So much for that old labour movement slogan about unity being strength; Marxists of one description or another are contesting seats in the London elections on no fewer than five separate tickets.
The divisions underline a generalised lack of political seriousness, perhaps driven by some sense that the stakes are low. After all, the pumped up borough council that is the Greater Rubberstamp Assembly hardly represents Britain’s most puissant political body, is it? What does it matter that not a single socialist candidate has even a remote chance of success?
Well, it does matter, and this is why. The British National Party - logo above - is looking good to secure at least one and possibly even two seats. That will confer on it greater legitimacy and a better platform than it has ever previously enjoyed.
The truth is that the BNP has built itself – in the outer eastern suburbs of London, anyway – primarily by articulating real working class grievances. Socialists that still espouse class politics need to ask themselves why the far right is succeeding where the far left has so completely failed.
If you want a warning about where all this might be heading, look at continental Europe. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, parties of the populist right have in country after country both made real inroads into the voter base once enjoyed by social democracy and even the communist parties, and then gone on to consolidate them.
The earlier wave of British fascism peaked too early. The National Front enjoyed some degree of success – short of a real political breakthrough, thankfully - in the 1970s, but then lost ground after Thatcher’s Tories made a play for the anti-immigration vote. Cameron’s Conservatives are not going to do that a second time round.
What is more, today’s social conditions are far more propitious for the far right than the fag end years of the post-war consensus. The diminution of the welfare state, to the greater glory of neoliberalism, has created a terrifying mood of thorough-going despair not always fully visible from a north London winebar.
It would also be wrong for the left to duck the fact that immigration has created tensions within the working class, in a way that Marx and Engels would recognise from their analysis of the impact of the influx Irish labourers in the 1840s. Britain is not the great big happy multicultural family most of us would like it to be.
These are some of the reasons why the BNP vote has increased from 35,832 in the 1997 general election to 192,746 last time round, and from 102,000 in the 1999 Euro-election to 808,200 in the 2004. Labour has lost 4m votes over this period.
There are many explanations for why this has happened. By far the largest proportion of the blame accrues to a Thatcherised Labour Party, which long ago abandoned the people it once purported to represent.
But that doesn’t let the existing leadership of the left entirely off the hook; its decades-long failure to cohere a political organisation with any implantation in the social class it purports to represent has essentially given the BNP a free run.
Does it really take the election of two fascists to the Greater London Assembly to shock the Marxist left out of such damnable sectarian complacency? There really should be easier ways to learn this lesson, comrades.
Posted at 14:36, 11 April 2008
Comments (37)
As I said before, and you knowd damn well, Dave, that the rise of fascism is attributable to the failure of social democracy. Social Democracy just does not have the politics to deal with a globalised world, where there are going to be some bloody far-reaching changes internationally. As they say, we live in interesting times, and I do so wish we didn't.
There is of course a problem with sectarianism on the British Left, but the finger of blame has also to be pointed at more than just the revolutionary left and the Blairites. What about the trade union leaders? They have made noises off, but with some honourable exceptions like Mark Serwotka they have first placed their hopes in Blair in 1997 then Brown in 2007 and as a result refused to lead any sort of serious fight against neo-liberalism from Blair and a pay freeze from Brown. They are still in the main tied to New Labour and show little signs of breaking off to try and help form a socialist alternative in the foreseeable future.
And what of the political failure and collapse of the Labour Left? The strategy of fighting the Blairites in the Labour Party has never looked so bankrupt and yet the few decent Labour Left MPs refused to follow Galloway out of the Party to try to help build any sort of socialist alternative, which was one factor in the split in Respect which many hoped would succeed in being broader than just the SWP and Galloway and Muslim anti-war activists...
We surely all have a lot of hard thinking to do.
"...yet the few decent Labour Left MPs refused to follow Galloway out of the Party to try to help build any sort of socialist alternative"
Oh my sides. Follow Galloway indeed.
The divisions underline a generalised lack of political seriousness, perhaps driven by some sense that the stakes are low.
... and also by the fact that the far-left seems dominated by pretentious super-egos who fancy themselves as intellectual titans, and who respond to the slightest disagreements by splitting and mutliplying into yet more parties.
Pass me the rope somebody.
Rory, read the comment:
"...and yet the few decent Labour Left MPs refused to follow Galloway out of the Party..."
I don't read this as 'follow Galloway' in the sense of follow his politics, simply follow him in the sense of leaving the LP and helping build an alternative.
The problem with the far left has always been the outdated democratic centralism, which strictly ties party members to the party line.
This makes it difficult for these parties to cooperate in the long term in a united front organisation.Look at what happened to Respect and The Scottish Socialist Party.
DB's point is spot on:
"...the far-left seems dominated by pretentious super-egos who fancy themselves as intellectual titans..."
which leads to Snowball's "We surely all have a lot of hard thinking to do. "
aye, right enough, that's what the Lefts great at hard thinking, no fucking good at building up basic long-term organisations, marvellous at squabbling and alienating potential allies, and positively excelling at gesture politics
but in all of this there is no introspection, or asking the basic questions "why did we fuck up that time?" "how can we do better?"
nope, instead we're often treated to some twisted grasp of reality, which bears little or no resemblance the past events and the absence of any contrition, any notion that the Left could occasionally be wrong further compounds the problems
which partly explains why the Left doesn't "penetrate" the working-class, as it seems comprised largely of white middle-class head cases who would rather chop off their own feet than acknowledge they could be wrong on a particular subject, and strangely enough working class has seen that type of crappy politics and smarmy arse lies which come from the early days of Blair before.
Politicos across the board are treated with contempt by the working-class, because most of them come over a shifty and useless, the Left in Britain isn't relevant to the working classes' existence, and so is largely ignored
you've had four decades of political grouplets, sects and alpha leaders, demo fodder and street theatre, combined with London centric leadership
and are you really surprised the Left hasn't achieved much?
look at the decline of the antiwar movement, hundreds of thousands of potential radicals, all of this pissed away by nihilist leaders and dodgy politics, but even now those issues are not acknowledged fully.
I don't have any ready-made answers to these problems, fortunately I'm not middle-class or a graduate so don't think I know all the fucking answers in the world, but there is something the Left could do, before it is swamped by fascists in the BNP:
Build up solid antifascist opposition
We have probably a small window of opportunity before the BNP consolidates itself countrywide and we'll end up like France (those of you with a good memory will remember how small the French NF was once, and complacency by the French Left, in part, led to its growth)
So I think that the Left should concentrate re-establishing local antifascist groups, not the UAF not the ANL or other front organisations, but broad, very broad coalition's of antifascists.
And with those local groups make a conscious effort to reinvigorate the fight against the BNP, adopting some of the lessons of the 1970s and 80s.
Alternatively, the Left can piddle around with electoralism, "build the party now" schemes, etc and await for the consolidation of the BNP's power, by then fascists will aim to drive the Left off the streets, and all of today's debates and talk will be so meaningless as a result.
That's the real choice that the Left has, aim to beat the fascists here and now or be slaughtered by them in a few years.
Modernity - I think you're exaggerating about the likelihood of some rise of fascism. We're not about to be swamped by fascism. The idea that we are is one of the symptoms of the kind of super-carried-away apocalyptic hyberbolic far left thinking that you seem to dislike so much.
That's not to say that it's not a problem - obviously any increase in fascist activity is going to be a problem if you aren't white or if you're an immigrant. I agree that broad anti-fascist organisations ought to be built up - but isn't that what UAF is? It's got Teddy Taylor in it! I think there is something a bit unsatisfactory about making apocalyptic predictions about the rise of fascism and then proceeding to distance yourself, with upturned nose and a look of disgust, from an existing relatively broad anti-fascist group.
[sigh]
Ed wrote:
"I think there is something a bit unsatisfactory about making apocalyptic predictions about the rise of fascism"
no, I'm not into predicting the future, but to state in the bleeding obvious, that if (and it is an IF because I don't possess a fucking Time machine) the BNP achieve any electoral success, they will then make an effort to build up their organisation (one follows from the other) and having done that they will build for European elections and funding
now if, the BNP manage all of that they will go from 10,000 or so members to potentially 100,000+
Ed, if you can tell me that you don't think that will change the political landscape, then I'm a bit surprised
and as you're an educated man you will know that one of the political lessons of the last 80 years is that the Left consistently underestimates the extreme right, need I provide examples?
if you wish to bang the drum of the UAF, fine by me, I hear that in some areas they do good stuff, but many on the Left are unhappy with SWP inspired front organisations, that was my reason for suggesting very broadly based structures
it's the fault of the leaders of the working class, primarily the unions, because their inaction and slavish support for new labour has allowed the bnp to grow.
true, the 'left' hasn't helped matters. all attempts at a united party, that may have attracted entire unions towards it, along with thousands of working class people, ex-labour party, marxists and so on, have failed.
what is to be done though?
set up a blog???
if you think the workers' movement needs to get active to fight the bnp, and this crucially means building a new working class political party to challenge all the capitalist parties, then campaign for this approach.
i don't think negativism will help. yes to a sober analysis. no to negativism!
as a respected journalist and left blogger maybe dave can help in some way to rejuvinate the workers and socialist movement and encourage a discussion on the way forwards.
comradely,
ks
The rise of the BNP is a punishment for the failure of the far left for decades of under-performing and an inability to articulate class politics.
Sometimes I think we deserve it.
Duncan is right, you do indeed deserve it.
You betrayed the True British working class and will now be punished in the polls.
The BNP is now unstoppable.
Roll on May.
Err this article is inaccurate the divisions of the left in the GLA elections can in no way help the BNP succeed in winning a seat. For realitically the BNP are only likely to win a a "top-up" seat, which is one through a system of proportional representation. They need at least 5% of the vote to gain a seat. Therefore to vote for any other party than the BNP REDUCES their chances. Even if the party you vote for has a snowball in hell chance, the fact is that it increases the number of votes required to reach 5%. The only way that the left can help the BNP is by NOT voting.
I disagree with 'modernity'. A 'very broad' coalition will only have a limited impact. The main limitation of UAF is not that it is an SWP front, but that its literature and campaigning is kept watered down to ensure that the likes of Teddy Taylor, David Cameron, local Lib Dem and New Labour worthies support it. In other words, like a pizza. It's broad, but it has no teeth.
Calling for a vote for anyone but the BNP (UAFs main 'tactic') seems a little odd considering that would mean voting for the very people who are selling off council houses without building any new ones, allowing private vultures to take over Granny's care home, flogging off playing fields etc. The very things that the BNP feeds off, and falsely uses to posture as a party to stick up for the white working class. Is this the 'hope' that forms the counterpoint to the 'hate' of the BNP?
I think a combative, class-based anti-fascist campaign is needed, addressing directly the arguments of fascists with counter-arguments that contain a few home truths (such as the role of the main parties in whipping up anti-immigrant feeling, the woeful shortage of affordable housing, under-resourced public services despite higher taxes etc.) that might put off some Labour councillor from endorsing the campaign, but will actually get to the heart of why the BNP have gained in support and work towards combatting that.
And we do need a new party, of and for workers, campaigners and trade unionists, partly to undercut the BNP, but mainly to provide real hope, that a better world can be achieved through campaigning and struggle, not the hope of voting for some numpty who's going to cut services while increasing his/her own slice of the pie.
Jim wrote:
"And we do need a new party, of and for workers, campaigners and trade unionists, "
of course, we need a new party, and whilst that monumental task is being built by the horny handed sons of toil the fascists will potentially grow and gain strength
not wishing to be a Jeremiah but for the past 40 years various groupings (tens of thousands of middle-class intellectuals and suchlike) have been endeavouring to build their particular grouplet, sects without much success, but it's a fine idea
and if you need a reminder about the nature of the British Left then I recommend John Sullivan's work, http://www.whatnextjournal.co.uk/pages/Sectariana/Pub.html
the truth is that by the time a sizeable Left of Labour party is created we'll probably be into the next century, and along the way the BNP may have grown considerably
so rather than waiting for some programmatic expression of political wills, it would be far better to decide a shortened antifascist activists agenda, which those non-party type people could agree to and participate in
remembering that not everyone would want to belong to a Party, but may be able to contribute to the struggle against fascists
as for my usage of the terms: very broad coalition's of antifascists, I should have perhaps explain
I favour vigorous activism against the BNP, not signing people up to some bland "oh, ain't the BNP nasty" agenda as wonderful as that is
by very broad, I mean, including activists from a wide selection of the Left not just that dominated by the SWP and their allies, who have managed to piss off enough people over the years, that would include Left of Labour, Tankies, Trots, nonaligned, feminists, anarchists, etc but not necessarily relying on the great and good that's hardly going to work, as Jim ably points out
we've been here before, in the 1970s and we should use some of the ideas of that period.
Speaking as someone who became politically active through the anti-fascist struggles of the 1970s, I think we are both worse off and better off than in the 70s.
The NF at that time had a significant middle class following with links to the Tory right and with individuals keen to set up private armies and people who still remembered and wanted to recreate Empire. The left then was more capable of unity in action, more self-confident and closer to working class struggles.
Today the BNP has real roots in certain working class communities on the edge of urban centres in a way the NF would have dreamt of, but at the heart of those urban centres I don't think it can mobilise mass racism among young people in the way the Front could do.
The left has got smaller and smaller but is still capable of dividing itself into more fragments. And far left groups standing against each other lose us credibility among those who are looking for solutions, looking for ways forward.
We don't have to like each other or agree on finer points of theory in order to make a tactical arrangement out of mutual interest to avoid standing against each other. Young people looking for political engagement are more frequently joining or voting Green and I think the Greens are gradually moving leftwards but you can see perfectly well why they don't want to ally with far left groups that are going to split and divide amongst themselves.
Of course for orthodox lefties (and that' my roots) we know the Greens are weak on agency and the role of working class struggle - but they also have strengths - internationalism, commitment to proper democracy at all levels, and a grasp of the wider environmental issue that no serious socialist can ignore.
As well as building up a solid broad based anti-fascist movement that is not a front for one group, we need in the longer term to look at ways of cementing a red-green movement to address ordinary people's concerns and also mobilise the politically disaffected and disenfranchised to engage with political struggle.
Of course, if the "Marxist left" was in any sense serious about Marxism, it would draw the logical conclusion from its "decades-long failure to cohere a political organisation with any implantation in the social class it purports to represent" - and, presumably, abandon Marxism.
R E Farnos - I think that you are wrong to conclude that a split left doesn't help the BNP. It helps the BNP because it makes the left alternative to the mainstream parties look like a Monty Python joke, meaning that protest voters are more likely to head to the BNP. Why isn't someone with some influence - like Serowatka or Crow - taking a lead by calling for a unity conference for the summer. The Respect debacle can't be the end of it.
I just love the way some people have the brass neck to come on this thread and slag off the Far Left for all its supposed failures. Who's mainly responsible for the rise of the BNP since 1997? The same people who were responsible for the rise of the NF in the 70s - a Labour Government pissing all over the working class. A Government of people in the same party you rejoined comrade Osler. Some of us are active at work and elsewhere to get over socialist class politics to pworking class people who are cynical and demoralised about the world. What are you experts on the Far Left doing? Fuck off.
Doug - great swearing. Proof of a genuine class fighter. Maybe we should all compare our relative records in fighting for the class. Or compare penis sizes.
Well done for your hardwork - but don't you find the fact that there are 3 left lists in the London elections worth talking about? Or the fact that the SWP chooses to stand against the SP in Lewisham?
Its revealing that much of debate here is about organisation and process, rather than perhaps what issues the left, (such as it is), should be tackling, what issues are the public concerned about?, not what the ‘vanguard’ think they should be concerned about. Many issues have been totally ignored by the left of all types: those on benefits, disabled people, pensioners, people in the private rented sector, afer all, in an age of anti-discrimination, how can decent left wing people allow landlords to tell people , No DHSS! how can they tolerate that? It’s not just a list, it’s symbolic of the 19th C workerist ideology of the far left, that leaves so many excluded.
Yet, even with this ideology, many of the left are now very ‘comfortable off ‘ indeed, and so just like Tony and Brown, that foreign adventures seem to appeal more than the politics of everyday life. Then of course, when we do (as we should at times) take on international issues we have the constant ‘spectacles’, the frequent marches from A to B which result in demoralisation and apathy. How could a possible movement of hundreds of thousands dwindle to a hard core of hundreds, people are not layers(dreadful term) as people on here frequently identify, but they were ready for something a bit more radivcal optimistic, genuine not faux. Yet, what they got, was gerrymandering useless hyper activity for no real purpose and often even abuse, if they did not stay on message(ask Anna) I also have to say with twenty tears of activity on the left, many of the people involved are now not always very pleasant people, perhaps it’s the nature of the beast, hyper activity and a party line can corrupt even the most compassionate
Dave also alluded to concerns about immigration, a shibboleth of the far left, yet it is causing difficulties in many areas of the U.K Immigration is causing problems, creating divisions, etc and one can argue , the BNP are just exploiting these grievances. The new A/F alliances advocated by Mod, how would they work, would they deny peoples everyday experiences, a sure way to be ignored, this is not the 80’s, I also think that the No Borders approach advocated by many leftist is just not feasible and is certainly not popular even with many progressive people, no matter how hard the NB activists shout.yet, al look at the Converntion of the Left in September shows that the default position is NB, how will people who want a managed I/S feel, if they speak out at the event.
I know I haven’t mentioned some of the other main culprits , Neo-Labour Thatcherism, a lack of resources and the supine Union bosses, but anyway, my main point is get back to basics, Iraq and other F/P issues are important, but so is housing, the NHS, crime, inequality, welfare cuts, etc. Maybe a new organisation will come out of this process, already new groups are forming like the London Coalition against Poverty to face the new conditions and the growing inequality and poverty that emits from 21st C neo-liberalism., etc.
I agree that the concentration on process and organisation is basically a diversion. Whether to stand or not in elections is really not the question - that it is, is a measure of the disorentation of the left in general.
Immigration is causing grievances, but it is also significantly undermining the fascists in much of the inner cities. I was struck by the opinion poll attached to the BBC's "White workers" season, which showed that only half of "White workers" thought that immigration was a problem. Given the propaganda onslaught directed against immigrants this is a pretty amazing result I thought and very positive.
My view is we need a political reorientation of the left, and until we have that all organisational proposals are doomed.
Just to clarify - I meant organisational proposals for "new" parties of this or that sort.
yes a broad anti-fascist organisation is a good idea, one that is democratic and not a front for any party.
but how broad should it be?
it needs to, at the very least, take up arguments about housing, immigration, the nhs and so on. not just take them up, but do so in class terms.
a liberal 'nazis are bad' campaign with lib dems, tories and apolitical trade union leaders who want an excuse to do nothing will not work.
so i prefer a united front of the left and workers' organisations, around a programme that puts forward class arguments against the fascists lies.
i think that uaf is too soft and liberal and does not really force the trade union leaders or labour left to do anything serious to combat the fascists.
comradely greetings,
ks
Why should socialists "follow Galloway" in any sense?
He never led the fight in the party for socialist policies and nor has he led the fight against government policies.
Anyway, if you wanted MPs to leave the Labour Party to "help build a socialist alternative", how come
Galloway waited till he was expelled, and did not join the Socialist Alliance that was being built but
established his own party with the help of the SWP whom he has since ditched for their pains?
Has there been anything more ridiculous than the way people who were fawning on Left MPs to get them to meetings and campaigns one week were dismissing the same MPs as 'Blairite' the following week just because they were still in the Labour Party and Respect wanted to run its election campaign?
Has there been anything more pathetic than left-wing groups, including tried militants like Alan Thornett, sfter helping sell Respect to doubting Alliance members, now scrambling over each other to take the SWP's place, and swallowing
all the principles they mouthed if necessary to stay with Galloway? Who, in case we forget, is not standing anybody in the London elections, so is supporting Labour anyway.
Well done Duncan Money - a fascist agrees with you... again.
Why don't you give him a guest feature on your blog. It's little more than a soap box for the far right as it is.
Fascism is the most dynamic and forward-thinking poltical philosophy for our times. Marxism, on the other hand, is dead and exhausted. It impaled itself on its own cowardice and dishonesty. As you point out, it is sweeping across Europe and for a reason: a crippling breakdown in law and order and cultural norms brought about by the biggest wave of migration from the third world to Europe in history.
This is happening in the context of a conscious Islamic fascist politics that intends to take over Europe. So no surprise most people are now seeing the Marxist solution of giving grants and easy passage, either naive or treason.
My dream has always been for Britain to be like social democratic Sweden at its height, a country that was fair and prosperous and saw its international obligations through trade and aid. But sadly, social democrats have also added the mission to import the third world into the first, and are not taking responsbility for the chaos this causes.
Actually Jonah I was responding to the whole slant of this thread blaming the Far Left for not addressing issues that have led to the increase in the BNP vote, pointing out that we don't spend all our time in sectarian manoevring and ignoring the 'real' issues. Let's examine the facts. The Far Left was instrumental in defeating the NF, the poll tax and getting a million on the streets against the war. Also, for ears now we're involved in campaigns around housing and the NHS, supporting workers in various trade union struggles. With some honourable exceptions the Labour Left have spent the last few decades going through the whole internal party rigmarole in getting 'left' policies passed at national conference, a complete waste of time and effort as we've been pointing out ad nauseum. The fact that our influence at the moment is minimal is not mainly because of our navel-gazing, it's because decades of defeats and attacks have left the working class weak and demoralised, due in no small measure to the actions of the Labour Party and the ineptitude and blindness of the Labour Left.
Anyone with any rational grasp of politics knows that Galloway's communalist politics have in fact created many of the problems we see in the East End. I was interested to hear about the Christian People's Alliance gaining support from Afro-Carribeans partly in response to the likes of Gallows and the Islamicist racists he works with.
Our movement suffers in fact at root not from this however, but from the reality of life today, which invovles catching the lot of us in debt, bills, and rididiculous house prices.
Simon,
Yeah, I've got loads in common politically with the far right, that's why they love me so much.
Grow up.
Simon,
Actually, on reflection that's fucking insulting.
I don't think I've ever met or corresponded with you and I spent a considerable amount of time trying to halt and reverse the rise of the far right in Britain yet you've basically just accused me of being a fascist.
It does not bode well that lefties are tearing themselves apart here while almost taking it for granted that the BNP will gain at least one seat in London.
@Scatteringfutilewarnings: Not sure what your politics are, but you realise that's not a good thing, right?
Yes, I know we all hate lefties. But come on, we don't REALLY think that fascists are a preferable alternative.
It is not a good thing, but watching lefties kick nine bells out of each other on blogs, and worse, present rival election lists while the fash go to the polls more or less united makes me feel like I am a bit of a Cassandra (even my pseudonym expresses a certain "why am I bothering" feeling).
Its not certain the BNP will get a seat in any event. They key is ensuring a high turnout for the GLA list seats, and the Ken/Boris/Sian/Brian show, if i am correct, has energised londoners to vote for once- as well as an understanding that not voting is a vote for the BNP.
With a 50% turnout, the BNP will be defeated.
I heard from a member of Len Duvals office -(the GLA member for Lewisham & Greenwich) this week that they are very depressed and it would appear the Labour vote has gone into meltdown -they are even concerned about holding his seat! This was demonstrated in Labour loosing a previously solid seat in Lambeth a few weeks ago and the BNP holding onto a seat in Redbridge-Harold Hill. If this is correct, then if Ken gets back in he is likely to face an assembly with very few Labour members! This suggests to me we may be seeing the BNP gaining more than 1 seat -they could be heading for 2-3. We could also see the left, despite being divided also gaining seats. Respect and Respect Renewal gaining a seat!
As was demonstrated a few weeks ago, the GLA is actually a toothless body; it was set up so that all the power resides in the Mayoralty. It doesn't really matter who sits on the council, except for properganda purposes of course.