety and From the 22 March until the 24 May, right wing professionals, leftist 'modern' very real divisions, all the events of May special medical training hospitals (about ·students, and neutral ones. All these de­ 1983 had something in common; and also half of all French hospitals) were on mos suddenly disappeared because the something in common with the student strike. At frrst this involved just the students had their exams to think about, actions in May 1968. All those involved teachers (a dynasty of big bosses) {1), followed by four months' holidays. in the events of May 1983 were middle later the medical students, and finally class {or young, aspirant middle class) everyone at these centres. ALL PEASANT AND fighting-to retain their privileges, rough­ CORRECT. ly speaking, fighting to avoid proletar­ Their strike was by no means passive: ianization. This was also one of the caus­ street demonstrations, blocking motor­ es of the student struggle in 1968 ( 4), way toll houses, sit-ins at the Health {)uring the same month of May, peasants, Ministry, disruption of official cele- · mainly from Brittany and the south of brations etc. all took place. They were France, angry about the price of farm It is difficult to understand the political fighting a law passed some months earlier produce and foreign competition, went background in France without first con­ aimed at reducing the power of the top on typically violent demonstrations ( att­ sidering the traditional importance of the men and squeezing the total number of · 1 acking public buildings, blocking roads middle class, ·the old professional classes; doctors in France.(which was supposed to ! and railways, destroying imported prod­ the small peasants, the shopkeepers and jump from 60,000 in 1970 to 150,000 in uce), to put pressure on the EEC debates small businessmen on the one hand, and 1990). for better prices. Shopkeepers, crafts­ the new middle classes·- the middle man­ men, small building contractors and ind­ agement - on the other.( 5), From the end of April until the beginning ependent road hauliers led similar pro­ of June, students all over France adopted tests·against taxes. Right wing policemen For a long time the rather weak bourg­ the same sort of tactics to oppose a law (2} also had a very confusing demo after eoisie ·in France had to get the support of already fought over in parliament which two cops were shot dead by gangsters at these classes; both to crush ·the workers aimed at a profound reform of the point blank. The icing on the cake was French university system, adapting it to the night of 22-23 May, when hard-core capital's present economic needs. The Corsican autonomists answered the Soc­ day to day life of Paris and other ialist moves towards devolution with 50 university towns was disrupted by bomb attacks. frequent demonstrations, often accomp­ anied by commando-style actions. These In Britain these events were used during mainly involved young medical and law the election campaign to paint a picture students but the biggest demonstrations of France in chaos as a result of social­ involved no more than 15,000 people ist misrule (3). But such a propaganda (and there are more than 600,000 stud­ stunt is easy when you are dealing with a ents in France); most ended in sporadic countcy,in which violent street confront­ violence carried out by small groups - ations and small riots are commonplace. handfuls of people, often not students, In France, it is part of tradition to fight harassing the police and obstructing the the· cops, attack public buildings and streets with light barricades. block the streets ~ nobody considers it a big threat to the government. Even small leftist groups can mobilize a few thous­ This opp.osition was apparently far from and demonstrators in an unauthorized united: but political divisions masked a demo at a marginal event. In May 1968, common interest and common class orig· let us remember, demonstrations ·and ins and expectations. On some occasions riots brought several hundred thousands there were three distinct demonstrations: on to the streets of Paris every day for a FRANCE

medicine, dentistry and pharmacy, because their studies open the door to the most priveleged professienal classes( Due to their social position these classes· are amongst the most conservative in France - and the students are traditionally re­ cruited by extreme right wing-groups.

UNSOCIAL ELITE

As is the case ·everywhere, the French university system is very elitist: out of 1 ,000 working. class schoolchildren, 500 · have the ability to go to university, but only 24 · manage to do so,- and of these, only one -or two get the top degrees. We can see· a difference between 1968 and 1983 in the fact that whereas in 1968 a law was enacted under the pressure of events which introduced the 'new ideology' into the university, in 1983, student demonstrations, are against a law which is aimed at reforming the Peasants destroy imported Spanish farm produce at le Gard. ·university so that it works-more efficient­ ly for capital. All these people, both then and now, support 'the need for an elite'. and resist '1;he old- aristocratic orders dis­ close of a period of economic expansion The only difference is that the students rupting their political power. The money -and prosperity; this expansion, a kind of and politicians opposing the present law · coming from the middle classes· was very • americanisation of French sQciezy, was want to main~ain the. traditional recruit­ useful to this largely speculativ~ banking the work of a new right wing party be­ ment of this elite from amongst the top · bourgeoisie; and, together, they share a Jrind de Gaulle who also ·had gained the and middle classes~ whilst· the socialists· common greed (though operating· at diff­ support of the French Communist Party. want to promote a wider selection. As erent levels) for immediate and high non Reacting. to this political situation, the the Education Minister said, 'the democ- industrial profits, affording a network of student movement took on a leftist or­ .ratisation of education is the best way to mutual self protection. This situation ientation, with the emergence of the core allow the selection of highly qualified· was for more than 50 years at the core of of a new ideology more adapted to the managers which the country needs so industrial stagnation in France, yet para­ realities of the modern capitalist world. ·· badly.' So it is not at all a matter of doxically, when they felt a threat to their This fuvolved a profound critique of thr · 'democracy' or 'equality of opport­ priveleged position: they supported de consequences of this mOdem capitalism; unity', It is, in the first place, a matter Gaulle's 1958 coup d'etat- even though but not of its basis. ' Their critique of introducing greater capitalist effic­ de Gaulle's function was te work for their centred ·on what they characterised the iency into the university, for the better political and ecortomjc elimination.(6) · 'consumer society'. functioning of the capitalist system. The modernisation of French capitalism - increasing its international competit- . mE RIOT WING OF BARRE- ICADES iveness, involved the partial disappearanql ' CAPITAL. of this hyperdeveloped middle dass, who This is 1he main point behind all the absorbed an important part of the surplus turmoil of France in the spring of 1983: value from any new capital. · In 1983, the affluent society is dying in a It is evident that the 'opposition' (th~ deep economic crisis ·and capital is con­ conservative · ·parties · -_,_ ·centre-right and IS THERE A DOCTOR fronted with the absolute need to ration­ Gaullists) exploited this class antagonism· IN THE RIOT '! alise and modernise. This iinplies reduc­ in order to destabilise the socialist gov­ ing· the workers and the middle ·Classes; ernment. (We have to reme.mber that the which· has been the rollin task of the soc­ Fifth Republic was built up from a coup The student -movements of 1968 and ialist · govemm~nt. Nationalisation has: d'etat and also ·that the French political 1983, aimed at safeguarding the priveleged aimed at giving French capital the instru­ scene is a· long display of revolutionhnd access of middle Class young into profess­ ment for its transformation, by directing coups d·'etat, some successful, some ~ot.). ional and mid

On the contrary, they more or less pro­ NOTES: (5), In France the old middle classes· were voked it as a means of maintaining the · traditionally afforded a high degree of 'soobil peace' within the working class at (1), .The 'Conseil de l'Ordre' ..,... a very protection from the rigours ofthemarket. this .crucial stage of its austerity measur­ :~uthoritarian and right wing professional For example, before World War II it was es and rationalisation of production. The regulatory body governs all medical forbidden to build supermarkets. ·Polit­ display of traditionally reactionary classes activities including medical teaching, and icians of the Third Republic were wise to taking to the streets, student demonstrat­ is extremely jealous of its great powers. b(l-:attentive to 'les petits' - the peasants ions, and right wing extremists carrying and small craftsmen who still formed the out acts of violence allowed the social­ (2). There are serJeral different varieties of backbone of French society. The trans­ ists to call on workers not to Strike in filth in France, often in competition. formation which followed the War moved this · 'difficult period' and protect the The town police is under the control of at a slow pace - it is always difficult to gains .of the socialist government against the Minister of the Interior. The country reduce social str$ta which have been vital 'fascism? and a return of the Right to. police - the Gendarmerie - is a body to the state's suroival in the past. · Pou­ power. Again, though in a different way, drawn from the army, ultimately under jadisme, a .political movement centred on the middle classes· are still. helping the the control of the Minister of Defence, . shopkeepers and aiming at easier tax government to crush the workers. though very proud of its independence. evasion, represented an attempt by these The anti-riot CRS are drown from the classes· to dig in their heels against mod~ We can. also ·understand why the appar­ town police; whilst the Garde Repub­ emisation, ·but was absorbed by other ently common actions of ·students and licaine - a veritable elite of state thug­ right wing groups who were to lend supp­ workers in 1968 (whichwere in fact ntd­ gery - are drawn from the Gendarm­ ort to de Gaulle. Today, the new middle ically different and quite separate) cannot erie and are deployed when riots etc. classes· - industrial middle management, be repeated in 1983: because of the soc­ pose a real threat. public administrators, teachers etc. are ialist government and what it has to per­ also feeling the squeez~ of a new wave of form in the direct interest <:>f capital, With (3). .The Tories were especially fond of rationalisation. the support of the Unions. All this means . pointing to France as an example of the that workers' action will have to follow faUure of 'socialist' economics. (6). It was the threat to the 'pieds noirs' its own independent way out of the ideol­ ·.in Algeria which brought about, in 1958, ogy and class confusion of May 1968. On. (4) . .In 1968 most of the students in­ the last united· front of the old middle the other hand, though for similar. volved in the demonstrations canie from classes: (T!Je 'pieds noirs' were the white reasons any action by other classes· will the new middle classes: Their numbers colonial settlers.) · De Gaulle, through his be forceq to tread an independent path, had grown, partly as a· result of the post­ masterly silence during the crisis; man­ more in .conformity with their separate · war population boom, partly due to the aged to appeal to the fears of these strota identities. new affluence which was already on the without committing himself to any defin­ Wane. Job prospects were especially bad ite acts until vited powers of decree by for those · in the new faculties ~ the Assembly on 1 June. psychology etc. Many of the new intake ite acts until voted powers of decree by of students were frustrated at not being classes, ·(TIJe 'pieds no irs' were the white able to get ·a place at a prestigious Paris colonial settlers.) · De Gaulle, through his university - Nanterre, a. barren building masterly silence during the criSis,- man­ site on the outskirts, was a poor sub­ aged to appeal to the fears of these strota stitute for the Sorbonne. For all these without committing himself to any defin­ reasons, there was a· gradual build-up of i'te acts' until voted powers of decree b')l protest · against · their exclusion from ·the Assembly on 1 Juoo. • 'Society', . Which exploded in May 1968. NEW MEACHER OUTRAGE : I'M BENN-ING OVER BACKWARDS FOR SOCIALIST INTERNATIONALISM !

Anyone who happened to tread in Labour in the · sixties and seventies - and the ess)· ·stream of jolly serious analysis, a deputy leadership contestant Micheal Bennite analysis on them is that they rather different picture emerges - of a Meachers arguments that French inflation were effectively 'Social Democratic' devious left-speaking capitalist middle­ is better than British deflation, in the back Govts and opened the door to - thats manager. Our tip on the man most likely pa(ssa)ges of the Guardian, will be right, to . Thatcherism~ That he should to toss off the Labour party must be the wondering why Fleet St. are farting and_ defme Socialism as balancing the books Welsh bladder, with Hattersley as his squealing at the prospect of this Bennite is no surpljse. That he should be justifYing 'right-hand' man. While the Labour party Beast occupying a wholly symbolic post. 'Social Democratic' policies as SocialiSIJl is Neil-ing we can only feel taller. I Quote : the problem with Thatcherism is places in· perspective the "principles" that its . not just a question of "getting with which even his detractors credit him. down inflation regardless". What matters is ~'the balance between inflation and Our only interest in the leadership race is unemployment and the consequential in which candidate is likely to do terminal gain or loss in output, growth and", yes damage to Labour - not because it makes last and least as usual "living standards". any difference to our class· interest in destroying capitalism - but because it will More astonishing is his praise of Mitterands be a good laugh seeing this collection of policy. It is damned with faint praise by trendies and unemployables tasting a dose contrast ·with our own dear Alternative of their own rationalisation. The stock Economic Strategy of course, but is more .line on Meacher is that he's too rigid and effective than Thatcherism. This is amaz­ principled and woulJ lead the party off ing hypocricy. Mitterand is doing exactly into the history books like a latter day what the Wilson and Callaghan Govts did James Maxton. Through Meachers (endl- NEIL AND PREY. 15 union's ancestry can be traced to the craft guilds of pre-capitalist times, and the NGA retains some of the functions of those ·organisations. By agreement with the employers (some of whom still call themselves 'Master Printers'), the union agged keeps fum control over admission to membership, and who is allowed to do which jobs. The skills have always been well-defmed. The basic· unit of union "' organisation is the 'Chapel' or workplace branch, with a 'Father of the Chapel' and arsed an 'Imperial Father of the Chapels' in each workplace (roughly equivalent to Shop Steward and Convenor; although FOCs have more power than the average • Shop Steward.) A very few Chapel officials are women, and they are known as Mothers. These union officers may WI ower of conduct local negotiations over wages and conditions, obtaining a~eements which run in parallel with those reached at the national level.

The Chapel system provides an illusion Fleet Street of autonomy, an immediate focus for the expression of grievances and an effective disciplinary structure. NGA members are Changes in the printing·industry are beginning to have a drastic effect on the pattern of subject to many rules and regulations, work and workplace struggle, as old skills are made redundant and traditional bargaining which carry sanctions such as fines, positions are undermined. At the same time, the print unions are being weakened by suspension or expulsion (and the loss of a unemployment, and fmding it difficult to meet the industry's changing requirements job.) Members can only work in non­ nf thP.m. union firms· with the perrnissi6n of senior regional officials. They ar.e not allowed to Managements have sought to reverse th_e the basis of craft exclusivity and the def­ distribute unapproved leaflets or other decline of profits in the industry by · ence_ of its territory against other unions, literature in their workplace, and until raising productivity, holding down wages, is being forced to change its policy recently there was a ban on 1.mofficial 'rationalising' production and reducing towards non-NGA workers in the media. caucuses. the size of the skilled workforce. The problems of a craft union like the NGA, struggling to keep in step with the They have been helped in this by new times, raise tlie wider question of the The traditional militancy and craft printing technologies, based on micro­ relationship between unions and workers' solidarity of skilled printworkers have electronics, which make it possible to struggles. The union is not merely a often been expressed as sectionalism and automate and streamline some of the deadweight . It needs and gets a large elitism~ The snobbishness of the NGA is production tasks carried out by craft amount of loyalty and money from its based on the division of workers into workers, particularly compositors. members. In the NGA's case, this is based strongly demarcated trades and grades, as much on workers aggressively pursuing a devotion to Work and the mystification The 11-month lock-out at the Times and defending sectional interests as upon of skills. · Semi-skilled and unskilled newspaper in 1978/79 is just one well­ the union co-opting and institutionalising workers in print have been regarded as known episode in a long and continuing their demands. In fact, the NGA has outsiders, to be kept at a discreet distance struggle by skilled printworkers against rarely been forced into open opposition or excluded altogether. Some of the - new technology. to rank-and-flle members. bitterest disputes have been fought in defence of craft status against -other Most printworkers now belong to either CRAFTY SODS members of the working class. Women the National Graphical Association (NGA were barred from craft train1ng until 82), which takes in craft pririters and The power ~f any union rests in its quite recently. Groups of workers fromc· other skilled production staff and has control over labour. The craft unions are outside print, trying to get support in about 150,000 members, or the Society more sophisticated than most. The NGA Fleet Street for their own strikes, ·are of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT not only mediates workers demands, it ritually patronised and given large 82), with about 260,000 non-apprenticed has a near-monopoly on the supply of amounts of money, but solidarity rarely printers, distribution, auxiliary and skilled printing labour. Bosses use it as a goes as far as iaterfering with hate-stories clerical workers, · recruiting agent. ·The pre-entry closed about strikes in the press. shop, in force in most,tprinting firms, The most drastic changes in the industry means that bosses agree only to take on The authoritarianism of the union is are affecting members of the NGA. Many workers who are already accredited by most naturally shown in the personalities of them, facing redundancy, redeploy­ the union. When they are notified of a of the branch officials. The hard men ment or retraining, are -rethinking their vacancy, the union has first responsibility from HQ back up their knowledge of attitude to their work, and to other for filling it. Numbers of new trainees are rules ~d customs with plenty of aggress­ workers. strictly regulated by a quota system. ion, useful for intimidating their opposite numbers, and even more effective for The NGA, which has always organised on _ This is a historical arrangement. The intimidating or impressing workers. 16 Officers behave more like middle-ranking the regions, telling them to go back and The writing, editing and printing oflarge­ freemasons than workers, ·with their persuade their Chapels of the need for circulation papers and magazines can now complicated statutes, · ritual penalties compassion and sacrifice. It worked­ be divided between several different and bizarre codes of communication. but for how long this time? locations, making it easier for bosses to In fact, craft unions and masonic lodges limit the damage done by wildcat strikes overlap and compliment each other. Of course, :the union's response to the in one plant. Improved communications crisis ·has to· be seen in a wider context. also mean that production can be shifted The NGA's role as a seller of workers The NGA is in a similar position to the to-. wherever workers come cheapest. is one reason bosses have found it an tid Tory government, caught in a policy Robert Maxwell's British Printing to the day-to-day running Corporation (BPC) is a pioneer of this dilemma. By delibera~ely excluding factories. Another· is that it ' : ·..... "...... workers from wage labour, it · is strategy. Production of the Radio Times know where they stand has been shifted away from the "'14'*'"'"' down on its own membership, workers. The union does Waterlows factory at Park Royal, to the -~q theJ-et<>re on the revenues it can levy members ignoring the prc)Ce:em its welfare commit- newly-equipped plant at East Kilbride, on their behalf. Disputes where the company was able to get more quickly made official, or . advantageous terms on wages, conditions orcJdtlCtJtVltY from the workforce. Why are workers loyal to for high subscriptions, complete their probation get benefits, free legal forms of insurance and all, they get a secure for jobs if they get £32 per week unc~ml,101{r the mean time. The union is literally Job Centre. It is responsible to the state for ~~~& Work for its members on the time, dole~z~p:chasiJig them up when they get against work being _ )azy"::;swnethipg it does more efficiently too is supposed to combat unemploy­ than the Department of Employment, ment. In fact; it just aggravates · the especially when employers complain that conditions of workers in other countries, .., .. ,...... ,u in Rule 43, which nobody seems to want their jobs. It facing the same crisis ·conditions. Union workers to touch original artwork from informs members of their rights, such as policy for employment in the '80s smells non-NGA firms. demand and how far they strongly of nationalism, hypocrisy and bureaucratic self-interest. THAT'S THE WADE TO DO IT

On the other hand, bosses are looking for So far, the NGA has dealt with the methods, technologies, pay introduction of new teclinology by which threaten slowing it down. The British newspaper is now several years behind the the world in bringing in 'single which denotes the for

deJrna~cauon agreements as recruit new replace those on apprentice­ this month

national vuu.-.~.. ~ prospect of losing the vote on a that they took off aJl over the country, convening meetings of all the FOCs in operating the strategically important 'front end' of the direct input technology. TEN WAYS TO WRECK A merger would be just one more in the long series ofthe last 15 years, part of the A VISUAL DISPLAY UNIT process of capitalist concentration. Most recently, the NGA and SOGAT made parallel mergers with SLA:DE, the graphic artists union, and NATSOP A. The NGA is beginning to see the formation of a single media union as a ·necessary objective. 1) Coffee poured into the keyboard is blow as much smoke as possible into effective in gumming up the works, theVDU. The NGA and NUJ recently broke off but instead of using sugar in the coffee, 7) Be creative : remove ·the I.C. chips merger talks because of long-running ~e salt - about 3-5 times as much from their sockets, and put them in quarrels over 'accountability', 'internal salt as you would use sugar. Saltwater backwards. This will cause untold democracy' and 'industrial organisation'. is quite conductive to electricity and problems and drive the repair technic­ These ·are superficial arguments. What very corrosive to the foil conductors ians crazy. really stopped them was inertia : the two on the circuit boards. It will short 8) Floppy diskettes are very senSitive unions have a long history· of sabotaging circuit the integrated circuit (I.C) to magnetic fields. Some diskettes each others disputes. ·There is craft chips on the board and screw things have the software programming on the snobbery and professional elitism to get up very nicely. (A lye solution is even outer edge of the disk. Run a magnet over. Most seriously of all, there is the better). a few times across the disk in different problem of merging two career 2) If possible, remove the cover of the directions. This will make life interest­ bureaucracies, with all the loss of status VDU. Then try unplugging the circuit ing for your supervisors and bosses and and promotion prospects that would boards with the power-on and replug­ JJ.magnet leaves no trace, unlike staples involve for some people (surely, they ging them in again. This is a very paperclips, and ball point pens which won't let their pensions escape.) In the effective way to blow-out every I.C. create visible damage on the disk. end, they will either patch things up or chip and transistor on the board. 9) A bulk tape eraser (used for erasing they won't. As far as workers are They can't stand this sort of treatment stereo tapes) is very effective in erasing concerned, we shouldn't be trying to and will blow out every time. (Beware: all digital bits from a diskette. Even a breathe · new life into the corpse of very high voltages are present at the tapehead demagnetizer can be used industrial unionism. We should be transformer - after all the idea is to effectively this way. burying it. give the boss a shock !). 10) Put a plastic magnet or a rare­ 3) Try reversing the ribbon-cables earth cobalt magnet (the most power­ Neither .the right nor the left wings of connectors is possible. This will really ful magnet made) inside of a fmger the NGA has any answer to new screw things up. ring. No one will ever suspect it is technology. One lot are falling over them­ 4) Bring nail-clippers to work and cut there, ·provided you dont get paper selves to hurry things along (this is known a few conductors in the ribbon cable. clips or staples stuck to it. So when as 'realism'), while the others go on about This will cause endless problems. you handle the diskettes, run your workers 'dignity' and 'a fair share in the :,$) Dump metal paperclips, staples, ball ring across them a few times. rewards' (keeping their socialist clothes :;)earings, tacks, aluminium foil pieces in good repair). The union depends for its itc. into the VDU cooling Slots. Hope­ survival on a profitable media industry, fully they will land· on some circuit and therefore on new technology and ·hoards, and cause short circuits and Adapted from_Processed World 6. (An other ways of upping the rate of ~ther nliSty problems. excellent American journal about exploitation. This is capitalism's only way 6) Cigarette smoke causes problems office struggles. Available in some forward. with the circuit boards. It condenses radical bookshops or from A Distribu­ and coats the slip-connectors and then tion, 84b Whitechapel High Street, As they debate about how best to carve they wont make contact any more. So London E.l.). up areas of jurisdiction over the working class, the main intention of the unions is just to keep us working. Whether or not profits have long been at capital's and the rest of it will be brought in on an two unions merge, merely determines disposal, The boss class has merely been organised basis. If that happens, we can whether we are supporting two biding its time, testing the ground every forget straight away about craft identity, workers 'control' of the shopfloor, and a bureaucracies, or a single, larger one. now and then, waiting for opportunitie~. Recent skirmishes have shown them that management prepared to pay for happy, it will be difficult to introduce new tech­ healthy wage-slaves. In any case, time is Whatever becomes of the NGA, skilled nology little-by-little, firm-by-firm. So as running out. The union says we have to be 'hard-nosed' in this situation. Well, the printworkers not be able to go on in soon as the workers, already pushed into will NGA may be able to afford plastic the old ways. They have pushed capital to a corner by the recession, are judged to surgery - but what use is that to workers, the brink again and again in their defence be ready for it, the changes will be when they decide to kick your face in ? of wages and conditions, with less and forced through on a wider scale. less success ·as the crisis· has taken its New technology may be an unstoppable course. Profit-hungry bosses have now .feature of capitalist progress, but at no gone onto the offensive, locking workers MUTUAL STROKING stage does this mean that we have to out in pursuit of their own demands. accept it. Vulgar marxists·say capitalisms role is simply to develop the means of T. Bailey Foreman survived a long dispute Fleet St. management is getting very production, that it will grind down. the and is 'doing well', despite NGA/NUJ impatient. If they can overcome business working class to a universal level of skill­ blacking. It shows that the technical rivalry and unite in their common interest essness and misery, and that when this means to attack craft workers and ·raise of screwing workers, 'single keystroking' happens a political revolution can occur, 18 in which workers will seize the machines limited conditions for unity. For instance, this happening again, we must make sure and use them to satisfy everyones needs. when compositors fmd themselves doing that those discussions about work already This is a false view of technology and a work 'any girl typist' could do, their elitist taking place do not sink into the sands of false view of the need for revolution. sense of craft status is undermined, and resignation. And where they are not the possibility of a new senst' of their occuring we should be initiating them. There is nothing neutral about factories common status with other wage workers It is essential that struggles be taken out and machines. They have been built, not is raised. of the hands of union officials, party just to be mismanaged by exploiters, but On the other hand the situation can hacks and other apologists for capitalism, to sustain a complete social order based equally give rise to new divisions. In the and fought on our own terms. For a start, on buying, selling and exchange. In the end, workers will always be able to pretend we would be fully justified if we smashed market-place, it is not just our productive that their jobs are fulftlling; that whats up every VDT in sight, in the noble labour on display, but every transaction tradition of Ned Ludd, a man who proof­ of our daily lives. This is true whoever produced is decent, honest and truthful; and that their misery is worth defending read the bottom line of technological runs the system. 'Democratic owne.rship' progress ~ and then tore it up • •• of the means of production just means - if they want to. In the battle to prevent the working class selling itself to the left. If workers can autonomously destroy REPLY TO CO-OPS ARTICLE Continued from Page Nine. capitalism, then they can also · throw democracy (being a type of political We must not mistake the squabbles and kidney machine meets a·need which is in­ representation, however you defme it), rivalry of political cliques for 'anti-· disputably created by post-industrial sick­ and ownership (meaning the power to capitalist' reforms. The municipal social­ nesses~ Over 50% of people living on kid­ demand a price in money· or in kind), ney machines are there as a result of a into the waste disposal unit of history. ists know the rules of the game and gen­ erally they don't transgress them - even lifetime on medically-prescribed stim­ To put it another way, a society without with inconsequential schemes such as ulants. ·And so the nexus of misery cont­ poverty will not have a system of owner­ 'Fare's Fair'. Meantime they get on with inues. ·We have to offer a critique of cap­ ship, and one without classes will not discharging their duties regarding the pol­ italism as a· society which has approach­ have institutions of political represent­ ice, schools and other 'services'. ed a more or less total domination of ation. The revolution as I see it is not our lives. ·What I was raising was not so about equalising the market. At the very At Lucas the Corporate Plan demanded much the subjective intent of capitalism?s least,· it means abolishing wage labour, the intervention of a 'benign' capitalism~ would-be reformers, but the nature of commodities and classes, and creating In this respect, the demand that the state the sys-tem within which they must op­ completely new conditions for meeting should suppress ·a part of its nature erate and the limited scope it offers for otir material, social and individual needs. is based on an illusion, and in the long reform. IT CAUSES BLINDNESS run this always ends in dependence and demoralisation. True, Mike Cooley got If we can obtain funds from the GLC It is claimed that computerised typesetting sacked - but there are always casualties or other local authorities, then let's take cleans up and re-integrates the production within any serious dispute over policy them for everything we can get. But of print. The writing, editing, proofreading (Francis Pyrn?) - you carmot make any we should not forget that, far from hav­ of text can now be done on one Video great claims on that basis. On a super­ ing a 'revolutionary communist pers­ Display Terminal (VDT). In fact, workers ficial level, the Corporate Plan offered a pective', such bodies are representatives are exposed to a new range of progressive critique of capitalist priorities. of the state at local level. The fact that psychological and physical illnesses, and the new technology represents another they patronise their friends' co-ops is stage in the division of labour between But the content of the demands must hardly cause for celebration - especial­ operative, technical and maintenance themselves be criticised. Exchanging, ly as this is paid for by screwing the local tasks·. The real skill now lies in the hands for example, high technology weaponry working class, ·who have to pay exhorb­ of the computer programmmer. The work for high technology medicine - even if itant rates and live in the most squalid is more individualised than ever, and each this was a choice which workers could be housing. Is it any wonder the people worker is one step further from control invited to make - hardly explodes the ev­ of Hackney and Islington get pissed off over the production process as a whole. ils of capitalist society. The celebrated with these 'schemes'?· In the proletarian alphabet. 'A' still stands for Alienation. THE Labour-controlled Greater London Council In the past, workers facing redundancy or and Brent Borough Coun­ retraining due to new technology have cil began moves yesterday been among the most militant in the class. to recover money from the Craft printers are no exception. ln the most ambitious workers' long runhowever, we will not be able to co-operative so far funded stall the bosses demands, or salvage any­ by the G L C under its thing worth keeping from the wreckage drive to create more jobs in the capital. left bl:)hind in the wake of their advance. It was ari atempt to rescue about 180. jobs after G E C ~ The interest of printworkers is more cided to close its telephone clearly than ever the revolutionary equipment factory. Yesterday Brent council applied at the interest of the whole working class, not County Court for the payment the making of demands on the system, of a summons fo!" the work or the preservation of their historical payments or £125,000 in rates. status. This does not mean following Accountants working for thP council also studied the books the NGA down the blind alley of corp­ of the co-operative. orate unionism : the unions will have to The G L C lent the co-opera· be dealt with like every other political ·tive £405,000, secured against institution of capitalism. its premises in Dudden . Hill · Lane. It also lent a further £332,000 as a subsidy of £20 a It may be difficult to create genuine links · wee~ to keep people in work. with workers in other grades, trades and sectors, especially when they are people ~------like journalists. The crisis may be creating 1'9 I

A NEW SECURITY SCANDAL BROKE TODAY · • WITH THE NEWS THAT DENISIO HELLI HAD VANISHED FROM HIS CELL.

Helli, imprisoned in a cushy number in the Shadow Cabinet while investigations continued 'into his role in the UB40 lodge scandal and the . mysterious death ot Michealangelo F ooti. The alarm was raised when a journalist was umible to contact him for a routine unattributable scare story about Mike 'The Mouth' Meacha.

It' was widely believed that Helli was about to make important revelations abouttheFooticase. Footi was found stabbed in the back in the Walworth Road on June 11th, having suffered terminal injuries. to his marginals. Investigators PLAY LABOUR LEADERSHIP MONOPOLY,! insisted that it was a clear case of suicide but a Five Million Block Votes Must Be Won- Pg.5. EQUITY BROTHERS TRIUMPH!- Adamson shock open verdict at the re-opened NEC inquest I led to widespread speculation that he had been acquitted of pre-entry closed shop violation - 7. I I victim of a ritual crucifixion. IS THE ROYAL FAMILY GETTING TOO I MUCH PRESS EXPOSURE ? - 3 Page Special. One theory is that Footi - known as 'Lens ARTHUR SCARGILL reviews the weeks videos. Wanker' because of his seminal role in the diffusion of Labourism - was silenced to WORKING CLASS ASTROLOGY - Do The prevent him revealing what he knew about the Movements Fortunes Lie In The Heavens ? disappearence of £21;2 million of union funds. WHAT MAKES A MAN SCAB ! by Terry Duffy. These were channelled into a network of offshore· IS YOUR STEWARD A CLOSET MARXIST? political funds, and then siphoned off into 'The Twenty Signs That Always Give Him Away !! ~ocialist Campaign For A Labour Victory', in ALL THIS AND MUCH MORE IN YOUR - --+.. o11ing interest. TERRIFIC TOUGH-MINDED TOILER !!!*!