I agree with the Comrade who said that I was over the top in saying the workers movement was maybe thrown back more than 100 years. This was wrong. The objective developments alone rule this out. What about the Chinese working class and the increased objective class polarization world wide and the movements in the Middle east etc. Consciousness will leap forward to catch up with this.
But I would like to add a few points. More about the form the movement might take. In today's New York Times there is an article about youth and workers taking direct action to block the state evicting people from their homes. One young man is quoted as saying he wanted to do something constructive not just walk around and protest at banks. I think this is interesting. The incident the article described was successful. The people were not thrown out of their home.
In the US where there was and is no mass workers party and so this makes things somewhat different there was the economic collapse in 1929. Unemployment went to 25% and wages were cut by 50%. There was virtually no strikes for about five years as the workers were stunned. There was a large textile workers strike in 1933 but it was defeated. Union membership was almost halved.
But during these years the left organizations engaged in direct action especially on housing, blocking evictions and putting evicted people back in their homes. There is a great story in Labors Untold Story I think it is about a conservative US worker. He was fired but was too ashamed to tell his family so he went out everyday pretending he was going to work. But he was getting no pay so this did not last long. Then he could not pay his rent. So the day came and he was evicted and him and his family left on the side of the road in front of his house with their belongings. Then around the corner came an old beat up truck with a crowd of disreputable looking dudes on the back. They jumped off and announced themselves as the local housing and unemployed committee. They put all his furniture and his family and himself back in the house. He said he sat there and thought. All the forces he had supported all his life, the government, the corporations, capitalism, had evicted him. And all the forces he had opposed all his life, the left, the unions, the socialists, the communists, had put him back in his home. The left worked through these committees and used direct action such as this during these periods when there were practically no strikes. This man joined the CP. Through these type of direct actions the left built up significant forces.
The economy began to turn around a wee bit in 1934. A little increase in confidence was engendered. Then the left which had built up forces in the preceding years through the direct action and street action began to have an influence. The CP reached an estimated 100,000 members.Then in 1934 there was the three big victorious strikes; in Minneapolis, this led by the SWP, only about 40 members it had there, the rubber workers in Toledo this led by the Mustites, a leftish grouping and the San Fransciso general strike this led by elements around the CP and the left. The CIO was born and in six years union membership went up by about five times and Roosevelt was forced to bring in his new deal.
The main thing for me here is that the hard core of the movement which led the three big strikes which turned things around was built out of the direct action dealing with the day to day struggles of working people and helping victories be achieved. I am worried that we might give too much emphasis to patient explanation in the mass organizations when there are the tens of thousands fighting on the streets in so many countries. One does not exclude the other. Or rather victories in the mass struggles on the streets can gain the ear of those who are attracted to the mass organizations, they can also increase our influence in such formations as the Comrades describe as developing in Egypt, the united front approach would be crucial here.
So these are a few ideas.
Comradely, Sean.
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