Black Flag 217 index
May Day on the Tube
International Workers Day 1999. Several hundred people gather at the Towerof London. In smaller groups they descend underground, on to the Tube. AtLiverpool Street station they meet up, on the clockwise bound circle lineplatform, waiting for a particular train. On board decorations go up,lengths of brightly coloured material decorate the carriages, balloons arereleased, slogans displayed, games set out, music played, food given away andsigns erected declaring the line under joint worker/passenger control. TheTube is transformed from a dull empty alienated space. The Party Line hasbegun.
A leaflet is distributed, mimicking in style that of London Underground (LU),ripping off their distinctive font and logo's. In content however, it issomething else, setting out the case against privatisation, showing howstrikes are good for workers and commuters alike, and linking this to thedemand for a free transport system and to the need for a new world.
The tube moves off and, at Tower Hill, more people join in. The cops stopthe train here, announcing it will go no further. As a stand off ensuessadly many, but not all, of the other passengers leave the train. After 15minutes, the train moves off, not stopping again until Embankment. Fromthere we are put on another tube, non-stop to Clapham Common, the publicisedend of the Party Line. There the party heads out into the open, to join thedope smokers on the common. Two hours after it began, the action is over.
May Day Our Day
The action originated with the call to do something more creative, more fun,more revolutionary and more proletarian on May Day, instead of simply tailending the official parade. Tube workers had already taken strike actionagainst privatisation and in defence of their terms and conditions. Thestrikes were planned for the beginning of the year, but LU obtained aninjunction using the anti-strike laws. A new ballot was held, leading to astrike from 6pm on Valentines Day. The popularity of this was demonstratedby the lack of traffic on the Monday, as commuters took the chance for a dayof leisure. Popular support could also be seen at Hammersmith, for example,where home made placards declared "we love the Tube Strikers" against thebackground of a red heart.
Last year sparks working on the Jubilee Line extension won a series ofreforms from the hard line private management, when they took wildcat actionoutside of the unions control, in an example to us all. The privatisation ofthe Tube will have a major impact on Londoners, leading to worse service,fare increases and corners cut with health and safety. It was decided tohold a tube party as a way of showing solidarity with the tube workers withthe potential to unite all proletarian Londoners.
The Good, the Bad and the _
In the main the action was a success. A large number of people attended. The decorations were brilliant, the food good (although not enough peoplebrought any), the atmosphere was light hearted and the leaflet was great. Sofar there has only been limited feedback from tube workers, but there havebeen requests for further information and a number of positive comments. Theleaflet has also become sought after. After such an action, however, we havethe opportunity to reflect upon it with the benefit of hindsight, and to drawwhat lessons we can for the future.
The Tactics of the Cops
Large numbers of cops were anticipated. At the start they were clueless. Motorcycles and vans were standing by, useless on the tube! Rumour has itthey thought the Dome was the target! However, as the action progressed, sodid the cops response.
One of the main aims of the action was to transform the tube for its users. In doing so we hoped to break down barriers and talk to other passengers,encouraging them to join in. The cops were largely successful in preventingthis, not by curtailing the party early (that possibility had been foreseen),but by running our tube non-stop. Such tactics had not been predicted andthis was a weakness, which will have to be overcome in any future tubeparties. Publicising the destination of the party was a mistake, as itallowed the cops to direct us there. Without this it would have been harderfor them.
Our Self-isolation
However, it was not only the cops who succeeded in isolating us. To a largeextent we did so ourselves. From the outset there were a number ofprotesters who declined to follow the facilitators, seemingly because theydid not look the part (it seems to have escaped them that the facilitatorsmay have had good reason to be anonymous how will we fare on June 18?). The plan was to spread people in small groups along the circle line, as farback as Kings Cross, thus making it less easy to close stations. Whilst mostof the facilitators did a fantastic job in getting people on the tube underthe noses of the cops, even the earliest groups only went as far as LiverpoolStreet. Everyone gathered there and it was luck (or stupidity on their part)that the cops allowed the train to stop. It seems there is great comfort innumbers.
Once on the tube only a small minority of people made any effort to talk totheir fellow passengers. To most of them I suspect that we represented aheterogeneous and inward looking group. Even the leaflet, which was aimed ateveryone, was not used effectively. For example, at Clapham Common there wasa northbound tube when we arrived. Only a couple of people passed leafletsthrough the window to be distributed to the obviously interested passengers.
Consumer Party Culture
Whilst there were inspiring home made signs and decorations only a fewpeople, outside of the organising groups, contributed anything to the party. Most turned up expecting to be entertained. This was especially ironic,given that the leaflet proclaimed:
Packed together at rush hour, miserable faces, nobody talking with anyoneelse, hiding behind personal stereos, or looking at the adverts for productsthat never satisfy the tube is as alienated an environment as the trafficjam.
Perhaps this is a wider problem of the party protest scene. Certainly thelack of politics was evident. The first leaflet calling for the action hadlinked it to the judicial murder of the Haymarket martyrs, who died for theirpart in a reformest struggle linked to revolutionary ends. The secondleaflet, however, concentrated on the case of privatisation, making only asingle reference to May Day. The problem with this is that, as our historyis forgotten, everything has to be rediscovered and experienced as though forthe first time, neglecting valuable lessons from the past.
Moving On
As I said at the beginning the action itself was largely successful. If thisarticle seems over critical, it stems from the desire to make any actionbetter next time (and can in large parts be read as self-criticism). On the4 May Railtrack announced their willingness to run the whole Tube network asa privatised entity. In doing so they came to the rescue of the Government,who have been unable to find anyone willing to take on the deep lines. Thestruggle against privatisation will therefore continue. RMT are launching acampaign and discussing further strike action. In supporting this and doingfurther actions, we need to continue to link our opposition to privatisationwith the need of our class for communism.
The most positive aspect of the Party Line was the fact that we broke withattending the boring lefty May Day parade. Next year International WorkersDay falls on the Bank Holiday Monday. We need to think of bigger and betterways to celebrate it. After all we have a tradition to uphold.