In Britain the solidarity movement must be built. The Anti-Internment League and the Irish Solidarity Campaign, which will probably be merged shortly, are the most effective focus for action. Their initiatives must receive unstinted support, and these actions used to build an ongoing mass movement.
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: Tariq Ali, Robin Blackburn, Peter Gowan, Alan Jones, Martin Meteyard, John Weal, Judith White. DISTRIBUTION: Phil Sanders Published by Relgocrest for The Red Mole, 182 Pentonville Road, London N.l. 01-837 6954 Printed by F.l. Litho (T.U.) Ltd., 182 Pentonville Road, London N.I. 01-837 9987 The Jones Aldington report on the docks, although rejected by the docks delegates conference on Thursday, 27 July, seems likely to remain the basis for any settlement to end the strike. But we should be clear that its proposals offer absolutely no solution to the problems faced by dockworkers.
The report proposes solutions to the surplus of unattached dockworkers. This surplus has been caused by the pursuit of profits through containerisation and the consequences of competition from the unregistered ports. At several points any agreement along the lines proposed would mean accepting that workers should shoulder the burden for the workings of capitalism. Firstly, the report proposes a 14 per cent reduction in the work force through voluntary redundancies. Secondly, it suggests the possibility of workers paying for the work-sharing arrangements (through loss of payment for unworked shifts) which are to absorb the men now on the Temporary Unattached Register (TUR) in the period before the red undancies take effect.
If workers are not to accept responsibility for the workings of the market, then they should reject any redundancies, any lengthening of the dole queue, and the financial hardship this leads to. The demand for No Redundancies should be counterposed to the suggested agreement, as should a demand for Work-Sharing Without Loss Of Pay. The demand against loss of pay will undoubtedly be raised in the docks, and win much support. The acceptance of work-sharing by the employers, even in this limited sense, opens úp real possibilities. The "impracticality" of the idea will no longer inhibit the growth of a real struggle against redundancies. Developments in the docks therefore offer the possibility of explaining in a revolutionary context central demands around which the struggle will develop.
WHY THE REPORT WAS REJECTED The dockers have concentrated primarily on winning container groupage work, not on the abolition of the TUR. The delegates' rejection (To page 8)
Below: Oliver MacDonald explains why after the release of the Pentonville Five