Mass Strike on 24th April

[treelover]

Great to see the genuine enthusiasm of Brix, well done, its good news all round, however i don't know if Groucho was being ironic, but he just seemed to be parroting the usual SWP triumphalism, we need hope, courage, fire in our bellies, we don't need 80's retro stuff..., we lost remember?

 

[cockneyrebel]

The NUT just had its first national strike in 21 years. The ballot turn-out was low, and frankly, if it had been used as an excuse not to call the strike noone would have been surprised. Also Tony Woodley has failed (well he hasn't even tried) to block a strike which seems to be having a massive effect up in Scotland.

In the light of that the analysis above is just too crude for words. The leadership of a number of unions may be many things, but to call them 'still utter crap' at the moment is well ultra-left.

Mutley it was a quick post on a message board, not an in depth analysis of the union bureaucracy.

The fact is though that most of the unions leadership is appalling. UNISON is a probably as a good as case as any. But because the rank and file in the unions has been degenerating for so long even where there are left leaderships (like the PCS) there are still problems because the leadership doesn't have a strong connection to the majority of the membership. For instance I don't believe for a minute that the majority of the PCS members are revolutionary socialists, yet a majority of the leadership is.

Most of the union leadership needs to be replaced and most of the unions need to be re-built from the base up, I can't see how you can disagree with that.

But to be honest the broad leftism of the SWP reminds me more and more of the old CPGB.

 

[mk12]

Yeah, never mind the carnival for a moment, how many workplaces were actually affected - and by that I mean how many had significant strike-observation rather than strikes which just comprised of the union branch officers?

Because from what I hear, it was the same old bloody story as usual in many areas.

4-5 strikers at my mum's school, out of 18 teachers. Year 4 closed down. Some of the strikers weren't even in the NUT.

 

[brix]

Great to see the genuine enthusiasm of Brix, well done, its good news all round, however i don't know if Groucho was being ironic, but he just seemed to be parroting the usual SWP triumphalism, we need hope, courage, fire in our bellies, we don't need 80's retro stuff..., we lost remember?

And I AM genuinely enthusiastic and excited about last Thursday and what may be possible in the future.

I am confused though by all the infighting and squabbling we seem to get on these boards between different sections of the left. I'm not a member of any political party these days (used to be a Labour Party member years and years ago but have long since lost faith and let my subscription lapse) so don't have any loyalty to any particular left-wing faction. But I am a socialist (and proud of it ) and it does seem to me that there may just be something happening here. Last Thursday felt like it was the start of something; there was a sense of unity that I haven't felt in ages. People are genuinely angry and it's helping them to shake off their apathy. For the first time in a long time I'm getting a sense that people might be prepared to take those first steps towards collective action.

So how do we find a way of drawing 'the left' together so that we can unite in building this thing?

Probably a naive question, but a genuine one.

 

[audiotech]

A united front of course.

 

[brix]

So, no (sensible ) answers then?