Foreword¶
Core Argument¶
This foreword, written by Jeremy Dear, situates Rob Sewell’s book as an essential intervention at a moment of apparent militant resurgence in British trade unionism. Dear’s core argument is that the immediate problems faced by workers—low pay, job insecurity, speed-ups, bullying, stress—are not the fault of individual bad managers or particular industries, but are systemic consequences of a capitalist economic system driven by the relentless pursuit of profit. He insists that because markets are finite, competition forces companies to cut production costs, squeezing wages, destroying jobs, and shifting capital across borders in search of cheaper labour. This structural analysis is the book’s central theoretical contribution.
Dear draws heavily on his own experience in the media industry to provide concrete evidence. Over twenty years, he notes, working weeks have lengthened, output has increased, but staffing has been cut, wages have fallen relative to other professions, and ownership has concentrated. He cites the specific example of trained, qualified journalists in London earning £14,000 a year in highly profitable companies—less in real terms than colleagues doing the same job two decades earlier. This is presented not as an anomaly but as typical of a broader pattern across manufacturing, services, and new industries.
The foreword provides crucial historical context. Dear traces the Thatcher-era assault on trade unions—dozens of anti-union laws, the ripping up of collective agreements, the spread of casualisation—as a deliberate strategy to remove the obstacle union organisation posed to profit extraction. He then charts the subsequent decline in union membership and influence, followed by a recent resurgence: more industrial action, the election of left-wing union leaders, and the 1997 Labour victory. This last development is subjected to sharp polemical critique. Dear argues that Labour, despite union hopes, has not shifted the fundamental balance of power in the workplace, remaining beholden to big business and continuing Tory policies on privatisation, public services, and—crucially—refusing to repeal the anti-union laws.
The polemic is directed squarely at the Labour leadership and the policy of partnership. Dear contends that the book’s historical sweep—from the Tolpuddle Martyrs and Chartism through New Unionism to the present—demonstrates that these are not isolated episodes shaped by great individuals but a continuous process of increasing exploitation. The foreword’s political conclusion is that workers are now drawing broader conclusions: fighting cuts in a single company, industry, or country is insufficient. Lasting change requires political transformation, and that means reclaiming the Labour Party from its current leadership. Without a Marxist understanding that problems flow from a system prioritising shareholders over workers and profit over need, Dear warns, the movement is doomed to repeat past mistakes. The book is presented as a vital weapon in that battle.