Amongst those attending the Seamen's Meeting in Trafalgar Square last Sunday was Lord Russell, who joined the open-air meeting immediately after speaking to the Vietnam Solidarity Conference held elsewhere in London, In a statement Lord Russell said: "Harold Wilson has recently voted himself a salary of £280 a week. The seamen have asked for more than £15 a week. Harold Wilson has declared a state of emergency. If the old age pensioners ask for more than £3, he may declare war. "The Wilson Government is hypocritical, It is also brutal and corrupt. The seamen are waging a struggle for the entire working class, whose just claims to the wealth of this country are denied. If a Tory Government threatened to send in troops and the navy, it would risk a general strike. It isa Tabour regime which has been used for this purpose, This makes clear once and for all that the Labour Government is the servant of Tory capitalists in Britain, They are the servants also of the real masters, the capitalists in Washington, who are committing countless war crimes and atrocities against the people of Vietnam. The Vietnamese struggle for the same rights, the same economic justice, the same political control and the same self-respect for which the seamen stand and fight today. "This weekend I sponsored a National Conference of Solidarity with the Vietnam ese. I consider it an honour to join you today. You struggle on behalf of the people of Britain. The enemy is the same, The seamen and the people of Vietnam struggle against the same exploiters. When the exploited join hands a real victory will be assured," Delegates to the Vietnam Solidarity Conference made a collection for the N.U.S. Strike Fund, and then adjourned their own meeting in order to attend in force at Trafalgar Square.
"No Neutrality" in the Seamen's Struggle "When there is a battle between Labour and capital there can be no neutrality", said Mrs. Bidwell, Labour MP for Southall in Trafalgar Square. This sense of unity was also displayed at meetings throughout the country. Speaking to 200 seamen in Manchester on Monday, Frank Allaun, MP for Salford East, said that more than 150 Labour MPs were now supporting their fight. "In addition to the 110 who had given to the strike fund, about 50 others are in sympathy put were unavailable when the collection was taken, If the price of. the incomes policy is to refuse seamen more than £14 for a 56-hour week, then the price is too high", he added. Amongst local Labour Parties giving full support to the strike were Salford City L.P., which condemed the incomes policy, and Stockport Central L.P.,which passed a resolution declaring: "We believe that the strike called by the N.U.S. should not be subject to attacks from Labour spokesmen, including the Prime Minister." Donations to the strike fund have included £100 from A.S.S.E.T., £100 from the Association of Scientific Workers, £100 from print workers in Liverpool, an undertaking by Construction Workers at Fidlers Ferry, Cheshire, to levy themselves a regular £1 a week for as long as the strike lasts, an initial