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DHREWSBURY WHA NOW?
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The miners' ballot and their almost certain decision to vote for strike action has once again changed the entire political situation. By refusing to. retreat before the Tory. Government! 5 attack the miners can set the stage for a massive working class” offensive. ss a eat 453 Befcre ihas the prospects for the government looked bleak. They faced possible national strikes by the miners, engineers and engine drivers. A joint offensive by these three sections would have smashed Phase Three and brought the government to its knees. The jailing of the Shrewsbury Three should have ignited a maSsive strike wave ‘far greater than that unleashed by the jailing af the Pentonville Five. But the Tories felt Gonfident ‘that the jailings. ‘would produce no such effect. The failure to wage a: consistent national campaidn’ from the very moment that the charges were made ensured that the movement was unprepared. The: equivocations and stalling of the AUEW leaders had also emboldened the government giving it’ confidence that a national engineering strike was not on the agenda.
LEADERSHIP RETREAT Instead of taking advantage cf this absolutely fauna situation ‘the leadership of the working class retreated in disorder. Despite the Trades Union Congress ‘beine officially on record against Phase Three, the meeting of Union General Secretaries and Fresidents held'on.16 January, pleaded with Heath to make the minérs a special. case. They humbly assured him that other unions would not cite the miners’ pay aware as a precedent. Scon Scanlon was pleading with the government and the engineering employers for a settlement within the terms of Fhase Three. The Amalgamated
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pot rahe Union decided to defer a, action over theis Despite an immediate response i tha ASLEF rank and file to the provocaticns of Richard Marsh, within 24 hours the. union executive had climbed down. No wonder Heath remained unmoved by the Pleas cf the union leaders. Their capitualtions had in fact only reinforced his conviction: that a "tough line’ was the way to, win. A national shut down chad been averted. A breathing spell if ncet.a.., victory had been gained for Tory brinkmanship.
Meanwhile action over Shrewsbury remained at ‘oe lJwel of ~ pious protest and declaration, certainly as far as the official movement was concerned. The vital thing would have been to have made an inmediate response to the jailings.
That was the eritical time to have acted. Instead the Communist Farty in particular mobilised people to pressurise the union executives with the. aim of forcing them to take action. It is important to understand however that when you are trying to build a movement to make the bureaucracy: act, it shculd always be explicit in the aims of that movement, that in the event of the union leaders failing to act then uncfficial action must and will be taken.
It was quite clear that UCATT and the TGWU had no intentions of organising strike action. The only alternative then as to make a quick response to the jailings by organising strikes where possible in the building trade. Flying pickets could then have Leen organised from these strikes, aimed at closing down other jcbs and conductine a massive propoganda campaign on this issue. This was the only way at that stage to secure the mens’ release. Simply to mobilise people to pressurise the union executives, and
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to make the whole’ campaion dependent on that alone was the road tc disaster.
SO-CALLED NATIONAL INTERESTS Thus, Gespite its weak material position, the ruling class was akle to utilise its ace card = the political weakness of the Eritish wcrking class leadership.
Pragging out the sacred cow of 'naticnal interests" it ‘presented its crisis as one of the entire nation's responsibility. Its move to the three day week was a sigentic political bluff. Its aim was to inflict economic hardship cn séctors cf the working class and create discomfort ‘for pensioners, housewives and whole groups of the middle class. It hoped that this would turn thse grcups against the miners. It also hoped to push the impending wage struggles onto the sidelines - Scanlen quickly cbliged them in this respect + and threw werkers cnto the defensive. Of course they also wanted to stockpile coal tc be in a better position to fight the miners. Their orchestration cf the theme cf law and crder found an immediate response. Knowing that the. laws are made by = their class, assured by the fact that it is their ccurts and judge whe dispense whose laws, and confident that @ it is their police whe implements.them, the ruling class have a natural and teuching aftfecticn for lav and order.
They had no need to be concerned. Wilson assured everycne that he had "never encomraged the breaking of the law in his life." Scrambling with indecent haste tc get into the queue, Prentice, Callachan, Murray and a whole hest cf trade union leaders prostrated themselves before the Tory offensive on law and order, declaring their undyine fatth in British justice. The Shrewsbury Three lecked-up in her
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Majesty's jails, having been found guilty of breaking those hallowed laws, must have been highly encouraged. They happen te have first class experience of the law! It is highly unlikely that they have the same reverence for them as their unicn leaders.
CONSPIRACY ACT It is worth examing the treatment that Des Warren and his mates received uner the 1875 Consprracy Act. Alsc seeing what enormous power this gives the capitalist courts for framing working class militants. Under this piece of naked. class justice it is not necessary tc know the names ef those who committed the alleced offence, In the event of any so-called indictable offences being committed, the organisers of the picket or: demonstration can be made responsible even though they may not have even been present at the time. A classic - phrase used by Judge Mais during the trail of the siz was: "It can be a conspiracy by inference of all the circumstances." This means that if you were in the bar having a beer when the picket was discussed and accidentally cverheard the conversaticn, perhaps then making some comment, they can then de yout Even the, suspicicn, not the actual proof, that you engaged in a conspiracy, can gain you a conviction. ;
Now it would be hypocritical to deny that there was a conspiracy at Shrewsbury. In fact there was an unprecedented conspiracy - directed <«t' the men in the dock. The conspiracy began with the Cecisicn cf the West Mercia pclice to prosecute the original 24 men. ‘This was the same police force which removed -a shotgun from a scab who had actually threatened pickets with that gun. Ircnically, the police
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forgot to charge him. This was the same pclice foree who told one building emplcyer that he cculc have as many police as he wantec tc protect his site against pickets. The same pclice again, who saw scab labour hurling stones at pickets but never got arcune to charging these scabs with intimication or the use of cancerous’ and offensive Weapons. The prosectuicn coulée not take place without the approval of the Director of Public Frosecuticns whe no deubt chatted the matter over with the Here Office, which just happens tc be uncer the contrel of Robert Carr. The lccal police woulc har¢ly have felt that they were jecbardising their. carser prospects as there is a léng impeccable recore of the High Sheriffs of Denbighshire being relatec tc the McAlpine family - a total of nine in fact! The state not wanting to appear stindy, even in these times cf ecconemic hardship, spent £500,000 on the trial cf the first six, and there are 18 more to come.
HAD TO ACT Why was it necessary to go to such extracrdinary lengths to 'fix up' these workers? The decision tc prosecute was as stated a national cecisicn and flewec logically from the policy pursued by the Tory Government over the entire past period, Ever since the present government came intc office it has been facec with cne absolutely vital and urgent task ~ how to defeat the working class. But this is a task thet it has nct been able te acecmplish. Smarting under the defeats inflicted by the miners in’ 1972;remembering the humiliation of having to relense tne Pehtonville Five and re~calling the klows inflicted by the builcing workers that year, the government has had tc prepare a countér=
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effensive. It has clearly recognised that the bijgest cbstacle to their offensive is the independent initiatives of the rank and file. What enabled the miners to win in 1972 was the use cf the flying rickets - fickets usec on amass scale. “What throttled the sites being run by ‘lump’ labcur in the summer cf 1972 was acain the use cf flying pickets. ‘the strike-breaking thugs employed to beat the Chrysler strike at Ceventry in 1973 were defeated ky the use cf mass picetinc. Saltley and Longannet were flash points in the history cf the workin¢ class struggle in Britain, They weré cpen challenges tec the right cf the state to use its forces to strike break. They shewed that the state covlc not implement its laws, nor use its police forces tc enforce these laws, providng the working class had encugh ferces to force the police off the picket lines. Worried by its detericrating economic, situation - as that eminenetly respectable journal the London and Cambridge Economic Bulletin, laconically comments: Britain must now accept high unemployment or very high unemployment - the Gevernment — hac te act. The ruling class face a real economic crisis, aggravated not by some world fuel shortage but by big | increases in the price of. cil. The recent rise in cil prices is for Britain indistinguishable from an increase in. taxation of £1.5 billion. Against this is the backclcth of Britain's annual account deficit cf £3 billion. Only £800 millicn of this is accounted for by last October's rise in cil prices. Increases since will add another £1.2 billicn to this chrcnic ceficit. Solid capitalist journals like the Economist gloomily predict an annual rate of inflaticn ¢f between 15 te 20 percent and the ecitors of the London anc Cambridge
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Economic Bulletin claim 'a neutral budget now woulc precipitate Britain intc a hig recession, and a tough bucget woulc precipitate it intc a super-slumrp'. The choice for the government is simple: the working class must pay fcr the capitalist crisis. This is why they introduced Phasés One, Two and Three. This is why they must break the rower cf the working class and particularly its power to win strikes by the use cf pickets. Above all it must chance the relationship of forces in favour of the rulinc class and it cannot do that without crushing the self-initiatives and selforganisation of the class. It is because such a sericus and worsening crisis éxists thet the working class must reject the nonsense of the so-called naticnal interest. The working class must use the weakness of the capitalist class to launch a counter cffensive. It must ensure that it enters the next period with a well crganised, highly combative and much more politically conscious movement. It must alse ensure that it uses its full strength to inflict every possible defeat on the ruling class. It must aim to demcralise that ruling class, tc humble its police force and to make its reactionary laws unworkable.
The harrassment and_persecution of pickets has two purpeses. Firstly to stop strikers both shutting .down their own industries and cutting off Mépplies to and from*other industries. By moving the picketing squads to cther industries this not only raises the issues of solidarity but actually involves other workers in struggle raising their understanding of the wider issues involved. Futhermore this tactic cutflanks the conservative trade union leaders who only want to fight on the ground established by the Government and the state. Secondly, it is aimed to intimidate cther workers from taking similar actions.
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They want to make them feel that jail faces them if they act like the Shrewsbkury men.
MINERS STRIKE The threatened miners' strike is of tremendous importance. Last time the miners won by extending their struggle and imposing an effective blockade on the power stations. The situation now for the ruling class is even more desperate. A defeat for them would be catastrophic. Their incomes policy would be torn to shreds. Their political credibility would be drastically devalued. The danger of their overthrow is real.
The stakes are high. The Tories are therefore preparing accordingly. The Special Patrol Groups, used with such brutal effect at places like St Thomas' Hospital in the hospital workers' strike last year, are being strengthened and put on the ready. As Peter Chippendale writing in the Guardian on 28 January says: ‘Police will have thousands of men available to deal with any picketing trouble if the miners vote for a strike.' He goes on to say: "The police plans have been ready for some time. They followed discussions about the 1972 pit strike, the building workers ‘flying pickets' and the confrontations at Neap House Wharf, near Scunthorpe, between dockers and transport drivers.' The Daily Telegraph writer Peter Birkett admits that "Police equipment for dispersing angry crowds varies from force to force, but most.possess a limited amount cf CS riot das, riot shields and batons.’ A° Special Intelligence Bureau will operate from Scotland Yard. under the control of Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Gerrard. This was suggested by Robert Carr and worked out in conjunction with Sir Robert Mark.
NEED FOR SOLIDARITY
What must be demonstrated is that the miners are the spearhead of the struggle of the entire working class against the Tory wage freeze. We must not treat them as a 'special case.’ Let us be under no illusions that given the present crisis for capitalism even the most miserly awards available under Phase
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Three are to be continucc tnaer Filius. +. sciti, ago 44ceady scatca that in his opinion Phase Three 'is too generous'. The Economist says that "to coo on governing, Mr Heath must quickly introduce anew, and considerably tougher, Stage Four.' It goes cn to argue: "One way to a tougher Stage Four might be to call. for o Stage’ Three increases were paid six month's pause in which n them, * Therefore the working even to those whe have already got class has a vested interest in the victory of the miners because its own future Is et stake,
It is precisely for this reason that the Tory Government and the state will make every attempt to crush the strike, This means that the battles around the power staticns, pits and docks are likely to be even fiercer than those at Salitley and Longannet. Every assistance must be given to the miners in these confrontations. The maximumforces within the working class must be rallied tc the miners side. In evéry area picketing squads must be sét up to stop the movement of coal and fuel. Whenever the police try and break up picket lines thousands cf workers must join the pickets and turn them into a human wall that the police cannot, and dare not try to move.
The opportunity to build @ real mass movement in defence of the Shrewsbury 24 was not taken up before the trial. But once again picketing has become, and will become even more s0, a central issue within the working class. This brings the issue ef effective picketing, and the Gefence of pickets, before the attention of masses of workers and makes it a practical question for them. It will undoubtedly give us an excellent opportunity to mobilise new and wider layers of suppert for the Shrewsbury Three. At the same time it will be taking place when the miners have thrown the government back on to the defensive thereby creating an entirely new and much more favourable political situation.
ACTION BY BUILDING WORKERS A building strike still remains the essential question. What is needed is to give that strike explicit links with the miners
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strike. This means strikes on the building sites giving concrete practical assistance to the miners such as usine the striking workers to help the miners pickets. The strikes should also place right to the fore the demand for the release of the Shrewsbury Three. At every level, both national and regional, the NUM and the buildino trades unions should enter inte joint agreements for the creation of common picketing pools. They should fight for national strike action to be waged for the release of the Three and for the the release of any miners pickets. imprisonned for picketing activities. Such activities can cive a lead to the rest of the working class on Shrewsbury and demonstrate in the clearest possible way how to defend mass picketing.
GENERAL STRIKE The question of picketing is only one of the many links that must be forged with the miners. The Tory Government, acting as the open agent of Eritish Capitalism, has conducted a determined struggle to reduce real earnings, raise rents, attack social services, cut down on public expenditure and attack the trade unions. A defeat for the miners would lead to an intensification ot these attacks and a big set-back for the working class in general. What is required is a massive solidarity movement around the miners strike - a movement that takes up the demands not just of other workers, but the struggles of tenants against the Housing Finence Act, the issues of rising prices and pensions, the demand for equal pay and the matter of student qrants. The need to turn the miners strike into a general strike is imperative. This is the way to smash the Industrial Relations Act, force the repeal of their reactionary legislation and mobilise the full strength and corbativity of the working class for the future struggles.
Such a struggle demands the formation of Councils of Action. These bodies, as the name suggests, should have as their task the local organisation of all forces of the working class. Thes are the only type cf bodies that can effectively unite the full