LABOUR LIBEL EASE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 April 1940, Page 6

LABOUR LIBEL EASE

ARISING OUT OF WAR 1 SIR W. CITRINE AND OTHERS PLAINTIFFS. i — . I SUIT AGAINST "DAILY ! I WORKER.” :’ By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright. (Received This Day, 11.35 a.m.) LONDON, April 29. A big Labour libel action arising cut of the war opened at the Law Courts. Sir Walter Citrine and six members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress sued E. R. Pountney, proprietor of the “Daily Worker,” for damages. Sir William Jowett. for the plaintiffs said the libel referred to the plaintiffs’ visit to France in December to initiate an Anglo-French Trade Union Council. The “Daily Worker” -was the official organ of the British Communist Party, which was affiliated to the Communist International in Moscow. Sir W. Jowett read articles from the “Daily Worker” containing passages: "The real purport of the Paris meeting is to bring millions of trade unionists behind the wav machine of British and French imperialism.” and "Martial law in factories a 60 hour week, compulsory deductions from wages, and the abolition of shop stewards are some of the benefits British and French unity may bring from across the Channel.” nel." Sir W. Citrine, in evidence, said the statements in the "Daily Worker” were misleading and untrue. The Labour movement had repeatedly declared that money for the publication of the ‘Daily Worker," came from Moscow.