The
first major contribution is Hardy’s assertion that while there has been
restructuring within the British political economy over recent decades, the decline
of manufacturing is grossly exaggerated. There are perennial problems of low
productivity and the distinction between manufacturing and the services sector
has been increasingly blurred, but production has remained an important sector nonetheless.
‘Pronouncements of the death of Britain’s manufacturing sector ignore the
existence of strong pockets of activity where their economic importance is
disproportionately greater than the amount of employment generated’ (P.39). Equally,
talks about the industrial revolution 4.0 making workers unnecessary are
nothing new in the history of capitalism. New technologies putting pressure on
employment have always been part of capitalist development. Ultimately, ‘the
impact of technology on human progress in general and on working lives specifically
depends on who owns and controls technology and how it is organised’ (P.46). High
levels of precarity are also fairly common for capitalism. If at all, the
post-war, Keynesian decades with higher levels of full-time, permanent
contracts were an exception. In sum, structural change is happening, but this does
not imply that workers’ resistance would no longer be possible.
Second,
Hardy, a long-term labour activist herself, correctly assesses the open role of
trade unions. Just because they represent workers does not imply that they are
progressive agents. Sometimes, they have led successful struggles, sometimes
they have been pushed into successful struggles by grassroots activists and
sometimes the union bureaucracy has sold out to employers. In short, trade
unions are a battle ground of struggle over its direction and the union
bureaucracy is often at loggerheads with activists on the ground. For
activists, the solution cannot be to abandon trade unions, but to continue the
fight inside them. ‘Championing or vilifying the bureaucracy is an abstract and
unhelpful formulation for socialists and activists in real-world disputes.
Rather there is an ongoing process of working with the bureaucracy at the same
time as having a critical relationship with it’ (P.98).
Third,
Hardy sheds light on the significant role of women in moments of industrial
action. While often forgotten in official narratives, female activists have led
iconic struggles and secured significant victories for workers. The book
provides a wealth of exciting examples throughout Britain’s history. In 1981, for
example, at the height of Thatcher’s first Conservative government, female
workers at Lee Jeans in Greenock simply occupied their factory, when it was
announced that management wanted to move production to Northern Ireland
(PP.111-12).
Fourth,
migrant workers, often perceived to be in the weakest position and, thus, most unlikely
if not unable to take action, have been involved in important struggles too. As
part of the ‘reserve army of labour’, migrant workers often facilitate capital
to increase the rate of exploitation, while fragmentations in the working class
can pit migrant workers against other workers. And yet, ‘migrant workers are
not passive victims of capital and neither are they unorganisable: they have
often been at the forefront of strikes, union organisation and political
activity in Britain and the US’ (P.126). When it comes to struggles for higher
pay and better working conditions by cleaners in London, it is often foreign
workers, who are leading the fight.
In
short, Hardy’s key message is that workers are not just victims. Despite
restructuring, new technology and high levels of precarity, there is always
space for organising and collective action against capitalist exploitation. And
it is in these moments of struggles that workers gain confidence and manage to
convince others to join the fight. It is during moments of struggle that bonds
of solidarity are established and collective resistance is forged.
There
are, however, a number of points on which I do not agree with Hardy’s
assessment. First, her analysis is rather agency focused overlooking the
structuring conditions of the capitalist social relations of production. As a result,
she underestimates the relentless capitalist pressure towards further expansion
and higher levels of exploitation out of sheer structural necessity. Hardy is
right to celebrate the victory by university lecturers in 2018 against the
imposition of savage cuts to their pensions (PP.177-81). Nevertheless, only
three years later, employers have now returned with demands for further cuts.
Against the background of the pandemic and an exhausted workforce, they seem to
be confident to succeed now where they failed three years ago. Of course, this
struggle is open-ended as always, but workers are again on the backfoot.
Second,
Hardy’s understanding of class struggle is rather narrow, privileging almost exclusively
workers as the only relevant actors of resistance. Of course, workers are the
only ones who can put direct pressure on management by threatening to withdraw
their labour and disrupt production (P.68). Any successful struggle against
capitalism will have to include workers as a result. However, capitalism does
not only depend on the exploitation of wage labour. It also relies on a
relentless supply of unpaid labour in the sphere of social reproduction (see,
for example, Bhattacharya
2017).
Hence, struggles such as the resistance against the privatisation of water and
sanitation services including not only trade unions but also citizens’
movements and environmental groups are also moments of class struggle against
capitalist exploitation (Bieler
2021). Moreover, capitalist accumulation also depends on the constant access
to cheap natures (Moore
2015). Struggles by Indigenous people in North America against the
construction of oil pipelines are, therefore, equally a direct contestation of
capitalism (Estes
2019), as are the struggles by the anti-fracking movement in the UK (Brock
2020) or even the actions of civil disobedience by groups such as Extinction
Rebellion and Insulate Britain, which are also disrupting the smooth
functioning of capitalist accumulation.
Rejecting
the widespread pessimism about workers’ ability to resist, Hardy is in danger
of adopting an undue optimism. She does acknowledge that we are at a low ebb of
workers’ struggles. And yet, she concludes that ‘it is the self-activity of workers
that is key. As the sole producers of wealth, the working class has the power
to break the chains of capitalism where they are forged: in the workplace’
(P.208). Of course, every successful struggle for better pay for cleaners at a
particular employer is a major victory and often improves the lives of affected
workers significantly. However, successful struggles for the Real Living Wage such
as at London University, are unlikely to result in generally higher pay levels across
the whole cleaning sector, not to speak about challenging capitalism as a
whole.
There
is no doubt, workers and trade unions as their representatives will play an
important role in any struggle against capitalist exploitation. To challenge
capitalism more fundamentally and explore alternatives beyond capitalism, these
struggles will have to link up with resistance against environmental
destruction and expropriation in the sphere of social reproduction. Trade
unions have to align themselves with environmental groups and the Black Lives
Matter movement. Simply focusing on workers and the workplace is too narrow a
focus, if we want to assess the possibilities of contesting capitalism more fundamentally.
Personal website: http://andreasbieler.net
31 October 2021
Posts
The brightest light on labor's horizon is China. For decades, workers there have doubled their real wages every 8 years, as regular as clockwork and 98% of them own their homes.
ReplyDeleteAdd to that the PRC's drive to make available to everyone the advantages that middle-class Westerners take for granted–Shared Prosperity–and our workers will have enough evidence to scare their employers silly.