from ‘Tony Topham Humberside Voice Editorial Board, which drafted the following statement, comprises trade union lay membera, trade union offici2ls, shop stewards, Labour Party activists, teachers and journclists of the labour movement. The strtement reflects a positive, he%lthy reaction to the present crisis; we urgently need this mood repeated across the length and breadth of our movement if we are not to witness the collapse of hope, the return of apathy, and acquiescence in a tacit Labour= Tory consensus with frighteningly authorit-rian consequences, Edi torial Statement from Humberside Voice : tReaders, Members of the Humberside Labour Movement= So, Yilson is now the prisoner of benkers and international finanical wizards. We have » major economic crisis on our hands, and /ilson, our Labour Prime Minister, has accepted that unemployment is the solution. This is therefore a great crisis in our movement, Suddenly 2 Labour Governenent, with an unprecedented large majority, has accepted tha bankers! answer to our economic ills= the severest 'stop-go! policy we have ever known. The mensures Wilson has taken will cut our living standards and make inronds into the trade unions! rizhts and position. WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE US AS SOCIALISTS ? = ‘Ye are not fooled by a price freeze, Prices will rise because of purchese tax increases, etc., and Wilson intends this to happens; this is what deflation is all about. We are not hoodwinked by the freeze on dividends. The bosses and owners of industry will just build up their reserve fund of ca. ital end distribute it later on. THEREFORE, to our READERS we must says If you urge us still to be loyal to Wilson, we ask you - which Yilson ? The Wilson of 1966, the prisoner of the bankers ? Or the ‘Yilson of 1964 ? In 1964 he was sxyings "You can't... add to insecurity, create hardship for millions of families, and then come slong and ask for ~age restraint. You can't ask for an incomes policy if you first cut production down and then say that having reduced production we will now hold wages down in line with productivity."(From a speech at Usher 4all, Edinburgh, 21/3/64) and nagsinte " eeetwe come to the two sides of industry with clean hands with no responsibility for the faith-breaking interference with collective bargaining and industrial conciliation and »-rbitration thit were involved in Mr. Selwyn Lloyd's pay-pause. find we can make the national appeal that is needed because, for us, .n incomes policy as the condition of sustained growth and because a pledge of sustained growth is © condition of that policy." (From a speech at Swansea, 25/1/64)
BUT WE HAVE GOT STAGNATION, EVEN A RNCUSSION ! THEREFORE, TOAILSON :e must says- Brave words in 1964 ! BUT where are your alternatives to Toryism now ? We would like to remind Wilson, our readers and ourselves of the Socinlist ltern: tives to 'stop-go' s=- 1.) We want the Government to control our noncy affairs, and not be at the mercy of financiers and bankers just to preserve a free market in money and restrict our own standard of living to @o it. = Therefore the Labour Government must as a matter of urgency look at the burden on this country of meintsining the £ sterling, and 2t the reforms needed in the world's currency 2nd monetary system, - Nationalise the banks so that they operate in the public interest. At present the very people who are in charge of our capital are speculating with it against our country's interests, = liationalise the insurance companies who control more of our capital than the banks. = Control the outflow of private capital overseas. 2.) Overseas defence costs and the balance of paynents: the gap between what this country earns and spends is an artificial crisis; the g-p is ONLY made by our vast military spending overseas, Therefore: - ‘'e should cut the defence burden drastically, and rethink our foreign policy to go with the cuts, especially our commitment to NATO, and our support of American policy in the Par Fast. = Cut out the £1000 million we sre spending on American planes.
3.) Wege Freeze md Higher Productivitys these enannot go togethers
We wholeheartedly endorse the stand of unions like the TRG, Dikirg
4$38T cgrinst the wage freeze. ‘le wont higher productivity, BUT -
the workers must share in the benfits of any productivity agreements,
The only ‘way 4o0- get technic’ moternipation is to push ‘up wages, not
hold them downs’ =.To achicve higher productivity the workers must
themselves know what is going on in industry. OPEN THE BOOKS, so
the workers enn negotiate on the facts to stimulate production.
- We want to strengthen the workers' position, not weoken it,
therefore reject the Prices ond Incomes Bill and its penal clauses
against industrial action. : :
4.) We want more PUBLIC OWNSRSHIP of essential incustries:Why stov at
steel? What about machine tools, natural gas, chemicals etc.? BUT,
again it must be nationalisation with workers’ control, We are
exprnsionists for the workers under workers' control. Let us start
a great debate in the Labour movement on alternative socinlist
policies to Tory 'stop-go',