Unity! June 2019

CP BRITAIN

CP BRITAIN communist-party.org.uk

June 2019

Workers of all lands, unite!

Together against Trump

Join the red Block tuesday 4 June 11am: Gather in trafalgar Square

tory crisis POLITICS in response to theresa May's resignation announcement Communist Party general secretary robert Griffiths said: theresa May's decision to sack herself as tory leader and write her own redundancy notice as Prime Minister underlines the urgent need for a General Election. the tories have never governed in the interests of the working class and peoples of Britain and shown themselves to be incompetent as well as cruel and callous.

Only a left-led labour government will begin to address dire problems of poverty, precarious employment, the lack of affordable housing, deteriorating local services, climate change and the quest for international peace with justice.

Only a left-led labour government will pursue a sustainable industrial strategy to protect and expand strategic manufacturing industries such as steel. But in order to win a General Election, labour will have to draw up plans to leave the Eu and negotiate future mutual relations on a basis that will enable a left-led government to fulfil its progressive manifesto commitments. that can only mean a sovereign and federal Britain, free from the rules and directives of the Eu and its institutions. H

Return to working class politics BRITAIN

capitalism's main supporters in the tory and labour parties.

But Britain's political crisis also threatens to ritain'S POlitiCal crisis continues to destroy the prospect of a left-led labour Party deepen said the Communist Party in a winning a majority at the next General Election. statement following the Eu election. the fanatically pro-Eu, pro-natO and antifor the ruling class of monopoly capitalists, socialist section of the Shadow Cabinet and the their first choice as the party of government is Parliamentary labour Party is regaining the now divided, discredited and demoralised. the initiative, attacking every type of Brexit and tories appear incapable of delivering the semipressing for a second referendum. all the Brexit that might have resolved the crisis, while attempts by leading labour Eurosceptics to keeping Britain bound by the big business appease them by campaigning for remain and 'freedoms' of the Eu Single Market. staying silent on the anti-democratic, antiinstead, the most likely option now for the ruling class - unless the October 31 deadline can working class and militaristic character of the Eu have failed. Supporters of Jeremy Corbyn now be extended - is that a cross-party alliance of need to speak up, not least to point out how Eu pro-Eu MPs will revoke Britain's notice to leave treaties, directives and court rulings would be the Eu, with or without a rigged second referendum. this would be risky because - as the used to block and undermine the left and progressive policies of a future left government.

Brexit Party victory indicates - the political labour is being seen by millions of its backlash could bury British monopoly

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previously rock-solid voters as anti-Brexit and anti-democratic. they either stayed away from last week's Eu poll or cast a protest vote for nigel farage's opportunist bunch of reactionaries. the resurrection of farage and the triumph of his Brexit Party is due almost entirely to all the cynical moves by pro-Eu MPs to delay, dilute and delete Brexit. unless labour acts genuinely to honour the majority leave vote of June 2016 and wins back millions of working-class electors, there will be no chance of forming a left-led government. their support is worth more than fly-by-nights flitting between labour, libdems or Greens.

Only a return to class politics, in place of the anti-Brexit politics of personality, fear and hysteria, offers a way out of this political crisis in the interests of the working class and the labour movement.

Our working class is the key to victory OPINION POLLS hE latESt ashcroft opinion survey — the most authoritative with ten times as many respondents as its rivals — shows that if labour were to shift to supporting a second referendum it would weaken its prospects of forming a government. the ashcroft survey also confirmed that support for leaving the Eu remains highest among the working class, whether defined narrowly (social categories C2, d and E) or more broadly (plus C1). this was certainly true of May 23 voters, where the pro-Brexit proportions were 59% and 55%, respectively. it is more important for labour to retain and win back these pro-Brexit electors than it is to capitulate to the party's anti-Brexit defectors. this is even more strongly the case when considering that labour must not only keep its many leave-voting working-class heartland seats — the majority of which voted remain in 2016 in order to win the next General Election. it must also, according to dr richard Johnson of lancaster university, gain 45 leave-voting marginal seats in England and Wales together with 19 remain-voting marginals in Scotland, 18 of them held by the SnP.**

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an anti-Brexit policy will make these gains impossible. nor will supporting a second referendum unconditionally help labour achieve its key objectives.

Opinion polls indicate that this policy only has majority support when it excludes a remain option. a second referendum offering a choice between a current or amended Eu Withdrawal package on the one hand and exit on WtO terms on the other would be much more palatable to many leave voters and others who respect the 2016 Eu referendum decision.

Beyond immediate concerns about the best strategy for winning a labour government is the problem of how labour could implement its manifesto if still bound by the Eu treaty obligations and subject to decisions of the European Court of Justice. the politics must be argued in favour of an Eu exit which does not shackle a future left-led labour government to Eu Single Market rules. a Corbyn Cabinet must be free to pursue policies of economic planning, public ownership, regional development, industrial regeneration, infrastructure investment, fair trade, vat reform and labour market equality. “the dream is now over” is how, last week, the vice president of the Eu Commission

announced final agreement for the formation of a Eu military programme. for progressive opinion the idea of a Eu army is a nightmare.

Many, at every level of the labour movement, have stayed silent about the undemocratic, capitalist, militarist character of the Eu in the vain hope of appeasing the more fanatical remainers in the Parliamentary labour Party. it is clear that some on the labour right wing — unrepentant Blairites and serial war mongers like alistair Campbell – would rather labour lose an election than win staying true to its left-wing manifesto and pledge to honour the referendum result all who want a labour government should take a stand before the pro-Eu extremists and their allies in the anti-labour parties and mass media succeed in destroying the prospect of a Corbyn government pursuing left and progressive policies. H the ashcroft survey: H https://lordashcroftpolls.com/wpcontent/uploads/2019/05/European-election-postvote-poll-May-2019-2.xlsx H dr richard Johnson: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2019/02/04/labours -path-to-victory-is-through-leave-voting-conservativemarginals/

BOYCOTT CAMPAIGN

it was clear that millions could already see this. But it isn't the Communist Party way to rely on the traditional abstention in such elections. So we sought an active boycott. this would be directed at parties supporting or equivocating on remaining in Eu, or who sought a second re vote. it was also aimed at the racists in uKiP and at the Brexit Party, which sought to coopt the widely held sentiment in favour of leave, for free market and unbridled capitalism.

Of course this position needed explaining. a campaign group was formed bringing party and Young Communist league organisers together, from England, Scotland and Wales.

Phil Katz hE COMMuniSt PartY working with the Young Communist league went into action the day it was confirmed an Eu election was to go ahead. Our position had been established the previous week, when the both organisations agreed to campaign for a boycott. the case for a boycott was based on the election being forced on us by the Eu as a price of securing an extension to the leave process and on the reality that we had already voted to exit.

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Crybaby FAR RIGHT Evan PritChard thE failurE of Stephen Yaxley-lennon (aka tommy robinson)to be elected to the European Parliament in the bogus, imposed elections has reduced the pocket fuhrer to tears. he still managed 39,000 votes, an indication of a worrying level of support for his toxic ultra nationalist populism, racism and islamophobia in parts of the north West. it highlights the continuing need for an anti- fascist and anti- racist movement, rooted within the working class movement and all communities, including those where there is a base for such politics.

Yaxley-lennon poses as a man of the people, but his real agenda has been exposed, including attacks on rail union members and vile comments about Grenfell. his plan to capitalise on the Manchester bomb tragedy with lies that Muslim security staff colluded with the bomber, was exposed by anti-fascist group hope not hate. during his walkabout in Oldham our party members and Young Communists confronted him and exposed his hypocrisy in associating with convicted sex offenders and by standing in the illegitimate European elections despite his muchvaunted support for Brexit. Particularly pleasing during his walkabout in Oldham town centre were the young white working-class lads who asked him why he picked on Muslims and didn’t talk about the issues that affect all communities.

Evan PritChard iS nOrth WESt SECrEtarY Of thE COMMuniSt PartY

£2 AT WWW.COMMUNIST-PARTY.ORG.UK

the campaign was launched with a film posted to social media, followed by leaflets, posters, stickers, social media artwork distributed to branches, districts and nation committees. Comrades took to social media, whilst others held invite meetings of labour councillors and labour movement activists and public meetings, to explain our position. in Glasgow, derby, Sheffield, Coventry, Merthyr, leicester, london and Oxford, comrades canvassed door to door. Often we were the only party that showed its face in some areas.

COntinuEd OvErlEaf

US capitalism’s default option Although he represents the growth of ‘anti-elite’ feeling in the masses, the US president is a rulingclass response to a rulingclass crisis, writes Zoltan Zigedy

aPPilY, ManY on the uS left are beginning to see the intense, ongoing battle between trump and his defenders and the selfdescribed “resistance” as reflective of a “split in the ruling class.” this is a welcome development because it removes some of the confusions fostered by the democratic Party leadership and the childish sensationalism and witless simplicity of the capitalist media. With little more than russiansunder-every-bed to rouse the electorate, the democrats sell a narrative of trump-as-traitor, trump-as-defiler-in-Chief and trump-as-fascist. nancy Pelosi, the billionaire face of the democratic Party parliamentary contingent, declared three priorities, three pieces of battered, rusty liberal boilerplate: lowering health costs and med prices (always promised, never delivered nor deliverable under a private system), higher wages and improved infrastructure (unrealised for nearly half a century and a teaser to the labour movement), and “cleaning up corruption” (which means continuing the bizarre Mueller witch hunt). no mention of overturning the trump administration’s tax cuts for the rich. it is a step out of the weeds of political posturing and shallow cable news analysis to now see a real, fierce battle between different groups of the wealthiest and most powerful, a conflict that gives some deeper meaning to the bizarre antics of the trump era.

Behind the lurid and illusory imagery of a corrupted vulgarian (trump) resisted by the “heroic” protectors of freedom and security (the fBi, the Cia, the nSa, etc.) lies an actual contest over ideas, interests, and destiny.

So it is a good thing that not everyone has been seduced by the cartoon-like political circus constructed by the capitalist media. it is a good thing that more are seeing a contest between the

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corporations and political entities…” it’s no surprise that this message struck a chord: what is trump if not the embodiment of a balled fist and a vow to deliver Old testament justice?

Of course the idea that trump is building a workers’ party is ridiculous, and Green knows it.

But that is not the point. the point is that trump is not merely the anomaly, the Elmer Gantry figure, bent on capitalising solely on his cynicism, his vulgarity, his hypocrisy to cheat his way to the pinnacle of power. he is not simply the cartoon-like character of orange hue, small hands, and a Mussolini-like pout. instead, he represents a section of the ruling class’s alternative to the now nearly 30-year unopposed reign of market fundamentalism.

But it is most important to stress that he is a ruling class answer to the failings of a ruling classdictated era of the universal worship of private property exclusively, of uS-policed globalisation, and of lubricated trade. the latter ideology has not surrendered and the ideology of economic nationalism has yet to dominate. in no way does the struggle between the two roads promise to advance the interests of the working class — both are dead ends for working people. and Green confidently reminds us that the damage wrought by the economic crash “…makes it all but certain that the next presidential election, and Trump’s possible successor, will be shaped by it, too.”

Green, with his earnest, liberal hopes, believes that there is a chance that the otherwise disinterested democrats will take up the cause of those wielding the pitchforks. he sees that opportunity in Elizabeth Warren. Others see it in Bernie Sanders or the ripples of democratic Socialists of america progressivism on the surface of the democratic Party.

With the democrats delivering no qualitatively meaningful reforms for the uS working class since the presidency of lyndon Johnson, that likelihood has moved from hope to groundless faith. taking sides in this struggle over how best to serve capitalism will only further set back the cause of working people. and looking for a road away from serving capitalism within the democratic Party is a futile repeat of old illusions.

Only a concerted effort to create or nurture a truly independent, anti-capitalist movement addressing the real and urgent needs of working people makes sense today, when the bourgeois parties willingly sacrifice the interests of workers to the Moloch of capitalism. Only a movement with revolutionary purpose can divert the working class from the false prophets of inwardlooking demagogy, tribalism, and Spencerian Survival of the fittest. H

rich and powerful, contesting different visions of the future of capitalism: “a split in the ruling class.” for much of the last two years, i have written often of the emergence of a ruling-class alternative to the conventional wisdom of market fundamentalism — so-called “neoliberalism” and “globalisation.” i have written of the growth of economic nationalism in the “advanced” economies as the expression of that alternative. i have postulated its increasing ruling-class popularity as grounded in the damage to globalisation — deceleration of trade, slow growth, financial imbalances, popular discontent and so on — in the wake of the global crisis that began in 2007. the intensifying competition in the politics of energy are offered as materially symptomatic of economic nationalism, as is the disinterest in maintaining a relatively peaceful backdrop to securing and promoting trade. the uS for example is more interested in selling arms than in resolving its many wars (Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is said to have convinced those in the trump administration publicly shamed by the slaughter in Yemen not to cut off support for Saudi arabia because of the possible loss of $2 billion in weapons sales). therefore, a recent commentary (The Dividends of Wrath, September 3 2018) by the influential senior national correspondent for Bloomberg Businessweek, Joshua Green, counts as recognition of the shifting political terrain triggered by the crisis and its direct consequence in “Making america Great again” the slogan of trump’s economic nationalism. the subtitle of Green’s think-piece clearly identifies that theme: how anger over the financial bailout gives us the trump presidency. through reminiscences of an interview with former treasury Secretary timothy Geithner, Green takes us back to the aftermath of the financial collapse, where a resigned Geithner expressed a profound fear of the populace seeking “Old testament justice” for Obama’s bailout of the banks and the coddling of the banksters.

Green reminds us of Obama’s infamous White house meeting with the CEOs of the major banks where he candidly told them, “My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.” reflecting on Obama’s words, Green comments: “Ten years after the crisis, it’s clear Obama was foolish to think public sentiment could be negated or held at bay… Millions of people lost their job, their home, their retirement account — or all three — and fell out of the middle class. Many more live with a gnawing anxiety that they still could. Wages were stagnant when the crisis hit and have remained so throughout the recovery. Recently the Bureau of Labour Statistics reported that US workers’ share of non-farm income has fallen close to a post-World War II low.” this unusually harsh mainstream indictment of post-apocalyptic capitalism captures the

conditions that have stoked fear of dusted-off pitchforks well. and make no mistake, those who rule the major capitalist centres pay attention to the anger: not to answer it, but to deflect it.

Green continues: “…the pitchfork-wielding masses will eventually make themselves heard. the story of american politics over the last decade is the story of how the forces Obama and Geithner failed to contain reshaped the world… unleashing partisan energies on the left (Occupy Wall Street) and the right (the tea Party)… the critical massing of conditions that led to donald trump had their genesis in the backlash…”

While it may be emotionally satisfying to blame Obama and Geithner and go no further, it is more revealing to locate the cause of trump in the failure of market fundamentalism and the unsettling consequences for capitalism if no alternative were found. trump and “Make america Great again” may be a crude response to dangers unleashed by market fundamentalism run amok, but response it is. insightfully, Green locates the first stirring of an alternative to the reigning politico-economic paradigm in republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s decision to dissociate the republicans from the Obama bailouts — in his words to “…keep our fingerprints off these proposals” (the troubled asset relief Programme or tarp funding of the banks).”

But it wasn’t until trump that anyone crafted a strategy that successfully harnessed the mass anger into political success. “By the time trump declares his candidacy in 2015, americans of every persuasion had soured on the ‘elites’ running both parties, something his republican opponents didn’t understand until far too late,” Green notes. trump was able to cobble together a campaign based on responding to the anger with a measure of economic nationalism, patriotism, and, paradoxically, partisanship for the working class.

Green explains: “Today, his campaign is remembered as having been driven mostly by antiimmigrant animosity. But… Trump spent loads of time attacking Wall Street on behalf of the forgotten little guy and fanning the suspicion that a cabal of political and financial eminences was screwing ordinary people.

“When I interviewed Trump just after he’d locked up the Republican nomination, he told me that he intended to transform the GOP into ‘a workers’ party.

A party of people that haven’t had a real wage increase in 18 years, that are angry’.” his closing message in the campaign consciously evoked the disgust so many people had come to feel toward Wall Street and Washington. his final ad on the eve of the election flashed images of federal reserve Chair Janet Yellen and Goldman Sachs CEO lloyd Blankfein and sought to implicate them, and hillary Clinton, in what trump called “a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth, and put that money into the pockets of large

SOLIDARITY

was posted, urging voters to stay away from the polls. the huge number that did demonstrates that the Eu is rejected by many who see it as an unnecessary intrusion in their lives and as an obstacle to the election of a left and labour government. Of course the liberal left only see ‘apathy’ rather than rejection. in many leave voting areas in the 2016 referendum, voting was down, indicating that there are big reserves of opposition to the Eu, who stayed away, but would be a factor in any general election. ten years ago, when it became clear just COintinuEd frOM PaGE 1 how important the Eu had become, the there was a focus on streets that previously Communist Party established a think-tank and activity generating Commission. traditional voted uKiP, as a means of combatting racism and reducing the vote for that party. flyposting centres of information for workers and union teams took to the night, whilst in the day, train representatives, were just not doing their job, with the honourable exception of the institute stations and city and town squares were of Employment rights. the Communist Party leafletted. across the country communists took the boycott message to May day events. anti Eu & Popular Sovereignty Commission (aEu&PS) now draws representation from Over the weekend of 18/19 May, as the around the country, is a ‘go to’ place in the vote approached, the Young Communist labour movement for pro-worker information league called a weekend of action, and this on developments in the Eu, and is increasingly brought new energy and areas into the becoming a coordinating force for campaign. articles were posted on a range of campaigning. blogs including those where labour leavers had been put on the defensive. depsite the if you are interested in its reports and work, position of labour and the selection of an visit facebook.com/CPBritain outrageous coterie of remainers standing to if you are a member of the CP/YCl and want be MEPs, we urged labour supporters who to get involved in it, just go to Communist wanted to leave the Eu or respect the referendum, to stand their ground. a range of Party facebook page and message us.H features were written for the Morning Star, to Phil Katz iS thE COMMuniSt PartY’S EaSt Of be commended for its balanced approach. finally on the day of the election a new film EnGland SECrEatrY

lES dOChErtY ‘Socialism can only arrive by bicycle’ said Jose viera-Gallo and the British Communist movement has a long association with this machine, including our own Spartacus Cycling Club during the 1930’s which was active in working class areas. today, cycling has become a fast growing mass participation sport.

Pedal4Progess seeks to take our Marxist outlook into life’s peloton with the annual cycling challenge involving Communists and progressive cycling enthusiasts, giving a clear working class response to organised greed and reinforcing the valuable role of the Morning Star. in recent years we have focused our efforts on natO aggression and this year we continue with this theme, highlighting the link with the Eu Common foreign and defense Policy. Our route takes us from Maastricht to Ostend via Brussels.

Joined by riders from Germany, holland and Belgium we will continue our dialogue for peace and cooperation and trust within the international working class movement and for socialist alternative. the ride will conclude at Manifiesta the Belgian Workers Party festival taking place on 21-22 Sept these small gestures of practical and sporting solidarity are at the core of our work, we will continue to build an international dimension to our role and function as couriers of peace. H lES dOChErtY iS thE OrGaniSEr Of PEdal4PrOGrESS GraPhiC BY hazEl rOBErtS

zOltan ziGEdY’S COMMEntariES On CurrEnt EvEntS, POlitiCal ECOnOMY, and thE COMMuniSt MOvEMEnt Can BE fOund at httP://zzS-BlG.BlOGSPOt.COM and in thE

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