By Helen Shaw and Tony Blair's election as Labour leader on July 16 was heralded as a great exercise in party democracy; but it presented little real choice to left wing party members and trade union affiliates.
In the short time since then, Blair has already revealed himself as willing to go to any length to gain the support of the establishment in his quest to become Prime Minister.
Blair's victory has been widely heralded as the culmination of a long struggle in the party between the "modernisers" and the "traditionalists".
The project of the modernisers has been to make the Labour Party electable at virtually any cost.
Initially, Blair's election seemed to have given a significant boost to that project. On August 5 the party had a 31 point lead over the Conservatives.
Now, however, the polls are virtually identical to the state of play before Smith died - prompting hasty press coverage of LABOUR CONFERENCE the "new attack on Tory taxes" over the few days following the latest polls.
The modernisers' whole strategy has been based not on providing any genuine difference between Labour and Tory, but on convincing the electorate of Labour's ability to do the same thing better. This inevitably means that successive Labour leaderships have worked to repudiate the last vestiges of socialist policy and Blair has shown no sign of changing this approach.
Market values
In his first two days as party leader he bluntly repudiated any form of socialist values and attacked the trade unions. His inaugural speech was notable for his declaration that the party must move away from "Marxist socialism based on social ownership' and fully embrace the market.
The idea that the Labour Party leadership has at any time this century had anything to do with 'Marxist socialism based on social ownership' is laughable.
But the use of the term 'social ownership' as opposed to 'old-fashioned nationalisation' is significant. It is clear Blair wants to repudiate anything but the marker He said 'common sense' would be the driving force behind Labour's approach to social policy rather than ideology. He has lauded the family as "the essential, stable social unit'. Whilst he attacked the Tories for stigmatising single parents he said that adults should not choose to have children outside of stable relationships, claiming that women who did so were 'wrong'.
His pro-market view also came out on taxation. He claimed that 'only millionaires will pay more tax under a Labour government'. He has also been equally keen to woo the middle classes by his attitude to the trade unions warning them that they should not expect privileged access to the next Labour government.
Blair told BBC radio on July 22 that unions would have no more influence over the next Labour government than employers and his urging of the RMT to move to arbitration to settle the signal workers dispute makes it clear that he wasn't exaggerating.
The tactics of the modernisers have to be judged against the background of widespread disenchantment amongst business and the middle classes with the Conservative Party and a significant divide in the ruling class, itself reflected in divisions inside the Conservative Party.
On the one hand there are those who, as a generalisation, defend and pursue the interests of international finance capital -continued high military spending, a qualitative break with the post 1945 settlement, anti-European (and invariably pro-US) etc. On the other, is Thatcher's ruling class adversaries, traditionally associated with manufacturing capital and relatively pro-European.
Accommodation
It is to the latter that Blair (and with him the John Monks leadership of the TUC) has accommodated ideologically. They share the common belief that what is required today is a more thorough integration within the project of European unity and the establishment of what we could describe as a post-cold war settlement to replace the post 1945 consensus - this time based far more explicitly on capital's interests.
While the Conservatives remain divided - and the Major leadership has largely failed to paper over the increasing number of cracks - Blair's aim is to exploit the situation in order to establish Labour as the new, natural governmental representative of pro-European capital for the next century.
There have been a number of indicators that this project is progressing, at least in so far as small sections of the ruling class are taking tentative steps away from the Tories and making overtures to Blair.
Despite repeated assurances and figures indicating recovery in the economy and pointing towards steady, non-inflationary growth, the conventional assumption that this will translate into support for the government has not proved to be correct.
The last recession hit the middle classes hard. House prices significantly dropped after a boom in the late 1980s and the shake-out in the labour market not only affected the working class but hit the service sector and white-collar employees.
Career uncertainty
The insecurity in the labour market and the increasing flexibility in working practices has meant even middle class professionals now face constant career uncertainty and even they are forced to accept terms and conditions previously deemed unacceptable.
Economists at Morgan Grenfell have commented in the Financial Times:
"In people's perceptions the recovery is not due to the government's good management but to an accident - our departure from the Exchange Rate Mechanism. And a government that got re-elected on the basis that it was the party of low taxation then hit voters with one of the largest tax increases in history". na dau Companies ranging from the Japanese electronic games manufacturer Sega to the security group Securicor are queuing for exhibition stalls at Labour's Conference in October.
Corporate images
The Labour Party's corporate relations manager commented, "It really feels as if we are pushing at an open door. Corporate UK is clearly disillusioned with the Tories". The pro-Labour think tank, the Institute of Public Policy Research now includes amongst its clients Rupert Murdoch's News International, and multi-nationals Glaxo and Shell.
Their chief economist Mr Dan Corry said, "Our clients want to know what a Labour party is going to do because it is quite obvious to some of them that a Labour government is what they are going to end up with".
Marks and Spencer invited Blair to talks about whether the company could give financial backing to the Labour Party. At the same time there were reports that David Sainsbury, the millionaire supermarket chief, financially backed Blair's campaign for the Labour leadership.
Whilst Labour's public relations machine is keen to emphasise that Blair could not be expected to tailor policies in exchange for financial backing this development indicates the distance the party has travelled to the right with the "modernising" project.
The Blair-led Labour Party has also had a significant impact on the standing of the third major party in Britain, the Liberal Democrats.
Their popularity in the recent past has rested on being anti-Tory but not linked to the trade unions and the left as Labour has been. In many constituencies in
unprepared to give any substance to Labour's policy for a minimum wage, fearing that it would deter potential capitalist City bankers and big business are the target audience for Blair's sound-bites the south of Britain they have been the main opposition to the Tories but Blair's victory has pushed them way down in the polls.
There has been a project inside the Labour Party in favour of coalition with the Liberal Democrats to get rid of the Tories but with Blair's victory that no longer seems necessary on a formal basis. As Roger Liddle, a member of their policy committee said, "there are in reality no philosophical differences of substance between Blair and the vast majority of Liberal Democrats".
The pressure from the right of the Labour Party for coalition is off because the party has moved so far to the right that they will win Liberal Democrat voters anyway.
Breaking links
The project of the modernisers has been to lessen, and for some of them support for the "new look" Labour Party break the organisational link the party has with the trade unions, and to build a mass party which relates directly to its members rather than an activist party which relates to its members through local democratic structures. But their project is not ver won.
Despite Blair becoming leader, 43 per cent of those voting in the leadership election voted against him, with some of the major unions backing one of the other two candidates who campaigned on a more left social democratic basis around defence of the welfare state and for full There is a significant split amongst the "new realist" union leaders supported by left and centre left MPs who will not accept much of the modernisers' project. These are many of the same bureaucrats who were the architects of the reforms in • Labour Party structure gradually introduced during the 1980s to curb the power of the left. A genuine commitment to a minimum wage would be of immense benefit to people like homeworkers, but Blair is What is at stake is the very nature of the British Labour Party. Will it retain its constitutional link to the trade unions and will it champion policies like full employment, defence of the welfare state and the collectivist ideology which in the public perception characterised the post 1945 Labour Party?
Or will it totally 'modernise' breaking its link with the unions, accepting much of the damage done to public services during the Thatcher years and become the acceptable party of the middle ground?
Alliances are beginning to develop around the defence of the welfare state which include hitherto "modernising" trade union leaders such as John Edmonds of the GMB. He posed the question at a conference of the Tribune newspaper during the election campaign that it was time for the Labour Party to make its mind up - which side was it on that of the employers or that of the workers? What were its policy commitments on full employment. He sited that issue as the most important in order for there to be strong trade unions.
Whilst far from the hard left of the party it is a significant break from the new realist project of keeping their heads down and not rocking the boat that these sorts of union leaders have made such comments, spoken at conferences of the "left' and are prepared to back initiatives such as the Campaign to Defend the Welfare State.
It is also significant that the motions submitted to Labour Party conference show substantial support from unions and CLPs for renationalisation of the gas, water and electricity industries, scrapping anti-trade union laws, against "family values", for full employment, universal benefits and in defence of the National Health Service.
Rightward motions
It is a measure of how far to the right the Labour leadership has moved that motions committing the party to universal benefits and full employment are now seen-to be of the left. Throughout the 1980s those issues were seen as immovable.
There are also many motions on the economy calling for the renationalisation of the railways, basic industries such as steel making, coal mining and shipbuilding and the Post Office which the government wants to privatise.
The battle lines inside the Labour Party are being drawn up, and there is the possibility of a real fight back from some of the previously dormant union leaders.
It remains to be seen whether the British bourgeoisie will really choose Labour as the next party of government, but in the run up to that possibility at the next General Election in 1997, there will be a significant fight for the heart of the Labour Party.
Tuesday 4th October Campaign Group of MPs Rally 7pm Cliffs Hotel, North Prom Speakers include: Jeremy Corbyn MP, Alan Simpson MP, Dawn Primarolo MP, Ken Livingstone MP, Diane Abbott MP, Dennis Skinner MP, and Alice Mahon MP Thursday 6th October Socialist Campaign Group Network Fringe meeting 7pm Central Library Speakers: ALAN SIMPSON MP, DAWN PRIMAROLO MP, and a rail worker Network Bulletin LABOUR CONFERENCE The Socialist Campaign Group Network will be producing a daily delegates bulletin at this year's conference. Please come and help with the writing producing and distribution of it. They will be at:
34 Leopold Ave, Blackpool Conference 26th November 1994 Birmingham Trades Union Social Club For further details contact: PO Box 6498, London NI IOW
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No. 69, September 24 1994, Page 10
Fight for the right to strike