Elsewhere in the Bulletin. we cover two of the most importants events so far this year in the labour movement — The Young Socialist Conference and Aldermaston. And now we are in the midst of the union conferences' season which give a guide to the state of the left in the unions. But one factor dwarfs all others when we consider the general situation in industry, namely, the certain defeat of the strike ballot in the engineering industry. Not merely has the two thirds majority been lost, but if the :i1.T.U. result is anything to go by there may very well be a 2 to 1 majority against strike action. Deprived of their tultimate weapon! trade union bureaucrats will face the engineering employers with their bargaining position very much impaired. The relationship of forces between the unions and the employers has changed. This on the eve of the greatest incentive to British capitalists to get tough.since the end of the war.
Entry into the Common Market, and the preparations for that entry, will mean an attempt to rationalise the structure of British capitalism by subjecting all the moribund sections to full scale competition. This by definition means an attack on workers at present employed in those sections of industry. Parallel with this will be an attempt to deal with ‘restrictive practices! in such sectors as the Docks, the motor car industry, etc. where organisation of the workers is such that the British capitalists will be at an ‘unfair advantage' in relation to those of the continent. Ifloreoever in dealing with any 'awkward work®rs'! the bosses will have behind them not merely their own resources but those of their continental counterparts. After Britain is in the Muropean Iron and Coal Community the striking miner will face not merely the N.C.B. but similar bodies in Germany, France, Belgium, et al all with their stocks of coal.
How will the trade union bureaucrat behave in this situation? No doubt the result of the engineering strike ballot will be used time and time again to defeat proposals for militant action. On the other hand the whole process threa~ tens the social role of these people. Many, perhaps most,will be ready to accept @ somewhat lower status as the 'workers representativest on such bodies as N.3.D.C. - and there will be plenty of well paid posts on the various bureaucratic bodies which the 2.E.C. brings in its wake. But for others the processes set into motion will be a matter of life or death. We already see an indication of this in the behaviour of the Printing trade union bureaucrats in their all out opposition to Britain's entry into the Common Market. When N.A.T.S.0.P.A. uses all its resources to bolster up the Forward Britain Movement it is not out of concern for ‘Britain's greatness or Commonwealth pride, nor because of ary love for Beaverbrook, but because the highly organised position of this. and other printing.unions will be seriously undermined when it meets unfettered competition from the continent. The Lconomist, which incidentally was printed in France all through the printers! big strike, has noted this well. These processes will lead to an intensification of the already existing differentiation in ranks of the T.U. bureaucrats. A fact not without significance for marxists.
We have already outlined the tactics we believe marxists should follow in this situation in previous issues of the Bulletin - nothing has happened to cause us to change this programme although we must recognise that the tempo will probably be slower. Right now we should be very opportunist, in the good sense of the word, by latching on to movement around the nurses! wages struggle. The wave of solidarity strikes, etc. is one of the brightest spots (along with the docks strike threat) on the labour front. We should to the forefront in every poss-— ible field in suggesting solidarity action. In war, a cynic once remarked, its not one's own brilliance which wins battles but the enemy's mistakes, Perhaps the we can help to turn the Government!s ‘mistake! over the nurses! pay to a moch-—needed victory for Britain's labour movement.