[The decision of Hugh Scanlon to place his…]
Socialist Press1975 1975-05-29Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 1 →
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The decision of Hugh Scanlon to place his casting vote in favour of ending the postal ballot rule was correct and courageous. The even vote, 25 - 25, came at the end of last week's AUEW Rules Revision Conference following the disqualification of the credent ials of two National Committee members, Graham Healey and John Weakley, both from South Wales.
This decision is of great importance to the trade union movement and could halt the slide to the right in the AUEW which has taken place since the introduction of postal ballots 5 years ago. It raises the principle that voting requires the minimum involvement in union affairs of attendance at a branch meeting.
"DICTATORSHIP"
The capitalist press went wild at the decision. Dictatorship had been introduced into the AUEW, they said. Scanlon was attacked from all sides.
The employers of course have an interest in wanting to elevate those workers who are union members but not involved in trade union activity. The active worker is the leader on the shop floor. He is involved in the day to day struggle to build and protect the union. He becomes a shop steward, he collects the weekl! subscriptions. He is on a different level from the inactive worker, who is more easily influenced by the capitalist press and TV.
The trade unions were built by the active, not by the inactive and they will be defended in the same -way. This is not to say that the inactive cannot rapidly become activ or that he will not respond to lead ership when it is given - but whilst he remains as he is he can be used and influenced by the capitalist press. This is why the employers want to enlist his support through the postal ballot system.
DEMOCRACY
Democracy becomes meaningless when the right wing separate it fron the building and defending of the unions. It means 'you can have an abstract democracy and end up with no union. When 'democracy' means that a worker does not need to go to his branch meeting to vote but can vote at home under the constant influence of the TV screen it becomes downright reactionary.
When the right wing talk about democracy they ignore the fact that democratic rights were won in strug gle and can only be defended in struggle. They will not be defended by the leaderships' chosen by the continued back page