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"Militant"
was the paper which became "The Socialist". In Ireland
there is still a paper called "Militant Left"
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In
1969, I received a phone call from Peter Taaffe, the editor in chief
of Militant. At the time I was working as a figures clerk in the
Ministry of Health. It was the best news I had ever received. I was
going to work for Militant as a typesetter and I was going to attend
the meetings of the Editorial Board.
I
had first met Peter on a train journey to the Labour Party Young
Socialist conference. I was frankly overawed and I didn't say very
much.
Peter
was the voice of Militant. He had the ability to explain Socialist
ideas to any audience. He was too old for the Young Socialists but he
addressed the fringe meeting of Militant. I had read the Communist
Manifesto, Trotsky's Transitional Program and Jack London's "The
Iron Heel" so I had some idea about Socialism but Peter brought
the ideas to life with passion and also with humour.
The
other members of the printing team were Pete Jarvis and Alan Hardman.
Pete
was a tireless activist and he had an infectious enthusiasm.
Alan
was the man who kept the presses rolling and at the same time he was
a remarkable cartoonist. You can Google his cartoons to this very
day. Practically every edition of Militant went out with an Alan
Hardman cartoon.
During
the time I worked for Militant, the government arranged a series of
events to keep me interested. I will only mention two. Barbara Castle
published "In Place of Strife" which was supposedly going
to put an end to strikes. It provoked a massive TUC demonstration and
most Militant supporters were involved. To see a government defeated
by the trade unions was a lesson that is still relevant today.
The
other event was the arrest of five dockers by the Tory government in
1972. The TUC were discussing a general strike but the rank and file
took the matter out of their hands. A de facto general strike was
gathering pace when the government produced the official solicitor
like a rabbit out of a hat and the dockers were released. Again a
government defeated by the trade unions but in this case bypassing
the official leadership.
It was a great time to be alive and working for Militant
was the icing on the cake.
