TWO STORIES in the national press last week summed up perfectly the insanity of the capitalist system.
The first, on 28 August, concerned the latest review of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. The report noted that unemployment was at a 35-year high, and went on to predict that seasonally adjusted unemployment would rise to 1¼ million by this winter with next year seeing a further jump to 1½ million (for you and me that's nearly 2 million unemployed). The NIER's proposals for dealing with this catastrophic situation: cautious reflation - and even this met with the cautious criticism of the editorial writers of The Times. for the workers in occupation at NVT Wolverhampton, who are well aware of the dangers of their struggle becoming isolated. Where one Tribune MP, Leslie Huckfield, did actively intervene in the motor-cycle industry, he only helped lead the workers at NVT Meriden up the blind alley of reformism in the form of a workers' co-operative and in doing so isolated them from a class-wide fight against unemploy ment.
The Meriden occupation could have been used as a base by the workers to campaign