As we have explained over
the past year or so, the effects of the financial crash and its political
consequences have represented a flash flood in British Politics. After many
years of apparent stability we have entered a period of sharp turns and sudden
changes as the deep underlying problems and contradictions in British society
have broken through the surface of events.
This crisis is clearly
reflected in the Labour Party and particularly at the top. Gordon Brown has
been gravely wounded by events and it’s clear that the Blairites are
positioning themselves for a leadership bid at some stage. John McDonnell is
absolutely correct in telling them basically to ‘put up or shut up’. Further
more many trade unionists and labour activists will echo John’s view that we
need a political change, rather than simply a change of face.
Already in opposition
On the ground there are
extremely clear reasons for this. One of the outcomes of the meltdown for
example is that Labour has lost ground throughout the country in local
councils. Trade unionists are already having to deal now with Tory and Liberal
administrations, or coalitions. In large parts of the country Labour is already
in opposition. New Labour is running into the sand. A Labour defeat will have
serious implications for jobs and services in the public sector and for workers
conditions throughout the whole of society. Make no bones about it the bosses are
going to try to make the working class pay the price for the crisis in capitalism,
and its going to get worse as the economic crisis deepens.
A new Tory government would
be a significant defeat for working people. The Labour Party remains the
political expression of the organised working class, despite the attempts of
Blair and Mandelson to break the link with the trade unions and create a
British version of the US democrats. There are some activists who take the view
that the Labour Party is a bourgeois party now and that it needs to be
replaced. We disagree with that argument, which completely misunderstands both
the class character of the party and its internal dynamics.
Squandered
Basically if the Labour
Party didn’t exist we would have to fight for the establishment of a workers
party based on the trade unions. We would be calling for a socialist programme,
to defend jobs and services and to transform the lives of working people. But
the fact is that the Labour Party “warts and all” is here now. The last few
months will go down in history as the inglorious decline of Gordon Brown, who
is in a situation which echoes the tailspin that John Major fell into after
Britain collapsed out of the ERM. But the truth is that the last year is the
real legacy of Tony Blair, a right wing programme tied to the coat tails of
British and world capitalism in crisis. The right wing have utterly discredited
themselves and have squandered 3 landslide election victories. The right
“reformists” in the Labour Party have always reflected the pressure of the
ruling class on the labour movement. Their crisis is a reflection of the crisis
of the whole system. But that is only half of the story. The British labour movement
also has a fighting tradition that periodically, under the pressure of the
working class as it moves into action is always reflected in the Labour Party.
It’s been a warm summer,
with strikes throughout the public sector in the schools, colleges, among civil
servants and councils, most recently in Scotland where the action was more
closely coordinated than in England. The likelihood is that the next couple of
months will see a continuation of action on the industrial front. But unless
that action is combined with a turn to the political front as well, then the
job of trade unionists will become far more complicated and difficult. There has
been a lot of talk about united and coordinated action and a significant amount
of table thumping on behalf of the trade union leaders. But if they are serious
about getting Labour to change course then they need to consider how they are
going to do it.
A clear focus
The idea of reclaiming the
Labour Party is a clear focus. But it needs to be more than a slogan. If Labour
stands an earthly of winning the next election it needs to change direction and
implement a socialist programme. But on a practical basis, it’s time to stop
the rot at a local level. The struggle to defend jobs and services, to fight
PFI and privatisation needs to be fought politically inside the party as well
as outside. At the same time we need to democratise the party, rolling back the
counter reforms and attacks on the membership that were so vital to the Blair
project.
Far from disaffiliating, the
trade unions should be rebuilding their links to the party at every level. The
target should be to reclaim every ward, every constituency and every region of
the party. At present, where they exist, the political structures of the unions
tend to be mere shells, dominated by the bureaucracy. They need to be
transformed to reflect the aspirations and needs of working class people.
The
weakness and emptiness of the Labour Party at present reflects the experience
of 25 years of right wing domination, lack of democracy and the stifling of
debate and discussion. It’s true that many activists have torn up their cards
in despair at the antics of Tony Blair and now Gordon’s meltdown, but we need
to serve the Blairites with an Anti Social Behaviour Order. For the vast
majority of working people there is no choice, we need to reclaim the Labour
Party. We can’t afford to pay for the crisis of capitalism. It’s time to stop
the rot.
