WORKERS POWER VERSUS "IN PLACE OF STRIFE"
The February 27th and May 1st strikes showed the strength of the British working class. Although the number of workers involved was small - 100,000 and 200,000 (according to the ECONOMIST and other bourgeois sources, which could not exaggerate) - it has to be remembered that this was achieved with virtually no official union support at all. Scanlon and co., of course, faced both ways - opposing the strike at the AEU National Committee but supporting it behind the scenes via ENGINEERING VOICE. Other "left" trade union leaders behaved the same way: supporting the May 1st strike at the Sheffield workers control conference but at best doing nothing to implement the resolution passed at that conference. Only the Communist Party and small Marxist groups gave general support to the strike. The danger of the high specific weight of the former has been demonstrated by the dropping of the originally projected June 5th strike.
The danger of relying upon trade union bureaucrats leading the struggle against the Government's anti-working class policies has been shown in no uncertain manner in recent weeks. The TUC proposals - which, in essence, only oppose the penal clauses of "In Place of Strife" - amount to an offer by Britain's trade union bosses that they should police the government. The fact that the "left" trade union leaders - to a man - have also lined up behind this scheme is an important lesson for us all.
What is common to the Government, the trade union bureaucrats (left and right), the Communist Party and other miscellaneous lefts is that all fear above all the growth of a mass working class movement out of their control.
The February 27th and May 1st strikes showed that such a mass rank and file working class movement is a reality. The progression of the one-day strikes and the militancy of the strikers showed that the process would deepen and broaden. Almost certainly the June 5th strike would have been bigger - perhaps much bigger - than May 1st.
It is necessary now to start the patient job of constructing a movement with real influence in factories, pits, garages, etc., WHICH IS COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT of the trade union bureaucrats. Recent experience has amply demonstrated that it must be independent also of the leadership of the Communist Party.
Of prime importance in waging this struggle will be the fight for trade union democracy. The bureaucrats will attempt to counter independent activity by expulsion and proscriptions - we must make it clear that we will not abandon the [illegible]