Trade unionism in Cowley was far simply a factory affair. The Assembly plant branches were keenly involved in supporting local struggles - in the university, the hospitals and various battles for union recognition. The most notable of these were at Blackwell's bookshop and the Randolph Hotel, the
The book charts how principled support for these and other struggles incited the rage of somnambulant full time officials in a variety of unions. It depicts as well as the fortunes of the left on Oxford Trades Council and the fight for solidarity with groups of workers throughout the country. The fight against the social contract continued in the plant and
As the social contract lost the support of union members, "left' union leaders, such as Jones and the AUEW's Hugh Scanlon, imposed it through devices such as the "one increase every year rule' and "an orderly return to free collective bargaining' • Again, Thornett sees in the undermining of union democracy and the crucifixion of groups like the BL toolmakers who challenged wage restraint, the seeds of division and disillusion amongst union members which were to blossom
In a similar way the Ryder Report on BL, with its establishment of corporate bargaining and introduction of participation bodies disarmed the unions in BL. It also prepared the way for a new boss, Michael Edwardes, who would make more ruthless use of the ideology of joint interest. The left lost crucial battles for plant-level pay against corporate bargaining - which was advocated by members of Militant, who espoused an abstract concept of workers unity divorced from the reality of the time.
Corporate bargaining developed the process - which commenced with the abolition of piece work - of removing economic conflict further from the control of the rank and file and the point of production. This strengthened the ability of full time union officers to horse. In turn the three tier "participation" structure at plant, divisional and national level sought - with some success - to imprint leading stewards with the logic of capitalist production and recreate them as cheer leaders for competitiveness and speed-up.
very soon key stewards like Derek Robinson from Longbridge were pronouncing in Cars Council reports "we can grab that extra bit of the world markets and give ourselves the reputation we undoubtedly deserve."! Fighting off sustained attacks by the leaders of their own union, the Cowley stewards had to wage war on wider fronts.
Inside Cowley documents in macabre detail how Edwardes obtained the consent of convenors and officials for sackings and closures. Combine committee leader Derek Robinson built on Communist Party (CP) support for participation by leading a standing ovation for the BL undertaker.
Jones and Scanlon appeared with Edwardes in adverts captioned: Were all on the same side of the fence'. Once again there was a price to pay, commencing with Robinson's victimisation, ironically for signing a pamphlet supporting militant policies he had opposed in the combine committee. The AÚEW leaders' sacrifice of Robinson again prefigured the future.
The CP was another important actor in this story, and as a former member Thornett well understands its role. The party claimed to have 48 members in a factory branch in Cowley in the late 1960s and early 70s. This provokes serious incredulity on the part of those who were around at the time. Whoever they were, they certainly didn't punch their weight at
As I write I have in front of me a copy of the CP's Comment, April 29 1978. A letter complains: "For weeks now the ultra-left presses have been screaming about the threatened victimisation of Alan Thornett by right wingers in the Midlands TGWU. Hardly a peep from the Morning Star".
The reason for the absence of coverage was not, as the complainant believed, because of the Morning Star's inadequate coverage of the labour movement. It was of course because the CP was in partnership with the TWU bureaucracy in witch hunting Thornett. At Cowley, as this volume demonstrates, CPers were conspicuous by their absence, emerging at crucial points to cast their votes for participation.
When the Robinson affair erupted, the response of the CP Midlands secretary was to call on the Combine to organise a deputation' to management at Leyland House, Coventry. Their 110 percent support for participation and its key ideological component, company viability meant the CP were unable to mobilise members to defend Robinson once Edwardes played his key card, claiming it was a choice between Robinson or closure - and the
AUEW took the threat at face value
After years of living with the daily possibility of victimisation, Thornett's career inside Cowley ended in anti-climax as he was sacked in 1982 for failure to renew his HGV licence. As he observes, those immersed in wider problems often neglect their own. By now, as Thatcherism developed, the ground was slipping away from the lett.
Thornett's dismissal opened the way for further victimisations and the drastic rundown of BL's operations in Cowley.
The book might have benefited from some account of the organisation of production and working conditions inside the plant, the essential background to the struggles depicted here.
It has little to say about the develop ment of the Workers' Socialist League which Thornett established after his break from the WRP in 1974. No matter.
A major strength of Inside Cowley is its insistence on the need to ponder experience to learn lessons from history. It has some useful points to make on the struggles against sexism and racism. It demonstrates in numerous ways how the lessons of yesterday can help counter today's attempts by management to mobilise indiviself-interest against collectivism in the working class.
Inside Cowley is a significant contribution to the story of workplace organisation and a valuable addition to the history of Trotskyism. It is a chronicle of past struggle and a handbook for future battles.
The conditions for remaking militant trade unionism exist, the fundamentals propounded here still apply. Suitably fashioned for new contexts and cultures, new generations and new problems. Inside Cowley is indispensable reading for all trade unionists facing this challenge. 440 pages, 30 photographs (190,000 words). Published January 1998 by Porcupine, London. Mail order: Britain £14.45, Europe £15.75. airmail £18.95. Aus/NZ surface £15.75, airmail £20.45. Special offer -- Alain Thornett's earlier work, From Militancy to Marxism, for only £5 extra, including postage. (Or f6 separately including postage, other countries €7 surface, f8 airmail. Cheques should be made out to Alan Thornett and sent to 14 Colyton Rd, London SE22 ONE The Ideas of Victor Serge: A Life as a Work of Art Edited by Susan Weissman
"Victor Serge is one of the great political and moral heroes of the 20th century. He is akin to George Orwell in the way he combined a wide-ranging passion for justice with great literary skill and with an unrelenting refusal to adhere to any orthodoxy, great or small. But to imagine his life and work you must imagine an Orwell who spent seven years in prison, who saw most of his comrades shot, and who survived and recorded the terrible years in which the Russian Revolution turned in upon itself and transformed the Soviet Union into a killing ground. Serge has long been far too little known in the United States, but this admirable book goes a long way towards honouring this man with the thoughtful critical attention he deserves."
Adam Hochschild,
Co-founder and publisher of Mother Jones magazine, and author of The Unquiet
Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin
Contents:
I. Testimonials - Jeannine Kibalchich:
My Father • Vlady Kibalchich: A Life as a
Work of Art • John Eden: The Search for
Victor Serge • Wilebaldo Solano: Our
POUM Comrade
Il. Literary Criticism - Richard Greeman: The Novel of the Revolution • Neal Cornwell: The Russian Novels • lan Birchall: Proletarian Culture • Alan Wald: Victor Serge and the New York Anti-Stalinist Left III. The Political Ideas and Praxis of Victor Serge - Luc Nemeth: Victor Serge and the Anarchists • Phil Spencer: On the Leninist Tradition • Guy Desolre: On Leon Trotsky and the Fourth International • Peter Sedgwick: On Socialism • Susan Weissman: On Stalinism IV Serge's Writings - John Manson: The Carnets Victor Serge: Thirty Years After the Russian Revolution To order: North and South America: Send check for $15, payable to: Critique, c/o Suzi Weissman, 4454 Van Noord Avenue, Studio City, CA 91604 U.S.A. Elsewhere: Send cheque for £10 to: Critique, c/o Bob Arnot, Dept. of Economics, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow G4 OBA, Britain. Published by Critique Books, Glasgow, 1997. ISBN: 1-9012-4808-9 The Zapatista dream Subcomandante Marcos: El sueño zapatista, by Yvon Le Bot
Yvon Le Bot's new book (published simultaneously in Spanish and French) offers one of the most intelligent and critical examinations of the Zapatista movement and its politics to date. This book represents a turning point in the literature dealing with the Zapatista movement, opening a window and letting fresh air circulate in academic and political circles.
The first half of the book is a long introductory essay by Le Bot, while the second is comprised of interviews with Zapatista leaders Marcos, Moises and Tacho. What makes this book so important are the questions Le Bot asks or implies, both in his introduction and in his interviews. How did the EZLN's politics evolve? What was the relation between the original Guevarist project and the Indian movement? How democratic was the traditional Mayan village? How democratic is the Zapatista Mayan village? What is the relationship between the Zapatista project in the Maya lands, and a possible democratic project in Mexico as a whole?
Le Bot-and Marcos-suggest that the answers to these questions are more problematic than many of their supporters understand. This book cannot be recommended too highly to those interested in the Zapatista movement or engaged in
Mexico: Plaza y Janez, 1997. 376 pages.
Reviewed by Dan La Botz
La Rebelion Zapatista y la
Autonomia.
Hector Diaz-Polanco, an advisor to the
Zapatista Army of National Liberation
31
(EZLN), has been one of the foremost interpreters of autonomy movements in
Latin America and one of the strongest advocates of regional, territorial and political autonomy for the Indian peoples of
Mexico. A Dominican by birth, Diaz-
Polanco spent time in Nicaragua as an advisor to the regional indigenous movements there.
In this book Diaz-Polanco argues that the EZLN-led Chiapas rebellion of 1994 put the issue of autonomy at the top of the political agenda in Mexico. As Diaz-
Polanco sees it, one of the greatest contributions of the EZLN was to link the
Chiapas Indians' demand for autonomy with the national struggles for democracy and social justice, and to link the guerrillas and the Indian movement to the broader struggles of Mexican civil society. This comprehensive book discusses the history of the indigenous peoples' autonomy struggles in Mexico since the conquest, the contemporary social and economic situation of the Indians of Mexico, and the political struggle between the Indians and the Mexican state. Diaz-Polanco examines the autonomy agreements between
Greenland and Denmark and between
Nicaragua and its coastal regions as models for future autonomy agreements in
Latin America and other parts of the world.
Finally, Diaz-Polanco follows the current negotiations between the Mexican government and the Zapatistas from the uprising of January 1, 1994 to the San
Andres Larrainzar agreements. I found this book particularly helpful in correcting some of my own political misunderstandings about the autonomy issue. Reviewed by Dan La Botz Mexico: Siglo-Veintiuno Editores, 1997. This review is reprinted from : Mexican Labor News and Analysis, 3436 Morrison Place, Cincinnati, OH 45220. <103144.2651@compuserve.com> To order the books and magazines mentioned in International Viewpoint, try your nearest progressive bookstore, or write to La Brèche, 9 rue de Tunis, 75011 Paris, France © (+33 1) 43676357 fax 43792961 (English, French and Spanish spoken). Where no price is given, we suggest you enclose US$ 10 in any convertible currency to cover the postage costs of the publisher. To announce your publication in this free listing, send a sample copy to "Book reviews" c/o International Viewpoint, PECI, BP 85, 75522 Paris cedex 11, France. 32 International Viewpoint #295