I was reading Laurie Penny’s article on the structure of left leadership. Firstly, when she writes, parliamentary politics has sold the young out, and whatever bargain-basement price tag mainstream parties slap on their membership, they aren’t buying it any more. Historically, parliamentary politics have sold the working class out but you cannot ignore the expression of political representation. It’s the centre piece of politics coupled with the fact you can’t ignore the role of the trade unions or the labour movement overall. This may all seem “old style” politics but you still need them.
Secondly, the Lib-Dems never ever (past or present) represented the last hope that parliamentary democracy might have something to offer the young. The Lib-Dems are a bourgeois party whose class interests have obviously nothing to do with the working class. A vote for Clegg was indeed a vote for Cameron (and some of us had the political foresight to explain the foolhardiness and wrongheadedness of voting for this traitorous bunch… wasn’t it bleeding obvious they would sell us all out??!!).
Indeed, what I do agree with Laurie wholeheartedly is this, the young people of Britain do not need leaders, and the new wave of activists has no interest in the ideological bureaucracy of the old left. You don’t need self-styled leaders that create a cult of leadership; undemocratic, corrupt, lack of transparency and accountability. Do we need that? Nope!
What we do need is collective leadership. You do need to develop new structures. Twitter and Facebook cannot on their own create the political legitimacy and effectiveness that proper political organsition can. Organisaton does not equate to either the SWP or to Labourism in either old or new variants. In fact not to pay attention to how you organise surrenders ground to either/both the old style democratic-centralism or the corrupt party machine of the LP. You need the kinds of organisations that can act as political transmission belts: the most obvious current example being the LRC (Labour representation Committee). We need organisations that can quickly provide political and pracitical support to strikes and other forms of resistance as well as challenging the LP establishment in more traditional forms of politics. You have to fight on all fronts.
Spot on Louise. Exactly right.
Incidentally, Alex Callinicos has an article
up on CiF, responding to Laurie:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/26/student-protests-laurie-penny
Cheers Simon
Times have changed political representation is outmoded, antique and old-fashioned that no more-longer has any relevance. I suppose, I support Laurie Penny’s article and very much welcome the new movement this I hope is only the very beginning!!”
Now here’s the problem. The capitalist class
understand perfectly well the need for political
representation. Having secured it, their representative
are doing an excellent job of dismantling the
welfare state. To be blunt, I don’t fancy going
round an estate which has benefited from the
local Surestart project explaining how
representation is ‘outmoded, antique, and
old-fashioned’. This stuff matters to real
peoples’ lives. And any left which isn’t going
to be the preserve of an activist elite needs to
take it on board.
And when the so-called representatives of working people start to behave worst than the capitalist class: By starting war’s, invading other peoples country’s, whilst at home cutting benefits for the the sick and disabled, punishing the unemployed for being unemployed and so on is like arguing that the chocolate I chew, only melts in my mouth and not in my hands!”
If anyone here was an apologist for New Labour,
you would have a point. Which is not to say that
there isn’t a difference between Labour and Tory
governments. Anyone who isn’t some kind of
nihilist can convince themselves of this by,
say, watching the news.
Part of the refashioning, and I must say refreshing aspects of the new movement, is it’s non-interest in the sectarian politics of the past.
So with respect, let’s agree to differ?”
We have a new movement to build no-time can be wasted.
Well, yes, sectarianism bad! But it seems to me that Laurie is saying
more than that. She is rejecting representative
politics and the existing left tout court.
I disagree with this for much the same reasons as
Louise gives. It is also far from clear to me that
she articulates a consensus in the movement.
Certainly there have been a fair number of Labour,
Counterfire, and other folk involved in key roles
in the recent occupations and demonstrations.
Agreeing to differ, however, is fine.
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