The ramparts of resistance

Why workers lost their power, and how to get it back

Sheila Cohen, Pluto Press, 264 pages, paperback, £16.99

This is a sharp and provocative book and deliberately so, since it outlines a strategy for reviving the labour movement that challenges the orthodoxy.

The author argues that the only way to revitalise the unions is to have a class-based renewal of "workers' power" at the heart of union activity. The book catalogues the rise of shop-floor militancy in the 1960s and 1970s in the UK and how this was defeated in the 1980s.

Core to the book is the emphasis placed on committed rank and file activists, who have kept union organisation going through difficult times. For these activists, union organising is a "way of life".

Cohen stresses the importance of union democracy, so that workplace activists can provide the leadership needed to win.

The author fundamentally believes that "trade union renewal requires grassroots involvement and mobilisation, which in turn raises the uncomfortable spectres of militancy and democracy".

This is an ambitious and stimulating view that deserves to be discussed.

Labour Research readers can purchase copies of the book for the discount price of £13.50 by calling 01264 342932 or email [email protected] and quote PLURAMP.