Representin'

Tormey asserts:
Collective action has, perversely become individualised. Yes, we want to join with others to make our voices heard – no we don’t want those voices to crystallise into a fixed or static programme which then ‘represents’ us or our views. We want to act, but we want our actions to be distinct, to somehow remain our own. We want our voices heard – not drowned out by the megaphone politics of the politicians.The theoryheads amongst you may notice the hints at Deleuzo-Guattarian philosophy with its rejection of representation and focus on the assertion of "univocity" and difference, but the thrust of the argument ought not to be lost on the rest of us.
Tormey's argument strikes me as particularly attractive. It explains the ongoing demise of political parties of all stripes and dovetails nicely with my own distaste for party lines or political platforms. One is entitled to ask however, exactly how such a politics might manifest itself and how it might exert influence on the prevailing order. It is axiomatic that atomised individuals cannot confront the forces arrayed against them (army, police etc.) alone. Unity - as any lefty can tell you - is strength. How then is this unity to be achieved without representation, without crystallisation, without trade unionists?
Tormey notes, "To speak of an alternative in the singular is already to miss the point." He points to an explosion of "unofficial or DIY boycotts" which enable people to act, rather than have others act for them. I think this diversity is potentially a great strength and I am not here seeking to articulate a one-size fits all solution. Indeed, I do not offer a definitive solution. Instead I wish to point to a few methods of organising, drawn from history and my own experience, which I believe may provide some inspiration. Continuing today's theme, I'm going to focus predominantly on labour struggles.
The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (National Labour Confederation, CNT) is a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist union which reached its nadir during the Spanish Civil War. The CNT was established intially in opposition to the socialist Union General de los Trabajadores (General Union of Workers, UGT) and made some effort to distinguish itself from its more conventional contemporaries as Wikipedia explains:
The national confederation was split into smaller regional ones, which were again broken down into smaller trade unions. Despite this many-tiered structure bureaucracy was consciously avoided. Initiatives for decisions came largely from the individual unions. There were no paid officials; all positions were staffed by common workers. Decisions made by the national delegations did not have to be followed.

None of this is to suggest that the CNT model could or should be adopted wholesale in the UK. It is worth recalling that during the civil war the CNT did participate in the government, with several prominent members taking positions as ministers a move which remains controversial amongst anarchists. Furthermore, the CNT is a fraction of its former size. In 1979, shortly after being decriminalised following the demise of General Franco, the organisation demonstrated its commitment to leftist principles by splitting. This was motivated largely by disagreement over whether the union should participate in elecciones sindicales to elect workers' representatives, with those who supported such a moving going on to become the Confederación General del Trabajo (General Labour Confederation, CGT) which is nowdays the larger of the two.
It is worth pointing out that there is already a British organisation organised along the lines of the CNT, but unfortunately its unfluence seems to be virtually nonexistent. The Solidarity Federation is the British affiliate of the International Workers Association/Associación Internacional de los Trabajadores (IWA/AIT) which the CNT innaugurated and remains the most prominent member of. SolFed even has a Public Service Workers Network, which one can envisage intervening in the current pensions struggle, but its membership appears to be small and diffuse. I certainly wouldn't expect them to be offered places in the Cabinet anytime soon.
If we apply Tormey's analysis it is arguable that SolFed's minimal influence is at least partly attributable to the fact that it carries almost as much ideological baggage as the average lefty party. It has in short, crystallised into a fixed or static programme, in exactly the manner Tormey suggests we should avoid. While my Spanish is worse than rusty, I would hazard a guess that the CNT is plagued by similar problems. This shouldn't be all that surprising, anarcho-syndicalism was seen by its exponents, not only as a more militant form of trade unionism, but rather as a - even the - method for bringing about a revolution. Like Marxism it emerged in a particular historical context, but continues to be espoused as a response to the very different situation which we face today in an era of post-Fordist capitalism (at least in the Global North).
Rather than attempting to recreate the CNT I wonder if it wouldn't be possible to conceive of a non-ideological entity filling the same role. Many will balk at this, suggesting that ideological unity is key, but I disagree. One only need to look at the proliferation of lefty sects as factions split over matters of seemingly little significance. In the course of my own activism, I have had some experience with groups which try to dispense with an ideological "line" which I think has served them well. During my time at university, I was a member (and president for two years) of Nottingham Student Peace Movement (NSPM).

What brought NSPM together was a mutually shared concern about issues of war and peace, even where we might have major disagreements over priorities, tactics, principles and (inevitably) money. In the context of labour disputes it seems obvious that workers could come together on the basis of their shared interests. Indeed, such an organisation (if organisation is really the appropriate word) could conceivably exist alongside more conventional union structures, at least until we're ready to move beyond them.
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