WHAT IS the balance of class forces at the moment?
CLIFF: WE ARE involved in a war of attrition between workers and employers. This war has been taking place over a long period of time. Working class organisations are still intact. Today 48 percent of employed workers are in the unions. This compares with 49 percent in 1974, the period when the class struggle was at its very highest. The number of workplaces in which a union is recognised has increased from 66 percent in 1980 to 68 percent in 1984. The proportion of workplaces where pay is negotiated through collective bargaining rose from 55 percent to 62 percent between 1980 and 1984. The number of shop stewards, office and school representatives in 1984 was 335,000 – quite significantly higher than when Thatcher came to office. The density of shop stewards (i.e. the percentage per union members) has increased even more significantly. But this doesn’t give the complete picture. New realism assumes that the working class has withered away not only in its muscles but intellectually, th
