1926 general strike debate


1926 general strike debate

THE MORNING Star (12 June) printed a review by Graham Stevenson of
Socialist Party general secretary Peter Taaffe’s book on the 1926
general strike.


Click here to buy ‘1926 General Strike – Workers taste power

 Below we print the review and a reply by Peter Taaffe printed
on the 15 June


Morning Star review:

PETER TAAFFE has competently retold standard, secondary accounts of
the 1926 general strike. Given that the author is a veteran leader of
the Trotskyist Socialist Party (aka Militant), it is not surprising,
however, that he focuses mainly on the question of whether the "fledgeling
Communist Party had the right strategy programme and tactics to take
full advantage of the strike".

Taaffe enjoys himself regaling the reader with eulogistic reviews of
Trotsky’s prescient view that left social democrats would let the
movement down. It becomes tiresome, though, to see the constant,
sometimes forced, links to the fate of Militant in the 1980s -or their
special role in the PCS, or in Liverpool – as if all roads lead to these
events and the onslaught on the Communist Party in the 1920s.

This is a book that aspires to be the political basis for a programme
for contemporary action rather than a history of the 1926 strike. It is
the self-serving nature of these obsessions that mars what might have
been a useful book.

Repeatedly, Taaffe adroitly brings us back to the undoubted big
mistake of 1926, the slogan calling for "All Power to the General
Council". But it was not the slogan that let the miners down. The thorny
and perennial political problem of the British labour movement is its
rejection of theoretical analysis.

Blind spots appear regarding the supposed neutrality of the state and
its organs, class struggle and the role of unions – leadership is
flawed. And it is this political legacy that still confronts us.

Peter’s reply, printed in the Morning Star, 15 June:

I WAS not ‘self-serving’, as Graham Stevenson asserts in his ‘review’
of my book on the 1926 General Strike. I sought to explain the objective
situation in 1926 while at the same time defending Trotsky’s analysis of
the strike. The leading theoreticians of the Communist Party, such as
Palme Dutt and J.T. Murphy, also praised Trotsky’s writings on Britain
at the time.

Stevenson obviously believes that it is ‘tiresome’ to draw any
parallels with the events of 1926 and the recent history of the labour
movement in Britain. But the expulsion of the Communist Party from the
Labour Party in 1925 was similar to the expulsion of Militant and the
Liverpool councillors in the 1980s by Kinnock.

In 1925, this was a clear warning of the role which would be played
later by the right-wing trade union leaders and the erstwhile lefts in
the 1926 General Strike. The expulsion of the Liverpool Militants was
the beginning of the end of the Labour Party as a distinct workers’
party at the bottom.

Also, the slogan ‘All Power to the General Council’ was not the only
error in 1926. The young Communist Party was subordinated to the
mistaken policies of the Comintern (Communist International) at the
time, which prevented it from emerging after the strike as a significant
mass force.

Stevenson takes refuge from any serious analysis of these events by
the alleged "rejection of theoretical analysis" of the British labour
movement. Unfortunately, he doesn’t enlighten us with his theoretical
analysis of the strike.

We seek to provide a narrative of the events and the theoretical
conclusions that could be drawn from them, which are extremely relevant
today, both in Britain and internationally.

We hope your readers will decide whether we have succeeded in this
aim.

Yours comradely,
Peter Taaffe

Book launch

WEST LONDON Trade Union Club was the venue for the West London launch
of Peter Taaffe’s new book 1926 General strike – workers taste power.

Socialist Party members and supporters including workers in local
government, transport and education came to hear Peter Taaffe introduce
the discussion around the lessons of the general strike for today, and
to contribute to this discussion.

Peter spoke of the 1926 general strike being raised again in relation
to the marvellous million strong strike of local government workers this
year and of the inspiring recent strikes and protests in France and
Chile. This successful event finished with about two dozen books being
signed and sold and a few celebratory drinks.

Chris Newby

1926 General Strike –

workers taste power

by Peter Taaffe

To commemorate the eightieth anniversary of the 1926 General Strike
in Britain, and to draw out the lessons from this movement, Peter Taaffe
has written a book outlining the course of the nine days in May that
shook British capitalism to its foundations.

185 pages + images. Only £7.50 including p&p

Cheques payable to Socialist Publications

PO Box 24697, London E11 1YD.

Credit/debit cards tel. 020 8988 8771

email [email protected]

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