British workers’ movement

We republish here an important article from 1976, in which Rob Jones looks back and examines the lessons from the Labour Party’s history. With the prospect of a Corbyn government on the horizon, those lessons remain valid today.

Today, 27th February, marks the 100th anniversary of the adoption of a socialist constitution by the Labour Party. Steve Brown looks at Clause 4, its history, and the ongoing struggle to create a genuinely socialist Labour Party.

The labour movement in Britain today, Ben Gliniecki writes, can learn important lessons from the ‘New Unionism’ movement in the 1880s, which set out to organise the ‘unorganisable’ through militant action and radical demands.

On Friday 1st December, dozens of trade union activists gathered in the East Ham Working Men’s Club to commemorate the 45th anniversary of that famous labour movement victory, the Pentonville Five. Ben Gliniecki reports on the contributions made, including by speakers such as Len McCluskey, and the lessons of this historic struggle for today.

Debates rage in the labour movement these days about how to eliminate socially unnecessary and harmful industries – such as Trident, nuclear energy, or arms manufacturing – whilst preserving jobs. Ben Curry looks back at a clear historical example that provides a socialist answer to this question: the Lucas Plan, made 40 years ago by aerospace workers in Britain.

Rob Sewell examines the Chartist movement of the 19th Century, one of the most radical episodes in British history, when the working class began to flex its muscles and demand key political rights – above all, the right to vote. Chartism has left us with a tremendous legacy that should serve to inspire all those who wish to change the world today.

As a result of Tory austerity, local public services are being cut to the bone. But it is Labour councils that are implementing these cuts, hiding behind the failed strategy of the so-called “dented shield”. Rather than passing on the cuts, Labour councillors should learn from the militant example of Liverpool and fight back.

Andy Southwark takes a look at the history of housing in Britain and the mass struggles that have risen up time and time again in the fight for the basic right to a decent, affordable home. Today, the question of housing is a key issue, with the glaring contradiction of homelessness alongside empty mansions plain for all to see.

For over a year, from 1976-77, workers at the Grunwick photo-processing plant in north-west London became a focal point in the fight for workers’ rights. Steve Jones looks at the lessons from this inspiring and militant struggle of predominantly black and Asian workers.

In this final part from his series on the history of Labour’s right wing, Steve Jones examines the Blair years and the abolition of Clause IV. Today, the battle in the Labour Party between the careerist Blairite wing and the Corbyn movement has reached fever pitch. The task ahead is to reclaim the Labour Party – to complete the Corbyn revolution!

Steve Jones continues his series on the history of the right wing in the Labour Party by exploring the rise of New Labour and its key architects: Blair, Brown, and Mandelson. All along the way, Blair and his political allies were pushed on by the Establishment, who wanted a reliable 2nd XI to replace the discredited Tories.