Darity!

factors have beén Sccentuated, the deepening crisis of international capitalism and the sharpening of the class-struggle involving a recomposition of the working-class and of its vanguard; the increasing danger of decisive confrontations have determined the capitalist class to arm themselves legally and militarly. So we see the reinforcement of repression in many countries in Europe (German anti-Palestinian laws, Offences Against the State Amendment Act in Ireland, etc.); we see also European governments assisting Fascist movements (such as the MSI in Italy), arid the militarytechnological development of repression. Ireland is being used as a laboratory for civil war by the European ruling-class,and now techniques developed by the British Army will be used not only in Britain but also in other European countries, against militant working-class activity. The capitalists have.indeed a very sharp sense of international solidarity. To this type of solidarity we must oppose working-class internationalism; the ban of one organisation is setback for all the Left on an international. _ Stale, This is why the undersigned organisations, in spit of political differences with the Fourth -international, have decided to protest against: (Central Committee)

international)

(Gardiner Place) North of Ireland,” the ban of the Ligue Communiste and express their solidarity with this organisation and all those who face repression in the fight for Socialism.

SINN FEIN (KEVIN STREET) (Sean O’Bradaigh P.R.O.} - PEOPLE’S DEMOCRACY REVOLUTIONARY MARXIST GROUP (irish sympathizing section of the Fourth STATEMENT FROM SINN FEIN “Sinn Fein, despite many political disagreements with the Ligue Communiste in France, condemns the suppression of this organisation, which is on a par with the suppression by the British Government of political organisations in the Sean O 'Cionnaith, P.R.O.

The Socialist Workers ‘Movement and the Connolly Youth Movement have also expressed their solidarity with the Ligue Communiste.

‘On the second day of the Irish Transport & General Workers Union’s annual conference last month, six resolutions opposed to the very concept of national wage agreements were thrown out without discussion. Instead a motion submitted by the executive calling for a National Economic Council, of which a national wage agreement would be a natural part, was passed by 205 votes to 12. Immediately following this the Minister for Labour, Mr. O’ Leary made a dramatic appearance and announced the governments intention of establishing an N.E.C. Two observations are relevant here, Firstly, a total of 217 delegates attended the conference representing 150,000 members i.e. only about 1 representative per 700 members. How could the rank and file exert any Influence Over such an hierarchical conference? The way in which the anti-national wage agreement resolutions were crossed off the agenda answers that question.

Secondly, Mr. O' Leary’s appearance out of the blue was highly significant. it is obvious that the ITGWU leadership had already made certain arrangements with the government, not only above the heads of the ordinary members, but also above the heads of the conference delegates, The transparent way the deal was carried through marks a new all-time high, in the level of collaboration between the trade union bureaucracy and government and employers. is to crystallise this contempt, into a consistant programmatic struggle against the bureaucracy.

THE NATURE OF THE BUREAUCRACY But to do this it is necessary to have a precise understanding of the bureaucracy. However it is here that the trade union militants and socialists are weakest. The majority see the bureaucracy as just a political current, . albeit a dominant and reformist one, Thus their strategy for defeating the bureaucracy consists merely in appealing to the rank and file against the reformist positions of the bureaucracy. There is no recognition of the need to organise a special struggle against the bureaucracy itself. In this the vanguard elements only reflect the general confu. 2m of the rank and file and consequently have been unable to draw any significant section of the workers behind them with a clear cut lead.

it is true of course that the bureaucracy is a political current based on reformist ideas. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. Below the surface lies a series of material factors which determine these ideas, Chief among them are, exploitation and cultural privation of the workers under capitalism which reduces its capacity of self-administration. Because of this, the working susceptible to pressure exerted by the indirectly through the granting of social respectability.

ITGWU almost openly supported the class uses elements from other classes (notably the petty-bourgeoise) or trained by other classes, in order to help administer its affairs. These elements form a specific social layer with the labour movement. This layer not being deeply rooted in the working class itself becomes very government and employers and is easily bought off, either directly (through financial grants) or The growth of the bureaucracy in the Irish check, labour movement took a qualitative turn in 1912 with the defeat of Larkin in his fight against William O’Brien, The process of bureaucratisation wes consolidated during the second world war when the trade union movement failed utterly to fight the Wages Standstill Order and when the accompanying Trade Union Bill which aimed effectively to tie the unions to the state.

At this point a new era in the collaboration between the trade union bureaucracy and the government and employers was ushered in. Real wages fell by over 30% during the war and following the repeal of the wages Standstill Order in 1946 the working class made a furious attempt to recotip its lost ground. In order to protect the gains made by the employers auring the war the government made a deal with the bureaucracy to restrict wage increases solely to the lower paid for a year, Prices continued to rise in 1947 and another agreement was made to restrict all wage demands to an 11/- (52%p) increase. These agreements have become known. as the first and second wage rounds, Through this mechanism of wage rounds, the trade union bureaucracy, the government and employers keeps the workers pressure on capitalism in FIGHTING THE BUREAUCRACY It is clear from this that it would be entirely ineffectual to regard the bureaucracy as just a reformist political tendency. It is in reality a corrupt social layer which has been bought off by the capitalist system and functions as its agent in the labour movement. As such it is impossible to defeat the bureaucracy simply in the process of debate or through pr ndistic osure. The influence of the reaucracy can be defeated, only though :

CLASS STRUGGLE against the bureaucracy.

This class struggle must be waged at two levels, It must be waged by the trade union militants and socialists leading the workers in contravention of the deals worked out by the bureaucracy. The willingness of the workers to engage in unofficial action provides plenty of room to out-manoeuvre the bureaucracy on this front.

Of course there are dangerous pitfalls.