In reality, of course, all wage controls do is tie workers to the cost-strings of private enterprise. Workers are expected to make sacrifices so that bosses can create bigger profits for re-investment.
At a time when inflation is surging UNITY ahead and - with massive loans to state industry as well - this will be the equivalent of asking workers to take a wage cut. The result will only be - as Callaghan found out to his cost in the "winter of discontent" — a wages explosion.
As can be seen, for all its radical rhetoric, the AES is not new. It is not radically different from the policies pursued by British Labour governments over the past years. It will not solve the problems First, by viewing Britain's problems in isolation, it does not seek to challenge capitalism but to "bolster" it in competition with its foreign rivals. What does it matter if thousands of workers in other countries are thrown on the dole as long as jobs are protected here?
Secondly, it ties workers' interests to