29. Militancy is back!¶
Core Argument¶
Chapter 29: Militancy is back!¶
By 2002, a wave of industrial militancy had swept across Britain, reaching levels unseen in over a decade. The one-million-strong council workers’ strike that summer was the largest stoppage since the 1926 General Strike and the biggest ever involving women workers. The firefighters’ dispute saw a nine-to-one vote for a 40 per cent pay rise, the first national action for the FBU in 25 years, and drew consistent public support. Despite Blair’s refusal to concede, the Labour movement rallied behind them. Across sectors—London Underground, local government, health, steel, and postal services—workers were on the move.
The political pendulum swung decisively leftwards. Recognition deals doubled to over 300 in 2002. The GMB recruited 44,000 new members, the RMT grew by 12 per cent in eleven months, and the PCS gained 18,000 under left-wing leadership. Left-wing candidates defeated Blairite incumbents in union elections across ASLEF, FBU, CWU, PCS, RMT, GMB, and TGWU. The defining moment came when Derek Simpson defeated Sir Ken Jackson in the AEEU/Amicus, despite Jackson’s regime employing ballot-rigging—including “flying voters” and branch-stuffing. Simpson won by 410 votes after three recounts, a victory credited to rank-and-file activists around the Unity Gazette who leafleted workplaces. The right-wing domination of unions was decisively broken, driven by anger over 176,000 manufacturing job losses, stagnant pay, and “social partnership” deals. Simpson announced all no-strike “sweetheart” deals would be reviewed; the Honda deal was scrapped, and a strike at Nissan nearly occurred.
At the 2002 TUC Congress, left general secretaries opposed the Iraq war, but the AEEU/Amicus block vote defeated the anti-war amendment. By 2003, Congress unanimously backed secondary action and condemned the war. Tony Woodley called for Blair’s resignation. The text argues, however, that trade union struggle alone is insufficient; political struggle within the Labour Party is necessary. The unions, which created the Party as their political voice, must now provide the key to defeating Blairism. The Left must go beyond narrow trade unionism, reclaim the Party from Blairite carpetbaggers, and mobilise rank-and-file trade unionists to transform it—breaking all links with big business and adopting the aim of socialist transformation. Citing Marx’s 1866 resolution, the text insists workers must convince the world their efforts aim at emancipating the down-trodden masses. It quotes Engels, who predicted the ‘practical’ English would be the last to arrive but would weigh heavily in the scale. After a long period of quiescence, The Times reported in June 2003 that a public sector union was preparing ground for a general strike. The ground is beginning to shake, the pendulum is swinging left, and workers will come to see the need not only for left leaders but for direct participation in mass organisations to reshape them into organs of militant struggle and socialist change.