17.04.1997

Where’s the left?

Labour safe for capitalism

This general election is of great significance. Anybody who fails to see this has switched off their minds. We have seen Labour transform itself into an openly pro-capitalist, bourgeois-orientated party - a ‘reformist’ party that now promises not to introduce any reforms. Despite this, we have seen the virtual disappearance of the Labour left.

This disappearance indicates the success of the Blairite ‘revolution’. The near deafening silence from MPs and figures historically identified with the left of the Labour Party starkly exposes the demoralised and defeatist nature of left reformism in this period. Those remaining ‘left’ stalwarts in the Labour Party are keeping their mouths firmly shut, convinced that everything must be subordinated to the supreme task of getting Blair elected on May 1.

This feeble acquiescence is an example of the ‘lemming complex’. After Labour’s victory, the left that remains will be completely swamped by the Blairite clones flooding into the victorious party - who will have little time for any sort of leftwing gestures. In other words, the left will be marginalised. We can treat with contempt the foolish thesis propounded by some on the pro-Labour, Trotskyist left - most notably Socialist Outlook and, until recently anyway, Workers Liberty - that a massive Blair victory will strengthen the left inside the Labour Party.

In this context, the recent comments of (not red) Ken Livingstone make for interesting reading. In a speech at the meeting that adopted him as Labour candidate for Brent East, he declared:

“I believe that Tony Blair will turn out to be our best prime minister since Clement Attlee. His reforms are here to stay. He has replaced sterile divisions within the party with genuine consultation and debate.”

You could not have a stronger symbol of the left waving the white flag. Of course, Livingstone is a clever politician and he is covering himself from the left and the right. To the left, he is saying that Blair is an ‘honest’ rightwinger like Atlee and at least you know where you are with him - hence it is easier to ‘get things done’. To the right, on the other hand, he his proclaiming his loyalty to the Blairite regime, and in all likelihood is fishing for a junior post in Blair’s government. Nevertheless though, the ‘Blairisation’ of Ken Livingstone sums up the parlous and near terminal state of the Labour left.

We should not be surprised. Ever since the old leadership of the Communist Party of Great Britain liquidated itself - the Labour left has been denied a brain. The CPGB acted as a ‘think tank’ by proxy for the left Labourites, giving it some degree of intellectual/ideological coherence, if not credibility. You could guarantee that the latest CPGB brainwave would, six months down the line, be regurgitated eagerly at a press conference somewhere by a gaggle of Labour leftists. Virtually all the various ‘alternative economic strategies’ pushed by the left had their origins in the CPGB. No wonder the Tories thought it would be a nifty idea during the 1983 general election to reprint chunks of the CPGB’s manifesto alongside parts of Labour’s manifesto, and then invite the electorate to spot the difference. This would have been a mighty difficult task - not because the Labour leftists were so communistic of course, but because the ‘official communists’ were so Labourite.

Now this is not the case. The left in the Labour Party is aware of its own mortality, as extinction beckons. Its publications and statements are fagged out and tired. Tribune, the former rallying point which still calls itself the “voice of the left”, is a grey, grim publication which has given up the ghost. A recent issue - carrying on in the spirit of Marxism Today, by the looks of it - actually contains an article by Conservative MP Jerry Hayes on why the Tories will win the election. Then there is the ‘Point of view’ column, which tells us that nationalism is a jolly good thing and that the “Labour Party should never shirk from flag waving”. We should fight for a “new nationalism”, which will “be about pride in our community”. New Labour must “enable the nation to be great again” (April 4). This is meant to be the voice of the ‘left’ - remember?

We should not mourn the crisis of the Labour left. Its ideology and beliefs disarmed the working class, made them look to parliament as the saviour. However, neither should we rule out its reinvention on a tide of working class militancy. Only the reforging of a revolutionary party of the class can ensure once and for all the slaying of Labour - left and right.

Don Preston