The historical parallels with Ramsay MacDonald and 1931 are very relevant. But there are differences. Ramsay MacDonald had certain roots in the Labour movement. Tony Blair, on the other hand, is the most out-of-touch Labour leader in history. He is a shallow middle class upstart who has climbed to office on the back of the working class, which he despises. It is entirely possible that, as the battle hots up inside the Party, there will be a split along class lines. Blair and the right wing will split away to join up with the Lib-Dems. After all, that was always Blair’s intention. It is quite possible that this could occur even in the lifetime of a Labour government. Having used the Labour Party to climb to power, Blair would be quite prepared to stab it in the back and destroy the Labour government, preparing the victory of reaction in one form or another – either the return of a vicious right-wing Tory government, or even a replay of the National Government scenario of 1931. However, such a development would prepare the way for a sharp turn of the Labour Party to the left.
It is not possible to place an exact time scale on this process, but events could move very quickly. In any case it is clear that the process of a shift to the left has begun, although it is still in its early stages. Over the last few years, opposition to the Blair government has been steadily mounting in the Labour movement. But the accumulated discontent of the past, so often suppressed, has to find an outlet. This is the problem of problems. There is colossal discontent in the ranks, but it lacks an authoritative voice, a clear programme, an organisation and a perspective. This can only come from within the Party itself. All the attempts to create an alternative outside the Labour Party have collapsed ignominiously. The whole process must pass through the Labour Party – and the unions.
The unions therefore now occupy the centre of the stage. Opposition has surfaced in an increasingly militant form in a host of trade union conferences. After six years of Labour government, the workers’ patience has worn extremely thin. Blair continues with his pro-business policies, as public services crumble and the gulf between rich and poor grows apace. He seems to be anxious to go out of his way to antagonise the trade unions. He is pushing on with his so-called reforms, without any concern for the consequences. The stubbornness of Blair, however, is not a personal question but arises from the crisis of British capitalism. The system can no longer afford meaningful reforms. The bosses are insistently demanding counter-reforms. It is this that drives Blair into a confrontation with the unions.
Workers in Britain already have less workplace protection than their counterparts on the continent. They also work the longest hours and have the shortest holidays. But this is not sufficient for big business. Standards need to be driven down still further. Blair has linked up with the leaders of European right-wing bourgeois parties in an attempt to undermine workers’ rights across Europe. They are looking to the United States as a model of “free enterprise” that must be replicated in Europe. Blair, Berlusconi and Aznar have called on EU states to introduce “more flexible types of employment contracts”, to replace labour laws with “soft regulation” and to increase “the effectiveness of public employment services… by opening this market to the private sector.”
Blair says he wants to remove all “red tape” to allow “enterprise” to flourish – in other words, further deregulation and an end to restrictions on exploitation. In 2002, as workers were pushed to their limits, the official figures for the number of deaths at work rose by 32 per cent. Now there are serious proposals to increase the retirement age of men and women to 70 years of age. This counter-reform is a throw back to the inter-war period. It is an indication of what the British workers can expect in the future.
These attacks – especially on pension rights – have already provoked a series of general strikes in Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal. Huge protests and demonstrations have rocked France over moves to privatise state firms and cut pensions. Even in Austria workers have taken to the streets. Britain will not be far behind, as the gigantic demonstrations against the Iraq war have shown. On 15 February, two million demonstrated on the streets of London in the biggest demonstration in the history of Britain. It is an important harbinger of what is to come, as consciousness begins to catch up with the objective situation. Under pressure, the TUC is now threatening to call a national demonstration over pensions.
The mood in the unions is now beginning to come to the boil. The growing impatience and frustration of the rank and file has been expressed in certain unions by a questioning of the trade union-Labour Party link. This is a natural reaction to the high-handed conduct of the Labour leaders, and a desire to teach them a lesson. In the year 2000, the Fire Brigades Union conference passed a resolution that called for its political fund to be opened up to all organisations and candidates that support union policy, and not simply the Labour Party. Following the firefighters’ dispute, a number of members of the FBU withdrew from paying the political levy – a sign of disgust at the way the government had handled the strike. There is even the possibility that the FBU might disaffiliate from the Labour Party.
While Andy Gilchrist, the general secretary of the FBU, has fought to keep the links and urged members to reclaim the Labour Party, it is not certain that he will carry the day. Given the deep-seated resentment against New Labour, it cannot be ruled out that one or two of the smaller unions could disaffiliate from the Labour Party. But that remains to be seen. In any case, this process will be reversed as the Labour Party shifts to the left, and a left reformist current crystallises within its ranks.
The same mood of bitterness exists in other unions. In Unison, the leadership were forced to review its links with Labour. Bectu, the 26,000-strong broadcasting and entertainment workers’ union, voted at its conference by a 61 per cent majority to conduct a ballot over the Labour-union link. The conference resolution cited a range of reasons, including the government’s “increasing number of confrontations with public sector workers, seeking better pay and conditions”, and its “policies of privatisation and cuts.”
The GMB, while maintaining its affiliation, has decided to cut £2 million from its funding of the Labour Party over the next four years, and the CWU and RMT have carried out similar measures. The TGWU and Unison are also reviewing their financial arrangements. The RMT reduced its financial contribution to the Party from £112,000 to £20,000, and now to less than £12,500. It also changed its list of sponsored MPs after they had been quizzed over which policies they supported, causing Prescott to resign from the union. This is an absolutely correct stand to take. Unfortunately, instead of taking the fight into the Labour Party, a majority of the 52-strong delegate conference of the RMT decided to consider backing other parties, such as the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP), Plaid Cymru, and the Greens. While the frustration amongst activists is perfectly understandable, support for these other parties offers no way forward. Plaid, for instance, promotes the policies of bourgeois nationalism, that serves to split the working class movement, while the Greens (and Plaid) have voted for cuts and privatisation of local government services. How can they serve the interests of the working class? Such a strategy can only play into the hands of the right wing and lead to the disaffiliation of the union – something the Blairites would dearly love.
The vital importance of the unions in the fight against Blairism was illustrated negatively in Wales. Apparently, in a recent ballot, Environment Minister Alun Michael, a leading Blairite, only narrowly avoided a full reselection process by a majority of one Party unit. Unfortunately, the local FBU and the two affiliated RMT branches failed to cast a vote. If they had done so – the price of a postage stamp – Michael would have been facing deselection. This clearly demonstrates, not in abstract discussion, but concretely, how important the role of each RMT and FBU branch is in reclaiming Labour. Any attempt at disaffiliation, as this example shows, only weakens the struggle against Blair and his clique. Again, the RMT was instrumental in getting the issue of Iraq raised at the 2003 Labour Party conference. If it had been disaffiliated that opportunity would have been lost.