Should workers act to boycott the pipeline?

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from SO, c/o 28 Middle Lane, WHAT ISSUE unites Margaret Thatcher, the Krem. lin, and the Scottish TUC?

Answer - the decision of John Brown Engineering, Clydebank, to defy the Reagan embargo and sell turbines to the Soviet Union for use on the Siberian oil/gas pipeline.

That curious line-up of forces must surely give us reason to pause and consider the full significance of the decision.

Detente

The sailing from the Clydeside of the Soviet ship with the six turbines has been greeted with ecstasy by the mouthpieces of the Kremlin.. Soviet Weekly has applauded the decision of the Tory Cabinet that they would defy the US government and back John Brown Engineering even to the extent of promising to cover any possible losses which may ensue as a result Latest issue of Polish Solidarity Campaign News Late - articles on resistance in Poland and solidarity in Britain and abroad. of retaliatory action taken by the American Administration.

Soviet Weekly regards the stand taken by West European governments as a victory for detente.

But an independent class view of the issue is essential, dictated neither by the requirements of Thatcher, Reagan nor the Kremlin.

Reagan claims the embargo is aimed at putting pressure on the Kremlin to set about creating a less repressive regime in Poland. Of course, we are not misled by the hypocrisy of Reagan and we do not believe that the cause of Solidarity is in any way advanced by the policies of the American Government.

But that does not mean that we are against any boycott of trade, by anybody, with the Soviet bloc until the military dictatorship in Poland is removed. Consider - if a workers' government were in power in Britain, would we not be in favour of such a government taking appropriate action to achieve that end?

The answer must surely be in the affirmative. And luis Aukur' 1982 300 ma Polish Solidarity Campaign News ÷j V for the present? Surely we are in favour of trade unions and other working class organisations taking boycott action where possible and likely to be effective.

On the part of the STUC there is a proper concern with the jobs of the men employed at Clydebank, but it cannot be overlooked that there are also political considerations involved as far as some of the top men in the Scottish trade union movement are concerned.

Those who harbour illusions that the system prevailing in the Soviet bloc is in some way 'socialist' are no doubt relieved that comrade Brezhnev and his puppet Jaruzelski will be put to as little inconvenience as possible.

When the Glasgow Polish Solidarity Committee first sought the support of the STUC, one of the main objections raised by that body was a reference in a leaflet of the PSC to support for Solidarity's call for a trade boycott of the Soviet bloc. In their reply the STUC highlighted the threat posed to the jobs of the men at John Brown Engineering.

Unfortunately some of the people brandishing the jobs threat have been selective and inconsistent in their approach over the years, for they put a good deal less emphasis upon that angle when correctly advocating blacking Rolls Royce aero engines and Jarrow built warships bound for Chile.

We cannot be unmindful of the threat to the livelihoods of the workers at Clydebank. Advancing of a boycott in principle cannot be pursued irrespective of the consequences for the British working class which will in fact determine their attitude to a boycott.

The action of the Massey Ferguson employees earlier this year in blacking components from Ursus and compelling management to seek alternative sources was a well thought out and with their environment, they are frequently pushed off the best land onto the margins - the hillsides, jungle fringes etc - where they have to "over-cultivate" OI "over graze" simply to survive.

The capitalist money market and inequality in land distribution encourages further inequality. The poor get poorer and become landless labourers, starve or drift to the cities, while the rich can actually get richer during lean times by hiring labour at below its value and selling stored surpluses at over the odds.

Agriculture in the West is not so healthy, either. It is overdependent on chemical fertilisers, pesticides, expensive machinery and fossil fuels, while having a dangerously restricted genetic basis for crop production. Far from recognising this, the West seeks to reduce hird World agriculture to this state.

effective instance of the blacking tactic. More's the pity that other examples of such action have not followed in the wake of the Coventry decision.

like Solidarity activists in Poland, do not rejoice at the sailing of the 'Happy Worker' with its load of turbines from the Clydeside. We are well aware that many of those who express concern. about job security at Clydebank or applaud the action as a blow to Cold War Reaganism, are more strongly The so-called Green Revolution - the development of high yield varieties of wheat and rice _ benefitted only those who could afford the fertiliser, pestand weed-killers, irrigation and drainage necessary to realise these yields (or those who actually supplied such goods and services - mainly Western companies).

This is not an outstanding book - for one thing, it totally ignores women, it's also impossible to find anything in it without going through the whole book, since it lacks both index and contents page - but nevertheless, a useful and informative one.

*Food for Beginners by Susan George and Nigel Paige is published by Writers and Readers at £2.50.

Brezhnev motivated by a concern to safeguard what they wrongly believe to be the progressive aspects of Stalinism. U$ Aid

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by lan McCalman

The Spring begins-two months of resistance in Poland 18 8PL. 30p plus 20p p&p.

by Les Hearn

N'No rejoicing Socialists in Britain,