Given the pandemic’s huge effect on jobs and rising poverty levels, one might wonder why the Trades Union Congress (TUC) conference last week was such a non-event.

    Who even knew that it was taking place, except a few full-time trade union officials and bureaucrats?  And even fewer probably took any interest this year, because it was all on-line - and so there were no all- expenses-paid holidays to Brighton or Bournemouth!

    Actually this is not surprising.  After all, the TUC leaders long since abandoned any form of resistance against the bosses, let alone against the capitalist system.  So all they offer is good advice to the bosses on how they can maybe exploit workers just a little less!

    But nevertheless, the main issues confronting the working class today, did get discussed even if all the TUC could come up with as a solution, was a polite request to the government to extend the furlough scheme!

    So yes, they highlighted the fact that 695,000 workers have dropped off company payrolls since the beginning of the pandemic.  And that the hardest hit are 20-24 year-olds (as well as those over 65, for obvious reasons).  But this is the tip of an iceberg to come.  Whether Sunak extends the furlough scheme or not, many more jobs will be lost.  And to imagine that the capitalist sharks will suddenly take their millions out of the bank and create “green jobs” - as the TUC seems to think, is to live in the cloudy land of cuckoos.

    So what is to be done? Are we in too weak a position to fight back? Not at all.  The working class has fought back in far worse situations than the one we are in.  Even in the depths of the Great Depression of the 1930s, workers consciously organised themselves, often without any union support, to force the bosses to take on the unemployed and share the available work.

    Indeed, no matter how bad things seem to be, no matter how overwhelmed we might feel, we have no choice but to stand up to the bosses' offensive against jobs, and force these greedy blood-suckers to back-pedal.  Once we have done that, it will be our turn to go on the offensive and take control of society from this small and ever-shrinking exploiting class which, during this coronavirus pandemic has so conclusively proved its total and lethal incapacity to take care of social needs.