Britain has joined the other countries of Western Europe in experiencing a strike wave, Dustmen, miners, car workers, and even foremen have joined in, Faced by this militancy the Government and some sections of the employers have been forced to concede increases which would have been quite unthinkable a short time ago,
Yet at the same time the movement which sprung up against the anti-trade union legislation has gone into sharp decline, Earlier this year this movement could mount two political strikes of 100,000 and 200,000, yet last month it could only muster 75 to its national conference,
No one can blame this decline on to the workers - they are showing their militancy every day. We believe that there are two reasons for this decline,
Firstly, it must be said that after the Government withdrew the anti-strike legislation, in exchange for a promise from the TUC that that august body would police unofficial strikes, the majority of militant workers felt they has scored a notable victory, This, in itself has been a powerful contributing factor to the strike wave, but has made the old-style defence committees seem redundant,
Secondly, we believe that the decline of the organised movement reflects the bad leadership given to it, The lack of an offensive strategy and concentration on defensive demands, the continuous watering down of programme to get "broader support", until the lowest common denominator was reached, the lack of involvement in real struggles, the complete lack of real discussion about the problems confronting the movement - all these things have contributed to this decline,
Where were the trade union defence committees whilst the dustmen's strike was on? Surely it was elementary that these committees should have been organising solidarity action, Instead, in most of the committees, dominated by lower rank trade union officials, there was a fear of "interfering" in another union's field,
If anything substantial is to come of the present strike wave the trade union defence committees must turn themselves from bodies organising meetings for trade union leaders and Tribunite MPs to being principally concerned with assisting trade union struggles - local and national, It should be possible to build a national network of such committees, uniting all those who will support militant action around an offensive programme, That such committees will tread on the corns of "left" trade union leaders goes without saying,