Labour Party Marxists

labourpartymarxists.org.uk Free - donations welcome READY TO FALL Because of acute divisions over Europe the Tories are extremely vulnerable. However, says David Sherrief, the last thing we need to replace them is a ‘normal’ Labour government

Weak and wobbly

heresa May’s government is low-tax, low-regulation Britain finding a recent Downing Street approach to large Of course, at Phillip Hammond’s appears intent on brushing aside the interests deeply divided and looks set “glorious” future outside both the single private companies and selected FT-100 prompting, there has been an acceptance of big capital. All in all, therefore, “big to blunderingly take Brexit market and the customs union.1 A cat in firms, in the attempt to obtain endorsement that Britain will, if it can, negotiate a business is in a difficult position”, reckons negotiations to a disastrous ‘cliff the “nest of singing birds”. for the government’s post-Brexit plans for a two-year transition period. This has been John Colley of the Warwick Business School.3 Tedge’. Despite her Florence speech, little True, the government comfortably “global Britain”, was greeted with derision. cautiously welcomed by many of the CEOs Of course, the capitalist class, though it is being made in Brussels. No got the European Union (Withdrawal) Technology, aerospace, pharmaceutical, and boardrooms of blue-chip companies. is the ruling class, is particularly ill-adapted breakthrough over the divorce bill. No Bill through its second reading in the energy, manufacturing, banking and financial But the lack of detail causes uncertainty, to exercising direct control over day-to-day breakthrough over the Irish border. Then Commons. The final vote was 326-290. services firms have all warned that the drifting frustration, even anguish. government operations. The main business there is Boris Johnson and his 4,000-word However, the war is far from over. Tory Brexit negotiations could lead them to transfer A recent survey of 1,000 UK businesses of members of the capitalist class is business. Sunday Telegraph manifesto calling for a MPs - not least Nicky Morgan, Dominic some operations from Britain. Toyota is reported that more than two-thirds of them The exploitation of labour and dog-eats-dog Grieve and Anna Soubry - have tabled already openly questioning the future of its needed to “know the details of any transition competition is hellishly time-consuming. amendments aimed at shooting holes into Burnaston plant in Derbyshire. arrangement after Brexit by June 2018 - just On average CEOs work “10-11 hours per May’s Brexit plans: eg, they want to include Many capitalists fear that they will face nine months from now - in order to plan day” plus weekends.4 the EU’s charter of fundamental rights. tariffs and other damaging barriers after properly”. If investment and recruitment So the capitalist class has to find itself There will also be challenges to the use of March 2019 … if there is no deal. Nor do decisions that have been put “on hold” are a political party which “can take, and so-called Henry VIII powers and demands they have any liking for the government’s to be “unblocked”, 40% of the businesses stick to, an overall and farsighted view of for a vote on final terms. This brings the leaked proposals to limit immigration say the government must set out what the the interests and needs of the system as a distinct possibility of government defeats. post-Brexit. The markets confirm what the transition will involve, when it comes to vital w h o l e”. 5 Since the 1920s that party has been sept 28 Of course, that would not trigger a general personifications of capital say. Since the June areas, such as the movement of goods, capital the Conservatives, but no longer, it seems. election. For the moment at least, May is 2016 referendum the pound sterling has and people, as well as legal arrangements.2 Today the Tories are clearly acting against the secure. Thanks to the £1 billion deal with fallen by around 20%, compared with other Far from May and her cabinet providing long-term needs and interests of the system: No.018 the Democratic Unionist Party, she would major currencies. Moody’s has meanwhile Britain with ‘strong and stable’ leadership, ie, the capitalist class as a whole. Maybe this win a vote of confidence. Nonetheless, the downgraded Britain’s credit rating from a big capital worries that party interests are reflects the increasingly cosmopolitan nature government is vulnerable and we should top AAA to Aa1, and now Aa2. Despite being put first. Hence, addressing widespread of modern capitalism - foreign investment expect compromises, gruelling late-night the requirement to pay what is in effect a concerns amongst voters about ‘unrestricted’ in Britain stood at around £950 billion in 2017 6 sittings, MPs being brought in from sick 20% premium, outward investment has immigration is being prioritised over 2015 - and therefore a hands-off approach beds and desperately fought by-elections. doubled in the last quarter. Figures such guaranteeing access to the single market. to national political parties, their national Surely, though, the government’s main as these reveal the thinking of collective Private meetings and frantic lobbying rivalries and their national machinations. problem is that a hard Brexit runs counter capital. The bet is that Britain is heading have had little effect on David Davies and True, a few big businesses, such as JCB, to the interests of the dominant sections for difficult times. In other words, Brexit his department for exiting the EU. The Westfield and Bloomberg Europe, have of big capital in Britain. For example, the is bad for profit-making. government says it has its mandate and donated considerable sums to the Tories.7 LPM SEPTEMBER 28 2017 Tories

But most of the money going to Tory HQ the can be maintained. But, business”.9 He has, in fact, said similar Laval and Rüffert judgements). But nor nowadays comes from very wealthy - often inevitably, Wile E Coyote realises that he things before. Eg, 18 months ago Corbyn should we have any illusions in a so-called very quirky - individuals (many of them is suspended in mid-air … then comes The Tories are still told the British Chambers of Commerce Lexit, as advocated by Labour MPs Dennis after access to government, dinners with the long plunge to the ground. that “we are natural allies”. Such statements Skinner and Kelvin Hopkins. ministers, knighthoods, membership of Since the 48.11%-51.89% referendum running ... but they ought to be taken seriously. Basically what On the contrary the EU should be seen the , etc). result, Britain has not suffered the economic Corbyn is promising is that the “next as a site of struggle. Our task is to unite the Over the years the number of companies disaster George Osborne, Mark Carney, appear to be heading Labour government” will be a normal working class in the EU in order to end making donations has shrunk.8 Yet, Peter Mandelson and co predicted. No Labour government. A government the rule of capital and establish with the bulk of Tory finances coming yanking recession. No flight of capital. This for a big fall. However, fully in the spirit of Ramsay MacDonald, on a continental scale. That would be the from the rich and the super-rich, with has allowed little UK Europhobes right and , , etc. That biggest contribution we can make to the hundreds of Tory parliamentarians left - from the Daily Mail to the Morning will a Corbyn-led ought to be good news for the Labour global struggle for human liberation l holding directorships, with Tory MPs Star - to claim vindication. But a Brexit government be a normal right - it shows that Corbyn can be tamed. coming from business and going back referendum result hardly amounts to Whether or not big business believes Notes to business, with the visceral hostility to Brexit. True, statisticians report that the Labour government - a Corbyn is another matter. After all, there 1 . The Sunday Telegraph September 15 2017. trade unions, it is clear that the standard British economy has been growing slower is his long established record of opposing 2 . Financial Times September 12 2017. Marxist description of the Conservative than the euro zone. It is, though, a case of imperialist wars, supporting strikes and 3 . https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/businesss- government committed to government-lobbying-brexit-isnt-working- Party as the party of big business, albeit anaemic growth compared with anaemic advocating wide-ranging nationalisation. heres-143415309.html. it with various qualifications, remains growth. Projected long-term, that heralds the ‘national interest’? And, of course, as the capitalist class 4 . Time October 16 2015. correct. Nevertheless, the tension that Britain’s continued relative decline. well knows, behind Corbyn there lies a 5 . H Draper Karl Marx’s theory of revolution Vol 1, exists between the interests of big capital Nonetheless, a negotiated hard Brexit mass membership which is expressing New York NY 1977, p324. and the direction being taken by May’s deal - let alone a hard Brexit non-deal - itself, is eager for ideas and is already 6 . House of Commons Library Debate pack Number CDP 2017/0159, September 8 2017. party and government is unmistakable. could quite conceivably result in absolute tentatively pursuing its own agenda: a 7 . The Guardian April 1 2015. The origins of this divergence lies decline. Such a prospect deeply worries mass membership which, if disappointed, 8 . B Jones (ed) Political issues in Britain squarely in electoral calculation. Having big capital. Unless control over the if thwarted, if it asserts itself, could well today Manchester 1999, p313. outmanoeuvred her rivals and successfully Conservative Party can be reasserted, abandon Corbyn and embrace the “dangers 9 . Morning Star September 23-24 2017. taken over from the hapless David Cameron the choices it faces are all unpalatable: of Marxism” (Chris Leslie). - following his June 2016 referendum tariffs on goods going to the EU, reduced We do not consider big business humiliation - Theresa May thought that supplies of cheap labour, running down “natural allies”. No, on the contrary, she could inflict a massive general election investment in Britain, decamping abroad, we strive to express and represent the defeat on the -led Labour sponsorship of a national government, etc. “interests and needs” of the global london communist forum Party … if she seized hold of the political Meanwhile, has working class. Hence, when it comes to programme of the UK Independence succeeded in getting the shadow cabinet Europe, instead of getting embroiled in Sundays, 5pm: Weekly political Party. Of course, her gamble did not pay to come out in favour of negotiating a the argument about what is and what is meeting and study group off. May’s presidential campaign proved “new single market relationship” with not in the ‘national interest’ - eg, staying organised jointly by Labour Party to be a disaster, while Jeremy Corbyn’s For the EU. For the sake of appearances, he in the single market versus leaving the Marxists and CPGB. Details in the many, not the few campaign was, by pays lip service to the 2016 referendum single market - what Labour ought to Weekly Worker. contrast, a brilliant success. result. There is no wish to alienate adopt is a clear, ambitious and farsighted Now, irreversibly committed to a hard the minority of Labour voters who backed working class perspective. Venue Brexit, the Tories resemble the Loony Tunes ‘leave’. Nonetheless, the message on Europe Marxists have no illusions in the : cartoon character, Wile E Coyote. Fixated is clear: it is Labour which is articulating European Union. It is a bosses’ club, it is by The Calthorpe Arms, on chasing the Road Runner, his nemesis, the “interests and needs” of big capital. treaty committed to neoliberalism and 252 Grays Inn Road, Wile E Coyote, suddenly finds himself in Indeed, just before the Brighton it is by law anti-working class London WC1X 8JR mid-air over a precipitous canyon. His conference opened, Corbyn (note, the European legs still move and so does he. For a brief declared that Labour Court of Justice moment it appears nothing is wrong, that “is the natural party of and its Viking, 2 3 LPM SEPTEMBER 28 2017 AIMS and Perspectives Principles

1. The central aim of Labour Party Marxists is to transform the Labour Party into an instrument for working class advance and international socialism. Towards that end we will join with Transform the Labour Party others and seek the closest unity of the left inside and outside the party. 2. Capitalism is synonymous with Jeremy Corbyn says he wants to find ways to give more power to ordinary members and a conference war, pollution, waste and production that makes the final decision on policy. The democracy commission has now been agreed and will for its own sake. Attempts to rescue the system through Keynesian remedies report next year. All this is very welcome. James Marshall presents a 13-point platform that will are diversionary and doomed to fail. The democratic and social gains of provide the basis for our submission the working class must be tenaciously defended, but capitalism must be superseded by socialism. Mandatory reselection is crucial, Business. Encourage the Socialist Workers though it terrifies the right. Party, Socialist Party in England and Wales, 3. The only viable alternative is organ- ising the working class into powerful We read that this, “even more Communist Party of Great Britain, Left and thoroughly democratic trade unions, than nuclear disarmament and Unity, Socialist Appeal, the Morning Star’s co-ops, and other schools for socialism, 1.membership of the European Community, Communist Party of Britain, etc, to join and crucially into a political party which became the main catalyst for the launch of our ranks. aims to replace the rule of the capitalist the breakaway Social Democratic Party” in 11. Being an MP ought to be an honour, class with the rule of the working class. March 1981.1 In that same treacherous spirit not a career ladder - not a way for university as the founders of the SDP, Progress - Lord graduates to secure a lucrative living. A 4. The fight for trade union freedom, David Sainsbury’s party within a party - particularly potent weapon here would be a anti-fascism, women’s rights, sexual furiously denounces mandatory reselection rule requiring all our elected representatives freedom, republican democracy and as “a weapon of fear and intimidation”.2 and officials to take only the average wage opposition to all imperialist wars are Yes, it is viewed as an affront by every of a skilled worker - a principle that was inextricably linked to working class political independence and the fight rightwing wrecker, every hireling, every indeed upheld by the Paris Commune and for socialism. parliamentary careerist. the Bolshevik revolution. Our MPs are on It is worth looking at the background. a basic £67,060 annual salary. On top of 5. Ideas of reclaiming the Labour Interestingly, and with good foundation, that they get around £12,000 in expenses Party and the return of the old clause we read on the Progress website that and allowances, putting them on £79,060 four are totally misplaced. From the mandatory reselection carries “echoes of (yet at present Labour MPs are only beginning the party has been dominated the Paris Commune, and of the Russian obliged to pay the £82 parliamentarian’s by the labour bureaucracy and the soviets, where delegates were subject to subscription rate). Moreover, as leader of ideas of reformism. The party must be recall if they displeased their local citizenry. the official opposition, Jeremy Corbyn not refounded on the basis of a genuinely It rests on the idea that leaders will always only gets his MP’s salary: he is entitled to socialist programme as opposed to social 7 democratic gradualism or bureaucratic be tempted to sell you out, once they get An historic opportunity an additional £73,617. p ow e r.” 3 Well, surely, that is what history Let them keep the average skilled statism. actually shows. worker’s wage - say £40,000 (plus legitimate 6. The aim of the party should not be For decades, sitting Labour MPs - to be brought under democratic control leadership. Young Labour has to have the expenses). Then, however, they should a Labour government for its own sake. certainly those with safe seats - enjoyed - from above, by the national executive right to decide on its own constitution and hand the balance over to the party. Even History shows that Labour governments a job for life (or as long as no better offer committee; from below by Constituency standing orders. without a rule change Jeremy Corbyn, committed to managing the capitalist came along). They might deign to visit their Labour Parties. 8. We need a rule that commits the John McDonnell and Diane Abbott ought system and loyal to the existing consti- constituency once or twice a year, deliver a 2. We urgently need a sovereign NEC to securing the affiliation of all trade to take the lead here. tutional order create disillusionment in speech to the AGM and write an occasional conference once again. The cumbersome, unions to the Labour Party. The FBU has 12. Relying on the favours of the the working class. letter to the local newspaper. Meanwhile undemocratic and oppressive structures, already reaffiliated. Excellent. Matt Wrack capitalist press, radio and TV is a fool’s 7. Labour should only consider forming they lived a pampered, middle class life, especially those put in place under the at last came to his senses and took the lead game. Yes, it worked splendidly for Tony a government when it has the active frequented various London gentlemen’s Blair supremacy, must be abolished. The in reversing the disaffiliation policy. But Blair and Alistair Campbell. But, as support of a clear majority of the clubs and spent their weekends in the home joint policy committee, the national policy what about the RMT? Let us win RMT , and Ed population and has a realistic prospect counties with Lord this and Lady that. forums, etc, have to go. militants to finally drop their support Miliband found to their cost, to live by of implementing a full socialist pro- Despite such evident moral corruption, 3. We are against the idea of electing the for the thoroughly misconceived Trade the mainstream media is to die by the gramme. This cannot be achieved in they were automatically the candidate for general secretary through an all-member Unionist and Socialist Coalition project. mainstream media. Britain in isolation from Europe and the next election. Unless found guilty of an ballot. The NEC should elect all national Instead reaffiliate to the Labour Party. And The NEC should, by rule, establish and the rest of the world. act of gross indecency or had the party whip officers. Therefore the post of Labour leader what about the NUT? This year’s Cardiff maintain our own press, radio and TV. To 8. Socialism is the rule of the working withdrawn, they could do as they pleased. should be replaced by the post of NEC conference saw the executive narrowly win state the obvious, tweeting and texting have class over the global economy created With the insurgent rise of Bennism, chair. We favour annual elections with the an amendment, by 50.63% to 49.37%, which severe limits. They are brilliant mediums by capitalism and as such is antithetical that totally unacceptable situation was right to recall at any time. As a matter of in effect ruled out considering affiliation for transmitting simple, short and sharp to all forms of British nationalism. called into question. The Campaign for basic principle Marxists oppose all forms … at this moment. This can be changed … messages to the already converted, but, Demands for a British road to socialism Labour Party Democracy, founded in of Bonapartism. if we campaign to win hearts and minds. when it comes to complex ideas, debating and a withdrawal from the European 1973, committed itself to a range of rule 4. In Scotland and Wales, Labour’s Then there is the PCS. Thankfully, Mark history and charting out political strategies, Union are therefore to be opposed. changes - the mandatory reselection of MPs executive committees should likewise Serwotka, its leftwing general secretary, has they are worse than useless. We should was finally agreed by the 1980 conference. elect their own officers, including their at last come round to the idea of affiliation. provide time and space for controversy 9. Political principles and organisational What this saw, however, was not a Labour representatives on the all-UK NEC. We Yes, that would run up against the Trades and the whole range of different opinions forms go hand-in-hand. The Labour Party equivalent of the Paris Commune are against a single individual in Scotland Disputes and Trade Union Act (1927), within the party. Without that our media Party must become the umbrella or the Russian soviets. There was no right and Wales having the right to appoint introduced by a vengeful Tory government will be dull, lifeless, pointless. We should organisation for all trade unions, socialist groups and pro-working class partisans. to instantly recall. Nevertheless, once in themselves, or a trusted clone. in the aftermath of the General Strike. Civil also take full advantage of parliamentary Hence all the undemocratic bans and each parliament, our MPs had to secure 5. Scrap the hated compliance unit service unions were barred from affiliating immunity to circumvent the oppressive proscriptions must be done away with. the endorsement of their local general “and get back to the situation where to the Labour Party and the TUC. The libel laws. Then we can say the unsayable. management committee. Note, GMCs people are automatically accepted for Civil and Public Services Association - That would prove to be electric in terms 10. The fight to democratise the Labour were made up of delegates elected by local membership, unless there is a significant predecessor of the PCS - reaffiliated to the of shaping and mobilising public opinion. Party cannot be separated from the fight party and trade union branches; they were issue that comes up” (John McDonnell).5 TUC in 1946. Now, however, surely, it is 13. We should adopt a new clause four. to democratise the trade unions. Trade sizable bodies too, typically consisting of The compliance unit operates in the murky time for the PCS to reaffiliate to the Labour Not a return to the old 1918 version, but union votes at Labour Party conferences 80, 90, 100 or even more delegates. shadows, routinely leaks to the capitalist Party. Force another change in the law. a commitment to working class rule and should be cast not by general secretaries At the prompting of the bourgeois media and makes rulings in a completely 9. There has to be a shift in the party, the aim of a stateless, classless, moneyless but proportionately according to the media, Neil Kinnock, desperately seeking biased manner. We want to welcome into away from the HQ, regional officers, the society, which embodies the principle, political balance in each delegation. acceptability, sought to extract trade our ranks the bulk of those who have been leader’s office, the Parliamentary Labour ‘From each according to their abilities, 11. All trade unions should be encour- unions from the voting process altogether. barred from membership by the compliance Party, etc. CLPs must be empowered. to each according to their needs’. That is aged to affiliate, all members of the He failed, but accepted a compromise. A unit. Many of them are good socialists with Towards that end there has to be proper what socialism is all about. Not a measly trade unions encouraged to pay the local electoral college for the selection and a proven record. financing. CLPs should be allocated 50% £10-per-hour “living wage”, shifting political levy and join the Labour Party reselection of candidates was introduced. 6. Those expelled from membership of the individual membership dues. That the tax balance and a state investment as individual members. Ordinary members were given a direct vote ought to have the right to reapply - not will help with producing publicity material, bank. No, re-establishing socialism 12. The party must be reorganised from for the first time, leaving GMCs with the after five years, but in just one year. hiring rooms, paying for full-time officers, in the mainstream of politics means top to bottom. Bring the Parliamentary right to nominate and shortlist only. This All disciplinary procedures should be providing transport, setting up websites, committing the Labour Party to achieving 8l Labour Party under democratic control. electoral college system gave unions and completed within three months. Endless etc. That way, our CLPs can be made into a “democratic republic” The position of Labour leader should affiliated organisations up to 40% of the delay violates natural justice. vibrant centres of socialist organisation, be abolished along with the national vote, with ordinary members having some 7. The huge swing towards Labour in the education and action. policy forum. The NEC should be 60% (the actual balance was different in June 2017 general election happened in no 10. Our goal must be a Labour Party Notes unambiguously responsible for drafting each seat, depending on party and union small part due to the enthusiasm of young that, in the words of , can 1 . http://thirdavenue.org.uk/a-beginners-guide-to- Labour Party manifestos. membership). voters. Yet Young Labour is a creaking, “organise the working class into a great, the-labour-party-rulebook-part-2-reselection-of-mps. Trigger ballots were a product of the uninviting, thoroughly bureaucratic independent political power to fight for 2 . www.progressonline.org.uk/2015/09/28/the-price- 13. The NEC should be elected and 6 of-a-seat-in-parliament. accountable to the annual conference, 1990s. Formally honouring conference’s construction. We need a one-member, one- the coming of socialism”. We therefore 3 . www.progressonline.org.uk/2015/09/28/the-price- “desire to maintain reselection”, they made vote organisation. That must include Young need rule changes to once again allow left, which must be the supreme body in the of-a-seat-in-parliament. party. Instead of a tame rally there must it significantly “easier for MPs to defend Labour’s national committee. At present, communist and revolutionary groups and 4 . http://thirdavenue.org.uk/a-beginners-guide-to- be democratic debate and binding votes. their positions”.4 They allowed for a sitting two-thirds of votes are accounted for by parties to affiliate. As long as they do not the-labour-party-rulebook-part-2-reselection-of-mps. MP to be subject to a full-scale ballot of appointees from affiliated organisations: stand against us in elections, this can only 5 . http://labourlist.org/2016/02/mcdonnell-and- 14. Our elected representatives must woodcock-clash-over-plan-to-scrap-member-checks. be recallable by the constituency or the membership. But only if they lost a eg, the Fabians and Cooperative Party, and but strengthen Labour as a federal party. 6 . Report of the 18th trigger ballot. affiliated trade unions. Instead of policy and Nowadays affiliated organisations include annual conference London 1910, p59. other body that selected them. That We say, all elected Labour representatives national committee elections every two the Fabians, Christians on the Left, the 7 . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leader_of_the_ includes MPs, MEPs, MSPs, AMs, must, by rule, be subject to a one-member, years, there must be an annual conference Cooperative Party and, problematically, Opposition_(United_Kingdom). councillors, etc. Without exception one-vote mandatory reselection. MPs have that can both decide on policy and elect a the and Labour 8 . Labour Party Marxists July 7 2016. elected representatives should take only the average wage of a skilled worker, the balance being donated to furthering 2 3 the interests of the labour movement l LPM SEPTEMBER 28 2017 Left

If this isn’t the time to get involved, when is? Still on the sidelines Organisations such as SPEW, SWP, CPB and Left Unity are not only draining members, says Robert Matron: they are profoundly disorientated politically

aving dismissed the Labour SPEW will continue to oppose the growing sights are set on “saving an A&E or a stresses localism, the latest demonstrations, happening in Labour is a far higher form Party as nothing more than numbers arguing for the RMT to reaffiliate youth club”. That he does so in the name economic strikes and fake fronts. of the class struggle than mere economic a British version of the US and PSC to affiliate. Till such demands of Marxist politics and creating a mass In his ‘Letter to a Jeremy Corbyn strikes, protest demonstrations - let alone Democrat Party, having backed are met SPEW will stand aloof from the movement on the scale of the Chartists supporter’, comrade Kimber warns that the ephemeral fake fronts established by Hthe left-nationalist Scottish Socialist historic battle that is raging ever more shows an inability to grasp even the A in “there’s a great danger that you could be this or that small left group. Party, having fought for trade unions to fiercely inside the Labour Party. the ABC of communism. drawn into endless internal battles”. The In point of fact, the ongoing civil war disaffiliate from Labour, having promoted Comrade Taaffe seems to imagine Left Unity condemned itself to “crucial arena” of struggle is not “the long in the Labour Party is a concentrated form the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition himself akin to Mohammed, the prophet irrelevance in February 2016 when it slog” of “endless meetings to (perhaps) get of the class struggle, because above all it is as a Labour Party mark two, Peter Taaffe, of Islam - that he can order the Labour rejected any active involvement in the rid of a rightwinger”.3 No, its is economic a political struggle. Labour’s leftwing mass general secretary of the Socialist Party mountain to come to him. But, of course, Labour Party. In fact, many prominent strikes and street demonstrations. membership is confident, is learning and is in England and Wales, has been busily so the story goes: “If the mountain will not members believed the election of Jeremy Evidently, comrade Kimber does determined to take on and defeat the smug backtracking. Now he says, quite rightly, come to Mohammad, then Mohammad Corbyn was a total disaster. Their illusory not have a clue about transforming the middle class careerists, the pro-capitalist that Labour should open up to affiliation must go to the mountain.” In other project of building a left-reformist Labour Party or even how it could be warmongers, the defenders of Zionist by the likes of SPEW. words, Mohammed, as recounted by “alternative to the main political parties” opened up to affiliation once again. How oppression in Palestine and, behind that, Yet comrade Taaffe cannot frankly the philosopher Francis Bacon, was a lot had just hit the rocks of reality. Since then the Parliamentary Labour Party could be the Anglo-American imperialist alliance. admit that for nearly two decades he has cleverer, a lot more realistic, than comrade one resignation has followed another. Many made into the servants, not the masters, of To belittle what is happening in the been wrong about the Labour Party. That Taaffe. who once greeted Corbyn’s election as a the labour movement. How Labour could Labour Party, to abstain from the struggle to for nearly two decades he has misled his However, comrade Taaffe is a towering total disaster are now members or want to be armed with Marxist principles, with a transform the Labour Party, is inexcusable organisation. Hence, instead of urging his genius compared with Robert Griffiths, be members of the Labour Party. new clause four. How Labour could be for any socialist l members and supporters to join Labour, the general secretary of the Morning Under national secretary Felicity made into Britain’s version of soviets: ie, join in order to defend Jeremy Corbyn Star’s Communist Party of Britain. When Dowling, what remains of Left Unity is a permanent united front of all working Notes from the right, join to fight alongside other not promising to shop “entryists” to our reduced to voting Labour - except maybe in class organisations. 1 . ‘What we think’ The Socialist September 20 2017. leftwingers to transform it into a permanent witch-finder general, Iain McNicol, what he Scotland - and issuing banal calls to support Comrade Kimber’s myopic claim 2 . Morning Star September 10-11 2016. united front, comrade Taaffe resorts to displays is a completely imbecilic attitude this campaign, that protest: Another that what really matters is not changing 3 . September 20 2016. all manner of ultimatums, posturing and towards Labour’s civil war. He says there Europe, Stand Up to Racism, the People’s the Labour Party through the long, hard subterfuges. are more important issues … like routine Assembly demo, etc. No wonder its entire slog, but the “fightback in the workplaces Labour councils should stop blaming strikes and protest demonstrations. London membership now meets in the and the streets”, is a Bakuninist, not a the Tories for austerity; they should agree Echoing him, Morning Star editor Ben snug little room provided by Housman’s Marxist, formulation. For the 19th century Your financial support is needed - illegal budgets. Labour should allow the Chacko is just as witless. He sees “a task far bookshop. anarchist leader, Mikhail Bakunin, direct please pay into the lpm bank account: RMT union to support whatever election bigger than the Labour Party”. Fighting for Then there is Charlie Kimber - action - ie, strikes and protests - were the sort code 30-96-26; account number: 22097060 candidates it happens to like. Labour a mass revolutionary party? No. Forging indicating the Socialist Workers Party’s key to revolution. By contrast, Marxists should accept the collective demand for the links necessary for establishing a new crisis of leadership, he is now joint national have always placed their emphasis on readmittance from Militant members workers’ international? No. What comrade secretary and Socialist Worker editor. programme, consciousness and the patient OR SEND CHEQUES PAYABLE TO ‘LPM’ expelled in the 1980s. Labour should issue Chacko, laughably, wants is “organising at Anyway, showing a modicum of common work of building a mass party and digging LPM, BCM BOX 8932, LONDON WC1N 3XX. an affiliation invitation to SPEW. a local level in groups such as the People’s sense, the SWP “suspended” its involvement deep social roots. Till such demands are met comrade Assembly, Keep Our NHS Public, Black with Tusc (reducing it in the process to In Marxist terms, because the Labour Taaffe will claim the necessity of standing Activists Rising Against Cuts and many just two affiliates - SPEW and the RMT). Party is historically established, because OR CONTACT US VIA EMAIL: “against rightwing, cuts-inflicting Labour m o r e”. 2 As might be expected, comrade Kimber it is a class party, because it involves all [email protected] candidates”.1 Till such demands are met Where we in LPM strive to elevate called for a Labour vote on June 8 - except big unions, because it has a mass electoral SPEW will continue with the farcical local struggles to the national and the in Scotland - but, the more SWP members base, because it has drawn in hundreds of Tusc project. Till such demands are met international level, comrade Chacko’s leave for the Labour Party, the more he too thousands of new members, what is now 4