Re: Socialist Labour Party

[Steve Wallis <S.Wallis@xxxxxxxxx>]

Adam said:
> > > Nor did anyone else, including all its potential supporters.

I said:
> > Actually, Militant Labour *did* foresee the SLP.

Adam replied:
> A stunning level of debate here.
> I'm sorry I ever got involved.

Pardon me if I've irritated you by correcting your false statement!

This question is not quite as trivial as Adam makes out.  Most
Marxist organisations seem to have failed to realise that the
world situation has qualitatively changed in recent years.  The
traditional workers' parties in advanced capitalist countries have
shifted to the right, many workers have left these parties and
internal democracy has been reduced to such a degree that there is
little prospect of many workers moving back into them again to
transform them.  These parties are in a process of transition to
completely bourgeois parties (and arguably the transition has been
completed in some countries, e.g. Spain).  Although many workers
still have illusions in these parties, there is little enthusiasm
for them, and there is significant distrust and even hostility
towards them amongst the working class.

This changed objective situation yields huge opportunities for the
formation of new workers' parties, and these parties will be able to
win mass support during periods of heightened class struggle.  This
has already started to happen in some countries.

If you do not share these perspectives, then you will be taken aback
and less prepared to intervene effectively as these events unfold.

If you do share these perspectives, then many of the arguments
against the SLP are easy to answer.

(i) the SLP will not do very well at the next election, since most
workers will vote Labour to get rid of the Tories.  The SLP may even
let the Tories back in.

It is true that the SLP will not win many, if any, seats.  However, it
can do well in Labour strongholds, as Militant Labour has demonstrated
in practice.  Besides, the SLP will be able to do much better under a
Labour government, as workers come under attack from that government.
[Additionally, it is quite likely that some form of proportional
representation will be introduced, which should benefit the SLP.]

It is very unlikely that the SLP standing will let the Tories back in,
bearing in mind Labour's huge lead in opinion polls - and particularly
if the SLP concentrates on Labour strongholds.  Even if the Tories do
get back in by a couple of seats or so, the new government would be so
weak that it would not last long (by-elections have almost wiped out
the current government's majority).

(ii) it's too early.

There is zero point in staying within the Labour Party now, until it
has fully transformed itself into a bourgeois party.  We'll be better
prepared for the upheavals under a Labour government if the SLP is
formed now.

(iii) the SLP will not be able to win trade union support without
compromising with (or capitulating to) the bureaucracy.

Whereas the SLP is unlikely to get the affiliation of a national trade
union before an election (with the possible exception of Scargill's
union, the NUM), the current rise in militancy amongst the rank & file
opens up possibilities of getting support from a significant number of
union branches.

After the election, with a Labour government launching big attacks on
workers, and with workers struggling to defend their living standards,
there will be a shift to the left in the trade unions and disaffiliation
from Labour and affiliation to the SLP could well be on the cards for
at least some trade unions.  [Such disaffiliation has already taken place
in New Zealand, and many would have affiliated to the left-wing alliance
if it had allowed them to.]

(iv) the SLP will betray the working class, so it's better to stay out of
it.

It is precisely because the SLP will be able to attract large numbers of
workers, many of whom will be open to revolutionary ideas, that it is
important that we act to stop the reformists who will attempt this
betrayal.  If we stay outside the SLP, then most workers will see us as
irrelevant and sectarian, and we will be less able to win these workers
to the ideas of Marxism.

The conclusion is obvious; help build the Socialist Labour Party!

Steve.

               ++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++
       ++++ if you agree copy these 3 sentences in your own sig ++++
     ++++ more info: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm ++++

   /----------+ Centre for Policy Modelling,         Email: S.Wallis@xxxxxxxxx
   \/\  Steve | Manchester Metropolitan University,    Tel: (+44) 161 247 3884
\    / Wallis | Aytoun Building, Aytoun St.,           Fax: (+44) 161 247 6802
 \/\/---------+ Manchester M1 3GH, UK.        http://www.fmb.mmu.ac.uk/~stevew


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