thought they were voting for when they plumped for the Christian Democrats in the general election, giving a landslide victory to the party that promised the swiftest reunification, and thus the earliest access to the consumer goods available in the West, and the promise of guaranteed democratic CORREL rights. More and more will begin to SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 26, July-August 1990
realise in painful fashion how false were the illusions that had been fostered by a combination of western propaganda (reinforced by the huge imperialist investment in the "showcase' of West Berlin), coupled with the chronic frustrations of life under grotesque bureaucratic mismanagement and repression.
The agonies of the jarring re-entry of East Germany into the capitalist market are the bitter effects of 40 years of monolithic stalinist rule. In 1936, Leon Trotsky, analysing the situation in the USSR, pointed to the irony that as a result of the bureaucratic degeneration of the Bolshevik party under Stalin, 19 years after the October Revolution:
"If ... a bourgeois party were to overthrow the ruling Soviet caste, it would find no small number of ready servants among the present bureaucrats, administrators, technicians, directors, party secretaries and privileged upper circles in general. A purgation of the state apparatus would, of course, be necessary ... But a bourgeois restoration would probably have to clean out fewer people than a revolutionary party."
(Leon Trotsky, Revolution Betrayed)
Now a similar conclusion is inescapable in the case of East Germany - where there never was a proletarian revolution, and where the expropriation of capital was carried through on workers' behalf by an already bureaucratised stalinist party under the protection (and direction) of the Red Army.
Decades of official marxism' have succeeded in submerging much of the strong socialist tradition of the working class of East Germany, and rallying many workers - at least during the election - behind the flags of West German capital. But as the consequences of monetary union and capitalist restoration begin to make themselves felt, there is every reason for confidence that ...MOVE ALONG, NOW!...
TE. GHERMANY W.GERE CHAPER
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Launch of a new witch hunt
EDITORIAL/UPDATE the best socialist traditions can be revived.
The tasks of marxists in this context centre on developing the independent strength and mass organisations of the working class, building an organised revolutionary party that will fight to ensure a complete break from the corrupting ideology of stalinism and the reformist pipedreams of social democracy. The battles to come will centre on defence of social welfare provisions, on defending and improving living standards, defending abortion rights, fighting against the alignment of the new Germany with the imperialist NATO alliance, and reducing the working week.
Demands from the marxist programme will take on a new relevance:
• the fight to defend living standards through wage increases linked to a sliding scale of wages to keep pace with the soaring cost of living:
• the fight against unemployment, raising the demand for the work available in the East to be divided between the whole workforce through a sliding scale of hours, reducing the working week without loss of pay; THATCHER'S GOVERNMENT enters its fourth year of office troubled by a host of scandals (Rover, nuclear power), failures (the crime wave, inflation), cock-ups (Poll Tax, food scares) and impending catastrophe (the NHS Act): the one problem they don't have is a serious opposition.
Neil Kinnock, already Britain's longest-serving leader of the op position, seems determined to keep this accolade for all time. As a result his shadow cabinet have made the whole of 1990 a "silly season", in which their main objectives seem to be to squander every opportunity to confront, attack and expose the Tories, and compile a manifesto that galvanises the least possible enthusiasm, thus reducing their own lead in the opinion polls.
In this at least they are succeeding. Opinion poll figures in The Guardian as we go to press show the Labour lead almost halved (from 24 percent to 14 percent) since March. Of course this is equivalent to a 110 seat majority, showing a real change in the political climate: but the trajectory is downwards. Meanwhile further moves are afoot to whittle it down, as the NEC - ably abetted by Frank Field, the deselected MP for Birkenhead - lines up a new witch hunt to funnel juicy headlines into the gutter press.
Labour leaders may tread softly, softly when tactfully pleading that they really don't intend to tax the rich; and they may struggle might and main to keep their formulae for an alternative to Poll Tax out of the public eye: but they show no such reserve when it comes to putting the boot into the left and expelling socialists.
In the aftermath of the NEC's attacks on the Anti Poll Tax Federation as simply a "Militant front", Frank Field's largely baseless dossier on his deselection has become the platform for a renewed NEC offensive against Militant. Now there are moves to proscribe Socialist Organiser - presumably for fear that SO supporter Lol Duffy might go one better than his near miss against the trend in 1987, and actually win Wallasey for Labour against sitting Tory Linda Chalker. The right wing and soft left formed a homogenous 28-vote block on the NEC to steamroller through these new steps towards a witch-hunt. Page 2
• the fight for workers' control and the opening of the books of the nationalised enterprises and thew capitalist firms in West Germany as part of the fight against privatisation.
Each of these demands offers a road of struggle and helps expose the incompatibility of workers" aspirations with the capitalist market, leading them to grasp the need for a planned, socialist есоnomy.They can also help forge links with the West German workers movement.
Just over the border in Poland, East German workers can see a glimpse of their immediate future, as living standards are slashed back and unemployment climbs relentlessly amid the ruins of bankrupt industries. Polish rail workers have been the first to fight back: others could soon follow.
In the experiences and struggles of the East European working class is the raw material of a new wave of revolutionary struggles to come: to find a way to fashion this into revolutionary leadership and programme is the task of marxists not only in Germany but internationally.
Unfortunately now we find softer sections of the left, using Tribune newspaper and Ken Livingstone as the standard-bearer, mounting their own new offensive against the hard left - notably in denouncing the new Labour Party Socialists campaign launched by the Socialist Movement, along with Labour Briefing and also this journal.
We are told that Kinnock is not the main enemy; we should unite against the Tories. Yet whenever class struggle forces have united against the Tories - whether it be behind the miners' strike or currently in the fight against the Poll Tax, they are denounced and attacked by Kinnock, and opposed by his political allies in the trade union bureaucracy!
Nor is it only the revolutionary left who are attacked: even Labour councillors who are implementing the Poll Tax, but who want to campaign to expose how high Poll Tax bills will be next year are being told by David Blunkett and Walworth Road that they should keep quiet - and begin making cuts now so that they avoid any danger of Poll Tax capping next year!
Livingstone's call for 'unity" is linked to an almost impossibly rosy view of Labour's latest policy pronouncements, and completely ignores the fact that the Kinnock right wing is busily trying to expel or neutralise any left wing voice whatever.
If the summer of 1990 is not to be a wasted "silly season", the main focus has to be not on a quixotic hunt for Labour Party unity, but on building the kind of campaigns - against Poll Tax, against the new NHS Act and its implications, on housing, education and a host of other issues where the Tories are vulnerable and a fighting lead from the labour movement could help build the struggle.
In this situation, those who do not side with the class struggle forces can wind up siding willy nilly with Kinnock and the new realists, making themselves into an obstacle that must be confronted before battle can commence with the main enemy.
Unity is a wonderful thing: but who you unite with is decisive. Unity in inaction is no use to the working class.
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 26, July-August 1990
Clarke's Bill heads for fiasco Whistling 'One wheel on my wagon", and with his eyes and ears firmly covered to keep out the obvious signs of op- position on all sides, Health Secretary Kenneth Clarke is steering his NHS "reform" bandwagon towards disaster. As he prepares to follow up the Royal Assent to his NHS and Community Care Bill by unveil- ing the first batch of hospitals to "opt out" as self-contained busi- nesses, many of the hospitals on his shortlist are already deep in while NHS financial crisis, managers at every Jevel are con fused, divided and demoralised. Eighteen months of flashy sat- telite teleconferences, secret briefings at top hotels, indoctrina- tion and arm-twisting by mini- sters and civil servants desperate to 'sell' the new reforms have failed to get over one basic obstacle: even the most bone- headed managers are becoming One reason general managers are becoming more anxious over opting out and the internal market is the publication of a new Depart- ment of Health letter spelling out the billing and settlement procedures. 'Buyers" will require not only a bill to be dispatched within a month of the treatment: in the case of accident and emergen- cy patients, they will require an estimate of the costs of treatment within a week of ad- mission, while in every case they will also require what is quaintly termed a "Goods received Note" giving addition- al information and certifying that treatment was given. SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 26, July-August 1990
UPDATE convinced that the 'internal new market system will not work. There are good reasons for these managers to be pes- simistic: The only • simulation exercise that has tested out the probable results *internal of the market', organised by pro-White Paper managers in East Anglia, produced chaos within the first year, worsening as time went on; • A key element in this "test- bed" failure was the shortfall in services, community care obstructing the discharge of patients from hospital: the Bill's plans for community care are a complete shambles, with many local authorities unprepared and under-resourced for their new responsibilities from next April. Paperchase Neither document alone will produce payment. But there is still no fixed procedure for DHAs to check on what treat- ment is actually given to a particular patient at a distant hospital. If the buyer' authority does not pay up, the worst that can happen to them is that after a two week delay the 'provider' unit can appeal to the "buyer's' regional health authority and apply for the transfer of an equivalent por- tion of the 'buyer's' cash limit. If readers can think of any- thing more complex or less businesslike, perhaps they could let us know.
ULALUNA HOSTTAL Clarke's desperate 'mailshol" to every home arises from huge opposition to the Act • The pricing and billing sys- tem for accident and emergency and other cases where patients are treated outside their own" district is a bureaucratic nightmare; • The Commons Public Ac- counts Committee has been told that the computer systems to function the 'internal market" will not be fully on stream for five years - but the Act will take ef- fect from next April; • The computer software for budget-holding GPs does not yet exist - and will prove exorbitant- ly expensive be- cause so few GPs will want to buy it. More managers are recognising that London's rela- tively expensive teaching hospi- tals - all of which lose at least a third of their funding under the Bill - are likely to prove "losers" in the internal market, as other health authorities send patients to cheaper altera- tive hospitals. The of methods financing and
John Harris/FL muzon payment are likely to leave some hospitals desperately short of cash within months of starting the new system;
• Top NHS managers are getting cold feet, doubting the abilities of their own subordinates, and fearful that the whole scheme could collapse into outright fiasco. Chief executive Duncan Nichol has begun calling not for radical change but a "steady state" after April, repor tedly worried that inadequate management skills mean the Bill will be implemented on a wing and a prayer"
• Nichol's deputy, Peter Griffiths, formerly gung-ho crusader for the White Paper, now wars health management: "Don't talk about business plans. Don't talk about marketing. Don't talk about market share and segmentation. Don't talk in the kind of commercial language that switches off every member of staff". Few NHS managers have talked of much else in the last 18 months.
• Damaging defections have begun. From the deck of Guy's Hospital, the flagship of opting out, the General Manager of Lewisham and North Southwark DHA, Dr Elaine Murphy, a onetime White Paper enthusiast, resigned last month in demoralisation, complaining to The Guardianthat: "At a time when waiting lists are growing ... and services are pretty stretched
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and not of a high quality in inner London, we are spending all our time as general managers engaged in implementing the White Paper, in the organisation of contracts and in shifting stuff around". There are rumours that other top general managers in London are considering resignation.
• Fourteen of the front-line contenders for opting out have already withdrawn their bids - including Kings College Hospital in Camberwell and Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow - leaving just 71 on Clarke's list. Others among them St Thomas's Hospital in West Lambeth - are in such dire financial straits that they may be ruled out. Others, like St Helier Hospital in Merton and Sutton, are discovering they may not be viable and possibly contemplating withdrawal.
• Management are more acutely aware than Clarke of the immense opposition to the opt-out proposals. The BMA has just published results from ballots of consultants showing an overall 60% majority against opting out, and clear "no" votes in 21 out of 28 opting-out hospitals.
Every ballot of staff - whether "official" or "unofficial' has shown upwards of 75% of health workers against the plans: every opinion poll shows upwards of 70% of the public opposed. No wonder Clarke has had to insist that ballots must not be included in the so-called "consultation" process, and that Community Health Councils will be denied any right to consultation.
The fact is that the government has spent vast amounts of time, energy and taxpayers" money trying to promote its desperately unpopular measures, and has failed to persuade many managers that it will work, or that they will not take the rap if it fails.
For campaigners and