Why to go on Feb 25
Socialist Organiser1984 1984-02-16Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 15 →
Reader report 26 Oct 2026 (boundaries, SO 166 pp. 15-16): transcribed from the scan of page 15; the machine reading had run in lines of 'Ranks must take over', the Health Fightback advert and Stan Crooke's 'No fight from leaders'. Credited from the standfirst, printed in italics here.
Proofed text: read against the scan word by word; spelling, punctuation and wording are as printed.
Scan page 15
Sheffield CoHSE activist Alex Brady says why he is going to the Health Fightback conference
LIKE any conference, the Health Fightback '84 Conference is a great opportunity to establish contact with other workers who are going through the same experiences, especially in the NHS, where the way workers are scattered across the country makes it difficult to maintain a common approach to our problems. We clearly can't depend on our trade union leaders to keep us moving together.
Rank and file activity demands personal direct contact and this sort of experience is ideal for making those links.
Of course, if that was all there was to it, we could achieve the same effect with a good social get-together. But just as important is the exchange of ideas and experience. Of particular note in the Health Fightback '84 conference is the workshop on creeping cuts. All health workers will be aware of unfilled vacancies, ward closures, rationalisation of services. If we can come away with some strategy to fight this, the conference will have more than justified itself.
Something else that isn't sufficiently stressed is the aspect of morale. As we all beaver away in our separate hospitals, planning, agitating and pushing the fightback, it is very easy to get in a state of mind that everything depends on our — obviously insufficient — efforts.
When this makes us downhearted we need to meet others who are doing the same work. If you've ever been to this kind of conference, you'll know what an emotional buzz you can get and how it can support you in your daily grind. It isn't something to be underrated, it is essential to our work and it is not something you can get from a distance.
I think a good side effect of the conference will be the messages it sends out. By that I mean we'll be indicating to our opponents — the health authorities and the government — and to the labour movement — especially the 'ward-floor' workers — that we're still going strong, we're organised and we're looking for the future of the struggle.
Don't underestimate the effect of that. Getting our presence at the front of people's minds is an important psychological tactic. In particular, if we can show our fellow workers that they're not on their own, the effect of the fight on their consciousness will be redoubled.