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Title: Hard Labour
Author: Anarchist Federation
Date: 1995
Language: en
Topics: the Labour Party, United Kingdom, Organise!
Source: Retrieved on May 13, 2013 from https://web.archive.org/web/20130513045241/http://www.afed.org.uk/org/issue40/hard_labour.html
Notes: Published in Organise! Issue 40: Special Issue on Work — Autumn 1995.

Anarchist Federation

Hard Labour

The ‘centrist turn’ that Labour is now making is being blamed by many

traditional Labour Party members and by those outside like the SWP as

being down to the actions of one man and his clique-the nasty Tony

Blair. If only it were as simple as that.

The accelerated rotting of Labourism has taken place because, like

similar parties throughout the world- the French Socialist Party, Greek

PASOK, Spanish PSOE,for example- it cannot adapt to the end of Keynesian

economic strategy which involved the development of a Welfare State and

‘full employment’. It can no longer even make any promises that it can

carry out a reformist programme to transform capitalism into something

more ‘humane’ (but still exploitative) But even mild reforms cannot now

be granted under capitalism because of the development of the global

economy. If the boss class is to stay competitive on a world scale it

cannot offer concessions. It has to press ahead with its austerity

packages and redundancies, in order to streamline national economies and

make them leaner and meaner, able to stand up in a bout in the global

economic ring.

Now many social-democratic parties are openly rejecting any reformist

window-dressing altogether. This was already the case with Callaghan’s

monetarist policies in the 70s, and for the last decade has been the

practice of the Socialist Party in France, PASOK in Greece (see article

on Greece in this issue) the Labor Party in Australia.

Alongside this shift in social-democracy away from being the defender of

the Welfare State is the development of the trade unions. The Labour

Party is historically the mouthpiece of the unions. The present period

has shown a move away from them being the negotiator for better wages

and conditions (and never an agent of revolution), for exactly the same

economic reasons. The unions always sabotaged ‘unofficial’, wildcat,

spontaneous strikes by workers, and any action that attempted to escape

from their orbit. Now they fully act to police the work-force, and are

integrated into the corporatist mechanism that controls the mass of the

population.

This accounts for the push to break the power of the unions over Labour.

The ‘new Labour’ factions think that they can go it alone without the

unions if necessary, and will transform the Party into something more

along the lines of an electoral machine like the US Democrat Party.

This was recognised by Blair in the address he gave to the News

International editors’ conference in Australia. He admitted that

‘globalisation is changing the nature of the nation state’ and

recognised that with the growth of new technology the ability of

governments to control their own economies would mean that ‘ the old

left solutions of rigid economic planning and state control won’t work’.

The role of Labour would now be to represent ‘ the national interest’ by

creating a ‘competitive base’ of renovated infrastructure and newly

skilled workers to attract investment. This would mean offering terms

which would compete with the low wages and lousy conditions and hours of

South-East Asia.

As we noted in Organise!37 Blair is planning on more repressive police

actions, more people sent to prison for longer, greater State

surveillance. He confirmed this in his speech to Murdoch’s hacks. As we

said then: ‘Blair knows that if he is elected it will be in a situation

of continuing mass unemployment and increasing poverty. He will need

increasing police powers as he attempts to carry on the work already put

into operation by the Conservatives, the attacks on living standards,

wages, and benefits against which many may decide to act’.

Whether Labour comes to power or not, the crisis in its ranks will bring

about interesting developments. Whilst it has recruited tens of

thousands of new members, these are from the same constituency as the

SDP and the Liberal Democrats, managerial strata, professionals, and

skilled workers, whilst 38,000 , mainly traditional Labourists, have

left in disgust. The changing environment inside Labour will create

havoc in the ranks of both the Trotskyist entrists still inside Labour,

and those now outside, like Militant Labour and the SWP, who continue to

foster illusions in Labour. Plans to build an alternative Labour party

are already being called for by various Trotskyist groups. In doing so,

they calculate that sections of the Labour left and the unions would

split from Labour to join this new party, in which their particular

Trotskyist group would have an inordinate influence. But if such a move

was made, it would only be to create another Labour Mark 2, which would

continue to attempt to defend reformism, parliamentarism and trade

unionism and to continue to fool the working class. It would attempt to

capture any independent working class movement that developed.

However, these developments would open up the possibility for the

expansion of the libertarian communist movement, and the spread of

revolutionary ideas. We urge our readers to seriously think about the

construction of an anarchist communist alternative and to come forward

to help us in this work.