Part 3 - DW062 001 030 003

1 digital image

3 THE STATE OF THE UNIONS The working class had to LABOUR'S DECEPTIVE NATURE fight hard to establish trade unions. Workers built them in the How is it that Labour has the teeth of violent opposition from their bosses, who used any means-beating up by hired thugs or the police, deportation, sackings and lock-outs-to try to crush all attempts by the work- ers to organize themselves to fight for better pay and con- ditions. But gradually, in one firm after another, the workers won. After a trail had been blazed by industrial workers, many white collar workers also unionized. Although quite a few of the smaller firms (like the comic printers, D.C. Thompson, in Scotland. or the notorious Grunwicks') continue to hold out, the majority of the work- iing population (about 12 mill- ion people) are now members of the unions that make up the TUC. But the ruling class has a way of trying to turn every gain made by working people to its own benefit, and it has been doing that with the trade unions for some years now, They have tried to make the unions into an arm of their class dictatorship over the working class, tying them to the state through the trade union bureaucrats and the Labour Government, firstly through the "social contract" then through the various" pay guidelines." They tried to hold back the struggles of workers and work- ing people for better wages under the Tories by attempting to control the unions using the Industrial Relations Act, but this move failed miserably. The Act was clearly recognized as a measure to weaken the working class' ability to organize through the unions for its demands, and was simply made in- operable by the resistance of hundreds of thousands of work- ers. The Industrial Relations Act had already been smashed when the new Labour govern- ment scrapped it in 1974; it wasn't doing the working class any favours, just claiming the working class's victory as its own, parliamentary one. Like the Tories, Labour is a party which serves the bosses, but it serves them in a differ- ent way, and this has been shown by its behaviour since the pres- ent government took office. It has achieved, to a large extent, the results the Tories wanted, but failed to get, by using different means. Instead of try- ing to shackle the unions with another "In Place of Strife" (Labour's forerunner to the Ind- ustrial Relations Act, prepared by Barbara Castle) they, togeth- er with most of the trade union leadership, have brought in the "Social Contract" and then the various "pay guidelines." Be- cause they controlled the union machinery, the trade union leaders claimed to be acting for their members, in co-operation with the govern- ment, and some even claimed to be acting for the working class, but workers and work- ing people have suffered a fall in their real wages under Labour, and received nothing from it which they had not already won by their own efforts. largely got away with this? The Labour Party was set up by the TUC as a political arm, and the leaderships of the two have been very close ever since. The Labour Party claimed to repre- sent the working class, and to stand for socialism, which it said could be won by electing La-ped bour to office. This was naturally attractive to millions of workers, especi- ally since for most of this cen- tury there has either been no revolutionary alternative to La- bour, or only a weak one.... But while Labour promised a lot to the working class, and drew members and support from it, it was never a working class par- ty, in the sense of being a party which upheld the highest interests of the working class. The class interests it repre- sented were always those of the capitalist class. After all, the emergency mea- sures used to defeat the 1926 General Strike had been pro- pared by the first Labour govern- ment in 1924, and the leopard has not changed his spots since then. Labour has lost support as it has demonstrated its true na- ture in practice, particularly while it held office. This was especially true in 1966-70, when it had a large parliamentary ma- jority, and nonetheless Britain was no more a socialist country when Labour eventually lost pow- er in 1970 than it had been at the beginning of that government. In February 1974, Labour's share of the vote fell to its lowest level since the '30s, This was due to the growing dissatis- faction of its traditional sup- porters. Nevertheless, some sec- tions of the working class still have illusions about the Labour Party, though most who vote La- bour no longer expect much from it; they only vote that way be- cause they still think the alter- natives are even worse. The people who have stayed lo- yal to Labour are the great majo- rity of trade union bureaucrats and officals, and it is these so- cial democrats who have accepted Labour's pay restraint (really pay cuts, since prices have gone up faster than wages) and tried to make their members do so. Many are Labour Party members; others who are not have also hel- Labour impose its policies. Some trade union officials who are members of the revisionist "Communist" Party of Great Bri- tain have attacked the "Social" "Contract" etc. in words, but in practice they have been against any effective working class ac- tion which might threaten the survival or re-election of the Labour Government, and have en- couraged illusions about Labour. Others, who pretend to be fur- ther left than the "C"PGB have also assisted Labour; for exam- ple, Reg Birch, who calls him- self a Marxist-Leninist and who is a member of the General Coun- cil of the TUC, worked hard to get strikers at Heathrow Airport, the Daily Express, and Ford's Dagenham to go back to work with their demands unmet. Employers, including the Daily Express bos- ses have expressed their deep gratitude to him. Because of the social-democra- tic and revisionist hold on the trade unions, they have been changed from organisations through which workers and working people fought for better wages and con- ditionsinto bodies used for the control and suppression of their struggles (this is why for years most strikes have been unofficial) DANGER OF FASCISM By linking themsleves closely with the Labour Government and its policies, the social-demo- cratic and revisionist trade union leadership is actively ta- king part in the building of a fascist-type corporate state, with capitalists and their govern- ment (a government which suppos- edly stands above classes) wor- king hand in glove against the working class. "WHITE LABOUR CAN'T BE FREE WHILE BLACK LABOUR IS IN CHAINS" Members of the Mansfield Hosiery Strike Committee. The bosses succeeded in defeating all the workers there by dividing them on racial lines. It is vital to combat racism in the unions. The power of Labour over many working class organisations, and its continuing ability to deceive some working people despite its reactionary character, make it a more dangerous enemy than the Tories, and make the revisionists and Trotskyists who hide its true nature all the worse. Part of the trend towards a cor- porate state is the varicus "wor- ker participation" schemes, who are supported by the Labour "lefts" These schemes involve a few trade union hacks being given places on boards of directors,etc. Of course, they will generally be people who are already well-in with management already, and even when they are not, "parti- cipation" along with a few cock- tails and a little golf, will en- courage them to see things from the bosses' point of view. This will soon lead to unions decid- ing who must be sacked, what wage levels should be "in the company's interest", etc. What we have said so far might all seem dispiriting. If the uni- ons are in such a state, why bother with them? WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE Two main tasks need to be under- taken. Firstly, most important, a Mar- xist-Leninist party of the working class has to be built. Secondly, rank and file trade union members need to fight for class struggle trade unions. The importance of the Party can- not be overstressed. A Marxist- Leninist Party will represent the highest interests of the working class. Such a party stands for its general class interests, not for any particular interests; it will oppose all moves by the so- cial democrats and their allies to make the working class accept its exploitation by the capital- ist class, and will fight for the working class' political and or- ganisational independence. The Marxist-Leninist Party will resolutely fight both the ruling lass and its agents within the organisations of the working class and working people, parti- cularly the revisionists and so- cial democrats; while supporting the struggle for strong, democra- tic class struggle unions, it will point out the need to go beyond bargaining for better terms within the present system; it will point out the need to over- throw the system by armed soci- alist revolution and establish the rule of the working class - the dictatorship of the prole- tariat. The Marxist-Leninist Party will work to win to its ranks the finest and most politically advanced sections of the working people who in'all the struggles in which they participate will try to be resolute class figh- ters, to provide sound leader- ship through example and per- suasion, and who will not sell out to the bosses. They will work hard and patiently to help the working people raise their political and ideological level to a Communist consciousness, to

full_reference_code