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 ignored in conventional accounts of the campaigns against restrictive union legislation 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 state intervention, and briefly explores some of the issues concerning rank‐and‐file movements. It concludes by suggesting that, although the LCDTU merits recognition for the key role it played in defeating the legislation, it can best be characterized as a front organization of the Communist Party rather than as an independent rank‐and‐file.