27.06.2013
People's Assembly: Political theatre and the 10 seconds
Sarah McDonald argues that the politics needed by the working class are antithetical to those committed to the principle of broadness
The People’s Assembly will doubtlessly be considered a triumph. It was not insignificant that the BBC’s reporting of the commitment made by Labour’s two Eds not to overturn Tory spending cuts was spliced into footage from Central Hall and the bustling courtyard outside. With 4,000 people at the assembly, with its packed opening and closing rallies and full sessions, the achievements of John Rees, Andrew Murray, Owen Jones et al are not to be sniffed at. It is a pity about the politics, really ...
The purpose behind the People’s Assembly was to bring together union leaders, activists and well-meaning progressives. And Saturday’s event, from that perspective, was successful. Listening to speakers such as Ken Loach, Tony Benn, Tariq Ali, Owen Jones, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady, union leaders such as Christine Blower, Len McCluskey and Mark Serwotka were numerous assorted campaigners, Green Party members, Occupyers and, of course, pretty much the entire left. Socialist Workers Party members were there in large numbers, including several SWP leaders. Unlike many ‘united fronts’ of the past where the SWP has dominated, the fact that it will not be controlling the People’s Assembly will be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it will not be able to exercise its own special brand of control-freakery, which both limits the movement’s potential and alienates everyone else; on the other hand, Counterfire and the Communist Party of Britain do not have the numbers of committed activists to provide any sort of coherence.
On arriving in the courtyard outside the hall, delegates were greeted by the usual array of left organisations’ stalls, leafleters and paper-sellers, along with a Glaswegian guitarist singing in Italian (it was ‘Bandiera rossa’, but still seemed a bit incongruous). While most of the 57 varieties were present, it was Counterfire that was firmly in the director’s seat.
In what can only be described as an act of extreme naivety, the organisers had arranged a live twitter feed to be broadcast on a big screen behind the speakers at the opening rally. Along with messages of support, unbound enthusiasm for the People’s Assembly, declarations of love for left Wunderkind Owen Jones and expressions of admiration for the quality of the Morning Star’s lower league football coverage, there were also less welcome messages of the type the organisers in their naivety had clearly not anticipated: for example, “Owen Jones is first speaker - lots of people turn off”; and Conservative comments suggesting that austerity was the fault of the last, overspending Labour government and we deserve everything we are now getting.
While the speeches were rhetorically upbeat, they were mostly (often intentionally) devoid of politics. This can be exemplified by comedian Mark Steel’s concluding comment in his slot: when two lefties get together and talk for an hour, he said, they may agree with each other for 59 minutes and 50 seconds and disagree for the remaining 10; but they then spend another hour arguing about the one thing they disagree over. Similar analogies were used by others throughout the day to avoid dealing with real questions where there are crucial differences.
In the session on ‘Tactics for the anti-austerity movement’, former Stop the War Coalition chair and Communist Party of Britain member Andrew Murray suggested strike action, Anita Halpin (also CPB, but introduced as a National Union of Journalists officer) suggested using the press, Rosa Curling (from Leigh Day solicitors) suggested using the courts, while Danni Paffard (UK Uncut) suggested direct action. The watchwords of the session were “inspiring” and “empowering”. Feeling neither inspired nor empowered, I thought the most illuminating contribution came from a speaker from the floor who said he was from the Woodcraft Folk, the left’s equivalent of the scouts and guides. He asked the sort of question that might figure in those ‘10 seconds’: would the People’s Assembly back Left Unity as opposed to Labour in 2015?
This was met with uncomfortable muttering and a general commitment to being non-committal - it was certainly one area where there was a yawning division. Comrade Murray (who, one would speculate, will be backing Labour at the next election) claimed that he did not want create disunity between those who will want to support Labour and those who will not. On the one hand, there are the likes of Len McCluskey, who must be looking forward to an invite to No10 for a chat with Ed Miliband. On the other hand, most of those on the revolutionary left have long ditched their auto-Labourism (albeit in some cases “with no illusions”) in favour of auto-anti-Labourism, where a cross next to Labour candidate would be viewed as a stain on their revolutionary purity.
The vision for the People’s Assembly that John Rees has in mind is modelled on the Stop the War Coalition - a broad movement that can contain all manner of political persuasions. The idea of the People’s Assembly backing a vote for any political party is not on his agenda.
Theatre
The session on democracy was one of those fatuous ‘Let’s break up into small groups, discuss and feed back’ set-ups - in this case made all the more cringeworthy by the ‘Occupy’ feel to the whole thing. Ironically, splitting us up into groups made it more difficult for people to get over their viewpoint, as the poor acoustics, combined with the fact that several people could be heard talking at the same time, made it almost impossible to make out what was being said (this may have been a blessing). Throughout this session I sensed the pervasive notion that, while we all might want an alternative to capitalism, there are so many different ideas about what that alternative is, we really ought not to risk discussing it.
Much of what I was able to hear revealed a degree of political naivety. For example, one person suggested that at the end of demonstrations a vote should be taken calling on the government to resign - that would give such protests more political clout. Another called for the press to be nationalised (nothing screams ‘breaking democracy’ more than state control of the media). Such remarks were met by the ‘wavy hands’ gesture used by Occupy types to indicate agreement. I was sorely tempted to use a choice hand gesture of my own.
There had originally been several issues pertaining to democracy proposed for discussion, the organisers informed us, but in the end it had been agreed to cut them from the agenda. One such issue had been the national question in the UK - an unsurprising decision, given the depth of controversy that would have provoked.
Meanwhile, outside in the courtyard, there was a different attempt at political theatre on the part of the English Defence League, 10 or 15 of whom had wandered through Storeys Gate in an attempt to antagonise the comrades milling about, safe in the knowledge that they would be protected by the police. A bit of verbal aggro later, and with one EDLer doused in coffee, they buggered off to the pub.
No controversy
The session on ‘Defending our welfare state’ - addressed by film director Ken Loach, the inspiration for Left Unity, Dot Gibson of the National Pensioners Convention and health and welfare campaigner Eve Turner - was decidedly the most political I attended. Comrade Loach reported that the organisers had not allowed the possibility of standing an alternative to Labour at the next general election to be aired at the opening rally, as this might have upset some who view the prospect of a Miliband government with “mild optimism”. He remarked that a “leading trade unionist” (one would infer the person responsible for censoring the content of the opening rally) had remarked that “the Labour Party has recognised the space opening up to its left and it has shuffled into it”. Comrade Loach did not say which leading trade unionist he was referring to, other than that he would be featuring on centre court at Wimbledon in the coming week.
The general thrust of comrade Loach’s speech was that the anti-austerity movement needs coherent politics and leadership (that is where Left Unity comes in, obviously). He mentioned the fact that Radio Four’s Today programme had broadcast an item on the morning of June 20, ostensibly on the People’s Assembly, though it turned out that this was a mere segue into a discussion between a historian and a Mori pollster regarding the British people’s alleged lack of inclination to protest. He pointed out that the government “can cope with demonstrations, but it can’t tolerate the movement if it has articulate political leadership”. Unfortunately, it is lacking such leadership, but it has to be said that so far Left Unity, with its sepia-toned vision of another Attlee-type government, does not seem able to provide it either.
The potential for the People’s Assembly ought not to be dismissed. However, if it is to make a real impact it will have to seriously discuss politics - especially the ‘10 seconds’ (I think you will find it will last a lot longer). The idea that those putting together the event were not aware of the central importance of building a political alternative is farcical. A conscious decision was made to keep the idea of such an alternative totally ephemeral.
Nevertheless, the PA must be regarded as a positive venture - most of the 4,000 attending will have left feeling buoyant and motivated. But how much of that will filter through into local People’s Assemblies, and how long it will last, remains to be seen. Already PA rallies in towns and cities across the country have seen significant turnouts. Comrade Rees and co will be hoping that they can maintain the momentum to build for a mass ‘day of action’ in November and maybe even pick up a few recruits to Counterfire in the process.
As to what happens after November, it will face a conundrum. If it attempts to make concrete political decisions it will risk breaking apart; but if it continues refusing to take such positions it will risk fizzling out.