Bradford and the Bosses

The 'indefatigable' Mr. Roy Brad.ford has , in the words of the new cocina Sen NS ‘liberal' Unionist paper 'Fortnight', just returned from "slogging round half of Europe" selling Ulster.

His plump though 'mailed' fist has as always been stuffed full of pound notes - free gifts to speculators whc care to exploit the labour market here, and make no mistake about it a large part of Mr. Bradford's glowing testimonials to Ulster consisted of praise for its cheap labour Mr. Bradford tells industrialists that we have a ‘readily available pool of labour" - that is thousands of unemployed. He points out that thanks to a scarcity of jobs, those Ulstermen who do work have to be content with low wages our labour costs are lower than for example in England". He tells Europeans ‘your very high wage rates are a worrying factor to your industrialists", he assures them that government industrial policies here are based on the assumption that cheap labour be exploited.

He assures these businessmen that Trade Unions here are quite happy to see this:- "industrial relations in Northern Ireland are among the very best in the United Kingdom.

Indeed the number of working days lost in the first five months of this year fell by one-third whereas in Britain during the same period they rose by two-thirds."

And what kind of wonder society is Bradford's policy creating. The same issue of 'Fortnight' comments on a survey of Downpatrick carried out by the Child Poverty Action Group. The survey leaves a sad tarnish on Bradford's brass. It destroys the myth that all people are poor because they don't work, most of the desperately poor in Downpatrick do work, and yet because of abysmally low wages they are no better off than the unemployed.

Downpatrick has in fact more poverty thau distressed areas in Britain. What is true of Downpatrick is true of a hundred other 'normal!

Ulster towns. The average wage in Ulster is £4-10-0d. less than in Britain.

competition "Il DON'T PLACE VERY MUCH RELIANCE ON THE CAMERON REPORT BECAUSE THE EVIDENCE GIVEN TOIT WASN'T UNDER OATH." Then deputy commissioner for Belfast, Sam Bradley, 20th October 1970 at the Scarman tribunal.

AT LEAST A THIRD OF THE RUC WERE RC's,"

date.

THE TRIBUNAL." Justice Scarman.

Mr. Bradley's remark.

eee mn This weeks competition is for readers to find‘a seven letter which means that someone is "NOT BEING FULLY FRANK" while under oath. As a clue we might add that one word would begin with P and end with Y, and generally is looked upon with disfavour in the courts.

stable - Mr. Samuel Bradley.

'Fortnight' does ask what are the Trade Unions doing about "low wages". A fair question. In fact the Northern Committee of the I.C.T.U. has just been given a grant of £10,000 by the government. This illustrates the close co-operation between it and the government. The money will be spent on training more 1.C.T.U. policemen to ensure that Northern workers live in 'responsible poverty. militant There are militant shop stewards and rank and file union members in Ulster. They lack the cohesion of similar groups in Britain. In Britain most of the major strikes this year have been unofficial and most of the major victories by workers come in unofficial strikes. Shop stewards and rank and file militants here should meet on an industry-wide or area basis, whichever is the more practical, and discuss demands.

They should demand a minimum wage of £20, a demand which would merely put Ulster's workers in line with the British T.U.C. which is campaigning for the same thing -they should also ask why the I.C.T.U. has never ever campaigned effectively for wage parity with workers in Britain.

They should demand state investment in industry in Northern Ireland to provide full employment. We have already argued that unemployment and low wages go hand in hand. We should not beg for more private industry attracted by promise of a low wage economy.

Workers here should discuss the whole nature of their part in industrial society. This month 500 delegates meet in Britain at the 8th National Conference on Workers Control. When socialism triumphs in Ireland workers must control factory life. Militants should demand the maximum amount of control possible within private industry, and that new state industry should operate under workers control.

"AT THE TIME LAST AUGUST Same man, same "MR, BRADLEY, YOU ARE NOT BEING FULLY FRANK WITH Same day, immediately after word Prize is a personal visit from our new assistant head conA WEST BELFAST P.D. HAS BEEN FORMED. IT MEETS ON TUESDAY NIGHTS AT 43 BALKAN STREET.

PEOPLE LIVING IN W. BELFAST ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND. Comrades, We are setting up this branch of P.D. in the working class areas of North and West Belfast in which we live. It is a development long overdue and very neccessary when we see how these areas are being exploited or abandoned by politicians of all hues; when many thousands of people live below the poverty line in squalid buildings a hundred years, old, and when the ghetto-mindedness of the inhabitants is being used for aims which will not further their own interests.

We, who are setting up this branch, live in the area, and therefore know the conditions and have suffered under the jackboot of the rich. We have seen our parents rot in houses not fit for pigs, cheated by politicians(who live in large upper middle class surroundings), and indoctrinated with bigotry by reactionary clergy. We have seen how divisions have been propogated in the working class to stop its growth, to hinder working people escaping from their slums, and to mercilessly subject them to the greed of rich English, American and German industrialists. vermin West Belfast is infested with vermin who preach about ‘uniting Ireland', using all the old patriotism and emotionalism to brainwash us into blind acceptance of themselves and their hypocrisies. To these we say: take a good look at De Valera's republic: the working class slums, the rich industrialists, the aristocratic gentry, and then try to mouth your lies tous. The time has come when the Irish Workers want more than the rule of patriotic Irish nobles, want more than slums when they risk their lives for their country, want more than the Blaney's and Haugheys in which to place their trust.

West Belfast is not the only slum area in Ireland. All of Ireland needs to be cleansed of the parasites that devour it, and not just the north. We intend to fight these leeches throughout the land and to show.the workers the neccessity of the fight for their own freedom.. West Belfast is only one of a number of P.D. groups active in working class areas - to its success we devote ourselves.

The call of our revolution shall not be "God save Ireland", but "God save the Irish poor" and hellrot the treacherous politicians who deceive us.

The Secretary (West Belfast P.D.)

FREE CITIZEN 30th OCTOBER 1970