Cast your mind back to 14th May 1980, the last time that the TUC general council called a national strike; or as they described it at the time “a national day of action”.
This was called to seek to derail Margaret Thatcher’s proposed laws to weaken the unions.
Frankly it was a disaster, with very low levels of participation; isolating the most militant trade unionists, and in many workplaces there was even hostility stoked up against the shop stewards, from otherwise loyal union members.
My own experience, as a hospital porter in a well organised, and sometimes militant workplace, was dispiriting as only the stewards went on strike, and a handful of us rode in an almost empty coach to London for the march.
Instead of showing the strength of our movement, it did the opposite, showing our weakness; and the Tories gained confidence from it.
Of course, had the action been successful it would have increased the confidence of our movement; but there was a huge miscalculation, and union members are not a stage army that can be wheeled out on demand.
The situation today is possible even more unfavourable. There would be legal problems in coordinating strike actions across different unions, and the level of workplace organisation is fragile, and unconfident.
Of course every mechanism for opposing the irresponsible Tory cuts must be employed, and where appropriate that will include industrial action; but vainglorious calls for more action than we can deliver are a distraction from the substantive debate of how we move actually move forward based upon a realistic assessment of our strength, and the current possibilities.
Of course the demand for a general strike is sometimes a rhetorical embelishment for calls for coordinating strike action over public sector pensions. There are already practical and political obstacles to achieving such coordinated action, and the wisdom or otherwise of such action needs to be discussed and debated in the unions affected. In particular public sector pensions is an issue that would fail to unite private sector and public sector workers; and it is far from clear that the confidence exists for such action.
Furthermore, gifting the government and the Tory press with the spectre of a direct challenge to parliamentary sovereignty plays into their hands, and does nothing to win the argument for action with our members.
James Heartfield on said:
I agree. ‘General strike!’ is all a bit abstract – until it’s not, and then it is very real. Too often it is a rhetorical gesture, that substitutes verbal militancy for the real work needed to get to that point. The WRP made the call for a General Strike into a timeless slogan, that was on all its banners and leaflets on all occasions. The empty vessel sounds the loudest. In today’s conditions, the call for a General Strike speaks to two ambitions, one positive, one less so. The desire to generalise the struggle is the positive one. The hope that the support of the national trade union movement – or its leaders – will overcome the resistance to action in individual workplaces is less positive. It only shows that there is no great confidence. Briefly, there is no possibility of a general strike before a wave of strikes in individual industries and workplaces. So far there have only been sporadic protests, and isolated disputes.
John on said:
The ability to go on strike, and more importantly stay out on strike, has also been significantly denuded by the changing face of the economy away from heavy industry onto light industry and services. This means that the working class is far more heterogenuous than it was in previous times, with less of a connection to a defined community via the industry which sits at the heart of that community.
The mass selling off of council housing stock, married to the replacement of real wages by credit, also means that workers today face far more financial hardship and challenges when they go on strike than they did back in the 60s and 70s.
That said, there is the political aspect of calling for a general strike to consider. On a certain level it can help to strengthen consciousness and embrace a sense of class solidarity which reaches across sectional lines. The potency of this shouldn’t be easily dismissed.
Coordinated Action is Less Risky than Localised Resistance on said:
Public sector employers talk to each other, and coordinate their strategies for implementing cuts in services, and for dealing with resistance. The call for more generalised and better coordinated action from groups like the Socialist Party is simply a suggestion that public sector workers do the same. The risks involved in holding isolated and uncoordinated actions are much higher, and the risk of doing nothing at all is obvious to all.
Patrick Scott on said:
In a sense the 1980 ‘National Day of Action’ which I recall personally was a disaster by the standards of the time. Nevertheless 2 to 3 million workers took strike action and not a single national newspaper appeared that day.
If we could get a similar number of workers to take coordinated strike action today that would be a big step forward.
Vanya on said:
The day of action in support of the NHS (2 years later?) I recall was actually quite successful. But I don’t think it was called as a general strike. A leading CP member who was a senior union rep on Fleet Street was jailed briefly iirc.
red mole on said:
In the present situation the call for a general strike is not just leftwing posturing. The only serious chance we have of stopping the cuts programme in its tracks is through a major coordinated programme of stike action. We have to be honest and call the situation as we see it, watering down our demands from lack of confidence over what can be achieved will do nobody any favours.
Hch on said:
For once I agree with Andy. Calling for a General Strike now would be foolish and the sort of postering nonesense that comes from the likes of the SWP. A general strike poses the question – who runs society? Workers confidence and consciousness is not yet at the level of all out, indefinite geberal strike action. But there are signs of growing militancy and unrest, which cannot be denied. The call for a 24 hr Public Sector Strike in a co-ordinated fight back against the cuts, is much more realistic and gaining support amongst rank and file and certain unions, such as the RMT, PCS etc. That would be a step in the right direction. Pensions appears to be the issue to strike on.
River on said:
A UNITE led strike by public sector workers near Preston: http://www.lep.co.uk/community/local_services_2_1889/council-contacts/craftsmen_take_to_the_picket_line_1_3285334
let’s fill that thread with messages of solidarity!
Andrew Coates on said:
The idea of calling for a National Day of Action is not a bad one.
But I have to agree that in the present climate the demand for a General Strike not only makes this kind of activity seem more radical than it could actually be and it is unlikely to have much of an echo on the ground.
For example I have been very involved in the Suffolk Coalition for Public Services, our local anti-cuts campaign.
It has received the active support of UNISON – the workers most affected by the Suffolk New Strategic Direction.
I am absolutely sure that, despite this, only a minority of these employees would take part in such an action.
Protest, pressure – this had had an effect. It would have more impact had we left political representation, through Labour and socialist parties.
I leave aside any fantasies about a revolutionary general strike.
One cannot but note that even last autumn’s massive protests against Sarkozy’s pension plans in France never even remotely got to that point.
Nick Parker on said:
Speaking of strikes, please could every single person who reads this post email leeds@pcs.org.uk with message of support for the thousands of Jobcentre Plus call centre workers who will be out on strike on Monday. If you can afford it, can you also donate to our hardship fund at http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/department_for_work_and_pensions_group/dwp-news.cfm/id/0107B7B8-8433-46F6-853F7AC709E3921F. You could also visit one of our 37 picket lines – find your local picket line at http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/article/item/jobcentre-plus-call-centres.cfm#activecontainer
We will be on strike to protect the public services that we deliver and for the right to be treated with decency and respect at work, not treated like numbers or slaves.
Thanks.
Lazy Bones on said:
And Job Centre PLUS staff will be taking the Easter Weekend off, these lazy sods don’t know what it is like to do a hard days work.
Lazy Bones on said:
Oh yes, and the May Day Holiday on the 2nd May!! Absolutely shocking!!
Dean on said:
“Furthermore, gifting the government and the Tory press with the spectre of a direct challenge to parliamentary sovereignty plays into their hands, and does nothing to win the argument for action with our members.”
Hang on just a minute. We have a government which is comprised of the Tory party, who get barely 30% of the opular vote and the Lib Dems who got votes by lying about their policies. So we have a government with zero mandate inflicting the most severe policies fior generations and you say we need to be careful about parliamentary [fucking] sovereignty. Do me a favour mate.
“Instead of showing the strength of our movement, it did the opposite, showing our weakness; and the Tories gained confidence from it.”
The reason they think they can get away with these policies is because they think we are weak! This is the kind of weak willed argument I hear all the time from union activists. Start showing some backbone.
Vanya on said:
“This is the kind of weak willed argument I hear all the time from union activists…” Really? Union activists? Well just ignore them! What the fuck do they know? It’s the much more representative and grounded far-left organisations you should be listening to.
Dean on said:
“Really? Union activists? Well just ignore them!”
Yes, really!! Being a union activist myself that really isn’t an option.
“It’s the much more representative and grounded far-left organisations you should be listening to.”
So is being racist!
Ian Croft on said:
Can I, as a PCS member, ask everyone to ignore Nick Parker and not donate to our hardship fund.
Anyone claiming hardship pay for a single day strike (which is all that will happen) needs a reality check. Save your money for people going on a serious strike.
Ray on said:
No one expected students to protest so forcefully – especially the NUS leadership and the numbers expected on the national demo against the cuts were played down by the TUC as well. So far organised resistance in practice has been much stronger than the organised left has anticipated. By not encouraging co-ordinated national action there is a danger that the left is not involved in organising the anger against cuts that is out there and this can lead to isolated pockets of resistance when much broader action could be possible.
Robert on said:
The original General Strike in the Twenties failed and the labour movement was much stronger then than it is now. Saying Off your knees TUC; general strike now! may be emotionally appealing but I doubt it’s serious politics.
Ray on said:
“Can I, as a PCS member, ask everyone to ignore Nick Parker and not donate to our hardship fund.
Anyone claiming hardship pay for a single day strike (which is all that will happen) needs a reality check. Save your money for people going on a serious strike.”
Ian has posted in the past about intending to cross picket lines so don’t listen to this right wing scab.
Mendoza on said:
‘The situation today is possibly even more unfavourable.’
I don’t think there’s nothing wrong with agitating for strikes – especially if we call for them in defence of service provision (and therefore of the community as a whole, as servive users) rather than only to defend jobs and conditions.
Even if it comes to nought, seeing the labour movement being combative in defence of others helps to demonstrate solidarity and undermine the case that anti-cuts protests are sectional or self-interested. There are already many examples of this kind of action, particularly around the closure of local libraries and cooperation between library staff and local users.
The problem with the ‘general strike’ idea is tactical. Obviously there is no possibility of an actual general strike occurring, or of the TUC general council taking the leadership of a militant, anti-cuts movement upon itself. The question is whether the act of calling for strikes is useful or not – there may come a time when individual unions call strikes that overlap with one another, but at the moment we need to build up at a local level. Look how much organisation the 26th March demonstration took. Strikes would require more of that sort of grassroots coordination. The focus has to be on the grunt work of actually building up networks between local workers and service users.
alibi on said:
General Strike is absolute dreamland stuff from where I’m sitting/ living/ working.
Once the government are down to 30% in the polls combined lets think about stuff like this. A one-day strike right now would be poorly supported; of limited effect; and risks showing our poor hand early doors.
We should be thinking about CO-ORDINATED regional/ localised demos, which allow a maximum number of people to participate and feel the confidence that people felt on the 26th. If a few million more feel that, maybe then.
Until then I have to warn trade unionists that you’re living in a bubble that most are not inside. Yet. Bring a few million in with protests first.
alibi on said:
I would also be frank that the level of public outrage, militancy etc in the first quarter of this year has been remarkably weak and way below expectation. One demo and that’s been it. The demo was good, but it really wasn’t enough to warrant some of the analysis out there.
Robert P. Williams on said:
I suppose if trade unions never fought any battles at all ever then they would look so increadibly strong that the Con-Dems would just give up and go home.
Or alternatively…
Trade unionists could ditch the pathetic, divisive and counter-productive approach of the Labour Party and argue the case for opposing ALL CUTS.
The problem is that the ordinary worker is bombarded by the ‘TINA’ propoganda, and this isn’t being helped bt some trade union leaders and officials who are singing the same tune.
The campaign must be built… nobody can click their fingers and expect demoralised and frightened workers to go out on strike just like that…. but that doesn’t mean that consciousness and confidence can’t be built up.
Is it hard work… yes…. is it impossible …no.
Building the case for a 24hr, public sector strike…. perhaps around pensions… is a good starting point.
Jimmy on said:
A general strike as in the past means workers are out on a limb and will be starved. The state controls everything from the police to the army and more so food distribution. In any case no group of workers can possibly bring the country to a halt. The socialists have to come up with other ideas to impose their dictatorship.
RIKKI on said:
YES ANDY THAT CALL WAS A WASTED CALL
the high heedyins in the tuc and liebour party were to worried about there expences good salery and argued against a general strike.
the same people who stabbed the miners in the back
there is a coupl of difference from 80
1 british military over stretched and getting their notice for p45s whislt serving in war zone.
2 police being warend about p45s .
3 history trade unionism put back to the dark days WHEN the tuc done bugger ALL to defend the industrial base b of britian IN THE 70S 80Sand look where we are at now
the industrial workers and families are called under class and feckless dole scoungers work shy incapacty benifit cheats.
DONT WORRY AND THE TUC AND LIEBOUR PARTY WILL MAKE SURE THERE WILL NOT BE A GENERAL STRIKE AND IF THE CLASS HELD ONE THEIR CONDEMANTION WOUL BE DEAFENING
faultylpgic on said:
what a bunch of tossers..can;t strike won,t strike ,, Newmans new labour chant in Swindon GMB section of March 26th. This idiot really thinks we should just elect new labour so they can attack us but of course it will be ok then….
The People Will Rise on said:
There isn’t going to be a General Strike.
It’s just sloganeering for ultra-left morons.
Vanya on said:
#15 ‘So is being racist’ ???
Vanya on said:
#17′So far organised resistance in practice has been much stronger than the organised left has anticipated’
What is there about the level of organised resistance that tells you a general strike is on the cards?
Lawrence Shaw on said:
In my mind, the single biggest task for all socialists is to kill the lie of the “structural deficit”. It should be the single biggest task for all socialists and trade unionists, regardless of political shade, whether within Labour or outside it.
This is because everything bad this is happening is being framed in the narrative of the country being crippled by its deficit and everything being done is in that context.
We all know it is a myth, but many, many people do not. We need to arm ourselves with the arguments and facts and keep on hammmering the points.
The truth is that working class people are in debt. Also many private sector employers, especially in the media sector I cover, are also in debt due to gross mismanagement and now in spite of still making money are unable to obtain the cheap refinancing they once could to service their debts. The only debt we should be campaigning to wipe out is household debt and private debt that is a risk to jobs.
I actually think a one-day public sector strike is a good goal to work towards in the longer term – but it HAS to be tied to the message that there is no national deficit crisis . To simply strike with an abstract message of “saving jobs” and being “against cuts” is not enough – we have to be ready to use the platform to shift the discourse away from the default “there is a debt we cannot ignore” problem.
River on said:
I suggest people look at Wisconsin, and the electrifying effect that coordinated and generalised action is having there.
The public sector needs to coordinate and generalise it’s actions, a 24 hour public sector strike makes a great deal of sense.
Tell the truth on said:
When you press SWP members about their bizarre call for a general strike, they shift the argument to co-ordinated national strike action, usually for one day. This is more serious but it’s not a general strike, with all due respect. So why didn’t they say co-ordinated national strike action in the first place if that’s what they meant?
carry on socialism on said:
the index post for this thread is the kind of verbage I would expect to find in the daily mail.
toni on said:
The idea of a General Strike is pure fantasy; things have “moved on” since 1926. The State Machine would have it crushed before it got out the front door, and the only people going on strike would be the public service workers i.e. those whose livelihoods are at stake. No one else would give a sausage.
toni on said:
“In particular public sector pensions is an issue that would fail to unite private sector and public sector workers” – you can say that again
toni on said:
#31 Re Wisconsin: maybe when we are all stuck on Workfare will be strike up the courage to down tools. Wisconsin here we come!
C Simon on said:
#21 alibi A General Strike may be the stuff that dreams are made of but it doesn’t half shift stale, rain-sodden copies of Socialist Worker… so there!
Thoughts on said:
The only way there will be a general strike is as grass roots strikes and struggles take place and seek to link up. Under such conditions the trade union police may call a 24 hour general strike for limited aims to head off the movement but the danger of calling for a general strike now is that those grass roots movements and strikes will be put off by the idea that only a general strike is worth contemplating. The bureaucrats of individual unions can oppose a struggle on the grounds that only a general strike can defeat the government. We need to up our political game (the exclusive reliance on the general strike slogan shows political bankruptcy: a general strike to achieve what for instance?), distinguish ourselves from the political vacuum that is Ed Milliband and organise for grass roots resistance through strikes, occupations, permanent protests, demos, flash mobs, workplace committees that can challenge management policies on behalf of the entire workforce in a hospital, a school, a factory or an office and community based anti-cuts movements that challenges for political influence locally. If we do that it will mean that when we are in a position to organise a general strike it will be a truly meaningful event.
prianikoff on said:
#38 “the danger of calling for a general strike now is that those grass roots movements and strikes will be put off by the idea that only a general strike is worth contemplating.
The bureaucrats of individual unions can oppose a struggle on the grounds that only a general strike can defeat the government.”
I’ve never heard a trade union leader use an argument like that before.
If they did, their members might take them at their word and expect them to organise one. But I’ve often seen them evade responsibility by offloading the problem onto local branches.
We now have a rather typical situation in which a nationally coordinated government attack on unions is being met by a largely uncoordinated response by the union leaders.
Despite numerous local protests, there have been very few strikes against job-losses due to budget cuts. Those which have occurred, have mainly been sectional and unsynchronised one-day strikes. As such, they’ve had very little impact.
When the TUC did finally managed to organise a large national protest, the media undermined its impact with scare stories about hoodies in Mayfair.
The government totally ignored it and Cable sneered that their policy wasn’t going to be influenced by a mere demonstration.
The TUC leadership should have organised for a one-day public sector strike to follow the March 26th protest. That would have been an excellent way to get the 500,000 people who supported the demonstration to mobilise their fellow workers.
A one day public sector strike would have raised confidence amongst the union membership. Instead there is now a hiatus. Many union members are quite confused about the next step.
There certainly needs to be local action. But the union leaderships, particular in the left-led unions need to be encouraging branches to:-
1) Initiate disputes against job loss in every public sector union facing cuts – (i.e. almost every local authority in the country).
2) Launch ballots for strike action in the relevant unions and a national campaign for a “Yes” vote in them
3) Synchronise the dates on which they call strike action.
4) Choose a day for a one day national strike in the public sector.
5) Launch pay claims to counter inflation in both public and private sector unions.
6) Launch a dispute on public sector pensions.
To defend the right to retire on a full pension at 60 and for genuine inflation-indexing of public sector pensions.
7) Start a national campaign for an increase in the Minimum Wage.
8) Create a TUC affiliated organisation for Job Seekers.
The TUC should fully supports these initiatives.
River on said:
What prianikoff said X2
aberfoyle on said:
Those that carry the card like those wh do not are locked into debt,and that run has been for ever in capitalist rules.Our unemployed are our voice young and left forgotton by dialectics and the price in their pocket to buy a paper.
Goebbels on said:
#30 Lawrence THERE IS NO NATIONAL DEFICIT CRISIS!! – that FACT cannot be shouted loudly enough. But that is where the left has lost the argument or floundered at least. The state propaganda machine has warmed the general public that SOME cuts have to be made, it is just a matter of what and who and hopefully it wont be made – a master-stroke of forming public opinion. Socialist Unity and the Left in general could learn a lot from the likes of the BBC, Sky, Fox et al.
Ian Croft on said:
“A one day public sector strike would have raised confidence amongst the union membership.”
Why would it? This cliche is always wheeled out despite there being zero evidence for it.
“a 24 hour public sector strike makes a great deal of sense”
Why would it? a single 24 hour strike will not defeat the government and nor will several 24 hour strikes, the Socialist Party controlled “militant left led fighting union” PCS struggled to get 3 days of strike action spread over 2months.
Lawrence Shaw on said:
Yep, those evil bureaucrats are stopping the struggle again….yawn. I’m sick to the back teeth of reading about how shit we all are when my experience is going around virtually begging members to take co-ordinated action in the face of huge indifference, then being hectored by members of sects that we’re not providing enough of a lead. Go get elected to be a union rep and work your way up to “give the right lead” if you’re not happy with the unions.
Even so, all good sentiments and ideas expressed above about building towards a public sector general strike, but I repeat until people are convinced the debt is a political lie, any industrial action against cuts will be blunted to the point of uselessness .
Striking on its own is not the solution. There is a wider political narrative battle to win as well and that is not something that can just be hung on union officials.
It would help if the pathetic sectarian left got its act together to fight under one umbrella to further this aim, but it can’t even manage that.
Striker on said:
The ONLY way things ever change and the ONLY way that the hard-won concessions that the working-class is by FIGHTING the “authorities”, and (sadly) in this day and age it isn’t going to happen. Do YOU want a CRIMINAL RECORD and suffer the punishment of being EXCLUDED from any professional job or indeed any job with half decent pay and conditions. Do YOU want to LOSE YOUR EMPLOYMENT. In a sense “professionals” like teachers and lectures are really screwed in this sense. The Government can strip them of every last dime of their pension and their is NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that they can do. The working-class aren’t going to fight other people’s battles and risk a criminal record; maybe that is why the TUC is making overtures at being the unemployed on board, chance would be a fine thing.