Unite Embraces Imperialism

The Unite Leaderships Narrow Bureaucratism Is A Cover For Their Defence Of Imperialism

The genocidal war that has been waged by Israel (with the full backing of the US and British governments) has, rightly, enraged many British workers. Mass demonstrations have been staged across the country, attended by millions, and the sustained nature of these protests has led to an increasing level of hysteria in the corridors of power. As with every issue that affects the working class though the Gaza war has shown a glaring weakness within the trade union movement when it comes to the question of what exactly constitutes ‘solidarity’.  For many decades now the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, PSC, has been a mainstay of union conferences running fringe meetings and having some unions affiliated to it, this was something that was not the subject of much controversy until more recent years. The Corbyn era turned such long standing national affiliations to campaigns like PSC into front page news during the entirely manufactured anti-semitism scandal.  Corbyn has had a long association with the PSC and this was immediately weaponised against him and, as is always the case, when reformists and union bureaucrats are under pressure they immediately capitulate.  Corbyn and his allies spent years apologising every time a new lie or misrepresentation was printed in the capitalist press and thus they kept running away right over the edge of a cliff. 

The end of the Corbyn era was rapidly followed by the end of the McCluskey era in Unite, who had been one of the most vocal advocates for Corbyn in the leadership of the union movement. McCluskey was replaced by Sharon Graham, who was portrayed as a ‘grassroots’ candidate, despite having a career in the bureaucracy of Unite and its predecessor union the Transport & General Workers Union that was every bit as extensive as McCluskeys had been. The election results in 2021 were portrayed by many on the British left as being some kind of great victory for workers in struggle but in actual fact the turnout was lower than the three previous elections with only 124,147 votes being cast out of a potential electorate of 1.2 million union members.  This would hardly be a ringing endorsement of any candidate but the idea that Sharon Graham represented some kind of heroic grassroots uprising is simply not born out by looking at the turnout. The enthusiasm and engagement with the election being so low amongst Unite members speaks more to a great disengagement and cynicism about the whole process more than anything else.  Graham’s claim to be the candidate most concerned with grassroots organising has also been cast into doubt by the fact that Unites membership numbers seem to be on a consistent downward trend since her election. Of course it is the case that any rise or fall in membership numbers is down to far more than whoever occupies the General Secretaries office but a union that was consistently winning victories for its members would be something that far more workers would actually want to join and there is precious little sign of that.  

The issue of the war on Gaza provides another demonstration that not only is Sharon Graham a creature of the union bureaucracy but that she holds many of the same positions as the defeated “right wing” candidate for the General Secretaryship, Gerrard Coyne. According to an internal briefing to Unite officials, which was leaked to the website skwawkbox,  The message contains a number of disgraceful statements and some which are (frankly) bizarre. When speaking of the demonstrators who have been staging peaceful demonstrations outside of arms manufacturing plants tied to Israel (such as Elbit) the Unite briefing states:

“we cannot and will not endorse any organisation which decides unilaterally and without any discussion (let alone agreement) with the workers themselves, to support the targeting of our members’ workplaces or their jobs”

This is meant to be a reference to the demonstrators and their protests at various arms factories but if you read it again it seems extraordinary when you consider that Unite pays over £1 million a year in affiliation fees to the labour party. The labour party has been behind ruthless attacks on Unite members pay and conditions across the local government sector for many years now.  The Coventry refuse workers dispute is one such example with the Labour controlled council stating, just last month, that it intends to fire and rehire these workers in an attempt to further cut their pay and conditions. This is just one example of many across the country which see Labour controlled councils tearing up contracts, sacking workers and removing essential services from working class communities. The Unite leadership, despite making occasional threats, continues to fork out millions of pounds to the labour party, directly enabling attacks on their members. Apparently this is all fine for Sharon Graham but other workers demonstrating against a genocide is unacceptable. 

The briefing goes on to make more extraordinary statements such as the following.

“It is important to highlight here that it is a core principle of Unite that as a trade union the ‘first claim’ on our priorities is always the protection and advancement of our members’ interests at work. It is very simple. Unite cannot and never will advocate or support any course of action which is counter to that principle. We are a trade union, not a political party or single-issue campaign group.”

The last sentence is patently ridiculous because Unite will in one sentence claim that they aren’t a political party but in another claim to be part of a unified “labour movement” which includes a political wing (the labour party) and an industrial wing led by the major unions.  The other claim that looks increasingly ridiculous though is where they say that the “first claim” on Unite’s priorities are the advancement of Unite members interests in their workplaces.  Can we really draw such an arbitrary line? Can we separate the workplace from the rest of a worker’s interests, to have a secure home, safe streets, good education for their children and a lot of other concerns that go far beyond the workplace. This kind of bureaucratic narrowness is a deliberate shirking of responsibility by the Unite leadership who want to limit workers action to the workplace alone and, when it comes down to it, will even compromise on that if the labour party demands it.  

If we turn to the issue at hand though, which is that Unite represents workers in the armaments industry and prioritises protecting those jobs above everything else. Can this truly be said to be in the interests of even those workers? Is it in our class’s interests to support the activities of British imperialism? Which is the reason why so many manufacturing jobs have disappeared from this country as capital has gone elsewhere in the world to invest, where workers are easier to hyp-exploit. Is it in our class’s interests to support the zionist state which is committing war crimes on a vast scale? Are workers who are employed in the armaments sector really happy with what is being done using products they have created? What about all the Unite members who are supporters of the Palestinian cause? Do their concerns not factor in the calculations of the Unite leadership? The truth is though that the Unite leadership are merely hiding behind the armaments workers, their concern is not truly with them. The union leaders in Britain are only consistent in one thing and one thing only, their support for British imperialism. That has been the case since the 1880s and has not changed to this day. They are 100% on board with getting Sir Keir Starmer into Downing Street who is a long term dedicated servant of British and US imperialism.  None of this is in the interests of the working class but this is what Unite members money is being spent on.  

Neither Labour nor the Tories will do anything to address the deep crisis of British imperialism with economic stagnation now over a decade old in this country. The trade union leadership in adopting a narrow, bureaucratic view of things are not serving the interests of our class. The point that should be raised in every workplace and community now is that of the fight for socialism not in an abstract sense but in the true way, that of the working class becoming the ruling class. The ending of parasitic British capitalism and imperialism is the only way to secure a future for our class and country. The British trade union leadership are incapable of understanding that. We need a future where decently paid work is the norm, not the exception, where our munitions workers focus on innovations to defend our nation, not flog to mass murderers overseas or to be used in oppressing other peoples across the world. That is the fight that we must build for and characters like Sharon Graham or not an ally but a barrier to that.