The ruling class was compelled to abandon Keynesianism and resort to the “new” policies of monetarism that we now associate with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. These were presented as new and “radical” policies – a myth that is still being assiduously cultivated by Tony Blair and the adherents of New Labour. In point of fact, these ideas were not new at all but only a return to the old policies of “classical” capitalism – the policies of the 1920s and 1930s – of balanced budgets and “sound currency”, that is, the policies of deflation and a ruthless attack on the living standards of the working class.
The Left leaders have never really understood how capitalism works. They imagined (and still imagine) that it was possible to solve the problems of the working class without a fundamental change in society. They dreamed (and still dream) of a return to the “good old days” of Keynesianism, where increased social spending could solve all problems. Insofar as the existing governments did not accept this, they attributed it merely to stubbornness, ignorance or bad faith. True, Margaret Thatcher was stubborn and ignorant and habitually acted out of bad faith. But the reason why she acted as she did was none of these things. She was merely carrying out a policy in the interests of capitalism in a period of capitalist decline. Since then, every other British government – including that of Tony Blair – has done exactly the same thing.
Even the best of the Lefts (or left reformists, to call them by their correct name) lack a scientific understanding of capitalist society. They lack a clear perspective, linked to the need for a thoroughgoing socialist transformation of society that is provided by Marxism, and therefore at critical moments they tend to vacillate, compromise and retreat. By contrast, the right-wing Labour and trade union leaders are always decisive, ruthless and implacable. They know “what side their bread is buttered on”, they know who their paymasters are, and they feel behind them the full weight of the support of the Establishment, the press and “society” (namely, big business). This gives them a considerable advantage, especially in periods when the workers are in a state of apathy. In such periods the pressure of the ruling class on the tops of the movement is increased many fold. The last two decades was just such a period, which is why the movement (both the Labour Party and the unions) went so far to the right.
For a period of almost two decades, the class struggle and activity in the Labour movement was at a painfully low level, as the mass organisations emptied out. Strikes – one important barometer of the class struggle – were at an all-time low. Under these hard circumstances, the pressures of capitalism on the workers’ organisations, and especially the tops, increases enormously, and, being even more divorced from its working class base, they acquired an unprecedented level of “independence” – that is, increased dependence on the bourgeois and their ideology.
Without theory, perspectives or understanding, the right-wing trade union and Labour leaders adapted themselves to their immediate environment. They had long lost confidence in the working class and its ability to struggle. This low point in the fortunes of the Labour movement created the conditions for the rise of so-called “New Realism” and Blairism – its political mirror image. These phenomena are inseparably linked and dialectically related to one another.
This period has been appropriately described as one of semi-reaction. In the course of the last two decades, the Labour and trade union leaders became even more cocooned from the pressures of the rank and file. They derived confidence from the apparent successes of capitalism, which they fervently defend. In the trade union field, individuals such as Chapple, Jackson, Reamsbottom, Hammond, Bill Jordan and John Monks epitomised this conservative pro-capitalist tendency. By contrast the left reformists, both in the Labour Party and the unions, collapsed as a serious force. Those who resisted the shift to the right were swimming against the current.
The expulsion of the Militant tendency from the Labour Party was the signal for a general purge of the Left. The Marxist tendency had played an important role in stiffening the Lefts and leading the fight against the right wing. It had also built a serious base in a number of unions and led the Broad Left Organising Committee (BLOC) during the mid-1980s. The ruling class regarded them rightly as their most serious enemies and acted accordingly. But what really destroyed Militant was not the expulsions – which only affected a small minority of the best-known figures – but the confusion and short-sightedness of a part of the leadership of Militant who panicked and broke away from the Labour Party on an ultra-left adventure that dealt a serious blow to the Marxist wing of the Party.
The trade union bureaucracy, to accentuate all the difficulties, cultivated the art of hiding behind the anti-union laws. The real intention of these laws was to disorientate, frighten and undermine the confidence of workers. Today, all union officials are required by law to repudiate unofficial disputes, or be held responsible for the actions of their members. This was a very shrewd move by Thatcher, who understood that the best way to silence the trade union officials was not to put them in prison (as Heath did), but to threaten their bank balances and pensions. “We can’t break the law. Everything will be lost! All the union’s assets will be sequestrated”, was the refrain of one right-wing union leader after another. “No trade union office will miss the financial imperative of disowning local activists, however reluctantly”, stated the labour correspondent John Lloyd. “No local activist can fail to feel more exposed or vulnerable.”[1] In reality, however, if the trade unions stood up to the law, it would instantly be turned into a dead letter.
While the pro-capitalist tendency is on the retreat within the trade unions, in the Labour Party there has been a time lag, and the right wing is still dominant, at least at its higher levels and in the Parliamentary Party. The deeper one goes into the Labour Party, however, the greater is the feeling of indignation and hatred towards the New Labour leadership. In fact, the right-wing domination at the top reflects the situation, as it was yesterday, not at all what it is today. This swing to the left within the unions must in turn, as in the past, sooner or later reflect itself at all levels within the Labour Party. The growing polarisation to the left and to the right within society must find its reflection inside the Labour Party too.
The way in which the process will unfold was revealed in embryo in the Livingstone affair. Ken Livingstone, the clear choice of Labour’s rank and file, was bureaucratically deprived of becoming Labour’s official candidate for London Mayor. Immediately all hell broke loose. Although the local Party organisations were at a low ebb before this, huge protest meetings took place. The Party in London came to life overnight. The accumulation of discontent only needed a point of reference, which Livingstone provided. As we predicted, the Livingstone affair proved to be just an episode. But it showed how suddenly things could change within the Labour Party once things began to move.
All the factors that led to Blair’s victory in the Party are now turning into their opposites. Blair’s hold on the Party, which appeared to be so solid, is just as temporary as the stranglehold of the right in the unions. Blair’s support for George W. Bush and the war in Iraq has further alienated the Party’s rank and file. The mood of opposition is growing. We are witnessing the end of an era and the opening of a new stormy chapter inside the Labour Party.
This is precisely the reason why Blair wants to break the trade union-Labour link. It is an attempt to prevent militancy spreading from the unions to the Party. Tom Sawyer, when he took over as general secretary of the Party, pointed to this danger in a private briefing to the press at Labour Party conference. Sawyer explained that changes were needed to Party rules to stop the kind of humiliation of the leadership that happened under Callaghan. The new Labour government would have to be “protected” from the criticisms of the Party membership, and especially the trade unions. Never again would they allow a division to open up between the membership and a Labour government. But this is easier said than done!
Despite all the control freakery, Blairism has a very weak base in the Labour movement – even in the Parliamentary Labour Party. As long as Blair appeared to deliver success, his ruling coalition at the top of the Party could hold together. But things have already started to unravel. The hairline splits and cracks that exist even within the Cabinet will in the future become an open breach, as was shown by the resignations of Robin Cook and Clare Short. The departure of Mandelson and now Alastair Campbell is part of this process. A series of backbench revolts have already rocked the Party. The Financial Times, the organ of big business, comments: “The emergence of prominent backbenchers prepared to challenge Mr Blair on several fronts raises the risk that protests against individual government policies will cohere into wholesale opposition to the course he is charting.”[2] The Blair machine still holds a ruthless grip over the Party, but it is no longer seen as all-powerful. It will be rendered powerless under the pressures of the class struggle. Blair will find himself suspended in mid air.