The 'left" MPs must follow Stan Thorne's stand and vote against the 1952281 y The Guardian of 17 April described the 'almost stunned calm over the post-budget meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Because the left are incapable of seeing beyond capitalism now, because they cannot conceive of the struggle tor socialism taking place outside of and against parliament and the rest of the capitalist state, they are incapable of developing a strategy for socialism against the anti-working class policies of Healey and the Labour Government. The 'lefts' are therefore reduced to impotent word-mongering or silence —as in the case of Michaci Foot.
The decision of the Scottish TUC to support all unions seeking to taprove their members living standards is to be welcomed. But to have a real effect class wide demands that both defend the working class's living standards and jobs, and provide the basis for an alternative programme of socialist measures to the right-wing policies of the Labour Government.
At the present time this means fighting throughout the labour morebudget. But alternative policies are also policy, statutory or otherwise; full government workers and any other that fell workers challenging the social contection of working class living stan in industries hit by short-time und lay-offs;
it must be translated into action around sliding scale of expenditure to comstered under the guidance of the services. *Opposition to any form of incomes support for the railworkers and local backed by the NOD.
Sliding scale * A sliding scale of wages and benetits calculated on a working class cost ofliving index, providing automatic prodards against the effects of inflation; *Nationalisation without compensa this klad of problem. tion of any firm declaring redundancies, work-sharing with no loss of pay and under the control of the workers *Opposition to the budgot cuts and all cuts in social expenditure: for a pensate for inflation, to be adminiworkers" organisations in the socini 108890since the dispute began. 35D announced so far.