In each case the change involved was not 'legal arguments' but simply shifts in the relation of forces between rights.
When capital was on the defensive it was forced to grant democratic rights.
When it was confident and powerful, it again. Power and The French Marxist Etienne Balibar put it brilliantly. The bourgeoisie hates the Marxist term 'the dictatorship of That is because it wants at all costs to conceal the faci that the society in which we live is the The long struggle of labour against capital, the long fight for elementary trade union rights, is just one of the are inIf you want proof of that just look at the Nottingham coal field ing La workshops like the Stockport Messenger, or into the mind over the years dispute law.
the law. MRS THATCHER AND her government are working to a strategy of attacking the workers on all fronts: through attacks on local government democracy, and through attacks on trade union Rate capping and the threat of abolishing the GLC and metropolitan counties is a fundamental attack on effect, what the government is saying is that it no longer accepts people can choose their own representatives who will determine what rate to levy.
This is a direct attack on socialist councils like Sheffield, whose way of redistributing local wealth is through the very popular cheap fares policy. The government can't afford this form of local democracy because it it's seen to work — as it does in Sheffield and London - then people will continue to support it. Hence me Tories have decided to stamp it out At the same time, they are attackrights of trade Cheltenham was a try-on because the labour movement allowed the NGA to go down. And the NGA went down following the change in the general council at last year's annual congress. It's a TUC rather too prone to talk with this government, rather too prone to be 'moderate'.
This Tory scenario is aimed at destroying the things we've fought for civil and political liberties and the welfare state we've built in Britain. It is the background to the latest attack on the miners.
State intervention into the miners' attempt SLOU pickets moving about the country, is almost akin to introducing pass laws. One of the issues that creeps into this dispute is the question of breaking the My own background is with the agricultural workers, and it's ironic that all this is happening on the 150th anniversary of the Tolpuddle martyrs, who were deported for breaking Times haven't changed that much. Workers have got to make that sort of decision again.
The Tolpuddle martyrs made the right decision. If the law is bad and obviously against the interests working people, then we have to say it's anti-democratic and we're going to break it. That's what the miners are doing when they picket.
The Tolpuddle martyrs made the right decision. If the law is bad, obviously against the interests of working people, then we have to say it's anti-democratic and we're going to break it. That's what the miners are doing when they picket.
I was hopeful that the court action by the Kent miners would win, because the police, I'm sure, are exceeding their powers. But there aren't many times when we win in the Cours. The wav to win is by en couraging other workers to come out in support of the miners. The old adage, an injury to one is an injury to all, was never truer than it is today.
At their conference some ago, the miners voted against bonus schemes. They ended up with them just the same, because Gormley and the right wing leadership were deter mined to have them. Arthur Scargill was bitterly opposed to this, and he's been proved right. This has been a significant factor dividing the union in today's dispute, a significant factor in dividing one area from another.
The Yorkshire miners, by their flying pickets, are attempting to say the Nottingham miners, even though you are alright now, don't forget it will be vour turn next. Ine flying pickets are an important way of building unity amongst all miners.
It's tremendously important that the labour movement, like the Tories, should have a strategy and not treat each attack as an isolated incident There must be large numbers of work. ing people waiting for just such a lead That's I support the And it's why I support Liverpool council too. They are carrying out their mandate difficult cir•cumstances. They aren't being 'extravagant'. Far from it. They're just holding the line. And the miners are holding the line for the rest of the trade union movement.
What happens in Liverpool today will face many Labour councils next year. What happens to the miners today will face many trade unions in the future. It's Liverpool and the NUM today, and us tomorrow.
Socialist Action 30 March 1984
Socialist Action 30 March 1984