RRPPORT Van: KARA Aan: Hoofd B No.: E.703 DAT:

PAR:-

l5 ~~~ I t fC •

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Hier'>ij gelieve U een rapport over de maand -lllm!_ 1950 aan te treffen, dat dzz. van SardiM werd ontvangen, om te bèliOUden.

14.8. 1950

s CRET FOTO

No. ZBjj

THE BRITISH C<YtlUNIST PARTY.

June 1950. ,

1 • THE FIGHT FOR PEACE.

On 31 May a meeting of the Bureau of the Permanent Canmi ttee of the World Peace Congress (otherwise known ns thc Partisans of Peace or World Dofenders of Peace) was held at the Cora Hotel, Upper Woburn Place, W,C.1. This ~as attended by :-

BAILLOT, Louis Henri .

cm TSns .rm.

COTTON, :,wc. fugenie.

d' ARBOUSSIER, Gabriel.

CHAl.iBRUN, Gilbert de,

de GRADA, Dr. Raffaele .

FARGE, Yves Louis.

FENOALTEA, Dr. Georges.

GUYOT, 1ime. Fernande.

HEIBERG, Edvard Om!' en.

HODINOVA-SPURNA, Mme. Agnes ---- or Ariezkä.

Probably aoting for Guy de BOYSSON, president of the World Faderation of Demoeratic Youth.

Chinese interpreter,

Vice-ehairman of the Women's International Democratie Federation. Member of the Perrno.ncnt Commission of the French Partisans of Peace.

Vice-president of the World Peace Congress. General Secretary of the Communist­controlled Raasemblement Democratique Africain.

i.!ember of the Secretariat of the Horld Peace Coner~ss and a French Communist Deputy,

An Italian member of the Secretariat of tho Y1orld Peaoe Congress.

An organiser of the Paria Peace Congress of April 1949. Fell ow­travelling v.rri ter o.nd propagandist .

Italian barrister. On the Secretariat of the \/orld Peacc Congress.

Administrative secretary and treasurer of the World Peace Congress.

Chalrman of the Dani ah Peac e Commi ttee.

Deputy-chairman of the Czech Communist ~ Party. Deputy and vice-president of

the Czech National Council . Vice-president of the World Peace Congress. Member of the executi ve oommittee of the Women's International Demoeratic Federation.

/KORNEITCHUK, Alexander Evdokanovi tch.

KORNEI'ICHUK, Alexonder 'l~'I.~\O Evdokomovi toh,

LAFFITTE, Jean Gabriel.

~ LECONTE @ MORGAN , Clnude.

if LE LEAP, Alain .

LIU NING I.

\J l&mETRIER, Elyane.

j} MOOS, Mrs. Elisabeth.

POPOV, Alexei Yakoubovi•oh.

ROBÉSON, Paul,

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Pr~sidcnt of the Supreme Counoil of tho Ukraine S.S.R. :,{cmbcr of the Pennanent Ccrnmi ttee of the World Peace Congress, April 1949.

General secretary of the World Peaoe Congress . An activo and influential French communist,

.Eai tor of "In Defence of Peaoe", the journnl of the World Peaoe Canmittee,

Seoretary-goneral of the C.G.T. Vice- president of the Worl d Faderation of Tro.des Unions. Member of the French COIIIInittee of the Partisans of Peaoe,

Vioe-~hairman of the Chinese Branch of the \iorld Peace Congrcss. Vice-president of the World Federation of Trades Unions. Head of the International Liaison Department of the All-China Federation of Labour .

Secrotary employcd by the World Peace Committee.

Diractor of fll!lerioan (Peaoe} Cempaign Co!!uni ttce.

Int~rpreter to KORNEI'ICHUK.

Chairmen of the Communist-controlled Counoil on Afrioan AffeJ ra.

V ROGGE, Otto John. Bureau merober of the World Peace

Canr.rl. ttee, Amerioan la~er.

I SEREl'U ~ , Enilio. Italian ca~nunist senator.

!.1ember of the Italian National Commi ttee of Partisans of Pence,

~·

v V

TAKMAN, J ohn Oliver.

TILLON, Charles.

TU<X.u:NEN..,. Terttu 1liriam. -

SGorctary of the Swedish Pence Committee.

Menber of the \forld P~ace Canmittee, Prominent French ca::ununist deputy,

Communist secretory of the Fi nnish r7omen • s Decocratic U::ague.

The Conference \Wl:S also attend<dl. by J .G. CROïiTHER, J ,D, B.lS!<NAL and Ivor !JONTAGU of the British Peaoe Commi ttee,

Deoisions were taken as follows:-

(a) That the oampaign for signaturea for the Stockholm Appeal should go on and thnt those "oonsoiously opposing" the o.ppeal shoul<l be branded as uannorigers . A canpetitive spirit should also be foster cd between nationa.l peace oommi ttees i .n their colleetien of signatures.

/(b)

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(b) Thnt an international burenu of frcn ten to tuelve persons should be set up forthwith in Genon to mako arrangemcnts for the Second \ïorld Peace Congreas to be held there on or o.bout 15 October, 1950. (The British Peace Cammittee has been asked urgently to designo.te t~o representatives on this bureau). Should the Italian ?cace Committee fail to obtain visas for the proposed 2,500 delegates to this Congress, Czechoslova.kia or Poland ;:ere to be preterred as alternative sites.

(o) That the agenda of the Congress should be:

(1) The progressof the ~orld Feo.ce Campaign sinoe the Paria Congress in April 1949.

(2) Action for the prohibition of the atomie weapon.

(d) Tho.t, following the invitation of the Czech Peaoe Committee, the International Jury for Feace ?rizes should be convened in Czechoslova.kia in the second half of August 1950.

(e) That the monthly review of the \1orld ?eace Congress, "IN DEFENCE OF PEACE", should in future be produced every fortnight .

~ During the course of the discussiena the British ?eaoe Committee was stralgly cri ticised and i ts canpaign described as the most backward peaoe movement in the world. The British rcpresentatives aooepted the cri ticisrn.

On 1 June a meeting orgo.nist:.'<l by thc British ?eaoe Canmittee uas held at Lincoln's Inn Fields. Somc 5,000 people attendcd. It was addressed by:- Frederick John HORNrn:~, the General Secretary of tho Fire Brigades Union, who presided, J.G. CRQ,7THER, Alain Le LFJU', Gabrial d 'ARBOUSSIER, rlimc. HODJNOVA-SP!.IRNAJo the Dean of OD.nterbury, Georges FENOALTEA, Alexander .KóRfTEITCHUK, LIU ND'fG I ancl Paul ROBliSON.

It was announeed that a sum of ~500 had been collocted at the meeting, ana that n total of ~50,000 ~ignatures had been received 1n fav~ ot the Stockholm pctition to bo.n atomid warfo.re .

2. CAMPAIGN .AGAINST C<Y.PULSORY TERRITORIAL SERVICE. ~

The Party is e.iming to deveiop a wide oampaign to protest against t'- foor years oomp.1ls<ry part-tme service in the Terri torial Arm:! of ~tional service men on oompletion of their eighteen ~onths service in the Regular Arrny, whioh i t denotmoes as a further move to mili tarise you.th and prepare for a third world war. This campaign is planned to ooincide approximately with the time when the firat group of national service men will b~ passing from their regular to territerial units.

The Party's in ten ti on is to make the fight ~in st this oanpulsory service a ct:ntral feature of the Young CO!lll:tunist League' s cempaign to gain the support of youth for the Natienul Peaoe ?etition and the Peaoe Congress. The methods proposed for carrying out thi s onmpaign inolude the following:-

(a) 1be publication of artioles in "Challenge 11 and the "Daily Werker".

(b) The production of a laaflet by the Po.rty and Young Communist League.

( c) Measures to obtain resolutions from every type of organisation urging the cancellation of oompulaory territerial service.

/(d) ...

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(d) Efforts to preeure the \7ithdraual of all trade union support fro~ territerial reoruiting oommi ttees ,

(e) Det!lonstrations in every main centre on or about 1 July 1950,

3. THE CCHi!UNIST PARTY 1JIID TRADE UNION CON'F'ElUNC:ES,

The Communist Party has been s~1ewhat lees successful in o.ttracting support fol' its policies o.t tho tra.de union conferences held in late May e.nd during June. As was to be expeoted there was virtually no response from the Nationa.l Union of Genernl and . iunicipa.l Workers, which, tagether with the Transport and General \iorkers Union, is most solid in its support of Trades Union Congress polioy.

At the annual conference of the Fire Brigades Union, houever, resolutions were pa.ssed cond~ing wcge reatraint and political discrimination intrade unions, \Vhile the T.U.C. •-:ns criticieed in this conneetion for "attempting to disrupt the indi vi-iual trn~c unions by interfering wi th their autonany". These all reflected Co;;u.1unist l'arty polioy, Fraternal dele-gates, who also spoke, \~ere present from Hungery and the Soviet Union. f.Jl invitation from the Soviet Union to sc~d a return delegation of five wes accept ed.

Another union whose annual conference preeeedinga reflected Communist polioy was the National Union of Vehicle Builders, Oppoaition to wage reatraint was rea.ffirrncd and new inoreases wore deme.nded , while an emergency resolution urging strike action in support of the ~1 a week ~e increase claim was aarried by 26 vetes to 6.

The Tobacoo Workers Union weloomed, as fraternal delegate , r ledrioh 1\Ql}T.Iz..E~ Nntional Secretnry of the Czechoslova.k Food and Tobaoco

1vorkers Union, who spoke in praise of ·t ht. tracle union movement in his own country and in fav:>ur of the tobacco industry as a nutional enterprise.

The estimated proportion of 15 C()ll!llunists t o 32 non-Gornmunists in the National Committee of the Amalgamated Engineering Uhion was refleoted in the proceedings of its meeting at Blackpool during June. Resolutions oalling for nationalisation without compensa.tion and condemning the use of trcops to safeguard essential supplies in unoffioial strikes, were defeated, while tuo reso·lutions on peace were kept off the agenda because the Bri tish ?eace Canmittee is listed as a "proscribcd or ganisation" by the Labour Party, to which the A.E. U, is affiliated. It was announced thnt the result of' voting in the A.E.U. sectien of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions' ballot on the ~1 wa.ge claim had bc.en 143,579 in faveur of arbitration against 51,280 in faveur of strike action.

At the meeting of the Association of Supervisory Staffs, Exeoutives and Teohnioians the Exeoutive was authorised by 5830 vetes to 3340 to draw up altero.tions to the rules so as to prevent Cooununists from holding official posi tions in the Assooiation. This v,ras after a resolution which would have meant dismissing Communiste now holding full - tirue positions had been defeatcd by 4,600 votes to 4,160.

SEC E

T't!E REVOLUTIONJ,RY C<lAl.:UlUST PARTY.

The Natlonal Catunittee of the new Trotskyist organise.tion ~hich has taken the place of the Revolutione.ry Communist Party he.s reoently expressed s~tisfaction over the progress of its penetratien into the Labour Party. The new orga.nisation is to all intents e.nd purposes the sazne as the Revolutionary Conununist Party, whioh ha.s oeased to exist vnly in name. No official title ha.s been given to the organisation in view of its work ~á-thin t ne Labour l:,ac-ty , o.nd it is norma.lly referred to by its membere as ~the ~lu~~ The Nationa.l Committee claim that internal relations are good,

ancrthat the fusion octweon the old Majority nnd lUnority Groups of the Revolutiona.ry Communist Party is being increasingly strengthened.

In spite of these claims there is considerable friction and disagreement b~~Heen a ~~~~~~ ~= t~e mvre prominent memhers and the lea.der­ship, and a number of well-kno'I7Il Trotskyists have been expelled or have resigned from the organico.tion within thc past few months. Divergences of apinion have largely been caused by a failure of co-ordino.tion and under­standing, and by the :l.ack of ir.fo:mation and clear direction, which have resulted fron. t!'l.<'l secrecy in which the organisation is shrouded. An important devclopment has been the complete break between Jack HASTON and Gerard HEALY,\7ho wero respectively the leaders of the old .Majority Group end Mincri ty Group. In J.Ia.rch 1950 Iirl.STON r esignc..d and was at the same time expelled from the orga~sation, uhich ~s now virtua.lly controlled by HEALY from 77 , Sternheld .... venue, Strea tham, S. '11 . 2. The Executi ve Commi ttee accused HASTON of :W.vi.r.g gone over to "refor.llsm" and of he.ving braken with the old r evolui.ionary ideas. There is h ttle doubt that HASTON is disillusioned ov<:.r t!'le or~;"n."li~~~..::-.:-,•c proepects for success by means of the policy which it is at present pursuing. He is opposed to the present rigid discipline and the con.:Jplrcttüri.:..l attitude of the organisation , whioh he believes are contra.ry to i ts ovm interest a . He now appee.rs to have lost oonfidence in adop't:ing revolutionary methods e.nd to faveur the view that working openly within t!'le Labour· Pnrty offers a. better chance of sucoess. HASTON' s atti tudu has ob·r.iously contributed to the internal friction and dissatisfaction of u nt~bar of memoers with the present leadership.

The ~n~rgies of the orga~isatio, are being mainly directed at the moment towards promoting the Socialist Fellowship, the e.ctivities of which the Na.tional Cormnittc;;c cJ.aims are being s.djusted in accordance with its own requirements. The aim is to use the Fellowship as the vanguard in the drive for a truc socialist policy within the Labour Party and the trade union movement. Every effort is being made to strengthen and increase the memhership of the Fellowship. In addition partioular attention is being paid to you~: ..., .... k within the Labour League of Youth, propaganda in support of Yugos) e.via, arA ~ -r-a•. c;~ " ::; '-h e iru: .iuence of the organisation wi thin trade uni ons.

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