THERE HAVE BEEN two attempts in the past 15 years to organise the left on a cross-union basis. The first, and by far the most important was the Liaison mittee for the Defence of Trade Unions, which was launched by the Communist Party.
The LCDTU reached the peak influence in the struggle against the Labour government's bill, In Place of Strife, government's Industrial Relations Act both of which aimed to restrict the rights of the On 1969, 250,000 workers responded to LCDTU's call for a political strike against In Place of Strife. Street was closed down and strikers Demonstration to free imprisoned dockers in 1972. LCDTU played a crucial role justifying the line of Jones and Scanlon and the CP did not want to organise any actions lead to a collision with these left Com- umon leauers.
The policy debacle of 1975 when the Labour government introduced an incomes policy which Jones piloted through the TUC. lected his ermine and departed to the House of Lords.
After 1975 as the CP went into steady decline were made to organise the left in the unions. The earlier one around the Institute for Workers Control the again failed because its organisers would not challenge Fleet Scanlon. Another called the Rank and File Organising was led by the Socialist Workers At the beginning the RFOC had some strong support. ference in March 1974 was attended by 500 delegates representing 270 trade union bodies. A second conference in the November of that year attracted of cluding 49 shop stewards committees. The associated Rank and File papers in the different unions had a print run of 69,000 and were sold in 16 major unions. tagged Even as late as November 1977 the its conference was attended by 522 delegates from 251 unions and the AC- Defend Our Unions held in June 1979 and sponsored by Rank and File attracted 1100 trade union delegates. set for the RFOC proved its undoing. The SWP did not try to build a broad-based left inside the unions but set out to construct a 'united front from below' -organisation based on the politics of the SWP and therefore could not include the rest of the left with its organisations and leaders.
Thus Rank and File was little more than a front for the SWP and eventually collapsed would culminated in the This why Scanlon eventually colother attempts organisation Jones Committee this. By the beginning of 1980 the RFOC no longer existed. The success of Militant in its approach and strategy for the Broad Lett flows from its base in the Labour Party and its correct emphasis of working official WHO I structures by 1984 BLOC had emerged as the left organisation on a cross union basis.
Whether it will remain so and realise its potential depends on it being built as a united campaigning embracing wide forces. If it becomes a front for one organisation then it too will meet the fate of its predecessors and that would deliver a serious blow to the fight against the Tory government.
Western Bank