[page 8]
Inflation will be given a further twist by the measures of the Government itself. The 20% money supply increase last year, the introduction of value added tax, together with the upsurge in world commodity prices affecting food, will mean an enormous increase in the actually mean a cut in the living standards of the working class. At the same time the capitalists are piling up enormous profits. I.C.I. as a typical example tripled its profits in the first quarter of this year to £63 million, compared to Together with revelations of lavish living and corruption arising from the Lonrho, Poulson and other scandals, this will fuel the workers opposition At the present time the mood of the working class is one of watching and waiting, more so ot the advanced sections like the dockers, miners, car workers, engineers etc, than the inexperienced workers who have engaged in struggle over the past period. The advanced workers have paused because they have understood that a battle at this stage would involve an all-out struggle, not just against the employers but against the Government as well. Hence the mood of hesitancy which seems to pervade the whole of the This mood has given renewed hope, if not confidence, to the bourgeoisie and has confounded those tendencies in the Labour Movement who take a superficial view of events, imagining that the movement of the working class proceeds in a straight line. But such periods as we are passing through, - and this can only be very temporary are inevitable in the awakening of the working class. The experiences of all revolutionary upheavals since the Russian Revolution itself showed the great upswings from Right to Left and back again which were concentrated into nine explosive months. of events was enormously speeded up by the war. Trotsky explained that even the social problems such as the land question, the solution of which could have been postponed for a couple of years, was subordinate in the minds of the masses, to the war. could end the war they would not be alive to enjoy the land. the slaughter except through the carrying through of the Revolution. The Spanish Revolution on the other hand, was of a much more protracted character, Britain will take. And we are at the beginning of this process now. The upheavals of the last three years have not failed to leave their mark in the consciousness of the masses. These events have prepared them for the great battles which 1oom. Once the new wave of price increases begin to bite, there will be further convulsions. The struggle will be resumed with even greater intensity. The working class has increasingly understood that the ruling class, in looking to their own solution, are attempting to reduce housing an ect series they are worse of than at of that ? The differences between Germany and Britain for instance were highlighted in a recent "Stuttgarts' standard of living is 80% above Tynesides". (21.2.73) The British worker employed in manufacturing industry works an average 43.6 hours. This compares to 37.5 hours in Belgium, 35.9 hours in Denmark, 42.3 hours in Ireland and 43 hours in Germany. Only the French worker with an average working week of 44,5 hours puts In fact the much vaunted increase in standards of living of the British working class is cost of living of the working class.
the same period last year.
to the Governments measures.
working class.
unfolding as it did over the period 1931-37.
BRITISH WORKERS FALL BEHIND even further their meagre standards.
Continental counterparts.
'Times' article in longer hours.
The acceptance of the formula of £l plus 4% will Unless the peasants But there was no way of ending This will be the form which the Revolution in 7
[page 9]
based on overtime. The press, T.V. and radio never tire of picturing the British worker as insatiable for overtime, no matter how low the working week. This does not prevent the media from carrying reports of absenteeism, or the unprecedented rise in industrial neuroses, arising from the inhuman conditions in the factories. "Overtime is highest amongst those earning 30p an hour and diminishes as earnings rise In other words only dire economic necessity forces the working In terms of holidays as well, the British workers are generally way behind their European brothers and sisters, as the following table of average paid vacations for one If National holidays are included then even the Italian worker ends up 44 days better So far as wages are concerned a recent report on the shipbuilding industry pointed out that average earnings in the European yards in 1971 were 75% higher than in the UK. authors of this report were exultant at what this could mean for the shipbuilding bosses, "Providing the U.K. cost advantage persists in the future increased capital expenditure - up to European levels - should result in an overall competitive advantage." (in British The British bourgeoisie look towards the same happy situation as a whole. Their spokesmen in the Confederation of British Industries have spelt out in unmistakable terms, their solutions to the long term crisis facing them, and what this will now mean to the working This was shown clearly in a speech by Clapham, C.B.I. President on Ist February of "Our calculations show that aggregate real net trading profits in 1969, 1970 and 1971 history.....the rate of return of capital for manufacturing industry on a replacement cost basis before tax, has fallen by almost two thirds, from 16.7% in 1949 to 5.7 in 1970, with These figures bear out the Marxist arguments on the tendency of the rate of profit to This arises from the enormous amounts invested in the post-war period, in buildings, raw materials, machinery, what Marxists call constant capital, in comparison to the amounts invested in variable capital, ie the labour power of the working class. The profits of the capitalists come from this variable capital which diminishes as a proportion of the total temporarily overcome this tendency by a variety of methods, but in the final the profitability of the capitalists can only be achieved by cutting the share going to the working class. They are incapable of reversing the trend - although in 1972 and into 1973 they have succeeded in arresting the decline (in 1970 not just the rate but the mass of class. All toe do tases are he rthe thems a nute rest ace gun to reorient . In fact as to fl and hour or more!
years work shows.
Britain 15 days Germany 19 - 24 days.
Shipbuilding 1972).
class.
this year.
He pointed out:were lower than in any year since 1948..
a peak of 19.2% in 1950"
capital.
profit fell by £500 million).
8 a TUC report has recently revealed, class to chain itself to the factory for long hours.
Italian 13.5 days Hence the tendency of the rate of profit to decline.
Danes and Belgiums 18 days ...They are in all probability the lowest ir Luxembourg 19.5 - 26 days (depending on age) Capitalism is able to analysis
[page 10]
in households which do not receive desirable levels of dietary intake. The attempt to impose further sacrifices on the workers is bound to ignite an explosion. The capitalists take comfort from the present lull, but a better gauge of the masses preparedness to struggle is the increasing strike wave over the past three years. alongside the heavy battalions of the working class, new sections have been drawn The strikes of the hospital workers, civil servants, gas workers and teachers, and previously the council workers and postmen, are a graphic reflection of the undermining of the Even bookies, clerks and Mayfair hairdressers have recently taken strike action. Nothing more illustrates the change in the fortunes of the British bourgeoisie than the revolt among the civil servants, teachers and even the customs officers. In the iner-war period they were the reliable props of capitalism, a 'bulwark against social Instilled into them was a false sense of 'superiority' over the industrial Such notions lost their basis as these layers have understood that their refusal to resort to industrial action has resulted in their falling behind manual workers.. The National and Local Government Officers Association (NALGO) has recently pointed out that their members "The Governments own level of £1,378 for a man with three children to be eligible for family income supplement, is more than the maximum clerical grade one." They have been forced to consider the use of the same weapons as the manual workers to achieve any improvement in their miserable standards. The growth in factory-like conditions the British Medical Journal has estimated enthusiastically into the battle.
HOP THE I PRONTATIO Of OUR LIUPE DEDICATIOM S BAD Y HOSPITAL TORY FPEEZES PAY IS SPREAD .TH MASSY DISEASE MEDICINE YOU HOSPITAL WORKERS STRIKE social reserves of capitalism.
revolution'
working class.
have fallen behind the unskilled labourers......
HOSPITAL ANCILLAT that between 25 and 30% of the pi ulation live TORY FREEZES SPREAD DISEASES And 9
[page 11]
for clerks has strengthened this awareness. Even the upper layers have been touched by Hence the strikes amongst the' administrative, financial and professional services' increased by 30% last year, doubling the number of days lost compared to 1971. The hospital workers strike in particular revealed the great capacity for struggle on the part of the most expleited and downtrodden workers once they action. They threw themselves into the fray with an elan which is the hallmark usually, of the big battalions of the working class. The votes for strike action were one indication Thus in the vote amongst COHSE members, the area with the lowest majority, the Sout! West, still had registered 73.5% in favour of strike action. The hopes of these workers were dashed by the refusal of the TUC to organise real solidarity action and the failure to call a national stoppage by their own But the strike will have served its purpose in 'blooding' these workers in industrial action. They will be turning over the lessons in their own minds and preparing for future battles. During the strike, the older, more complacent stewards who were prepared to collaborate with the management were elbowed aside and replaced by younger more determined Union branches which existed only in name have been revived and continued to function after the strike was over. The process of renewal of the unions in the hospitals This new fighting mood was reflected at the recent NUPE, Conference. The same spirit was shown at the recent Civil and Public Servants Conference. decision to refuse to pay out the increases in pensions, although wrong, was nevertheless This is the background against which the TUC and the Tory Government are endeavouring to establish their 'social contract', a marriage between labour and capital. But the bitter opposition of the working class to the most reactionary Government in living memory is the obstacle upon which both partners will stub their toes. The serious representatives of capitalism are not interested in mere paper deals. They fear that such is the mood amongst the working class that the TUC will be incapable of 'delivering the goods', that is binding the Labour Movement hand and foot. This is what 'The Times' recently said in relation to Vic Feather..... "(He) was redolent with infectious good humour and open armed reasonableness, which looking to the working class it says...." There is also Mr Hyde and while Dr. Jekyll is eguiling us with bland prospects of universal goodwill just around the corner, it is Mr Hyde who is determinina the present and who seems to have determined the past. possible. The engineering bosses put it less delicately..... "One requirement of this (an agreement) is that the TUC should be able to cormand the But 'Mr Hyde' remains implacably opposed to the machinations of 'Dr. Jekyll'. It is impossible for the TUC to get the compliance of the working class to a policy of open The cosy chats will end in a barrage of mutual recriminations. The T.U. leaders will be forced to reflect in a distorted form the pressure of the masses in the Trade Unions, which is for the rupture of all relations with the Government. overthrow rather than the proffering of the velvet glove by the Knight this mood.
Northern Ireland!
leadership.
TUC's "SOCIAL CONTRACT"
betokens all his public utterances.
TUC that "until Dr. Jekyll can necessary authority among its members."
class collaboration.
campaign for its errants of the TUC.
10 an indication of the bitterness which has taken hold of show he this section of But Mr Feather is the Dr. Jekyll of the TUC." Then speaks for Mr Hyde" no lasting agreement is are aroused, and move into The majority was 92% in the working class.
It warns the The workers are for a
[page 12]
PROCESS OF TRANSFORMING UNIONS UNDER WAY The hobnobbing of the T.U. tops with the hirelings of capital has served to confirm the mistakes of those tendencies on the fringe of the Labour Movement, which have written off the traditional organisations of the working class as completely bankrupt. This fact is re-affirmed in their eyes by the outright 'betrayal' of the Right Wing of Feather, Chapple etc. and the prevarication of the Lefts such as Jack Jones and Hugh Scanlon. Lenin was very fond of repeating that the movement always pays for opportunism with The incapacity of these infantile sects to understand the viability of the official Trade Unions condemns, them to sterility and to eventual extinction. In seeking to by-pass the official organisations - and what is worse infecting some militants with the same virus - they fail to see what is taking place before their eyes. All the big strikes of the past three years have shown that pressure from below has compelled the official T.U. leaderships to put themsleves at the head of the workers by calling Even Chapple in the EETPU was forced to head, from behind it is true, the power in this 1s revealed the dual pressure on the T.U. leadership. As explained above, they a brake on the movement of the masses; the Right wing blatantly and consciously, the 'Lefts' because they lack a clear class outlook and Marxist programme. But this same leadership rests on the mass base of the rank and file. It cannot ignore this base and when the pressure mounts it is forced to reflect in a distorted form the demands of the masses. will be incapable of leading the working class to victory. They will be forced to attempt But this does not alter the fact that masses will first channel their energies through If the working class was to display the tendency to by-pass their traditional organisations that would probably manifest itself first amongst the least who have revealed the opposite tendency to move into the existing union organisation and The Trade Unions in Britain existed even before the French Revolution. centuries they have played an enormously progressive role in raising the material and cultural level of the working class and conquering for it those democratic rights which it In the course of this struggle the unions have assumed a great authority in the eyes That authority will not be lost until it has been demonstrated in experience to the broad masses, that the traditional organisations are no longer capable of to which the working class can turn. *The workers say to themselves that the Trade Unions - bureaucratism, lack of a real fighting leadership etc, but without them, things would be a lot worse. Their instinct is to transform these They are instinctively suspicious of the 'leaders', without followers, who offer them And it must be admitted that their insincts are entirely healthy. figure from Greek mythology, possessed magical powers which allowed him to turn dross into Transport and General Workers Union, the 'revolutionary' 'Blue Union' This had the effect in the aftermath of the 1956 strike of hiving off some of the best elements in the Manchester, Hull and Liverpool docks into the a bout of ultra-leftism.
workers strike.
can act as They can of course to rein in the mass movement.
the Trade Unions.
begin to refashion it to fit their needs.
enjoys today.
of the working class.
answering any of their needs.
are imperfect and have many faults organisations into fighting instruments.
These tendencies have they have touched they have destroyed.
of Stevedores and Dockers).
only go so far.
experienced strata such as the hospital workers.
Moreover there will have the alluring prospect of a short-cut, the creation of the Midas touch in reverse.
In the final analysis even the sincere Left leaders pure' trade unions.
Thus in the mid-50's Yet it is precisely the hospital workers In almost two to already exist a viable alternative King Midas, the Every 'golden' opportunity which they counterposed to the • (National Association 11
[page 13]
'Blue' Union, splitting the dockers into two separate organisations and in the process justified by reference to the reactionary leadership of Arthur Deakir at the head of the T.& G.W.U., the 'impossibility' of ever breaking the bureaucratic towards the Left on the part of the rank and file, which in The same evolution took place in the AUEW and the Miners union, with the election of GENERAL AND MUNICIPAL WORKERS UNION In the case of the General and Municipal Workers it is only three years since the role of the union leadership in the Pilkington strike was invoked as proof that the G.M.w.U. was It was precisely this approach which was responsible for misleading The advice given to these militants to seporate themselves from the G.M.W.U. by either wrought in other unions and which would also take place in the G.M.W.U. at a certain stage. We pointed :ut that St. Helens could become the spearhead for a real transformation in the union, ii the best militants remained in the union and continued the struggle. went uneeded and some of the leaders of the strike have to date, tragically been kept allowing the This policy was strangle hold etc.
Jack Jones reflected the shift turn was given an Hugh Scanlon and Lawrence Daly.
DOCKERS MARCH ON PENTONVILLE impervious to change.
'real' Union or setting joining a allowing the possibility to exist outside the industry and the union.
12 'non-unionists' to grow.
Events have refuted them.
impulse by the new leadership.
some of the best militants in the St. telens area.
The Militant tendency opposed this course.
'special Glassworkers union'
for them to be victimised.
We pointed to changes which had beer The election of first Frank Cousins and then , was responsible for This advice
[page 14]
Yet it was the work of these militants through the Pilkington strike wh the leadership of the G.M.W.U. to give unprecedent offical support to a whole series of to do as a result of movement in the ranks. From the Pilkington strike could be dated the And recent events, particularly the last Conference of the union, has dealt a-crushing blow to the false theories of the sects as applied to the official trade union movement. It revealed an unmistakeable move towards the Left on the part of the rank and file of This was most evident in the unanimous acceptance of the resolution which called for the-nationalisation of the monopoTies under workers control and manaqement. harbinger of the big changes impending in the G.M.W.U. which will transform it from top to Given the intensification of class struggle the same movement is bound to take place in the EETPU at a certain stage. The continued domination by the Right Wing is mainly the consequence of the past manouvres of the 'Communist' Party. At the same time as they have ruthlessly suppressed any open opposition this leadership has skillfully used the fear of a return to the 'ballot rigging' methods of the past. cleverest of bureaucratic intrigues cannot indefinitely postpone a leftward swing in the the road to the working class passes through the Trade Unions in Britain. To use the 'bureaucratic stranglehold' of the T.U: leadership as an excuse for.. abandoning the struggle to transform the unions is a policy of impotence dressed up in The proponents of this view imagine that the struggle is a in character when they resort to arbitrary and bureaucratic methods. impotence of the leadership, the hopelessness of working for change is akin to those who would argue that the working class can never take power because of the power exercised by the capitalists through their State machine. Marxists do not have a fetish on the issue of the Trade Unions, or on any question. The Russian Revolution took place with the Mensheviks, as opponents of the Revolution, were still, for a short time, at the head of some of the unions. ere one reflection in the or on or one old of the ases.
In 1923 in Germany also the official T.U. apparatus collapsed and it was towards the The Revolution could have been carried through in Germany at this time on the basis of the shop committees, but for the mistales of the C.P. leadership. Perhaps then those who deny the importance of work through the traditional organisations are correct, that mere 'rank and filism' and the advocacy of 'Councils of Action' are capable of circumventing the unions and winning the working class? Theoretically it cannot be entirely excluded, although unlikely, that similar developments this would in no way diminish the importance of work through the trade unions as a preper- At the same time there are important differances in the situation in Britain today and In Russia the trade unions were much weaker, and embraced a much smaller section of the working class than in Britain today. The traditions of the British working class are to strikes which broke out soon after.
beginning of change in the G.& M.W.U.
bottom.
EEPTU also.
TRADE UNIONS - KEY QUESTIOK One thing is certain:radical sounding language.
primrose path, without difficulties or obstacles.
an indication of the predominating in the apparatus of the Trade Unions.
an overwhelming majority of shop stewards committees that the working class turned.
as in Russia and Germany, could take place in Britain.
ation for such an eventuality.
those which obtained in Germany and Russia.
the working class with them and dominated the soviets.
i was to force This, the leadership of even Lord Cooper was forced This is a of Chapple only act But the Right Wing officialdom To interpret this as still Even after the Revolution the Mensheviks Yet the Bolsheviks had The But even in this unlikely event; 13
[page 15]
move through and to transform their existing organisations. Moreover the development of the revolution in Britain over a much more lengthy period of time, as explained above, allows the possibility of winning over the T.U.s to the Even if one allows the possibility of a development in Britain along the lines of Germany 1923, the importance of the traditional organisations is not thereby cancelled out. On the contrary, only by combining work through the shop stewards committees and those ad-hoc organisations which spring up from time to time, with the task of seeking to move the unions in a leftward and Marxist direction is it possible to prepare for such a situation. The rank and file' organisations of the sects - which are usually distinguished by the absence of the rank and file - are conceived as a substitute for the traditional organis- A typical example is the entirely artificial manner in which they have attempted Militant has endeavoured in the last three years to prepare those workers we can reach for a situation when 'Councils of Action' will arise in Britain. (See Militant Nos. 148+153) strike, which is implicit in the whole situation in Britain. The situation is so explosive, the relations between the classes are so tense, that a general strike could burst out even But the most likely tendency will be for the workers to direct their efforts to the electoral plane and the return of a Labour Sovernment. Nevertheless a general strike is possible at some stage over the next few years and this situation will see the creation of Councils of Action. But they will not be the phantom bodies created by the sects, but the expanding of the existing organisations. This was the process in 1926, with the Trades Councils It is entirely false to counterpose the slogan of Councils of Action to the task of winning the workers in the trade unions. Leon Trotsky, writing 40 years ago in relation "It would be the greatest mistake to 'play around' in practice with the slogan of influence in the trade unions. To counterpose to the existing trade unions the abstract idea of workers councils would mean setting against oneself not only the bureacracy but thus depriving oneself of the possibility of preparing the ground for Trotsky's arguments could be applied with equal force to the tendencies today who are Thetick The meat esents phic intone unions in they are ten the pact one leadership to maintain the so-called 'neutrality' of the unions - already undermined by the intensification of the class struggle - will completely disappear. centralisation of capital, which has developed on a scale undreamed of, even by Marx himself, and its growing together with the State machine have forced every big struggle for reform, for wage increases etc. to take on a political character. probably gone further than any other capitalist country. The hundred largest manufacturing companies have increased their share of Britain's net output from 15% in 1909, to 38% in 1963 to about 50% in 1970 - the same trend would lead to two thirds of output being controlled programme of Marxism.
COUNCILS OF ACTION to recently set up 'Councils of Action'
during the next period.
already fulfilling the role of Councils of Action.
to precisely this issue wrote:
shop councils, consoling oneself with this 'idea'
also the masses, the creation of workers councils."
incapable of understanding the viability of the unions.
FOR A MARXIST PROGRAMME for solutions to their problems.
by these monopolies by 1980.
pour into the unions as they have 'one in the past , which is for them a fighting slogan of the hour.
, for the lack of real work and real In the process of this movement the attempt of t looking The concentration and In Britain this process has
[page 16]