How Does The Radical Left Relate To Workers?
What lessons can we learn from how the ‘left’ related to workers and industrial struggles of the 1970s and what relevance do they have today for a work force which is often on-unionised and fragmented?
How should our methods of relating to workers differ between a workplace which is experiencing a high level of class conflict and shop floor organisation, from one which conflict occurs within the framework of union control, from one which is non-unionised and there is little overt conflict and a fairly passive, quiescent and fragmented workforce? Should we even think of engaging with the latter group? If worker militancy usually comes from a response to an employer offensive within the workplace, how should the Left relate to workers who are currently passive? How should we relate to those who begin an industrial struggle? What is our role in these different situations? What are we trying to achieve? Consciousness raising? Recruitment to a political organisation? Shop floor and rank and file organisation? A better understanding of changes in the workplace and its effects on workers? Do we only consider engaging with workers whose workplace has strategic importance both economically and politically or do we engage with all workplaces regardless of their importance? How do we even measure strategic importance? How did the Left of the 1970s address these issues? How are the Left addressing these issues today?

Venue: Room 3A2 Hamilton House, 80 Stokes Croft, BS1 3QY.
Time: 4:00-6:00pm
Price: Donation
Speaker: Sheila Cohen, Marco