A statement on trade unions (1979)

From the Fall 1979 issue of The Western Socialist

Under Capitalism the worker must organise into unions to improve or defend his wages and conditions of labour. But that is something quite apart from the political struggle for Socialism.

The modern class struggle first showed itself as the action and reaction between capitalist and worker on the industrial field. But the worker does not see it as a class struggle. In many ways the worker believes that the capitalist and worker have a common interest. The attitude of the worker when he votes, during wars, and his support of capitalist governments on many questions makes this clear. Although the worker has shown a growing consciousness during recent years of his position as a wage worker, yet he has been drawn into national and international questions which do not concern him and which we are bound to oppose.

When the worker becomes class conscious he realises not only that it is a class conflict he is engaged in but that it can only be fought out on the political field, because all class struggles are political struggles and must be so — struggles for control of the state.

Our sole job is to prosecute the class struggle on the political field and not be led into false positions by supporting trade union actions just because workers take part in them.

The fact that workers in trade unions indiscriminately support Tory, Liberal and Labour parties is incontrovertible evidence that their membership in trade unions is something apart from their political affiliations. The mass of those who support the Labour Party do so because they think that the Labour Party will help them to get better wages and conditions of labour.

Workers join trade unions in the main for the sole purpose of getting better wages and conditions in their particular industry, often regardless of the interests of workers in other industries employed by other employers. Further than that, they fight against each other on questions of status — and sometimes one union fights against another. This has become more frequent in recent years.

These are questions we should not be involved in and questions upon which we cannot always get proper information.

Again, leaders of trade unions, for their own aggrandisement, sometimes project the weight of their unions into questions that are outside the trade union struggle and contrary to the interests of the international working class.

Unions make their own blacklegs by setting limits to the number that can be employed in an industry and by barring certain categories of workers.

It should be borne in mind that we are not organised to improve the wages and conditions of workers under capitalism but to abolish the conditions that have given rise to capitalist and worker and replace them by Socialism.

Gilbert McClatchie, 

Socialist Party of Great Britain

Blogger's Note:

This was obviously an old piece, as Gilbert McClatchie actually died in April 1976. His obituary appeared in the June 1976 issue of the Socialist Standard.