02.05.2012

Perspectives for the left

Where does George Galloway's election victory leave us? What does the CPGB say about recent resignations from its ranks? Michael Copestake reports on last weekend's aggregate meeting of members

Meeting in London on Saturday April 29, the CPGB members’ aggregate discussed the state of politics after George Galloway’s surprise landslide victory in last month’s by-election for the parliamentary seat of Bradford West. Is it, as Galloway modestly dubs it, the “Bradford spring” - representing a sea change, an earthquake in British politics? Or is it simply the final late fruit of George Galloway’s political autumn and no more than a one-off fluke, albeit a dramatic one? Mike Macnair for the CPGB’s Provisional Central Committee opened the discussion with his own assessment, which he left open-ended.

Also on the table was the issue of the recent resignation from the CPGB of comrade Chris Strafford and his decision to throw himself into the recently formed Anti-Capitalist Initiative - a ‘broad front’ unity initiative formed primarily by Workers Power, the recent split from WP led by Simon Hardy and others, and the previous split in the shape of the comrades from Permanent Revolution. At least one other CPGB member has also left the organisation, although these comrades have said that they will continue to work with the CPGB in groups such as Communist Students, Hands Off the People of Iran and indeed elsewhere.

Post-Galloway prospects

The question of whether Galloway represents the beginning of a wave of political change or is a canny political operator who got lucky remains open, stressed comrade Macnair during his introduction, and will be best answered when the May 3 local election results are in. Either way, he gave a useful survey of the general state of politics in austerity Europe and Britain itself and outlined possible consequences for the left and the workers’ movement.

The comrade began by noting that the recently released economic statistics indicating that the UK economy has suffered a double-dip recession were indicative of stagnation with inflation rather than dramatic decline and that we should expect this situation to continue, perhaps for some time. Contrasting the European north and south as “creditor” and “debtor” nations, comrade Macnair noted that the German economy was doing relatively well, with the lowest levels of unemployment since reunification. Meanwhile states like Spain and Greece are undergoing wrenching and destructive economic deterioration.

Turning to the political opposition this has generated, he observed that in some German local Länder parliaments the Social Democratic Party and Greens were actually offering more intransigent opposition to an austerity budget than the leftwing Die Linke. The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) by contrast calls for the people to elect a majority of MPs who would implement a programme of Keynesianism in one country. In short the response of the entire left has been feeble and politically inadequate.

The recent presidential election in France has caused much comment, but, the comrade said, the thing to note is that the Left Front under Jean-Luc Mélenchon, supported by the Parti Communiste Français, has only managed to re-assemble the leftwing vote from 2002 - albeit this time with the PCF at the head (the far-left Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste and Lutte Ouvrière were marginalised in the election). This is combined with the fact that it has been the right in the form of the Front National which has taken the anti-austerity vote. Indeed, the government of the Netherlands has recently fallen following the refusal of the right to vote for austerity. Present polling indicates that there may well be a political breakthrough for the UK Independence Party and the fascist Golden Dawn in Greece.

In terms of significant change to the political landscape of the UK in the near future, the comrade felt that potentially we might see further losses by Labour at the hands of the Scottish National Party north of the border - Labour could end up largely restricted electorally to the north of England and parts of London, and without the ability to form majority governments. The generalised political discontent that Galloway represents may tip over into a series of high-profile votes for every protest party going, from Ukip to the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.

What does this mean for the left, he asked? Firstly, the massive groundswell of spontaneous anti-cuts resistance that the left anticipated has not (yet) occurred. So far, while public sector unions have been able to mobilise their members for one-day protests, the competing anti-cuts campaigns themselves have been restricted to the usual suspects. The small but noticeable increase in strikes may, however, be indicating that people are turning more, if only a bit more, to their trade unions to resist attacks on living standards. This in turn may lead the left groups to emphasise work in their own trade union fractions, at the expense of attempts to provide a political lead, which are already pretty limited.

As far as this concerns the CPGB, the comrade noted that the nature of our project - the unity of Marxists on a principled basis - means that we must be where the left is. The problem for the CPGB is that the left outside Labour has split and separated itself far and wide, while no substantial move to the left has occurred in the Labour Party despite our previous predictions that this is likely to occur.

In the discussion that followed comrade John Bridge expressed uncertainty that a ‘turn to trade unions’ was happening, given just how small the increase in strikes has been. The comrade foresaw a world without the Liberal Democrats as an independent party - a section would probably end up as an unofficial wing of the Tories through some electoral pact. While the PCC had not thought that Galloway would come close to winning in Bradford, he noted that it was also a surprise to just about everyone else - even Respect itself had not at first expected it. Speaking of Respect, he said it had the advantage of George Galloway as its candidate, and his name is high recognition compared to say, Tusc, which appears out of thin air at election time in limited parts of the country to advocate left Labourism before promptly vanishing again.

Soheil Frazad thought that the state of the economy was worse than was being officially suggested and wondered how things may look when the Olympic spending comes to a halt. Comrade Frazad also thought that Labour’s national vote may well hold up, despite the party having nothing to say which resonates - not even some kind of Keynesianism. However, she could see Labour losing control of Glasgow to the SNP simply because of the infamous corruption of the Labour council during its seemingly never-ending years of control - an assessment echoed by comrade Sarah McDonald.

Comrade James Turley was of the opinion that, as far as the political side of things goes, there was the possibility of the Anti-Capitalist Initiative being directed in a more positive direction despite its significant flaws. He suggested that at least some of those involved were rethinking the history of Bolshevism and the meaning of unity, which is a step forward. The comrade also called for the CPGB to undertake serious theoretical work in relation to the trade unions, as it had, for example, with the Labour Party.

Weekly Worker editor Peter Manson pointed out that despite the lack of a convincing move to the left by Labour there had nevertheless been a shift in the tone of its leaders’ rhetoric, even up to appearing ambiguous about the recent high-profile public sector strikes.

Comrade Jim Gilbert forthrightly stated his belief that those who were looking for a strong move to the left from Labour were deluded and that many in the labour movement looked at the three main parties and saw only three shades of Toryism. The comrade lamented the attitude of the existing Labour left: it was utterly unwilling to think critically about its politics, engage with the anti-cuts movement as a whole or even criticise the rightwing leadership out of a sense of duty to ‘our party’, he said.

Mike Macnair rounded up the discussion by agreeing with comrade Turley’s point that a restatement of the basics of Marxism regarding trade unions would be a useful tool to have. He thought that comrade Gilbert’s characterisation of the state of the Labour Party was broadly correct and that, as always, the Labour left is organically tied to the Labour right through its conviction that progress could only come through a Labour government.

The Labour leadership, added comrade Macnair, is refusing to adopt even mildly radical policies, as it feels it can win the next general election simply by letting the Tory coalition lose it, and keeping quiet in order not to put off the middle class swing voters and lose the good graces of the bourgeois media, which go into attack mode whenever there is even a hint of a move to the left. Comrade Macnair finished by lamenting the stupidity of some on the left who appeared to believe that the CPGB is advocating general entryism into the Labour Party when it is not and never has done so.

Resignation

CPGB national organiser comrade Mark Fischer opened a session devoted to discussing the causes and consequences of the recent departure of Chris Strafford and what this means for the CPGB.

The comrade began by noting that comrade Strafford was a hard-working and quietly charismatic comrade who seems to have left because, despite his membership of the CPGB, he had never quite ‘got’ our politics. Comrade Fischer suggested that this may have something to do with his background as an anarcho-syndicalist who has recently appeared enamoured with movementism and Occupy. He said that despite the attempts by the PCC to draw out comrades Strafford’s political differences with the majority, and the plentiful opportunities afforded him to do this, including in the pages of the Weekly Worker, the comrade had never set out in detail what his political differences were, though they found expression in, for example, his opposition to the majority view of the Labour Party. This and the comrade’s enthusiasm for ‘movements’ were seen as probably borne of political frustration with the period we are living in.

The continued political and practical disintegration of the left, said comrade Fischer, most certainly affects the CPGB, which remains small, although it exercises disproportionate influence thanks to the Weekly Worker. We suffer from the absence of a firm national infrastructure and an unequal attitude to the duties of members - with some comrades fulfilling many and others very few. It was perhaps far too easy for frustrated comrades to simply blame the leadership, which is already swamped with competing priorities. The comrade concluded by stressing the importance of party organisation: all members must prioritise important CPGB events, ensure they pay dues and take the need for education seriously.

Comrade Maciej Zurowski began the discussion by stating that comrade Strafford was unequivocally wrong to have resigned. He reiterated the necessity for our project that we must interact with the left. That means we must be where the left is and it was good that the CPGB had intervened at the ACI event happening on the same day with an excellent leaflet.

Tina Becker re-emphasised a point made in the previous session that it is hard to go through the left when the left refuses to do anything very much. Using the example of the often moribund local anti-cuts coalitions, the comrade observed that the political frustration with the general situation that may drive comrades to leave the CPGB makes it harder to cohere our existing forces when the left is doing so little together.

Comrade Frazad said that comrade Strafford had repeatedly criticised the CPGB for being ‘distant from the movement’, but she thought his criticisms were basically wrong. Comrade Frazad also said that the party should be more optimistic and less negative about efforts like the ACI and, irrespective of their failings, we have to make the best of whatever the left is doing. The comrade finished by questioning the tone of some of the discussions on the e-list and suggested that some comrades were too quick to categorise others as holding ‘ultra-left’ politics or whatever. Perhaps this may have contributed to comrade Strafford’s resignation.

In response comrade John Bridge of the PCC said that all we can do is attempt to foster a positive culture. But we certainly will not censor comrades who label the politics of others in such a way. He also felt that, while the loss of any comrade was sad, Chris should have taken the advice the CPGB always gives to comrades across the left: which is to stay in the organisation to which they belong and fight for their politics rather than splitting - especially as in this case the comrade was given the room to do exactly that.

Comrade Bridge also highlighted the fact that in the past the CPGB had thrown itself wholeheartedly into the Socialist Alliance and had also involved itself in both the Socialist Labour Party and Respect from the outset. If there was a viable option allowing us to do the same again, then the PCC would absolutely not hesitate in recommending such a course. However, he felt that the attempt by Workers Power and co to set up yet another halfway house party would not attract significant support beyond its own very limited milieu.

The comrade also stated that he was now convinced that the CPGB needs a more thorough induction process to ensure that prospective members understand our political principles, not to mention their own rights and duties. For example, although Chris Strafford had been a member for four years, he had not really engaged with the organisation, rarely attending party events or aggregates and failing to pay regular dues. Mike Macnair noted that, in the absence of any significant left regroupment into which the CPGB could throw itself, there seemed to be nothing capable of holding comrade Strafford as a member.

The aggregate unanimously agreed to the proposal of comrade Becker that Soheil Frazad be elected to the PCC with immediate effect.