Now That the Work is Done: Community Unionism in a Post-Industrial Context

It was Lenin (1961) who said that a political commitment to trade unionism would produce a trade union, rather than a revolutionary, consciousness within the working classes of industrial societies, as both trade unions and trade unionists were dependent upon capitalist employers: the trade unions for recognition and a role as negotiators; trade unionists for employment. In spite of these warnings, the British working classes preferred trade unionism over revolution, and within the capitalist mode of production the relationships between trade union, trade unionist and employment became intertwined, and to a great extent, co-determined. It is fair to say that while the trade unions of the 19t h and 20t h century sought to improve the social, economic and political conditions of the working class overall, through the development of class-based political parties, and campaigns for legal and social change, the primary core business of any trade union has always been to represent the interests of their employed membership, primarily within the workplace.