[Marxism] British Wildcat Strike Wave?

[Fred Feldman]

Thank you, David, for your thoughts, which parallel how I feel about it as
well. I did not send in the item by Milne because I was sure the strike
should be supported, but because, having read a few short things on the
UK-left list, I suspect the predominant left response here is too knee-jerk.

Do supporters of immigrant rights from a working class/oppressed nationality
point of view favor the bracero program, for example, which is possible only
because borders aren't open. I have always thought it was a completely
antilabor operation, aimed at unionization in the fields, canning factories,
and so on. The bracero program is a product of the closed borders and
basically creates a situation, or at least tries to, where these workers
have no bargaining power.

We also do not advocate a complete free market for labor. Unions have been
directed against this forever. We are not necessarily opposed to union
hiring halls for instance.

This is a divide-and-rule operation in the most fundamental sense but
calling these workers who are protesting "racists" on the basis of the
available information seems like a serious and probably harmful stretch. 

Of course the slogans tend to be nationalist. These are of course workers
from a privileged imperialist state. But they are being radically screwed IN
FACT. To describe them as simply trying to oppress others, which is what the
racist-xenophobic claim implies, doesn't strike me as quite capturing the
reality. 

The fascists are all over the place on this one.  Get used to it. They are
going to be paying a lot more attention to workers' struggles in imperialist
countries in the next few years, and judging strikes to be reactionary
bercause they attract the National Front will not be the right criterion.

We would not be opposed to the labor protests if these workers had been
brought in to break a strike, I think, even if the strikers' national
composition was piss-poor. So what should be our stance here, and how should
it be expressed. This is the beginning of challenges we will face again and
again.
Fred Feldman