The ruling class is well aware of the power of picketing and, for this reason, has been concentrating its attacks throughout the summer on this form of struggle. In the Footprint dispute in Sheffield police smashed into a mass picket, arresting the district secrelary of the AUEW and other pickets. On the legal front, according to a court decision made this April, it is now illegal for a picket to stand in the middle of the road in front of a scab even if no violerice is involved. Most serious of all, the trial of the Shrewsbury 24 is a systematic attempt to prevent all future use of mass and flying picketing.
The ruling class is completely aware of how vital the picketing issuc is. The first step at the beginning of the state of emergency was to set up a special central anti-picket command in Scotland Yard. This will have special mobile squads to sand out to attack pickets. The Home Secretary, Carr, announced this quite openly at a Leicester Tory meeting on 12 No. vember when he said "We have arranged for police forces to make co-operative arrange ments with their neighbouring forces so that at short notice they can send reinforcements." The employers are prepared to go beyond the use of the police. In the Evening Standard on 21 November, the director of the Coal Merchants" Federation of Great Britain, Mr. Leslie: Chambers, said quite openly that they would call in troops in order to get coal past the
followed by some unions, had successfully "put the Act on ice." The ice is now thawing: and with a vengrance. Ling the most vicious clauses of the Act and confirming the worst fears of trade unionists, the NIRC has launched an attack on the most basic right of the trade union movement the right to strike.
This attack exposes the bankruptcy of the way in which the union bureaucrats have fought the Act in the past. Only an all-out offensive against the Tories can force an end to the Act, the NIRC and the whole gamut of legal attacks on trade union rights. The sole purpose of an incomes policy, and that includes one proposed by a Labour government, is to undermine the power of the working cless, Fortunately, awareness of this fact is spreading rupidly throughout the for a long time. But the important thing is to start the struggle now, and we will find out in practice who isright. What has to be done is to start united action with every section of the working class movement- of which the trade union "lelts" are a very definite and, like it or not, very important part What even the CP members must realise, however, is that it is absurd to put yourself in a position where there is no way of carrying on the struggle if the trade union leaders do back out. This is why the shop stewards conferences, the strike committees and so on are so vital. If Jones and Scanlon back out, however, then at least some organisation will have been built which can carry forward the struggle. What is more, even if you think the main aim is to push the "lefts" into action, then the best were not ready for at that pout. cases.
Act. series of drawn-out skirmishes.
must be ended. of the left. had to rethink this strategy. To persist with the Industrial Relations Act would have meant a showdown with the working class movement-something which the Tories But the retreat by the government was only temporary they simply look a different tack and tured to the incomes policy and the criminal law, The freeze legislation imposed many of the same tough icg l restrictions on the right to strike as the Industrial Relations Act, and picketing came under fire through the prosecution of the Shrewsbury 24 and similar Today, as the Tories are preparing for a mjaor showdown, they are summoning up all the resources they have built up over the past years: the incomes policy, the criminal law the police, and the Industrial Relations But it would be wrong to assume that simply defeating the Tories in a showdown over Phase 3 would automatically drive them from office, They are capable of playing the octopus over again and, after a temporary retreat. find some new way of atlacking the working class, with the aim of wearing down its strength in a The working class movement, in order to end the Tory attacks once and forall, must direct its energies specifically against the brains behind the whole attack: the Tory government The massive strikes of the last few years have shaken the Tory government to is foundations The answer to getting rid of the Tories is obvious -it is necessary to unite the strike struggles into a decisive thrust to get rid of the Tory goverument. A general strike to bring down the Tory government must be the aim We can be absolutely certain that in the coming struggles there will exist the possibdity of an upsurge large enough to get rid of the Fourth, if the strike continues any length of time the working class will obviously want to start running various casential services for itself, but deny them to the government, the employers and the state. If this is not done the ruling class will use things to its own advantage. For example, in the power disputes they cut off power to council estates but kept it going to factories. The same was done in the gas workers dispute. In the miners strike, in the guise of supplying coul to pensioners, they tried to keep the coal merchants supplied. The working class has so organise lo ensure that it is its organisations which take these critical decisions and not the state For reasons such as these the working class has always had to form special clected organisations to wage every massive general strike. In the British General Strike, for example, elected Councils of Action in many areas issued permits to vehicies it belleved should be allowed to move and prevented others being moved Councils of Action also took over the handling of supplies and decided to whom they should be distributed. They alse organised and trained pickeis to defend the strike, and took over the pulicing of areas and kept che regular police and army out, All these types of organisation will be necessary to win any general scrike. A whole senes of measures of workers control will have to come to the forefront. All printing faciities will have to be taken over for the use of the working class Briant's in London has already shown on a smali scale what can be done here. Ail power tor government and employers promises should be cut off, while keeping it going to working class houses. Orgunisations must be set up to keep food supplies going. All these actions must be under the control of the Councils of Action which will enforce the democratic decisions taken by the striking workers and organise defence against police attacks. Without these things no massive sirike can be carried through to success.