British fuel crisis
EARLY in September militant blockades mounted at oil refineries across Britain, by small farmers and small and self employed road hauliers, protesting about the W -ITHIN five days of the start of the protests petrol was unobtainable, emergency services were under threat, factories were beginning to close, and the shops were starting to run out of food. The rapidity of the shutdown was unprecedented, and Tony Blair's New Labour government was completely unprepared. It was then shaken to the core as its popularity plummeted from 20 points ahead of the Conservatives in the polls to seven points behind.
The attitude of the left in Britain to the crisis has involved knee jerk reactions from opposite ends of the spectrum. Some saw the movement that erupted as simply one of small employers, to which the labour movement should offer no support at all. Others have seen the protests as a new emergence of working class struggle, which has to be recognised and built on.
Both of these positions are wrong. The blockades were not protests by the working class, of course. Very unusually for Britain the protestors were crisis-ridden sections of the petty bourgeoisie, who have turned against new Labour as higher fuel prices have been added to the unremitting pressures of the market which they face every day. Many of these people became self employed as the result of Thatcherite deregulation and outsourcing in the 1980s, and now work endless hours in deregulated markets and are struggling for survival against small profit margins. But does this mean we cannot give them any kind of support? No. We should support progressive movements of the petty bourgeoisie in defence of their interests against big business when such conflicts arise.
Protests by small farmers are not new. The strength of the pound against the Euro is a major problem for farmers in Britain as prices for their products are consistently undercut by cheap imports. They had been campaigning for more subsidies: but they joined the fuel protest despite the fact that their own (red) diesel carries no tax at all.
price of fuel, almost brought the country to a halt. ALAN THORNETT
However there are genuine problems for small farmers who are not part of the growing agribusiness sector. They have been hit by a range of big business interests, from banks to fertiliser manufacturers. And they have been squeezed by the supermarkets who play the global market and force them to cut their prices, even selling at a loss to keep their contracts. To compound the crisis, small farmers have suffered a series of body blows from a succession of food safety crises triggered by the unscrupulous activities of the feed manufacturers deregulated under Margaret Thatcher — the most obvious result being the BSE ("mad cow") scandal.
### Crisis
Small haulage companies and owner drivers face a European-wide crisis in their industry. This however is not caused mainly by fuel prices, but by the way the industry was deregulated, beginning in the 1980s. Even those regulations that still exist are flouted by most of the industry, particularly owner drivers, in the struggle to survive. This deregulation has led to the cut-throat competition which now exists in the haulage industry as part of the globalised economy.
There were of course a range of dubious backers and manipulators behind these protests. We do not support these forces: but we do support the stated aims of the protest both in terms of a reduction in the tax on fuel, and in alleviating the crisis facing small farmers, small hauliers, and owner drivers, which are at the core of the action.
The blockades centred on the emotive issue of petrol prices. British prices are the highest in Europe, due to the level of tax, and are now punitive against big sections of poorer people who run cars. The protest therefore enjoyed mass support amongst the working class, and linked in to a range of other grievances against new Labour.
The result was an explosion of anger and resentment. People who live in the countryside, and small business people, feel victimised by fuel prices. Small farmers, hauliers and owner drivers are being squeezed out by big business and neo-liberal unregulated market forces.
Of course there is a major environmental problem to be addressed: the issue of car use and road transport is indeed central to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. We have to put action against global warming at the top of the political agenda. But we do not accept that environmental protection can be achieved by the current ineffective and regressive tax on petrol. Cutting the use of cars can be achieved only through combining strong disincentives against car use with the provision of alternative forms of sustainable transport.
A comprehensive policy is needed. This should include a major investment in public transport alongside more pedestrianisation, parking restrictions, park and ride, alternative energy sources for the car etc, and a tackling of the all embracing car culture which currently exists in this society. But without viable alternatives that enable people to travel, increases in fuel prices are inelastic and have little effect on consumption. A differential tax on engine size would be a much more useful way of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
### Shift
The shift towards indirect taxation (away from income tax), which began under the Conservatives and has continued under Blair, has been widely recognised as unfair and dishonest. People can see that a tax which raises more money for the government the more petrol is sold is flawed as a means of reducing the consumption of fossil fuels. They know that the extra money raised for the government is not being spent on environmental protection. We should call for a turn back towards direct taxation. Reduce indirect taxation. Tax the rich and impose massive direct taxation on the oil companies to pay for an environmentally sustainable transport system: the current tax on oil extraction in the North Sea is the lowest in the world. This should be a first step towards nationalising the oil companies and the banks.
We should link our call for a reduction in fuel tax to a call for a sustainable energy policy and an integrated transport policy
... S0%a wrave Quan in Francs 60% more fusn in Germany At tore Bian i Spain 0P 27P Too per MENR PLA FAIR PLAY ON FUEL FAIR PLAY ON FUICI for both people and freight. This must include not only new rail and tram services for passenger travel but a complete reorganisation of freight transport, to switch large quantities of material from road haulage back onto rail.
This crisis is not caused solely by taxation, of course. The oil companies have massively increased their already massive profits: the top five companies are on target to rake in over $30 billion this year, by exploiting both consumers and the oil producing countries. Their role needs to be highlighted by the left. We should defend the right of poor countries which depend on oil exports to sell at a reasonable price. The fact that the price of oil has gone up from $10 a barrel to nearly $35 in the last year is partly a product of the fact that prices have generally been low since 1980. This low price was part of a general fall in world commodity prices driven by globalisation. The left has opposed this in terms of other raw materials — we should not exclude oil from this view.
The protest was a new phenomenon in many ways. The pickets were effective not because they physically stopped anything, but primarily because of collusion between the oil companies, the hauliers, the owner drivers and the police. The oil companies, not the protesters, were the force that made the action so effective. Above all the oil companies are keen to see the government take the blame for high fuel prices while keeping their own rip-off profits intact.
That is why they supported the dispute behind the scenes, forming a bizarre alliance with the hauliers to cut off the supply of petrol and diesel. In some cases tanker drivers were instructed not to go out, even though the road outside was open. Others were given the option to go out.. or go home on full pay! These are
Britain * employers who normally make breaking picket lines a matter of principle, and who would automatically instruct drivers to drive through - and sack them if they refused. Anyone who doubts this should try picketing an oil refinery for any other reason - and see what happens.
### Rule of law
Despite the overwhelming support of working class people for the protest, the trade union leaders were mainly concerned with upholding "the rule of law". They were also worried that French-type direct action methods might be taken up by British trade unionists. Some on the left take a similar line, and argue that socialists should not support movements and protests of the petty bourgeoisie. This idea should be rejected. It is true such movements often attract some nasty political allies, including the far right. But this is simply an added reason for giving them support in order not to drive them in that direction. Such movements can be extremely dangerous if they fall prey to the far right, which may provide charismatic leaders for the cause.
Marxists understand that the petty bourgeoisie is not politically independent as a class (although it can have its own political demands); it gravitates towards the strongest class in society. The working class must therefore defend them against the banks and finance capital, to win them to our side and prevent them allying with the right. Trotsky argued that the working class should always be prepared to establish and lead alliances with the petty bourgeoisie, warning that they will move further to the right if they do not move towards the working class. We say tax the rich, not small business. Abolish VAT, cancel the debts of small businesses and provide them with cheap credit as an alternative to being fleeced by the banks.
Meanwhile the left needs to get to grips with the political issues raised by the fuel blockade and begin to address the problems of the petty bourgeoisie in order to deal with this kind of movement. The politics of the protestors — and their demands - are confused and contradictory, and they offer no easy way in for the left, as some found to their cost when they tried to join the fuel protestors' picket lines. But the left must help to clarify the real battle lines, and press for the wider labour movement to respond. *
International Viewpoint #325 November 2000 25