The Real No-where Men

A recent Guardian editorial reads "The labour movement will not be able to defend and renew what it cherishes if it follows Mr McCluskey up the blind alley of deficit denial, indiscriminate opposition to all cuts, and a programme of strikes which large parts of the country will see as an attack on rather than a defence of the public realm. The labour movement is now in a minority. A large majority of the public are not in unions and do not vote Labour."

The government and their friends in the press such as the Guardian have set up convoluted arguments designed to frighten people into turning against “militants” and “troublemakers” in the trade unions - “the enemy within”. Whichever government is in power their tendency is to resist attempts by the organised working class to increase/defend wages or to improve/protect conditions. No matter what they may say, governments are there primarily to defend the interests of the owners and controllers of wealth in society. When governments talk about safeguarding the economy, they are really talking about safeguarding the people who own the economy.

There is a direct conflict of interest between employers and the employed. The greater the share of the social product going to employees in the form of wages, the less there is to share between the members of the master class. Thus, the capitalist have an immediate and direct interest to keep the industrial peace by having a passive subdued labour force.These two classes are necessarily in antagonism to one another. The possessing class, can only live as a class on the unpaid labour of the producers – the more unpaid labour they can wring out of them, the richer they will be; therefore the producing class – the workers – are driven to strive to better themselves at the expense of the possessing class, and the conflict between the two is ceaseless. Sometimes it takes the form of open rebellion, sometimes of strikes, sometimes of mere widespread mendicancy and crime; but it is always going on in one form or other, though it may not always be obvious to a looker-on.

This applies across the whole production process, whether specific employees are employed directly to produce commodities or to provide services. The public sector employees at the heart of most of the current disputes do not produce an immediate profit; their wages are paid out of the taxes levied on the sum of profits of a specific national capitalism. That is, the extended wages pool comes out of the sum of profits made by the system as a whole, rather than that of a specific branch of the capitalist system. It must be understood that the price of the commodity labour-power, or what is commonly known as wages, together with hours of working and all the many other questions connected with the workers' employment, are not a matter which is settled by chance or the automatic working out of some indefinable economic law, but is one which is largely to be accounted for by the degree of resistance made by the workers.When unemployment is high, there is more labour available across the system, and thus employers are able to find workers willing to take lower wages to escape the poverty of unemployment, under-cutting their fellows. The greater they combine on the economic field the more the workers present the capitalist with a situation which the latter cannot afford to ignore.

The Socialist Party recognise the necessity of workers' solidarity in the class struggle against the capitalist class, and rejoice in every victory for the workers to assert their economic power. Both raising and defending of workers' wages affects the amount of time and resources at the disposal of workers for control of their own lives. Socialists, as class-conscious workers ourselves, are on the side of our fellow workers involved in industrial disputes with employers. Any strike to improve conditions or stop them getting worse, official or unofficial, legal or illegal, is all right as long as it is democratically decided and run by those involved.

Sociologists studying unions have frequently commented upon how it is the type of industry that can determine the level of union organisation: the turnover in workers, the relations between workers in the workplace, the importance of an identifiable group of workers within the labour process. They work in industries which involve mass co-operative human labour (relations in the workplace), which are technical enough to prevent them being easily casualised (turnover of staff), and which are social monopolies (key industries) which work stoppages are able to immediately shut down (being services, rather than commodity producing industries). Such factors put workers in a stronger bargaining position, which has itself caused the assaults on working conditions. There is no reason to shy away from supporting other workers struggling to improve their conditions and pay or in some cases, just struggling to make sure things don't get worse.The workers must engage in confrontations and conflicts with their masters.

Success through striking may well encourage other workers to stand up for their rights in the workplace more. A group of workers' strength, however, will continue to be determined by their position within the capitalist economy, and their victory a partial one within the market system. Only by looking to the political situation, the reality of class ownership and power within capitalism, and organising to make themselves a party to the political battle in the name of common ownership for their mutual needs, will a general gain come to workers, and an end wrought to the need for these sectional battles. Otherwise, the ultimate result of the strikes will be the need to strike again in the future. Strikes may result in changes and even so-called improvements but this is but superficial. Keep running in order to stay in the same place. Working conditions bitterly fought for and won through struggle on the industrial battlefield over the years can be wiped out, comparatively speaking, in a few minutes by those who control the political machinery. The political weapon is the dominant one and whilst it remains in the hands of the capitalist class no amount of struggle will free the workers from the yoke of capital.Industrial action, though necessary from time to time, is essentially only defensive and has severe limitations due to the subordinate position of workers under capitalism.

The ruling class must still be asking itself just how much austerity the working class will be prepared to take. The working class has already lost many of the reforms introduced as part of the social democratic consensus after the Second World War – traded for a mortgage and a credit card. Now these too are in danger of being snatched away. The capitalist class and its governments seek to restore profitability without provoking working class unrest. It seems unlikely that the working class and its organisations are strong enough to stop these austerity measures being imposed, let alone imposing their own demands. No strike can stop a government determined to have its way. But we must start from where we are. David Cameron will be expecting that you’ll just take whatever’s coming to you. We must try to prove them wrong.