The reason for the growing feeling of frustration among workers is not hard to find. Even during the boom period there has been a continuing erosion of working conditions, safety and job security. On the other hand, there has been a remorseless pressure on the working class. Alongside this, has been the increasing gulf between rich and poor. In the last 30 years national income has doubled, and living standards have certainly gone up for the majority in work, yet the poorest sections of the working class have continued to fall behind. Members of Parliament earn more than 96 per cent of the rest of the population, while fat cat employers are paid obscene sums for presiding over the destruction of British industry.
At the same time, millions have been forced off unemployment benefit into dirt-poor jobs, on £4.50 an hour and even less. Many are at the mercy of ruthless sweatshop employers. Rules for Housing Benefit have also been tightened, making claims far more difficult. Although Family Tax Credit is available, many benefits go unclaimed as a result of the complex procedures, lack of information, or simply the loss of other benefits. The majority of state benefits are now means tested, where claimants are forced to run a gauntlet of bureaucratic procedures. Council tax bills have shot up by 15-20 per cent, and rents continue to rise, meaning a cut in real wages for many workers struggling to make ends meet.
This situation is laying the basis for a mighty explosion. The workers of Britain have shown tremendous loyalty to their traditional mass organisations built up over generations. It is in times of crisis that workers turn repeatedly to these organisations. They do so, not to prop up the system that oppresses them, but in order to change society. This conclusion is the result of the experience of generations of struggle. It is the real reason why the unions created the Labour Party in the first place, and why they must fight to return the Labour Party to its roots.
Just before the Second World War Trotsky outlined a stark choice before the Labour movement:
Capitalism can continue to maintain itself only by lowering the standard of living of the working class. Under these conditions trade unions can either transform themselves into revolutionary organisations or become lieutenants of capital in the intensified exploitation of workers.
Today, that still remains the stark choice before the trade unions.
As can be seen on the continent, the general crisis of capitalism is compelling the working class to struggle. In Britain, the battle to transform and retransform the Labour and trade union organisations has begun. Inevitably, this process has started firstly in the unions, but it will not end there. The battle will be carried over into the Labour Party. Quantity is changing into quality. This process of change will be accelerated by the impact of great events that will shake the unions and the Labour Party from top to bottom. In the near future, the grip of the right wing will be completely shattered, opening up the perspective of a new stormy period ahead. The class struggle will be on a much higher level than before. A new drama is about to unfold in Britain and internationally that will put into the shade the events of the past.