SECRET
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Mo Maddocks, following
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To Wilsey for 2018
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and par. 6,
13 August, 1969.
is A.
Thank you for sending me a copy of your letter of 29 July to James Murray about the imprisonment of Waterworks trade union officials.
2.
I share your feelings and am grateful that your reaction was "studiously moderate". It has been an unhappy story. It seems to have slipped partly out of our control because we took the decisions piecemeal and because the communists have not so far reacted as we expected.
3.
We began to discuss the problem of the communist trade union officials holding office illegally as long ago as last November. The legal advice was that, where a trade union such as those in the gas and water industries was inevitably confined to one monopoly company, it would be easy to prove in court that an official who had gone on strike in 1967 and had not been re-employed was holding office in the union in contravention of the law which requires an office holder to be employed in the industry. We then had to consider the policy question whether or not to take action. In November the opinion was that the matter was a relatively minor one. took account of the fact that the law is rather an odd one (there is no similar law in the U.K.). But we thought that it would be useful to do what we could to inconvenience the communists in their union activities provided it did not lead to major trouble. At that stage we decided only to send them written warnings from the Registrar of Trade Unions that they were in contravention of the law.
4.
The important decision to launch a prosecution was taken in April whilst I was away on leave. I do not pretend that the decision would have been any different if I had been here but it is perhaps some explanation of why we failed at that point to send you a full account of the matter. As late as April it was still not our expectation that the officials would end up in prison. Our information suggested that the communists would protest and make the maximum propaganda fuss but would find some way to comply with the law. We were surprised that in the event they went to court but refused to pay the fine.
It also happened by chance that they appeared
in front of Mr. Van Rees.
We
J.B. Denson, Esq., OBE, British Charge d'Affaires, PEKING.
/Contd.
•
REIVED IN
RUGKTRYM- 51
25 AUG 1959
HKIL 14,
14/9
SECRET расстат
37
15
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