Graeme McIver is the National Secretary of Solidarity and a member of the Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition steering committee.
Late April and early May is the time football pundits refer to as, “the business end of the season.” Likewise, for the main political parties standing in the General Election, the same period has become the pivotal time that will make or break their “title” bid. News coverage of the election has taken on a sporting hue as the televised leadership debates are picked over much like the latest offering from the Champions League or the top end of the English Premiership.
The battle between Carlo, Fergie and Arsene has been replaced by the battle between Brown, Clegg and a Tory Arse(ne). Who fared the best? Whose tactics were spot on? Who let the side down and other sporting analogies are thrown around by an excited media more obsessed with style and presentation than substance and real politics.
Sporting comparisons don’t stop there. Newsreaders ask reporters stationed outside the homes or the campaign HQ’s of the main party leaders, “how are the contenders looking?” Reports come back about “youthful” looking Cleggs or “confident” Camerons or “tired” Browns as if it were the build up to a boxing match rather than an exchange of political ideas.
For the main parties winning in politics is everything. Taking part doesn’t count…it’s win or bust. Policy becomes a secondary issue behind spin and presentation. Candidates must be on message and toe the line. These parties care increasingly less about grass roots activism and community engagement and more about becoming efficient electoral machines. Perhaps it was always thus.
Of course in politics, just as in sport, winning is important. In order to affect change, in order to apply solutions and present your vision of society then unless you win the votes you are an also-ran, a loser. As they say in football, nobody remembers the runners up or the losing cup finalists.
The New Labour project was predicated on this attitude towards politics. Winning was everything. In order for Labour to triumph in an election again there had to be changes. There could be no room for sentiment or tradition. No room for looking backwards. The bright new future of electoral success came from ditching much of what was considered to be baggage holding the party back as we approached the new Millennium. The process started with Neil Kinnock, accelerated under Smith and was then taken over with a revolutionary fervor by Tony Blair. The aim? To take Labour back into power and release the Tory stranglehold on British politics.
Few could argue that the strategy was anything but a success in purely electoral terms. A second term for a Labour Government was unprecedented, never mind a third and possibly even a fourth. Back in those dark days of the eighties and nineties, with Thatcher and then Major triumphing for four successive terms there was a mood to get Labour into power, whatever it takes. The left was appeased with promises of better things to come if only the New Labour boat wasn’t rocked. Trade Unions and their members were encouraged to stay loyal because what good were Labour in perpetual opposition? Those decent Labour MP’s and Constituency Labour Parties concerned about the rightward trajectory of the New Labour Project were reminded that no change could be affected from the opposition benches.
Even after Blair’s first term in power where it was clear that he was no friend of the working class or the trade unions. The old spectre of a Tory victory was constantly held up as a reason to stay loyal. Then came attacks on single parents, on trade unionists, (like the fire fighters) on public sector workers and ended, (as Neil Kinnock might say) in the grotesque chaos of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
We are now in a situation where we find ourselves in the biggest economic crisis since the 1930’s yet there is very little difference in substance or approach between the main UK parties. In terms of economic policy they are all united in their view of what is required to pay the price for the bailout of the banks – public sector cuts.
Whilst it is undoubtedly true, that a fourth term Labour Government may not cut as quickly or as deeply (at least at first) as a new Conservative regime, then the cuts will still come nonetheless. Indeed that seems to be the main clarion call to potential voters…”we’re not quite as bad as them.”
Is this is what it has come to? After over a hundred years of struggle and battles on behalf of trade unionists and working class people? After generations of activists devoting their life to a party they believed would make their communities a better place to live? After everything the Labour movement has gone through, we arrive at a position where we are left with the inspirational rallying cry of – “Vote Labour – we are slightly less worse than the Tories!”
Surely the point of politics – certainly the starting point for politics from a left perspective – is to achieve electoral success not just for the sake of winning, but in order to change society for the better and improve the lot of ordinary people. To provide an inspirational vision of a new type of world, a better place for us all to live and work…isn’t it? Somewhere, in the drive for electoral victory, the point has been missed by Labour.
Politics is not like sport. It’s ok for a football team to forego their normal attacking style in order to get through a tricky away tie in Europe. It’s ok for a boxer to fight more cautiously against a bigger opponent. Right now fans of Celtic and West Ham might be tempted to wish for a dogged and dour style that might produce a few wins rather than try and play in a way that attracts praise for artistic merit but has led to poor results. To gain success in sport sometimes you have to abandon tradition in order to become successful. In politics the prize is not just electoral success, but the changes and improvements that can bring.
What is the point in of forming the government if the society that is created is no different to when your opponents emerge victorious? What is the point in being in charge of the economy if you don’t control the banks? What is the point of being in charge of housing if thousands of people can’t get decent, affordable social housing? What is the point in overseeing a welfare state that keeps the poorest in a poverty trap?
There is another consequence to Labour’s abandonment of its founding principles and it’s core support. In the Glasgow North East by-election a jubilant Scottish Labour trumpeted their success in beating off the challenge of the SNP. If the result was to be measured only in terms of who won, then of course it was a great result for Labour. However, the fact that the turnout was the lowest in British by-election history coupled with the BNP only just failing to hold onto their deposit in a Glasgow seat highlights a much deeper problem.
The General Election on May 6th could see the BNP win a seat in Barking. Elsewhere it is likely that the far right will record their best ever post war results. Much of their support will come from former Labour voters. It will also be the case that those areas that could traditionally be termed Labour supporting will provide the lowest turnouts in the election.
These are the legacies of New Labour’s drive for electoral success that put winning above principle and tradition. Apathy, cynicism, disengagement and a feeling of neglect from the people the party purports to represent as well as an anger that can find expression in a vote for the BNP.
Here in Scotland, the SNP have performed best when they have presented themselves to the left of Labour advocating populist polices that make tangible improvements in ordinary peoples lives. (Introducing a limited version of free school meals, proposing to get rid of the council tax, abolishing bridge tolls etc.) Yet, where they have been in charge of local authorities across the country, the SNP have been the driving force behind cuts in jobs and services. They lost the Glenrothes by-election two years ago because they were seen as the incumbent party (they had a majority on the Local Authority) that implemented harsh cuts in services and provision for the disabled. When tested, The SNP have been found wanting.
So what should those of us who want to advance socialist policies do in this election?
I believe Solidarity’s decision to stand in the General Election as part of the (Scottish) Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (STUSC) was the right one. This election campaign will see Solidarity members campaign alongside members of the RMT, of the FBU, the CWU and the Lanarkshire Socialist Alliance. In England and Wales the coalition unites the Socialist Party and the SWP under the TUSC banner. It can be done; the SWP and International Socialists in Scotland have worked together in Solidarity since our formation.
No one, least of all the organisers of the coalition claim that TUSC is a panacea. Yet at least it is an attempt, however modest, to try and unite disparate left forces, trade unionists and campaign groups under an electoral umbrella arguing for socialist and trade union values and policies.
There are those who say we should not have formed. That TUSC is a last minute lash up, another doomed left electoral project to add to the list of previous failures. Those advancing those arguments have a duty to put forward a viable alternative to TUSC’s proposals.
There are those who say we should hold our nose and vote Labour as a lesser of two evils. There are others who feel that the Labour Party can return to being a party of the working class. Those advancing that argument will point to the fact that through it’s connections with the trade unions Labour remains a vehicle for working class change. The fact is that were it not for their reliance on the money recouped from the unions then Labour themselves would have done more to sever the link years ago.
What do ordinary members of the CWU think about the government’s treatment of posties? What do UNITE cabin crew members think about the support they received from Brown following the millions of pounds their union donates to the Labour Party? What do local government workers in UNISON think about the chancellor’s plans for cuts in jobs and services? The fact is New Labour no more stands up for the interests of workers and trade unionists than the Liberal Party did when Keir Hardie and others agitated for a party of Labour towards the end of the 19th century.
Speaking at the launch of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition’s (TUSC) manifesto at the STUC in Dundee, RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said;
“Gordon Brown has supported the management in every industrial dispute since Labour came to power over a decade ago. What conclusion should workers and trade unionists draw? We’ve been disenfranchised! There is no party that puts forward a pro-union, pro-worker programme, all we get are cuts, privatisation and deregulation. The disgust and disillusionment that people feel for the sleaze-ridden main parties is leaving the door wide-open to the likes of the British National Party. Trade unionists have a duty to take a lead in organising a political alternative.”
TUSC does not claim to be anything other than an opportunity for likeminded groups to work and campaign together to keep the flag of socialism flying at a time the issues we want to advance are being ignored by the main parties.
After the election the left will have to examine the result and its consequences. What will the best way forward be? I see TUSC as a stage in the process of trying to make sure that the left becomes less marginalised and more relevant to people. We need to get socialist and left wing ideas further up the political agenda. Will it lead to a new party or formation – I don’t know. What I do know is that lessons have to be learned. The left has to take stock of the way we communicate our message. We will have to look at our presentation and approach. We can learn much from the main parties about the way they present themselves without losing the substance that is most important. Perhaps we have been too guilty in the past as seeing our target audience as ourselves – we who are already on the left – rather than the working class itself.
Whoever wins the next election one thing is for sure – socialists and trade unionists will be at the forefront of a battle to defend public services and wages and conditions of workers. We will be fighting to defend community resources and facilities. We will be in the frontline of a struggle for trade union rights and jobs.
For us, that is the business end of the season, rather than just one show piece day in May.