Re: [Marxism] British Wildcat Strike Wave?

[nada <dwaltersMIA@xxxxxxxxx>]

Good discussion. Obviously we have to wait for more European comrades to 
chime in here. It is complex and not altogether clear.

S. Artesian's comments run more or less along the lines of my thoughts 
as a..."knee jerk"reaction to all this (to use Fred's description, per 
haps). But what S. Artesian states is not at all in contradiction to 
Fred's POV on this. The only thing, right now, I would disagree with 
Fred on is "how to apply it here". By that he means the US and it's a 
different situation to a large degree.

First, Italians are not an "oppressed" nationality. In fact, the 
internal "oppressed nationality" doesn't really come in here unless we 
want to talk about the Irish, and, in some minds, the Scots, Welsh and 
even the Cornish. The "oppressed" (yes, ironic quotes here in this case) 
walked out WITH their English counterparts during this refinery strike. 
This is only a small part of why this is not the same or comparable 
*specifically* with the US (the overall question of immigration is), 
and, it's also about migrant vs immigrant labor, which is different, I 
think.

The point about compulsory unionization is a good demand to make, but 
doesn't address the underlying xenophobia that is caused by the result 
of increasingly higher unemployment among Britain's skilled trades.

A few things should be pointed out: The Conservatives and their Tory 
press seem unanimous in their outlook: "Support the Strikers". Now, this 
IMHO, is NOT a reason NOT to support the strikes, but raises some 
interesting questions about where the ruling class in the UK sees this 
issue or, rather, a wing OF the ruling class, which by and large are 
supporters of New Labour for obvious reasons.

A small point on the US. The Bracero program was not *necessarily* 
designed to thwart unionization at canneries and in the fields. Many 
canneries were already unionized and this did not result in a 
de-unionization campaign. There were no unionized agricultural workers 
in the US during the 1950s outside of Hawaii. It was, IMO, a capitalist 
design to *assure* a compliant labor force and one paid at a lower 
standard than even the already living-standard deprived non-Bracero 
workers already working on most US farms. Just a thought.

David

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