McCluskey: The abuse of Britain by the elite must end
9 July 2011
The leader of Britain's biggest union, Unite, will say that it
is time for the values of the decent majority of British people to
triumph over the greed and deceit of the elite when he addresses
the hundreds of thousands attending the Durham Miners' Gala today
(Saturday).
As the storm rages over the misconduct of senior New
International executives, Len McCluskey will say that the culture
of greed and irresponsibility that has pervaded the top of British
life must end.
And he will decry attempts by the government to terrify the
British people into accepting attacks on their services and jobs or
see this country fall to the same fate as Greece.
He will say: "The values embodied at the Durham gala of
solidarity, community, equality and justice are not museum
pieces. They have survived the onslaught of Thatcher and the
patronising contempt of New Labour - and they will survive the
attacks of the present pantomime-horse coalition because they are
rooted in all that is best in our society.
"Today's economic crisis was made by corporate greed - so why is
the solution savage cuts in pubic spending?
"Who says this government has the right to privatise our NHS, to
close our libraries and hospitals, to destroy our kids' education
and scrap home helps, to make the poorest public servants pay more
and work longer for their modest pensions - all to get the big
banks back on their feet again?
"And then to try to scare us by saying that if we don’t swallow the
austerity poison we could go the way of Greece.
"This is utter nonsense from a privileged elite using crude terror
tactics to disguise why they are taking apart our
society.
"The trade union movement is now the main force standing for a
better Britain pushing for real resistance to this government's
onslaught on our services and our rights.
"Now is the time for a clear economic and social alternative.
Not the one being pushed by the Blairite undead which says learn to
love the cuts and pits worker against worker by talking tough on
immigration.
"That is not our alternative. Ours says curb the power of
finance to control our lives - and stop empires like Murdoch's
spiralling out of control. Ours says put a stop to
job-destroying policies and sit-on-the-fence government. Ours
demands we tackle inequality, which scars our society and condemns
millions of children to lives of limited hope and opportunity from
the moment they are born.
"Our demand is greater than simply ’stop the cuts’. It is
also a demand to end the bankruptcy of the powerful - from the
banks to the boardrooms - that is ruining our country.
"To the Murdochs and their ilk let me tell you it is our values,
those of the ordinary people of Britain, that will triumph.
Your have abused you place in our lives, your days of greed and
deceit are over."
ENDS
For further information, please contact Pauline Doyle on 07976
832 861
Full text of the speech by Len McCluskey,
Unite general secretary
Durham Miners Gala on Saturday 9 July
2011
Check against delivery
Comrades,
Honour as ever to be speaking at this great event. The Durham
Miners Gala of course represents the finest traditions and history
of the labour movement, but I believe that it also represents our
future.
The values embodied here, of solidarity, of community, of
equality and justice, are not museum pieces. They are the building
blocks of a better world ahead. They have survived the onslaught of
Thatcher, and the patronising contempt of New Labour, and they will
survive the attacks of the present pantomime-horse coalition.
Because they are rooted in all that is best in our society and
our culture
* * * * *
Comrades,
We are still living through a crisis in our country today. The
crisis which started in 2008 is in one respect different from the
economic crisis of the 1970s and 1980s. Then, no effort was spared
to blame the problems of capitalism on working people and the trade
unions.
No-one has even tried to pretend that we were responsible for
the bankers’ crash. The media has had to own up and say this was a
crisis made in the City, made by corporate greed, but now they are
saying the solution to this crisis is … to cut pubic spending, to
privatise and break up the NHS, to close libraries and hospitals,
to scrap home helps, and to make the poorest public servants pay
more and work longer for their modest pensions
All to get the big banks back on their feet again.
And they scare us by saying that if we don’t swallow the
austerity poison we could go the way of Greece. I am not afraid of
emulating the Greeks, healthy food – endless sunshine – priceless
works of culture, and 48 hour general strikes… seems like a good
lifestyle to me.
* * * * *
But some things do stay the same. At the first sign of life from
trade unions, ministers start talking of new laws to stop us
functioning. Vince Cable says we can keep the right to strike if we
promise not to use it and others say strikes should be illegal
unless supported by a proportion of those eligible to vote which if
applied to parliamentary elections would leave the House of Commons
almost deserted.
We already have the worst trade union laws in Europe, denied
rights that German and Italian workers can take for granted. So I
make no apology for saying that my political priority is not just
stopping new anti-union laws coming in, it is kicking out the
anti-union laws we already have.
This is not a narrow or sectional demand. Our whole society pays
the price for weak trade unions, and everyone gains when unions are
strong. Powerful unions mean less inequality.
They mean stronger, more secure, communities. Dignity and strength
at work means less crime and other social problems in the wider
society.
People understand that.
How else could our movement persuade half a million people to
march on the streets of London for justice and an economic
alternative earlier this year. Tens of thousands of those people –
maybe more – are not members of trade unions, but they recognise
that we are the main force standing for a better society, the only
force able to offer real practical resistance to the government
onslaught on our services and our rights.
And every Labour politician should understand that and celebrate
it.
* * * * *
I make that point because once again we are facing an
unnecessary debate about the trade union role in the Labour party.
This is not, I am sure, an issue being discussed on the doorsteps
anywhere in the country. People want to know about paying for
college, not about the electoral college, but let me make it clear,
I want a vibrant, stronger, more democratic Labour party. With
thousands more members, with stronger roots in our communities,
with an annual conference featuring real debates and decisions open
to new influences while proud of its traditions.
Unite does not stand for the status quo, a status quo which let
New Labour pamper the rich and wage illegal wars without the party
being allowed to utter a peep of protest. One tradition we want –
need – to get away from is for every Labour leader to feel he has
to have a set-piece showdown with the trade unions as a sort of
virility test.
I am a strong supporter of Ed Miliband.
He is a fine leader and will make a fine prime minister.
Labour’s poll numbers tell a very different story to the
Westminster chatter, and they will only get better as we spell out
what people are really looking for. That is not an inward-looking
debate on rules, but a national campaign for a clear economic and
social alternative.
* * * * *
At the moment we have alternative alternatives. There is one
alternative being pushed by the Blairite undead, It says we should
learn to love the cuts, push Cameron to be a more radical NHS
privatiser, and talk tough on immigration.
That is not our alternative.
Our alternative is about curbing the power of finance to control
our lives, about rebalancing our economy – with the state taking
the lead where it needs to, like in promoting green manufacturing.
About cracking down on tax avoidance, putting a stop to
job-destroying foreign takeovers of our firms, investing in our
infrastructure - boosting jobs as we do - and making a priority of
tackling inequality, which scars our society and condemns millions
of children to lives of limited hope and opportunity from the
moment they are born.
* * * * *
Brothers and sisters,
Our movement is at a turning point. We are starting to walk tall
once more. The March demonstration was one sign, June 30 was
another. The flame lit by the miners in 1926, 1972 and 1984 is
still burning, in our communities and in our hearts. It is a flame
not just of resistance and of fighting back, it is a spirit of
socialism that says more than simply “stop the cuts”, that says it
is not just the banks that are bankrupt, but the whole capitalist
elite that is bankrupt. That says away with the Murdochs and the
Fred the Shreds, that it is time the ordinary people of Britain
took control of their own destiny and their own future. A future of
equality, justice and peace.
Standing here today, I am looking at that future.
