IMGpapers 1976–79

Newspapers of the International Marxist Group and its forerunners, 1976–79

DEFEND THE RIGNI WORK

Red Weekly No. 143, 25 March 1976 · p. 6 of the scan · 461 words

The scan: rw-no143-mar-25-1976.pdf (PDF, Marxists Internet Archive, opens at this page)

Uncorrected machine reading. This text was read by machine (Apple Vision OCR) from a scan of a newspaper page, and the page was cut into articles by machine, at the headlines found by their type size. Nothing has been corrected: expect misread words, text from a neighbouring article, and titles that are the machine reading of the headline, some of them only fragments. Quote from the scan, not from this page.
How this article was cut and titled: headline found by type size in the OCR geometry (split_tabloid.py); 2-2 of 6; machine-segmented newspaper page; uncorrected Vision OCR.

page 6 of the scan

organised after 27 March, and what policies the Assembly will adopt for a struggle against the Government's aLLaCKS.

The fact that it takes place this week and I still haven't seen any indications of what will be proposed threatens to make the Assembly a waste of time. How can the delegates discuss seriously?

I have got a clear idea of what's needed. Whether I or any other rank-and-filer will get a chance to express our ideas at the Assembly The first thing that is needed is action. The best way the Assembly could come to grips with this burning need is to name a day for national industrial action against the cuts and unemployment. This would act as a real focus for developing a campaign.

But you also need alternative policies to mobilise trade unionists and the rest of the working class. These policies should take as their starting point the intention that the capitalists should pay 100 per cent for the crisis of their system. If there is a shortage of work, then the books of the firm should be opened to determine just how much work is available to be shared out without any loss of pay.

A major step towards this principle could be taken by launching a national struggle for a 35 hour week, which so many unions profess to support but do nothing about. Those industries who can't give this basic right to work should be nationalised.

The Assembly must also take a stand on wages. The acceptance of the £6 limit was based on an understanding' that it was necessary to reduce unemployment. For those who have eyes to see, it's plain that this was a lie from the start. Any form of wage restraint should be absolunot. SK (Report)

tely opposed, and the demand for automatic increases in pay to compensate for increases in prices should be adopted as a central plank of the Assembly's policies.

Cuts in spending at this time can only have a disastrous consequence on unemployment. It's a load of rubbish to say that these cuts will help industry. They have been made to pay off the Government's debt charges. To meet unemployment, what is really needed is the opposite • a programme of useful public works to employ the jobless and meet social need.

TIRED The tired old line which we will hear from some of the speakers about "controlled reflation' and import controls does not come anywhere near a solution. Some of these people use import controls to say that British workers have got some sort of common interest with British bosses. I think they are a diversion besides having the effect of throwing workers abroad out of jobs - like with import controls on WE

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