Something Big is Happening in British Electoral Politics

The results in this week’s Parliamentary by-elections provide further evidence of the turmoil in electoral politics in this country.

UKIP has of course made all the headlines with a stunning victory in Clacton and an even more astounding result in many ways, running Labour to within 617 votes in Heywood and Middleton (Manchester). The margin of victory in Clacton, now a seemingly safe UKIP seat with a majority of over 12,000, is perhaps the only surprise, as UKIP have been making great strides in the east of England, pretty much from the Lincolnshire coast south to Essex and Kent.

But in Manchester? This should be a very safe area for Labour, so to just get home by an electoral whisker, albeit on a low turn-out, must be very worrying to the party. Already there are calls from within Labour to take a harder line on immigration to shore up their vote at next year’s general election.  

But Labour’s problems don’t end there. In Scotland polling suggests that the SNP will win about 20 seats next year, gaining most from Labour in the wake of recent Independence referendum. The SNP is now up to 100,000 members making it easily the third largest party in the UK. The referendum has had a galvanising effect on the Scottish Green party too, more than trebling its membership to over 6,000 and even in England and Wales where Green party membership has risen by 40% in the last twelve months and now stands at over 20,000. Labour are increasingly worried that they are losing support to the Greens in England.

It seems more certain by the day that the general election will produce another hung Parliament and so probably another coalition government. Yougov’s Peter Kellner thinks that UKIP could win 10 seats at least, mainly in the aforementioned east of England and they along with the Ulster Unionists could make up the numbers for a majority with the Conservatives.

Labour might need to rely on the SNP, PC, SDLP and maybe some Greens if we can win a few seats, and three is possible I think. We are regularly polling 5 or 6% in national polls, where normally we would be polling around 2%.

But what of the Lib Dems? They think they can retain around 40 seats (down from 57), although my feeling is they will be closer to winning only 30, with almost half of their seats from 2010 lost . Which way will they jump? I suspect under the current leadership, it is more than likely they will stick with the Tories et al.

I have never known politics in this country to be in such a state of flux, although this has been coming for a number of years, with Labour and Tory shares of the overall vote falling consistently as the ‘Others’ have eaten steadily into their support and it does offer some hope I think of something new being built, to replace the tired old duopoly of the big two.

But most depressingly, whilst the radical left makes gains in countries like Greece, in England the rebellion is led by UKIP. Although this might not be as bad as it looks. John Harris writes an interesting piece about UKIP supporters where he concludes that it is not really UKIP’s policies that are attracting support, but the desire to stick one up the establishment for the varied grumbles the electorate holds against the two big parties.  

I like to think as we grow, and hopefully get more media attention, we can persuade these malcontents to support the Greens in England at least, in larger numbers.

The election next year is too close to call at the moment and the next seven months or so should be fascinating to watch.

Film reviews: 'Tony Benn: Will and Testament' a documentary feature film by Skip Kite.

Tony Benn Will and Testament’ – a documentary covering his life and political activity, including the miners’ strike and his inclusion on a new Miners’ banner.

It showed Benn narrate his personal and political life and his acceptance of his death that must have followed shortly after the film.  It shows his journey through politics and his affirmation that he moved to the left through joining government and not, as everyone else does, to the right.

He explained his determination to become an MP and change the world because of an encounter with one of the Americans involved in dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, eventually becoming the minister responsible for the civil nuclear programme in Britain.  In this role he explained how he was completely kept in the dark about the fact that the plutonium waste used in this civil power generation was sent to supply the US nuclear weapons programme.   More widely he explains that he came to realise that while in Government he didn’t have any real control and that the Labour Party became simple managers of the system when it achieved office.

The film covers many of the class struggles in Britain over the latter half of the twentieth century, from the campaign against nuclear weapons, to  the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders sit-in, the ‘winter of discontent’ provoked by attacks on workers by the labour Government, the miners’ strike and the anti-Iraq war movement in our current century.

His bid for the Labour Party deputy leadership in 1981 against Denis Healy, which he very narrowly lost by barely 1%, does not get the attention it deserves but it does turn the spotlight on Neil Kinnock – the so-called left who abstained in the vote.  He later became leader and was leader during the miners’ strike, which he more or less also betrayed, later being rewarded with a place in the House of Lords.  A fighting leadership of the British labour movement could have made the difference between defeat and victory.  Watching the film I found myself getting angrier with him than with Thatcher, but isn’t that always the way with traitors?

He brings to attention the possibility, since the 1970s, of using North Sea oil to modernise Britain but identifies the failure to do so in the pro-big business policies of Thatcher.  Some on the left today see the possibility of modernising Scotland based on what’s left of North Sea oil. However they base this not on any lesson drawn from recent decades but on nationalist division.  The political leader they in effect followed, Alex Salmond, proclaimed that his SNP “didn’t mind the economic side so much” of Margaret Thatcher, while claiming that “the SNP has a strong social conscience, which is very Scottish in itself.”  So that puts the rest of us in our place.

I remember listening to Tony Benn speak and someone asked him about the idea that socialism could be brought about through parliament and whether the capitalist class and its system would allow such a transition without mounting a violent coup to prevent it.  Ah, he said, the Chile question, referring to exactly such an attempt to introduce reform in Chile at the beginning of the 1970s, which led to the least politically interfering military in South America mounting a coup, deposing the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende and murdering thousands and thousands of workers and socialists.

Unfortunately having identified the question he didn’t give an answer to it and this might seem to be the major point to highlight in a Marxist review of a film of his political testament.  And so it is.  But by his own experience and through his own words he demonstrates these lessons and the film is valuable for showing them.

After recounting how he wanted to become an MP the film a few minutes later shows him speaking in the House of Commons – to row upon row of empty green benches.   Having had the experience of Governmental office noted above he later announced, in a line provided by his wife, that he was leaving Parliament to spend more time in politics.  We then see him on the campaign trail at meetings and demonstrations until his death this year.

So whatever his reformist words his practice in this way became the opposite of the fetishism and ‘cretinism’ of parliamentary activity for which Marxists would criticise reformist politics.

Unfortunately today , it is the so-called Marxist left who argue that the big question is the ‘crisis of working class representation’ and pursue one electoralist intervention after another, like a hamster on a wheel, going nowhere, fed on the most piss-poor politics that they otherwise condemn in other times or in other places.

So it is not just the young that could learn from these two films.  Very straightforward as they are in political terms, there are basic lessons to be learnt from them – the need for unity of the oppressed, workers internationalism, the futility of seeking fundamental change through capitalist parliaments or the capitalist state, and the need for class struggle.

The defeat of the miners’ strike and the experience of social-democratic politics cast a long shadow over the working class and socialist movement today.  We can learn vital lessons from them and their failure.  That we do not do so is partly because we cannot see the shadow, since it is overcast by an even darker one – that of Thatcherism and the rampage of what is now called neoliberalism.  To come out of the shadows we need to come out of both.  

Source: Sráid Marx, An Irish Marxist Blog

Can the Left and the Greens Cooperate at next Year’s General Election?

Well, it makes a certain amount of sense doesn’t it? Some kind of British version of Syriza (Greece) to take on the virtual one party state of the neo liberal parties, (Conservative, Lib Dem, Labour and UKIP) at the general election. There is a huge amount of electoral ground lying vacant on the left of politics in this country, which as we have seen from the Scottish Independence referendum, is just waiting to be occupied. It is hard to see this void being filled by any individual grouping on the left though, so cooperation by these groupings would seem to be the best way forward.

Desirable then yes, but likely, I don’t think so. I say this in disappointment but from my observations, this simply will not happen, which is largely down to the scourge of leftish politics in the UK, sectarianism.

Take a look at this piece from the Left Unity (LU) website. It is a list of exaggerations and distortions of the truth and distant historical examples of assorted nut jobs who have been members the Green party. All parties get some strange people attracted to them. There is not even the slightest attempt to build bridges between LU and the Greens in this piece. This is just a hatchet job really.

And of course, every time I talk to members of the various left sects, Brighton and Hove Green Council is mentioned immediately as an example of how untrustworthy the Greens are, (despite having some attractive policies to lefties generally).

Now, I’m not going to defend the Green group on Brighton council except to note that they were put into a very difficult position by being elected as the largest party on the council, but without an overall majority. And this in the face of the savage cuts to council budgets from the central Coalition government. Suffice to say that I think the Greens might have managed the situation better, but the idea that a 1980s style Militant strategy was going to be popular with electors in Brighton or anywhere else is pure fantasy.

The Greens in my borough of Haringey (north London) were contacted recently by the local Left Unity branch, with a view to a joint discussion on cooperation at the general election with the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC).

The Greens offered to cooperate with LU and TUSC at this year’s council elections, but this was rejected by TUSC in a less than comradely way (LU had only just got started up). This was the time to build trust between the parties ahead of the general election but it was dismissed for some reason. LU for their part, publicly supported some TUSC candidates in these elections, but no Greens, even though many Green candidates were openly socialist in their election literature.

In the end, the meeting was re-arranged at extremely short notice, so I was unable to attend but reports suggest only the tiniest amount of cooperation will be possible, this amounting only to working on some of the same campaigns (not even necessarily jointly). 

This was my suspicion all along because, although I knew LU weren’t planning to stand candidates in Haringey’s two Parliamentary constituencies next year, I also knew that TUSC were planning to stand.

The Green party position is that we have a long record of standing locally and some modest success (saving a couple of deposits in Hornsey and Wood Green) and with the very encouraging results in this year’s council elections, particularly in Tottenham, we are the best placed of the small leftish parties. We comfortably beat TUSC everywhere they stood in May, with the exception of one ward (which is the worst for Green votes in the whole Borough). Our membership is rocketing, both locally and nationally (over 20,000 now in England and Wales), and we are level with the Lib Dems in some national polls. We are on a roll.

In a council by-election last week in Woodside ward (part of Hornsey and Wood constituency in Haringey) TUSC gained only 35 votes. In a recent Lord Ashcroft opinion poll for Hornsey and Wood Green, The Green party scored 8% (weighted, the raw data said 10%) with TUSC on less than 1%.

On all logical measures TUSC should not be standing in either of the Haringey constituencies at the General Election, and should instead throw their weight behind two very good Green candidates, to maximise the anti austerity, anti neo liberal vote behind a single candidate.

Will they listen? No chance, they are standing come what may.

Maybe it’s just like this in Haringey, but my hunch is, it is far more widespread. So, don’t hold your breath expecting any cooperation between lefty and Green parties at the General Election, it is business as usual in left of Labour politics I’m afraid. People on the left in the UK it seems, care more about ideological purity than being part of a broader more relevant movement.

The video/song above is ‘Talkin Bout a Revolution’ by Tracey Chapman     

The Lib Dems Must Think the Electorate are Stupid

In a way you have to admire the chupatz of Nick Clegg when he stated in his speech to the Lib Dem conference this week, ‘if the Conservative party were in power on their own they would only ask the working-age poor to pick up the tab for the mistakes made by the bankers in the past.’

He went to add that any post general election coalition with Tories would not allow the working poor to be exploited in this way to fund tax cuts for the better off. All very laudable of course, but this being so, why have the Lib Dems allowed this approach to cutting the budget deficit for the past five years?

The bedroom tax, benefit sanctions, benefits uprated by less than inflation, cuts to public services, privatising Royal Mail at a knock down price, reducing the top rate of income tax and pay cuts for public sector workers, have all been the norm under the coalition government. If Nick Clegg or his party wanted to put a stop to any of this, they could easily have done so. They did put a stop to the Tories gerrymandering the electoral boundaries (although only in retaliation for the Tories blocking reform of the House of Lords).

The Lib Dems must be more deluded than I thought, if they really think the voters are going to swallow this one?

The above video is a reminder, if anyone needs it, of Nick Clegg promising to abolish university tuition fees, and we all know what happened next don’t we?

The ‘Home Office Source’ who last week said that ‘Nick Clegg is a w*nker’, was actually spot on.    

Why I Joined The Green Party - Authentic Green Socialism

About eighteen months ago, the 'Socialist Unity' blog asked the question 'Can the Green Party become the main party of the left?'. To be honest, I kind of expected some kind of 'yes, it can... but really what is needed is our kind of socialism' etc - not at all, and apologies for my own prejudice. Mind, the comments below the article are pretty vituperative! In a thoughtful and generous piece, the editorial team outline a significant change in focus for the Green Party from total - 'depressing and misanthropic' - focus on the environment to the incorporation of social justice:

‘Green politics and social justice are fundamentally dependent – without environmentalism, the planet will become uninhabitable; without social justice, the planet isn’t worth living on.’

 The article ends with 'Watch this space.'

Well, there's no doubt that the Green Party is clear that this indeed is the direction of travel for the party - the recent conference in Birmingham called for a Wealth Tax (on the top 1%) and for the minimum wage to rise to £10 an hour by 2020. On top of this, there are moves to reverse the calamitous privatisation of the railways and bring the network back into public ownership, as well as keeping the NHS free – no prescription charges, free eye tests and dental care. And opposition to TTIP. And an extremely progressive set of policies on Peace and Defence.

Above all, for me, every time I see Natalie Bennett or Caroline Lucas in action, I am just totally convinced by their passion and authenticity - they genuinely believe in what they say and have the courage of their convictions to stand in solidarity with vulnerable and disadvantaged people country-wide. And this is in such disappointing and marked contrast with the leadership of the Labour Party, who obsess so much on focus groups and sound bites that they forget how to be themselves, trying to mould themselves into something the media might find acceptable. That is not healthy for them as persons, and it is not healthy for our politics. And it's not for me. After many years holding on to some hope of socialism from the Labour Party, I just let go. It's not happening. The Effing Tories and Noo Labour are really just two cheeks of the same arse (© George Galloway) and - look away! - their pants are down showing their true face to the world.

Having met and been impressed by a similarly authentic Green Party member here in Great Grimsby, and then hearing about the startling new policies for social justice, I simply went online and joined the party. And it seems I wasn't alone - during the course of the conference, a number of announcements gave national membership as 17,000 and then 17,500, then 18,000 and then 18,500 ... a near-record. And now there is a new record national membership – 20,000.

I have attended my first local meeting and am very happy to be a part of this growing and very human movement.

The Green Party

Written by Billy Miller who blogs here

Focus E15 - Residents Claim Victory Over Newham Council

“Despite Newham Council’s attempt to evict us, we can today confirm that the E15 Open House occupation will continue until 7 October as planned.

We called Newham Council on the first day of the occupation to negotiate with us. The plan was never to stay indefinitely. They refused to speak to us. Instead they chose to use draconian and expensive legal procedures, threats and dirty tricks. They cut off our water and vandalized the water mains, served an unlawful court summons with only two hours notice and they have repeatedly misled the public.

If Newham had come to talk to us we could have agreed to leave within two weeks. Instead, they refused to enter into a dialogue. We would like to know how much taxpayers’ money has been spent on taking us to court, and how many people that money could have housed.

Our demands to the Council continue to be:

– Repopulate the Carpenters Estate with secure long term council tenancies now
– An immediate end to the decanting and evictions of existing residents
– No demolition of the estate
– The management of Carpenters Estate by the residents, for the residents, no third party or private management

This experience has shown us that there is a broad based movement for council housing in London. There are empty homes in every borough, every town and every city in the country. Focus E15 show us that there are simple, community based solutions to the housing crisis.

We will continue to fight displacement and evictions and to campaign for secure, council housing through direct action, mobilisation and legal means. See you on the streets, in the courtrooms and in our future actions.

This is the beginning of the end of the housing crisis.”


From the Focus E15 campaign

Seventeen Contradictions Of Capitalism: Interview With David Harvey

Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) below talks to David Harvey about capitalism, crisis and social movements ahead of the release of his latest book earlier this year, Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism.

Harvey is a pretty orthodox Marxist scholar, not really ecosocialist, but I think one of the most important thinkers on the Left these days. In the book Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism he examines these contradictions whilst acknowledging that they are unlikely to bring about the system's demise, without a push from below.

He (prematurely in my view) dismisses the idea that climate change on it's own will end capitalism, but he does see 'compound growth' which is inherent for the health of the system, one of the contradictions he identifies, as perhaps the greatest danger to the continuance of capitalism in the future. 

It is definitely worth a read.