L TA LONDON'S SILL PAYING LABOUR'S general election defeat and the election for the new Labour leader must mean some hard re-thinking on the left.
In the next period the new realist right wing will intensify its attack on the left throughout the labour movement. The working class is going to be under renewed attack from the bosses and the Tories. In situations of defeats the way is opened for drawing right-wing and defeatist conclusions.
But this is not the time for demoralised abstentionism or routinist responses. On the contrary the left must go on the offensive against new realism and the legacy of Kinnockism.
The candidacies of Smith and Gould provide a focus for all those who want to move the labour movement further to the right. Indeed the impending victory of Smith is more than just a re-run of Kinnockism; it is the victory of the hard right.
The project of the right wing and the trade union bureaucracy will be to weaken the links between Labour and the unions, and work, over time, towards a new form of coalitionism with the Liberals. Some ideologues of a new 'anti-Tory' coalition even argue that the foundation of the Labour Party was a mistake.
For workers at the sharp end of struggle the choice of waiting for a Labour government until 1997) is no longer there. The response of the union bureaucrats will be to urge compliance and acceptance of the bosses' offensive - jobcutting. 'Japanisation', speed up - rather than resistance.
Deepen defeat
Now the left must say as loudly as possible: the right must not be allowed to get away with it! They have delivered us defeat after defeat. They want to deepen defeat, opening the way for open business unionism and political coalitionism.
How can we fight back? In the Labour Party, there is now a choice. The decision of the Campaign Group to stand Livingstone and Grant was a big step forward. Despite the undemocratic stitch-up preventing them being formal candidates the campaign will continue. Good. The right wing are trying to gag the left, and it will not be gagged.
ALLOON ASPOL TU FEDE MOBALEES, NO CUTSI Time to regroup the left But the election campaign will come and go. More important in the long term is that the new situation is used to reorganise and regroup the fighting left. How can this be done?
Obviously there needs to be a move towards the maximum unity of all those forces who reject new realism and stand by socialism, class struggle and democratic advance; and those forces need to debate out the key political campaigns which can begin to build an opposition to the slide to the right.
Crucial here is the role of both the Socialist Movement and the Socialist Campaign group of Labour MPs. The Socialist Movement must turn itself into a more active, campaigning force.
Livingstone-Grant
First tasks include an all-out mobilisation around the Livingstone-Grant campaign, and building for a huge turnout for the Socialist Movement trade union conference on 18 July, the Leeds conference of the Labour left in June and the Convention of the Left in the autumn.
But the Socialist Movement cannot stand alone: it has to broaden its base of support and seek fighting unity with all other forces pre"The dividing line now is all those who stand against new realism and for class struggle on the one hand, against those who are going to capitulate to the This is not a question of narrow tactical debates about whether to be in or outside the Labour Party. We need, for example, a fighting unity of all those in the trade unions, including forces currently organised around the Morning Star, to fight to unshackle the unions, attack new realism and resist the bosses' ofSuch initiatives would be strengthened by a more unitary attitude by the SWP and the Militant, both of which organise considerable The dividing line now is all those who stand against new realism and for class struggle on the one hand, against those who are going to capitulate to the right-wing consensus of the union and Labour bosses.
PHOTO: Jonn Harris The organisational basis for reorganising the Labour left and class struggle forces cannot be sucked out of anyone's thumb. Clearly, the building of a new broad alliance of the left must be based on a commitment to class struggle, and not simply inner-Labour factional fighting.
but te preconardon is acreement on a prat form of clear anti-capitalist and democratic demands to fight together in the labour movement on.
Scotland
The left must champion the demands for self-determination in Scotland and Wales. The fight for Scottish self-government in particular will be at the cutting edge of resistance to the Tories in the next period; it has an explo sive dynamic. Any left regroupment which fails to take this on board will be still-born.
Other key bases of a new left platform must include the fight to unshackle the unions; combating racism, starting with the fight against the re-introduced Asylum Bill; fighting for women's equality; and the commitment of the labour movement to alternative economic policies, including a radical reduction in defence spending, re-nationalisation of privatised industries, a shorter working week with no loss of pay, and swingeing taxation of the rich. These proposals should form the basis of new Socialist Charter, around which a campaign of signatures should be launched throughout the labour, womens and anti-racist movements.
All socialists worthy of the name will now mobilise all-out for the Livingstone-Grant campaign. But the opportunity must now be seized to forge a new alliance capable of fighting back against the new realist right and the Tories. As Fidel Castro once put it: Division in the face of the enemy was never a socialist or intelligent tactic.
The extraordinary workers mobilisation in Germany is a salutary reply to all those who want to write off the working class and its struggles. After the post-election shock, mil lions of workers will be faced with the choice of either fighting back or going under. It is likely that workers' struggles and confidence will only gradually be rebuilt; but to maximise resistance to the Tories and new realism the left cannot sit on its hands.
No. 21 May 16, 1992
German strikers humble Kohl International News ankfurt
LONDON'S STILL PAYING
right-wing consensus of the union and Labour bosses" pared to stand out against new realism in the
STUFF TAX, NOT THE POOR