12.10.1995

Goodbye to the left

Blair baits ‘old’ Labour

LAST WEEK’s Labour Party conference in Brighton was a crowning success for Tony Blair and his cronies. The spectre of ‘old’ Labour was easily vanquished by the ever-confident Blair who ruthlessly imposed his rightwing agenda on the conference. No wonder Arthur Scargill bitterly complained, “From Disneyland to dictatorship in 12 short months.”

The left waved the white flag from the start, showing its terror of the Blair machine and of the prospect of rocking the boat too much. Hardly surprising. If your overriding aim is to ‘kick the Tories out’, then it is only logical that you let the leadership get on with it.

The TGWU caved in indecently, for all its past leftwing huff and puff. It suddenly withdrew its resolution on the proposed £4.15 minimum wage. Apparently, as one commentator wryly put it, it had “found imperfections” in the wording. This is rather curious, as hordes of leftwing newspapers, ranging from the Morning Star to Socialist Worker,informed us that it was the duty of all militants in the TGWU and elsewhere to back the ‘pro-£4.15’ Bill Morris (who supported the ditching of clause four) against the Tony Blair-backed Jack Dromey (who actually backed the £4.15 rate as well).

The ‘born again’ mood of the conference turned very ugly on occasions, with red-baiting proving to be a favourite sport. The treatment of Liz Davies, prospective parliamentary candidate in the marginal seat of Leeds North East, symbolised the direction in which ‘new’ Labour is heading. Conference endorsed the NEC’s decision to disbar Davies as a candidate. Her crime? Being in possession of leftwing politics and - horror of horrors - being on the editorial board of Labour Briefing, a distinctly non-revolutionary magazine.

Naturally, as befits the ‘new’ Labour values of decency and fairness, no trial or jury was necessary. Guilty was the only verdict. Relishing her role as Grand Inquisitor of the Thought Police, the former darling of the feminist left, Clare Short, denounced Labour Briefing as “a nasty, vicious publication”. Sinisterly, Short argued that “Trots” belonged to tendencies which tell lies “as a principle” when circumstances require it. So, when Liz Davies denies she is a Trotskyist ...

Even the rightwing bigot, William Rees-Mogg, thought that Blair had gone a bit too far: “Liz Davies was not treated fairly or decently; she was put in a sack and dumped in deep water” (The Times, October 9).      

The left, now thoroughly disarmed, looked distinctly out of place. Arthur Scargill’s bureaucratic attempt to get conference to reinstate clause four was laughed out of court, if not out of history, leading him to angrily observe, “There are now many people in the party who have no idea of what is required to change society from a capitalist one to a socialist one”.

Not unsurprisingly, Scargill has threatened to leave the Labour Party, declaring defiantly: “I did not join this party to manage capitalism better than the Tories”. He has even hinted at the possibility of forming a new party. Such an attempt is doomed to impotence, as the last thing the working class needs is a ‘new’ old Labour Party - the anti-working class record of past Labour governments is living proof of that.                

Tony Blair’s speech to conference could not have been blunter, with a World War II-type appeal for national unity: “Let us say with pride: we are patriots; this is the patriotic party. Because it is the people’s party.”

In true Thatcherite style he added: “A Labour government will have to say no as well as yes. Hard choices are what good government is about.”

We can be certain that Blair will practise what he preaches. He ensured that conference made no explicit commitment to extra public spending. His personal stamp of authority was imprinted on all aspects of the conference.

It was no accident that on over 90 separate occasions the conference voted lock, stock and barrel for the leadership line. A rule change meant 80% of constituency delegates were attending their first conference. This was on top of leadership-friendly seminars, which were held in every region, including Brighton itself.

Almost the entire bourgeois press was impressed by Blair’s performance. The Observer commented that Blair “has triumphed because it is hard to resist his appeal to common sense” (October 8); and Hugo Young of The Guardian enthused about how “The genuine pulse of reform beats through the modern Labour Party ... The project of Britain’s first one-nation socialist is just beginning” (October 4).

There can be no doubt that the Labour Party is a government-in-waiting and the Tory Party is an opposition-in-waiting. Which is exactly the assessment of Tory MP Alan Howarth, who defected to ‘new’ Labour at the weekend.

This was a brilliant piece of Blair-orchestrated stage management, designed to sabotage the Tory Party conference and add to Blair’s recently acquired conference glory.

Somewhat implausibly, Howarth announced his miraculous conversion to socialism: “If to be a socialist is to believe we are more than just individuals, I’m a socialist.”  In other words, Howarth knows which side his bread is buttered and sees his own salvation in the Labour Party.

Unlike many members of the leftwing Socialist Workers Party and Militant Labour, Howarth recognises that the ‘long-term’ interests of British capitalism will at present be better served by Blair’s Labour Party, not by the increasingly ramshackle and disunited Tory Party.

We need to be ready for the coming attacks against the working class and ruthlessly expose all arguments which sow illusions in Labourism, whether now or in the future. We must also never lose any opportunity to highlight the need for a genuine Communist Party, not some reforged ‘old’ Labour Party.

Danny Hammill