The Working Class Are Back And They're Mad As Hell

 

The Revival of Resistance

The 2022-23 strikes and the battles still to come.

Mark L Thomas, Jessica Walsh, and Charlie Kimber

(Bookmarks, 2023)

 

The past year has seen British workers take industrial action more often than at any time since 1989 with teachers, nurses, rail workers and even barristers downing tools and taking to the barricades.

For the first time in decades union leaders like Jo Grady of the UCU and Mick Lynch of the RMT are national figures. Lynch even provided a line misquoted by hacks of all stripes when he said the ‘working class are back’.

It is unquestionable that after years of managing decline the trades union movement has regained something like relevance. Thanks in large part to the shock therapy unwillingly inflicted on the body politic by the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and a cost-of-living crisis all landing in the space of three years.

As Thomas et al argue this presents an opportunity to bring about economic, social, and political change the like of which only comes around once a century. Unfortunately, if it follows its past form in similar circumstances the union movement will let the chance slip through its collective fingers.

To blame is a mixture of learnt helplessness stemming from four decades of neo-liberalism being the dominant force in economics and politics, and the inherent bureaucracy of the trades union movement. Resulting in timid national leadership reining in grassroots action, something the recent crop of strikes have frequently circumvented.

Thomas et al make a case for bypassing a moribund leadership in favour of grassroots organizing that looks back to the origins of the union movement, whilst making full use of the opportunities provided by social media to bring members together to coordinate local action.

This call for rank-and-file union members to follow the courage of their convictions rather than the compromises of the leadership and paid officials is made more powerful as the Labour Party looks set to form the next government.

Already striking unions are urging members to moderate their demands for fear of spooking floating voters and snatching disappointment from the jaws of victory. Experience suggests that if, as looks all but inevitable, Labour win the next general election union members will then be promised ‘jam tomorrow’ endlessly in return for being quiet and compliant today.

Although marked by compromises and failures of courage the strikes of the past year and a bit show the unions still have a viable role to play in the struggle for workers’ rights. The authors of this pamphlet make a cogent and compelling case for how much more could be achieved were that struggle to be led by grassroots members instead of paid officials with positions and pensions to protect.