socialism leading to another political factor of public ownership of
madjor means of production of which participants to this con-
ference are their managerial leaders.

Sometimes the behaviours of managers in public enterprises
does not indicate the grasp of these political factors. Managers are
no longer owners of these enterprises nor are they representatives
of private owners. These enterprises are owned by the public who
include the workers of the enterprises themselves. It therefore
becomes an imperative duty of managers to make a success of
public policies affecting the enterprises concerned. One of these
policies is to see to it that workers participate effectively in in-
dustrial management. A manager who is contemptuous of
workers or their representatives or who denies them adequate
facilities for effective participation is acting against his true em-
ployers — the public. The same is true of a general manager or
head of a department who absents himself from meetings of
Workers’ Councils without an unavoidable cause. Just like a
manager who ignores the wishes of his capitalist employers does
so at his own peril the same is true of a manager of a parastatal
enterprise who ignores or sabotages public policies affecting his
enterprise. Any manager of a public undertaking who avoids
arranging meetings of the workers’ council or of the management
Executive Committee at reasonable intervals, or who withholds
important matters from the attention of these bodies should realise
that he is making a fool of himself and is betraying the public i.e.
the authority which has entrusted him with responsibility. In fact
any\manager whose action or conduct is intended to render inef-
fective or inconsequential the functioning of these workers’ par-
ticipation institutions falls in this category. Such a manager is
living either in a world of political fantasy if his conduct is in-
-nocent or of political subversion if it is deliberate. Socialism also
implies human dignity and equality of all men. Any action or con-
duct at the enterprise level and elsewhere which is a negation of
these values or which regards workers in general as underserving
of respect or consultation on matters affecting the enterprise runs
counter to the very basic tennets of our national political ethics.

The point I am stressing in this part of my address is that if our
industrial leaders, i.e. manager, will comprehend the political en-
vironment of our nation they will be spared of ill-conceived
notions and conduct and so assist instead of hindering successful

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