27. Blairism and the Unions¶
Core Argument¶
Following John Smith's death in May 1994, the capitalist media and Establishment orchestrated Tony Blair's elevation to Labour leadership, backed by right-wing trade union leaders. Blair launched a "counter-revolution", rebranding Labour as "New Labour" on the US Democratic Party model, readmitting SDP defectors to staff the Blair machine and purge opponents. This represented a bourgeois "entrism" designed to break Labour's working-class basis and its union link. Blair distanced himself from unions, promising "no favours", while union leaders, upset by marginalisation, offered no serious opposition—the product of decades of "New Realism" class collaborationism.
Blair's arguments were not novel; every revisionist trend had couched itself in terms of "modernisation". The overwhelming majority of active Labour members favoured retaining Clause Four. Unison's consultation found widespread support for common ownership. Blair rigged the debate by refusing amendments, making the issue a vote of confidence and threatening resignation. At the special spring Conference, held before trade union conference season to prevent rank-and-file mandating, Blair secured 65 per cent support, but only 54.6 per cent of union votes—a figure that would have fallen below 50 per cent had the MSF delegation voted according to its mandate. After victory, the capitalist press declared "Old Labour is dead". Blair stated his vision was for New Labour to become like the nineteenth-century Liberal Party, later expressing desire for a US-style two-party system. Clause Four was ditched, left policies jettisoned, and Party structures changed to downgrade conference and the National Executive. Policy Forums were established, subject to Blair machine manipulation.
Under Blair's first term, Tory policies largely continued: benefit cuts for single mothers, tuition fees, privatisation, Compulsory Competitive Tendering rebranded as "Best Value", and the Private Finance Initiative. Blair retained the vast bulk of anti-union legislation. The minimum wage was introduced at £3.60 an hour, far below the EU Decency Threshold. Blair promised to sign the EU Social Chapter but backtracked under business pressure, watering down implementation. In spring 2003, the government blocked a directive protecting temporary staff pay and rights. Blair boasted Britain was the most deregulated western economy.
The RMT signalworkers' dispute of autumn 1994 became one of the longest since the miners' strike; New Labour refused support. The Merseyside dock dispute saw nearly 500 dockers sacked after refusing new contracts denying union recognition. TGWU leader Bill Morris promised support but denied official recognition to avoid defying anti-union laws. The Blair government refused to intervene despite holding 13.87 per cent of MDHC shares. After two years and four months, dockers accepted £28,000 payoffs; Torside dockers got nothing. The defeat revealed the importance of leadership and the damage from class collaboration. Yet by 2002, official figures showed days lost to strikes reached 1,323,000—the highest since 1990—with nearly a million workers involved, the highest since the 1984 miners' strike. A qualitatively new, most turbulent situation since WWII had opened up in Britain.