UK

Renewing & strengthening the fightback against the ruling-class offensive

12th February

2024Arise Festival,  

“We as a movement must attempt to sew a thread between each of these struggles to weave a rich tapestry of class struggle from which we can transform society.”

By Logan Williams, Arise Festival volunteer

It is clear to many labour movement activists that we are currently living through a global economic, social, and political crisis. In Britain we have seen the neoliberal policies pursued by the Conservative party since their election in 2010 create and actively worsen the cost-of-living crisis which has plunged thousands of households into poverty.

Alongside this, we have seen a government which has sought to erode and undermine the most basic elements of our democratic rights and, the ever-present climate crisis which is beginning to have dramatic effects on the Global South and beyond. Then there is the permanent wars and conflicts around the world, including Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza.

Despite – or perhaps because of – the growing ‘poly-crises’ faced by both the British and global working class, we have seen a resurgence of the working-class movement in resistance to it. In the years preceding the emergence of this ‘poly-crises’ we witnessed over half a million flock into the Labour party in support of the left leadership of Jeremy Corbyn and his transformative economic program. This growth in support has in turn helped to lead to the re-popularisation of socialist ideas within society.

Alongside this we have seen the emergence of a strike wave in Britain – to a degree led by a vanguard of left-led unions namely, the NEU, PCS and the RMT – which saw 4,466,000 days lost to strike action between June and December 2023 with 323 separate strikes taking place in November 2022 alone. It is clear through a careful examination of this movement to conclude that this movement was built from the shopfloor through the National Executives and elected leaderships, largely by left cadre across the labour movement, in a recognition that industrial militancy was essential to winning the concessions necessary from capital to alleviate some of the pressure of these ‘poly-crises’ on the working class.

Although, this is not to suggest that this mass movement has been isolated to individual mass days of action or national strike days. On the contrary, as a result of the rising militancy within the labour movement, we have seen new struggles emerge across individual workplaces. We have seen examples of struggles built from the bottom up – such as the cleaners and catering staff at four South London hospitals who took part in a 7-day strike against outsourcing giant ISS. To the bin workers in Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield who won a 13.5% pay rise following 4 days of continuous strike action, to the anti-academy strike wave in Lewisham which has seen NEU members working with parents to force back the tide of marketisation within the education sector to the St Mungos strike in London fighting to defend the future of housing.

However, the fight back has not been limited to the economic struggle of the trade unions, we have seen the emergence of relatively large-scale protests from Extinction Rebellion, Keep Our NHS Public, Stand Up to Racism and, the peace movement. 2023 saw Extinction Rebellion; alongside 200 other groups, held their “the big one” week of protest which saw thousands of climate protestors picketing government departments, hosting teach ins and, filling the streets of Westminster.

Then in recent months, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War, and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament have been at the forefront of orchestrating the movement in solidarity with the Palestinian people which has seen both mass mobilisations of hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets in solidarity with the Palestinian people and, people take actions within their workplaces and schools in a coordinated day of action just last week.

We as a movement must attempt to sew a thread between each of these struggles to weave a rich tapestry of class struggle from which we can transform society. We must seek to build and grow a movement which unites these movements of resistance into a cohesive organised movement in 2024. This movement must seek to learn the lessons from the 2023 wave of resistance and, restrengthen and renew our demands.

Deepening political education within these movements and our unions is vital to this if we are to have a chance to win a society which works in the interests of the many, rather than the interests of the bosses.

This task is of the utmost importance for socialists within the labour movement and will require a level of political education and debate which has been absent within the vast majority of our movement for decades but, we must not shy away from the hard work and discussions that must follow.

Instead, the left must take up these debates urgently both within and without the Labour party and, actively seek out points of unity across the left if we are to win socialism in the twenty first century. A key first step which we can take upon this road can be found in the Arise Festival day school on the 17th of February in central London which seeks to unite the broadest possible range of these movements together through discussion.

“A World to Win – Socialist Solutions for the Crises” – the Arise Festival Day School takes place all day Saturday, February 17th in Central London. You can register your place, see the line-up and find out more here.

Logan Williams is an NEU activist, an organiser for Arise – A Festival of Left Ideas and a regular contributor to Labour Outlook. You can follow Logan on twitter here.

 
You can follow Arise Festival on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X; and listen to the Arise Festival podcast on Spotify.

If you support Labour Outlook’s work amplifying the voices of left movements and struggles here and internationally, please consider becoming a supporter on Patreon.

The Save Our Schools Carnival in Trafalgar Square as part of the day of strike action on Budget day, March 15th, 2023. Photo credit: NEU/Twitter