Marxism and the Trade Unions

A new capitalist crisis has sparked the biggest wave of trade union militancy since the 1980s. But almost everywhere workers have been sold out and sold short.

Wages and working conditions are in freefall. Living standards have suffered their biggest decline for a century. Profits are ballooning as the gig economy and bogus self-employment deepens exploitation across the economy.

Our unions are shackled by anti-union laws and leaderships who have made their peace with capitalism. The building of a movement under communist leadership to break the hold of the bureaucrats and turn the unions into instruments of struggle on the road to workers’ revolution remains a central task.

Marxism and Trade Unions codifies the vital experience of the 1920s Minority Movement, the Communist International, and the rank and file movements of the 1970s.

It exists to arm a new generation of militants with the theoretical analysis to answer the programmatic and organisational questions posed by today’s battles.