Well if ever there is a place in England that isn’t
revolutionary or willing for workers action you might think it would be Bury St
Edmunds – or so you might think. Bury is a town that is typically seen as
bourgeoisie and reactionary with quaint villages surrounding it which keep to
themselves. The 30th however saw something that has not
entered the consciousness of the people of Bury (after discussion with locals)
ever. By this of course I’m talking about the mass strike action. As the UNISON rep for West Suffolk College I was able to
draw upon my own reflections of the day and discuss with others why this was
necessary.
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Well if ever there is a place in England that isn’t
revolutionary or willing for workers action you might think it would be Bury St
Edmunds – or so you might think. Bury is a town that is typically seen as
bourgeoisie and reactionary with quaint villages surrounding it which keep to
themselves.
The 30th however saw something that has not
entered the consciousness of the people of Bury (after discussion with locals)
ever. By this of course I’m talking about the mass strike action.
As the UNISON rep for West Suffolk College I was able to
draw upon my own reflections of the day and discuss with others why this was
necessary. The first point I would like to make is that out of 450 staff – 180
went out on strike that is 40% of the work force.
Why would this be so high? A first thought on this would be
of course what the government is going to do to public sector workers pensions.
I won’t go into this but to summarize: – work more years – pay more money – get
less of a pension. This of course is totally unacceptable.
As I explained
to members of the public, many workers choose the public sector not for a ‘good
pension’ but to do something constructive for society. My wife a nurse isn’t
particularly bothered by pensions, pay or hours of work. She has always wanted
to be a nurse because she wishes to care for people and help in whatever small
way she can. With this in mind then, hardworking and conscientious worker’s
choose public sector as opposed to what could be better paid private sector
jobs and deserve that small reward at the end of their working life for
this.
I think though that there is more to this. Speaking to other
on the picket line – this was just the catalyst. What the issue for many at the
college is, is the stripping of resources from the public sector, privatizing
teaching and diminishing the quality of teaching. None of this can be denied I
feel but again there are deeper routes at work here.
From the reaction of many of the passers by whilst on picket
– the beep on the horn – the cheering out the window, friendly discussion it
was generally supported (we got two pieces of abuse and shakes of heads from
those, as was pointed out, in their Mercedes and Jaguars). So why then would
this ‘nice area’ be so supportive?
I think that what this is becoming increasingly clear is the
working population of Britain is sick and tired of the capitalist made world
crisis that we are in at the moment. As Rob Sewell mentions ‘In the Cause of Labour’
‘The world crises means that corporate profits are falling
stagnant. The bosses are therefore demanding wage restraint and deep cuts in
the ‘social wage’ in order to bring about tax cuts for the rich. Millions of
workers are faced with lay off’s, wager freezes and attacks on pensions” (2003)
This sounds exactly why we received such good support in
Bury. Many workers are feeling these government and company actions at the
moment and the time is coming when enough will be enough.
The West Suffolk College picket line then went into Bury
itself to join a hastily prepared UNISON rally (11 days to prepare). The
significance of this, other than the fact that the passers by in the center
wanted to read the leaflets we were handing out because of the general support,
was that this was the first demo Bury had had for some years (speaking to a
policeman, he mentioned that there had not been a demo in Bury in the 21 years
he had worked).
Again then this highlights the support people are generally
willing to give to working people in these times. I also feel that, are we
coming to a time when
‘the
proletariat seizes power and turns the means of production into state
property’? ( Engels – Anti-Duhring, Moscow 1969)?
Maybe we are,
maybe this strike will be the start of something, maybe it’s the time people
awaken to centuries of exploitation and take the means into there own hands,
maybe it will bring realization that the state is merely a form of oppression
and holds class antagonisms within. Maybe people will consider that the only
way out, is if
‘the liberation
of the oppressed class is impossible not only without a violent revolution, but
also without the destruction of the apparatus of state power’ (The State and Revolution – Lenin
December 1918).
These are all fair points I think that are collectively
being considered at this present time and why the strike action was so well
supported. Apathy, which for so long gripped the population, is finely changing
into something active with change finally being thought of. Under the current
system, lets face it; it’s only going to get worse for a lot more people. The
economic crises won’t just sort itself out, it will take years and years before
we can get out of this. Change is needed and as Marx pointed out, it’s not maybe
going to happen – it will happen.
I would just like to finish by looking at Trotsky and what
he wrote in ‘The Transitional Program’ – 1938
The economic prerequisite for the proletarian revolution has
already in general achieved the highest point of fruition that can be reached
under capitalism. Mankind’s productive forces stagnate…conjunctional crises
under the conditions of the social crises of the whole capitalist system
inflict ever-heavier deprivations and sufferings upon the masses. Growing unemployment,
in its turn, deepens the financial crises of the state and undermines the
unstable monetary systems. Democratic regimes…stagger on from one bankruptcy to
another.”
Trotsky was writing this back in 1930’s – don’t you think
though that this piece he gave us is either an insightful prophesy of what was
to be, or, as I think a complete mastery of his understanding of contradictions
in society that will lead to dialectical conflicts with the result that our
current system will be overthrown and we, the workers taking on the means of
production ourselves.
This strike must not only be the first, it must also be the start. The
Unions mustn’t buckle and say yes, they must beat the drum and bread down the
door and now is the time when real change can and must occur.
