THERE were many memorable moments of the great miners’ strike of 1984-85. One of them I seem to recall (I am sure a reader or two will correct me) is Ron Todd, leader of what was the Transport and General Workers’ Union, trying to speak from the floor in the debate on the strike at the Labour Party conference. 

But the chair was initially refusing to call him until the outcry from the conference forced him to change his mind. 

Before that happened, a friend turned to me and said: “This is bloody ridiculous. He pays for the thing,” or more industrial words to that effect.

There have always been tensions between the unions and the Labour Party. That is inevitable as they are different entities. But there must always be unity, otherwise one or both will suffer. That is the present danger. Or a danger for the next Labour government, which cannot come soon enough.

There are fundamental reasons for the tensions. Unions aim to organise all workers in specific workplace, sector or industry, irrespective of their political views. The aim is to defend or improve their pay or conditions of work. 

The Labour Party used to seek to “secure for the workers the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange.”

That used to be our mission statement, at least until Tony Blair decided that war was more important than equality and common ownership. 

But it is the tensions that have come to the fore once again in the current strike wave. Any attempt at “resolving” those tensions by abandoning any commitments to equality, or redistribution, or common ownership does not serve the interests of the ordinary people of this country. 

It does not even serve the electoral ambitions of Labour, in whose cause these “reforms” are usually proposed. It is simply a breach of unity at a time when solidarity is required.

Look at the facts. It has long been the case, for example, that about two-thirds of the public support public ownership of the privatised industries such as energy, rail, telecoms and the Royal Mail. Only a tiny minority oppose renationalisation. And the argument that these industries would be too costly to take back into public ownership needs to be set aside the enormous public subsidies that many still receive annually, decades after privatisation.

It is also true that a similar margin support windfall taxes and greater taxes on the rich. In both cases, on renationalisation and on taxation, large net popular support stretches to every type of voter, including “red wall” and traditional Tory voters.

But perhaps the most surprising result of all, in the midst of the biggest wave of industrial action seen in this country for a generation, is that the strikers enjoy popular support too and that it is growing. 

This was the key finding of a Sky News poll published last week. But it is not alone, and others have shown similar results recently.

It is not logical to argue reasonably that promoting these policies would damage Labour’s support when they are more popular than Labour themselves. 

Keir Starmer is reportedly warning his shadow cabinet and others against complacency as we are now consistently ahead in the polls. But we have never been any where near 69 per cent support, as is the case for the renationalisation of water, for example.

Some are perhaps tempted to believe that Labour can win while standing on the sidelines in the current strike wave. Yet this is not tactically astute, as is often claimed.  

The Tory election campaign will be far harder, and far dirtier even than before. Their online campaigns are often below the radar.  

We can also see its current outline. False claims to have got inflation under control, demonising people seeking asylum and the charge that Labour is “in the pockets of union barons.” Our response cannot be, “but what about Tory sleaze?” 

That sounds like what it is, an evasion of the key issue. Of course, the correct answer to that charge is to proclaim clearly that Labour is proudly on the side of ordinary people, and those struggling for a both decent standard of living and public services for all.

Yet most fundamentally, there is the issue of longer-term strategy. Unless all the main economic forecasters are completely wrong, we are headed in this country to a Japan-style “lost decade” of stagnation. 

The outcome for ordinary people will be even worse, as their population contracted and ours will continue to grow. This means that average living standards will continue to decline for years to come, unless something is done to alter the outcome.

The Tories have made it clear what that something is. A health service, all our public services more like the US’s threadbare safety net and huge profits for private companies. Completely hamstrung unions, voter suppression, lower environmental standards, lower product standards. It is the model many in the Tory Party have longed for over decades.

Our response can never be the same, and we must have an alternative. That alternative should be growth through investment, proper funding and renationalisation of our public services and redistribution, and radical redistribution of incomes and wealth. 

Without that, the danger is that we will just be managing misery.

There is a lot at stake in the current strike wave. One side is struggling for decent pay and conditions, for decent public services and against authoritarian anti-unionism. On the other side, the government is fighting for the profiteers and price-gougers, for privatisation and outsourcing, and for the multinationals at the expense of the poor.

It is an enormous battle which may have repercussions for years to come. But Labour cannot be immune from such an all-encompassing struggle, as much as some might wish that it could be. No major force in British politics can insulate itself from such an enormous political upheaval as the one we are currently going through.

It is time to take a side, and to choose solidarity.

Diane Abbott is member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington. She served as shadow home secretary from 2016 to 2020.