Against the backdrop of a Con-Lib
government intent on savagely cutting public spending to make working people
pay for the crisis of the capitalist system, the annual Conference of Trades Councils
took place in Blackpool on the weekend of May
15th and 16th. About 80 to 90 delegates and visitors from
Trades Councils in England
and Wales
met to discuss and decide policy for the trade union movement over the next
year.
The tone of the conference was set right at
the beginning with an emergency motion on defending public services and a
statement put to conference by the TUCJCC on union priorities under the new
government. The emergency motion called on local Trades Councils to be
instrumental in setting up a public sector alliance of all public sector
workers to defend services. It also called upon the TUC General Council to
“support, co-ordinate and encourage joint union action, including industrial
action, in support of public services and public sector workers.” The motion
was passed unanimously.
The same could not be said of the TUCJCC
statement. This called upon the new government to “re-think its commitment to
swingeing cuts”, “to reject the free-market dogma of the 1980s”, “to invest in
growth and jobs”, “to have a progressive approach to taxation” and for the
TUCJCC to “continue to campaign for progressive policies and against the failed
neo-liberal experiment”. As the West Midlands
delegate pointed out to conference, you cannot ask the capitalist government to
stop being capitalist! Its purpose is to make working class people pay for the
crisis and this means slashing public services. In addition, the delegate
pointed out that the “neo-liberal experiment” had not failed for capitalists.
In good times and bad they had reaped rewards while working people had
suffered. Given the weakness of the analysis in the statement and the lack of a
relevant and coherent policy to fight back, the delegate moved reference back
of the statement and this was supported by conference.
Conference then went on to discuss and vote
on motions to fight for a socialist solution as an alternative to capitalism
(from Coventry TUC); developing local campaign groups for the People’s Charter;
time off for trade union duties; campaign for trade union rights and freedoms;
condemning unelected judges for banning democratic votes to take industrial
action; making blacklisting illegal; calling on trades councils to organise in
the community; measures to educate trade union reps so that they are more
effective; winning back civil liberties; strengthening UK manufacturing; urgent
aid for Cumbria after the floods; opposing cuts in pension schemes; promoting
the values of the co-op movement; opposing cuts in provision for adults with
special needs; condemning bonuses paid to employment advisors; defending
publicly subsidised art for working class people; supporting an alternative
vision for welfare reform that included public ownership of the banks;
defending migrant workers; opposing the detention of children and families in
removal centres; creating jobs for young people and finally, seeking justice
for the families of the Ballymurphy massacre (from Coventry TUC).
There were also a number of fraternal
addresses to the conference such as Eleanor Smith, Vice President of Unison and
a TUC General Council member, who spoke on the effect of cuts in the health
service. An international flavour was provided by Jorge Gamboa of the CUT in Colombia. But
perhaps the most emotional event was the address to conference made by a member
of the Ballymurphy families who have been campaigning for almost 40 years to
get justice for their family members who were murdered by British soldiers in
August 1971.
Members of the families had spoken on
Saturday lunchtime in a fringe meeting organised by the delegate from Coventry
TUC and the meeting was emotional bringing tears to the eyes of many of the
delegates. The main speaker was the daughter of Joan Connolly, a mother of
eight children, who had part of her head shot away by a British sniper on
August 9th as she went to help Noel Phillips, a young man of 19 who
had been shot and wounded. Over a two day period 11 unarmed civilians were shot
and killed by members of the same parachute regiment that went on the commit
similar killings on Bloody Sunday.
In moving the motion in support of the
families campaign for justice. the West Midlands
delegate pointed out that the Ballymurphy massacre took place exactly two years
after British troops had been sent to the Six Counties to “Keep the Peace” but
in reality to put down with force any perceived threat to the interests of
British capitalism. The delegate also reminded conference that Ireland was the second colony of England, the first being Wales. But it
was in Ireland that the
technique of dividing the population on religious lines was first perfected and
then applied in different parts of the British Empire
where peoples were divided on the basis of religion, ethnicity, language,
culture and so on in order to be more easily conquered and ruled by British
imperialism. It was also pointed out that the sending of troops to the Six
Counties created confusion amongst a lot of people on the left, many of whom
welcomed them as defenders of the Catholic community. The delegate told
conference that soldiers are the bodies of armed men of the capitalist state
machine and as such the ONLY role they play, in the Six
Counties, Iraq
or Afghanistan,
is to protect the status quo, the existing domination of the capitalist class
and the system of exploitation of capitalism. Conference unanimously endorsed
the resolution.
The final act of the conference on Sunday
was to move the traditional vote of thanks. The JCC asked the West Midlands
delegate to do it and the result was unusual to say the least – the telling of
a modern-day fairy story on the capitalist crisis. It went down very well with
the delegates and the tale is reproduced elsewhere for readers of this site.
For supporters of Socialist Appeal at the
conference it was a success. The ideas put forward were well received and many
of the delegates saw the need to fight inside the Labour party to reclaim it
for socialism and for working people. A total of 26 papers were sold over the
weekend.
