Before May 14th, the entire British press couldn't spare enough ink and paper to bury the TUC call to action. 'Day of Shame' ran the headline in papers from the Mail to the Sun.
Any group of workers prepared to grin and bear the Tory policies was guaranteed a place on the front page. 'We Want to Work' or 'Rank-and File Rebel Over Day of Shame' followed each other in quick successon Having done their best to break union resistence, they then proceeded after May 14th) to ignore the mass turnout around the country. 'Flop of the Decade' declared the Express: "Fiesta Fiasco', echoed the Mirror (supposedly a supporter of the Labour Party).
Was this just a coincidence? Hardly. As GMWU Gen. Sec., David Basnett pointed out recently, the similarity in tone and even slogans was part oi a well-orchestrated offensive hatched in Downing Street.
Only weeks before, Basnett explains, the editors of five national dailies held 'secret' meetings with Mrs. Thatcher. •It is common knowiedge in Fleet Street that these meetings took place. They agreed upon a strategy that there would be some continuity netween mie bauers as lu what was happening".
wnat was in lact agreed was that the Tory press should unleash a hate campaign to break, belittle and dismiss union resistence.
Who, after reading the sustained barrage of Tory propa::cedom oi the press" What ireedom? The freedom of a few self-appointed press barons to saturate the market with their class-ridden prejudices?
What about the freedom of the millions who turned out on May 14th - but who lack the capital to run papers like the Sun or the Mail - to present their views?
Doesn't the smear campaign from Fleet Street make the need for a mass daily paper for the labour movement all the more urgent? A paper that will combat the lies & distortions put out and that - by guaranteeing an honest and open debate - will be a model of what press freedom should be all about?
JAMES PRIOR: Supposed to be 'soft' on the unions. He is now in charge of pushing through major attacks on the WHOLES.
Throughout the steel strike, one of the major factors that stopped the Tories in their tracks was the mass pickets that were organised. Up and down the country, steelworkers -and other workers mobilised in solidarity - brought the transport