Re: Alliances ion the Far Left Europe

["Colin" <colin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I just wondered, what is 'Red Banner'?

Colin

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From: Jim Monaghan <jbm7@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Alliances ion the Far Left Europe
Date: 10 February 2000 19:06

This draft is written by a friend of mine, John Meehan. I think it is of
interest
Jim Monaghan
You will find below a draft article for the next Red Banner magazine -
hopefully it is in on time!

As usual, any comments welcome, in particular on the factual material.




Alliances on the Far Left - Something Positive is Happening in Europe
Something is stirring on the far left across Europe - and socialists in
Ireland should take a long hard look.
In several countries far left parties have built united mass coalitions -
the results are impressive.

&#61507; Scotland :
Very close to these shores - in Scotland - several far left parties and
individuals disenchanted with Blair's "New Labour" came together in a
Scottish Socialist Alliance, eventually forming the Scottish Socialist
Party
(SSP) .  The biggest single component of the new SSP is the former
Scottish
Militant Labour organisation, but other currents participate in this new
pluralist party which allows for individual tendencies.  The process
leading
up to the formation of the SSP involved a broad-based discussion on
various
political issues, especially the national question in Scotland.  The SSP
calls for an Independent Scottish Workers' Republic.

Tommy Sheridan, representing the SSP, was elected to the new Scottish
Parliament; the first ever openly declared Trotskyist to win a seat in a
British state legislature.  Sheridan took over 7% of the list vote across
Glasgow under a new Proportional Representation (PR) system - as part of
this process an electoral pact was formed with the much smaller Socialist
Workers' Party (SWP).
&#61507; France :
In France the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire (LCR, Revolutionary
Communist
League) and Lutte Ouvrière (LO, Workers Struggle)  formed a common list
for
the European Parliament Elections of June 1999, gained 5.2% of the poll
(915,000 votes) and elected 5 deputies.  This revolutionary socialist list
won 7-10 per cent support in most working class areas, including the ?red
belt? of Communist controlled towns around Paris.  In Paris, Lyon,
Toulouse,
Strasbourg Bordeaux, Lille and Clermont-Ferrand it did better than the
Communist Party.  Elected MEP?s include Arlette Laguillier and Alain
Krivine.
&#61507; Portugal :
In Portugal three radical groups formed the Bloco de Esquerda (Left Bloc)
and elected two deputies in the parliamentary elections held on October 10
1999.  The Bloc is a movement bringing together the PSR (Portuguese
Section
of the 4th International) the UDP (ex-Maoist) and many independents.  The
Block won 130.000 votes - the 2 MP?s are Francisco Louçã (?Chico?) of the
PSR and Luis Fazenda of the UDP, both elected in Lisbon where the Bloc had
its best result, 4.9%.
&#61507; Ex Communist Parties :
In Italy and Germany big left regroupments involve former supporters of
the
old Communist Parties.  The "Refounded Communists" (PCR - "Rifondazione")
of
Italy includes far left tendencies such as the Trotskyist "Bandiera Rossa"
current.  The Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) in Germany, which grew
out
of the ruins of the old Stalinist East German ruling party after the fall
of
the Berlin Wall in 1989, also contains far left currents with its ranks.
One of the PDS MP?s in the Bundestag is Winfried Wolf, a regular
contributor
to International Viewpoint, news magazine of the Fourth International.
&#61507; England :
The fortress of far left sectarianism, the refuge of several small
publications attacking each other ? usually under the ?banner? of
?internationals? which (surprise, surprise) are led from London, may be
changing.
Most readers are no doubt familiar with the fight between the British New
Labour bureaucracy headed by Prime Minister Tony Blair, and former left
wing
Greater London Council (GLC) leader Ken Livingstone.  At the time of
writing
it is not known if Livingstone has won the official Labour nomination,
whether Blair?s supporters have blocked him, if Livingstone is running as
an
independent.
In any case parties to the left of New Labour must decide what to do.
Londoners this year will elect a new Assembly, under a proportional
representation system, as well as a new Mayor.  This provides Livingstone
with a difficulty : even if he beats the Blair candidate Frank Dobson for
the Mayor nomination, the Labour assembly candidates are party leadership
supporters.
Rather than follow the usual ?go it alone? formula, various far left
organisations are taking what might be called the ?Scottish Road?.  A
?London Socialist Alliance? will stand in next June?s Greater London
Authority elections. Candidates so far announced include Paul Foot and
Mark
Steel (Socialist Workers? Party), Kate Ford (Workers? Power)  and Greg
Tucker (Socialist Outlook).
Perhaps inevitably, difficulties exist with regard to both Arthur
Scargill?s
Socialist Labour Party and the Socialist Party.
Why Is This Happening?
It would be foolish to propose an exhaustive or final answer.
In part, this process is a by-product of the Fall of the Berlin Wall in
1989, the collapse of  the Soviet Union, and the post second world war
?communist? Eastern European régimes.     Electoral spaces to the left of
the social democrats, that used to be filled by the Communist Parties
(CP?s), have opened up to the far left. Very small European based
revolutionary groups worked in a very difficult situation for many
decades,
and had no realistic chance of making any breakthroughs to a mass base.
Much creditable work was done ? not least, building international support
for anti-imperialist causes like the Vietnamese victory over the USA in
the
early 1970?s ? but the far left also found it very difficult to avoid
turning in on itself.
This context started changing in the early 1990?s.    We have seen some
examples in Ireland : they include the election of Joe Higgins of the
Socialist Party (SP) to the Dáil for Dublin West in 1997, and the big
votes
gained by Carol-Ann Duggan of the Socialist Workers? Party (SWP) in
succesive elections for leadership posts in the states?s largest trade
union, SIPTU.
None of this means that all differences between parties on the far left
are
an illusion.  Red Banner readers are , for example, familiar with this
writer?s views on the Irish ?Peace Process?.  They differ strongly from
the
perspective offered by the SP.
However it should, at least, be possible to honestly clarify such
differences, rather than caricature the views and activities of people on
the left with whom you disagree. Sadly, too many of us have gone through
the
experience of far left groups ?getting in their denunciation first?. Salt
is
added to the wound when sectarian debating styles and bureaucratic methods
are then justified as ?democratic centralism?!
It is time to take the Scottish Road.

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