4/7/2014

Liverpool IWW, the Internet and Len McCluskey's Great Escape

In some ways it was quite an unremarkable thing. Around a dozen people, including members of a trade union, had gathered for a picket outside a workplace. They handed out leaflets, and chatted with passers by. There was no shouting, no pushing, and not even a police presence. But it had made a big political impact, mainly due to what had happened online during the hasty preparation for the event, and ideas about what 'could have' happened online if things had turned out differently.

The story began a few weeks beforehand, when members of the new Liverpool branch of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) announced they would be holding a picket outside FACT on Saturday, 28th June. It was called in solidarity with workers at the Ritzy cinema in Brixton, who are holding regular strikes for a London Living Wage of £8.80 an hour. Through their union, BECTU, the self-organised Ritzy staff have called for a nationwide boycott of Picturehouse brand cinemas, until the bosses get the message and give in. In Liverpool, this means the cinema screens on the second floor of FACT.

But on the Saturday morning, someone got an email tip-off that Liverpool-born Len McCluskey, boss of the Unite union, was due to attend a screening at FACT on the Sunday afternoon, in the run-up to Unite's conference at the Arena Convention Centre. Not only would he be ignoring the wishes of the Ritzy workers, but he would be giving free 'lefty' credibility to FACT, who have recently been in the news for sacking paid staff and replacing them with volunteers. To make matters worse, the film he was due to watch was a documentary about 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists' - Robert Tressell's great socialist novel. Liverpool IWW members decided they couldn't let this stand, and (again via email) resolved to reschedule for the next day.

Over the next thirty hours, the word got out online. Liverpool IWW argued that McCluskey should have known what he was doing, so didn't make any attempt to contact him or Unite about the plans to intercept their arrival. However, they knew that - the internet being what it is - there was a very good chance that word would leak out somehow.

It came down to the wire. McCluskey was due to arrive at 4.30. At 2:30, the Unite Twitter account tweeted that the film would be screened at FACT. Just forty minutes later, they tweeted there had been a "change of venue" to a room at the Convention Centre, with no explanation. Activists arriving at FACT - whether from Unite, the IWW, or members of the general public, found a sign on the doors claiming the switch was down to "unforeseen circumstances". Liverpool IWW pulled out their banner and their leaflets anyway. The picket began.

It is impossible to say how Unite got wind of what they were literally walking into. The activist left is quite a small world, and it's very easy to play 'six degrees of separation' from the union boss on the Bank of England board of directors (yes, there is one) in line for a knighthood to the scruffiest street anarchist. In some ways it is surprising that the news took so long to reach the Unite apparatchiks. But when it did, there was likely several minutes of blind panic as they frantically scrambled to make alternative arrangements. Because if they hadn't...

'Red' Len McCluskey, pariah of the right wing press, would have walked quietly down a Liverpool street, turned the corner, and faced the FACT. His cheerful expression would have fallen as he was confronted by his worst nightmare - an angry picket line facing him. For a moment he would have been lost in confusion, as he weighed up whether to cross or not. And several cameras would have been pointed his way, to capture every flicker of emotion. Within seconds it would have hit Twitter, and then the news would have been unstoppable.

As the real world shapes the online world, which then impacts on the real world, every second counts. We'll never know how close we came on Sunday to grassroots activists creating, then spreading a huge political story, of which this write-up is just a pale shadow.

Also see Nerve FACT statement

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