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Title: Election fever
Author: Joe Black
Date: 1992
Language: en
Topics: Elections, Ireland, Workers Solidarity
Source: Retrieved on 9th October 2021 from http://struggle.ws/ws92/election37.html
Notes: Published in Workers Solidarity No. 37 — Winter 1992.

Joe Black

Election fever

HERE IT COMES, there it goes. Another doling out of our share of

“democracy”. Where will we put our ‘X’. Who do we want to rule us for

another five years? The answer for anarchists to this question is easy,

nobody.

The right to the vote was part of the hard won struggles of workers (and

suffragettes!) over the last couple of hundred years. Even the most

flawed democracies are forced to concede rights that dictatorships do

not, such as relative independence for trade unions, the right to

limited demonstrations and a certain amount of free speech.

However it is clear that none of these are absolutes, as anti-trade

union legislation like the Industrial Relations Act, Section 31 of the

Broadcasting Act, and the refusal to allow nationalist marches into

Belfast city centre adequately demonstrate.

The real purpose of Leinster House is not to ensure the country is run

according to the wishes of all the people, cherishing all their views

equally. Parliament instead provides a democratic facade beyond which

the real business of managing capitalism goes on.

Organisations like the Irish and British Labour Parties spend most of

their time trying to prove they can manage capitalism just as well as

the Tories or Fianna Fáil. They argue their policies are a way of

avoiding strikes and any other form of class strife. They say their

politics of class collaboration are more efficient to capitalism then a

hard headed class strife approach of lock-outs and union busting.

P.E.S.P. LOGIC

This sort of logic has nothing to do with socialism. Indeed the current

Fianna Fáil/PD government has been successfully pursuing the same logic

through the Programme for Economic and Social Progress, and before that

the PNR. These deals mean the union bureaucrats actively stopping and

sabotaging strikes in return for pay increases below the rate of

inflation. So in a comparative ‘boom’ period of the Irish economy when

company profits doubled Irish workers made real losses with regards to

wages and employment and lost ground as regards the social wage (health

care, education, local authority housing, welfare entitlements).

The Labour and Workers Parties may have objected to parts of the PESP

but they supported the idea of ‘social partnership’ as it is part of

their strategy for government as well.

GOOD LEADERS?

These arguments are common to most revolutionary socialists, but

anarchists have another and more fundamental reason for opposing the

parliamentary process. Parliament means the mass of the working class

relying on a few representatives to enter parliament and do battle on

their behalf.

Anarchists do not belive any real socialist/anarchist society can come

about through the good actions of a few individuals. From the time of

the ‘First International’ over a century ago, anarchists have argued

that the liberation of the working class can only be achieved through

the action of the working class.

MAKING THE ARGUMENTS

This brings us to the question of how should anarchists tackle the

parliamentary system. How do we convince everyone not to vote? Will the

Workers Solidarity Movement be putting all its energy into an

anti-election campaign?

This is not seen as a major activity by us. Our aim is not to have

elections where only 10% vote, for such a thing would be meaningless in

itself. Our aim is to change society by winning the working class to the

ideas and tactics of anarchism. This will involve the overthrow of the

economic system (capitalism) we live under and its replacement with

socialism under workers’ self-management.

We will gain support for anarchist ideas not just through abstract

propaganda but also by our involvement as anarchists in struggles and

demonstrating how anarchism provides the best tools for winning day to

day reforms. This election we will be concentrating our energy on

getting a ‘No, Yes, Yes’ vote in the referenda.

FOOLISH ABSTENTION?

But is it not foolish to refuse to support parties which may be slightly

better than Fianna Fail or Fine Gael?

Real decision making takes place in industry and not in parliament. Any

party, even in majority government, can only do what capitalism allows

them. The sight of a “socialist government” implementing cuts and

breaking strikes damages the credibility of socialism.

It is also a question of energy. The sort of effort that is spent

supporting (critically or otherwise) reformist organisation is energy

taken away from the struggles for improved working conditions, abortion

rights, etc. The “X” march demonstrated how building campaigns can

effect more real change then 20 Labour or Workers party TD’s. It forced

the courts to allow “X”to go to England for an abortion.

Even more importantly, if we do not wish to see society divided into

order-givers and order-takers we should not take part in choosing the

order-givers. Our goal is efficient grassroots democracy, which will be

co-ordinated nationally and internationally. We hold that everyone

affected by a decision should be able to have a direct say in making

that decision. Electing 166 TDs to make all the decisions “for us” is

merely choosing rulers, not doing away with rulers.