CWO Meeting on Unions Manchester 23rd Jan.

For this discussion I found (despite the numerous typing errors) that this text was easy to read and helpful, summarising IP's views in a past debate on the 'Union Question' and managing to combine from an Internationalist Communist perspective a short historical and theoretical analysis with a reasonably practical everyday approach.

It also deals effectively in particular with the SPGB's left over social democratic approach to the unions.

http://internationalist-perspective.org/IP/ip-archive/ip_41_trade-unions.html

Well this meeting was not as stimulating as it might have been had the political spectrum there been a bit wider (no SolFed, SPGB or traditional leftist attendee for instance). As it was there were 5 members of the CWO, 4 members of the ICC (partly due to their own meeting orginally planned for the same day being sensibly postponed as a result), 2 members of the Anarchist Federation, a supporter of 'The Commune', 2 comrades from the Birmingham Discussion Forum and me.

There was indeed a large measure of agreement on the anti-working class role of the trade unions (whilst understanding that many struggles would start off within a trade union framework) and the impossibillity of traditional anarchist or revolutionary syndicalism providing a useful or practical alternative in todays global capitalism. In this situation it was however recognised that pro-revolutionaries (whatever tradition they hailed from) needed to encourage the formation of militant minority groups of workers outside the union framework to develop politically and to exert influence in situations of rising class struggle. In some cases that could be helped by pro-revolutionaries working better together perhaps in the tradition of Libcom's 'Tea Break' or local workplace networks.

A number of experiences were recounted both close to home as with the recent Post Office and Visteon disputes and worldwide as in the Italian Auto industry which illustrated the broader analysis.

There was some recognition that in our discussions and attempts to co-operate practically we needed to look behind the political language used by different groups and tendencies from 'anarchist' and 'marxist' tendencies to find some common understanding and practice, (wherever possible though of course it isn't always possible).

Given the age profile of most attendees,their political histories and past, often heated, disputes, there was something of the 'old comrades re-united' about the event, especially noticeable in the pub afterwards, but at least it was genuinely comradely throughout.

I have noticed recently a few attempts to broaden the discussion amongst pro-revolutionaries and others looking for alternatives outside the traditional left accross the anarchist/marxist divide, as in the Sheffield Readers Group promoted by 'The Commune', and to some extent the established Birmingham Discussion Forum and would like to see more in this direction here in Manchester and in other towns.

Libcom helps but you cannot beat some face to face contact.