N international delegation, consisting of survivors of concentration camps, will discuss with M.P.s the problems arising out of the decision by the West German Government to cease prosecuting war criminals, The delegation will be received in the House of Commons on Tuesday, March oth, at 3.0 p.m., in a room booked by Mr. W. Warbey. The Committee in Defence of Victims of Nazi Persecution is asking all local organisations to send delegates to this meeting. The committee urges people who are concerned about the prospect of Nazi war criminals going scot free to write to their M.P., the Prime Minister and the German Embassy. Accom. for a few nights (before and after the meeting) is needed. Please write to: Mrs. E. Dales, 12 First Avenue, Gillingham, Kent.
ICFTU slates Japan
OLLOWING a two-week visit to
Japan, a panel from the Fact- Finding and Conciliation Commission on Freedom of Association of the International Labour Office left Tokyo late in January 1965. The Commission has been investigating the complaints submitted by a number of Japanese trade unions against the Japanese Government for delaying the ratification of ILO Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association. On this occasion Omer Becu, General Secretary of the ICFTU, said “We express our sincere satisfaction at the thorough and conscientious way in which the Committee has engaged itself in its difficult task. “On the other hand we cannot but state our disappointment at the fact that the Japanese Government, while
certain commitments to the Commission, failed to make such concrete undertakings which could have satisfied the trade unions, with the result that the trade unions did not see a way to accepting the proposals submitted by the Commission. “An illustration of this failure is the long-drawn-out conflict between the Government and the Japan Teachers’ Union (Nikkyoso) which has centred on the refusal of the Government to bargain collectively on a central level. Although the Government has agreed with the view of the Commission that the creation of mutual confidence is necessary to establish a satisfactory labour management relationship, the Government still refuses to engage in collective _ negotiations with the Teachers’ Union on a central level.”
Kitson collection
has already been reported in
The Week that the Sheffield AEU District Committee has asked Sheffield shop stewards to support the Kitson Aid Fund. Following on this, Shardlow workers are organising, on a factory basis, a collection-to help the DATA-sponsored campaign. Shardlows is one of the most important and highly organised engineering factories in the Sheffield area. It has a great tradition of solidarity for workers engaged in union struggles. It is very good to see this solidarity extended to the struggle against Apartheid.
A letter
INCE Smethwick the colour issue
has taken a turn for the worse.
The Labour Government has gone
one better than the Tories by tight-
ening up the regulations on immigra-
tion, to the extent of humiliating
coloured people at their point of
disembarkation with mass X-ray
units and medical checks.
Noticeable is the silence of the
Labour left on this important social
issue. For those who believe in a
socialist Britain, there should now be
a campaign in the labour movement
for an act to outlaw racial discrim-
ination based on Fenner Brockway’s
Bill, coupled with a vigorous demand
for the speeding up of Labour’s
housing programme and legislation
against unscrupulous landlords.
The climate is worsening for
-coloured immigrants and residents
alike, and the behaviour of the
present Government is helping to
worsen. this situation still further.
Let there be no half measures by
the Government: unless we have
immediate action the Fascists will
take advantage of the situation, aided
by the antics of the Tory Party. The
injection of racialism into the elec-
tion field could end with defeat of
Labour and the return of a Govern-
ment which would make a merciless
attack on the British working class.
It is in the interests of all workers,
coloured and white, to push for im-
mediate action by the Government
for vigorous measures against
racialism. Dick Skyers
S.A. Boycott
T the General Management
Committee meeting of Doncaster
Labour Party, a motion calling for
a concerted international economic
boycott of South Africa, to be led
by Britain, was passed by an over-
whelming majority. Harold Walker,
Doncaster’s Labour M.P., com-
mented that the majority of the Par-
liamentary Labour Party was against
such action, but he felt that he could
not urge anyone to vote against the
motion since it would imply that the
Government was not willing to con-
sider every measure that might help
end Apartheid.
An attempt by Young Socialist
delegates to include a clause criticis-
ing Mr. Wilson for concluding the
present Buccaneer contract was,
however, heavily defeated.