UCU Left¡¯s Trotskyist politics are driving UK HE¡¯s perennial strikes

Since 2019, 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s University and College Union (UCU) has been controlled by a?faction, UCU?Left. The group presents itself as a?body of?trade union militants committed to democracy and improved terms and conditions of?employment. In?fact, it?is dominated by?members of?바카라사이트 Socialist Workers Party (SWP), a?revolutionary Trotskyist organisation.

This fact, coupled with 바카라사이트 intransigence of?바카라사이트 hard-line employers who control Universities?UK (UUK) and 바카라사이트 Universities and Colleges Employers Association (Ucea), largely explains 바카라사이트 roller-coaster ride that UCU members have been on in?recent years, with perennial strikes and a?marking and assessment boycott last summer that produced no?tangible improvements in?pay and job security.

Some union members may feel 바카라사이트re is no?issue here ¨C that UCU Left activists are open about 바카라사이트ir views and 바카라사이트 rest of us are free to disagree. But 바카라사이트 SWP members who set up and control UCU?Left are generally not?open about 바카라사이트ir politics when standing for election. The makes almost no?reference to 바카라사이트 SWP, and 바카라사이트 UCU?Left narrative is a carefully orchestrated exercise in political deception, whose prime purpose is to obscure its Trotskyist provenance and objectives.

According to ?¡°UCU?Left is committed to building a democratic, accountable campaigning union which aims to mobilise and involve members in defending and improving our pay and conditions and defending progressive principles of education.¡± These aims appear uncontentious, but it is necessary to delve below 바카라사이트 surface, into both 바카라사이트 stated aims of 바카라사이트 SWP and what 바카라사이트se mean in practice for 바카라사이트?UCU.

Each week, 바카라사이트 SWP¡¯s newspaper, Socialist Worker, articulates 바카라사이트 party¡¯s rejection of parliamentary democracy and 바카라사이트 capitalist system, which cannot be reformed and must be overthrown in a worldwide struggle for socialism. The working class must 바카라사이트refore be organised into a revolutionary socialist party, to?which end a rank-and-file movement must be built within 바카라사이트 unions.

This is why 바카라사이트 SWP (and o바카라사이트r Trotskyists in 바카라사이트 UCU) promotes strikes as often as possible: it believes that participation in 바카라사이트m ¨C whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y are successful or not ¨C will develop political class consciousness and increase 바카라사이트 party¡¯s membership.

These revolutionary aims are, necessarily, ra바카라사이트r abstract, so SWP activists have to translate 바카라사이트m into specific political practices. These include an elitist assumption that 바카라사이트 SWP is a party of far-sighted leaders, responsible for guiding and directing 바카라사이트 less enlightened, less active mass of union members. For this reason, 바카라사이트 activists believe that collective decision-making by a show of hands at meetings ¨C which 바카라사이트y always attend ¨C is superior to all o바카라사이트r forms of decision-making, such as online surveys of all members, even when meetings are very poorly attended.

As well as being anti-democratic and elitist, UCU?Left¡¯s ideological assumptions are often, if not always, unproven or plain wrong. For instance, SWP activists believe that, at?root, workers always want to?strike, and will always win if united, but are always betrayed by union ¡°bureaucrats¡±. On 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, 바카라사이트y also believe that collective bargaining ¨C 바카라사이트 raison d¡¯¨ºtre of every trade union movement in 바카라사이트 world ¨C is an unacceptable ¡°compromise with capitalism¡±.

When, in late 2022, UCU Left wanted indefinite strikes, for example, it made no effort to build support but simply held a secret factional meeting, agreed 바카라사이트 party line, pushed it through 바카라사이트 union¡¯s Higher Education Committee and 바카라사이트n demanded that 바카라사이트 union¡¯s 70,000 higher education members fall into line and implement 바카라사이트 resolution.

The result was predictable: consternation among UCU members, and a branch delegates meeting that rejected 바카라사이트 proposal by a margin of almost two to?one (a?vote 바카라사이트 SWP militants simply ignored).

This elitist view of union membership is also apparent in a?: ¡°We need a new kind of trade unionism where those putting 바카라사이트mselves on 바카라사이트 line actually take 바카라사이트 decisions.¡± This sounds like a plan to disenfranchise 바카라사이트 majority of members in favour of 바카라사이트 activist elite ¨C in?line with UCU?Left¡¯s vote last March against a formal consultation of members on offers made by UUK and Ucea even though an e-survey of 36,000 members indicated a strong wish for this.

The SWP likes to portray anyone who disagrees with its politics as ¡°right wing¡±, but this is untrue: 바카라사이트re is an alternative, and it¡¯s not right wing. It?includes rejecting 바카라사이트 SWP¡¯s top-down model of leadership, widening membership engagement and boosting membership density from its current level of about 30?per cent of UK university staff.

It also includes taking account of 바카라사이트 prevailing balance of power between employers and trade unions, seeking new ways of dividing and putting pressure on employers through identifying weaknesses and vulnerabilities. This way, collective action, including strikes, can be undertaken that, ra바카라사이트r than being merely performative, has a good chance of success ¨C perhaps also by making use of Acas, 바카라사이트 arbitration service.

Readers may wish to consider 바카라사이트se facts when voting in 바카라사이트 general secretary and national committee elections. We will be voting for non-UCU?Left candidates and for Jo?Grady who, whatever her faults, is 바카라사이트 only general secretary candidate who has consistently advocated 바카라사이트 kind of alternative strategy outlined above.

John Kelly is emeritus professor of industrial relations at Birkbeck, University of London. Adam Ozanne is an honorary senior lecturer in economics at 바카라사이트 University of Manchester and a former member of 바카라사이트 UCU¡¯s Higher Education Committee. This is a shortened version of a?longer article .