Wing money from the workers, but as a capitalist way out for a capitalist problem. Both the Labour party and the Tories protect the interests of the capitalist class, both pass bills and acts to do so, e.g., In Place of Strife and the Tories" Industrial Relations Act, or the 300,000 rise in unemployment under the Labour government and now the one million total under the Tories. This act forms only part of the general attack on the working class to get British capitalism out of a deep crisis and restore its profit margins.
One sure way of doing this is to cut real wages and what better way than to raise prices and rents while the trade unions cannot tight back for a corresponding rise, or are to be bogged down in rules and regulations to be effective. The Fair Rents Bill must be seen in this context and must be fought as such. In Cumbernauld the fight has already started, public meetings and rallies have been well attended and the call has gone out for a massive withholding of the rent increases when they come into effect at the end of May. The local trades council have called for a total withholding of the rents and the formation of an action committee consisting of tenants, trade unionists and unemployed. This committee was formed on 20 March.
As yet, no clear strategy has been laid down as to how the fight will be conducted, but one thing is clear from the speeches that trades council members and trade unionists have been making at the public meetings, "if any tenant who is on rent strike is evicted then strike action will follow automatically until the tenant is reinstated." This is what the trades council say, it remains to be seen if they will In Preston, like many other towns, council house rents are going up this month. before the Housing Finance Bill becomes law. Tenants are being asked to pay an average of 50 p more rent until next April, when there will be another rise. Other towns will begin to pay El in October.
The Housing Finance Bill is but one of a number of recent cuts in the social services aimed at bringing about a decline in the standard of living of the working class but it is the one which will hit the working class hardest. Its aim is to end subsidised housing, making a profit from council tenants. At the present time people buying their own homes get £727 million in subsidy when council tenants get only £302 million (figures from The Times, 27 February). In three years time council houses should have reached a 'fair rent' which will be the market value and about double the present rent. Accompanying this fair rent is a means test which at first will decrease the rent of some tenants and let others pay a reduced increase. However, even those who do get a rebate will eventually be paying more rent since in three years the basic rent will have doubled. Despite all the machinery introduced to deal with the rebate system, money given in rebates will not be large enough to affect the profits made from council housing. And the large majority of council tenants