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_ By JOHN WILLIAMSON
>. When the annual Trades Union.
ongress (TUC), representing its
a peytion members in Britain,
Be wed its weeks session in
ay ton, the Sunday Observer
eo it “depressing,” with its
,tttitude utterly unreasonable.”
.. was in line with the other
i Pitalist papers’ language about
© TUC being complacent, ir-

4

Prete e ret S pear es SN 2
“3 —

qeonsible, blind and .unpatri-

a Times carried an Open
ter to TUC General Secreta-

| 4a Vic Feather, chiding him for

ene “decisions by a show
hands in front of TV came-
ws resulting in “a state of
pars where “leaders, fright-
a of losing their followers,
‘ ave like the mediaeval bar-
4g of England . . .” It went on
ess its real worry with,
Yo n't you feel deep down that
fe oneress in session — are
| Ne real Parliament.”
as hy this consternation? Be-
Se in most key questions the
a C adopted an anti-Tory, anti-
Mployer attitude reflecting the
peving unity on a Left militant
ae The sole exception in
ee list newspaper treatment,
a the TUC decision to adopt
aw Wait and see” attitude on
ining the Common Market.
+he. Times, editorially called this

attitude real “statesmanship.”

Rear on the Common
tket issue, where the Left

By JULIO HERNANDEZ

__ ALGIERS — While soldiers

“ag among the military instal-
poens towards the trucks. Is-
aeli Colonel Amichai Levy sur-

 Yeys the manoeuvres with his

arms crossed.

th e€ sun begins to filter
een the tropical jungle’s foli-
~88e and over the plains not far
tom Kinshasa where the Para-

pee: stretches with its bar-
ass. jump towers and airplane
‘“abins for training.

Ss Levy and Congolese Major
hy B. Tshikeva, director of the
vate, board a jeep and the
lehicle immediately takes the

is lead of the line of trucks head-

Mg for a nearby airport. This
Aone Col. Levy is giving an-
er jump training class to his
Ongolese pupils, future mem-
€rs of the air-borne brigade.
Pon arrival, soldiers climb into
he Congolese Airforce DC-3’s.
; A more or less similar exhibit
Fuld be witnessed any morning
N Uganda, Ghana, Ivory Coast,
Ethiopia, Kenya, and many other
Countries of the African conti-
Rent where the Israeli army
€eps military missions. In the
Case of Congo there is a greater

_ activity,

Israel has played the major
Tole in the creation of the para-

troopers force of Congo and at

Present is in charge of increas-
Ing it in number and efficiency.
N short: military paratroops dev-
lopment in Congo—they have
fought Europeans mercenaries
8S well as the nationalist guer-
Tilla followers of Patrice Lu-

pyomba — is partially due to the
€dication of Israeli instructors.

 Mobutu tfained in Israel

The head of the Congolese re-

ak

Toopers Instruction Centre of.

forces were divided, the tradi-
tional right wing leaders who
still had a majority in the Gene-
ral Council, kept under cover.
Sir Sidney Green, railwaymen’s
right wing leader, in opening
Congress as Chairman, prattled
about workers participation in
management “to enable us to
come to just agreements with
management.” But even he,
knowing the sentiment in Con-
gress, declared, “We should say
to the present Government that
industrial relations in this coun-
try will be as smooth or as

‘rough as they desire to make

them.”

The main decisions of the
TUC. included unanimous Op-
position to Tory proposals to
limit the powers of the trade
unions with instructions to the
General Council to take action
to resist any interference with
the rights of free collective bar-
gaining; opposition to any wage
restraint and a call for a higher
wages _ incentive rejection of
Government policy of restraint
on the economy and adoption of
a policy of economic expansion
and growth; a Charter of Rights
for the elderly with increased
pensions as its central demand;
ending. of prescription charges
and improvement in National
Health Service; an end to the
“intellectual apartheid” in edu-
cation and “pollution of culture”
by introducing comprehensive

gime. himself, Gen. Joseph Mo-
putu, wears on his uniform the
paratrooper’s badge which he
obtained in- 1963 when the first
group of paratroopers-to-be —
which included Mobutu — went
to Tel-Aviv for training.

There were 243 of them. At
present, some of the first ones
have a higher rank, Major Tshi-
keva, for instance, director of
the Instruction Center, keeps in
his home as an ornament a beau-
tiful badge-like souvenir carved
in olive wood that reads: On
the occasion of his third visit to
Israel, we wish good luck to Maj.
A. B. Thikeva. August 26, 1966.”

After seven years, the army of
Congo-Kinshasa has an airborne
brigade comprising seven batta-
lions. This brigade was created

‘on May 17, 1968. Maj. Tshikeva

states that upon three hours
notice they are ready to fly to
any part of the Congolese terri-
tory. “In any case, our brigade
can counterattack in the east of
the country in less than five
hours”, he declares.

A similar balance is possible
in many countries of the con-
tinent towards which the Israeli
government has carefully ob-
served an alluring collaborating
policy. Along with the military
specialists, Israel complements
its scheme in the continent with
specialists in agriculture, indus-
trial technicians and administra-
tive cadres.

The military role played by
Israel in Africa is evident in
some outstanding facts:

It was as late as 1967 that the
majority of Israeli instructors
left Ethiopia, after creating spe-
cial forces for the army to fight
guerrillas opposing the govern-
men in the Eritria area, close
to the Red Sea.

bj PE oe Oe,

iLeft unity in British
Trades Union Congress

education and greater aid to the
arts; support for calling a Euro-
pean security conference to help
“ease tensions . . . between all
nations”; demand for U.S. with-
drawal from Vietnam and Brit-
ish disassociation from U.S.
war policy: an end to the Gov-
ernment’s sale of arms to South
Africa, and condemnation of the
persecution of Spanish workers.
Congress also demanded May
Day and New Years Day to be
public holidays.

The one sharp debate was on
the TUC attitude to Britain
joining the Common Market.
While the outcome was unsatis-
factory, nevertheless it could
not bring much cheer to the
Marketeers. The resolution most
favorable to entry received only
700,000 votes out of nine and a
half million; the resolution
sharply opposing entry was de-
feated by 5,746,000 to 3,215,000;
while the General Council reso-
lution (adopted by a majority of
one vote) to “wait and see” the
outcome of negotiations before
adopting an attitude was adopt-
ed by 6,073,000 to 1,361,000.
The transport and general work-
ers’ union, which supported the
“no entry” resolution, abstained
on the General Council resolu-
tion, while the AEF supported
the General Council. :

Except on the Common Mar-
ket issue, where the Left forces
were divided the generally mili-

neo-colonialism —

In 1967 two Israeli military
advisers were killed in Chad, in
an encounter with nationalist
guerrillas from the Chad Natio-
nal Liberation Front.

In Uganda, the Israeli Air
Force created a pilot’s school at
the Entebe airport and supplied
Israel-built Fouga-Magister air-
craft, to be’ used for training as
well as for strafing.
Israeli efforts backed by U.S.

However, the military side is
only one aspect of the question.
It is amazing that with only a 5
million dollar budget for foreign

aid — three fourths of it is de- -

dicated to African countries —
Israel is so active. Experts have
given thought to this and it has
been discovered that many small
Israeli enterprises investing in
Africa are only a disguise for
American capital behind them.

Israel’s policy of scholarship
to African students also reveals
a curious tendency. Since 1958,
when decolonization _ started,
some 1,500 Africans have studi-
ed agricultural specialties in
Israeli schools, and 700 more.
have followed a variety of
courses that go from medical
school to specialization in “com-
munal development” and “youth
movements,” Israelis have even
introduced ‘national lotteries in
Dahomey and Upper Volta—and
they are its present managers.

But Israel has carefully avoid-
ed creating economists and en-
terprise directors as they would
be a menace to the monopoly of
employment that European and
American cadres retain in the
African key industries. Between
1958 and 1969 only 40 African
economy specialists have gradu-
ated from Israeli schools.

—(Daily World)

tant and progressive program
adopted was fought for on the
floor by a combination of Labor
Left and Communist forces.

In the elections to the General
Council, five new members were
elected. These include the Com-
munist general secretary of the
Cinematograph and Television
Technicians, Mr. Alan Sapper,

the progressive J. Macgougan of -

the Garment Workers union,
and. the militant general secre-
tary of the newly affiliated Na-
tional Union of Teachers, Ed-
ward Bretton.

A near miss occurred when
miners’ left wing se¢retary
Lawrence Daly received 5,224,-
000 to his right wing opponent’s
5,595,000. Another Left Wing
candidate, standing for the first
time, Mrs. Christine Page of the
shop assistants union received
3,731,000. |

Well-known left wingers Jack
Jones and H. Urwin (TGWU),
Hugh Scanlon (AEF), H. Doughy
(Draughtsmen), R. Brigenshaw
(printers) and T. Parry (fire-
men) were all re-elected. The
active right wing core in the
General Council includes Lord
Cooper and Sir Fred Hayday
(General & Municipal), Sir Sid-
ney Greene and Coldrick, Can-
non (electricians), Sir Sidney
Ford (miners), Peel (textile) and
J. Boyd (AEF).

The only speaker at Congress
to get the “slow handclap”
(British audience reaction of
“enuf” and “get off’) was the
fraternal delegate from the AFL-
CIO, .T. Gleason. He supported
Nixon’s aggression in Vietnam
and Cambodia. In contrast, Miss
Huguette Plamondon, the Cana-

TURN TO BOOKS

dian CLC fraternal delegate was
loudly cheered when she con-
demned American military ag-
gression.

Significant events connected
with, but outside the TUC, in-
cluded a 300-strong youth lobby
demanding a youth trade union
conference; and a Marx Memor-
ial Library one-day exhibition of
books, pamphlets, journals, leaf-
lets and other materials of in-
terest to trade unionists.

The Communist daily Morning
Star, as usual, was read by most
delegates and could be seen on
the platform also. Not only were
Congress discussions and deci-
sions carried in detail but art-
icles appeared from Vic Feather,
Hugh Scanlon, Jack Jones, Eddie
Marsden, Bill Warman—each a
national trade union leader—as
well as from the CP -national
industrial organizer, Bert Ramel-
son.

The Star also carried over a
page of paid advertisements
from trade unions greeting the
TOC: ,

The TUC took place on a
background of a_ threatened
strike by 200,000 local munici-
pal workers for a basic wage of
£16.10.0 ($39.60); deep discon-
tent among auto workers with
over 20,000 out of work due to
strikes; with the farm workers

demanding a 40 hour week and

£18. ($43.20) weekly basic pay.
The government announces in-
creased rents and fares,-threat-
ens to remove the dental services
from the National Health Ser-
vice, while Prime Minister Heath
says he is determined to defy the
TUC’s opposition to legal curbs
and wage restraints.

Program for struggle

WOMEN ON THE JOB: A
Marxist-Leninist View by Judy
Edelman. New Outlook Publish-
ers. 1970. 21 pages..50 cents a
copy.

Obtainable at PROGRESS
BOOKS, 487 Adelaide West,
Toronto, or your local bookstore.

The following are excerpts
from a review of this pamphlet
prepared by Irene Knight, a
young factory worker from Chi-
cago, and member of the Young
Workers Liberation League.

“we do the hardest work and

get paid the least for it.” That’s .

the familiar complaint of women
in my shop and the new pamph-
let “Women on the Job: A.Marx-
ist-Leninist View,” issued by the
National Women’s Commission
of the Communist Party, and
written by Judy Edelman who
is presently National Labor Sec-
retary of the Young Workers
Liberation League, goes a long
way in putting the problems of
working class women right on
the table where they belong.

“Women on the Job” is a real
blow to the bosses and the pro-
ponents of male supremacy as it
clearly illustrates the problems
of working class women, shows
how they hurt the entire class,
and points to a direction and
program for struggle.

For instance, the section on
“Wage Discrimination’ states:
“most women face wage dis-
crimination based on sex regard-
less of how qualified they are or
what category of job they are
applying for.”’ These are the cold
facts.

Later, it shows that only 3.7
percent of all. working women
are organized into unions, in-
cluding white collar, office work-
ers. This means that over 25 mil-

lion are still without even the
most minimal protection of a
union. The pamphlet then cites
the example of the National
Farm Workers as an inspiration
to proving that women can and
must be organized.

But how can this be accom-
plished? First using the example
of white and black workers,
Judy asks, “If white workers
want to raise their wages sub-
stantially, can they do it alone?
No, because the company can
fight them by hiring more Black
workers at the lower wage...”

“Similarly, as long as men do
not join with women in the fight
for equal wages, job opportuni-
ties, etc., the struggle of all
workers is weakened.” (p. 14)

However, what do we do in
cases where a shop is predomin-
antly composed of women and
the fight for higher wages can-
not be done on the basis of or-
ganizing men and women work-
ers into one shop although a
company may nationally employ
both men and women? And what
happens when a shop is com-
posed primarily of Black and
Spanish-speaking women where
we have to combat racism and
unite women who speak differ-
ent languages? Because a shop
is composed of women does not
necessarily guarantee unity.
How do we fight for class con-
sciousness among | women?
Around what issues?

“Women on the Job: A Marx-
ist-Leninist: View,” uncovers the
whys and_ wherefors of wo-
men's exploitation and raises
some important questions con-
cerning the tactical, nitty-gritty
work of women's liberation.
Read it and discuss it with your
shopmates.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1970—PAGE 7