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Communist Party
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10-11 JUNE 2017
ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF TRADES UNION COUNCILS, SUNDERLAND
A maturity of our working class worth celebrating O
ver a century ago, Frederick Engels wrote that “universal suffrage is the gauge of the maturity of the working class.” In a capitalist parliamentary democracy such as ours, he said, “wealth exercises its power indirectly, but all the more surely” than under a dictatorship. Thus, we should not be too disappointed at the outcome of the election. The ruling class pulled out all the stops to block Labour, even though it couldn’t secure an overall Tory victory. And indeed we can celebrate not just the Labour gains, but a significant advance in the maturity of our working class. After over 30 years of retreats, when “class” almost became a dirty word, millions of working people have voted to support a programme which put it back at the centre of the agenda – For the many, not the few. It has been a stunning campaign by Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party. With the exception of Blair’s 1997 landslide, this is the best Labour performance in percentage terms (40.1) since 1970 and in total votes since 1966. When May called the election, Labour was suffering from the long years of taking its core supporters for granted – particularly in Scotland – and from the damage still being inflicted by Corbyn’s opponents in the Parliamentary Party, particularly over the charge of Labour being “unelectable”. And then look at what actually happened. Corbyn’s campaign broke new ground in several respects – a rock concert appearance, and 6 simultaneous rallies by video link, for chrissakes! Hundreds and thousands of people turned out wherever Jeremy went.
Tens of thousands of door-step campaigners, phone bankers and social media activists were mobilised to fight Labour’s cause. Massive enthusiasm was unleashed. How did this happen? Corbyn’s drive, leadership, integrity, honesty, politeness, approachability, and ability to articulate the issues concerning people – in short, his charisma – have been a major factor. But it was also the policies: Labour’s manifesto offered a vision of community, public service and collectivism – a message of hope in response to austerity, privatisation, and ‘same old, same old’. Labour’s campaign turned politics into something real for people, something that they could identify with and participate in – not just a game played by the Westminster elite. And millions of people were mobilised to vote for a programme which, while not socialist, represented the first small steps towards rolling back the dictatorship of monopoly and finance capital. It’s no wonder that, throughout the campaign, Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and other leading Labour figures were subjected to lies, distortions, innuendo and outright vitriol in most of the capitalist press. The big business owners of those papers knew what was at stake – the rich pickings that they and their ruling class friends have enjoyed for close on 40 years. Likewise the BBC and ITV, whose senior executives are linked to the same background, did their utmost to minimise positive reporting on Labour’s campaign, and to sow doubt about Corbyn and Labour policies. But the sheer scale of Labour’s campaign, together with Corbyn’s sure-
footedness and the obligation of the TV media at least to appear impartial during the election, meant that the truth began to force its way through in places, and many people – albeit not enough – could see through the lies to understand what was going on. So the Tories are still the largest party, but are unable to implement their programme unless they do a deal with the DUP – and even then, they will only have the slenderest of majori-
ties. May hasn’t managed to isolate the ‘hard Brexiteers’ in her own party, and her ability to negotiate with the EU – let alone get a Brexit deal/’no deal’ through Parliament – is severely compromised. The Tories will now face not just an opposition in Parliament, but a massive movement outside it. The vision of a better future is not going to die. The trade union movement, the People’s Assembly and other progressive forces
need to harness the energy and enthusiasm of Labour’s supporters to ensure that the movement which has been created carries over into mass extraparliamentary struggle. Three things are for sure. First, there will be no immediate calls for Jeremy Corbyn to resign. Second, the ruling class will exert massive pressure to maintain its position. But third, the issue of class is now firmly back on the political agenda.
The struggle for Britain’s future will continue – and rapidly escalate Article written 6 June 2017
W
hatever the general election result - unknown at the time of writing this article – the struggle for Britain’s future will continue, and rapidly escalate. It’s not just a matter of ‘left’ against ‘right’, or fundamentally a parliamentary question – vitally important as the election is. It is, as Francis O’Grady has called it, a class war. Are we, our class, our unions and, specifically for us, our trades union councils ready to lead that struggle? Have we a strategy for winning? What do we even mean by winning? A few things from the general election campaign Firstly, despite (as The Red Flag says) a very large number of cowards flinching and traitors sneering within the Parliamentary Labour Party, the leadership’s strong manifesto, massively supported by the membership, kept the red flag flying. In direct contradiction to Blairite assertions that left, working class politics make Labour unelectable, Corbyn’s manifesto met with great, growing and enthusiastic support, regaining huge ground from the Tory lead generated by lies, slanders and vitriol about him personally, and socialism generally.
Big news … socialist policies, properly presented, are supported by working class people! Secondly, as we all know, real postelection state power is retained by the same bankers and big business billionaires as held it before, though a Labour victory damages them and gives us opportunity to make progress. Tories in office exercise power on behalf of that monopoly capitalist class. Labour in office on a left programme will always be subject to hate, destabilisation and disruption by that class. They will use everything they’ve got to attack such a government - and us, the working class. There would be no postelection honeymoon period. Should the Tories be back in office, ‘austerity capitalism’ will be confirmed, and they will aim to rev up their drive to privatise public services, remove trade union rights and working conditions still further, scrap remaining collective bargaining and agreements, increase the rate of exploitation of workers, and encourage the growth of the wealth gap and poverty. As we resist, their drive to stop us will be based on ‘divide and rule’ – particularly through the super-exploitation of migrants – and on the removal of civil liberties and rights to organise.
We shall need to step up all forms of struggle, and ensure that the organised working class REALLY takes the lead in that struggle in practical ways, not just in conference motions! As Andrew Murray of Unite said at the first People’s Assembly Conference, referring to widespread and growing austerity, “If the government insists on governing the country in this way, we need to make the country ungovernable.” Do we agree? How will we do it? Should Labour be in office, generating working class confidence and organisation and putting the monopolists on the back foot, there’s no doubt that the ruling class will organise to force the new government to retreat, and, if they won’t, to force it from office – just as they do throughout the world. The institutions of capitalism, the City, finance capital, the EU, the IMF etc will attempt to enforce ‘austerity capitalism’ regardless of a left government, just as they have in Greece. They will attempt to impose their effective rule, and make the country ungovernable by a left government, and they will have no scruples or selfdoubt about it. How will we step up
the struggle to defend a new Labour Government’s progressive policies? More big news – the class struggle will continue and escalate whatever the election result. We must be ready to lead it in every corner of Britain, doing our job of linking the trades unions and community at local level, and, together with our People’s Assembly partners, co-ordinate and build the struggle against the bankers and big business – against monopoly finance capitalism. This time last year we voted unanimously for a motion that said: “Conference 2016 calls on all to redouble our efforts to build a single, unified, powerful antiausterity movement that can both challenge the Tory Government and its capitalist class masters, and at the same time discourage and defeat those within the Labour Party who would wish to turn the clock back and undermine the current Labour leadership. Conference believes we need in the coming year to build a positive anti-monopoly alliance including political parties, trades unions,
the People’s Assembly and others, organised around a coherent alternattive economic and political strategy to meet the needs of the people. Such a broad democratic mass movement with strong positive policies is the only context in which we can expect to see the next general election produce a left government on the basis of a people’s manifesto.” We have made a very good start – but this is very much a work in progress. We should not forget what we have already agreed to do simply because we have a new set of motions at this conference. We need now to put flesh on the bones – and ask out TUCJCC reps to get on with the job of leading all our trades union councils in the development of real, practical , active anti-monopoly alliances and actions in our local communities and throughout Britain – a movement capable of building and successfully defending a left-led government. Moz Greenshields Secretary, Derby Area Trades Union Council, and TUCJCC East Midlands Rep
Fighting Racism a oibrithe an domhain, aontaigí! विश्व केकार्यकर्ताओंनेएकजुट हो जाओ! � Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt euch! Lavoratori di tutto il mondo, unitevi! karkerên cîhanê hevgirin! ¡trabajadores del mundo, uníos!, � пролета́рии всех стран, соединя́йтесь!
Workers of all lands, unite!
�������� ����� �� ��! قӮኴ僻叨ᘏ宗ݳ᩸㬵Ѻ ������� ���� ���� ���� προλετάριοι όλου του κόσμου, ενωθείτε! � mga manggagawa ng daigdig, magkaisa! Proletari din toate țările, uniți-vă! �� ���� ������ ������ proletariusze wszystkich krajów, łączcie się! Weithwyr pob gwlad, unwch! prolétaires de tous les pays, unissez-vous! vô sản toàn thế giới, liên hiệp lại!, vô sản các nước, đoàn kết lại! communist-party.org.uk
P
etty nationalism is on the rise. The growth of racism and fascism finds a different expression in every country but it is always a reaction against the failed neoliberal consensus which has foisted wage cuts and austerity on peoples across Europe and elsewhere. Our rulers always seek to deflect blame for their failing policies on vulnerable communities. Theresa May has yet to condemn Boris Johnson’s racist idiocies; while inviting Trump for a state visit to the UK clearly signalled that she bows to bigotry. And as Home Secretary her slogans on the sides of buses were designed to whip up anti-immigrant sentiment. The Tories are anti-union and anticollective bargaining. The inevitable consequence of weakened workers’ rights is the super-exploitation of migrant labour – sanctioned by Torysupporting companies such as ATOS. Employment rights are central to fighting racism. Strong unions backed by workers’ rights from day one, restrictions on agencies and gangmasters, and scrapping of zero hours contracts, would cut the ground away from both employers and workplace racists. Capital investment in training, high skilled jobs and technological advance would transform the world of work. Communists are with those who oppose EU-brokered big business trade agreements which empower big business, give nation states fewer rights than multinationals in trade disputes and reinforce trade inequality with the Third World countries. Given the way the right wing, on both sides of the argument, fought the referendum campaign – and with voices for a people’s Brexit locked out of the mainstream media – the existing toxic racist undertow in politics inevitably got worse. Freed from the racist Fortress Europe Britain should adopt an anti-racist immigration policy that is fair to all – with help for refugees fleeing famine
and war. We say that the Human Rights Act and European Convention on Human Rights, the latter derived from the non-EU Council of Europe, must be upheld. All EU citizens currently living in Britain should be guaranteed residence and the unfair anti-discrimination rules imposed on non EU citizens must be reversed. There must be no more mass deportations where mothers, fathers and grandparents are forcibly removed from the UK to Commonwealth countries like Jamaica despite having spent their entire adult lives in Britain. We are concerned at the tactics used by Home Office immigration enforcement, which has been accused of ‘strategically’ detaining individuals to fill charter flights without consideration of their circumstances. We must also oppose and support those people being deported due to the problems with housing and homelessness. This is a clear sign of the lack of affordable housing in many of our towns and cities. The Government’s attitude to refugee children – in closing down the right of young people to come to Britain (the Dubs amendment) – has been widely condemned. Equally disgraceful is the proposal, floated by the prime minister at the UN Special Assembly last year, to tinker with the Convention on Refugees. The Convention was drawn up following the victory over fascism. Many refugees arriving in Europe, speak English because they come from countries long under domination by British imperialism and today fleeing imperialist war. The Tories have sought to shut our doors on anyone seeking asylum in this country, even voting against providing a safe haven for unaccompanied child refugees until a concerted Labour fightback forced a U-turn. The French authorities have hampered efforts to get humanitarian aid into the camps and bear a heavy responsibility for the squalid conditions there. Communist Party Anti-Racist AntiFascist Commission
For a people’s Brexit
H
ow should Britain’s exit from the European Union proceed? On this as well as other fronts, the labour movement in Britain faces challenges that will shape the future of working people and their families for a generation, writes Robert Griffiths. The starting point must be to recognise the character and legitimacy of the vote to leave the EU. According to Lord Ashcroft’s poll of 12,369 voters, the most important issue for half of all Leave supporters was UK sovereignty. Only one-third put control over immigration first, although both sovereignty and immigration as well as the economy were important to the majority. However ill-founded, expressing concern about the impact of immigration on local jobs, wages and public services is not a sure-fire indicator of racism. Nevertheless, just under half of Leave voters also had a negative view of multiculturalism, with only one quarter seeing it as positive. Clearly much work remains to be done to strengthen the links between our different communities, overcoming ignorance and prejudice. At the same time, one-third of black and ethnic minority voters opposed EU membership, including a majority of Sikhs and Jews. The Lexit Left Leave campaign involved many Indian, Bangladeshi, Turkish and Greek workers here. The political outlook of Leave voters was equally mixed. More than onethird of Labour and SNP and a majority of Plaid Cymru supporters opted to leave the EU, along with a quarter of Greens and almost one-third of LibDems. Just under half of voters described either capitalism, globalisation or both as a force for ill in society, the majority of them voting Leave. In fact, they comprised around one-third of antiEU voters. As for the validity of the referendum, before 23 June 2016 almost all campaigners accepted that the result should be implemented whichever way it went. Nothing strengthens the UKIP/Tory position in Labour’s heartlands more than schemes to subvert the people’s decision. Not surprisingly, the SNP has sought to exploit the referendum voting differences between England, Wales
and Scotland to advance its mirage of independence under the Crown, the Bank of England, the EU and NATO – a position which has come somewhat unstuck. But the best response is argue the positive case for working class unity, progressive federalism and wealth redistribution. It has also been claimed that the result was invalid because it was achieved with lies. But lies and scares were used prolifically on both sides, including by Cameron, Osborne, City bankers, the CBI, the Institute of Directors, the IMF and NATO. The Communist Party and its Lexit allies found that telling the truth about the anti-democratic, pro-big business and racist EU was enough to counter the propaganda from reactionary quarters on both sides. The need now is to strengthen left and labour movement unity against the minority Tory government and its austerity and privatisation policies. That must include proposing an alternative agenda for Britain’s exit from the EU which promotes working class and the people’s interests. Therefore Britain’s Communists propose the following positions: l No to membership of the European Union ‘Single Market’ and TTIP – regulate the movement of capital, commodities and labour in the interests of working people. l Renounce EU Court of Justice rulings protecting the super-exploitation of migrant workers – no more undercutting; equal terms and conditions for all. l Enact any progressive EU social and environmental policies into British law. l Continue funding vital programmes previously supported via the EU. l No more EU budget contributions – invest in public services and housing. l Regain freedom to cut or abolish VAT. l Guarantee residence for EU citizens currently living in Britain. l Uphold the Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human Rights. l Reverse the racist anti-immigration rules imposed on non-Europeans as part of the EU ‘Fortress Europe’ policy. l Withdraw from the EU Common Foreign and Defence Policy and its aggressive alliance with NATO.
This pamphlet looks at the course of the Brexit negotiations themselves: how options are currently being defined by the British government and what their implications are for workers’ rights. It starts by examining the EU: its positive achievements but also its neoliberal economic framework and the consequences both for the crisis of social democracy and the rise of right-wing populism. The third section looks at the objectives of British big business and the City of London, the relationship with the US, and most important of all, why British big business and the City will not and cannot resolve the basic problems facing the British economy and why public sector intervention is essential. The pamphlet ends by considering the opportunities and dangers posed by the negotiations for working people in Britain. It argues that the opportunity now exists for restoring democratic control over the economy, for addressing the structural problems of stagnation and job loss and for re-establishing workers’ rights. A campaign for such an outcome has the potential to galvanise a wider movement across Europe and constitutes the best chance for winning the battle against right-wing populism. The alternative, of the Tory government creating a new right-wing populist base for neoliberal economics, is one that should persuade every trade unionist of the necessity to campaign for a progressive settlement. Buy at http://tinyurl.com/hwj6pby www.communist-party.org.uk
Robert Griffiths is general secretary of the Communist Party
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Communist Review theory & discussion journal of the Communist Party, No 83, Spring 2017
Jeremy Corbyn
¶ Overthrow of Tsardom Part 1, The Gathering of the Storm Andrew Rothstein The Morning Star is the world’s only English language socialist daily paper. It was founded in 1930 as the Daily Worker, the organ of the central committee of the Communist Party and in 1948 became a co-op, the People’s Press Printing Society, run by an elected management committee which has ten national trade unions in membership. The paper provides day-to-day coverage of the fight for workplace rights, equal rights and the struggle against austerity. Until his election as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was a weekly columnist.
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