Organizing the militants: The Liaison Committee for the Defence of Trade Unions, 1966-1979

The Liaison Committee for the Defence of Trade Unions has been largely igno red in conventional accounts of the campaigns against restrictive union leg islation in the 1960s and 1970s. This article discusses the origins of the LCDTU, provides an account of its activities centred on the union struggles against stare intervention, and briefly explores some of the issues concer ning rank-and-file movements. It concludes by suggesting that, although the LCDTU merits recognition for the key role it played in defeating the legis lation, it can best be characterized as a front organization of the Communi st Party rather than as an independent rank-and-file movement.