from Tony Topham
The appointment of a Minister of Disarmament by the Labour Government was widely interpreted last year to signify that the Government took the question o£ general disarmament seriously, especially since the Minister has been backed with a specialist Research Unit. The Defence White Paper, and the general theory that Britain has special "peace-keeping" roles "East of Suez", have by now heen correctly assigned their om part in the general scepticism about the Minister's Tole. The steady abadonment of agreed Party policy is too clear to be obscured by the symbolic appointment. The United Nations General Assembly may also have been conducting an exercise in myth-making when it adopted the "Joint Statement of hereed Principles for Disarmament Negotiations" in December, 1961, We may : be excused our scepticism when we compare the practice of governments, and particularly the United States Government, with the grand plan envisaged in the statement. This includes “..disbanding of armed forces...¢limination of all stockpiles of nuclear, bacteriological and other weapons..cessation of production of such weapons:..climination of all means of delivery...abolition of the organisation and institutions designed to organise the militery efforts of states, cesgation of military training...discontinuance of military expenditure."
But it is possible to work out after assuming the reality of disarmament, what the economic and social consequences may be, and to make serious recommend ations as to how "planning for disarmament" might be carried through, This the United Nations Association has done in the pamphlet wmder review, by appointing a Working Party which consisted of an M.P., trade unionists, and economists. The pamphlet contains contributions from Eric Lubbock: “Defence and the british Economy"; Edward Dommen; “The Disarmament Plans";(which discusses the Americen and Russian variants in the Geneva discussions based on the U.N. plan); Jim Hortimer: "A Union View of Disarmament"; Janet Blackman: "An Employment Policy for Disarmament"; and a statistical appendix which details the effects of alternative methods of re-deploying resources at present devoted to "Defence".
411 the contributions set out the problems in plain, workmanlike style, and avoiding technical economic jargon, they provide an easily assimilebly account of the qualities involved - in terms of manpower and resources. What emerges for the socialist are two crucial issues, which are in fact two parts of the single issue of democratic planning, Fizst, how are workers to respond to the inevitable threat of redundancy which is posed by disarmament, and second, what processes of decision-taking are to be used in deciding upon the reallocation of resources for peaceful uses? Miss Blackman raises the first question in saying that "no section of the commmity must feel left in the dark" when the changeover is being planned. "Consultations between management and wmion officjials after the plan has been made are not sufficient". ‘md further = ",..many of the problems stem from the lack of power of the men most vitally affected to take part in decisions," The second question is suggested by the calculations in the Statistical Appendix, where three alternative forms of "redeployment" are suggested: 1. the reduction of taxation, leaving consumers spending to determine re-allocation; 2. expansion of social services; and 3. investment incentives to industry. (For socialists, this third alternative might be re-written to imply the expansion and diversification of the publicly owned sector.) The issue of democratic planning is here posed in a form of rare simplicity. How shall we re-allocate what amounts to between 7 and 8% of our total output? How can we imagine that the process of arriving at 4 decision of thi® magnitude can be remotely "democratic” whilst industry itself is governed autocratically, secretly, in the interests of an owning class, and whilst the State reflects this pattern through its cwn increasingly corporate relations with that class? * "Disarmament and Jobs", United Nations Association, 25, Charles St., London Wels, price 2/6d,