[I welcome] your tribute to "John Maclean - Revolutionary" in your December edition, and welcome your support for the John Maclean Society. Had the society done nothing else but [circulate] articles such as this, its existence would be justified. Its main purpose, however, is the publication of Maclean's most important writings and speeches, and I welcome your help in this connection. Maclean's speech from the dock in 1918 was probably his most important speech and its republication today is of great value. Lack of funds limits the society's efforts meantime, and this kind of support is most encouraging. Gathered together in the National Library of Scotland at Edinburgh [in the John Maclean Section] are all the surviving letters, articles and pamphlets written by Maclean, together with poems, articles, etc., written about him. I hope your Scottish readers will take advantage of this facility, and will also become members of the John Maclean Society. My own greatest hope is that the society will unite all Scottish [socialists].
There are several good reasons why as many comrades as possible should try to attend this year's workers control conference in Sheffield.
(1) There are likely to be about 1,000 useful people attending, e.g., trade unionists. [Likely] to be at least 50% of attendance [will be] students, members of various political tendencies from Young Liberals to the Communist Party (which now gives the workers control campaign luke-warm support).
(2) There are possibilities for some political advances to be made on various fronts. For instance, the present campaign is associated with [Guild] Socialist traditions as much as any other. The historical [root] which several leading members of the Institute of Workers Control have tried to revive, somewhat [uncritically], is that which existed on the left in Britain about 50 years ago. Although they are not excluded, the writings of Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, Luxemburg and Gramsci are allowed a somewhat vague, secondary place in the historical tradition. We can try to provide historical clarity here. In particular, discussions of the perspective for workers councils, dual power, etc., should be openly taken up. [Fears] that [these] titles will frighten off workers are, by and large, unfounded.
It will be relevant for us to bring in aspects of the workers' struggles of France in 1968, and of the movement for workers councils emerging in Poland and Czechoslovakia. There often appears to be [a] presumption that workers control [illegible]. The "participation versus control" argument [is illegible]. For example, Jack Jones has been politically embraced by many in the workers control movement despite the fact that he only advocates "participation". The same kind of [people who] embrace Jack Jones tend to over-emphasise the value of the struggle inside the Labour Party for industrial democracy. There is an over-rating of "open the books" demands (many firms will open the books to prove their arguments for maintaining profit margins).
(3) More practically, at Sheffield comrades should think out, in advance, the kind of political contributions they can each try to make from the platform in the plenary sessions.
(4) We can each try to organise ourselves into the main seminar groups (details of these should be sent out soon). Comrades will need to brief themselves on the workers control literature on particular industries, e.g., steel, coal, etc.
(5) There is real scope for making useful personal contact with shop stewards. Names and addresses should be compiled. There should be a [concerted] effort to sell appropriate literature.
Have readers of INTERNATIONAL thought of submitting papers to the conference? Write now for details to: Institute for Workers Control, 31, Goldsmith St., Nottingham. [It costs 10/— to register for the conference.]