A SHOUT OF GLEE from the capitalist press greeted the announcement that Moss Evans had been elected General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, having received 46.2 per cent of the total of 753,060 votes cast.
For them it is enough that Evans can be relied upon to follow in the footsteps of Jack Jones -ing the policies of class collaboration such as wage controis and worker participation. campaigned to influence the ballot in Evans's favour for weeks, they have cause to feel satisfied.
But a closer look at the election results reveals a far less pleasing picture for the bosses.
First and foremost there is the big vote received by candidates of - Tommy Riley of the inc lac Right to Work Campaign, hial Thornett of the Socialist League and the Campaign for Democracy in the Labour Movement. Between received a total vote of 38,938 approximately 5 percent of the told yores Last pursu- Along with the size of this vote, in liselt not insignificant, necessary to take into account the difficulties facing these candidates in the election campaign.
Firstly, the fact that the national press consistenny avoracd mane mention of CLEY candidates in the election, bolster ing instead the "big four' full time officials running whilst the union failed to provide even sufficient copies of the elecand non addresses so mat uno HICHE Workers bers might know the platform of the rank and file candidates Secondly there was the problem them they of campaigning in a multi-industrial union covering many different types of workers, where the union gave no encouragement to candidates to campaign for their views is amongst the membership.
Thirdly, the fact that there were two far left candidates undoubtedweakened the both.
The considerable vote for the far rank and file left candidates should not, howNever, be misunderstood. For many workers inis was not so much o vote for revolutionary candidates as for fighting policies against the Social Contract, policies not offered by the other candidates It is in the disastrously low votes Photo: for the left' candidates such as Kitson and John Miller that the real defeats of the election can be found. votes than Tommy Kiev alone and Alec Kitson received less than a quarter as many votes as Evans. was left to Cousins, demagogically from the right, to get the highes vote after Evans. The 'left' candidates. for the post, dates instead clear alternalyc might sit back man" the left cannot T&G elections are clear campaigns of dates socialist policies from those candidates, many T&G members voted for other candisome undoubtedly voting for the far left candidates voting tor Evans and even Cousins where they saw no policies to Jones leadership being offered Whilst the Fleet Street editors Amusing on their - resources ability to help Jack Jones get his on the throne of the T&G afford to complacent. ine lessons or the candicampaigning TOR fightins win T&G members. support of the membership and challenge the ciass collaborators union leadership.
But that requires a clear break with that leadership, and organising in the union against it. The far left candidates were able to make an impact in the clections despite being little-known and having few The coming biennial conference of the T&G in the Isle of Man will be the first test of whether these forces can be kept together to fight for the mass action which is needed to defend the living standards of The T&G election results: Moss Cans Jonn CoUSIn:
Alex Kitson Larry Smith , Riley John Mille Alan Thorneti cast: 753,060 votes 39.11 per cent of membership [Other candidates results un-