The meeting is on the question of trade union democracy. The questions around which the discussion is based, and recommended reading material, are posted below. All welcome. Email uncaptiveminds@gmail.com for more details.

– Does democratic organisation make trade unions more effective?

– Is the rank and file up for a fight but held back by bureaucrats? Why do these workers allow themselves to be ‘sold out’? Are ‘apathetic’ workers holding back the ‘left-wing’ bureaucrats?

– Can the working class spontaneously and by itself develop a ‘socialist consciousness’: or only a trade unionist’s view of the class struggle?

Richard Hyman: Marxism and the Sociology of Trade Unions pages 1-20

Alvin Gouldner: Metaphysical Pathos and the Fear of Bureaucracy

Cyril Smith: Meszaros on Lenin