The working-class movement is on an uphill journey. The latest official (Certification Officer) statistics on union membership, published 6 July, are thankfully out of date, but sobering. Between December 2019 and December 2020, union membership rose a bit. Between December 2020 and December 2021, it fell a bit, despite lockdowns and work-from-home beginning to fade.
A Labour MP on the left of the party has accused Welsh Labour's executive of "undemocratic" behaviour in her selection battle against a member of Labour's frontbench team. Cynon Valley MP Beth Winter claimed they had "restricted the rights of party members" in the selection process for the new seat of Merthyr Tydfil and Upper…
An excellent of the foundation and development of the Labour Party and how it has acted in power and in opposition, effectively countering many of the claims for Labour having once been a working class, socialist party. First published in the early 1990s.
The mass strike on 15 March is, in its form, the nearest equivalent to “general strike”-type activity we are likely to see in Britain, this side of mass defiance of anti-strike laws. Those laws prevent a body like the TUC from simply “calling a general strike”. They also prevent workers not covered by an official ballot mandate from legally joining a strike called by any individual union.
The mass strike on 15 March is, in its form, the nearest equivalent to “general strike”-type activity we are likely to see in Britain, this side of mass defiance of anti-strike laws. Those laws prevent a body like the TUC from simply “calling a general strike”. They also prevent workers not covered by an official ballot mandate from legally joining a strike called by any individual union.