The
unprecedented European and local government electoral advances for the BNP in
the north of England has seen many on the British Left thrown into disarray,
anger and disgust. Whilst all these responses may seem understandable, similar
emotional reactions can be seen present in the organised left’s response to the
BNP, which are characterised by an abject failure to understand the nature of
the BNP or to answer it politically in a meaningful way. As the initial
reaction dissipates it is time that those who are serious about stopping the
BNP recognise the failures of the recent campaign and the need for a response
based around the mobilisation of the working class; it is now clear that we can
rely on no one but ourselves to smash the forces of the far right.
Springtime for Griffin?
The
BNP were formed in the early 1980s by the white nationalist and National Front
leader John Tyndall as his former organisation had collapsed, having been defeated by working
class youth and the labour movement on the streets. Under the leadership of Nick
Griffin the BNP has publicly distanced itself from its overtly fascist ideology
in favour of right wing populism and British nationalism. At a time when the
Labour and Trade Union leaders have refused to offer any solution to the
problems of, in particular, the most impoverished sections of the working class
it is no surprise that a party which is even claiming to in some way offer a
solution the problems of employment, public housing, local services etc, whilst
attacking the political establishment, should gain an echo.
In
relation to the problems of employment in particular this concoction is proving
particularly poisonous as unemployment figures fast approaches three million.
The best the trade union leaders seem to be able to do is hope and pray for buyers
of bankrupt firms whilst MPs seem more concerned with going on an expenses
binge. As such to blame the problem on "undercutting" immigrant workers may
well gain support out of desperation from a layer of people being offered no
meaningful political solution by the official leadership of our class. The fact
that the BNP fought its campaign around the expenses issue, under the slogan
"punish the pigs," only strengthened its image as a populist anti-establishment
party representing the ordinary man and woman on the street. The task of the Left
therefore must be to answer these issues. If the election results have shown
anything it’s that the BNP are not simply going to disappear off their own
backs. Most of those who voted for the BNP did so in traditional Labour
heartlands, and it would be staggering beyond belief to argue that the 6% of
those people that bothered to vote who supported the BNP are hardened members
of the far right.
"British Jobs for British Workers"
A
number of different responses have been raised to combat the BNP vote. One
attempt was the ‘No2EU’ coalition which ran during the elections. Spearheaded
by Bob Crow and the RMT this coalition also enjoyed support from the Socialist
Party of England and Wales
and Tommy Sheridan’s Solidarity grouping in Scotland. Arguably this campaign was a false expression
of therecent Lindsey strike, which was
not (as was reported in the mass media) a strike for "British jobs for British
workers" but a genuine struggle against the use of super-exploited Italian
workers to bring down the condition of the workers at the Lindsey oil refinery.
However with figures in the trade union bureaucracy cheering it on, "British
jobs for British workers" took on a logic of its own and gained a certain
amount of support amongst some trade unionists and even some on the Left.
The
nationalism of ‘No2EU’ is evident from its website which uses phrases such as
“Europhiles” and claims that "Nation states with the right to
self-determination and their governments are the only institutions that can
control the movement of big capital and clip the wings of the trans-national
corporations and banks" and counterposing the EU with a Britain based on "an
economy based on manufacturing requires massive investment and where
appropriate protection of home industries. It is the only way to ensure jobs
and a decent safe future for the peoples of Britain."(No2EU 9/6/09)
The economic crisis has quite clearly
demonstrated that the capitalist economy is entirely dependent on international
finance capital and that any inhibitions to revert to such protectionism can be
no more than a reactionary utopia.Such pandering by the “No2EU”, whose main
slogan was the ambiguous “yes to democracy,” could not hope to draw confused
workers away from the BNP. The election results only confirmed this with the
BNP claiming over eight times more votes than “No2EU”.
We
should also be clear that attempts by some Labour MPs and candidates to diffuse
support for the BNP by effectively saying “They have a point” on issues such as
immigration and more housing for white people will not only prove ineffective
but will simply give the BNP arguments some degree of unwelcome legitimacy.
The ‘Broad Based’ approach
Looking
back in history, a traditional fable spun by the media’s liberal commentators
about the defeat of the National Front in the 1970s is the success of the
Anti-Nazi League’s broad coalition in the face of fascism. In reality this
story misses out some crucial characters and events such as the battle of
Lewisham when black youth were joined by local trade unionists and Marxists
from the Militant Tendency in a street battle which prevented the National Front
from marching in the area again whilst the ANL chose to organise concerts to
oppose them. In opposition to the BNP so called ‘broad based coalitions’ such
as Unite Against Fascism have been thrown up and in effect represent little
more than modern day popular fronts. For instance UAF is supported by the Tory
Party alongside the Labour Party and trade unions. As such it is entirely unable to offer any
kind of effective leadership to the millions of workers and youth in Britain who
have actively rejected the current political and economic system that prevails
under capitalism and recognise the need for a wider struggle for a better world
is necessary which the fight against the BNP forms a part of.
This
was graphically demonstrated on the Tommy Boyd show in February when Weymann
Bennett the leader of the UAF, actively refused to have a debate with Simon
Darby, the BNP’s deputy leader. This led to a ridiculous position whereby
Bennett expected to debate through the host of the show but would occasionally
be cajoled into lashing out at comments made by Darby. Apparently all this was
in the name of no platform for fascism! However what this situation
demonstrated further was the inability of UAF to effectively answer the BNP.
Whilst Darby chose to target concrete questions which effect working class
people day in day out such as employment and public services, Bennett chose to
paint the BNP as a force rejected by the political establishment and to compare
them to the Nazi party. (the recording can be heard in full here .
) It is only correct that we should
expose the BNP as having their origins in the National Front and British
fascism and being led by people who have clearly never left their Nazi ideology
behind. However, at a time when capitalism is in crisis both economically and
politically, to just urge working class people not to vote for the BNP whilst
failing to raise any political alternative – a socialist alternative – which actually answers the problems that are
driving voters towards the BNP is to play into the hands of Griffin and his gang. Fighting the BNP with a
socialist programme would not only undercut their vote but force them to reveal
their pro-capitalist face rather than pretending to be a friend of the worker.
The ‘moral appeal’ approach has not and will not work.
The Blame Game
Many
working-class people now voting BNP are not racists. However, faced with
unemployment and the prospect of being forced to pay for this capitalist
crisis, they are turning to vote for a party that seems to be articulating
their fears. Many were staunch Labour supporters, but cannot now bring
themselves to vote for the present-day champions of big business and greedy
bankers. Voting BNP was a means by which they could express a protest vote at the ballot box.
Specifically,
the BNP has got an echo by talking about so-called ‘social dumping’, where
workers from abroad are brought in on temporary contracts, or as agency
workers, to undermine the terms and conditions of the workers already here.
Whilst much of the Left foolishly dismisses this as BNP propaganda, many
workers know it to be fact, having fallen victim to it themselves. The BNP of
course blame the foreign workers whereas we know the blame to lie with the
employers who are just seeking to exploit.
Of
course, the BNP’s racist answer of calling for immigration controls cannot work
to the benefit of British workers. The problem is capitalism, not immigration:
whilst society is run on the basis of exploiting the many to profit the few,
there will always be a need to drive down labour costs by bringing in cheaper
labour. In short, immigration controls, don’t stop immigration, they merely
criminalise it. As the workers of Mitie have found to their cost, this leaves a
large migrant workforce, many with no papers, with no rights whatsoever, more
vulnerable than ever to super-exploitation.
(https://communist.red/albero-cleaners-struggle.htm )
Only
the labour movement can give an answer to the workers of Britain and the
migrants that come here to work. No two people should be paid different rates
for the same job. No contracts should be secret: contracts of all workers, British and migrant, should be under the supervision of
the trade unions. Migrant workers should be free to mix and socialise with
their British counterparts: no artificial barriers should be erected to keep
the workforce divided. Socialist should oppose all immigration controls. These are the arguments that must be used to prevent
workers from supporting the BNP. However, by allying itself to organisations
hostile to working people (e.g. the Tories), UAF has rendered itself incapable
of producing all but the most banal platitudes.
Class unity the way forward
I
doubt this correspondent was the only one of our readers who smiled when they
saw the images of Nick Griffin’s speech outside parliament being met with egg
throwing protestors. An anti-BNP demonstration also took place in Liverpool on the Monday after the election. Socialist
Appeal comrades have been involved in driving the BNP from the streets of
Glasgow, Yorkshire and elsewhere and fully support the campaign to kick the BNP
out of the unions; our class’ organisations have no place for forces which only
seek to leave them open to the bosses by dividing them along racial lines. Yet
this is not enough. At a time when unemployment is spiralling upwards as the
capitalist crisis unleashes one attack after another on the lives of working
people, only a political answer based around class unity and a bold socialist
alternative can adequately answer the threat posed by the BNP.
