RE: London and the Globalisation of Finance Capital

[Adam Rose <adam@xxxxxxxx>]

Will Brown writes:
>
> I have still seen no comment on whetherthe splits in the Tory party reflect
> splits in the ruling class and if so, what these splits are.
>

There was a post a while back that I thought was rather crude, trying
to relate particular classes and / or strata to particular political
trends in the Tory Party.

The split over Europe is to a certain extent a reflection of real
divisions in the ruling class. While most of our trade is with
Europe, some companies ( I'm particularly thinking of Hanson )
have stronger links to the US. Maybe some big compananies
that basically trade with Europe are getting jittery over the
single currency. But Europe is not fundamental - the class
struggle is.

The basic problem is that Thatcher, despite inflicting real defeats
on the working class, did not destroy the union movement, nor
significantly cut public spending. The British economy
suffers from the same lack of competitiveness it always did.
Probably the most rational  course for the ruling class is getting
a Labour government to do what she failed to do, while developing
a right wing alternative to urge Labour on and possibly finish the job.

So we might expect the Financial Times to advocate a Labour Vote while its
owners continue to fund the Tory Party.

However, even under Labour, an all out assault on the working class is
fraught with dangers. At present, they dare not do it. This explains
all the strike ballots sold out - we are not yet confident to stick the
boot in, nor are they. So, all sorts of employers criticized the Liverpool
Docks company for being so intransigent. The College employers federation
advocates one contract, the colleges themselves negotiate different ones.
Vauxhall offers 4.5% and a 38 hour week.

On a political level, this manifests itself in the lack of self confidence
of the Tory Right. Portillo didn't stand against Major because he didn't have
a coherent alternative; Redwood advocated public spending cuts but didn't
have the nerve to spell out that they would come from attacking workers but
instead copped out and said they'd come from "efficiency savings" - a
sick joke to anyone who works in the public sector today ! So the arguments
of the Tory Left still make some sense : "Look what happened under Thatcher !
Union after union was striking and winning high pay rises from 1988 to 1990 -
people were rioting in the streets and were popular for doing so ! Do you
really want that again only worse ?". Neither the left nor the right have a
solution - so their arguments get more bitter without either actually winning.

Adam.

Adam Rose
SWP
Manchester
UK


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