October 1: Biggest coordinated strikes so far – socialist ideas popular

Socialist Party Scotland reporters

The postal and rail workers’ strikes on 30 September/1 October were solid, strong and united. Saturday October 1 saw almost 200,000 workers taking action across the UK, a significant step forward in unions coordinating action. Alongside Royal Mail and National Rail workers, dockers in Liverpool and Felixstowe were also on strike. 

As Gary Clark, branch secretary of the Scotland No.2 branch of the CWU, said at Saturday’s strike rally in Edinburgh: “The working class is awakening. We’re all standing together and we’ll fight together.”

Socialist Party Scotland members visited CWU picket lines across Scotland on the strike days, including Inverness, Invergordon, Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow, Tranent, Edinburgh, Fife and Irvine.

We also supported the RMT, ASLEF and TSSA strike action on the railways at picket lines. 

Our message was clear: workers need pay rises that as a minimum match the cost of living. Unions should coordinate action, strike together and build towards a 24-hour general strike to drive the Tories out.

We also called for the nationalisation of Royal Mail, BT the railways and the energy companies under democratic workers’ control and management. To do that requires the building of a mass working class party based on the trade unions to fight for the socialist policies needed to end the capitalist cost of living crisis. 

These ideas we also took to the sizeable rallies that also took place on Saturday 1 October. Some were organised by the Enough Is Enough (EIE) campaign, others by the trade unions directly and even individuals. After visiting the picket lines, Socialist Party Scotland members took part in rallies in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Elgin. 

500 workers attended the joint trade union strike rally in Edinburgh organised after an initiative by Gary Clark and the CWU with the RMT and ASLEF. Gary received rapturous applause when calling for the nationalisation of the energy, rail and mail under workers’ control. 

Another Socialist Party Scotland member, Sean Robertson, also addressed the 120-strong Elgin rally. Sean, an NHS workers and GMB rep , “workers’ unity can succeed.” He called for “a socialist society that nationalises the main sectors of the economy.” “We also need to build coordinated action and a 24-hour general strike, so we don’t pay for the crisis of capitalism.”

enough is enough

Over 2,000 workers and young people attended the EIE rally in Glasgow, which heard from the RMT, CWU, EIS, Unison and the STUC among others. Many good points were made, including calls for public ownership of the energy industry and the need to drive the Tories out. However, the national EIE organisers are still avoiding the issue of the need to build a workers’ party to fight in support of workers and for socialist change. 

Indeed, many leading figures of the EIE campaign still clearly see a Labour government as the way forward. This is despite the fact that Keir Starmer has made clear his view that its not the job of a Labour government to be on picket lines with striking workers. Nor will they fight for the nationalisation of the privatised sectors of the economy, including energy. 

That’s why a new workers’ party is so important, and is unavoidable if a viable political alternative is to be constructed.

Socialist Party Scotland members sold out of Socialist papers in Elgin and Edinburgh. Our petitions in support of nationalisation of energy, for a 24-hour general strike and the building of a new workers’ party were very popular. All in all, almost 90 copies of the Socialist were sold and well over £200 in donations for the Fighting Fund were made at the four rallies. 

The interest and enthusiasm in socialist ideas was also reflected in the numbers of people who filled in cards to join Socialist Party Scotland.