>I don't know if sexism, homophobia, etc., are functional to working class
>solidarity, because we never see any of the latter in England any more.
>Collective action here is so feeble as to almost be an embarrassment. We gaze
>enviously across the Channel where the French know how to have a good
>blockade/work-to-rule/demonstration etc. I think that the days of anyone in
>England identifying themselves as belonging to the working classes are long
>gone.
I am not British and have not been to England, but I have been in touch with and part of the solidarity struggle on behalf of the Liverpool Dockers. Those whom I have met touring here in the States have certainly demonstrated more than a little class consciousness. It seems improbable to me that they would have been able to maintain their struggle for over two years without many of them having a pretty keen sense of class, as well as being able to distinguish working class interests from the way some of their union's national leaders sought to relate to the employers.
I have met workers from Ireland and Scotland who demonstrated the same clear understanding of class realities. Maybe you ought to change the pubs you hang out in to get a more balanced sense of where working class consciousness is at.
In solidarity, Michael E.