Working for Militant

"Militant" was the paper which became "The Socialist". In Ireland there is still a paper called "Militant Left"

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.