contested.
under right-wing control for the first time in a decade.
The CP's own assessment of the recent defeats suffered by the left give little indication that any lessons have been learned. ascendancy of the right wing is attributed to the effects of the reintroduction of the postal ballot and to insufficient campaigning in the areas. The conclusion, of course, is that more work will have to be done next time.
It is true, of course, that the postal ballot does aid the right wing, because the members of the Union are subjected only to the propaganda of the mass media before they vote. But in itself this does not explain the whole trend which has developed in the Union, beginning before the introduction of postal ballots.
The main problem confronting the Broad Left is one of political perspective: It has become increasingly clear to the majority of engineering workers that the main plank of Scanlon's 1967 election platform - to give the rank and file a free hand to take on the employers plant by plant and district by district - is bankrupt. When the working class is facing a centralised attack on all aspects of its living scandaras, the simple demand for "free collective bargaining' plus a bit of muscle from the rank and file offers no solution at all. The Manchester engineers found this out to their cost in 1972 when the occupation strikes for more pay failed to yield the expected victory.
But the Scanlon leadership has nothing new to offer. Instead it vacillates on the most central political problem facing the working class - the social contract and now Healey's incomes policy. It is this kind of 'leadership' that has allowed the right wing to gain ground.
At least the latter have a clear and consistent policy of complete capitulation to the right-wing policies of the Labour Government - and perhaps something for their own members later if we all pull together now. 'What has the left got to offer, they demand. Nothing but ambiguous statements, the occasional left-wing noise and no concrete results.
FOURTH INTERNATIONAL We now have supplies of Pierre Frank's The Fourth International-a contribution to the history of the Trotskyist mar ement. This is the translation of a book which appeared in France in 1969 and has a number of up-dating footnotes. Pierre Frank was long-associatea witn trotsky, deing nis secretary Tol a period, and is thus well-suited to write such a work. Whilst limited in size (and for the same reason lacking documentation), this bookiet is vital reading for anyone wanting to get an overview of the history of the Fourth International. Price 45p (post 10p). LIFE IN CAPITALIST AMERICA ratntinder nas publisned a collection or articies on aspects of the social crisis in the United States, by such authors as Coontz, Harsch, Conner, Johnson, Reosti and Beck. These cover: cities in decay. vou can't afford to get sick, problems of the old, welfare scandal, tailure of the education svstem. the prison revort, porution and the pronteering out or the energy crisis. This is a very handy and attractive collection on this topic. The book has relevance for discussion on the crisis of social expediture in Britain, too. Whist the United States may be, for historical reasons, more advanced in its urban crisis, etc., this country looks like catching up soon if Labour's cuts are anything to go by! Price £1.25 DOSE I7DT.
THE LABOUR PARTY The Labour Party and the Struggle for Socialism is the title ot a book by David lnot Ken) Coates. wich nas been out tor a montn or two. however, with the post-Healey measures situation in the Labour Party it makes useful reading. Thé author is clearly a sympathiser of the IS, and this comes through in his Pessimistic approach to the bossi Dintes or winning any forces at present witnin tne Labour Party framework to a socialist position. In October the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers will be holding anther round of elections for full-time officials. Altogether 31 posts will be The Communist Party dominated 'Broad Left' must be looking forward to these elections with apprehension, to say the least. If recent trends continue, the left faces the prospect of further defeats, with the danger that the Union could fall The inability of Scanlon and the Broad Left leadership to give a clear alternative to the Bane right wing on all the political issues of the day - meaning outright opposition to all the policies of the Wilson Government militants confused and politically hamstrung.
Consequently, Scanlon's base in the union see no way to fight the ascendancy of the right wing politically. Instead they simply come up with exhortations to campaign harder.
IMPORTANT The candidature of International Socialist member Willie Lee for the position of National Organiser is thus particularly important.
Unfortunately the programme on which he is standing - the so-called 'Engineers Charter' is not fundamentally different from that of the Broad Left.
Certainly it is more militant - £60 a week basic wage instead of f50; full rate for apprentices at 16; official opposition to closures and short-time working; and so on. But to offer a more militant programme than that of the Broad Left does not solve the crisis of political perspective facing militants in the engineering industry. Furthermore, the projection of a separate rank and file organisation to compete with the Broad Left before major left currents have broken with the whole political framework of the Comunist Party is incorrect.
Where it is possible to organise militants to the left of the CP, this should obviously be done. But this should go hand in.hand with continuing work inside the framework of the Broad Left, rather than attempting to counterpose the two.
bureaucracy. - has left election.
campaigning activity in the union. main line of divide which will be drawn in the election - either a policy of tail-ending the bureaucracy or a policy of rank and file independence from the manoeuvres of the WILLIE LEE For those who want to develop a strategy which is not subordinated to the vacillations and double dealing of the Scanlon leadership, a large vote for Willie Lee would indicate a one. favorable balance of forces. This is why International Marxist Group members in the AUEW will be calling for a vote for Willie Lee and campaigning for him ib the forthcoming We will also be approaching IS movement. nationally to discuss the possibility of joint Terry Crawford Whether Lee succeeds in defeating the Broad Left candidate or not, it is imperative that the whole of the left unites behind the left candidate in the second ballot if there is The Broad Left perspectives may be bankrupt, but if the union falls into the hands of overt right wingers such as Boyd and company, it will be a major setback not only for enginering workers but for the whole of the labour
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CRISIS OF POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE
UNITED FIGHT AGAINST RIGHT