 Ieithi Ieith.. ..aeth amser a ddannu'r cyflawn... ..y fydd yw'r cyfeil gweithiau... ..y'r cyflawn i'r cyflawn y cyflawn egg, oherwydd mae'n cyfeilio... ..y'r cyfeilio yn y llefodol iawn. A hefyd, rhaid i'r ffestifol... ..y'r fflawn i'r ffrindig ysgrifennu... ..y'r ffrindig i'r ffrindig hefyd o'r ffrindig... ..y'r ffrindig, i'r ffrindig... ..y'r ffrindig eithaf, ac mae'r ffrindig eithaf... oedd yn gallu'n ffordd o'r newid o'r eich gennig oes ymchwil yn teimlo'r gwahysig. A gallwn i'n cerdd oedd ymwneud, gallwn i'n cael ei wneud o'r gweithio a'r adgectel o'r cyffredin yn ei wneud. Gallwn i'n cerdd o'r parallelau i'r tyn dechrau, i wneud i'n cyfrifiadol ar y cyfnodol, oedd yn cael ei wneud o'r cyfrifiadol. Rhywb i'n meddwl i'r singol, gynnyddol i'r battalion. A mae e'n gwneud o'r cyfrifiadol, This is a new normal as we witness the death agony of the period of the death agony of capitalism itself, where tremendous challenges and tremendous opportunities are presented for the Labour and the Three Union movement but critically also for Marxist organisations and in terms of Socialist ideas yn ohol i'r ideaio ddylai ac nad ydych yn bwysig y diwrnod o gyfnodr bod yn gweithio'r llngwlad hon yn gweithio'r dda, ond dyma'n meddwl fo beth mae'n golygu, ond ymdano gyda'r ffordd o bwysig, o'r rhan o'n ymriadig a yn ti'r parid, yn ymgyrch iawn, mae'n arbu'r wahanol ac yn y cyfweld yn ddau yma, as millions across the world and certainly Britain are looking for answers, first of all. They are seeking to understand what is happening in their lives and they are looking for alternatives. One small example of how people's lives are going to change is this pandemic, which is a catastrophe in many, many respects respect for both the ruling class and the working class. We are going to see, unless a movement is capable of stopping it,incidentally, mass unemployment, 4 to 5 million unemployed in Britain. By the way I personally think that would be a conservative estimate. I'm old enough to remember the 1980s when they spoke about 3 million ond. Dyna'r cwysig o'r bwysig, mae'r bwysig o'r ddau, i ni'n angen y ffaith, mwyn ffawr pethonol, ond rydyn ni'n ffawr i'n ffawr i'n rhywbeth i'r dystrygu'n gwybod. Melynes o'r pethau yr ydych chi wedi'w gwneud i'r rhaid, rydyn ni yn cael ei ddweud i'r rhaid yn cael ei ddweud i'r rhaid, yn cyfyrdd i'r rhaid, oherwydd i'r systefn gyrwch i'r rhaid, oedd y cwrs ar y ddechrau bydd y Tori a'r Gweithio Lleiddoedd, ac, wrth gwrs, y Gweithio Lleiddoedd. Mae'n cael ei ddweud o'r llaw o'r cyfnod ar gyfer o'r cyfnod. Mae'n cyfrifio'r proffesio'r ysgolion, ac mae'r pethau sydd wedi'u gweld yn bwysig ar y pandemig gyda'u rhyngwb sy'n ddimnod ar gyfer o'u cyfrifio'r cyfnod ar gwell o'r perffesio. Mae'n gweithio, wrth gwrs, o gwnaeth ymgledio. Rynamiwch, a defnydd i hynny, sgwrs yn ddim yn cael ei ddweud o'r cefnod. Mae'r llyfr yn cael ei anglesol, mae'n cael ei ddweud o'r cyfnod sy'n ymgylch. Aethaf iddyn nhw, ac bod nhw'n gallu eu ddwynt o'r gwaith ylltydd Cymru a'u ond allan ni'n ddisodledig ar y gwahanol ar y sprechennau. Felly ar y pandemig, mae'n ei gynhwys bwysig i gynnwys ar yr un i'r gynnwys. Rwy'n credu'r gweithio ar y lleithiau, ar yr un i'r lleithiau, ac rwy'n credu i gynnwys ar yr un i'r lleithiau. Roedd y peth o'r un i'r lleithiau ar y gynnwys ar y gynnwys, rwy'n credu i'r leithiau ar yr un i'r gynnwys. a'r torri wedi bod yn ei wneud i gael a lieddechrau'r myfyrdd. Mae wedi cyfeirio'r cymaint fel ysbøddiadau ond ry'n defnyddio'r hwn. Mae nifer am y cyflwynfodelaeth, ond mae hyn bydda'n ei gwneud gefnodi, ac mae'n gwael i fod yn y gwybodaeth. Mae cyfrifiadau, yn y gallu sy'n gychwynfod, yn credu rheswer o sch Wasan. mae'n gwneud o'r sgwrs yng Nghymru, rydyn ni'n gweithio i'r EU, a Josh i'n gwneud o'r sgwrs yng Nghymru. Mae'n gwneud o'r sgwrs yng Nghymru sy'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio. On this has been exposed greatly in the current period for millions of workers as at the degenerate state of the British ruling class in the capitalist class itself, because what we have in it I think is a reasonably accurate description. We're now dealing with eclectocracy. That's just a fancy way of saying that these people are robin, as blind and they don't care if we know it. Ac y gallu y gallu ymweld ffawr y, mae 12 miliwn i'w cyffredinol sydd yn ddiogelio'r cyffredinol ar y trac o'r cyffredinol. Yn y cwrwch 50,000 oedd yn yr olygu'r gwath ynghylch yn Fietnaam, mae 500. Yn ymateb oherwydd mae'r cyffredinol a'r cyffredinol o'r cyffredinol i'w ddiogelio'r cyffredinol i'r amgylcheddau, i'r hyn sydd i'r amgylcheddau a'r amgylcheddau. 12 miliwn i'w meddwl i'r cyffredinol yn gweithio gyda. I think I'm correct in saying this as the whole budget for primary care in the National Health Service at the present time. And right when leaders or bureaucracies in the trade union movement in periods such as this, they always take the road of conciliationism. You see that with many leaders in the movement at the present time. You do not seek to offer up an independent class position, analysis and demands simply because they can't conceive of an alternative. They don't see it's possible to challenge capitalism even in its neoliberal form, let alone transform society itself. You understand this because a lot of them have actually done rather well out of the capitalist system itself. And it means that individual unions or groups of workers are left often to fight on their own rather than united a coordinated response. And there's a huge gap in terms of the scale of the problem the working class faces in terms of the pandemic itself, which is a catastrophe and the response itself. But I think we recognise there's enormous potential to fight back in the interests of workers, to protect safety, to protect jobs. And also in terms of more advanced workers imposing in terms, not just in the demands, but the question of a transformation of society itself. What kind of society do we want? Do we want a society that can offer stability or do we want a socialist society? But the trade union bureaucracies, if you wish to describe them as such, and the leaders who failed your lead, we have to recognise that this is not a situation that's fixed and it's not an unchanging situation. It would be an error to think that under the crisis that are taking place there's not just the possibility for massive changes in consciousness, but for workers to move into action. Not just in terms of the usual methods of struggle, but also in their unions themselves. They put in pressure on the leaders and the demanding through their democratic organisations that those leaders lead from the front in terms of defending their interests. And I think it's worth saying at this point, even before the pandemic itself, capitalism internationally, but in terms of Britain particularly, is facing a profound crisis. I don't have time and I'm sure these things will be dealt with in other sessions, but just to give a very small round down on some of the crisis that they're facing. There's obviously the pandemic itself. There's a question of Brexit, which has only caused real problems in all sorts of areas. There's a question of mass unemployment. There's a slump, which they reckon, incidentally, and I don't think this is an exaggeration, by the way, that the most, the deepest slump for 300 years. And they have various political problems. Don't have time to deal with this. I just mentioned it in the passing, the potential break up of the United Kingdom itself. Next year we may well be seeing renewed demands for Scottish independence. And the way that the English regions have been treated, particularly in the north, has become a factor in this situation itself. And workers' lives will be transformed in the coming period because the plan, as far as the bourgeoisie are concerned, is for workers to pay the price of the pandemic in the same way they paid the price of the crisis in the 2008 crash. The Tories are elected with an 80 seat majority. And it's a rule, if you like, a law, certainly, I think, an inevitability, that when the political road is blocked for working class people, they turn to the industrial. I would simply make this point, though, I think that in nature of the rapidity of the crisis that are hitting the capitalist class, there will be a tremendous, if you like, linking together, if you like, and very rapid consequences flowing from industrial struggle to political action as well. So it will be a misjudgment to look at the past period, and that I see really in the last 40 years or so, certainly a period I've been active as a reliable guide to how things will develop in the future. And the ruling class know this too. And the unions, in a sense, not the first time in the history of the unions, they're actually at a crossroads. Now unions, of course, are not revolutionary organisations, but given effective leadership, particularly in terms of crisis, they're capable of directing mass anger and militancy and prosecuting campaigns of revolutionary struggle, even, incidentally, in pursuit of limited gains, that collective strength to win concessions in the period of crisis, even in defence of rights and conditions, and even in a period where, generally speaking, reforms are not sustainable, it's been a period of the ruling class grabbing back reforms with collective action. The ruling class will always concede when it's backs against the wall, and even the possibility through those struggles of some reforms, even if they're of a very, very temporary nature. And the ruling class understand the power of the unions, even if some of our own leaders don't. And Lenin himself remarked, he said that behind every strike, the ruling class see the hydra of the revolution. The hydra, I'm sure a lot of you will know, in Greek mythology, was a nine-headed monster. So what he said was, behind every strike, is a monster in terms of the ruling class. It's a strike, and the campaigns, but particularly a strike, gives the workers a sense of collective power, solidarity. The one of the things I've found remarkable over the many years I've been active in the movement is those people who, work colleagues, if you like, who might be the quiet one in the office of the factory, they are the ones when a strike comes along, display hidden talents of organisation, some becoming very good speakers and advocates as well, very good organisers. And strikes pose the question, who's in control? Who actually runs things? And even in a workplace strike, or in a sector, if you like, or in industry, when industrial action is taking place, it can, if you like, pose questions of dual power. Who actually runs things? Who's actually in control? And, you know, of course, it was referred to last night in reference to the history of the charts, that the general strike, I don't mean the one or two, the day general strike, I mean the all-out general strike, actually poses the question of political power, the overthrow of governments, and not just overthrow of governments, the transformation of society itself. And British history, like in other countries, is rich with examples. I mean, I'm old enough to remember the Heath government in the early 70s, which was challenged by the miners. Heath went to the country in an election, said, well, who runs the country? And the answer of the British people was, well, not you, mate. And from that point of view, that was the power of organised labour. And so, as I've said, the ruling class takes the power of collective struggle in the trade unions very, very seriously indeed. And that is why, since the formation, since industrial revolution from the days of tall puddle, from the days of transportation, right up to the recent anti-tax laws, anti, sorry, not anti-tax laws, anti-union laws, sorry, anti-union laws, we've seen attempts to use a legal system and the judiciary to stop struggle. And of course, right-wing trade union leaders themselves have been part of that process. It's not just that they don't support people when they're being victimised. In my own union, the predecessor union, which is called CPSA, which was once controlled by one of the most extreme right-wing bureaucracies in the trade union movement. I don't know how commonly known this is. That they actually, in the 1980s, didn't just support Thatcher and Tebbeth in the trade union laws. They actually advocated them and they actually helped formulate them, as a matter of fact. But the coming period, we can see the movement transformed and an opposition can take on many forms. And I think part of that is the battles also that are taking place around social movements like Black Lives Matter and within the communities itself. And the unions are uniquely placed to be able to not just lead those kinds of struggles, but tie them up, collectivise them and increase their power. And union movement will have to adapt to changing circumstances in terms of methods of organisation. But we shouldn't be frightened of this. Part of what you might describe as zombie capitalism has been the production, if you like, of the precariat, workers with two and three jobs, the gig economy, which has made the problems difficult for organising. And in the pandemic, you know, we've seen the move towards remote working, which presents problems of how do you develop collective action. But, you know, these things can be double-sided. For example, call centres, which are now quite a big feature of life in this country, and actual fact, present tremendous opportunity for organisation. And as much as they present factory conditions, lots of workers in one place, lots of collective strength, and workers in a crisis will always find ways of fighting back. We should never be pessimistic about changes or throw the towel in the 1930s. For example, in France, we saw the sit-down strikes, which in fact, in the factories, which were a warning, of course, to the rural and class of how workers will find ways of fighting back. There's also warranty leaders as well, that workers will find way of fighting back. In class anger and militance, they will always find ways, despite laws of developments in the workplaces, in the workplaces, industries and services. And militancy in the fight back doesn't just stop at the factory gate or the office door. In 1968 in France, I think this figure is correct, there were 3 million in unions, but 10 million were actually on strike. So in the coming period, there's one thing we can expect, and that is the unexpected, and nothing is set in stone. And there's enormous critical role of the unions in coming class battles. But we stress the question of leadership is absolutely critical, not just in terms of the movement, what you might describe as the official movement itself, but in terms of how Marxists and socialists intervene revolutionary organisations with the correct orientation to these struggles can not just make all the difference, can be in fact the critical factor. And that is why as Marxists, we don't stand on the sideline, we don't stand on the sideline lecturing workers just criticising and correcting them or correcting people in the movement. Yes, we expose both the capitalist and the right wing and the conciliators, but we have to be as well as providing the analysts, we have to be the best, we have to be with the workers and the mass movements and the best fighters and leaders. And the last period is really a warning of the consequences of the wrong approach for the unions and their class, because in the past 40 years, what we've witnessed is an unremitting class war taking back the gains won by generations of trade union struggle. We shouldn't underestimate, incidentally, the sheer scale of that. It's been conducted at every level, industrial, political, legal in terms of policy, in terms of the media, even in the academic world. And the capitalist class, the bourgeois have used the classic, the old classic ideas of divide and rule and right at the centre of the grab and back calling this as a question of cuts in privatisation. And we've been, the consciousness has been thrown back. And the Tories have grown in consciousness over the years, have grown in confidence over the years. What for them is once unthinkable, is now thinkable, and they're trying to implement the unthinkable. And that, I think, is why it's wrong to underestimate the failure of labour movement, leadership to confront those attacks. And that is seen even in raw figures. The fall from the 70s in the 1970s, where 13 million were organised in the TUC to 6 million, around 6 million at the present day, although it has gone up as I've said. It didn't start with Thatcher. The cuts actually started under a Labour government. You had the so-called winter of discontent, where the idea, which is common in capitalist propaganda that the unions ran the country, if only. They were actually fighting back against cuts at that particular time. We saw the defeat of the miners in 1984-85, where many in the leadership of the movement and certainly in Labour stood back, rather than offering the uncompromising solidarity that those workers deserve. And the failure to organise mass-coordinated campaigns and coordinated action through that decade in particular left isolated groups to fight on their own. And it's no coincidence, incidentally, that when Thatcher was defeated, she was defeated by the mass class solidarity of the non-payment of the poll tax. And there were people at that time argued, incidentally, in the trade union movement, that the council workers, all they needed to do was not deduct poll tax. Again, to leave a relatively isolated group of workers to take on their shoulders the whole burden of fighting the government while the rest of the movement stood on and watched. And the lesson has to be repeated time and time again about coordinated action, about mass struggle. And there is, in terms of the right wing in the movement, they actually theorise these things. And in the 1980s, they talked about the Dented Shield, they talked about their concept was new realism, which essentially was just keep your head down, try and save what we can and wait for a Labour government. There's a direct link between that to new Labour itself, where Gordon Brown could stand up in Parliament in 2003 and talk about culling the jobs of 100,000 civil servants, and he was cheered on a Labour-backed benches. And, you know, the introduction of PFI, the idea of profit without risk, and there are consequences from all these things. And the most recent example, of course, was in the pensions dispute, just 2010, 2011, where we saw, incidentally, under the pressure of left wing unions and left wing leaders like Sir Vodka, incidentally, in terms of PCS, pushed towards a one-day general strike. We reckon there's about 2 million people involved, but immediately after that, with all the potential involved in that, the TUC, right wing union leaders done a deal behind our back. And what that meant was, behind the back of the workers, not just PCS, incidentally, that emboldened the then coalition government to implement austerity with a vengeance, with catastrophic impacts, incidentally, for the unemployed and the disabled, along with many other workers. But just imagine for a moment, if we had that class solidarity, the miners would have won on pensions how that would have changed history. And it's true, in the past period, general terms would say we're in a period of defensive struggles, but when struggle does take place, concessions can be won. And even in terms of good left leaderships in the trade union movement, they don't operate in isolation. They operate in the objective circumstances that exist at that time. And that means, yes, there can be some successes, but there's limits to that, particularly in a period of ongoing cuts and privatisation. Now, in this period, in the pandemic, I think it's absolutely critical that we're arguing for some kind of united, you could call it a programme of action, but certainly putting demands on the trade union leaders to put those demands on the Tories themselves. And let's just make a couple of points here. Protecting lives comes first. We reject this false choice between lives and their livelihoods. It is meant to confuse. We can be absolutely clear that a major demand has got to be an end to all cuts in privatisation. Privatisation is only the organised theft, organised legalised theft of our assets and our services. So all outsourced services should be brought back in house. We need a fully integrated, publicly owned NHS. Workers in union should be decided on workplace safety, nationalisation of the drug companies and incidentally the banks, and no redundancies. If they're using this pandemic and crisis to cut jobs, we should oppose them. If they say they don't have any money, the big companies, we should demand that they open the books. And something which I think is really important, another, of course, as well, the privatisation of the utilities is a right to employment, but also a fair and equitable benefit system. And if the TUC put forward such a programme and be supported by the unions, it would have the potential to build enormous support. There's tremendous anger, tremendous receptiveness out there. There's new forces out there coming into action. Women workers now constitute a higher percentage in the trade unions. And groups like nurses who traditionally shied away from action in campaigning are now fighting for 15% in terms of pay, which should be shortfully supported. And it's a scandal that some union leaders do not support that demand. And we have to demand of leaders in the movement, not to act as a diplomatic core of the trade union movement, but to act as the leaders, not scurry in between the employer and the workers trying to do deals, but to prosecute our demands. And for those, and you hear this in the news, in the movement, who say that leadership doesn't matter, you know? Well, it's a concrete question, I'll give you an example. At the present time, there's a number of union elections coming up in Unite, a big union, which are currently with the left leadership in Unison. The leadership of which in the past period, in my opinion, has played the critical role in avoiding struggle and taking struggle down the back alleys of conciliationism and compromise. And it was mentioned by Josh, there is a rank and file socialist candidate Paul Holmes standing at the present time on a socialist programme. And I think we have to say to those who are standing in that election with no hope of winning and really effectively splitting the left vote, we would ask you not to do it. To step aside, because the consequences are grim, not just for Unison members, but for the class in general, the opportunity of a left leadership in Unison would take this movement forward really, really strongly. In terms of Unite, I don't have much to say on that. I would simply make the point that, as far as I understand, there's three potential left candidates at the present time. And there is a worry of that opening up the door to the right wing. And again, Unite, in the leadership with all its failings has been a left leadership. And I would just hope that that situation is actually sorted out. But you know, it's not business as usual. In terms of the role of marchers in the coming period, it's going to be critical. There's massive potential for change and massive potential for campaigns. And the coming period, and I think this is a point, I'll finish on this and maybe one or two other quick points, is that the coming period is going to present major problems for the movement. It's also going to present major opportunities. Let me give you just this one example. The National Health Service is probably the greatest gain the working class made on the basis of generation of struggle. And by the way, it wasn't just handed to us, by the way. People fought for that for many, many generations. We are now posed with the full privatisation of the National Health Service, whether or not incidentally there's a trade deal. Let me make this point very quickly. Whether it's Trump or Biden, the American insurers companies who want access to the National Health Service. Now that process has been going on for decades now of cutting up the National Health Service. But as of yet, the official movement. We haven't seen one day of generalised strike action and defence of the National Health Service. So what I would say is that the demand for mass coordinated campaigns in action should be raised in all unions. And it should be the policy of the TUC to defend the National Health Service through such campaigns and such actions. I think my time is coming very near the end. I'm going to have to move on slightly. I just want to make the point about there are some pillars of your life for for masses to involve themselves in the trade union movement. You know, a firm grasp, I believe, of education and theory, but more than anything, it's getting involved in the movement itself. I think we oppose conciliationism. We want to build up the broad less socialist programme on the basis of socialist programmes and individual unions and across the wider movement. And I'll finish really on this point. In the coming period, that understanding of the necessity to transform society will get a receptive audience amongst hundreds, thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of workers. The work of the trade unions has to be conducted on a consistent and patient basis. It has to be open work. It has to be working with others while sticking to the firm principles, firm socialist principles. Most of all, in some respects, it means listening to the workers. What are their fears? What are their aspirations? And how can we articulate their anger? How can we articulate their demands for a better life? We always have an appreciation of the balance of class, class forces at any given time, but the determination to fight, not just to defend workers, but to, in fact, fight for a socialist society. So, as a crisis of leadership, there's a crisis of leadership in the official movement, but also in the revolutionary organisations as well. Some who call themselves Marxists because they're the pressure of events just aren't up to the job. And that is why, you know, I think meetings like this are so important. But we go forward, not just with a shallow optimism in the future, but an absolute confidence if we do our work correctly. We cannot just defend workers and win gains, we can transform society. And on that note, George, thank you and thanks to the comrades for listening to this contribution.