24.04.1997

For workers’ rights and workers’ control! For a democratic Europe, federal republic and united Ireland!

Dave Craig of the RDG (faction of the SWP) outlines its programmatic approach

In the event of the Tories winning the election, they will continue their attacks on democratic and workers’ rights. At the start of the election campaign, John Major identified the battle ground on which the question of democracy would be fought out - Europe, the constitution, the welfare state and the economy. Of course in order to fool the electorate, the Tory spin doctors will present their party as defenders of democracy against the threat from Blair, the trade unions, the Scottish National Party and Irish extremists, and of course the Brussels bureaucracy. Defending democracy means, in Tory-speak, keeping the status quo.

The working class and socialist movement are not fooled by Tory ‘democracy’. But we must nor leave the field of battle to the pseudo-democrats of Labour and the Liberal Democrats. We must take up the fight for democracy against all three capitalist parties. For this we need a democratic programme. This is where we differ from the SLP. The SLP puts forward a national socialist programme, with some elements of democracy tacked on (Arthur loves PR, for example) The difference in approach between (internationalist) democrats and national socialists can be seen quite sharply over the question of Europe.

The Tory poster of Blair, the puppet, sitting on chancellor Kohl’s knee was a sharp move. When the Tory “democrats” are not playing the ‘race card’, they will play the ‘German card’. They understand the reality of a German-dominated Europe. It was Nicholas Ridley (remember his plan to destroy the miners) who described Europe as a “German racket”. ‘Europe’ is now a polite word for ‘German’, rather like ‘asylum seeker’ is the new code word for black immigrants.

The Tories know that popular suspicion and fear of Germany, can be fanned into anti-German chauvinism. Despite the fact that we beat the Germans in two world wars, plus the 1966 world cup, they still get the best spots by the swimming pool on the Costa del Sun! Now they are trying to impose a ‘social chapter’ and a ‘single currency’ on us. Will we, stout hearted English lions (or is it bulldogs?) ever be free from this German menace to our tiny island? The Tories have no compunction about tapping this for electoral purposes.

This is why at the beginning of the campaign, the Tories dispatched Malcolm Rifkin, the foreign secretary, to Germany, to challenge Kohl on the European Union. The image of St George Rifkin engaging in single-handed combat with the German dragon was surely history repeated as farce. A bit of spice was added when it was claimed some anti-Semitic comments were made in the German press. This could not have been better for the Tories, conjuring up memories of the last time Nazis were planning to take us over.

Play it again, Sam. After years in which Thatcher toadied to the Americans, we are presented with the image of Blair dancing to Kohl’s tune. The Tories are of course hypocrites of the first order. It was the Tories that signed up to the Maastricht Treaty, in order to share in the spoils of this “German racket” For nobody is greedier and more corrupt than the British ruling class. They are desperate to keep their snouts in the Euro-trough. It is just that they don’t want the people to have any say or any share.

As communists, we take a stand against anti-German chauvinism and Tory hypocrisy. But we must do so on the basis of class politics. The German capitalists viewed Rifkin’s adventure into Germany very differently. They sang the praises of British attitudes to social welfare and a ‘flexible labour market’. If only German workers would become more reasonable and accept the need for low wages and reduced social payments like their British counterparts. This was music to the Tories’ ears. It ‘proved’ how successful they were at managing capitalism. Even the German capitalists now praise the British Tories!

In the single market, the gap between British and German workers in terms of pay, holidays, conditions and rights cannot last for long. Either British workers will rise to the German level or German workers will be dragged down to ours. The German bosses will say ‘look at the ‘flexibility’ of British workers’. The German workers might begin to fear or resent us, as if we were some giant scab army waiting to take their jobs. These divisions will be promoted and exploited by the capitalists.

Socialist strategy is not based on utopias. We start with the facts of life. The German working class is the largest, most productive, best organised, with the best pay and conditions in Europe. This is something which all capitalists - British, German or French - hate. If the British working class is to progress, it must break free from ‘Little Englander’ politics and orientate itself to the German trade unions and working class.

When the Tories play the anti-German card, we must be for integration with the German workers. Not only do we want to unite their trade unions with ours, and their communists with ours, but we want parity on wages, holidays and workers’ rights. It is in the interests of the German workers that we win all the economic and political gains they have won. The fact that they have no monarchy, no House of Lords and no troops in Ireland is surely something we should emulate. And a federal republic with PR and elected workplace representation is an advance on our constitutional monarchy, whose workers have no rights and are treated like feudal peasants.

We are in favour of the full integration of the German, English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh working class. We are totally opposed to the bureaucratic integration of Europe in the service of the multinationals and banks. That is what the Maastricht Treaty, signed by Thatcher and supported by Major and Blair, is all about. It is a licence for the multinationals and banks to rampage and pillage the European working class. We oppose the Maastricht Treaty and all the treaties on which the European Union is based.

Bur we are not ‘little Englanders’. We are not in favour of ‘withdrawing’. We are here to stay, here to fight. We want these treaties scrapped. We want them replaced by a democratic Europe, created by the people, for the people. This is what the Tories and New Labour oppose under the slogan, ‘No to a federal Europe’. Neither is it the product of some liberals tinkering with the European parliament.

We want “an ever closer union” of the workers of Europe. Such a union must be founded on democratic rights and democratic freedoms for the working class. The capitalist ruling classes of Europe will never create a democratic Europe. They are like dogs fighting over a bone. Even if they could unite, real democracy is not in their interests. The European working class is the only class that can lead the fight for a democratic Europe.

A democratic Europe is incompatible with the British constitutional monarchy, as it is with the monarchies of Spain, Holland, Denmark, Belgium and Sweden. Our demand for a federal republic and a united Ireland is complementary to a European-wide struggle. It is also fits with the democratic demands of the Irish, Scottish and Welsh people. There would be no constitutional barriers to the full integration of a federal republic into a democratic Europe. At the same time the advance to a federal republic does not depend on Europe.

British ‘democracy’ - or more accurately the Tory constitution - is therefore the second major and connected issue of this election. The Tory constitution means that the Windsor Tories are permanent heads of state and there is a permanent Tory majority in the House of Lords. The electoral system is gerrymandered by the Tory boundary commission to secure them the maximum seats. The constitutional monarchist system of government serves the rich and powerful extremely well. It enables the rich to rob the people without any accountability. This elected dictatorship is an almost perfect system of corruption. The beloved flexibility of the British constitution means the government can bend the rules to do whatever it wants and then get away scot-free, as the ‘arms to Iraq’ scandal showed. Naturally Labour supports the Tory constitution, but wants to tinker with it. It is only on the constitution that the two main capitalist parties differ on such matters as devolution, the House of Lords and the royal yacht.

The Tories are the most militant party of the constitution. When their system is threatened, they will fight tooth and nail to defend it. They will accuse Blair of every crime under the sun. They will appeal to the middle classes that any change to the constitution is a ‘threat to our way of life’. It would mean a breakdown of ‘law and order’ or even the danger of revolution. When the middle classes feel threatened, the Tories will reel in the votes. Major learnt this trick from the last general election.

The opposite is also true. Those who really want to change their way of life will have to fight tooth and nail in a revolutionary way to change the constitution. A federal republic is not simply about an elected head of state. It represents a whole new set of democratic and social rights for the citizens of the republic. These rights concern the way MPs are elected and made accountable to the citizens, who have real powers and rights to information.

A federal republic and united Ireland would represent an important democratic advance for the people of these islands. The federal republic would contain within its written constitution, the right of Scotland and Wales to self-determination, including separation by means of referendum. All elected bodies would be elected by proportional representation. Elections to parliament should take place every two years, with the right for electors to recall their MP at any time. MPs would be paid no more than the average salary. All official secrecy would be abolished and citizens would have the freedom of information. A bill of rights would cover the democratic rights of all citizens. There would be unrestricted freedom of conscience, speech, press, assembly, information, movement, association and to take strike action. There would be enforceable equal rights for all citizens, regardless of sex, creed, race, sexuality and nationality.

The welfare state is a major issue of this election and one which people feel strongly about. The capitalist parties discuss this in terms of how much money we can afford. ‘Not much more’ is the answer. The Socialist Workers Party counters this by demanding Labour put in more money. We approach the issue from the angle of workers’ rights and workers’ control. Workers’ economic and social rights have been under continuous attack from the Tories. We want to defend and extend these rights now under the constitutional monarchy. A federal republic would offer the most fertile ground for a major extension of workers’ rights.

Without a strong and organised working class movement, the new republic will not survive. The rights of workers must be part of any new constitution.

We must campaign now for the right to work, the right to a minimum income guaranteed by the state (for pensioners and the unemployed), a maximum working week and equal pay. We must fight for workers to have the freedom to leave or enter the country in search of work. Full-time and part-time workers should have equal rights, including holidays, pensions and job security. Equal rights for all workers, regardless of sex, race, nationality, religion must become a reality, not a promise. Free abortion on demand must be a constitutional right, so that every women has the right to choose, wherever she lives.

The Tory anti-union laws must be abolished. Workers must have their trade union rights guaranteed. These include the right to join a trade union and the right to be represented by a union at work. The right to strike over any issue and the right to picket. There must be regular election of all trade union officials, including the TUC officials, with the right of recall. Officials to be paid the average wage of the workers they represent.

In addition to these rights, the health service, education and the other social services must come under workers’ control. This leads us directly to the fourth issue of the economy. Rather than pretend we are about to form a government and nationalise the whole economy, we advocate democracy as a step towards public ownership. The central question is ‘Who controls the workplace?’ - whether that be schools, hospitals, factories, offices, mines or building sites, etc. We want to see workers having the right to elect the management boards of their enterprises. We want to see workers’ control. We are in favour of the election of workers’ councils, whenever possible. We want to see workers’ councils aim to secure control over the management of the workplace. We want to see workers’ councils link up locally, regionally and nationally into a rank and file movement for workers’ control.

This is not a policy for some way off future. It is a policy that can be fought for in the working class movement now and can become a powerful factor in the new republic. The message that we must get over to workers is that they must take responsibility for managing the economy. It is too important to be left to a corrupt and self-interested clique of managers and shareholders. Without workers’ control the economy will always be out of control. Our policy for full employment is not founded on Keynesian demand management, but on taking control of hiring and firing from the capitalists. Any ‘socialist’ policy not founded on the rock of workers’ control is pie in the sky.

The SLP has a national socialist programme with some democratic demands. It has not yet grasped the central importance of the struggle for democracy. Some candidates have a tendency to drop democratic demands, such as the abolition of the monarchy, House of Lords and PR from their platforms. Without these republican demands, the SLP programme is not much more than a nostalgia trip back to a 1945 Labour government with public ownership, free health and education and full employment and a constitutional monarchy. In those days, our ruling class occupied Germany and still ran an Empire.