the spinelessness of the Labour Party reformists.
hall with gold.
Instead we get a pathetic scheme which doesn't levy any tax at all on the oil companies (except for ordinary corporation tax, which is a tiny drop in their huge profit bucket) until they have collected their initial investment back almost zwice over, and then allows them a 20% return on that (now repaid) investment until the wells run dry. Smaller "poor Fields are to be completely exempt from the tax. This poverty is so dire that the typical small field will only' contribute about L250 million to the ail monopolies" coffen.
Of course the other issues in Labour's programme control of marketing and a stake in the extraction operations - still have to be settled. But the Government's putletic track record this time round shows just how incapable they are of facing up to the companies. A lot of huffing and puffing about killing the goose that lays the golden ege, and a tiny dose of economic saholage (chat pales into insignificance beside the sort of scunts that the bosses tried on in Chile and Portugal), suddenly finding new 'problems areventing THE LABOUR GOVERNMENT's announcement last week that it was setting the rate of the new tax on the profits to be made out of North Sea Oil (the Petroleum Revenue Tax -PRT) at the absurdly low rate of 45% comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with the immense might of the oil monopolies and Only a few months ago, Labour was talking high and mighty about setting up a Government concern with a monopoly over all the output of the North Sea fields, taking majority holdings in all the North Sea firms, and imposing a swingeing tax on oil profits that would once more pave the streets of White the starting up of production, and the Government came tumbling down like a house of cards. Any bets that we are about to see a few repeat performances?
The fact is that the capitalist state is an instrument for serving the interests of the capitalist class, not undermining then. Any Government basing its policies on that state will have cnough trouble trying to take over a rubber duck factory that wanted to put up a fight, much less dealing with multi national giants like the oil monopolies.
There is only one power that can break the power of these monsters -the organised working class, Trade whonists are already involved in a big fight with the oil companies over conditions in the oil fields, the oilrolated industries, and the regions they ure affecting. It is important that they extend these struggles to take up the whole question of the role of these finns in the economy, and link the daily struggies to the light for the nationalitasion of the all niogopolies, and the creation of an integrated energy plan, as a key part of a planned, socialist coonomy.
WHAT'S WORKERS IN BIRMINGHAM GET THE SAME AS IN LONDON
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PARITY? IT'S WHERE THE CAR