on y october, a mie-pubncisea meeung of the Liaison Committee for the Defence of Trade Unions took place in London The LCDTU was formed in 1969 as a counter-offensive to the Labour Government's In Place of Strife proposals, and it played a significant part in the campaign which eventually defeated this anti-union plan. But since the Social Contract the LCDTU has been dormant, lying in an exile which was sen-imposed The reason was that the LCDTU has Wage Today, ces always remained firmly in the orbit of the trade union lefts' like Scanlon and Jones As a brain child of the Communist Party to help cement its alliance with these characters, the LCDTU never acted as anything more than a pressure group within the trade unions. With the union "lefts' going over to open support of the saDour dovernment. there was littl scope for the LCDTU.
Now the limited action called by the public sector unions for 17 November and the accompanying 'week of action have given the LCDTU room to manHence the call made for OCUVIC. campaign against the Social Contract. At the moment this campaign is restricted to a series of local conferences and a national one in February 1977.
But the CP still faces a dilemma: it feels pressure from its own base to *do something'. but it is committed in it British Road to Socialism to an alliance with the lefts" who at present want to •do' as little as possible.
This dilemma means that the conferenthe couga announced unlikely to be built in any committed way Mostly they will be confined to those areas where CP support is already ass ured Despite this, there is such widespread discontent among militants that the con ferences do have potential. In supporting this initiative, trade unionists should en sure that the conferences provide full scope for discussion and decision making an element of workers democracy thi LCDTU has not been known for in the past.
StnKe Comatte LINION INK
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