17.09.2015

Prioritise republican fight

Corbyn’s defence of trade unionism is admirable, writes Peter Manson, but he must not shy away from the way we are ruled

Jeremy Corbyn was at his fighting best when he addressed the Trade Union Congress on September 15. His speech in Brighton stood in contrast to the one he gave to the Labour Party special conference immediately after his election as leader was confirmed.

Understandably, on that occasion he was attempting to pull the ground away from the Blairites by stressing the need for Labour “unity” and he bent over backwards to praise not only his three rivals in the campaign, but Harriet Harman, Ed Miliband, general secretary Iain McNicol and just about everyone involved in the election. The idea no doubt was to lay the blame for the coming strife firmly at the door of the Labour right.

But at the TUC he was in his element. He was addressing an overwhelmingly sympathetic audience on subjects of mutual interest, after all, and his 24-minute speech was delivered confidently and largely without notes. But ironically this very confidence and refusal to engage in the kind of spin-doctoring we have come to expect from establishment politicians provoked a remarkable reaction amongst some sections of the press. Take this gem from Christopher Hope on the Telegraph website:

Jeremy Corbyn’s first major appearance as Labour Party leader descended into shambles when he failed to use pre-briefed lines attacking Margaret Thatcher in his speech to the TUC annual conference.

According to pre-briefed comments, Mr Corbyn was planning to invoke the memory of Margaret Thatcher by declaring that the Conservatives view the unions as “the enemy within” - the expression used by Lady Thatcher to describe striking miners in the 1980s. However, his delivered speech made no mention of the “enemy within” lines in the press release, which unusually was not ‘embargoed’ until Mr Corbyn delivered the words.

The gaffe has echoes of last year, when Ed Miliband delivered his leader’s speech to his party conference in September and forgot to mention the economy.¹

Yes, the Telegraph’s “chief political correspondent” is being serious! How can reporters be expected to do their job if political leaders don’t stick to their lines? What a “shambles”!

Trade Union Bill

Needless to say, comrade Corbyn did state that the Tories are “declaring war on organised labour” through the Trade Union Bill, which got its second reading by a margin of 33 votes the previous day. He promised that “in 2020” Labour would repeal this attack and “replace it with a workers’ rights agenda”.

As readers will know, the bill attempts to make just about every strike illegal. Once it becomes law, no vote for strike action will be valid unless there is at least a 50% turnout and, in the public sector, there must be a minimum of 40% in favour of action from among all those entitled to vote. Of course, it is unusual for anything approaching half of the workforce to participate in the legally prescribed postal ballots. But most union members ‘vote with their feet’ by joining any industrial action that has been sanctioned by their workmates who did vote.

The bill also forces unions to jump through two new hoops by increasing the required notice of strike action from seven to 14 days; and forcing pickets to wear an official armband - if they forget the union could be fined up to £20,000. In addition it gives the green light to the use of scabs supplied by agencies during strikes and, finally, it tries to undermine all union organisation in the public sector by ending the system whereby union dues are automatically deducted from wages by the employer - this ‘check-off’ system has already been abolished in the civil service, of course.

In fact, the ending of check-off should be seen as an opportunity by the unions: step up our organisation in order to engage with the members face to face and to recruit other workers. But that is not the method of the bureaucracy, which, in the absence of a self-organised rank and file, usually relies on branch circulars and emails to persuade members of a particular course of action.

The TUC came up with the response we have been accustomed to whenever a fresh batch of anti-union measures is proposed: a “day of action” - ie, meetings and demonstrations, probably on a Saturday - to build up opposition among union members. The motion, proposed by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, also called on the TUC to consider “assisting in organising generalised strike action” in the event of legal action under the new bill being taken against trade unions.

General secretary Frances O’Grady did express “reservations” about the above phrase, saying it was open to “ambiguous interpretation”, but the motion was carried and now no doubt the TUC will set up a sub-committee to carefully study how to react against legal sanctions over the next year or so.

In any case, comrade Corbyn struck a chord with bureaucrats and rank-and-file delegates alike when he recalled his own days as a local organiser for the National Union of Public Employees (now part of Unison). He had always been an “active trade unionist”, for “unions are about the right of the working class to have a voice”. But trade unionism is “a worldwide movement”, he said, and “we are in solidarity with trade unionists all round the world”. The Labour Party itself was the “creation of trade unionists and socialists,” he reminded delegates.

It has been a very long time since a Labour leader has spoken to the TUC in such terms and it is probably the first time ever that a Labour leader has publicly endorsed a strike - he hailed the action currently being undertaken by members of the Public and Commercial Services union at the National Gallery in opposition to privatisation and the concomitant attacks on wages and conditions.

Corbyn also lambasted the “free market” and the Tories’ Welfare Reform Bill for increasing poverty. Instead, “we should raise wages and regulate rents”, he said. Lastly, he committed himself to doing all he could to “make our party and movement more democratic”.

Sing up, Jeremy

The fact that comrade Corbyn is so obviously on the side of the working class has left him particularly open to attack by the bourgeois media - and they had a big opportunity to go on the offensive following his participation in the Battle of Britain commemoration after he left the TUC (not that they need any excuse, of course).

I am sure that all readers will know that, as is the custom at such patriotic events, the national anthem was heartily sung by all the establishment figures gracing the event at St Paul’s Cathedral. But comrade Corbyn, as a republican (and presumably an atheist), stood silently in the front row while those alongside him expressed their loyalty to the constitutional monarchy state by belting out ‘God save the queen’.

Unfortunately, as a left reformist Corbyn is both a nationalist and a Platonic republican - this is not a question he wishes to actively pursue right now. His nationalism was confirmed by his remarks justifying his attendance at a commemoration marking a key moment in the inter-imperialist conflagration known as World War II. According to the comrade, during the service,

I was also thinking about my family - my mum and dad who were there at that time in London and who worked as air raid wardens during the Blitz. I was thinking about them. It was a respectful ceremony, and I stood in respect throughout it.

However, when challenged about his ‘offensive’ behaviour in refusing to join in the singing, he declined to say whether or not he would do the same on future occasions. He replied:

I am going to be at many events and I will take part fully in those events. I don’t see a problem about this. I was there and I will show my respect in the proper way at all future events. The proper way is to take a full part in it and I will take a full part.

And there we were, thinking that Jeremy was one for stating clearly what his position is. It is true that the media immediately sprung on the words of an unnamed spokesperson for the party. According to one source, “A Labour spokesman later confirmed that Mr Corbyn’s comments meant that he would sing the national anthem at future events.”²

In that case why did he not say so? The above comment could be taken to mean that the best way of ‘showing respect’ and taking a “full part” is by just being there - and not singing ‘God save the queen’. But things were further complicated by Corbyn’s announcement that he will accept the invitation as leader of the opposition to take part in the privy council - the body of top politicians that officially advises the queen. As the Mail Online put it, that means “Corbyn must kneel down, kiss her hand and say he is a ‘faithful servant’.”³

To be fair, this failing is not one of Jeremy Corbyn alone: it is a failing of the entire economistic left. When we in the CPGB raise the question of the monarchy, and democracy in general, with others on the left, we are accustomed to being told that it is not a question that ‘ordinary workers’ are interested in. What concerns them is decent pay, welfare and services. So, yes, like comrade Corbyn, the left prioritises trade union-type questions, and it just cannot handle debates about the way we are ruled.

Accepting the monarchy - either actively, as the majority of Labour MPs do, or Platonically, like comrade Corbyn and most of the left, in effect means accepting the establishment consensus that we Britons, irrespective of our class, have a common interest, as enshrined by the constitutional monarchy state - and symbolised by the queen herself, who is, of course, ‘above politics’. At events like the Battle of Britain commemoration, we should rise above our petty differences and come together as one to sing ‘God save the queen’.

This question is of central importance and we who are supporting Jeremy Corbyn from the left must do our utmost to ensure that, far from retreating on it, he ignores his advisors and ‘spokesmen’ who want to pull him back to safe, traditional, Labourite class-collaborationism, and consciously and clearly makes his republicanism explicit.

peter.manson@weeklyworker.co.uk

Notes

1. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/Jeremy_Corbyn/11866955/Jeremy-Corbyns-TUC-speech-descends-into-shambles-as-he-forgets-to-be-rude-about-Margaret-Thatcher.html.

2. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/Jeremy_Corbyn/11868869/Jeremy-Corbyn-will-sing-national-anthem-from-now-on-Labour-says.html.

3. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3234276/Republican-Jeremy-Corbyn-pledge-loyalty-Queen-Right-Honourable-member-Privy-Council.html.