Pillars of the British establishment are facing up bravely and with good humour to the prospect of Tony Blair's radical reforms. THE PROBLEM with Tony Blair's trip to talk to the assembled bosses of Rupert Murdoch's empire in Australia was not that he went, but what he said when he got there. teresting inferences from Murdoch's decision to invite the Labour leader and not a top Tory to address his gathering of string-pullers and propagandists.
The man whose top-selling British tabloid staunchly backed Margaret Thatcher. acting to popularise her ruthless free-market ideology. and claimed credit for John Major's election win in 1992. is plainly reviewing his policical options. Of course the moterests.
Murdoch's papers - as cuslodians of the Tory vote - led the charge to oust Major as Tory leader, and stridently deIf he now decides to null the ping on the foundering Tories, it would not be the first time that sections of the capitalist class have opted to back a right wing Labour goverment as their best tactical means of securing their longSo what did Blair have to say to this bunch of unionists, sexists and profiteers? Did he offer any of the home truths which a socialist would have delivered?
Of course not. His grovel. ling speech, larded with com. pliments to Thatcher's radicalism and eulogies to Victorian-style family values. pulled back from any of the THE DEATH of our comrade Ernest Mandel will come as a blow to many readers and supporters of Socialist Outlook.
For fifty years Mandel stood as the foremost intel. lectual of the Fourth Interna. tional, a prolific writer. theorist and a captivating speaker drawing large audiences of students, workers and youth.
His enthusiasm for the struggles of the oppressed stood as the polar opposite of the self-righteous sectarianism and empty propagandism which has so disfigured many sections of the far lett.
His commitment to democracy, pluralism and collective working within the International, defending the most obvious points of controversy.
Old boy network He was careful to pick only the softest and most hackneyed targets for his denunciation of the limits of Thatcherite radicalism - the House of Lords. the Old boys' network in the City, the public school domination of Oxford and Cambridge. This sle show probably have amused Murdoch's gathering. since few will expect a Blair gover. ment to be brave enough to disrupt any of these hallowed pillars of the establishment.
They know that Blair's right wing brand of 'radicalism' is more likely to be dirights of minority tendensented a significant gain for ment.
And no matter what the difficulties, he never relinF978 P rected against the welfare state ano the pottie sector unions than against these tradi tional reflections of bourgeois They will not have. been speech tactfully steered well clear of any reference to the power of monopoly capitalism - not least the media monopoles, such as his News Corp hosts in Hayman Island.
Europe
Only on the issue of Europe, where Blair has already won support from sections of the capitalist establishment because of his commitment to the concept of greater integration, did Blair make the Fourth International a genuine force in the struggles of the masses.
News of his death, at the age of 72, came as this is. sue of Socialist Outlook was being finalised for publication before our summer break in publication.
Initial tributes to Ernest are published on page 11; more articles will appear in our next issue. In the meantime a memorial meeting is being organised in London in mid September.
Ernest was a partisan of internationalism, but also of we повот marxist incory and organisation. As a mark is prous to dedicate our in Aberystwyth on August 23-28, to the memory of dare to differ with Murdoch's sargery buro-scopic evil cmpire But there would have been a few repressed chuckles at the extent to which Blair has run up the waite Bigg to the values of market capitalism. especially when he told the meeting of top bosses that he expected to embrace even more right wing ideas:
"The battle between market and public sector is over. There will be boundary disnutes, but not a war. This should start to reflect itself in a more open style of govem. ment. with a more healthy market in ideas across LefvRight divides: there will be some policy convergence and we should be relaxed, not tribal about this."
Defensively, Blair goes on to insist, unconvincingly, that it is false to "claim that new Left is just a fancy way of saying Tory".
His waffle about "sharing responsibility with people' titters and grins from the as. sembled hacks.
They will know that his policies for the NHS and other public services have shied away from any commitment to break up and democratise the Tory networks of quangos, and Labour has promised no serious restoration of nowWithin his own party. Blair notoriously acts as a one-man sen nominees as party whips. listening only to nis nand picked inner sanctum of right wing advisors, and setting out Porcies design to cre wedge between himself and Labour's traditional support. ers in une Unions and working He boasts that by the next Mussolini, Franco, depresclection more than half the sion and world war as the heyday of the Left' will have joinca since he look In a sense of course. Blair's over. rigorously distinguish. speech changes nothing. It is ing between his Party and the more of the same. A year after hare spect me is o simply continuing to accelerhave spotted and welcomed ate along a rightward path we the complete absence of any have charted in many editorial positive reference to social articles. ism, which has been sup- What is new, however is a planted by the right wing fad real possibility in the afterof "communitarian philoso- math of the Tory Party's leadphy, which runs alongside ership convulsions that Murdoch and other sections of capital may seriously congiance. audience, has whic they may accide against openly promoting already developed Blair, a withdrawal of their the most right wing powerful and unequivocal backing for the Tories could Labour programme deal a further decisive blow 1o since Ramsay Major's hopes of reclection. MacDonald and trigger the real showdown in the Tory Party which the micola moguis cicatty cared Blair's reactionary focus on for in June and July.
Blair, in tailoring his polithe family unit - itself the bedcies to this audience, has already developed the most sexual oppression.
It is no coincidence that rant wing kabout pro gramme since Ramsay Macwhile rejecting other left ideas Donald, making it clear that a (and selectively) back to the Blair government could solve period before the emergence absolutely none of the problems currently faced by the movement, and before the big battles for gay and lesbian lib- Perhaps the most alarming factor is the feeble level of "Look back to the first opposition from the left in the Labour Party and in many heyday of the Left in the Thirties and Forties and you will find heavy emphasis on re- Kesolutions to this scar s Labour conference sponsiotty. sell umprove ment and the family." Brighton show growing alarm at Blair's threat to reform the Blair has not noticed that welfare state: a quarter deal either with the welfare state in braced - to devastating effect general or the new Blair pol- by fascism and conservaicy on education. tism. And few socialists A fightback is long overdue. those grim years of Hitler.
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No. 88, August 1995, Page 4.