SEAMEN'S STRIKE
By John Walters
: London
Prime Minister Wilson is becoming. rather desperate in face of the absolutely solid front that the striking British seamen have | shown.to:all blandishments, promises..and threats. In a statement in the House of Commons June 20 he startled his-audience by alleging | that :some sort of sinister. influence is preventing settlement of. the dispute.
-Wilson said, "It has been apparent.for some time -- and I do not. say this without having good reason for saying it -- that since :the Court ofEnquiry's report, a.few individuals have brought pressure to bear on a-select few on the Executive Council of the NUS, -who in: turn have been able to dominate the majority of. that. otherwise sturdy union...this tightly knit group of politically: motivated men who, as the last general election showed, utterly failed to. secure acceptance: of their views by the British electorate, but who now are determined to exercise backstage. pressures . forcing great hardship on the members of the union and their fami-" lies, and endangering the security of the industry and the economic welfare of the nation.
When pressed to Peveal who these men “were, Wilson refused, retreating into dark hints that "all" would be revealed at the appropriate time:.: Naturally his remarks have been taken as implying that the. National;-Union of Seamen is being manipulated by men-. bers of the. Communist: -party.. It is true that. one or. two members of the CP are-involved in. the leadership of the strike, but it is. | pure fantasy to suggest. that in some mysterious way the whole body of British seamen are:-unconscious, puppets in a red. plot.
The British Communist. party in fact has played an ambiguous role, to say tthe least, in the seamen's strike. While its paper, the Morning Star (formerly the Daily Worker), has given support to ‘the Seamen and. full :coverage to the dispute, its leading militant — on the docks, Jack Dash, :at a meeting of dockers. which he called ~ did not put the question of sympathetic action to the vote. He merely said that he would leave it to the conscience of the dockers present. This was-in spite of a clear call by the NUS for the blacking of all. British ships. Dash thus. ‘betrayed the seamen, because. -the dockers had. been ready. to respond to a,call to action. They ~ were disoriented. by the move, leaving the meeting not knowing if’ there had ibeen-a decision or. not. ..: {y.
Wilson hinted in his speech that the NUS Executive Council had been willing to compromise when he talked to them June 17. The implication:was that after this, the "reds" intervened. Yet the -fact remains that he met the Executive | Council at 2:55 p.m.; they left Downing Street at 3:40 p.m.-and at 6:50 p.m. issued a States ment rejecting any promises. This.,was. adopted unanimously.
believe Wilson, the "hidden hand gang" were. extraordinarily effi-. cient, brainwashing: ‘forty-eight men in -so short a Hime»: ,
The alternative is that Wilson misrepresented ‘what happened at the meeting. This is by far the most likely. Wilson's reputation has. gained many dimensions since Be; hook t office, not. least being that for’ “dishonesty. aos aps on .
Perhaps the ‘best indication of the real situation among: ‘the’ seamen is the votes being taken up and down the country at the ports. The press and the Tories have been agitating for a secret ballot amongst, the.seamen on the question of the Court of Enquiry's report. On June’ 20 they, and Wilson, received their answer; the South Shields branch of the NUS did take a secret ballot, the result being. 609: votes in favor of the Executive Council's decision, and only: 43 against. Meetings-held at Liverpool,. Hull, Glasgow and Southampton were all well attended. and, each. went. ‘on record as: being solidiy behind the Executive. Council and its. unanimous stand for their original demand of a 40-hour week now. The firmness of the =~ ranks must have been clear to Wilson; he ~ turned to red- baiting ‘to -! see if this: would split the solid front.
Having. tried, with the. help. of George Woodcock, the general secretary of the Trades Union Council, and other top union brass” to isolate the seamen from the rest. ‘of the trade-union movement, Wilson now tries his splitting tactics on the NUS. Commenting on Wilson's statement, Jim Worthington. of the NUS Executive Council said, "I am not a member of any party, clique or group. I owe no allegiance: to anyone but the National Union of Seamen and the -'< Merseyside seamen in particular." He went on to say that the prime minister and Mr. Ford. Geddes (the employers spokesman) were speaking with the same ‘voice. DPany “As ‘a first move to promote strikebreaking activity, the government is to use the Royal Navy to regularly supply Scottish — islands; and the Royal Air Force is to help maintain'parcél post to Northern Ireland. Also the RAF are to begin flying out certain items for export that have to meet delivery dates. This is obvi-" ously the beginning. British ports are near to clogged with idle™ vessels. No doubt we can expect to see the navy start moving ships in an effort to keep the docks open.
The seamen are now facing the bitterest phase of their struggle, having been deserted by the top brass of the official union movement. Under constant press attacks, they now face attempted disruption in their own ranks -- attempts that seem to. be failing at the moment. 7
Their main hope for. sympathetic action now lies with the International Federation of Transport Workers whose support would ” prove decisive in the effort to tie up all British ships.
Lastly they have to find a way of activating the support and sympathy that they have among the rank and file of the British
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unions. This support ‘is present, as is witnessed by the donations that are coming in to the strike fund from all over the. British Isles. The problem facing the seamen is to get this support translated into action.
This should be’ the concern of all revolutionary Marxists as. well, for the seamen's struggle is of the greatest significance ‘to. the. pattern that will be set for the coming period in Britain.
- RABRICIO OJEDA "