Trade Unions, the Left and the Communist Party in Britain

Abstract

Since 1918 the Labour Party has virtually monopolized the representation of a Left—working class constituency in Britain. For the Communist Party the industrial struggle and participation in the trade unions became central. After an uplift in the CPGB's fortunes after 1945, the cold war brought polarization and a powerful anti‐communist campaign in the trade unions. Since the early 1960s, the CPGB has followed ‘broad left’ strategies, but by the 1980s tensions between those favouring this strategy and proponents of the traditional class war stance had combined with other factors to render the CPGB effectively a spent force in national trade union politics. Yet experience in Britain, as elsewhere, has shown that a cadre of activists or rank‐and‐file leaders can be of key importance in the development of trade union organization, especially in circumstances of stable, institutionalized — and complacent — trade unionism.