UNITE FOR SOCIALIST POLICIES!
The fact that it has been necessary for trade unienists to organise a lobby of Parliament on the question of unemployment is, in itself, a telling indictment of the Labour Government, The Labour | Party was created by the trade unions to fight politically for the interests of the working class. One of the main reasons why this was thought necessary was because the other parties - Tories and Liberals - justified unemployment on “economic grounds." Now we have a Labour Government doing exactly the same. Not in an honest way, mind you, but by hiding behind the views of such men as the Governer of the Bank of England. Moreover, the facts speak for themselves: there are more people unemployed in Britain now than at any time since the thirties. The Government is fond of blaming unofficial strikes and restrictive practices for the country's economic ills. Yet it is true to say that there are more days lost in one week through the Government's policy nf creating unemployment than in a . -whole year through strikes. This fact alone shows the hypocrisy of the Government's arguments. Unemployment is artificially induced fer one major reason only: that of helping to keep wages down, It is often argued that it is necessary to keep wages down to stop Britain from being priced out of the export market, This, too, is hypocritical. It is precisely those countries like Japan and Germany, which are driving British goods out of markets all over the world, which have registered the highest increases in wages in recent years. The basic reason why employers want to keep wages down is so that profits can be higher, This Government, because it has neither the will nor the courage to fight the employers, has to come out in favour of profits. ‘ilson and co, are dedicated to solving Britain's economic ills; because they have rejected socialist policies they are bound to tred the traditional capitalist path. Yet capitalist measures will not solve Britain's problems: thirteen years of Tory Government proved that. When Labour was elected te power in 1964 the mass of trade unionists and Labour Party supporters expected something different from what they got from the Tories. Yet all we get is the same old medicine in a differently-labelled bottle. When the wage-freeze failed to get Wilson out of the mess he introduced devaluatien, a policy which everyone admits will brimg about a lowering of the standard of living.