Some first thoughts on the premature death of Bob Crow Its a terrible shock at 52. RMT members are stunned. Bob appeared tireless, with a boundless energy despite the rigorous demands of the job. He was always in demand to speak at meetings and make presentations to members, aside from the rigours and stresses of his main duties. He travelled all over the country. His premature death seems undoubtedly to be the result of the stresses of a job which he took as seriously as life itself. It wasnt a career, it was a passionate commitment which was rooted in his class-consciousness and his hatred of an economic system which was responsible for misery amongst riches. I got to know Bob many years ago when Jimmy Knapp was the General Secretary. I remember the occasion when, amongst other things, Jimmy was attempting to get rid of the elected full-time executive on the spurious grounds of a financial crisis. Bob, of course, was opposed to this, supporting the elected full-time executive as one of the democratic gains of the union. A part-time executive would have given Jimmy more room for manoeuvre and made it more difficult for the membership to control him. The activists at the AGM managed to stop Jimmy pushing through that change. However, he used the absence of the right to emergency resolutions to push through a cuts package after the deadline for resolutions and appeals against Executive decisions had passed. Just after Bob was elected GS he got somebody to investigate the finances and discovered that the financial crisis was not all it was cracked up to be. I mention this because the democracy of the union was ignored by the mass media. For them there were union bosses, of which Bob was supposed to be one. The democratic structures of the RMT are exceptional in the British union movement. All its full-time officers are elected, unlike even some left wing unions. Its elected AGM really is its ruling body to a degree which is uncommon in the British trades unions. Much of the mass media portrays the union boss as the mirroe image of the industrial world where the management operates an unelected dictatorship (which is only constrained by the organisation of union members). Bob wasnt a union boss. He was an elected leader. Moreover, in the RMT, he didnt even get a vote on the union executive committee which is comprised of lay members, elected for three years, after which they have to go back to their old job. They cant stand for election again until the end of 3 years. Although this is no guarantee of electing good EC members it does provide an obstacle against the growth of an apparatus which can take charge of the union in the way that some union apparatuses control them. Although there will never be another Bob Crow the members will decide who will replace him in an election. The media barons who hated him and demonised him never have to face an election. Their contempt for Bob, was also an expression of their contempt for the unions members. They painted a picture of Bob deciding on strikes and leading the members by the nose. Of course, it was always the members who decided whether or not to strike and they would not vote to take action unless they had a genuine grievance. They are nobodys mugs. Bob was a working class fighter without any airs or graces. He was a genuine product of the industry and its workforce (in this case London Underground). He didnt speak with the tones of a university educated leader who decided on a career in the trades unions because he wasnt one. Whilst Bobs loss is a big blow to the union the fact is that its strength is based on the collective organisation of the members, in the workplace and through the structures of the union. Its time now to mourn Bobs premature loss and celebrate his life. Then the members will get back to the business of sticking together to fight for their collective interests and for a socially owned railway (and London Underground), free of the profiteering companies loaded down with corporate welfare. The enemies of the RMT, some of whom are saying nice things about Bob (which they dont really mean) will see this new period opened up by his death as an opportunity to test out the RMT, to soften it up, and to break its strength. The members will be ready to meet this challenge because they have a union which never swallowed the partnership poison and maintained its independence from the new companies in the privatised railway. The image of the RMT is of a pugnacious fighting union. Bob was its public face. He played a big part in shaping it, but he was also very much a product of the membership. Unlike some trade union leaders there never developed a distance between him and the members. He didnt want to leave the working class. He was happy to be part of it. One reason for the outpouring of genuine regard which has followed his death is that many trade union activists have expressed the view that they wished their union had a leader like him. Yet we shouldnt forget that however good a trade union leader is, he cannot substitute for the collective organisation and consciousness of the membership. Bob understood that unlike some of the fake firebrands whose militant speeches contrasted with the obstacles they placed in the way of their members taking action. His authority amongst the membership was not the result of his merely holding office but was earned by the leadership he gave, by what he did and said.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 19:02:36 +0000
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