Union Reds
From the Reed R. C. Sinclair
Sir: I have no wish to inflict on your readers a detailed reply to the tedious pretentiousness of Edward Pearce's article 'Reds on the Mantelpiece' (January 19).
As a voluntary trade union official in a teachers' union. I regard much of Mr Pearce's article as a gratuitous insult to trade unionists. It may surprise him to know that out of innumerable meetings that I have attended in recent years politics has Peen mentioned once by a member, and that by inadvertence. Officers are elected to help to protect the living standards of their members in a time of galloping inflation. Their members pay a substantial subscription and expect their officers to be vigilant and conscientious on their behalf. If they carry out this trust, I assume they will be classified as subversives by those who think like Mr Pearce. Our members are angry with the Government and I can detect signs of increasing militancy. They are not so because they are communists or even left-wing in sympathy. They see a government policy which restricts their salary increase to an annual amount far below the annual rate of inflation. Those who are trying to buy their own houses and provide comfort and security for their families will find it hard to see other wage and salary earners as the villains of the piece. They will draw their own conclusions from the burgeoning profits of banks and many companies, from the unbridled efforts of the land speculators, including apparently a cabinet minister and from the lush salaries enjoyed by some company chairmen. Our members would feel little resentment, I am sure, at the attitude of miners and footplatemen. They would, I hope, admire their sturdy fight in the face of so much organised hostility. They would envy their ability to use their industrial muscle power.
I am glad to see that Mr Pearce is neither "naive or childish" about leftwing enemies. Twice he refers to Chile. I am not sure that Senor Allende would have been my electoral choice. But I regret that Mr Pearce found it unnecessary to remind your readers that Senor Allende was democratically elected and overthrown by a disgusting military coup which has done 'nothing to enhance the stature of those who proclaim their opposition to Marxism. Perhaps a concern for democracy and a dislike for military violence is "naive and childish" as well?
In a week which has seen a former CIA agent admit to the most barefaced intrusion into the lives of British citizens and the Monday Club demanding identity cards for all, I would have thought that our liberties were in very grave danger indeed. One of the liberties is the freedom of men to combine in a trade union to protect their living standards and the security of their jobs.
I have no doubt that Mr Pearce's views will gladden the hearts of those who seek to divide the political forces opposed to the present Government.
Yet, I would suggest, sir, that you ought to deplore his views as much as any trade unionist. You have drawn our attention to the dangers of 'consensus' politics. Our political system needs a healthy opposition. The last thing that we need is government by a detestable self-opinionated elitist group who are a greater threat to our liberties than any communists on a union committee.
Mr Pearce deals in clicMs. "No Reds under the Bed. They are on the mantelpiece..." If I were a Labour voter in Richmond I would be afraid that we had a Conservative cuckoo in
the nest. R. C. Sinclair 79 Antrim Road, Lisburn, Co. Antrim, Ireland
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