13.09.2006
Fight for what we need and for democracy
Carey Davies and Sachin Sharma report from the launch rally for John McDonnell's bid for the Labour Party leadership
Around 100-150 people - mostly middle-aged, white and male - attended the launch rally for John McDonnell's leadership bid in Manchester on September 7.
Also present in some force were the media, whom Tony Benn addressed when he made clear that "we should have nothing to say about what is going on in London" (in relation to New Labour's faction fighting) - we are above all that, says Benn. Alice Mahon, former Halifax MP, was to reiterate the same point.
Instead, this was the start of a "battle for the heart and soul of our party", according to Jeremy Dear (NUJ general secretary), and a chance to realise the values of "solidarity and cooperation". Tony Benn claimed that this meeting would "be remembered as the moment the Labour Representation Committee was reborn". All the speakers argued passionately against privatisation and in favour of free education, trade union rights and so on.
Comrade McDonnell himself was clearly trying not to scare away soft lefts in the party: "I wanted Blair to leave with some dignity," he said. "We don't do assassinations in the Labour Party. But we don't do coronations either." He drew attention to his voting record in parliament, and talked of the worsening problems of homelessness in London, and his fears that New Labour was making the party unelectable: "We won in 1997 because the Tories were detested. Now we are associated with spin, sleaze and dishonesty."
By all appearances, the McDonnell campaign is a (long overdue) attempt to revive the fortunes of the left of the Labour Party, and mount some sort of challenge to the New Labour consensus. In this respect it should be commended. However, the platform upon which McDonnell is standing needs criticism. He forthrightly claims to be a "straightforward socialist, not some social democrat or social liberal or whatever" (Amicus Unity Gazette September). However, his campaign's priority pledges, while generally supportable in themselves, fail to even hint at anything that goes beyond capitalism. He calls for:
l Withdrawal of British troops from Iraq.
l End to privatisation.
l Abolition of student tuition fees and full support for comprehensive education.
l Restoration of civil liberties and trade union rights.
l A green energy policy based on renewable power sources.
l Increase in basic state pension and immediate restoration of the earnings link.
Commendably, John McDonnell has previously argued for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of troops from Iraq. His campaign pledge, however, is a missed opportunity to make a firm anti-imperialist point. "Withdrawal of troops from Iraq" - a vague phrase that does not specify when - could mean the sort of 'phased' withdrawal argued for by Tony Blair and George Bush.
His political platform in essence constitutes a form of welfare capitalism - not to be confused with socialism. Intrinsic to genuine socialism is control from below. As with Iraq, there is a vagueness when it comes to the rest of comrade McDonnell's campaign pledges.
Even so, if comrade McDonnell's social democratic policies were actually implemented they would result in a massive flight of capital from Britain. Nowadays there cannot even be social democracy in one country. If the political economy of the working class does not supplant capitalism in this eventuality, the result would be enormous crash and a sustained period of economic depression. Hence the self-activity of the working class with the aim of effecting a social transformation is the only form of politics that can bring about socialism. Social democratic politics can never accomplish this aim - and historically, all such halfway houses have proved to be treacherous to the cause of the working class.
Marxists should engage with the McDonnell campaign with this in mind. We seek to strengthen its politics by arguing for the adoption of two crucial principles.
Firstly, need - the provision of pensions, higher education and students grants, unemployment benefit and the minimum wage, health and housing should all be based on need. This should be explicitly opposed to the capitalist principle of the market. At the moment comrade McDonnell muddles between the two. A minimum income - whether paid as a wage, benefit, pension or student grant (too unrealistic?) - which would actually permit our class to fully reproduce itself physically and culturally, currently means at least £300 per week per adult.
Secondly, democracy - the McDonnell campaign needs to challenge the undemocratic way in which we are ruled. Necessarily this involves the abolition of the constitutional monarchy system and the establishment of a democratic republic, enshrining the accountability of all elected representatives and the replacement of the standing army by a people's militia. Today it is the capitalist state that enjoys a monopoly on the means of coercion and the legitimate use of force. That must be ended if we really want a "peace government".
Even without such a strengthening of his platform we should be prepared to vote for him and to lend our support to his campaign, albeit in a way which highlights the deficiencies in the social democratic politics he espouses. It is right to argue that the McDonnell campaign has the potential to rekindle the long dormant left of the Labour Party. We must not, however, suspend criticism of the sort of reformist guff comrades on the Labour left argue for under the guise of 'socialism'.
Left views contend
During the time allotted for contributions from the floor Sachin Sharma (CPGB) argued against those who suggest we can 'reclaim' the party for socialism, pointing out that it never was a socialist party. Tony Benn inadvertently made this point when he argued that the McDonnell campaign was "an intervention in line with what the Labour Party has always stood for". In the respect that the McDonnell campaign embodies the sort of deeply flawed politics the Labour left has historically held to, Benn is correct. Comrade Sharma also made the point that Labour MPs needed to be accountable to the party membership.
Bill Jefferies of Permanent Revolution said that McDonnell had his full support. He argued against those who did not want the campaign to attack Blair - he said we should "stab Blair in the back and anywhere else we can". There was not much applause for either Sachin's or Bill's contributions.
Dave Tombs, an ex-Labour Party member, asked a pertinent question: "Do the conditions exist to allow a resurgence of the left in the Labour Party?" McDonnell, and the left of the Labour Party, will only go as far as circumstances allow them to; it seems unlikely that the union bureaucracies will decide to withdraw support for their preferred candidate, Gordon Brown.
Rob Owen (general secretary of Manchester University Students Union and a member of the Socialist Workers Party) said that the fact that McDonnell's campaign was centred around opposition to the war in Iraq was "amazing". Bruce Robinson of the Alliance for Workers' Liberty argued that the campaign should be a "general rallying point for the left". Not all contributors, however, were from the hard left. One CLP political education officer used a phrase which summed up the feelings of the softer speakers - "let us think carefully". He meant we should not come over as 'too extreme'.
In response, comrade McDonnell agreed with the points made about the accountability of elected leaders, and spoke of the need to reclaim the Labour Party conference. We should debate the issues surrounding the campaign in a comradely manner. Labour is a party of peace and the UN should be 'democratised' in order to allow it to fulfil the good job it was set up to do. However, he argued, the most important task for us is to raise the level of political consciousness across the country.