labour junks its own books . by Harry Short . book reading , wrote Francis Williams , used to be a socialist habit . to secure an educated socialist democracy this is a habit we should indulge in as we did years ago . fifty years ago , when I was a youngster , socialists said books we must have , though we lack bread , but to-day times have changed . very few labour voters read socialist books or treasure a library of their own , and many local labour parties have no literature secretaries . social secretaries and bingo organisers , but no bookstalls . when the women &apos;s section of our local labour party held a jumble sale recently , one of the stalls contained hundreds of second-hand books . all were priced at 3 d each ! after most of the mystery , love , romance and adventure books were sold , it was decided to reduce the remainder to 2 d each , for if , as often happens , any old clothes , books , pictures or nick-nacks were left over , it would all be left behind for the caretaker of the school to either burn or give to the dustman . none of the bazaar committee members were eager to store a lot of old junk in their homes for the next jumble sale , so for his services of burning the books , pictures , etc , the caretaker was liberally rewarded . I looked at the pile of remainders and bought roads to freedom ( Bertrand Russell ) , wealth of nations ( Adam Smith ) , the science of wealth ( J A Hobson ) , the soul of man under socialism ( Oscar Wilde ) , Fabian essays , man and superman ( Bernard Shaw ) , the socialist movement ( J R Macdonald ) , history of the Russian revolution ( Trotsky ) , new worlds for old ( H G Wells ) , political economy selections ( edited by W B Robinson ) and the conditions of Britain ( G D H Cole ) . on some of the books , on the fly-leaf I saw the name L S Woodruff , who for many years was chairman of the Harrow east labour party , and was an alderman at the time of his death . Sid , as he was familiarly known by his colleagues , was one of the most respected and devoted members of the socialist minority group of a strong tory council , and was known to be a well-read , convinced socialist of burning sincerity . in the first world war he was a pacifist and suffered imprisonment for his socialist beliefs . he had the combined gift of keen humour with the virtue of being a good serious propagandist for the labour party . Sid Woodruff started his pioneering work for labour when people were overworked , underfed , and lived in sordid slums . the lives of the workers in those early days were in the main of narrow dreariness and boisterous brutality , and Alderman Woodruff was one of the educated minority who showed the way to a better life . to-day , with a higher standard of living , people imagine they have reached the higher life . for most , their reading is the popular newspapers and trashy periodicals . when the Nazis made huge bonfires of socialist literature , I thought of Emerson &apos;s lines , every lash inflicted is a tongue of fame ; every prison a more illustrious abode ; every burned book or house enlightens the world . what would Emerson &apos;s thoughts be if he knew that at a labour party jumble sale , great thoughts by great men were ignored , while nasty rubbishy books with gaudy covers , dealing with sordid sex and crime , were in great demand ? the tiny minority only . we are living in an age to-day when serious , disturbing and admirably written books , packed with vivid details , and written with deep feeling , are read only by a tiny minority . books that helped to make the socialist movement grow to its present strength , which showed how to make the world a far happier place for people of all races to live in , are read by few . it was Milton who wrote : a good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit . the socialist movement has produced many men of vision , who in their courageous and fascinating plays , novels , essays and poems , have shown us a nobler and better life . they contain all our ambitions , our indignations and our illusions . the literature of revolt is a heritage we should treasure , so I am indeed happy , that the late Alderman Sid Woodruff &apos;s books are in my bookcase , instead of being burnt by the school caretaker . ( do you make a habit of adding to your knowledge by reading or by taking postal courses ? - Ed ) . footnote . no . a man who volunteers to be an Aunt-Sally at a local garden fete and gets a clout on the ear with a ball is not covered by the industrial injuries act . - answer to Grimsby correspondent in the P.O.E.U journal . does T.V influence elections ? by Arthur Woodburn , M.P . after the last general election we all speculated what effect T.V had on the result . our general impression was that the labour programmes were the most effective and convincing . we all have our own little gallup polls among our friends and acquaintances , but as they are usually of our way of thinking and as we are inclined to look for the answer we want , we can be misled . for example , since the election there have been months of controversy about unilateral disarmament . both those for and against are fervently convinced they speak for the great majority of the people . television and the political image shows what was actually happening to the minds of the people as they listened or looked in during the election campaign . how did the broadcasts affect the elections ? it was interesting to see how the persistent propaganda against nationalisation was accepted by even labour supporters and the feeling that labour was a divided party was also prevalent . it is interesting to read about the items electors mentioned as having , in their view , specially affected the elections . of the total , 32 % thought rash labour promises - cost of new pension scheme - bribery of electorate had a bad effect , 26 % thought nationalisation hurt labour and 10 % thought strikes , especially that at British oxygen works , were bad . ( the percentages among labour supporters on these items were 22 % , 30 % and 7 % respectively . ) a common view . a fairly common view was that labour tried to buy their way in . Harold Macmillan cleverly put this across by adding with your money , of course . keeping the cost of living down came top as the subject of most immediate interest , treatment of old age was next and a permanent peace settlement third . unemployment came fourth and the control of the H bomb was fifth , and so on down the list . it is interesting that the subjects of interest have nearly the same proportional interest among supporters of both parties - cost of living two out of three and H bomb one out of three . the general view was that efficiency of the programmes and of the detailed argument did not make a decisive impression . most people were looking for a government ; and , therefore , the overall impression of competence and a total policy that was acceptable and clear were the largest factors . the tory party &apos;s goodwill rested on its claim to tradition , its claim to represent the whole nation and its claim to defence of individual rights . the labour party is accepted as standing for the welfare of the people , but its working-class foundation makes it difficult to reconcile this with its claim to act in the national interest . its disunity appeared a cause of its losing support . nearly 70 % of the electors were reached by party broadcasts . each party T.V programme reached about 20 % of the entire adult population . about 50 % saw the T.V news bulletins . the campaign showed no decisive swing towards either of the main parties . these are only some of the interesting factors which come from the survey . there can be no certain conclusions ; but it is clear that not many people change sides during an election , though a little change can mean much . three people in every street changing over could change the government . so delicate is the balance that it can be tipped by a slip of the tongue or by some development that shakes the confidence of the timid or uncertain . it is on this uncertain group that the choice of government rests . it &apos;s a grave thought . this book is worth reading . ready reckoning . Japanese medicine is conventional , but the Chinese always have their own approach to scientific problems and there is a distinctive Chinese therapy which makes great use of herbal brews , exercises and acupuncture needles . similarly , the Chinese have their own traditional methods of ready reckoning . in the west the shop or restaurant cashier uses a register , or wrestles with a pencil and a column of figures , but in the east one of the most familiar sounds is the clicking of the abacus as some shop assistant &apos;s nimble fingers flick the beads to and fro at lightning speed to produce the total of your bill . primitive , slow , old-fashioned ? in a contest organised by Singapore trade , Mr Bei Po-lu of Singapore was timed with a stopwatch the other day as he used his two-dollar abacus to divide 2,644,035 by 1,077 . his right hand flashed over the beads and he produced the correct result - 2,455 - in 10.3 seconds . a western-trained accountant then did the same sum on an expensive electric calculating machine . it took nearly two seconds longer . - observer foreign news service , 21st February . key point in the Mediterranean . by Frank Horrabin . France established a protectorate over Tunisia in 1881 , three years after the congress of Berlin , at which she had agreed to the British seizure of Cyprus . five years ago ( in 1956 ) Tunisia became independent - thus anticipating the freeing of Cyprus by a year or two . the French , however , retained their hold on the naval base of Bizerta , situated opposite the channel between Africa and Sicily , the Narrows separating the western from the eastern Mediterranean ( see map ) . their continued possession of this important strategic point has been constantly questioned by Tunis , but it was a matter for some surprise when Bourguiba , the Tunisian President , suddenly decided a few weeks ago to attempt to take the port by force . Tunisia has given aid and shelter to the rebel Algerian government , and there has been much bitter fighting between the French and the Algerian nationalists along the Tunisian frontier . factory meetings at lunch hours . for many years now the west of Scotland N.C.L.C has always managed to run a number of classes or discussion groups during factory lunch hours . there is no doubt that such classes are possible in all industrial areas to some extent , and N.C.L.C organisers have been asked to take up the question where they have not already done so . will any Plebs reader who thinks he can get a class or discussion group going in his factory during the lunch hour please drop a line to the N.C.L.C , Tillicoultry ? it will be passed on to the organiser concerned . it may be too that in your works , through the works committee , it might be possible for the management to give apprentices a half-hour off to learn something about the trade union movement . the N.C.L.C would be glad to send a speaker to such a meeting , and to approach the management with the assistance of the chief shop steward . history on film strip . film-strip talks play an important role in many schools all over the country , and they should play a much more important role in the N.C.L.C than they do , because people learn through their eyes as well as through their ears . besides , if one looks at the papers that have the biggest working-class circulations it is they which have the most pictures . one of the latest history film strips available is George 3 and the revolutionary wars ( 1760-1815 ) , published by common ground , Ltd . a pamphlet of notes on the lecture is provided along with the film strip , which contains 30 pictures . the film strip is broken up into the following sections : - King and parliament , causes of the American revolution , the course of the American revolution , the younger Pitt in peace and war , and the slow struggle towards victory . 