In response to the rise in unemployment in the mid-1970s, the International Socialists (IS) , later the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), launched the Right to Work Campaign (RTWC). The RTWC operated from 1975 to 1982 and was relaunched briefly in the 2000s.
Disambiguation: A similar campaign of the same name was organised by the Young Socialists, the youth wing of the Socialist Labour League, the Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP) and was mentioned in the 1972 Special Branch Annual Report.
The campaign focused on expanding activism on traditional trade union issues (low pay, redundancies, reliance on overtime, etc.) to include the unemployed and to push for jobs for all. One of the RTWC's main activities was a series of marches across the country.
The RTWC was infiltrated by HN80 ‘Colin Clark’ and HN155 ‘Phil Cooper’ and reported on by several other undercovers. There is extensive reporting on the campaign from 1976 to 1982, as well as documented MI5 interest. Both Clark and Cooper took leading roles within the RTWC.
History
Set up by IS-led ‘rank and file’ organising committees, the RTWC focused on organising and politicising the unemployed. It did this to give the unemployed a political voice, as their unemployment prevented them from joining a trade union, and to link trade unionists and the unemployed in campaigns against job losses.
In its 18 October 1975 issue launching the RTWC, Socialist Worker announced the formation of local Right to Work Committees, open to unemployed workers, shop stewards, convenors and trade union delegates. These committees would be tasked with holding joint campaigns around workplaces, with trade unionists protesting against overtime and for better pay inside the workplace, and the unemployed campaigning for more jobs outside it.
There are many parallels between the RTWC and the hunger marches of the 1930s, often organised by the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) -led National Unemployed Workers' Movement.
Recruitment and financing of the RTWC were primarily led by the IS/SWP, which relocated Socialist Worker's paper sales near dole offices and also sought campaign funding through members’ trade union branches.
From the beginning of 1976, there were a number of marches organised by the RTWC. Until the 1979 election of Margaret Thatcher’s administration, the focus had been on raising the campaign's profile among trade unionists and the unemployed, with marches frequently ending at the site of the TUC Annual Conference or at a specific campaigning venue.
After 1979, the Conservative Party conference became the endpoint of marches, with conferences in 1980-1982 picketed by the RTWC. The campaign also organised a number of other events and protests.
Reporting on the RTWC was initiated by the multiple SDS officers who were already infiltrating IS/SWP [[link]]. Still, between 1979 and 1984, two undercovers provided the SDS and MI5 ‘F’ Branch with extensive access to the RTWC and its members. Due to the nature of the RTWC, this access necessarily extended to reporting on trade union branch activity.
HN80 ‘Colin Clark’ was an SDS officer from 1977 to 1982, becoming district treasurer of the SWP Lea Valley branch, branch treasurer of the Tottenham SWP branch and the national treasurer of the RTWC in 1980. As national treasurer of the RTWC, Clark formally established the committee's bank account in 1980.
Following Clark, as an SDS officer between 1979 and 1984, HN155 ‘Phil Cooper’ also became national treasurer of the RTWC in 1982. The position of treasurer gave both officers control over the RTWC bank account and access to personal bank details of other activists nationwide. One report written by Cooper contained 36 pages detailing donations from trade union branches around the country and was passed on to his managers.
National Right to Work March from Manchester to London- 1976
The first national march by the RTWC set out from Manchester for a rally at the Royal Albert Hall in central London. As the marchers entered west London on 19 March, contemporary newspapers reported a clash between the marchers and the police around Staples Corner in West Hendon.
In the news reports, it was said by the marchers that the police had charged them, batons drawn and kicking, after having followed them by helicopter on their approach into London. Other newspaper reports claimed that the police had been dispatched to prevent the marchers from crossing roads unsafely, with some accounts referring to their unsafe crossing of the M1 motorway and Edgware Road.
Despite these accounts, the explanation for the confrontation at Staples Corner in the 1976 Special Branch Annual Report was placed on the ‘frustration felt by the marchers at the lack of interest’ in the march by the national press.
The violence at Staples Corner led to an alleged 41 police injuries and the arrest of 33 marchers. This included John Deason (the national secretary of the RTWC and an SWP committee member) who was also charged with GBH.
The SDS Annual Report 1976 regarded the policing of the march as it entered London as a failure, citing supposed unprovoked violence by the marchers, which it attributed to a lack of police. Writing just two weeks after Staples Corner, the report stated that:
Their progress attracted little publicity and on arrival, about 80 strong, on the outskirts of London they took the opportunity of attacking their policing escort. In what amounted to a running battle, 44 police officers were injured and 43 marchers arrested. The publicity gained from the fracas attracted full press and television coverage to the final day’s march and rally on 20 March, thus turning a non-event into an overnight success, from the organisers’ viewpoint. The activities of the 19th March 1976, stressed once again the need for police to be in sufficient numbers to deter the violence of the revolutionary left which bubbles constantly below the surface.
While there were no reports released to the inquiry regarding Staples Corner, the process of supporting the arrested was reported by HN296 ‘Geoff Wallace’.
The 1980 Right to Work March from Port Talbot to Brighton
The SDS 1980 Annual Report considered the RTW march in Autumn 1980 to be the largest event of the year organised by the ‘Revolutionary Left’. The march began in Port Talbot and concluded in Brighton, coinciding with the final day of the Conservative Party Conference on 10 October 1980. One SWP activist, Michael Carver, was beaten unconscious by police when he tried to breach the security.
As the report states
The committee responsible for the organisation of the Right to Work Campaign was so effectively penetrated by the SDS that not only were small ‘events’ en route frustrated by advance information passed to local police, but furthermore, Sussex Police were provided with what amounted to a blue-print of the demonstration in their area, which enabled the considerable police requirements to be well-tailored to the event.
A report written in September 1980 indicates the level of intelligence obtained by Special Branch before the march had even taken place. Drawing on intelligence from multiple sources, the report notes the outcome of a meeting of the SWP Central Committee at its National Office on 29th April 1980, which initiated the organisation of the march.
While that report on this April meeting has not been disclosed to the inquiry, Lindsay German, said that, due to his role in the RTWC and the SWP, HN80 ‘Colin Clark’ would have been invited to attend the SWP Central Committee.
The September 1980 Special Branch report noted that the SWP, through the RTWC, would be adopting a ‘united front’ approach to try to involve MPs, high-level union officials, as well as local Labour Party and CPGB branches. To encourage mass participation on the day by London-based activists, the Central Committee chartered a train from London Victoria to Brighton. The level of infiltration was such that the Application for a Chartered Train is included in the appendices of the report given to the SDS by Clark.
During the march, Clark’s role was to provide logistical support. A subsequent report on the march and picket at the conference listed 11 pages of marchers' names, all redacted for the Inquiry. For his infiltration of the RTWC and the intelligence he provided to local police during this march, Clark was given a commendation.