Now -read the book!

Here is a link to my memoirs which, if you are a glutton for punishment, you can purchase online at https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/an-obscure-footnote-in-trade-union-history.
Men fight and lose the battle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant, and other men have to fight for what they meant under another name. (William Morris - A Dream of John Ball)

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Unite the rank and file!

I spent the afternoon at a meeting of Unison United Left (http://unisonunitedleft.blogspot.com/2010/06/what-we-stand-for.html).

Now more than ever we need rank and file organisation.

Regular readers Sid and Doris Syndicalist will be familiar with my explanation of why we need to supplement the official structures of our movement with unofficial organisation on the model of the Clyde Workers Committee (http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/redclyde/redclygrobyecwc.htm) - as well as organising to challenge for rank and file leadership of the official structures themselves as advocated in "The Miners Next Step" (http://libcom.org/history/syndicalism-south-wales-origins-miners%E2%80%99-next-step).

As one experienced comrade rightly said at today's meeting, no one believes that Unison United Left - as presently constituted - is the final word on how to organise rank and file Unison members. At least, however, we are trying.

There is no alternative organisation of the rank and file within UNISON - and activists from political parties which abstain from the United Left (such as the Socialist Party of England and Wales and the Communist Party of Britain) currently offer no such alternative.

(And of course the SP and CP are both engaged actively in the United Left in UNITE (http://www.unitedleft.org/) - so could surely manage to encourage their members to do likewise within UNISON?)

With a Tory Government launching unprecedented attacks upon jobs, pay and pensions - not to mention the very foundations of the Welfare State - it's time for all those who want a fighting and democratic UNISON to pull together.

One modest yet positive proposal from today's meeting is that we should make use of the United Left blog to share information about campaigns against the ConDem cuts - you can check the blog at http://www.unisonunitedleft.blogspot.com/ and send your campaign news to unisonunitedleft@gmail.com for inclusion on the blog.

If you are a Unison member who wants to be at the centre of struggle against this reactionary Government - join the United Left (http://sites.google.com/site/unisonactivist/uul-membership-form/UUL_Membership_Form_2010.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1).

Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Seems to me what you also need is that UUL blog updated more than once every three weeks. It got launched as a brand new resource for the fightback and it already seems moribund. It's not like there's nothing to report on!