union bureaucracy This is the bureaucracy which crowned Kin- nock, defeated Benn, fuels the witch hunt, and betrayed the miners, the healthworkers, the printworkers, ASLEF and a string of other groups of workers in struggle. This means that any left wing which wants to organise to defeat the has to organise its forces for a political fight with this liamentary and Labour Party functionaries. which is overwhelmingly the most powerful. right wing, in the unions and in the Labour Party, This may not seem a particularly original or profound point to make, but it is far from common coin in the Labour left or even the aimed at laying the ghost of the hard left by expelling the Militant editorial board - has turned into an unending cycle, in the hands and so the cycle goes on - playing straight couldn't stop this diabolical vicious circle if of the Tory press and the labour right. The more the NEC disciplines the left, the more the Labour leadership denounces the hard left, - leading to more disciplinary cases, into the hands of the Tories. Such is the right wing domination of the NEC, that Kinnock This then is the situation as we approach leaders have created a situation of working the general election. The Labour and TUC class defeats, which have weakened Labour. Kinnock's political collapse has further un- dermined Labour and strengthened the Al- liance. The situation is being set up for a likely return of a Tory government with an even harsher anti-working class programme to implement, or at best for a hung parlia- BRITAIN Kinnock was elected as Labour leader, it posed the Labour and trade union bureau- cracy with a choice: they could either fight to make the strike victorious and thus bring Thatcher, or they could try for a lace-saving compromise designed to ensure too openly. For the 'new realist' right wing of a Labour government if the TUC bureaucracy the prospect of a victory for Scargill's stand was far more frightening Thatcher was brought down - was at one defeat while not revealing their scabbing role Kinnock - recognising the dynamic that would be unleashed within the workers' movement and the demands that could be gether they consciously worked for the defeat of the strike; and by doing so they paved the politics, the isolation of other groups of for Labour's own defeat at the polls. If with the TUC and the hard-line right. To- way for a deepening of reaction in British workers engaged in struggle, and ultimately Thatcher, strengthened by the defeat of the miners, does win a third term, she can thank Willis and the TUC for their than a Tory victory over the miners.
As a general election has approached, the an enormous reactionary offensive. Almost daily the gov- ernment announces new reactionary mea- sures to compound its attack on the working Key to this was the struggle at News Interna- ional, a mini re-run of the miners' strike, with the same hopeless showing from the Labour leadership. And after the failure of the fight against ratecapping and abolition of class if elected to a third term of government. the Met-counties, the Tories launched their offensive against 'loony lefties' in local gov- ruling class has cranked up assistance.
Danse baran Railer ing to the trade unions largely at the level of Marxist movement. On the one hand we find establishing links with a few more or less sympathetic bureaucrats, and evading the question of organising forces at the base of the labour movement to fight for a class ceptions which belittle or deliberately ignore Socialist Ourlook No 1 May/June 1987 the leadership of the Campaign Group relat- struggle programme against the bureau- cracy. On the other hand we find widespread ultra-left conceptions of seeking only to or- ganise the trade union "rank and file', con- the political fight against the union bureaucrats, leaving workers in struggle vul- nerable to manoeuvres and sabotage from The fact is that any successful political fight against Kinnock and the TUC bureau- cracy must base itself upon systematic work ing the organisation of oppositional broad lefts' and rank and file groupings as well as a at every level in the trade unions — embrac- their own leaders. left gave support all the way to the miners" ment with a greatly strengthened Alliance contingent, in which the Tories will most Readers of this magazine will be familiar with the growth of the Bennite left after 1979, and the way in which after 1983 it split up between the hard left, including the Cam- paign group of MPs, and the soft left includ- One clear expression of this division was the fact that the Campaign Group and the hard strike, wanted a fight to the end over rate capping, and have stood out against Kin- nockism. But the hard left has to recognise its own inadequacies if it is to prepare for the next period. This is not a matter of factional hairsplitting: it is vital that a new strategy is seriously debated if victories are to be ing Tribune, the LCC and Ken Livingtone. Planning the next five years? The crisis of the Labour left likely be the largest party. ernment, again with no counter-attack from So rapid and complete has been the collapse of the Labour leadership in front of the ruling class offensive that it has had the dramatic consequence of strengthening the Alliance at Labour's expense. This is a heavy indict- ment of Kinnockism, because, despite all its support from the majority of the media, the Thatcher government is still basically unpo- pular. Its electoral support is dangerously confined to the more prosperous parts of the unemployment have not hit so hard, and Under Kinnock's leadership, Labour has suffered the fate of losing out to the Alliance because its leadership is 'neither fish nor No one should underestimate the extent to since 1983 has worsened this situation. What country and sectors of the population - where industrial decline has not immediately fowl', neither capable of providing the image of a safe bourgeois alternative to the capitalist class, nor of galvanising the mass of workers, women, black people and youth behind a socialist alternative they could have confi- which the witch hunt in the Labour party was conceived by some in the party leader- ship as a 'surgical operation' in 1983 - Handing votes to the Alliance led to lower living standards. sectors and
mean fighting for the implementation of If the political situation drastically changes and a Labour government is elected, then a Kinnock government would be a right wing government which would pursue many of the attacks on the working class which the Tories have initiated. The trade union bureaucracy government and head off workers' struggles. The task of the left would be straightforward enough — to counterpose socialist policies to those of the government, to champion the struggles of the working class and the op- pressed, and to break up any attempt to impose a new 'social contract. It would also radical Labour Party policies — like nuclear disarmament - now ditched by Kinnock. However, a Labour government is the least If Labour loses, whatever government emer- government, then this will give rise to two the working class will be dramatic and vi- state will be further Linked to that, the right will go on a huge tempting to scapegoat the left for the electoral defeat, and witch hunt socialists both in the unions and the Labour Party. The left must ges, either a coalition or more likely a Tory First, the attacks on cious. Anti-trade union laws will be streng- dismantled, privatisation will proceed apace. new offensive in the labour movement, at- simultaneously likely outcome of the next election. would attempt to create 'unity' deals with both these attacks. If Labour were to win develop a strategy socialist perspectives, but a further stage of If the Labour left is also in crisis, it is tion puts in question the strategy used to fight for the traditional aspiration of successive uine mass support. This is exactly what the Campaign Group has failed to provide or even recognise as necessary. We must go Everyone admits that there is a 'crisis of the left'. But different people mean different things by this all-embracing term. So what and who are in crisis? From an historical point of view, the crisis of the Kinnock leadership is not a crisis of socialism or the crisis of social democratic reformism in Britain. It is precisely because the capitalist crisis is so advanced in Britain that the political crisis of social democratic reformism because Labour's precarious electoral posi- BRITAIN beyond the old 'Bennism' to get it. GROUP Facing the left's crisis VICT OIN TO MINERS Campaign Forum', which was to be the vehicle of a left wing fight-back, does not exist. It is a formula in someone's head, not a ighting reproupment of the left. This is not an omission of forgetfulness or bad organisa- tion. It stems, in our opinion, from the failure to understand that the alliance created around the Benn deputy leadership cam- paign, which included a section of the left bureaucracy, cannot be repeated. It was the product of a very particular conjuncture. It will not be repeated, outside of a massive The move to the right inside the unions is savage. NUPE, which opposed the the expul- sion of Militant in the early stages, is now, under the leadership of Tom Sawyer, leading despite having thrown in his lot with the witch-hunters is losing control of the TGWU fight inside the official movement itself. CTORY TO MINER SPORT FILMANSTONE WOMEN'S the pack of witch-hunters. example illustrates working class fightback. Lanca
Our starting point has to be the fact that with trade war and global recession in the wings, British capitalism is still in enormous crisis: any incoming government will need to launch major new attacks on the working class, to further weaken working class organ- isation, cut public spending and boost the In the aftermath of a general election ralisation would sweep through the labour movement; the perspective of 'wait for a Labour government' would have gone out of fight against the new ruling class attacks? It is of course impossible to work out in advance the situation - without the perspective of a tions of the working class would be in a against redundancy, speed up and cuts - or working class How should the 'hard left' respond? Over the past five years the Labour Party hard left has responded with financial solidarity and general political support. This is important but not enough as a strategy. The left has to and an extension of its organisation inside which Labour did not win, a wave of demo- the window, and many workers would see no credible political perspective. Would workers opinion there would be one major factor in Labour government in the near future, sec- situation in which they either struggled they would face immediate defeat. Despite the odds this could lead, in the medium term broaden its horizons towards political inter- vention giving a lead to workers' the precise line of development. rate of exploitation and profit. The miners' strike of 1984-5 changed the political landscape labour lefts — a 'left Labour government' whole perspective has now come slap up against its main contradiction - the sabot- age of the bureaucracy and the right wing, who would rather plunge the party into turmoil and lose elections than allow a rad- ical Labour government. The fight for a Labour government which introduces social- Despite Marxism Today and the 'new revi- sionists' of all stripes, in our view there are still tens of thousands of activists in the unions, Labour Party and mass campaigns who seek a socialist way forward. Their crisis, if crisis it be, is one of perspective, of seeking a practical way forward. The answer to that crisis is only secondarily at an ideolo- gical level: it is mainly a question of strategy. In order to give the outlines of what such a working class socialist strategy might be, we ist measures has to combat that sabotage. introducing bold socialist measures. have to look at the situation we face. to the hard right wing. Arthur Scargill is fighting for his survival in the NUM against a the Communist Party and the so-called soft left'. 'New realism' is sweeping the board as new orthodoxy: the EETPU and AEU leaderships have become pace-setters rather As a result, any strategy based on attempt- ing to fight back against the right wing manoeuvres inside the union bureaucracy, or by organising inside the The hard left has to find forms of organisa- socialist politics inside the unions. What is organisation spanning both the Labour Party and the unions in the knowledge that this will come straight away into conflict with the The fight must be aimed at securing rank and file participation and gen- line-up including the old-guard right wing, Labour Party alone, is doomed to defeat. tion able to take forward class struggle and needed is a forum of socialist education and Socialist Outlook No 1 May/June 1987 than pariahs inside the TUC. bureaucracy. Philip Gordon/ Reflex
be carried into all the debates in the Labour left. The Campaign Group leadership in the tion at the base, both in the party and in the trade union leaders is something which has to last analysis has dithered about real organisa- unions. Of course, the left would come under sharp attack if it began really organising at every level of the labour movement - but it cannot evade or deflect that attack by refus- The policy of manoeuvering for support from 'left' union leaders and avoiding break- ing links with the bureaucracy by not invad- ing 'their' territory is no longer viable. The situation in the NUM, where the CP and the semi-Kinnockites are besieging Scargill, shows the weakness of relying on attempting to win positions without building up left ing to organise. right wing would like nothing better than for the hard left to walk out of the Labour Party, leaving the field free for unfettered control by the bureaucracy. The stifling of the left - or would be an enormous turnaround in British politics and a blow against the working class which still shows no willingness to break in any numbers from the Labour Party to any of the self-styled left alternatives. It would be quite wrong to abandon any ground to the right wing while a fight can still be carried To continue its fight, the hard left has to re-evaluate its whole strategy of fighting the bureaucracy. So long as the major trade its voluntary desertion from the fight - BRITAIN the trade unions. We return to this point After an election which Labour loses, in addition to groups of workers who will have no alternative but to struggle, there will be other important social sectors under attack istance. Sharper attacks on democratic rights, and fresh attacks on the black popula- youth, single parent families in all sectors of from whom we can expect prolonged res- tion, women's rights and the lesbian and gay communities will continue. Equally, there is a trend in Britain today towards the creation of a huge section of the population, maybe 20-25 percent, which is being completely impoverished. this includes of course the unemployed, many sections of black people, the working class and other groups. The
organisation at the base. A concerted appeal by the Campaign Group for a real co- ordination of the left in the whole labour ponse. In the absence of such an appeal the hard left must get on and organise in the Finally, there are two aspects of the left's approach which cannot be ignored. The ideological fight throughour the labour movement against the right wing cannot be given up. We have to continue to refute the whole gamut of right wing ideas, from Kin- nock to Marxism Today, through stepping up socialist propaganda and education at every movement could meet an enormous Fighting the ideological battle level of the movement. unions the best it can. unions remain bastions of the right wing, the left in the Labour movement will continue to be on the defensive. That doesn't mean that the fight for socialist policies in the Labour party should be abandoned, but it does mean that it has to be linked with the struggle to organise and build a fighting left inside the socialist ideas today, the more Serious work in the unions must include: 'the more one defends basic advance in the future? we create the basis for among black youth, often takes the form of anger and despair in these groups, especially explosive outbursts of anger, and we can The left has to find the means to reach out those of the labour movement, and to demonstrate that it is the militant section of the labour movement which is in fact the best liberties, which are under attack. The use of the police and the courts, to stifle freedom of to these groups, to link their struggles to fighter for the rights and interests of the oppressed. Special emphasis in this must be put on the fight for fundamental democratic expression and to baton down on workers struggle, black people and youth is becoming all pervasive in our society. Recent events, from the Broadwater Farm frame-up trials, to the Zircon events, show the extent of this. expect this to continue.
The 'new' revisionists who attack basic who rehash very old ideas - the ideas of socialist ideas such as class struggle, nationa- lisation, workers control, and international- ism, are not 'new' thinkers at all, but people social democratic, and even liberal, reform- Yet the left often gives the impression that it is unconfident about fighting for basic socialist ideas, or appears apologetic for men- tioning the 'old' ideas of class struggle and The more we defend basic socialist ideas today, even against the stream and the "fashion' of leftish academic circles, the more we create the basis for socialist renewal and Secondly, the struggle for a political alter- native to Kinnockism in the labour move- ment cannot avoid the task of fighting for the • attempts wherever possible to build left inside the unions (in some cases this will mean broad lefts or rank and file bodies like the Yorkshire Miners campaign group; in others more developed political groupings like the Socialist Teachers a more rigorous and determined attempt to intervene in workers' struggles, raising demands, tactics and policies which can ass- ist workers to win struggles and combat the warning here. It took place in the centre of • taking the day-to-day struggles for jobs, union rights and against speed-up into the The News International dispute, following on the bitter lessons of the miners' strike is a discussions inside the Labour Party. bureaucratic leaders; opposition currents The left must be prepared to take bold initiatives in response to this, including link- ing up on specific issues with broad sectors of liberal democratic opinion who are alarmed We can expect a frenzied attack on the left, The crisis inside the Labour Party will proceed apace if Labour loses the election. more severe than anything we have seen. Maybe the political polarisation will lead to some of the 'soft left' breaking away from Kinnock - but the main feature of the situation will be a sharp polarisation to the right. A response to this could well be for some sections of the hard left to lose heart in the fight inside the Labour Party and to seek solutions outside the party. This will be more of a problem as more and more radicalised by these developments.
ism. The continuity, coherence and clarity of most consistent ideas which guide the struggles of the working class and the op- pressed - and these are the ideas of Marx- the fight for a socialist alternative depends on forging a serious Marxist current, rooted in embracing the struggles and most militant of the oppressed. At a time of retreat and crisis in the left, this Our magazine aims to provide a political focus and to discuss the essential politics for of analytical and political approach that is vital to equip militants in the trade unions and the Labour Party for the coming battles Socialist Outlook No 1 May/June 1987 such a current. We intend to provide the kind against the various wings and layers of the has to be said loud and clear. the labour movement and London, where the Labour left is strong; but although some sections of the left supported the dispute and even turned up on the picket lines, there was little systematic attempt to link up politically with those printworkers who were looking for alternative tactics and politics from those offered by Dean, Dubbins and the Morning Star wing of the Communist Such a link was not a far-fetched idea: tworkers who became critical of both their national and London leaderships and could have been drawn into serious debate through joint work with local support groups. They were looking for allies and alternatives: they The necessity of confronting the right wing there were increasing found precious few. layers of workers, youth and especially black people refuse to join the rightward-moving Labour Party, and build their struggles and The onus is on the hard left to fight within the organised labour movement for the kind of politics and initiatives that can attract and win the confidence of these radicalised forces, whose energy and committment are essential to the fight for class struggle and socialist However to turn to these forces at the expense of continuing the essential political fight inside the unions and the Labour Party mistake, which should be combatted: it would do nothing to ship facing the working class as a whole. The resolve the fundamental problems of leader- policies against the ruling class offensive. would be a tremendous campaigns outside it.
ficials have already regularly announced that ists! TASS is a union that is built around its The writing is already on the wall for the after the merger they will "deal with the left. TASS NEC members and full-time of- history of a Communist Party leadership