Thatcherism: the coming of the strong state Has the left underestimated the extent to which state power in Britain is being transformed by Thatcher? PHIL HEARSE argues that it has, and that there is a drift towards a new form of authoritarianism, with some similarities to what Trotsky called bonapartism'.
arenas of formal consultation with the trade union bureaucracy. Even more striking, however, is the style of government which goverments of the 1960s and 1970s continued to take votes in cabinet meetings. This is not the case with Thatcher, who increas- ingly even ignores cabinet meetings. She has developed a web of civil servants, through which all power is uniquely concentrated ing the metropolitan councils, and attempting to crush all levels Wielding its huge parliamentary majority when necessary, the Thatcher goverment has swept aside with contempt many of the Thatcher has organised. Tony Benn's recent diaries show that semi-official committees, including some senior ministers and of local government as institutions dispensing any real power. and even the official Labour opposition. T H tions of the parliamentary form with dictatorial government, in on 'bonapartism' (a term derived by analogy with the French December 1851) reveal this concer with the gradations between In order to make an assessment of whetber Thatcherism is a ly what the Thatcherite project is about, for the economy, civil "monetarism' of the early 1980s to become a huge project of reac- He argued strongly that there can be many different combina- which parliament is a "fig leaf" for executive power. His writings regime of Louis Bonaparte, who seized power in a coup d'etat in straightforward bourgeois democtacy and the drift to dictator- new form of state authontananism, we have to assess just exact- Thatcherism has gone well beyond the economic society and the state.
coercion and consent, and that no 'perfect" bourgeois democracy, also be true that when the right to strike is restricted, when legal rights circumscribed, you have something otber than just a 'normal" bourgeois The comrades of Socialist Newslener bave described it as semi- bonapartist dictatorial rule and bour- geois democracy. I think their charac- terisation is as good as any. But cept that what is being put in place is a statc apparatus, state powers, and "stronger" from a bourgeois view- point than at any time this century, Thatcher has always had strong. links with ultra-right wing factions in the Tory party and on its edges. At the leadership. Thatcher's election cam- paign was masterminded by an ultra- right ideologue called Robert Moss. well known for his association with the Freedom Association. These people always bad a much more right wing agenda than the fomunal elec- tion prgramme of the Tories in 1979 Now it is quite true that all forms of capitalist rule combine in which all the formal legal and political rights of the masses general- ly asenbed to this form of zovemment has ever actually existed. But it must are whittled away, and when even the right to public assembly is severely - something between whatever tenn we use, we have to ac- governmental forms qualitatively time of ber clection to the Tory outside of war time. bonapartism" democracy- Norman Tebbit: architect of anti-union laws volves dismantling the central props of the post-1945 consensus tionary social engineering. This counter-revolutionary strategy in- TO: Carlos Guarita/Reflex PHO and the code of conduct will further of unanimous jury verdicts, the right. - the mixed economy and the welfare state. It also involves downgrading the role of social democracy and the trade union burcaucracy as partners scheme bas also necessitated a counter-revolution in democratic rights and the form of goverument. Let us first just list some of the areas in which democratic rights have been • Trade union legislation has banned many forms ofeffective strike action, The formal right to belong to a trade union has come under attack for the • Judicial censorship of the media. and informal censorship of the mecha through govemment intervention in the boradcasting authorities, has in- • The right to demonstration and public assembly has been severely curtailed through new police powers • A reactionary, almost feudal, poll will drive many poorer people off the • The powers of the police and judiciary have been increased in many fields, including the abolition This counter-revolutionary weaken the legitimate right to strike. tax is being introduced which electoral register altogether. and public order acts. creased drastically- of the government. thrown back; first time.
goverment which ideologically represents the ultra-right of web of political organisations and associations which are much Reccut revelations about the role in the Tory party of bodies like the Commitice for Free Britain and the International Freedom privatisation pressure group PULSE in local goverment, make one thing ahsolutely clear. This govemment is not only to the right of Ted Heath in 1970-73, Today power is concentrated in a The ultra-right in government works together with a whole more serious, are more tapped into the centres of power, than fas- cist organisations like the National Front. Dictatorship in Britain will not come through these marginal groups, but through much Federation, and of semi-official Tory bodies like the pro- SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 11 Docember 1988/January 1989 British politics. • Additional openly anti-lesbian and gay legistation, clause 28, who is taking on more and more of an all-powerful, bonapartist. to silence, and the automatic right to legal representation during • New legislation aimed at restricting the rights of black people, These attacks on democratic rights are however just part of the picture. What is unique about Thatcherism is the drive to con- centrate power in the hands of central government, and within central government in a tiny clique of people around Thatcher, The centralisation of power is of course illustrated by the at- tempt to destroy whole areas of potential counter-power -abolish- has been introduced for the first time since 1957. the 1988 immigration act, has been introduced. interrogation. Page 26 role.
This means - without sacrificing the political independence of the workers" movement - building the broadest possible alliances with democratic public opinion, including in the Liberal democrats. SDP and the Church, and even Tory 'wets" in defence of democratic rights. Many sections of the intelligentsia and mid- die class can be mobilised around specific questions, especially Second, tie left has to give thorough and relentiess aftention to raising issues involving breaches of democratic rights- includ- ing issues which are difficult" ones, like the litting up and vicious Third, the left has to constantly pay attention to and denounce the actions of the political police (MIS and the Special branch). the state's paramilitary gaogster forces (SAS and armed instant police units) and the ordinary police and judiciary. In particular it means defence of those sections of the oppressed. especially black people, for whom the state has always been a Every time a bank robber is shot dead without challenge, a republican volunteer seat to prison for 25 years, or a television play is banned - and these things go unchallenged - it brings the sentences doled out to alleged Irish republican volunteers. the right of free speech in the media. epoch of a real dictatorship closer. *strong state" E tbey are major defeats which have transfonned the relationship of of the imposition of a 'strong state' there have to be major defeats - the miners' strike, the local goverment rate-capping struggle, Wapping, and a bost of otbers. These are not world historic de feats more well-connected groups inside and on the fringes of official The Tory ultra-right has strong links with co-thinkers in the United States. An Interuational Freedon Federation meeting at this year's Tory conference billed Lord Young, David Ian of the Perle, whose sinister visage can be regularly secu adorning BBC Many socialist activists would argue that before we can talk intlicted on the working class — like the coup d'etat which brought De Gaulle to power in France in 1958. I would make two points First, we have seen major defeats of the British working class like 1933 in Germany, or even of the scale of 1926 in Britain, But The second point I would make is that we should not see the transformation of government forms in capitalist society as neces- sarily involving a putsch or a coup. Hitler became the German Committee for a Free Britain, and Richard Perle, US foreign af- Two's New.wightprogramme, is touring the workd warning of the fairs and arms control "expert'. dubbed "the Prince of Darkness" Big Sister is watching you -and curbing what you watch! class forces and laid the basis for the strong state. dangers of Gorbachev. about this argument. Toryism. PHOTO: Piers Cavendish Fetex
1. See for example "Bonapartism and Fascism' in Writings 1934-5. Pathfinder 3. Peter Gowan has drawn my attention to the vogue for the writings of Carl Schmitt in ultra-right circles in the US and Britain. Schmitt was a leading Nazi jurist after 1933, hut before that was a right wing critic of Hitler, regarding the Nazis as opportunistic. Schmitt argued that the Nazis tended towards the iotal state" which politicised every sphere of civil society around the Nazi project He put forward the much more Thatcher-like notion of the 'absent state" - the de-politicisation of every instance of civil society and the concentration of the tion and the other demobilisation, the effect can end up being the same On "right to politics" in the state apparatan. While one involves political mobilisa Page 27 Schmitt see O. Lukach The Destruction of Reason (Merlin). 2. Guardian 4d November 1988 1974 edition, page 51. 4. As above, page 53- Footnotes enormous government power. And democratic freedoms are far from having heen finally crusted. But they will be, inexorably, have a strong state in place? The current situation of semi- chancellor legally in 1933, although be utilised his position at the apex of the state apparatus to organise the Nazi coup against par- In summary, theo, I would say that we have in Thatcherism the extraordinary concentration of government power which is. to a certain extent, "above the classes, although like every form But what are the conclusions of this assessment? Do we not run the risk of demoralising people by telling them that we already bonapartin* is far from being a finished dictatorship, despite unless the left is capable of mounting the boldest possible chal- SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 11 December 1988/January 1989 of bourgeois rule serving the ultimate interests of capital. lamentary democracy and the workers' organisations. lenge to Tory authoritananism.
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to the working class in the 26 countier wax economic development: the promise of state in- Valera policy of industrialisation behind high tariff walls and the resultant high emigration, Lemass, de Valera's successor as leader of ly. the historical basis of Fianna Fail's appeal In the 1950s Following the failure of the de the viahility of the "Free State" itself came into question, with sonie people questioning the value of the relative independence won from Fianna Fail was to open up the economy to ex- remal capital and go for a strategy of exported growth. The debt crisis marks the failure of that In: 1986, the national debt, at IRE25 billion, was the highest as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Europc. The ratio of debt to GDP was estimated at 145 per cent payments were cating up around one third of growing quite as quickly as it did in the period foreign hankers become creasingly nervous Britain after 1921. The responsc of Sean temative, so the political crisis is particularly compared with an EEC average of 60 per cent. Nearly half of the debt was foreign and interest tax revenue. The prescot situation is not much changed other than the fact thai the debt is not after 1981, At this level of borrowing the and the usual procedure is that no further loans are sanctioned until an International Monetary Though out of government since 1982. Haughey was blamed for the deht spiral. Before the 1987 election he assured the voters there was a 'better way' than the massive cuts proposed by the Fine Gael/Labour Coalition SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 11 December 1988/January 1989 policy. No section of the bourgooisic has an al- Fund (IMF) package is implemented. tervention to create employment. of encouraging stable bourgeois rule, north and south, has any hope of succeeding. The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) point to die recent export of capital from the south as evidence of the independence of the capitalist class. For both, the struggle over the 'national gle for socialism, though the SWP at least takes Tule north and south. Therefore the arguments question' is a blind alley away from the strug- The errors of both Now, however, from an economistic approach: the dominant capitalist interests in Ireland are understood mainly by the levels ofinvestment, whereas for the British the main problem in Ireland it a political onc namely the dangerous instability of hourgcois about whether the level of British investmentin Treland is the reason for the continuing British presence are side issues, What Is cmcial, and something for which the British have been will- ing over the past twenty years to pay an ever in- - whether a political solution is possible which will ensure a stable bourgeois rule in the long tems and not threaten any of the political, military oreconomic interests of imperialism in Nohody can doubt that there is an economic crisis in the south of Ireland. Unemployment is approaching 20 per cent; emigration is rising Lowards the levels of the 1950s when the depth of the crisis began to put the very existence of the stute into question, and the foreign debt per head of the population is ligher than that of is the most significant, not simply because of its size, but for what it represents for the miling creasing price. is the level of political stabdiry Brazil. Of all the indicators of the crisis, the debt class, and especially for Fianna Fail, the largest political party and one which has considerahle the side of those fighting British imperialism. electoral support from Irish workerx. Put erade: The Economist's Ireland survey earlier Hatchet*. This was a reference to the this rear was quite clear: 'No Cuts Charlie has become 'Haughey the economic policy in the twenty-six coun- fies since coming back to power in In addition, Haughey's willingness to give in to British demands on security and extradi- tion, raises again the question nf whether or not suing its own political interests independently of Britain. This is hy no means just an academic plications for the ubility of the British to defeat republicans and impose a stable bourgcois rule in the whale country. Recognising this and their relative weakness in the south, Sinn Fein have over the past lew years hegun to tackle that ter of the 26 county statelet and the method of assembling the forces on the island to bring south of Ireland could simply be read off from prime minister's about turn on the bourgeoisie in the south is capable of pur- problem because the development of' the politi- cal situation in the 20 counties has serious im- problem. Butthe discussion of the class charme- about a 32 county socialist repuhlic are at a very Much of the dehate so far has centred on economic questions, often in a very crude way as if the dominant capitalist interests in the the different levels of investment. On the basis of changing trade and investinent patters the Workers' Party denies that the British are any longer the main problem in Ireland such is the level ofUS, Japanese and West German invest- ment. The southern bourgcoisic are denounced as historic Fulures for the lack of industrial development and as backward reactionaries, March 1987.
----- pull-quotes on this page ----- Crisis in Dublin The political and economic crisis facing the Dublin government has deeped considerably. Here, DAVID COEN. looks at the history of the twenty-six county statelet and its economy, and questions whether the British strategy Queuing for work in Dublin
especially the wing of it which has dominated the 26 counties politically, is that its basis of failed in the 1950s, the very existence of the rierscould not 'grow' native industry then Fian- na Fail under Lemass were pragmatic enough to make a U-tum and positively encourage foreign investment. The contract was renewed; Fianna Fail support in urban areas war con- solidated on the basis of job creation and high Now, however, the post 1958 strategy has vested nor borrowed can provide the impetus support within the working class is croding. When the previous efforts at industrialisation state was called into question. If high tariff bar- run into the sands and neither foreign capital in. state spending. successfully resisted all efforts at development average is about the sume (63 percent) as it was was that because of its natural advantages in It might be argued that whatever the relevance of this class formation up to acces- sion to the EEC in 1973, the 'modemising" im- pulse from Europe would be too strong to resist and that u fundamentally changed scenario now cxisted, This is not correct. A recent article in the most progressively oriented bourgenis paper in the south, The Sunday Tribune, shows that GDP per head compared to the EEC One of the main advantages of EECentry ac- cording to its advocates in Ireland before 1973 EATURES which threatened their interests. - in 1972 or 196J. LL govemment. No sooner had he become leader of a minority Fianna Fail government than in 1988 will be three per cent down on 1987. In what are heing described as the biggest cuts for 30 ycars, nurses are heing racked, hospitals carly relirement and wages frozen. Further cuts are planned in social security and it appears Haughey was implementing cuts on a scale which made the opposition gasp. In money tems (before adjusting for inflation), spending closed, teachers and civil scrvants pushed into now thar there will be no need for an IMF Though Haughey is blamed for the "extravagance" of the borrowing and spending of the early 1980s, it is clear that the main tar- delcgation to visil