HC Deb 05 March 1946 vol 420 cc298-306

Motion made, and Question proposed, "That this House do now adjourn." — [Mr. Mathers.]

9.25 p.m.

Mr. Solley (Thurrock)

I have to call the attention of the House to recent events in Cyprus of the utmost gravity, and, indeed, I do not think that I exaggerate when I say that the matters to which I shall have to refer are such as will shock the conscience of every true democrat. I did, in fact, raise the matter originally in a Question which I put to the Secretary of State for the Colonies on 30th January, 1946. The Question was as follows: Whether he is aware that the law under which the 18 members of the Pan-Cyprian trade union committee were recently sentenced to imprisonment is Fascist and anti-working class in its character; that the substance of the evidence against these trade unionists was that they were engaged in publicising the classic works of Socialism; and whether he will take immediate steps to free these trade unionists and alter the law so that it conforms to Socialist principles; and remove from office all those officials who were primarily responsible for instigating this prosecution. My hon. Friend replied in writing: I do not accept my hon. Friend's description of the sections of the law under which these persons were charged and convicted nor do I see any grounds for amending this legislation. I have not yet seen the record of the trial and I am therefore unable to comment on the second part of the Question. As regards the third and fourth parts of the Question, I am not prepared on the facts before me at this stage to assume that the persons responsible for instituting the prosecution acted otherwise than in accordance with their high sense of duty."—[OFFICIAL Report, 30th January, 1946; Vol. 418, c. 228–9.] The facts are that after a trial of 34 days, on 21st January of this year the entire leadership of the Cypriot trade union movement, in fact the entire leadership of the labour movement in Cyprus, was sentenced to imprisonment. Some received a sentence of 18 months, and others received a sentence of 12 months. They were found guilty of being members of a so-called unlawful association, namely, the Cypriot equivalent to our T.U.C. —the Pan-Cyprian trade union committee. The importance of that Committee in the labour movement in Cyprus cannot be exaggerated, and I would prefer, in this respect, to give the words of the judge who presided at the trial, so that it cannot be charged against me that I am exaggerating the seriousness of the situation with which we are faced. The judge said this: It is admitted that the Pan-Cyprian trade unions committee is the highest directive body and is entrusted with the leadership and co-ordination of the activities of all trade unions throughout Cyprus. It is the supreme body with branches in each district. In fact most of the work of the trade unions in the districts is done under the guidance and through the Pan-Cyprian trade unions committee. We find that the entire leadership—18 members of this Committee—are now in prison. It would be beyond the limits of the time which I have at my disposal to give the detailed background of this matter. It is sufficient to state that the naked despotism that obtained in Cyprus from 1931 onwards was such as to make legal trade unions and political activities at the beginning of 1931 quite impossible.

As time developed, in spite of the deliberate obstruction of the Colonial Office through its local officials, trade union activity began to evolve, and with the coming of the war a change of policy, superficial at all events, was put through in Cyprus. Consequently, the trade union movement, having been given its head for a short time, developed with enormous rapidity, so much so that at the Pan-Cyprian conference of trade unionists, which was held in September,1944, there was an attendance of 435 delegates, representing 13,500 trade unionists. It was at that meeting that this particular committee, every member of which is now in goal, was formed. The Government knew of its existence. There was no question of that kind in the trial. In fact, the Government had certain official relations with it. Indeed, in January, 1945, they afforded every facility to the delegate of the committee to the World Trade Union Congress to leave Cyprus.

The war being over, apparently the Colonial Office thought the time was ripe to clamp down on these trade union and labour activities, and go back to their despotism of 1931. They raided the offices of this Greek T.U.C, and obtained a certain amount of literature, which was no more lurid or dull than that which can be bought in England in any Socialist bookshop. They then began this prosecution. The trial began on 17th December, 1945. It was not, of course, a trial by jury for the very obvious reasons that the Colonial Office could never obtain a jury of Cypriots who would find their com patriots guilty of this kind of offence. It is not surprising that this elementary rule of democracy did not and does not obtain in this Colony. The indictment is in the form of a document and contains some 17 counts. I have not got the time to go into it, and I venture to suggest it does not matter having regard to what I have to say about the law, so called, in Cyprus, but I think I can give the substance of the indictment. The defendants were charged, in effect, with using this T.U.C. as a means of propagating ideas which it was suggested were such as to arouse ill- will and hatred against the Cyprus Government and encourage its overthrow by force.

Mr. Marlowe (Brighton) rose—

Mr. Solley

I really have not time

Mr. Marlowe

As the hon. Gentleman has raised a question of a trial, perhaps. he will state whether there is to be an appeal.

Mr. Solley

I am glad this question has been asked, because as a lawyer I took care to find out that the matter was not sub judice. I will come to the question of appeal in a moment. I would like to comment upon the substance of the charge made against the defendants. Firstly, it does seem to me that it will be difficult to imagine any honest, patriotic Cypriot not feeling hatred against the foreign Government under which he has had to suffer all his life, and, indeed, it would be difficult to imagine why he would not seek to overthrow that Government with any means at his disposal. However, that is not really the point at issue. What is at issue is that the evidence, in my submission, did not support the charge. In any event the charge was brought under law in respect of which the Cypriots had no part in the making. It is one thing to say to an Englishman '' Whether you like it or not Parliament has ordained that this shall be an offence," but it is another thing when a dictatorship says "Such and such is our conception of the law and order. Break it at your peril and we will call you a criminal." That is the sort of thing we have had from Franco in Spain and from Hitler, and indeed is the sort of thing we have had in this country in the case of the Tolpuddle martyrs, because in every case where representatives of the working class are attacked it is claimed that that is done in the interests of law and order.

But the matter does not rest there. Is it not an extraordinary commentary upon the dictatorsip which the Cypriot people are experiencing that even if the allegations are true these trade unionists should have had to have committed so-called criminal offences in order to carry out their trade union duties? We could have no greater indictment against the law in Cyprus as it stands. If one looks at the evidence which is supposed to have supported these allegations, it will be found in a series of extracts of documents which the police discovered at the headquarters of the Cyprus Trade Union Committee. I would like to draw the attention of the House to some of the extracts upon which the prosecution based their case. For instance, here is an extract from a document headed "Lessons on the Political Organisation of the Working Class ": At a particular stage in the struggle of the working class it is realised that the real welfare of the whole world can be brought about only in the change in the existing regime. It is then that the Labour movement which starts to embrace Socialism and to direct its efforts towards the application of that system. It is a fantastic state of affairs when Labour rules at Westminster, and Socialism is a crime according to the law of Cyprus. Considerable comments were made at the trial about Marxism. [Laughter.] It is all very well for Members opposite to laugh, but when we were discussing freedom, a little while ago, for people to indulge in Fascist activity they said that that was necessary in a democratic State, and they cannot now logically argue that you cannot give the same rights to the Marxist. In order to show the political nature of this trial I propose to give a quotation from the exchange of questions and answers between the President of the Court and the Solicitor-General of Cyprus: President: Is Marxist theory a crime? Solicitor-General: According to Cyprus law, yes. President: Is the possession of Marxist books a crime? Solicitor-General: Yes. When I read that I had in mind the Nazi bonfires of books which they did not like. But British Imperialism—and the Labour Party are not responsible; this is the baby we have taken over—moves in a more subtle, and more hypocritical, way. It merely creates the laws which make bonfires legal. Time is short, and I am unable to go into details, but I would like to say a last word as to the method of the trial. It was without a jury. Application for leave to appeal was made, but quite contrary to English legal practice that application was not heard. It was decided in the chambers of the judge of the Supreme Court, without any appellants being present in order to press the case. It was refused, and, in my submission—and I speak with some experience of this kind of case—an application of that kind would never have been refused in the Court of Criminal Appeal in this country.

There can be only one answer to the matters I am putting before my hon. Friend the Under Secretary. We are a Socialist Government, and we dare not see our Socialist and working-class comrades in Cyprus in goal for doing something which a dictatorship law has declared to be illegal. We must see that they are released immediately, and I shall test any answer from the Government, no matter how subtle it may be —

Earl Winterton (Horsham)

On a point of Order I submit, Mr. Speaker, that it is open to the persons who have been prosecuted in this case to appeal to the House of Lords for leave to appeal against the decision of the Supreme Court. That being so, I respectfully submit that according to Paragraph 155 on page 143 of the Manual of Procedure, in which it says that a Member must not refer to any matter on which a judicial decision is pending, the whole matter is sub judice.

Mr. Speaker

The appeal has not begun, and until it has begun this matter is not sub judice.

Mr. Solley

I should like to finish on this note. This is not a new matter to the Socialist Labour Party. As long ago as 1919, Mr. Ramsay Macdonald raised the problem at the International Socialist Congress in Switzerland, and in this connection the "Daily Herald" printed on 25th January of that year: For nearly forty years we have obstinately refused to grant self-government to its inhabitants. We have turned a deaf ear to this plea. Today they are repeating that plea. It is up to our Government to give them the freedom they ask Five years later Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, then Prime Minister, in reply to a question in this House, said that His Majesty's Government were not contemplating any change in the political status of Cyprus. I plead with our Labour Government not to follow the example of Mr. Ramsay Macdonald.

Lieut.-Colonel Mackeson (Hythe)

Will the hon. Member explain whether it is the case that the whole of the trade union leaders have been imprisoned, because "subsequent to this there were serious strikes?

9.43 p.m.

The Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies (Mr. Creech Jones)

I regret that through the indisposition of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State he is unable to reply to the Debate. I regret further that I have had such short notice in which to prepare a reply. I should like to point out that the charges made against the trade union leaders concerned were charges which were made under Sections 46, 60 and 61 of the Criminal Code in Cyprus, which is precisely similar to the law of this country. So there can be no suggestion that this is a law of a particularly onerous kind. It is the law of this country which is the basis of the law of sedition in Cyprus. I regret the rather intemperate language my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Mr. Solley) used. These prosecutions are not matters for the Colonial Office, but are matters within the jurisdiction and administration of the local authorities It is they who in this case initiated these prosecutions and it is the local courts which are entirely responsible for the sentences which have been described.

I should like also to point out that there is no suggestion that trade union activity in Cyprus is discouraged. There are in Cyprus today no fewer than 122 registered trade unions. In recent years, every encouragement has been given by the local Government to the building-up of sound trade union organisation, and practical assistance has been given for securing better industrial relations in the island. Therefore, I must dispose of the two charges that have been made—that the Colonial Office have clamped down, as it has been described by my hon. Friend, on the trade union movement and gone back to the despotism of prewar days, and that somehow or other some sinister influence has been at work to destroy trade unionism in Cyprus at the instance of the Colonial Office. Those statements are grossly untrue and unfair.

In this case, as I understand the position, it was revealed to the authorities in Cyprus that there was a quantity of seditious and inflammatory written material which was being circulated, secretly and illegally, by the persons who were charged in this case, and that the documents included directions for inciting the people to seditious activities. Indeed, the charges were, briefly, the encouragement by propaganda of the overthrow of the Constitution of Cyprus by revolution, the overthrow by violence of the established Government of Cyprus, and the overthrow by violence of organised government, and that there was seditious intention to excite disaffection and to procure the alteration of the law otherwise than by lawful means.

We have to keep in mind that there was a very long trial and that the court held that a number of the charges were established. As a result, 12 men were sentenced to 18 months, and six to 12 months. When a request was made from the assize court to the Supreme Court for leave to appeal, no legal ground could be found to sustain an appeal, and therefore, it was refused. I cannot tonight read to the House the details of the charges which were made against these men. The charges were set out pretty fully in the charge sheets, but I think it would be misleading the House if it were said that these charges were composed almost entirely of extracts from Socialist writings. They go very much further than that.

Those are the facts, and it is not for me to justify the prosecution or to justify the sentences that have been imposed. Those are the findings of the court, and, as far as I know, no one has seriously challenged the integrity of the court in the judgment that was reached. On the facts before me, I cannot see any case for an alteration of the law The law is vindicated by the state of things which was revealed during the prosecution.

I conclude by saying that, obviously, all of us are disturbed by prosecutions of this kind. I am the last person in the world to accept without resistance anything in the nature of an attack upon civil liberty. In this House 1 have always fought hard for the maintenance in our Colonial regions of the highest standards of British justice and administration. I can only say that my right hon. Friend will again, in the light of this case, examine all the facts, and that if there Is a case for modification of the law or adjustment of the legal processes, he will make inquiries and seek advice as to what can be done.

Question put, and agreed to.

Adjourned accordingly at Nine Minutes to Ten o'Clock.