TONY MULHEARN, one of the leaders of the Liverpool 47 councillors
who fought the Tories in the 1980s reviews Peter Taaffe’s new book.
Eighty years after history’s greatest display of working-class power
in Britain, Peter Taaffe’s book comes at a time when organised labour is
again beginning to flex its muscles.
Tony Mulhearn
Millions of words have been written about the event, but this book is
different. Peter Taaffe not only faithfully records the mighty scope of
the strike movement, but also analyses the role of its key players.
The outright treachery of the trade union leadership and the
divisions within it are critically examined. The role of the
newly-formed Communist Party (CP) and the Minority Movement (in which it
had great influence) is evaluated, showing both its positive and
negative influences.
The book explains the remorseless logic of capitalism in the economic
crisis of 1925 that demanded the reduction of workers’ share of the
wealth they produced and how Churchill’s decision to go back to the gold
standard impacted on the miners.
The miners and the TUC, under pressure from the rank and file,
organised opposition to the proposed wage cuts and increase in the
working week. In the face of mass opposition Baldwin agrees to a subsidy
to the coal owners for nine months to maintain the miners’ wages and
hours.
Serious preparations were then begun by the government, led by the
most ruthless representatives of capitalism: Winston Churchill, Lord
Londonderry (an Irish coal owner), Home Secretary Joynson Hicks and the
more astute Stanley Baldwin. His reason for granting the subsidy was
simple: "We weren’t ready".
The objective power of the working class, which had been demonstrated
on several occasions since the end of the first world war in 1918,
persuaded the government that the crisis of 1926 was the opportunity to
once and for all deal with this threat. Lord Londonderry’s infamous
statement encapsulated this: "No matter what the cost in blood and
treasure we shall find the trade union movement will be smashed from top
to bottom."
Contrast this with the statement from arch-traitor Jimmy Thomas,
general secretary of the railway workers union: "I have never
disguised that in a challenge to the constitution, God help us unless
the government won."
The parallels with today’s labour leaders are clear. Blair, Brown,
Lord Kinnock, Lord Bill Morris (ex-general secretary of the transport
and general workers union) would be perfectly at home in the company of
Thomas and his collaborators.
Peter also focuses on the role of the left. The CP rank and file is
afforded enormous credit in its courage and organisational skills before
and during the strike. But its role as the cutting edge of the struggle
was fatally undermined by its slogan ‘All power to the General Council
of the TUC,’ and its support (under the influence of Stalin) for the
Anglo-Russian Committee.
The CP’s failure to warn workers that the General Council were
working to defeat the strike disarmed them. They only raised the extent
of the right wing’s treachery fully after the strike.
Miners’ leader A J Cook, a giant compared to the pigmies on the
general council, is shown to lack a clear strategy at key moments of the
struggle.
Instead of a magnificent victory being secured by the greatest
demonstration of working-class solidarity in history, the strike ended
in abject surrender. A historic opportunity was lost by the
revolutionary left to extend its influence and win the best
working-class fighters to the cause of socialism.
This is a book that provides a rich insight into the inner mechanisms
of a titanic social conflict. It shows how an opportunity once missed
can lead to dreadful consequences for workers for generations to come.
It is an absolute must in preparing today’s activists for the coming
struggles to forge a party with a leadership capable of leading the
fight to establish a socialist society.
Order
online: Price £7.50 including postage and packing
Bulk orders £5 per copy by arrangement
Cheques payable to: Socialist Publications PO Box 24697,
London E11 1YD.
Credit/debit cards tel. 020 8988 8771
email [email protected] See other titles on www.socialistbooks.org.uk
and request our free booklist.
Book signing
Housmans Radical Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road, Kings Cross, London
N1.
Friday 14 July, 6pm-7pm.
Peter Taaffe will be introducing and signing copies of his new book
at Housmans Radical Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road, Kings Cross, London N1.
Enjoy a chat, a glass of wine and snacks with Peter and other
socialists. Have an out-of-hours look at Housmans’ wide stock of books,
cards and stationery.
