Re: Reactionary petty-bourgeois strikes?

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>"It is increasingly obvious that even one major national strike or an
>all-out strike in one city would lead to a rapid crisis of Blairism and
>Labourism as society polarised along class lines"
>(International Socialism No82, spring 1999, p35)

But the energy minister, Helen Liddell, admitted yesterday that Monday was
the day the crisis spiralled out of control. She said: "The fact that a
week's supply of petrol sold out in a few hours last Monday is something we
had not factored into our consideration." Ministers also began to realise
that Britain has one of the most efficient national logistics supply chain
managements in the world. It means companies do not keep large stocks, but
are extremely vulnerable to blockages in the flow of goods. The knock-on
effect to the mail, food stores and hospitals was rapid.

The government's attempts to exude an air of calm collapsed on Monday night
when the decision to take emergency powers appeared in the court circular
of the Times. Journalists on Mr Blair's media bus were read a statement
from Downing Street urging the public not to panic.

By Tuesday morning it was clear Mr Blair would have to race to London to
take personal charge. An overnight report for a 6am meeting of the civil
contingencies committee described the crisis in the starkest terms.

As soon as Mr Blair arrived in Downing Street, he started a round of phone
calls with the police and oil executives to try to find out why the drivers
were not working. He then made a critical error at an evening press
conference, predicting: "Everything is now in place to get the tankers
moving." The situation, he said, would start to return to normal within 24
hours. His optimism was a red rag to the protesters.

The next day Mr Blair met the poker-faced oilmen to issue instructions for
the drivers to work. One official who attended the meetings said: "We kept
asking why their drivers were not working. They kept saying their men were
physically intimidated, so we then said give us the evidence and we will
make sure the police deal with the problem. Then nothing happened. We went
round and round."

Frustrated cabinet members asked the executives if they were willing to
discipline their drivers. They were told that the oil companies did not
directly employ many of the drivers, who instead were self-employed
subcontractors. At one point ministers discovered one refinery was managed
from Milan. Worse still, there was no organisation or protest leader with
whom to negotiate.

By Wednesday lunchtime, Downing Street decided the protesters and drivers
had to understand the consequences of their actions. Sainsbury's said food
supplies would run out in days. The Confederation of British Industry said
jobs would be lost. The NHS was put on red alert. Although the move has
been criticised as scaremongering by the health secretary, Alan Milburn,
local health authorities were reporting real shortages.

In desperation, Mr Blair deployed 80 tanker lorries from the army, navy and
RAF across Britain. "Real people and real lives will be lost," he warned.
(The Guardian, Sept. 16)


Louis Proyect
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