06.07.1995
Major or Blair, the gun will turn on us
John Major lives to fight another day. But he will now be forced to appease the rabid ‘hard right’ and attack the working class with renewed determination. That appeasement may be short-lived, but Tony Blair may succeed where Major has failed in uniting rightwing prejudice behind him
JOHN MAJOR’S decision to launch a pre-emptive strike against the Eurosceptic faction within the Tory Party has only been a partial - and no doubt temporary - success, as the leadership election vote on Tuesday demonstrated.
The idea of a “new unity” touted by some within and outside the Tory Party is clearly a fanciful dream, as the 218 votes cast for Major and the 89 for John Redwood starkly illustrate. The only real victor has been pragmatic cynicism, which in many ways represents the true ‘soul’ of the Tory Party.
Even if John Major does really believe that the leadership vote is indicative of a “clear cut choice which is beyond any doubt whatsoever ... the matter is now concluded”, we all know the opposite is true. Tory MP Michael Fabricant was nearer to the truth when he said that Major’s victory was “emphatic enough”, while another declared that he had voted for “the least bad candidate”. Obviously, this is just the real beginning, with many battles, in-fighting, plots and coup attempts to come.
All the wings of the Tory Party are devoid of ideas or dynamism. Indeed, both ‘left’ and ‘right’ have ground to a halt, resembling ideological shipwrecks. The fact that John Redwood and some of his ‘hard right’ supporters were laughably trying to portray themselves as intellectual heavyweights, as radicals who were advocating “the politics of ideas”, only serves to highlight the angst and despair afflicting the ruling class.
The platform of the Redwoodites was empty and vacuous, with not a single original idea to its credit, or any sense of cohesion. At best it amounted to second rate populism, without the benefit of being very popular. Rather than the much vaunted “politics of ideas” all we got was the politics of ‘attitude’ and rightist poses. Hardly inspiring or guaranteed to get the pulse of the local Tory activist racing with excitement.
Tony Blair remarked: “This is two different Conservative Parties with two different philosophies.” Naturally, Blair is affecting concern that the recent leadership tussle is not in the ‘national interests’ - ie, might upset the delicate sensitivities of the bosses.
Tony Blair’s prospects of stepping smoothly and effortlessly into the Tory shoes looks even more likely after this week, as the Labour Party moves ever steadily to the right in anticipation. The recent Labour pronouncements on health and education might just as easily have come from the Tory ‘centre’ ground.
Indeed, Blair’s steady drift, if not stampede, to the right lies behind the current ‘hard right’ panic, as they see all their Tory clothes being stolen one by one in the name of ‘social-ism’ and ‘communitarianism’.
Under Major we had Thatcherism without Thatcher. Under Tony Blair we will have Majorism without Major. Regardless, one thing remains exactly the same - the working class will come under savage assault, as the bosses attempt to erode our living standards even more.
We must be prepared for this eventuality. Only by standing against the capitalist-loyal Labour Party and building the workers’ alternative will we be able to withstand the collective onslaught of the bosses and their loyal allies. This requires the active support and collaboration of all genuine partisans of the working class.