Communists at the TUC September 2011

Unity!

Milliband seems to have

succeeded in the principal

public relations objective

set by his advisors – of

presenting Labour at

some distance from the

unions engaged in a bitter

pensions battle with the

government.

Labour leaders’ speeches atTUC are invariably anextraordinary rendition oftortured language. On one handstroking the egos of thesusceptible – especially unionleaderships. On the other handstaking out a claim for thesupport of big business andswing voters while trying not toput too many strains on theloyalty of trade unionists.

Milliband said some sensiblethings. Prioritise tax cuts for thehard-working majority, not thesuper-rich. Cut VAT now to17.5% to get the economymoving again. Insist that thosewho caused the crisis help payto put it right.

Renew the bankers’ bonus taxand use the money to supportenterprise, put the youngunemployed back to work, andto build homes. All good stuff.

The warning that global“collective austerity” will fail tostimulate an export-led recoveryis common sense. And hisimplied support for measures tosafeguard Bombardier jobs andpursue top rate tax dodgers gota welcome.

A brief flurry of hope andexpectation was felt when hesaid Britain needs an neweconomic model. But the newmodel turns out to be the sameold class-cuddle socialpartnership drivel so divorcedfrom the real world of work in aminimum wage economyscarred by mass unemploymentand massive deindustrialisation.

This most bizarre passage inMilliband’s speech took us intoan Alice in Wonderland worldwhere resistance to pay cuts, joblosses, pension hikes, cuts inpublic services and price risesis presented negatively asopposition to change.

continued overleaf

Lost in the space betweenthe contending classes

Wappingafter 25yearsMurdoch did not “save”

the newspaper industry.

He wrecked it and the

jobs and journalism that

went with it. But in

February 1987, when the

Wapping dispute ended,

the media crowed about

the fate of printworkers

and the unions.

Now, for the first time

since the end of the

dispute the complete story

and the lessons to be

learned from it are being

told from the point of view

of the sacked workers and

their trade unions in “The

Workers’ Story”, an

exhibition and booklet.

“The Workers’ Story”

tells how News

International conspired

with the government and

the rogue EETPU union to

get rid of an entire

workforce with the

support of the law and, in

the face of rebellion on the

streets of Wapping and

elsewhere, the police.

continued page 4

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Unity! TUC 2011 Wednesday 14 September2

continued

Alongside entreaties forworkers to make furthersacrifices he told delegates;“And you know you will neverhave relevance for manyworkers in this country if youallow yourselves to be paintedas the opponents of change.”

The truth is that Labour willlose further relevance formillions of workers if it does notoffer some opposition to thechanges wrought in theirworking lives and the prospectsfor their children in theinterests of big business and thebanks.

There was a big gap betweenthe messaging emerging fromunion leaderships and the linetaken by Milliband. A gap thatwill present a big difficulty forLabour if it continues itspresent strategy of distancingitself from the forces preparedto challenge the changeswrought by capitalism'sdeveloping crisis.

The level of class conflict thatis beginning to develop cannotbe accomodated within thestudied ‘non-ideological’ stanceMillband prefers.

And the very depth ofcapitalism’s crisis; theparticular features of Britain'sspecific crisis with itsdependence on the relationshipwith US capital, its mediatingrole in relation to the US andthe EU and the dominance ofthe finance sector overmanufacturing; means that thereis little room for concessions.

Of course, as this autumn'sstruggles begin to mount thestate, the corporate media andthe government will begin totalk up the role of the law.

We are about to hear a wholeload of pious nonsense aboutthe law standing above conflict,about the need to respect thecourts and judges and keep ourprotests, demonstrations andstrikes within the bounds of theexisting industrial relations andanti union laws.

Our union leaders are both

more sanguine and morerealistic.

On anti-union laws LenMcCluskey, general secretary ofUnite, said “The fact that wecame to an end of 13 years ofLabour government with theThatcher laws still in place is astain on Labour’s record, and abetrayal of its historic missionand purpose of advancingworking people’s rights.

And he warned that “Law isan essential thing for a civilisedsociety, of course, but class law,pushed through a parliamentfull of expense cheats by acobbled-together coalitionwhich no one voted for is notgoing to paralyse me and itshould not paralyse ourmovement.”

Paul Kenny warned that if thegovernment brought in moreanti-union laws in response tostrikes against public sectorthey would have to be broken.“Civil disobedience in protest aterosion of civil liberties andfreedoms have a place in ourhistory.”

“Human labour cannot

be dispensed with, and

this also counts for the

growth within advanced

capitalism of a vast

‘industrial relations’

enterprise, whose

purpose is to elicit from

wage-earners the

‘positive’ attitudes, the

‘loyalty’ and co-

operative spirit which

the collective,

‘socialised’ process of

production requires, but

which the dynamic of

capitalism serves to

undermine.”

Ralph Milliband

On the main industrialrelations question union leaderswere equally at loggerheadswith Milliband.

Mark Serwotka wasparticularly critical of the

Labour leader’s call for unionsto return to the negotiatingtable. “It is quite shocking thathe remains badly briefed onpensions. He keeps saying thereare negotiations but there are nonegotiations going on,” he said.

And Milliband had noresponse to Mary Bousted’ssharply worded point on the realnature of the ‘negotiations’ withgovernment over pensions.

Milliband ended his speech tosay: “Out of crisis comes thechance to think about the kindof economy and society we wantto build”.

But nowhere in his speechwas there the slightest hint thatthe reorientation of the economyand the construction of a societyin which the interests of ‘hardworking families’ wereparamount could only comeabout by the replacement of theexisting set up.

He seems lost in the spacebetween the contendingclasses – a dangerous place dobe after a TUC which has begunstrenthen its stand against cuts,so-called pension ‘reform’ andjob losses.

Ed Milliband’s election asLabour leader represented apartial rebuff to the neo-Blairitetendency that dominates theparliamentary Labour Party,resides in the shadow cabinetand infects the internalmachinery of the party.

An actual majority of realLabour adherents, in the unions,constituencies and affiliatedorganisations prevailed over theunrepresentative curias of MPs,and MEPs who dominate theparty to select him as leader.

But leader he must become.Just as there is no realopportunity to avoid takingsides in the big class battlesthat are coming there is littlechance of appeasing the BlairiteNew Labour rump whilstretaining the loyalty and supportof Britain’s trade unionists,working people as a whole andtheir families. Which side areyou on, brother?

Which side are you on? ★

Groucho‘Red Ed’ in amazing

escape

Such is the power of mediabranding that it seems that afew of the media’s finest wereinitially taken in by our spoofscoop of Ed Milliband’s speechto Congress.

Ever since the boss presslabelled him ‘Red Ed’ –because trade unionists had thetemerity to prefer him over thePLP’s choice – he has beenstruggling to escape theappellation. Success is in sight.

Incidentally, Groucho paystribute to the redoubtable AnnGilbert, late of Northern Collegeand the civil service union forthe idea of an early releaseleader’s speech. Next Congresswe might try out an ideal speechfrom Brendan. On your marks,Brother Barber. See if you canoutbid us in progressive policyand class analyis.

Not every flower smells

sweet

I am sorry to report that thecomrade dispatched to report onthe Trade Union Friends ofIsrael fringe fell among badelements and finished up in thepub.

Since TUFI backed theIsraeli government and theirtame trade union leadershipover the attacks on Gaza therehave been efforts to put a glosson the Zionist lobby’s effortsamong trade unionists byrecasting it as an initiative forreconciliation with Palestiniantrade unionists. Watch out forthe so-called Trade UnionsLinking Israel and Palestine (orTulip.) ★

Unity! TUC 2011 Wednesday 14 September

I would like more information ❐ please tickto join the Communist Party ❏

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return to Communist Party Ruskin House, 23 Coombe Road, Croydon CRO2 1BD

This specially produced 60 minute documentary inassociation with Platform Films charts the 90 year historyof Britain’s Communist Party. Featuring previously unseeninterviews, footage and much more. DVD £5.50 from http://www.communist-party.org.uk

75 years ago this year, the

Battle of Cable Street

took place, on the 4

October 1936.

It was the most famous anti-fascist demonstration in Britishhistory. To this day the East Endremains proud that it was on itsstreets that march of Mosleyfascism was blocked.

In 1936, countries acrossEurope were falling to thefascist jackboot, with workers’organisations – political partiesand unions – outlawed. FromPoland and Hungary to Norwayand France, aggressive right-wing and fascist forces werechallenging for power.

In Germany and Italy they

had the power of governmentand had used it ruthlessly topersecute religious minorities,extinguish democratic libertiesand freedom of association andthe press. They imprisoned andtortured and establishedconcentration camps, and theypursued expansionist foreignpolicies. All such forces wereunited in their hatred of theSoviet Union, the first workers'state. In Spain, a treacherousGeneral Franco led an uprisingagainst the constitution and thelegitimate government.

Britain had its fascistfollowers grouped in Sir OswaldMosley’s British Union ofFascists; which was in fact

funded by Mussolini. Itsleadership looked abroad forinspiration and was tied bymarriage and business intereststo the Hitler regime. Mosleyused anti-Semitism to divideworking-class communities. Hewas backed by influentialbusiness interests, theRothermere Press (the DailyMail wrote ‘Hurrah for theBlackshirts’) and bankersgrouped in the Anglo-GermanFellowship which wasinfluenced by Von Ribbentrop,the Nazi representative inBritain.

Blackshirts were marshalledin military formation andtrained to attack workers’meetings, disrupt rent strikesand were often protected by thepolice. As part of their strategyto terrorise importantcommunities, they announcedthat on Sunday 4 October, theywould march on London's EastEnd starting at Royal MintStreet and then fanning outeastwards, particularly in areaswith Irish and Jewishcommunities.

Just days before, when itbecame obvious that theGovernment would not ban thefascist march (after all, whywould they: this was agovernment actively frustratingan international alliance against

fascism) the Communist Partyand local labour movement andJewish community organisationsput out a call for east Londonersto unite and block Mosley'spath. They issued a slogan,chalked on streets and doorwaysto factories which echoed that ofheroic Madrid, then resistingFranco: "They Shall Not Pass."

And this they did, turning outin tens of thousands to deny thestreets to fascism. After muchstreet fighting and the erectionof barricades – quite a bit of itwith the police who were tryingto clear a path for Mosley – heabandoned plans to march.What he soon came to realisewas that his influence in highcircles was broken and as hismentor Hitler threatenedfreedom and Britain more andmore, the little support he hadbuilt up in working class circlesevaporated. Within four yearshe was imprisoned as a traitor.

Britain was the only countryin Europe where fascism wassuccessfully blocked and thebattles of Cable Street and later,in Bermondsey, did much toblunt his advance. For thisreason we remember CableStreet a day of dignity and unityfor a vibrant and diversecommunity that would not laydown.http://cablestreet75.org.uk/ ★

Join Britain’s party ofworking class power

Why we rememberCable Street

Unity! TUC 2011 Wednesday 14 September4

by Liz Payne-Ahmadi

The United Nations’

report The World’s Women,

published makes sobering

reading. The picture of

women it portrayed is still

alarmingly bleak.

We are, in general, poor andvulnerable and, in many places,isolated, overburdened andfrequently unable to access themost basic of services.

We are also without voice.Less than 20% of parliamentaryseats worldwide are held bywomen. Only 11 of the 192heads of state and 13 CEOs ofthe 500 largest corporations arefemale. This is reflected too atevery level in local governmentand organisation.

But low visibility of women inpublic life is hardly surprising,given the barriers we face.Violence against women –physical, sexual, psychologicaland economic – is ‘a universalphenomenon’. Women still dotwice as much work as men,much of it domestic and unpaid.The gender pay gap too isalmost universal. The majorityof the 72 million children in theworld not receiving primaryeducation are girls and twothirds of the 774 million whocannot read or write are women.Almost 80% of the world’s 27million refugees are women andchildren. The majority of thosein Africa and the Middle Eastwith HIV/Aids are women and,

in some parts of the developingworld, pregnancy and childbirthstill carry a high risk of death orpermanent injury.

All this, of course, isinexcusable. The world has theknowledge, science, technology,medicine and resources toprovide health care, food, cleanwater, education and a decentstandard of living for all itspopulation. We know that whatstands in the way is the profit-seeking and greed of capitalistsand their corrupt and crisis-ridden system. The super richcannot reproduce corporate andindividual wealth in a just andpeaceful world.

International Women’s Day(IWD) has always provided anopportunity to think about thesethings and, as we prepare in2012 for a second century ofwomen’s heroic struggle sincewe first marked the day, weknow for sure that there is analternative for which to fight andwin.

Next March we will rememberthe heroism of our sisters acrossthe world, facing arrest, torture,imprisonment and execution forspeaking up for this. ★

Liz Payne-Ahmadi is theCommunist Party’s women’s organiser

Women and Classby Mary Davis £2www.communist-party.org.uk

The aim of Murdoch’s “dash forfreedom” was to be free topursue world-wide politicalinfluence at the highest level,world-wide, as well as to makemoney. Using the highlylucrative Sun and News of theWorld to fund USA ventures andservice debts, Fox News, 20thCentury Fox films andsubsequently Sky News and SkySport, along with the strings ofnewspaper groups around theglobe have provided that powerand influence.

The Exhibition provides someanswers as to why and how atrade union-organized workforcehad to be sacrificed to achievethose aims. It tells the story inwords and pictures that shouldbe seen by anyone who isinterested in what sort oforganization hacks intopeople’s private phonemessages and seeks to corruptpolice and politicians withapparent impunity over manyyears.

SEE THE EXHIBITION:

LIVERPOOL: 19-30 Septemberweekdays only Unite Regionaloffice, and public meeting 24September

LONDON: 1-14 October daily,Goldsmiths College, and publicmeeting 4 October

MANCHESTER: 18 October –18 November daily, PeoplesHistory Museum

BRIGHTON: 28 November – 1December, Unite national sectorconferences

LONDON: 5-16 December,weekdays only, Unite London +Eastern regional sectorconferences.

LONDON: 9-31 January 2012,Bishopsgate InstituteFor more information see: www.cpbf.org.ukwww.unitetheunion.orgwww.nuj.org.uk ★

NEWS INTERNATIONAL

WAPPING – 25 YEARS ON

21st century marxism21st century marxism a world to win is the theme

of the 2011 Communist University which takes place at the

Bishopsgate Institute from Friday 25 until Sunday 27 November.

The event includes a solidarity rally, plenary sessions adressed by

communist leaders from South Africa, India and Germany plus

leading British labour movement figures with workshops and

seminars led by key activists and marxist intellectuals.

Follow www.communist-party.org.uk and the

Morning Star for further details and registration

A world to win