A-Infos (en) Freedom 6401 Jan, 2003 - Curing the British disease

[Worker <a-infos-en@ainfos.ca>]

 ________________________________________________
      A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
            http://www.ainfos.ca/
        http://ainfos.ca/index24.html
 ________________________________________________

The Romans, according to one of their victims, created a
desert and called it peace. The same could be said of
British industrial relations. The legacy of Thatcher,
fortunately, seems to be under erosion. The firefighters
have been taking their first industrial action for 25 years.
London tube workers, as well as organising their own
strikes, closed down over twenty stations during the
firefighters' strike last month. Glasgow tube workers
meanwhile took part in a wildcat strike, as did workers in
a hospital. In London, all the unions in higher education
took joint strike action over the London Weighting
allowance.
Union membership is rising, as is union militancy. These
are all encouraging signs. Needless to say, the Tory media
are working themselves into a frenzy. The current wave of
action has been compared to ones back in the 1970s, with
pundits muttering and pondering whether the 'British
disease' is back. Thatcher, of course, was supposed to have
provided a 'cure' for this 'disease', using a combination of
economic crisis (caused, in part, by Tory incompetence)
and state repression, aided no end by the union
bureaucracy and trade union sectionalism.
It says a lot about capitalism that strikes and resistance
are considered a 'disease'. In nature, it's considered a sign
of health to lash out at oppression and what causes pain.
An animal which doesn't defend itself would be considered
sick (or more likely, dead). The real 'British disease' isn't
militancy but servility. To sit back and tolerate oppression
is a sign of illness, not health. The letters page of the
London's free Metro 'newspaper' provides an unhealthy
number of inane arguments against strikes and strikers.
How many are genuine, of course, is a moot point, but they
do point to the true British disease. One Metro letter from
14th November sums this illness up. The author offered
this advice to firefighters: "if someone does not like the
salary offered to them ... they get another job".
This neatly expresses the serf mentality at the heart of
capitalist society. Shouldn't freedom mean more than
picking a master and following their orders without
question? Equally missing is an awareness of the economic
reality facing the bulk of workers. Simply put, it is no easy
task to find a new job at the drop of a hat. The labour
market is skewed in favour of the capitalist class, making
it hard to find willing buyers for our liberty. Hence the
importance of collective resistance to the power of the
boss, which is our only hope of creating a force capable of
abolishing class society once and for all.
And I wonder what the author's reaction would be if the
firefighters took his advice and quit en masse? If the
strikes are threatening life and property, how much more
damage would be inflicted while new fire crews were hired
(at higher rates) and trained? Of course, the fact that the
firefighters can't do this says more about the reality of
wage slavery than a thousand inane letters. Like those
letter writers who claim to earn a pittance but who don't
go on strike or form unions to change their situation (which
explains why they get a pittance), I can safely say the
person misses the point.
Anarchists aren't surprised by the British disease. From
Godwin onwards, we've recognised that property and
hierarchy generate a servile mentality in many of those
subject to them. Luckily, this isn't all they generate.
Where there's domination, there's resistance. Our task is
to encourage the spirit of revolt, to help the resistance of
the minority inspire the majority to join in.
We need to cure the British disease. The way forward can
be seen. We need to support and build upon the struggles
that are happening now. We need to discuss how to apply
our ideas in industry and our relations with the current
trade unions. As a union member and a recent picketer, I
know there's a lot wrong with them. But I also know that,
at least for the time being, the unions aren't holding back a
militant workforce looking for direct action. This may
change but we need to work from where we are now.
It's time to start a serious discussion of how we work
within the unions, evaluating the ideas raised by groups
like the Solidarity Federation, Industrial Workers of the
World and the Anarchist Federation, and seeing how we
can best apply what all these strategies have in common -
the self-management of struggle by strikers own
assemblies. Perhaps we can revive the anarchist Trade
Union network as a first step? At the very least, we can
start a discussion of what we should do, both as union
members and as strike supporters, during industrial
disputes. This is a key issue for us and our ideas.
Whether the mainstream media know it or not, the label
of 'industrial anarchy' they apply to the 1970s is very apt.
Whenever working class people take direct action and
manage their own struggles, the embryo of an anarchist
society is created. We should try, in and outside the
workplace, to encourage the libertarian tendencies in any
struggle. Capitalism causes the disease. We have the cure.
We have a clear message that will ring true for every
striker - they, not union bureaucrats, should run their
struggles and organisations themselves. How we spread
that message is what we need to think about.
Iain McKay


*******
                       ********
       ****** The A-Infos News Service ******
      News about and of interest to anarchists
                       ******
  COMMANDS: lists@ainfos.ca
  REPLIES: a-infos-d@ainfos.ca
  HELP: a-infos-org@ainfos.ca
  WWW: http://www.ainfos.ca/
  INFO: http://www.ainfos.ca/org

-To receive a-infos in one language only mail lists@ainfos.ca the message:
                unsubscribe a-infos
                subscribe a-infos-X
 where X = en, ca, de, fr, etc. (i.e. the language code)