has shaken politics to its foundations. But what forces have emerged from long-term impact of the strike on British politics is to take the comparison which makes for the strike - that of the events surrounding World War I. The huge CUSS CUSS of British capitalism which culminated in the perialist world war, and which was ended by the defeats of 1926 and 1931, was the product of decades of rising class struggle. The key dates in this process stand out clearly.
In 1874, preceding the beginning of the crisis in Britain itself, Home Rule candidates acheved their first malor electoral breakthrough in Ireland inaugurating an open crisis which culminated in the pre-World War I fight for Home Rule, the 1916 Dublin rising, and the Irish war of independence. In the 1880s, under the impact of the long economic recession. first Marxist and socialist grouplets began to form in Britain.
modern mass trade unions were born. In 1900, directly as a result of the capitalist counter-offensive against the unions, the Labour Party was founded. From 1909 onwards a mass strike wave began to unfold - the high points being the 1909 South Wales miners' the 1910 miners' strike, the 1911 dockers' and railworkers' strikes, the nauona miners suke The third decisive social force thrown into the struggle was that of women. In 1903 the Women's Social and Political Union was founded. From 1905 onwards it launched a militant mass campaign for the vote. From 1905 until war broke out, the combination of the Suffragettes, the struggle in Ireland, the tumultuous Logeuner dominated Illass politics.
Finally, in 1914 a still greater force — World WarI - shattered the existing framework of British politics, forming everything it touched. That war Police attack strikers in 1926 British our or une war October Revolution in Russia.
Communist Party was born, at that time a revolutionary organisation.
This entire Britain culminated in the general strike of 1926.
Seeing this period of class struggle in its entirety is Vital because it completely destroys the economiste interprelanon or ponucs, wnien major parts of the British left like to miners' pass off as 'marxism'. The crisis which led up to, and surrounded, War I now parably the greatest social upheaval in the history of British imperialism. Precisely for that reason, it showed the hallmarks of similar crises in every country. first im- A socialist revolution, social crisis, is not as the British left would have it a 'strike writ large'. It is, in Lenin's words: oppressed'. Every single group that has been exploited and oppressed rises up and seeks the opportunity to inflict historical vengeance on its oppressor. A great political crisis concentrates the most apparentiv single centralised and combined assault on the capitalist state.
In Russia itself the revolution was not the product of economic struggles. It was a total crisis of the entire society. Russia, serious oppressed nations, economic struggles, the fight for political democracy, demand of peasants for land, the fight against anti-semitic struggle against rising economic chaos, were all fused together in a vast political convulsion — a convulsion which alone had the power to overthrow capitalism. The historical concentration of the British labour movement on economic Durham questions, including after Vol back waraness 1912 nature of the labour movement. It is the violent convulsion around World WarI — the simultaneous explosion on to the political scene of mass struggles, of the fight for Irish independence, of women's struggles battle for democratic rights, of the fight against the war threat main characteristics of any It marks out the period of the first wavc imperialist war, without comparison, as British une greatest crisis in the history of British imperialism One of the characteristics of the period of defeat after 1919 to 1926 was precisely the collapse of the struggle into a far narrower field. That came the 1 ne period.
The cycle of struggle in in particular and higher level was comwas also a precondition for trating its working class or a deep Since 1968 *a carnival of the struggie has given rise, in une form or base in the whole of Western Europe. diverse crises into a imperialism struggle factor of British politics for 50 years, the liberation movement in the late 1960s DOLLOIS.
than prior to 1926, is a sign • not of the advanced trade union of the - that shows the social crisis. developed now as a cutting edge of every mass struggle.
communities during the 1984 strike has ever been seen in British history indeed in any women of Illas.
HOSU National Abortion Campaign is probably the most continuously successful united front campaign seen over the last the most advanced expression of deeper developments in women's position in the labour movement, in the working class, in society, and in politics.
The women sformal political equality right to vote -by a higher level of demands for the full political, economic, and social liberation of women. structure of society.
At the leve struggle, the 1984 miners' strike, apart from the general strike itself, is the most important Dilus mastory. I eenpses une six-mon tn miners' strike of 1926. The 1984 strike is the longest mass strike ever to take place in the history of any imperialist country In its conduct Scargill wing of the NUM has employed methods beyond those of AJ Cook and his supporters militancy aneve mass trade union leader the current strike secret negotiations OWlIcis ala Cols sicHLivICLusculo wIlldraw safety cover during the dispute calest mass urauc union caucn ur history of the British working class -the most authentic expression of the most militant sections of the working class. The Scargill current of the NUM is the greatest militant force seen in the British labour movement since 1926.
As regards the nothing prior to 1914 can compare with either the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign of the late 1960s relatively lower level than the preceding forces developing within the British state today bear ar uncanny resemblance to those which emerged in the great crisis surrounding World War I. The difference is that each struggle has now been raised to a new By 1921, the demand for Home Rule in Ireland had culminated in the independence of 26 of the 32 Irish counties.
Cutting its losses, and abandoning a large part of the Irish state, had been a precondition for British imperialism to resolve the crisis in its internal colony. It concenenergies against its own struggle has erupted within the Six Counties, continually threatening to spill over into the rest of Ireland and the British state. This Sinn Fein, not merely to a struggle for national independence but to the most advanced political force with a mass was equally forced to defuse the Suffragette struggle by granting women the right to vote in 1918, and extending it to all women over 21 in 1928. A truly mass independent In addition to women's movement was removed as a until the emergence of the new women's That women's movement has again emerged as a tremendous force. As with Ireland, it is at a far higher political level qualitatively War I. The independent organisation of women has Nothing like the scale and role of mobilisation of women in the mining other country. The Greenham have been the higher level consistent activist force in the around the 1910s. struggle against nuclear weapons. The A comparison not simply 10 years. In turn, these movements are revolution.
from the WOHICIl for tradition of the struggle for - Enf has now been rejoined This is shaking up the possible of the trade union In 1926 of the dispute the 1926. For all his was the greates British working class had produced before this. right are peddling.
Cook still engaged in with the mine Arthur Scargill is with out doubt the 1920s and 1930s.
even the threat of war, basic Cessiulls Only the struggle against British intervention in the Soviet Union in 1920 stands on a higher level than the VSC or movements which have a continuity with the World WarI period, new fundamental forces have emerged in British politics in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The black community in Britain is larger than it was at the time of the first imperialist war. Its struggle is more advanced. The struggle of the cities was prefigured in image Illass the the early 1920s by George Lansbury and Poplar council but it cannot compare in size with that of Liverpool council or the stakes involved in the fight against rate-capping. The crisis in the education system, of local government workers, civil servants, and the campaigns for democratic rights, are also at a far than any equivalents today wim phe period oWorld Par lis of British emergence of the fondamental serre- analogy. It is the retural components of the British socialist The struggle of Ireland to free itself British state, the fight of their liberation, Hiasi strikes, the fight against the war drive, the struggle of the cities, the defence of democratic rights are key components of the 'carnival of the oppressed' out of which a socialist revolution alone is Equally, the miners' strike is not simply an industrial struggle or a 'big strike'. It is the highest development since 1926 of a vast social and political movement which ties together every section of the exploited and oppressed. Apart from World War I, the miners' strike is the greatest class struggle of any type since But while the analogy with the crisis surrounding the first imperialist war is useful, there is a fundamental difference •in the political perspective it opens up barucuarto une rase analogy will 1926 which the press and the Labour The strike of 1926 marked the end of an epoch. The strike of 1984 marks part wave of of a beginning — a struggle which will continue to reverberate through every section of society. To see the difference it is useful to compare the situation of British capitalism today to that of the rapid Drush Imperansm emergea Tron the crisis at the time of World War I not simply, or primarily, by repression. No defeat of 1926 wa: fundamental enougn in unal respect. Ine mechanism by which British period. imperialism kept stable in the mid-war period was still its ability to give consections of the economic population Although the repressive statelet in the northern Six Counties of Ireland was created in 1921, 26 out of the 32 Irish counties gained their independence from Britain. Women did win the right to vote. Although the trade unions were weakened, compared to their peak of strength around World War I, the were still far stronger than before the beginning of the labour upsurge.
In the field of the economy the of the "hungry thirties is only part of the truth - despite the defeats of 1926 and 1931. The 1930s were a period of sharply rising living standards for the majority of the working class in employment. The 1930s were a period of housebuilding boom, of the beginning of the production - mOtOr cars. cheap food and of the development of modern consumer industries. Although suffering of the unemployed rightly regarded as the symbol of the 1930s, political stability was achieved, and Conservative dominance secured, through substantial increases in living standards for the majority of the working class.
Internationally the 1930s were a period of dark reaction, with the rise of fascism and the greatest working class defeats in history. It was this combination of factors that made 1926 such a definitive defeat - one closing an entire epoch. It was the combination of re pression and concessions which enablec British imperialism to inflict such a crushing long-term defeat on the labour movement No such possibilities of concessions are open to British capitalism today -politically or economically. It cannot afford to be seen to be driven out of its final toe-hold in Ireland. British capitalism is taking away, not adding to, the rights which women won in the 1960s - and early 1970s. There is no prospect o any economic growth which would lead to an increase in living standards - on the contrary the long-term decline in the exchange rate of the pound, and the absence of sustained economie growt) is going to erode living standards ever Internationally, no defeats whateves are qualitatively comparable to those suffered by the working class in the mid'20s and 30s. Domestically the outcome ol ne manesse cannol ven re motely be compared to that of 1926 -none of the conditions of stability of the 1920s and 1930s exists Behind all this lies another feature which dominates the situation. From 1931 onwards, almost uninterrupted for 40 years, British capitalism experienced - as well as a hug industrialisation during the 1s a 1940 The recovery from the slump of 1929-31 was in reality - and contrary to popular belief — a period of the most econo mic growth in British Startling as it may seem, the British economy expanded by over 25 per cent between 1931 and the outbreak of war in 1939 - an average rate of growth of three per cent a year. Unemployment fell by a third in the same No such prospects of economic growth exist today. The most optimistic torecasts are simply Declaration of th Irish Citizen Arn
ival of unemployment will not rise substantially. - and that is undoubtedly too favourable an estimate. Ihe tvpes or concessions in the economic or social enneres waich srise imber ausm was able to make to contain its position after World War I are simply not available today.
This is precisely why the struggle in reane or ne sruge o women. was not able to be removed by the bourgeoisie as an element in the situation before the miners' strike had to be conTonted. he internationa context is totaly amerent. ne labour movement is equally nowhere as weak as in the 1920s.
For all these reasons the miners strike of 1984 occupies a quite definite place in the process of political radicalisation: not the end of an era, but a link development. The social and ponucal radicalsa ton deepen, and not diminish, as a result of this strike.
British imperialism today does not have the resources to buy off the struggle in Ireland, of women, or the crisis in the cities. These radicalisations will continue TO deepen; their consequences will extend further into the abour movement. So too the international crisis of imperialism.
While the NUM will take time to recoup its strength, the idea that the trade union movement in Britain has passed through a new 1926 is simply impressionist nonsense.
- the greatest strike in the history of British capitalism. the longest mass strike in the history of any imperialist country - is not the end of an epoch. It has given us the greatest glimpse so far into the future of British society.
We stand today on the threshold of a new radicalisation in British politics — the opening of the greatest crisis in the hustorv of British imperialism. carniva of the oppressed" beginning.
"Our Freedom must be had at Socialist Action 8 March 1985 pressed The IS Just co the People or Ireland!
hazards. Wolfe Tone.
"Che Price of Liberty is
----- pull-quotes -----
it? And how does the strike and its effects fit into the long-term development of British politics? JOHN ROSS puts the strike in its historical setting. THE simplest way to understand the
'The crisis which led up to World War I was incomparably the greatest social upheaval in the history of British imperialism'