RMT president Peter Pinkney gave a rousing tribute to former general secretary Bob Crow on Sunday night as he drew the battlelines for the union’s future.

In his opening address to conference Mr Pinkney acknowledged it has been a “traumatic year” for the RMT and said “Bob’s family must remain in the forefront of our minds.”

He said what the right-wing press did to Mr Crow was “absolutely scandalous.”

He said: “We will miss him as an inspirational leader and friend to us all.

“He would have wanted us to go on. We have to go forward and progress his vision, no individual is bigger than a union.”

Highlighting both health and safety cuts and McNulty, Mr Pinkney said that “lots of the problems we faced last year are still with us.”

He said: “We have still also the obscenity of zero-hours contracts. We must fight this attempt to take us back to the Victorian ages.

“This union will fight for the abolition of capitalism and replace it with a socialist system.”

To a deafening standing ovation Mr Pinkney added: “We are a union that laughs together and mourns together, but don’t mourn — organise!”