23.05.1996

After disaster - fight goes fiercely on

From the Workers Weekly, paper of the Communist Party of Great Britain, May 21 1926. This was the first issue following its banning during the General Strike

Since the Workers Weekly last appeared, the greatest episode in the history of the British workers has come and gone. The completest and most enthusiastic solidarity of the rank and file has been all but neutralised by the most abject and unforgivable cowardice of the leaders. We can derive no consolation from the fact that we were right in our predictions - that everything we had said and repeated for months has proved true.

We predicted the solidarity; we told in advance of the government’s preparations; we correctly forecasted that [home secretary] Joynson Hicks would gratify his personal spleen against the communists, and that Churchill would seize the opportunity for more of his characteristic bullying.

We said that the Baldwin government was the tool of the Federation of British Industry, and so they have proved. We warned our readers of the weakness and worse of the right wing of the General Council - but here we confess that reality has far exceeded our worst forebodings.

What remains is to rebuild the fighting front of the working class - to rally around the miners - to encourage them to struggle on to the last until we have as a class re-equipped ourselves with leaders who can and will lead ...

One of the most important reactions from the General Strike is a tendency to leave the unions ... This would be a mistaken policy and suicidal. The bitterness and disappointment are entirely justifiable. The leaders once again have been guilty of gross treachery and lacked courage to fight ... They seemed to be astounded and overawed at the magnitude of the forces they had loosened and their one anxiety was to get the workers back.