The below words need to be repeated again and again here in the USA,
if we are going to avoid the end of democracy.
Carl Jarvis
"The Labour(Democratic) Party cannot be just someone speaking at a
rally or a picket line. They need to organize and fight because the
class struggle is about to become
what politics is really all about."
On 12/29/19, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
https://socialistaction.org/2019/12/28/prospects-for-a-fighting-british-labour-party/
Prospects for a Fighting British Labour Party
Socialist Action
/
12 hours ago
By ANN MONTAGUE
On December 12th, 10.3 million people voted for the left Labour Party
platform and for radical social change. But the numbers were
significantly less than
in 2017, which brought Jeremy Corbyn in as leader of the Labour Party.
However, this smaller number was still much greater than the number of
votes that
the center/right Labour Party received in 2005, 2010, or 2015. The huge
numbers this month were a clear rejection of former Prime Minister Tony
Blair’s
“New Labour” which had forced unions out of the party and promoted the
neoliberalism of austerity and war. Earlier in the year Tony Blair led
11 Members
of Parliament (MPs) in leaving the Labour Party and formed “The
Independent Group” which later changed its name to “Change UK.” A core
part of the Labour
Party platform this year called for renationalizing rail, mail, water
and electricity, something that is anathema to Tony Blair and the
centrists. All
11 of them lost their seats in the December election.
Despite significant losses in the north of England and the Midlands
there is no indication it was a rejection of the Labour Party’s radical
Manifesto.
In fact the largest private sector union, UNITE had polled 75,000 of its
members. They found large numbers of voters were still undecided two
weeks before
the election. The union’s suggestion to the Labour Party volunteers:
“emphasize the radical policy manifesto to win over workers in the north
and Midlands.”
Unfortunately, it was too little, too late.
The mass movement that swept Corbyn into power in 2017 has enormous
potential but the test going forward for Labour is whether they will
stand and fight.
There are two parts of the Labour Party. The Parliamentary Labour Party
consisting of the MPs in the House of Commons and the Constituency
Labour Party,
which are party members throughout the country. The Parliamentary Labour
Party is basically irrelevant. The Conservative Party, Tories, has a
large majority
and controls the Parliament. One major change brought in by the Corbyn
leadership of the Labour Party has been to empower the constituencies.
Now the critical
test before them to organize and mobilize this base. There will be
plenty of opportunities to join forces with mass campaigns that already
exist like the
anti-austerity and climate change movements. But it is also time to take
the working class platform used in the election out of the realm of
Parliament
and into the workplaces and the streets.
The ruling class fight has already been launched by the new Prime
Minister Boris Johnson whose campaign specifically attacked the union
rights of rail
and transport workers. This is a frontal attack on one of the most
powerful unions in Britain, the RMT (National Union of Rail, Maritime
and Transport).
This union quit the Labour Party after Tony Blair supported British
participation in the invasion of Iraq. They still call for Tony Blair to
be prosecuted
for war crimes. The RMT returned to the Labour Party under Jeremy
Corbyn’s leadership, partially because of the pledge to renationalize
rail transport.
They have been conducting intermittent and ongoing strikes against eight
rail franchises since April 2016 in coordination with the Transport
Salaried Staff
Association (TSSA) and Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and
Fireman (ASLEF) and the transport section of UNITE. Johnson is also
attacking all
unions by calling for restrictions on picketing, elimination of check
off and enabling the government to use scab labor during strikes.
The Trump US/Britain Free Trade Agreement
For two years the Conservative Party has been negotiating in secret a
free trade bill to prepare for when Britain leaves the European Union.
It first became
publicly known when Johnson was meeting Trump in the United States.
Trump openly claimed that opening up the National Health Service (NHS)
to U.S. markets
would be an important part of a “magnificent trade deal”. The people
throughout Britain recoiled in horror at the idea that their precious
NHS would be
offered up to US business interests. They were also concerned that full
access of U.S pharmaceutical companies to the U.K. health service market
would
create soaring prices. Boris Johnson fervently denied the NHS would be
involved in such a deal. The rallying cry of “Hands Off Our NHS” could
be heard
around the country.
Meanwhile in the U.S. preparations continued for a post Brexit deal.
Vice President Mike Pence spoke before the Chamber of Commerce, which
represents three
million corporations and businesses. He repeated to thunderous applause
President Trump’s mantra, “The minute that Britain leaves the EU, we
will begin
trade talks.” Within days of that speech to the business community, the
U.S Chamber of Commerce and a coalition of service industries published
a document
with details that they want to see in a trade agreement.
The document shows that they want the UK to be open to U.S. markets and
they want vast swaths of Britain’s economy to be less restricted by red
tape, government
and union rights. Specifically, they want tighter restrictions on
publicly owned utility companies. In Scotland the government is
currently in the process
of creating state run utility companies. This also runs counter to the
Labour Party’s current proposals to renationalize mail, rail, water and
gas. Trump
and Co. want U.S. tech companies to have more rights to move Britain’s
data around the world. They do not want the BBC to be exempt from
opening up to
U.S. media, television and advertising industries. They want to stop all
regulations against foreign owned pharmacies. U.S. business wants to be
able to
sue if they feel they are being discriminated against. This is all
similar to the summary of negotiation objectives from the office of the
U.S. Trade Representative.
Currently the focus in the Labour Party is the election of the next
leader. Unlike the Democratic Party, the Labour Party is a member-based
party that
is democratic. The vote will be one member, one vote. Although the
centrists will try to regain power, it is doubtful they will be any more
successful
than they were in the recent election.
More important than all the expected internal Labour Party maneuverings
is starting to organize the coming fight. Those people who are
integrated into
the Parliamentary system generally have a difficult time thinking beyond
their legislative environment. It will be up to the ranks of the
Constituency
Labour Party’s 700,000 members. They are union members or workers who
need a union or are struggling to find affordable housing or a decent
minimum wage.
The Labour Party cannot be just someone speaking at a rally or a picket
line. They need to organize and fight because the class struggle is
about to become
what politics is really all about.
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December 28, 2019
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Uncategorized.
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A Balance Sheet of the London Elections
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--
___
Carl Sagan
“Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open
mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says
everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind
the fallibility of all the human beings involved?”
― Carl Sagan
