Once upon a time in the 1980s – then and now

Subtitle: the trouble with the soft Left….

It is a great feeling first thing in the morning to read about the utter humiliation of LibDems in Barnsley . The worrying aspect of this election was just how well UKIP and the BNP did. Disillusioned working class/lower middle class Tory voters maybe?

Labour did well without an overall coherent strategy, an alternative to the ConDems. Just what could happen if there was social democratic anti-cuts programme based on need as opposed to greed and profit? But there isn’t as Mister Ed still doesn’t want to rock the establishment boat. I mean one obvious loud statement they could make is the ConDems have no mandate to make these level of cuts nor did they mention any of this in their manifestoes (other than reneging which the LibDems have done). Labour should capitalise on this gain confidence and strength from this.

This by-election result is against a political backdrop of unprecedented and vicious cuts where Labour councils are implementing “kinder” cuts with a surreal belief that they’re doing it for the best reasons, and some because they’re right-wing and don’t give a damn. I was tweeting yesterday my own disillusionment and anger when Don Paskini popped up with this regarding Hackney Council. I asked, “Were Lab councillors elected to vote for cuts budgets? Where’s the leadership? Where’s the backbone? Democracy?”

Don replied: “but if there was an election tomorrow in hackney, i’d predict every single lab cllr wd be re-elected”..

Now that’s probably true but I still find that reply incredibly insulting, it reminds me of the view that all you have to do is to stick a red rosette on a donkey and people will vote for it (actually I think the donkey has more sense) but this kind of thinking takes Labour’s core base for granted. Yes, Labour will do well but what about in 4 years time? I don’t believe at the moment the ConDems are being seriously undermined (because honestly we don’t have a coherent politically committed opposition). Many people like to hark back to the 1980s. Labour did well in by-elections and local government elections in the early part of the 1980s because it was at the height of Bennism, policies that were popular along with massive support for CND, for example. Labour won landslides. Yet they lost in 1983. Indeed you had the “Falklands factor”. Thatcher was deeply unpopular but Labour still failed. Michael Foot was a right-wing intellectual who didn’t have the belief or confidence in Labour’s own policies. Also, his support over the Falklands which New Left Review described as, “voice of moral imperialism”.

The question was did Labour actually want to win in 1983? Or did it want time in opposition to shed itself of the Left? The latter I believe. Kinnock elected on a soft left platform certainly did carry out a concerted witch hunt. And another point that needs raising is that the soft left do more harm and damage than the traditional right wing. Blairism/NL roots came from the LCC (Labour Coordinating Committee) with a smattering of euro-communism which then morphs into something right-wing. This all formulated by people who were once avowedly left-wing in the 1970s who used the likes of Althusser’s writings to bridge the gap by de-politicising Marxist thought.

Why am I stating this? Because I think there are undoubtedly parallels between now and then. You have unpopular coalition where Labour is doing well in by-elections and possibly local elections but without an assertive, dynamic or radical leadership instead we have a dithering and hesitantly cowardly one. Difference is you had a more coherent, organised and larger left in the early 1980s that has certainly withered away over the years. There wasn’t a organised alliance in the 1980s during the council cuts, the reason any impact was made was due to the left being organised. But we don’t have that luxury as the left is in no way as strong nor do we have the time as to reiterate these cuts are astronomical where millions of pounds are being cut. The cuts happening now pale what happened in the 1980s into insignificance.

New Labour did well in the 2001 and 2005 elections as they relied on a weak opposition translated into low turnouts along with taking its base for granted simultaneously politically attacking them. Cameron is elected and rallies the Tory troops, NL can’t rely on lack of support for the Tories. Hence 2010 brings a hung parliament (no outright victory for the Tories yet rely on LibDem support).

Labour isn’t taking the power nor is it going with public mood over the cuts. They are too busy trying to woo LibDems certainly that’s what the soft left seems to be doing. Compass opening its membership, disastrous idea in my own opinion. If they were around during the time of Michael Foot they would have certainly championed him. So rather than support their own class interests i.e. working class Labour will shafting them unlike the Tories who defend their class to the hilt.

As a product of the political landscape of the 1980s I remember a more coherent and organised left now all I see is a small fractured left many of them (not all… I hasten to add) driven by ego, book deals and careerism as opposed to solidarity, comradeship and unity. I may be donning my rose tinted specs but things were organised and there was a sense of optimism, along with the lows but with defeat after crushing defeat I wonder whether there is the energy or the confidence to take the ConDems on. Apologies for my pessimism but what defines life in this society is an acceptance for your lot. That’s not to say you shouldn’t organise and agitate but I don’t get a sense of optimism especially with a Labour leadership and a trade union bureaucracy that conspires against us. It will be an uphill struggle. Today the pattern of economic hits will be different to that of the 1980s along with an economic system structured differently. Though a similar impotent Labour leadership who can’t even be part of leading the struggle against the cuts, a pathetic compromise with Mister Ed speaking yet not leading at the March 26 demo.

Finally, on the issue of Labour councillors/councils these are not just people facing a conjunctural difficulty involving local government law. It is part of their overall political orientation of half slightly mitigating the neo-liberal onslaught and half dressing this up as the said onslaught in “progressive” language. They will always find one excuse or another to do the same or similar as they have done over the council cuts.

It’s going to be desperately hard times politically as we have to change dramatically the current defeatist political narrative.

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