It is now becoming clear that 1968 is becoming a high point of industrial strike activity in the post-war period. The figures for the first 6 months of the year indicate a rise of almost [illegible] in the number of days "lost" through strikes. Despite the postponement of the Engineering strike, the last four months of the year can be expected to continue the trend. At the time of writing strike action seems imminent by both building and postal workers whilst fire brigade union members are considering a ban on drill. Part of the increase in the numbers of days lost can be accounted for by the one day strike of engineers last May. However there have been big increases in the motor industry, and in metals. We should consider the reasons for this and some of the implications.
First of all, strike figures generally fluctuate from year to year and month to month, without any clearly discernible pattern; at the start of 1968 there was evidence of only a modest upturn in activity. There are however, general factors at work which suggest that the trend towards more strikes will continue. Perhaps the single most important factor is that a whole generation of workers has grown up confident of its ability to hold on to what has been gained. They have not as yet suffered a decisive defeat. Thus, the aircraft industry (which is among the better paid industries, although there are important regional differences) shows a seven-fold increase in days lost, whereas the coal-mining industry shows an 60% decline. The contrast can be explained by the fact in the aircraft industry are a much higher proportion of younger workers than in mining, which was once the backbone of the labour movement, and is now declining in morale and in numbers. Another partial explanation of the declining strike activity in the pits is the introduction of a new system of payments, based on day rates, which does not lend itself to disruption. Arguments over piece rates have for long provided shop stewards with a valuable means of leverage.
This is not to say that British workers as a whole have not [illegible] important setbacks. Since the return [of the] Labour Government the real [illegible] of British [illegible] have declined by about [illegible] So far the rising prices and rents [illegible] and threat [illegible] of legal [illegible]
The fact that these anti-working-class measures are being backed by a Labour [illegible] Right-wing [illegible] just sit tight and pretend that they were helping the [illegible] The right-wing still [illegible] hold on the official move[ment] [illegible]
[illegible] weakest ties with the official movement. In France some time prior to the May events this feature was noticed when young workers, many of them completely lacking in experience of the official movement, were a vital element in a whole series of militant and at times violent, strikes and occupations. In Britain, we can cite the women at Fords, and last year's strike of bank staff and the incipient tenants movement and technicians as the beginning of a similar pattern in which hitherto ill-organised sections move into action often ahead of the traditionally well-organised sections.
In addition, the movement as a whole is compelled to adopt a more combative posture. Left wing currents within the trade unions give expression to a tendency towards confrontation on a consciously political level, between the Labour Government and organised workers. In short, workers at all levels are casting aside their reservations and getting down to the job of defending their livelihood. As yet the struggle is a partial one and still primarily economic, but the political implications grow steadily wider.
The role of socialists in this unfolding situation is fundamentally that of injecting a clear programme of transitional demands into the heat of the struggle to equip workers with ideas which raise the [illegible] extending their organised power in [illegible] essential concomitant of this is the creation of an organised force which would be capable of propagating such a programme, and of giving cohesion and coordination to the actual struggles of workers.
This raises a final point. Perhaps the most dramatic upsurge has been among students, who are not workers although many of them will become part of the growing body of skilled and strategically-placed white collar workers. They are not organised at the point of production yet a growing body of graduates is essential for the progress of capitalist production. They are perhaps more than anything else a barometer for the mood of a whole section of society - a growing section disillusioned by orthodox politics and ready to act to express their frustration.
This section encompasses not only the students themselves but increasingly young workers, many of [whom] are becoming involved in industrial action and class action for the first time in their lives. The fruits of th[is] could radically alter the future of [illegible] What [illegible] militant [illegible] effective as a means of furthering the [illegible]