Democracy & State > Trade unions
Anarchist origins of the 'general strike' slogan
17 Mar 2011
We set up this debate in response to widespread calls from the Trotskyist left for the TUC to call a general strike against the cuts. This is Mike Macnair's opening
Britain: before and after the election
12 Mar 2009
On March 12 1984 - 25 years ago - the miners' Great Strike officially began. For the next 12 months, miners and the women of the pit communities fought a desperate battle for jobs, for their communities and for their class. This epic struggle mobilised the support of millions, in this country and across the globe.
Abstention or intervention
12 Feb 2009
After the victory by the Lindsey wildcat strike, James Turley draws some lessons
Union struggles need political leadership
01 May 2008
'Summer of discontent' looms, says Peter Manson
End of the road for tower
07 Feb 2008
David Douglass, former NUM branch official and Yorkshire area executive member, looks back at a cooperative experiment
Fighting Unions: Not much 'organising'
31 Jan 2008
Dave Isaacson reports on the NW day school-cum-rally last Saturday
Union policy through the ballot box
24 Jan 2008
How can union members be won to a left political alternative? Dave Vincent, PCS secretary of Greater Manchester ministry of justice branch, writing in a personal capacity, takes issue with the union's general secretary
Rank and file reassured
13 Dec 2007
Dave Vincent, secretary of the Greater Manchester ministry of justice PCS branch, reports on the December 8 conference of PCS Left Unity
Which way for PCS left?
06 Dec 2007
Dave Vincent, secretary of the Greater Manchester ministry of justice branch of the Public and Commercial Services union, gives his view on this weekend's conference of PCS Left Unity
Fight for the right to know
25 Oct 2007
Benjamin Klein calls for postal workers to reject the settlement with Royal Mail and for an end to bureaucratic secrecy
Reject the rotten deal
18 Oct 2007
Benjamin Klein urges militant postal workers to organise independently and develop links with others in the public sector. But more is needed
UCU debate closed down
04 Oct 2007
Moshé Machover's article was written in 2005, before the Association of University Teachers and the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education merged, in June 2006, to form the University and College Union. The UCU's inaugural congress in May 2007 carried a motion agreeing to circulate a call to boycott Israeli academic institutions and to encourage members to debate it. But on September 28 the UCU leadership, pleading 'legal advice', declared that any such boycott, and even the proposal to debate it, would be 'unlawful'. This letter of protest was sent to The Guardian, but has not been published
Time to unite our fractured ranks
27 Sep 2007
Dave Vincent (secretary of the Greater Manchester DCA branch of the PCS and is writing in a personal capacity) looks at the divided left in the PCS
Unions capitulate to Gordon Brown
27 Sep 2007
Graham Bash of Labour Briefing comments on the closing down of the remaining vestiges of Labour Party democracy at the Bournemouth conference
Beyond the prison walls
20 Sep 2007
How should communists respond to any upsurge in industrial action? Last month's POA dispute offers some useful lessons. Jack Conrad examines the arguments
Toothless motions and hysterical attacks
20 Sep 2007
The proposed UCU boycott of Israeli universities is an ineffective weapon, argues Hillel Ticktin.1 This is the first in a series of articles on the issue which will feature various writers