The tone of the conference was set right at the beginning with an emergency motion on defending public services and a statement put to conference by the TUCJCC on union priorities under the new government. The emergency motion called on local Trades Councils to be instrumental in setting up a public sector alliance of all public sector workers to defend services. It also called upon the TUC General Council to “support, co-ordinate and encourage joint union action, including industrial action, in support of public services and public sector workers.” The motion was passed unanimously.

The same could not be said of the TUCJCC statement. This called upon the new government to “re-think its commitment to swingeing cuts”, “to reject the free-market dogma of the 1980s”, “to invest in growth and jobs”, “to have a progressive approach to taxation” and for the TUCJCC to “continue to campaign for progressive policies and against the failed neo-liberal experiment”. As the West Midlands delegate pointed out to conference, you cannot ask the capitalist government to stop being capitalist! Its purpose is to make working class people pay for the crisis and this means slashing public services. In addition, the delegate pointed out that the “neo-liberal experiment” had not failed for capitalists. In good times and bad they had reaped rewards while working people had suffered. Given the weakness of the analysis in the statement and the lack of a relevant and coherent policy to fight back, the delegate moved reference back of the statement and this was supported by conference.

Conference then went on to discuss and vote on motions to fight for a socialist solution as an alternative to capitalism (from Coventry TUC); developing local campaign groups for the People’s Charter; time off for trade union duties; campaign for trade union rights and freedoms; condemning unelected judges for banning democratic votes to take industrial action; making blacklisting illegal; calling on trades councils to organise in the community; measures to educate trade union reps so that they are more effective; winning back civil liberties; strengthening UK manufacturing; urgent aid for Cumbria after the floods; opposing cuts in pension schemes; promoting the values of the co-op movement; opposing cuts in provision for adults with special needs; condemning bonuses paid to employment advisors; defending publicly subsidised art for working class people; supporting an alternative vision for welfare reform that included public ownership of the banks; defending migrant workers; opposing the detention of children and families in removal centres; creating jobs for young people and finally, seeking justice for the families of the Ballymurphy massacre (from Coventry TUC).

There were also a number of fraternal addresses to the conference such as Eleanor Smith, Vice President of Unison and a TUC General Council member, who spoke on the effect of cuts in the health service. An international flavour was provided by Jorge Gamboa of the CUT in Colombia. But perhaps the most emotional event was the address to conference made by a member of the Ballymurphy families who have been campaigning for almost 40 years to get justice for their family members who were murdered by British soldiers in August 1971.

Members of the families had spoken on Saturday lunchtime in a fringe meeting organised by the delegate from Coventry TUC and the meeting was emotional bringing tears to the eyes of many of the delegates. The main speaker was the daughter of Joan Connolly, a mother of eight children, who had part of her head shot away by a British sniper on August 9^th as she went to help Noel Phillips, a young man of 19 who had been shot and wounded. Over a two day period 11 unarmed civilians were shot and killed by members of the same parachute regiment that went on the commit similar killings on Bloody Sunday.

In moving the motion in support of the families campaign for justice. the West Midlands delegate pointed out that the Ballymurphy massacre took place exactly two years after British troops had been sent to the Six Counties to “Keep the Peace” but in reality to put down with force any perceived threat to the interests of British capitalism. The delegate also reminded conference that Ireland was the second colony of England, the first being Wales. But it was in Ireland that the technique of dividing the population on religious lines was first perfected and then applied in different parts of the British Empire where peoples were divided on the basis of religion, ethnicity, language, culture and so on in order to be more easily conquered and ruled by British imperialism. It was also pointed out that the sending of troops to the Six Counties created confusion amongst a lot of people on the left, many of whom welcomed them as defenders of the Catholic community. The delegate told conference that soldiers are the bodies of armed men of the capitalist state machine and as such the ONLY role they play, in the Six Counties, Iraq or Afghanistan, is to protect the status quo, the existing domination of the capitalist class and the system of exploitation of capitalism. Conference unanimously endorsed the resolution.

The final act of the conference on Sunday was to move the traditional vote of thanks. The JCC asked the West Midlands delegate to do it and the result was unusual to say the least – the telling of a modern-day fairy story on the capitalist crisis. It went down very well with the delegates and the tale is reproduced elsewhere for readers of this site.

For supporters of Socialist Appeal at the conference it was a success. The ideas put forward were well received and many of the delegates saw the need to fight inside the Labour party to reclaim it for socialism and for working people. A total of 26 papers were sold over the weekend.