government not much dif- THE PUBLICATION of ferent from the Tories. Tony Blair's dreadful new Clause 4 should fire up socialists for a renewed struggle against it between now and the special conference at the end of April. The new text spells out a full-blooded commitment to the principles of the capitalist market system, and contains Clause, despite having been so obviously kicked in the teeth.
Now there is an even bigger threat looming. Four is crucially important as a reference point for socialism within the Labour Party's constitution. But it is not the feature which ultimately defines the Party's character.
Union link
What singles out the Labour Party, despite all the right wing policies of its leaders, is its links to the trade unions, which have existed since it was formed.
But, as the Clause 4 campaign has repeatedly warned, the union link is itself at stake in the battle over Clause 4. Blair's moves are not the tailend of a process started by Neil Kinnock, as often presented in the media, but a part of a long term strategy to take Labour in the direction of a capitalist party like the US Democratic Party. This process would eventually require a decisive organisational break with the unions.
In pursuing this objective, the Blair leadership is backed If t were by the whole of the British establishment and the media.
Blair's campaign is also the start of a new drive by the right wing to prepare Labour for office. They are preparing an even bigger backtracking on any attempt to reverse large sections of existing Tory policy, including their attacks on the NHS, education and welfare state as well as the anti-union laws.
Europe
At the same time a big section of British capital is looking to Blair for a smooth the road to European integration. These are decisive pressures behind Blair's anti-socialist offensive. The new clause specifically emphasises the commitment to co-operating in European institutions'.
In defending Clause Four, therefore, we are defending an important socialist reference point and at the same time fighting to stop and turn back the wider right wing offensive. - and ultimately to defend the trade union link.
Destroying this connection with the working class will be key to Blair's new agenda, with the proposal for state funding of political parties ready in the background if the loss of trade union funding appears to be an obstacle • to breaking the link.
That is why we must fight for rejection of the new Clause both in the CLPs and the unions - right up to the final Conference vote.
Bandwagon
Blair hopes to get a bandwagon rolling after last week's vote at the NEC, and then force through an undemocratic vote at the Special Conference, with his wording as the only option. This must be vigorously challenged.
Blair's ambition is to remodel Labour into a new 'left of centre' capitalist party. This stark fact must be born in mind by those in the labour movement who are bending under the pressure of the argument that this is the only way to a win a general election.
Those who desperately want a Labour victory to offer a radical alternative to the Tories must join the fight to stop Blair in his tracks, and reaffirm instead an agenda for change which starts from the needs of the working class and oppressed, and rejects the values and logic of the capitalist market.