Marx Socialist made

Scan page 9

past been dominated by the extreme right-wingers Peter Jacques and Jim 'Ins' Hamil ton.

At Education, Roy Jackson's job has been to ensure minimal uproar over Labour's cuts and argue that in order not to endanger the £1.6 million subsidy from Tebbit, shop stewards should learn nothing more practical than how to interview member.

CIA The International Department relates more to the Foreign Office than the tank and file (members of the staff have actually been seconded to the FO). In close liaison with CIA-backed unions, it has worked to bring 'safe TUC-style structures to control the rank and file in Third World countries (most recently Kenya and Zimbabwe).

There is also a Finance and Publicity Department.

Each Department employs upwards of 10 staff. Its head is answerable to Murray. Murray's deputy, Norman Willis, and the two Assistant General Secretaries, Ken Graham and David the Engineers" their dedication to the economic and social status quo.

Any troublemakers among the staff are worn down or get out.

Sub-committees of the General Council in theory administer the areas 'serviced by the full-timers.

In reality decisions are often initiated by the Congress House apparatus, working with the more far-seeing General Council members - those who can propound the most convincing and saleable strategy for the continued subordination of workers to the system.

They have a lot of scope given the open-ended and contradictory nature of Congress decisions, and the lack of expert knowledge and resources many General Council members experience as they move away from their immediate concerns and their natural immersion in these more immediate concerns (quangos, second homes, Board seats. House of Lords seats...)

The mingling of the appetites of the apparatus and the statesmen takes place in the Finance and General Purposes CommHUGH SCANLON elopment Council and the Joint Liaison Committee with the Labour Party.

Through these mechanisms Murray worked with Jones and Scanlon in the '70s to develop and sustain new forms of class collaboration.

Wage controls

As Robert Tayior writes of the genesis of wage control from the TUC side "In the spring of 1975, Murray and his full-time advisers grew impatient with the inability or refusal of the unions to reduce their wage demands"

The "inner cabinet" then went to Downing St and bargained the £6 flat rate policy with no mandate, later pres enting the General Council and Congress with a fait accompli.

Similarly, today's eight points for putting a brave face on accepting Tebbit were drafted first by full. timers, then passed on to the General Council for rubberstamping and a Special CongreSS with no amendments allowed.

The power of the fulltime apparatus as against the General Council is today on the upswing.

The system of industrial committees set up to devegreater links between individual unions, has been a means of actually imposing more control from Congress House.

Peter Jacques, as Secretary of the Health Services Committee has played an important role in limiting the NHS dispute.

When the Printing Industries Committee tried to tighten up on the anti Tebbit eight points, they were subject to interference from Ken Graham.

Yet strictly speaking Graham and Jacques, like Murray, are purely civil servants' (and unlike Murray they are not even elected).

Suppressing

Len himself is not retic. ent in following Woodcock's dictum on suppressing the decision making powers of Congress.

In 1979 Paul Kennedy, Manchester branch secretmotions.

Paul wilted under prolonged pressure and agreed to go along with this conspiracy to withdraw the motion in favour of a composite which did not call for the end of all talks.

So once again the wishes of Len prevailed against the democratic desire of the members of UCATT CPSA, and the Bakers.

This is the harsh reality of TUC decision-making and we should see attempts to restructure the General Council in this context.

The issue of election or appointment cannot be divorced from the fight for democracy at all levels, or viewed in isolation.

Take for example the next step down, voting at Congress itself.

As TUC historian Vic Allen comments, looking over the years "General Council members who have been chairmen of delegation meetings have used their authority over procedural matters to question the competency of delegations to determine policy.

"When everything else has failed, the opinion of delegation meetings has been flouted and union block votes cast to meet General Council requirements"

We all remember Carion and Scanlon.

In other words undemocratic centralising tendencies operate at évery level and are on the increase.

The present trade group electoral units are unrepresentative and the present system depends on patronage, but we should still stand by the principle of election not appointment, and argue that those standing for the General Council should stand in front of the whole movement on their record.

We would like to see the whole Congress annually elect not only the General Council but also Murray and the other officials.

But to make this proposal reality, we will have to intensify our fight to introduce or develop democracy within each TUC affiliate. MARY WILKINS introduces Wage Labour and Capital' and Wages, price and profit' A common jibe hurled at Marxists is that they never read Marx. And many socialists feel especially guilty about not reading Marx's works on economics but find 1,000 pages of 'Capital', Vol.1 a very daunting prospect.

Marx probably realised this himself, and tried to summarise the basic points of his theory about capital very concisely, and in language which beginners at economics would find easy to understand.

In 1847 Marx wrote 'Wage labour and capital' which explains how capital is produced and how capitalist exploitation takes place. • This booklet is based on talks Marx gave at meetings of the German Workers' Society Brussels.

But I think that 'Wages, price and profit' written 18 years later in 1865, is clearer. And this booklet is probably the best way to start reading about Marx's theory of capitalism. It's not too long, and is divided into short chapters, each dealing with one particular subject.

One of the hardest things about Marx's writing is grasping precisely what he means by the particular terms he uses. What, for example, is 'labour-power' and how exactly does it differ from just plain 'labour'? In 'Wages, price And he doesn't just explain what decides the level of wages, prices and profit. He also shows how labour-power is a thing, a commodity, with a price just like any other commodity; how a capitalist pays for workers' labour power at its value, but still makes a profit; and how profit is, nonetheless the direct product of exploiting workers.

Marx ends up by showing that the only way in which workers will get a fair, decent standard of living, is by arguing not for 'A fair day's wage for a fair day's work', but for the revolutionary demand 'Abolition of the wages system' and doing away with capitalism altogether.

Marx; not so obscure are a bit involved, and keep mentioning people you've never even heard of! So I'd suggest to anyone who finds Marx a bit hard to read, to start at Chapter 6 on 'Value and Labour'.

After reading 'Wages, price and profit' you may even feel like having a bash at 'Capital Vol.1. Once you get into the hang of it, it's quite readable, and Marx does give lots of examples to explain what he means.

What's more, at the same time as scientifically explaining how capitalisn works, Marx make you share his disgust and anger at the misery and injustice capitalism produces - and makes you feel you've got to organise and fight back.

Scan page 10

ridist Organiser September 2 1982 Page 14