22 JANUARY 1954, Page 3

A Fig t to the Finish which the trade union

movement is left to manage its own affairs without interference. This is sound enough, but sooner or later the question of Communist-captured unions will have to be discussed in no mealy-mouthed terms. The director of the National Federated Electrical Association has said' bluntly that the ETU's tactics are " a full implementation of Communist doctrine and method." He is much more likely to be right than those observers who imagine that the dispute is about wages only and who see no relevance in the fact .that Communists are in absolute control of the union. Since when have members of the Communist Party holding high office in the trade union movement been concerned only with the proper concerns of trade unions ? Their real aim is political and their pattern of conduct is laid down by the Communist World Federation of Trade Unions. Why should it be assumed, in the circumstances, that the tactics into which the great majority of the union's members are hoodwinked or dragooned by Communists are anything other than " a full implementation of Communist doctrine and leadership " ? This is a fight to the finish, not essentially between the employers and their employees but between the employers and the Communist wreckers. The employers therefore would do well to make the distinction more carefully than they have in the past. They should name the enemy clearly and make it plain that their fight is not essentially with their work people. Is it tactically wise to lock them out '?