On the basis of discussions with workers and trade unionists in Coventry, Linwood, France and Spain, Sol Picciotto reconstructs the events which culminated in pitched battles at the Talbot-Poissy plant in January. He shows how Peugeot was able to create and use every division between workers; how the intervention of the ‘Socialist’ government seriously weakened workers' organisations; and illustrates the difficulty of organising international solidarity between nationally-oriented labour movements.