One of Harold Wilson's more In manufacturing indust ssful achievements has been Tries where one-third of the war octructon or Labour as morist party. Lo this effect employees are women, the average wage of women is te wing of the Labour just over 10s a week. For a nc main, oy Duving i men £22 a week. naus ne nas been he ne lerably by the Labour Left Barbara Castle he refers to affectionately as But with the advent of a Labour barbara government in 1964 all this was was one of the leading of the Labour left in every to chance. barora casue ano the word. She was seen Antony reenwood were bought off to appease the Left in the marcus, at me nead of and make it feel as though it partnee demos against in South Africa ; etc. In was known for her wwer.lo a cerain extent t still does. Radical Barbara stayed in a government which kellite and after the sne was a consistent American butchery in Vietnam;
acopica racist pollcies at nome and abroad and was determined to crush the limited opposition of the trade unions. redhead, it vas basce on velocism, noto and out of social-reformist would have been varx. bur sure v even a consistent sickened by the policies of the Wilson government. Not so our Barbara. She confessed to the The cabiner's job is to take responsibility over the thole field. on 20 1H0 a CROME!
It gradually became clear even to Labour activists that the only 'red' thing about Barbara Castle was her hair and even that was erstwhile Bevanites. Barbara anscoverca nar she nkee power.
In the last week of August PLP the TUC took a decision to back strikes aimed at achieving equal pay fol WOLCHA We would have supported more faith in this if the TUC put this decision into practice by granting equal pay to the women employed Barbara's 'socialism' at TUC headquarters in London.
She loved travelling in chaufferanven cars, sne loved posine tor onotograpns. i once saw her at a Labour Party conference alighting from her car and waving to is about power " and you have got to be in power to get inings done.
If we want socialism in this country, we have got to have the power to bring it about.
Castle says that her job is to end the "old, chaotic methods of freeBarbara Castle is paid £8,500 a year regardless of her sex. i a latonal process Dasca o Scrap. If you want to end the wage-bargaining procedures then But what does Barbara Castle why not deal with the at its root and END THE FREE told but you can bet that its got nothing to do with public owner- capitalism to be ship and workers control. In fact expense of the British worker and rationalisation of British capitalism. She what Barbara Castle means is the wants to make it in particular the British women workers whose demands for equal should Barbara Castle be paid the always ignored.
more numane but as une sabou government are discovering to their cost this is an impossible same wages as ner renow-ministers if other women in low-paid jobs continue to be treated as unequals task. Reform is becomin and continue to alternatives are socia ism or barbarism and the trend of modern ina more mcanmeiess. 1u scrimaro Conference in the old Bevanite days Mrs Castle declared:
capitalism is towards barbarism. people are tired of being told about Jam LomOrrOW In Banks for example: at 31, at ane today. 1re workers or tis top of incremental scale, women country would agree with that TODAY but we think Mrs Castle get £800 compared with £1,120 In the House of Commons the makes them a trifle more alarming women in the refreshment room than the politician who knows get 30s a week LESS than men. he's talking crap and doesn't potner to nice it, the new breed of social-democrats combine reformist rhetoric with 1 reactionary measures, but they will fail. They narket wage bargaining in favou nave accelvca Ine workers or dis country for too long and in the long run they will be the losers.
What a load of Some workers will invariably move to the right. Others will look for a non-rerormist, non-stalinist alternative. The sooner this alternative begins to exist the better. In short, comrades, unity bolstered at the of the revolutionary left should become me watchword Why Equal pay it is estimated would cost British capitalism suffer up to £600 million a year At a Labour Party which is why big business is so determined to prevent "Young women from getting equal They want pay. The struggle for equal pay has already begun.
Socialists should back this struggle quite unequivocall
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mean by socialism. We are not MARKET. Why has British