| RETURN TO INDEX | The General Election and South Wales: A Draft Document [February, 1992; internal south Wales International Socialist Group discussion document] It is now nearly certain that the General Election will be held on 9 April. At present Labour and Conservatives are neck and neck in the polls and there is a real chance that Labour will win. This election presents a challenge to our young and small organisation in South Wales. A failure to work around it and to be seen to actively support the Labour Party will cause us real problems in the future. On the other hand it gives us an opportunity to reach activists and ordinary workers in a way that has not been possible in recent times. If carried out correctly our work can contribute in a small way to preparing the ground for a new left in Wales of which we will be a part.
Our General Approach
We completely reject parliament as a form of government or any idea of achieving socialism through parliamentary majorities. Our socialism will be built on the complete destruction of the existing bourgeois state and the creation of a new kind of state based on directly elected workers' councils. It will be fought for through mass struggle, the self-activity of the working class and the building of a revolutionary party. So why should we take an interest in elections at all?
Put simply, because under capitalism the ruling class cannot rule without the masses. The bourgeois must seek the support of the working class, through lies, flattery, bribes and the promise of reforms. Lenin termed this form of rule 'Lloyd Georgism' after the Welsh Liberal who started his political career making 'revolutionary' speeches and ended up as Prime Minister of imperial Britain. Such an approach has real dangers for the ruling class, it makes discussing politics acceptable, if only for a brief period, and the result can go against them. Revolutionaries can utilise this process for their own ends as a means of reaching new forces. It would be complete foolishness to reject participating in parliament in the name of some abstract principle, leaving the way open for other political forces to fight for their ideas amongst the masses. Boycotting elections or parliament is only viable when an alternative form of government is clearly
posed.1
In addition we are a small organisation facing a large labour movement dominated by a right-wing bureaucracy. This bureaucracy gained credibility from its reformist work at the end of the last century and more recently during the post-war boom. It is no longer able to deliver these reforms but the working class will not break with it in favour of a small, untested organisation simply on the basis of our propaganda. As Trotsky explained:
It is argued that the Labour Party already stands exposed by its past deeds in power and its present reactionary platform. For example, by its decisions at Brighton [Labour Party Conference, 1935]. For us - yes! But not for the masses, the eight millions who voted Labour. It is a great danger for revolutionists to attack too much importance to conference decisions. We use such evidence in our propaganda - but it cannot be presented beyond the power of our own press. One cannot shout louder than the strength of his own throat.
The working class will support and build a new leadership only through testing out the old one and drawing conclusions from their experience. We have to go through this process with them and prove in practice that our ideas are superior. We therefore advocate and campaign for a Labour government, whilst openly expressing our reservations:
I would say to British workers, 'You refuse to accept my point of view. Well, perhaps I did not explain well enough. Perhaps you are stupid. Anyway I have failed. But now, you believe in your party. Why allow Chamberlain to hold the power? Put your party in power. I will help you all I can. I know that they will not do what you think, but as you don't agree with me and we are small, I will help you put them
in.2
The Position of the Last Conference
The main document passed at conference placed a special emphasis on the coming election, as we face a special situation following 13 years of Thatcherism. The British working class is completely exhausted on the industrial front after multiple defeats under Conservative rule. The Poll Tax movement is now by and large demobilised. In this situation we see the election of a Labour government as crucial in breaking the logjam, raising class confidence and creating better conditions for struggle. We certainly do not support Labour for its policies, they are the most right wing for decades, and promise little or nothing in improvements for working people. Neither do we accept the arguments of the right and soft-left that we should not rock the boat in an election period. We have a dual approach:
1 Maintain those struggles that are going on - concretely this means continuing to build the SMTUC Unshackle the Unions initiative and maintaining anti-racist activity, whilst promoting any local struggles which do occur.
2 Using our newspaper and Socialists for Labour to critically support the Labour Party and campaign for a Labour vote. The marginalisation of the left in recent years means that this campaign will be quite small, it is however extremely important. The initial statement outlines a set of basic demands that we place on a Labour government. This will be followed by a number of broadsheets to sell in the election period.
In addition our recent aggregate decided to give critical support to Fields and Nellist in opposition to the witch-hunt.
The Situation in Wales
Nowhere has the Labour Party dominated the working class more completely than in Wales. Between 1945 and 1966 Labour got close to 60% of the vote in every election. A steady decline has occurred since then, reaching a post-war low of 37% in 1983. The vote rallied at the last election to 45%, and Labour remains the dominant party in Wales. A significant element in the erosion of the Labour vote has been the rise of Welsh nationalism, with Plaid Cymru getting 7-10% of the vote in the 70s and 80s.
Wales now faces an economic situation which can be fairly described as the Second Great Welsh Economic Disaster. The first having occurred during the Depression of the 1930's. Unemployment topped 15% in the mid-eighties, fell back to around 7% in 1990 and has been steadily rising since then: standing at 9.2% in November last year. 'I am the 1 in 10' was an anthem for the early eighties: its bitter message is back with a vengeance in the early nineties. Other underlying trends are similarly negative. Wales has attracted considerable inward investment in the last few years but the jobs created have been mainly for part-time, low paid women workers. Male weekly earnings are rapidly falling behind the British average. Neither is investment a guarantee of jobs. The largest single investment in 1988 was at Fords in Bridgend and this factory is now making 350 workers redundant.
A final figure sums it up: the highest item of government expenditure in Wales in 1990 was social security. Three billion pounds were spent on keeping the poor and unemployed from starving and this is in a wealthy Western country! Can there be any question that capitalism simply isn't working? Is in fact rotting, and has outlived its
usefulness?3
Politics in the labour and nationalist movements remains dominated by the defeat of the miners in 1985. This destroyed the NUM as a political force and demoralised those who actively supported it. The positive development of autonomous women's organisations during the strike has now completely disappeared. Coupled with the rightward drift of the NUPE leadership this removed the main left-reformist wing of the labour movement. Kinnockism has since asserted its complete dominance in close alliance with the new-realist Trade Union leaders. They have implemented an openly class-collaborationist policy, discouraging strikes and concluding single union deals behind the backs of their membership. Their failure to defend workers interests should be clear from the figures given above and Trade Union membership continues to decline.
The effect on the 'left' nationalist leadership around Dafydd Elis Thomas was similar. They became rapidly disillusioned by their failure to win more support in South Wales during the strike and swung towards Marxism Today style image politics. Plaid Cymru now hope to jump over the British state and win an 'Independent Wales in Europe' as a favour from the Brussels bureaucracy. The political failures of both Labour and nationalist leaderships, particularly in the Poll Tax campaign, have led to a growth of anarchist, syndicalist and right-wing nationalist tendencies. In addition the economic crisis is forcing more and more of the working class into wheeler-dealing and petty crime just to keep going. There are dangers of petty-bourgeification and cynical disillusion which offer fertile ground for the new far-right.
In this situation we should still call for a Labour vote in every constituency in Wales. In the first place the Labour and nationalist movements are not of equal size or social weight. Labour remains dominant. But we certainly do not attack the nationalists simply for being nationalists. Their rejection of the British state and their campaigning around issues like housing and the language are positive features which we support. Where we differ with them is on how these things will be fought for and won. We say the place to struggle is inside the Labour movement and the necessary alliances are with the oppressed in England not the Brussels bureaucrats. We fight to commit a new left in Wales to positive positions on the national question. It is only on this basis that we call for a vote for Labour, any socialist who does not do this runs the risk of descending into chauvinism.
This obviously raises many questions. We simply don't know enough about the economy and the state of the Labour and nationalist movements. What are the real economic trends and how will they be effected by 1992? What is the significance of the rise in the number of women workers? What is the real state of the Wales TUC? How are black people organising in Wales, how many minority languages are there? Have we got any answers on housing, the NHS, the language and an Assembly? Part and parcel of getting involved in this election must be to begin to define ourselves on the left in Wales. We do have a distinctive approach and tradition - our task is to apply that concretely to the present situation. Our Marxism must be a real tool of analysis and guide to action. Neither are we starting completely from scratch on this. The old IMG developed analyses of the economy and the national question and these documents provide a firm basis on which to develop our positions.
Proposals
The two main themes of this document should be clear by now: we must actively involve ourselves in the general election and at the same time begin collectively to develop an analysis and viewpoint on the Welsh situation. If differences of opinion emerge then fine, it is better that they are out in the open and freely discussed. Our organisation is already committed to a discussion on the Scottish question and possibly an on-going commission on the national question within the British state. We should feed the results of our work into this process.
At the same time we have to establish realistic targets, given our small numbers and commitment to other work, in particular the educationals, anti-racism and WOSA solidarity. It may also be possible to link our election work with anti-racist activity, particularly in Cardiff. Practical proposals are:
1 Immediately get involved as an organisation in the Labour Party, under the pretext of wanting to help in the elections. This work is never easy, especially for women and black comrades and must be supported by regular discussions and sharing of experiences. We should hold specific discussions on how to work in the Labour Party and on canvassing without telling lies.
2 Approach the Campaign Group Wales and Swansea Labour Left to sponsor Socialists for Labour (SfL) and proposing a meeting on 'Socialist policies for Wales'.
3 Distribute SfL and SMTUC material to activists and collect sponsors for the SfL appeal. We should target key people for this as a matter of urgency and also try and win students to canvassing.
4 Aim to put together a short Programme for Wales in the run up to the election, outlining our draft positions. We must do this collectively: I suggest pairs of people responsible for: economy, IMG positions and attitude to nationalism, state of the trade unions and past examples of such programmes. We should also feed this information into the paper in the election period, aiming for articles on general politics, the economy, housing and lesbians and gays in Wales. The last two to be commissioned from contacts.
To sum up: let us actively campaign for a Labour government. In that process lets try and reach 20 labour movement activists with our draft programme, three times that many with SfL material and a hundred times that many in canvassing for Labour.
13th February, 1992.
Notes
1 A fascinating account of the Bolsheviks' election tactics is given in the Pathfinder pamphlet
Lenin as Election Manager by Doug Jenness, and by Lenin himself in
Left-wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder, sections III and IV.
2 Both quotes from Trotsky's Writings on Britain, New Park, vol. 3, pp. 118 and 144.
3 Sources are: United Kingdom Facts by R. Rose and I. McAllister,
Emploment Gazette, January 1992, Welsh Social Trends, No.8, 1991 and
Welsh Economic Trends, 1990.
|
| Return to index |
