Trade Union Pride rally in Cardiff, 5.3.16, photo by Dave Reid

Trade Union Pride rally in Cardiff, 5.3.16, photo by Dave Reid   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Enthusiastic reception for anti-austerity ideas in South Wales

Ross Saunders, Socialist Party Wales

South Wales saw a glimpse of the working class thirst for a radical alternative to pro-capitalist politicians on 5 March, when over 500 trade unionists and supporters gathered to hear Jeremy Corbyn and other speakers at the Trade Union Pride rally in Cardiff. A thousand more heard him address the Keir Hardie memorial lecture in Aberdare later that day.

Speaking at the rally, Jeremy Corbyn repeated his promise to repeal the anti-trade union laws if elected and defended unions’ right to play a political role, describing trade union funding as the “cleanest money in politics”. This was a welcome change to the union-bashing Tory-lite politics that have dominated the party and its leadership for decades.

Trade Union Pride rally in Cardiff, 5.3.16, photo by Dave Reid

Trade Union Pride rally in Cardiff, 5.3.16, photo by Dave Reid   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

The support for trade union rights in Wales has encouraged First Minister Carwyn Jones to take a stance in opposition to Cameron on this issue. A stand in the Assembly should be linked up to a mass movement in solidarity with unions which take action in defiance of the laws. Wales TUC should prepare to coordinate strike action across the trade union movement if the laws are used by any employer, public or private, in Wales.

But to build that movement and win maximum public support, the fight against the anti-trade union laws must also be linked to the fight against austerity.

Trade Union Pride rally in Cardiff, 5.3.16, photo by Dave Reid

Trade Union Pride rally in Cardiff, 5.3.16, photo by Dave Reid   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

To date, the Welsh government has not been an ally in that fight, dutifully carrying out all the cuts demanded by the Tories, including big cuts to the NHS and Welsh Ambulance service. Funding for public services in Wales has been slashed by 16% since 2009.

The Assembly should defy Cameron’s cuts as well as his anti-trade union laws, and coordinate health boards, councils, fire authorities and other bodies to spend reserves and borrow carefully to plug finance gaps in the short term while a mass movement to win more funding is built. Katrine Williams, Cardiff trades council president and Socialist Party member, demanded this fighting programme when she spoke at the rally.

The reason that the Assembly has not taken that road is because, despite hundreds of new members joining since Corbyn won, Welsh Labour is still dominated by pre-Corbyn politicians. Very few Assembly Members and Welsh councillors backed him during his election campaign. One Welsh MP – arch-Blairite Huw Irranca-Davies, loaned Corbyn his vote assuming that the victory of a right-winger was assured and was labelled a “moron” by a New Labour spin doctor as a result.

Trade Union Pride rally in Cardiff, 5.3.16, photo by Dave Reid

Trade Union Pride rally in Cardiff, 5.3.16, photo by Dave Reid   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

All the contradictions of Welsh Labour were on display at the rally, with Stephen Doughty MP – who coordinated with the BBC to maximize the damage his resignation would do to Corbyn – briefly attending.

Politicians like Doughty do what big business wants: he abstained rather than opposing Tory plans to make more welfare cuts, voted to bomb Syria, and supports renewing Trident – the opposite of the programme on which Corbyn stood when he was selected by a landslide for the Labour leadership and the opposite of what would be in the interests of ordinary working class people.

Political forces so opposed cannot co-exist in the same party forever. One side will eventually win. A true anti-austerity party can be built out of the movement behind Corbyn, but that party cannot be built out of Tory reservists like Doughty. Big business politicians must be deselected, before they deselect Corbyn.

Trade Union Pride rally in Cardiff, 5.3.16, photo by Dave Reid

Trade Union Pride rally in Cardiff, 5.3.16, photo by Dave Reid   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

That party also cannot be built without building the maximum possible fighting unity. If it is to be built out of Labour all expulsions of socialists should be cancelled and organisations like the Socialist Party, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) and anti-austerity forces in the Green Party invited to affiliate. Since that is not being proposed, and since Welsh Labour still stands on the pre-Corbyn programme of implementing brutal cuts to services, TUSC candidates will stand in the Assembly elections this year to fight to bring that programme to the Welsh working class.

The Socialist Party’s ideas won an enthusiastic reception from the audience at both events, with 150 copies of the Socialist bought and over £25 worth of books. Fifteen people identified themselves as potential members of our party.


This version of this article was first posted on the Socialist Party website on 7 March 2016 and may vary slightly from the version subsequently printed in The Socialist.