The sociology of labour parties and trade unions

A review of the discussion on labour parties and an investigation of the sociology of labour parties and trade unions in English-speaking countries from the standpoint of trying to arrive at tactics required to build a class-struggle left wing

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Mass labour parties in the English-speaking world

Their organisational and structural relationship to the trade unions and the working class in the context of the debate about the early Comintern and the united front

Bob Gould

In a recent post Richard Fidler agrees with Nick Fredman, saying: “well put”.

This really is the central point of this very interesting discussion on labour parties. While the ALP is “bourgeois”, the revolutionary left must adopt a united front stance toward it, engage its militants in debate as well as common activity where possible. This we would not think of doing in regard to a “classic” bourgeois party such as the Liberals (Australia) or National Party (New Zealand). That is because the ALP is a bourgeois party of a peculiar type: it operates specifically within the workers movement (as well as in Parliament), through its special links with the trade unions and the broader labour movement. Our overriding objective in all of this is to build the Marxist current, just as in the unions we work to build the class-struggle current.

Labor, Lorimer and Lenin

Strategy and tactics in the labour movement

Bob Gould

The discussion in Marxmail on strategy and tactics in the labour movement is revealing and useful and has gone in a number of directions. There are three broad strands of opinion in conflict, and the historical context is important, because all three strands, including my own, appeal to the authority of Lenin in support of their current tactical views.