06.04.1995

Defending the pretence of socialism

Vic Turner, Labour councillor in the east London borough of Newham, is also a supporter of the Communist Party. He gives his view on the left’s attitude to clause four

Out of the furore over clause four, I was at one stage confident that some sort of real socialism would come to the fore. But at the moment Blair seems to be carrying the day and even some elements of what might be called the ‘accepted left’ are going along with him.

Clause four - whatever your position on it - is simply not going to be there if and when Blair has his way. There will no longer be even the pretence of socialism. Blair’s alternative to the existing clause four is not going to produce anything other that the ‘mixed economy’ - capitalism. Well, we’ve lived under it and we certainly know what that means.

The left are naturally very concerned. They have always clung to clause four as something worth defending. Many thought that they would never actually see it implemented, but nevertheless it was something to cling to. There is going to be a real fight, whatever the leadership says.

The last thing we wanted was to have to devote our energies to that. The working class is facing attacks on so many fronts - unemployment, bad housing and cuts in education for instance. These are the issues we should be fighting on.

As far as the leadership of Labour is concerned, the vote of the working class seems to be taken for granted. That in itself is not a socialistic attitude. The dilemma that the working class is going to face - especially as there are no trade unions giving a strong lead - is ‘the lesser of two evils’ trap.

It will be in the position of saying, “Well, Blair is not as bad as Major” or “He’s not as bad as the Lib-Dems”. But it’s Hobson’s choice really.

Blair knows this and this is where he gets his confidence from. He feels safe to attack clause four and ditch socialism. This is why I believe the kickback from the left has to come quick and has to come strong.