THE largest Civil Service union, the Civil and Public Services Association (CPSA), had long been dominated by one of the most powerful right-wing bureaucracies in the trade union movement. But the merger process which created the new Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) in 1999 also created the conditions in which a democratic, fighting union could be built.

The following year, Mark Serwotka won by a margin of over 40,000 to become PCS’s first elected general secretary. This outcome was part of a bigger picture. Civil Service workers had been some of the first to become disillusioned with Tony Blair’s New Labour government. The election was a signal to the more combative sections of the new PCS that the days of inaction and collaboration were over.

The self-styled “moderates” who had held power for over two decades retained a narrow majority on the NEC, but the union was moving decisively leftwards. The annual conference in 2002 delivered a major setback for the right wing when a series of activist motions from branches were voted through, including a call for the speedy retirement of former CPSA general secretary Barry Reamsbottom who was sharing duties with Serwotka in a transitional arrangement. This was a deep blow to Reamsbottom both politically and psychologically — the union he had helped to establish clearly had little further use for him, or his type.

Reamsbottom moved quickly, embarking on a course of reckless adventurism that would seal both his and the moderates’ fate. Bypassing union president Janice Godrich, he summoned the NEC on May 23, claiming that Serwotka, who was due to take up sole control of the union on June 1, had been elected on an “unlawful ballot” and so was not the general secretary. Therefore, he himself would remain in post until April 2004.

Meanwhile, the Murdoch press had been well briefed. The Sun speculated, “Union lefties KO’d?”, and claimed that, “Tony Blair was said to be delighted when the news reached Downing Street.” Reamsbottom himself declared that the union had been “saved in the nick of time” from “unrepresentative Trotskyists.”

Rage at Reamsbottom’s actions unleashed an unprecedented level of protest throughout PCS and across the wider trade union movement. Under the banner “Democracy Alliance,” meetings were held by PCS members throughout the country in workplaces and in various towns and cities. As Nigel Green, a Royal Parks member, commented to the Morning Star, “Barry Reamsbottom is a civilian version of General Pinochet.”

Reamsbottom’s plot reeked of desperation, not least in its blatant and egregious planning and execution. First, he had badly miscalculated in assuming that Hugh Lanning, Serwotka’s rival in the 2000 election, would fall into line with the coup. This was exposed when Lanning appeared at a mass rally where he unequivocally stated that the manoeuvrings of the moderate faction were unjustifiable and that Serwotka was fully entitled to assume office.

Second, he had gambled that Serwotka and Godrich lacked the financial resources to pursue a legal case. Instead, they put up their homes as security which, along with donations from the membership and beyond, allowed them to contest his action. When the High Court finally ruled in July, it was decisively in Serwotka’s favour — to give Reamsbottom’s actions legal endorsement would have caused real damage to its credibility.

It was now evident to senior figures in the government and the judiciary that the moderates were so politically and morally damaged that they could no longer be relied upon as effective allies. Reamsbottom had become an anachronistic reminder of the brutal witch-hunting methods that had cleared a path for the neoliberalism of New Labour.

If rising militancy was to be seen off among Civil Service workers in future, other methods would have to be found.

Reaction is often the chief motivating force in focusing the left on the need for unity in the face of the class enemy. “Democracy Alliance” had brought together a very wide left coalition against the Reamsbottom coup with Left Unity the most influential component.

Although the various left groupings continued to operate independently, the two key principles that defined the alliance were a democratic commitment to implement conference policy, and joint candidate lists for senior officer and NEC elections.

With Serwotka as general secretary and Godrich as president, two of the key positions of power in the PCS had already been secured for the left; at the NEC elections in July 2003, Democracy Alliance won a resounding victory.

The task now facing the left was how to make the transition from opposition to effective leadership and to how to use the power of the union to fight Chancellor Gordon Brown’s latest threats to Civil Service jobs, conditions and public services.

John McInally, long-time vice-president of the PCS, is author of the newly published book A State of Struggle (Manifesto Press), with an introduction by Mark Serwotka. It traces the history of the Civil Service trade union movement, detailing the sharp battles between the rising broad left and the state-backed moderates, the struggle to build a fighting democratic union, the pensions battle, the conflicts with both Labour and Tory governments and the role of PCS as a beacon of resistance to austerity, cuts, discrimination and imperialist war. Part IV of this serialisation will appear next weekend.

To buy the book visit the Morning Star shop at shop.morningstaronline.co.uk.