[A BLACK couple, David White, aged 62, and…]

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A BLACK couple, David White, aged 62, and his wife Lucille, who both suffered multiple injuries after a savage beating when 17 police officers raided their Stoke Newington (North London) house seven years ago without a search warrant, finally received an apology from Scotland Yard last week.

Two years ago in the High Court the judge accused the police of a five-year cover-up of their brutal and savage assaults by trying unsuccessfully to bring assault charges against the couple in order to try and escape the consequences of their own brutality.

The High Court awarded the couple £51,000 in damages; but following this judgement when papers were sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions agaisnt four particular officers, no case was brought because of the time which had passed since the assault — a delay caused by the police themselves!

And when the four faced the police's own internal disciplinary procedures, three were not disciplined for lack of evidence and the fourth was fined. The police refuse to say how much he was fined Gee whiz "US worker, visiting Soviet Union, sees economic progress". This gee-whiz headline comes not from Soviet Weekly, but from the would-be Trotskyist paper Militant (USA).

'Left Press' three weeks ago analysed an article from a small US would-be Trotskyist group. the RWL, which interpreted Leon Trotsky's idea, 'defend the USSR against imperialism', as meaning "paini a rose-tinted picture of the condition of the working class in deep down in our hearts and high up in our theory we know it is historically progressive.

The RWL is pretty obscure, not to say murky, but the article reflected an approach common to many other "Trotskyist" groups.

The US Militant for example. And Militant is far from obscure.

Another article on the same page is headlined. 'USSR s growth in 1983 impressive" and indignantly rejects "claims in the capitalist press that the Soviet economy is racked by crisis" When you have realised Socialism in One Country you can't have a crisis racked economy, can you comrade?

In fact, the growth in 1983 was 3% by official USSR figures, about 2% by Western estimates. Militant may think that is good but the USSR bureaucrats are very worried by the continuing slowdown of the growth of their economy. FACTS& FIGURES LAST week I promised some facts and figures on Third World based multinationals. First, however, some preliminary comments.

The figures are for foreign direct investment - meaning the sort of operation where a company in country A establishes a branch, a subsidiary, or a joint venture in country B.

This is by no means the biggest part of capital export. Investors from the oil-rich states of the Middle East, for example, hold some $35 billion of US As to the destinations of foreign direct investment -the US, the UK, France, Australia and Canada between them accounted for over 50% of the inflow in 1977-9 Some 30% of the world total went to Third World destinations - but overwhelmingly to a select few.

Of the 1978 stock of foreign direct investment in Third World countries, 17% was in OPEC countries, 14% in tax havens (like Bermuda), and 45% in just ten other countries -mostly the 'newly industrialising' states.

Direct investment flows from Third World countries to Third World countries are a tiny proportion of the world total flow -perhaps 1% in 1976-8. They are significant because they represent an entirely new - and fastalso been substantial foreign investor. The Economist reports:

"'The biggest, most successful Indian company abroad is the Birlas' Pan-African paper mill in Kenya. The Thapar group has a paper plant in Thailand, where Indo-Thai Rayon, a Birla joint venture, is also doing well. The Tatas have a successful palm vil plantation in Malaysia ...

Third World foreign direct investment has mostly been within regions: from Brazil, Argentina, or Mexico to other Latin American countries' from India, Hong Kong, Singapore etc. to other Asian countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka: and from the rich oil exporters to other Middle Eas. states (notably Egypt) and to Morocco.

On a regional scale, such flows are not quite so tiny as on the left, and George Wright, identified with the right wing. Others are George Henderson, Mick Martin, Marie Patterson, and Todd Sullivan. John Freeman and Larry Smith have withdrawn in favour of Todd, and Alex Kitson and Bill Morris have also withdrawn.

John Cousins (son of former T&G general secretary Frank) was spoken of as a likely candidate, but has taken a job as general secretary of the non-TUC Clearing Banks Union. He has endorsed Todd.

The contest will be far from a model of lively, open politics. Todd insists that he is not a left candidate, but a candidate of continuity. Wright insists that he is not a right-wing candidate and has no political differences with Todd. Both Wright and Todd have shown themselves well able to sell out struggles.

But it will certainly be a left/ right battle. As secretary of the Wales TUC, Wright distinguished himself with a document, 'A