councillor David Skinner. 1 send my full support and wish every success for your demonstration on 5 May. I myself will unfortunately be away on that day, but other people from Clay Cross will try to get there.
The demonstrations have just got to continue. Thousands of people are being murdered and tortured in Chile, yet by agreeing to send these warships the Labour Cabinet is treating it as if it were simply a page in the history books.
It makes me sick when I think of the emetional scenes at the Labour Party conference, with Wilson sending off an emergency telegramn and all that. There's too much lipservice being paid. This Government has already shown itself to be at the beck and call of the capitalist press, constantiy Routing conference decisions, the basis on which the rank-and-file worked to put it into office. The May 5 Ad Hoe Committee has received the following message from former Cly Cross ment in protest at the I would urge that the TUC should organise a one-day national strike of the entire working cluss movedecision of the Labour Government to send these warships, After all, you've only got to read the Times newspaper to see that the armed forces would be put on the alert here if there was any attempt to carry out real working class policies. What happened in Chile last year could very well happen here in such a siruation.
*As far as Iro concerned, all che trado unions should be there on 5 May-by rights. it should make the great anti-Industrial Relations Bill march of February 1971 look like nothing at all. Certainly Chile will be right at the forefront of the issues at the special conference we of Clay Cross Labour Party ate convening for all constituency Labour Parties on 8 June in Central Hall, Westminster:' the absurd logic of the TUC. But they must go further - they must reject the logic of the whole capitalise systein. Workers must refuse to accept any responsibility for the economic ills brought on by capilalism.
That means, on the two most important fronts, refusing to accept redundancies and refusing to allow inflation to whittle away at living standards, The demands for Work or Full Pay*, "Nationalisation without compensation and under workers management of all firms declaring redundancies and 'A sliding scale of wages and social security benefits to protect working class incomes against inflation' must echo through the trade union conferences this year.
The fight to win these deriand. must go along with outright rejection of any form of incomes policy under capitalism, and a united wages offensive to win every single wige claim in full.
To follow the road oi the TUC is to follow the Judas-gout to the slaughter.
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movement For the average trade umonist the past month of Labour rule has rought little of real value. But for six trade union militants the change of shift at Downing Street has not made a jot of difference-the six Shrewsbury pickets, who remain locked in prison even though Labour now holds the keys.
it clear that it has no intention of freeing the Shrewsbury 6. It may be prepared to make certain concessions in the letter of the law, but it is adamant in insisting that the law must be upheld, no matter what disastrous consequences it may have for workers' organisation and struggles.
Such a policy will wipe out whatever gains may be contained in Labour's amendments to the picketing law, Time and again the courts have shown that they have more than one set of chains ready for the workers' movement. A change in the law on picketing without the pardoning of the Shrewsbury 6 is a cruel joke-a joke that will not be at the expense of the Shrewsbury militants alone, but at the expense of every trade HOmE In EOC CoUntry Despite the fact that Labour is noW in boreroment it remans se true as ever that the only way to free the Shrewsbury 6 and smash the attack on the right to picket is through a massive mobilisation on the scale of that which set the Pentonville 5 free.
Such a prospect may seem dim The Labour Government has made at a time when the movement in defence of the Shrewshury 6 has been led into one blind alley after another by the Communist Party and its supporters. But there is one group of workers who have emerged from the fight against Phase 3 and the Tory Government with sufficient self-confidence, evidence of their fighting strength, and prestige throughout the trade union movement to turn the tide on this crucial quesiton. This group, of course, is the miners.
MINERS' INTERESTS
It is in the direct interest of the miners themselves to take up the fight to free the Shrewsbury 6. As recent experience has shown, only determined strugele can win real No matter who is in Govern ment, the pressure to squeeze more production out of the pits at lower cost will continue, and soaring prices will continue to cat wages front.
relation between the NUM and the Govetnment over the future of the coal industry & likely to come to an abrupt end when oil starts to flow from the North Sea field in the next lew yeurs, struggle more than once over the next few years. And what will be the crucial weapons in these strugples? Just as in the recent past, the Lying picket and massive solidarity LILTELL away at the concessions won on the Even the present 'honeymoon' strengthened.
The miners will have to go into South Wales miners on 20 March Shrewsbury demo understood it was in their direct interest to take up this fight from the rest of the workers' moveA massive, vigorous campaign to free the Shrewsbury 6 would create a spirit of fighting unity throughout the entire movement With one blow the right to picket could be secured from State attacks, and the foundations for working class unity and solidarity immensely The task which now faces us is to rehuild the Shrewsbury movemenr.
This can only be accomplished on the basis of breaking with the Comminis! Party's dead end perspective of pressuring the trade union and Labour Party bureaucrats.
The Shrewshury movement must adopt a clear perspective of ness industrial action to force the Labour Government to free the 6. It must pledge itself to work towards indelinite strike action by major sections of the trade union movement. All the necossary preliminary mobilising work -leaflets, neetings, Tallics demonstrations, protest strikes must be directed to this end.
Only on this basis can the freedom of the Shrewsbury 6 be won and the cause of the trade union movement carried forward.
RAY ALEXANDER
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With several important conferences in defence of the Shrewsbury 6 coming - in East Kent, Bolton and Colchester - Ray Alexander looks at for the Shrewsbury
OMAL UNION DE KURENN CHRIS DAVIES