THE fact that the Civil Contingencies Committee (COBRA) is in session over the implications of the fuel crisis, and more specifically, that the crisis will lead to a major action of the road hauliers that will rapidly bring about a food crisis, and even food rationing, is confirmation that the Brown government fully realises the implication of its decision to pander to the bankers and the bosses, and allow the working class and small businesses to be pauperised and wiped out by the capitalist crisis.
The government believes that it has learned the main lessons from the fuel crisis of 2000, when road haulage drivers blockading the oil refineries brought the country to a standstill in days, and brought the just-elected Blair government to the brink of being brought down.
In 2000, the road haulage drivers did not know what to do with their victory, so that the government narrowly escaped the consequences.
However, during the dispute Blair and Brown brought together the COBRA committee to direct its attack on the blockaders.
Sitting on it were government ministers, big bosses and bankers, representatives of the military and the police and at least one trade union leader, Sir Bill Morris, the then leader of the TGWU.
In September 2000, the TUC Congress opposed the road hauliers’ blockade, and tried to pretend that it was the same as the right-wing movement that brought down the Allende regime in Chile and brought in the dictator Pinochet.
This obviously false position allowed Morris to accept a position on the COBRA committee and take part in the counter-revolutionary action.
Today, with the entire population suffering from the consequences of massively inflated price increases, and in full support of the road haulage workers, it will be much more difficult for the government and the TUC to portray them as right-wing reactionaries.
However, the main lesson that COBRA and the government drew from the year 2000 action was that the workers involved were more powerful than it, and that the next time the action would have to be nipped in the bud and dispersed by riot police and troops before it could push forward.
Tesco is apparently awaiting a request from the government to join the COBRA committee, presumably to be in charge of the issuing of ration cards if the worst, as far as the ruling class is concerned, happens.
The working class must also learn the lesson from the 2000 struggle.
The lesson is that the trade union leaders must not be allowed to leave the haulage drivers on their own where they can be attacked by the state forces in all of their guises, from the judiciary to the police and the army.
If and when the road hauliers block the oil refineries, the entire trade union movement must stop and come out alongside them, in such force that the Brown government is brought down and conditions are created where a return of the Tories is impossible.
This will be done by going forward to a workers government that will immediately take action to ease the situation for the working class and the middle class by renationalising North Sea oil and gas, nationalising Shell and BP and slashing fuel duty taxes.
That this is the only way forward is becoming obvious to more and more workers.
There is no doubt that the trade union leaders will fight to the last to prevent such a decisive action by the working class, leading the middle class, taking place.
This is why trade union leaders who will not fight and are glued to the perspective and policy of the Brown government must be removed, and replaced by leaders who are willing to use the full strength of the working class to achieve what the majority of the people want, to bring an end to the massive increases in food and fuel prices.
Only the WRP is fighting for this policy. Join it today.
