Politics and practice

Abstract

This chapter and the following ones provide an analysis of Crow in terms of his person, politics and members’ potential power. So left-wing radicalism provided the parameters for how Crow looked at the world and guided his role a union leader. Indeed, this intellectual framework attributed a crucial role to unions as agents for radical ends. This chapter then begins by look at his intellectual worldview before moving on to examine how it played out in practice and the conditions which allowed it to be played out. It thus considers his ‘socialism/communism’ (his words), and despite his political training, his political heterodoxy along with his views on the synergy of industrial and political struggles, the relationship between class and sectionalism, and the sources of union power and his bargaining strategy. The chapter also examines his relationship with citizens as members of the travelling public and his calls for mass action to defeat austerity.