7 War Crimes Tribunal, " 8 Special exemptions to overwork!
U.S. military failure, Mi 9 Yugoslav trade unions and strikes, "11 ~=+4Hull bus strike over, "12 Rising illiteracy, IS WILSON WINNING? The November trade figures certainly appear to be good news for the Labour Cabinet, Wilson will undoubtedly claim that these figures completely justify the policies which he has taken since July, It is,however, necessary to look at them a bit closer before we concede victory to Mr, Wilson, ‘The Financial Times of December 14th had a serious and interesting article on the question, It noted two favourable circumstances in November: (1) that importers had been delaying shipments until after the dropping of the import surcharge; (2) a drop of 2% in import prices since the spring. It concludes that the dropping of the surcharge will lead to deficits in the next two months, However, it notes that there are also signs of a long term trend favouring the balance of payments, Firstly, imports of food and basic materials were down quite sharply - these two items not being affected by the imports surcharge. This drop undoubtedly reflects the slackening of internal demand - a euphemism for lower living standards - caused by Wilson's deflationary measures, The second feature is the increase in exports, these being 7% up in value in the first eleven months of this year.
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Looking to the future, the paper points out that the relaxing of home demand may increase unit cost and thus increase export prices, It also notes that everything depends upon how the American economy fares, Its last statement is the most disturbing of all: "A sustained increase of probably double this amount" (the 7% increase in value of exports) "will be needed if exports are to lead the economy into growth at a fast enough rate to prevent a further increase in unemployment." So maybe Mr. Wilson is winning - but only at the probable cost of increasing unemployment throughout 1967, and only if his luck holds, For the left, the important thing is not whether this or that policy looks like solving the economic problems of capitalist Britain, but to what extent the working class can defend its gains and go on to the offensive. If Mr, Wilson solves his problems circumstances will be more favourable to -::%¢%- a mobilisation for a struggle by wor**rs to achieve their expectations, BOMBS ON HANOI According to Tass bombs have been dropped for the first time on residental areas, within Hanoi city limits, Mr, Wilson and Mr, Brown have made great play of their mealy~mouthed protest they made when the Americans bombed oil depots near Hanoi earlier this year, They must be made to protest again and more forcibly. If they don't they must be branded as accomplices in the crime, TORY BARBARISM The escape of that poor devil, Frank Mitchell, from Dartmoor has given the Tories a chance to display their atavistic nature in all its most narrow-minded hypocrisy. They would like to destroy every humanitarian advance made in the last century in the field of the treatment of prisoners, They seek in this way to make up for their political bankruptcy by mobilising the most backward sections of the population on this question. This kind of activity generates the atmosphere in which fascism flourishes. In our criticism of Mr. Wilson, who facilitates a rightward evolution of the Tory Party by his politics, we should not forget this fact,