The T.U.C. on Communism
The tactics with which a handful of Communists set out to capture the key positions in the trade unions are becoming fairly widely known. The tactics required to get them out of those positions are less widely underitood. The Communists are determined and clever. They are also, of course, quite ready to use systeniatic lying as an instrument of policy. All these facts are set out, with chapter and verse, in a T.U.C. Pamphlet called " The Tactics of Disruption " published on Tuesday It clearly follows that, if this piece of mischief is to be rooted out, non-Communist trade unionists must be more determined and more clever than the intruders. Judging by the pamphlet, they have a long way to go. It shows once more that it is the failure of union members to take an active interest in their own affairs which allows the Communist minority to get its way. It does not show that the T.U.C. or the local organisations are acquiring the skill which is needed if their tremendous weight is to be used effectively. It is clear enough from the pamphlet that Communists are able to do a great deal of damage by "capturing the trades councils—the local associations of union representatives. It is not at all clear that the T.U.C. is sufficiently closely in touch with the trades .councils to be able to block this Communist gambit. It is not enough to expose the Communist methods. It is not enough to exhort the rank and file to rally round and attend branch meetings. Nobody needs to be reminded that the Communists are a tiny minority who have no right to mislead the working man. The voting at any by-election at which a Communist stands—the endless tale of derisory_ polls and lost deposits—will show that. If the T.U.C. ,wants to give union members. a fuller sense of danger it must reverse the process of centralisation and give more responsibility to the local organisations,
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