24.04.1997

Down in the dumps

Around the left

With only days to go before Tony Blair moves into Number 10, large parts of the revolutionary left seem to have gone to sleep. The impact of what is to come - massive attacks on the working class from a Labour government - has not really sunk in yet. Some want to concentrate on the ‘cheerful’ news - ‘We got the Tories out’ rather than focus on the bad news, that Blairism will have carte blanche to go on the rampage.

The Socialist Workers Party is a prime case. With what it has always wanted - ie, a Labour government - only days away, the organisation seems curiously lacklustre, if not down in the dumps. Then again, this should not come as too much of a surprise. Even though the SWP would never openly admit it in a million years, there has been a considerable shift in its political orientation. Previously, it believed that a Labour government was absolutely essential. There could be no ‘socialist alternative’ until the masses had experienced first hand the ‘betrayals’ of a Labour government, and as a consequence become radicalised. Therefore, there could be no votes for any left candidates who had the audacity to challenge Labour at the ballot box.

This is certainly not the case now. The SWP now appears to realise - well, at least to a certain extent - that a Labour government in and of itself will not act as a magical ‘short cut’ to leftwing consciousness. Indeed - and this is almost a revolutionary development for the SWP - it has urged its supporters, members and readers of Socialist Worker to vote for “credible” and “serious” socialist candidates. This is in stark contrast to Workers Power, it should be mentioned in passing, who have become more Labour-loyal as Labour becomes more rightwing and now advocate support for all of Labour’s candidates - except in Cardiff Central, where Terry Burns gets their approval.

Interestingly then, the latest issue of Socialist Worker contains a very enthusiastic endorsement of the SLP’s election campaign, Arthur Scargill’s in particular. It is “urging a vote for” Socialist Labour candidates “around the country”. What is more, “A good vote for the SLP will be a boost for all those who want to build a socialist alternative to New Labour” (April 19).

Absolutely true. But this begs the obvious question - surely if the SWP stood its own candidates, and attracted votes, this would provide an ever bigger “boost” for leftwing militants and activists? Somewhat amusingly, Socialist Worker also publishes its “manifesto for real change”, which includes the following demands: “Abolition of all anti-union laws”; “Reverse all the cuts”; “A minimum wage of at least £4.41 an hour”, and, “The right of people in Scotland and Wales to determine their own constitutional future”. Unfortunately, this is a manifesto without any candidates to fight for it.

The SWP should take heed of Paul Foot’s wise advice in Socialist Review. Referring to Marx’s impatience with ‘blueprints’ for socialism, comrade Foot points out, “The seeds of the new society are sown in the struggle against the old one” (April). Equally, the “seeds” of the new party could be, and are, sown by standing candidates against Labour and giving the working class an independent voice.

Perhaps the SWP will finally get round to it in the next general election.

Don Preston