Comrades and Cousins -Globalisation, Workers and Labour Movements in Britain, the USA and Australia from the 1880s to 1914 by Neville Kirk (Merlin Press 2003), Reviewed by Piers Mostyn The opposition of British unions to a major imperialist war has been an historic breakthrough in the past year. While it remains to be seen what longterm impact this has, it has been a long time coming - over a century in fact. The politics of the modern labour movement have their roots in the late 19th and early 20th centuries - when the unions took on a mass character and first sought independent political representation
This makes an analysis of the arguments, debates and cross currents on questions of nation, race and class in that period vitally important - precisely the subject-matter of this very timely book. Downward pressure
An era of "globalisation" with many parallels to the present, this period was characterised by economic downturn, inter-imperialist competition, imperialist war-mongering, downward pressure on wages and mass migration.
By and large the white workers organisations met this challenge with chauOne of Kirk's themes is precisely to dig deeper into this "by and large". Through a detailed analysis of contemporary sources he demonstrates that the left's orientation was in fact complex and differentiated.
Comparing Britain, the USA and Australia - three countries that had emerging strong labour movements with common cultural and political reference points - he shows the varied reactions.
These differences tell us that there is nothing pre-determined about political outcomes. Political intervention, leadership and party all had an impact - as did the international cross-fertilisation of ideas and activists.
There is a fascinating insight into the debate about political representation. The inadequacy of previous forms of representation, the question of whether to form parties and if so on what basis featured prominently - with differing results. At one end of the spectrum the US labour movement, in debating whether to follow the British example of a Labour Party, justified rejecting this by a type of anti-party syndicalism. Racist policy
At the other end of the spectrum the Australian unions set up the first Labour Party and were the first into government - although marred by their enthusiastic backing for the racist "White Australia" policy.
In Britain, the process was held back somewhat by the continued influence of liberalism. The workers' movements of all three countries are still grappling with the heritage of these debates.
There is much food for thought, so much that he might have done better to write a full book on just one of the three essays presented. Also at times the author's academic approach made for difficult reading.
He sometimes emphasizes nuances and detail at the expense of the big picture, possibly downplaying the underlying chauvinism of the main leadership of the British left of the time
But his conclusion that there are lessons for the 21st century is unimpeachable.
He states that, as a matter of "utmost urgency" there must be a "strategy of inclusiveness under conditions of capitalist globalisation" to counter the divisive effect of the markets on grounds of race, gender and nation.
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Alan Thornett
The EU's Inter Governmental October under the Italian presidennce January 2004 17 European Union labour In fact the use of Eastern Europe and its liberalised economies (liberalised in order to meet EU membership requirements) as a source of cheap labour, and a favoured place