By John Pickard
The latest national Left Horizons discussion meeting last week in Doncaster was the best ever. The attendance, at 28, was the best yet, and would have been more without the intervention of Storm Dennis. All four parts of the UK were represented in the meeting. More importantly, there was an excellent series of discussions in which almost all the attendees participated.
The first discussion was based around a presentation from Paris, using Skype, by Greg Oxley, the editor of the French Marxist newspaper La Riposte. Greg spoke on the issues of Nationalism and Internationalism and those significant features of world and particularly European politics, which have affected nearly all countries.
The labour movement, Greg explained, has historically been the only organisation in society which is based on the common interests of all workers. Solidarity is a natural and organic characteristic of the workers’ movement, uniting all workers, men and women, of whatever age, race, ethnicity, language, religious or cultural tradition they come from. That is the basis of the internationalism of the socialist movement and the basis upon which Karl Marx could declare that workers “have no country.”
Political degeneration of labour movement leaders
But at the present moment there have been two historic trends interacting upon each other. On the one hand, we have seen a prolonged decline in the traditional industries with their associated trade unions, something that is not unrelated to the political degeneration of the leadership of all the traditional workers’ political parties. On the other hand, we have been living through the most drastic period of austerity and decline in living standards for generations, challenging all the gains made by workers in the post war period.
This combinations of circumstances has meant that when workers have lifted their sights and have taken steps towards political activity and involvement, on a scale unprecedented in modern times, in many cases they have been shifted not in the direction of class struggle, but towards national identity rather than class solidarity.
There is a generalised mood of distrust of politicians and many workers are alienated from the established political parties and politicians who are seen to be only out for themselves. Feeling impotent in the face of parties, governments and states that have failed them over and over again, many voters have been seduced by the ideas of populist leaders and the idea of a ‘strong state’ to cut through the bureaucracy and solve the issues people face. It is not so simple in real life, of course, and all of those same politicians who claim to speak for ‘the people’, particularly politicians on the right, do nothing of the sort.
‘left behind’ groups of workers everywhere
There was a very good discussion around this issue and parallels were drawn between those sections of workers who have felt ‘left behind’ in the northern parts of Britain, voting for the Brexit Party, with similar groups of workers in the USA, France, Germany and elsewhere. Unfortunately, as long as the leadership of the labour and trade union movement fail to offer a socialist way out and as long as there are no other alternative put forward, the danger of nationalist movements and nationalist parties will remain and in all likelihood will grow in the foreseeable future.
The second discussion of the weekend was on Corbynism after Corbyn and there was an excellent discussion on the prospects for the left in the Labour Party after the election. There were many detailed disagreements and nuances in what was a very rich and wide-ranging discussion. This is no more than one would expect from a meeting of activists, who were all able to describe their own different experiences.
But there was a clear consensus that there was at the very least a strong possibility (some would say a certainty) that Keir Starmer would win the leadership contest and that the NEC might be pushed back to the right. If Starmer wins, it was thought, he would quickly drop the pretence of being ‘left’ and he would attempt to introduce changes, even to the Labour Party constitution, to reinforce control of the Party by the right wing.
It was pointed out by many comrades that the soft left of the party – like the Momentum leadership – bear a huge responsibility for the failure to take on the right-wing over anti-Semitism and Open Selection.
Unlike the soft-left, the right will be ruthless
Unlike the soft lefts, the right-wing will be ruthless. It was suggested, for example, that the structure of the NEC might be changed to increase the representation of Labour councillors – always a bastion of the right – or even make some moves to disenfranchise the membership in terms of future leadership elections.
It is almost a racing certainty that if the right-wing get control of the NEC and leadership that there will be large-scale attempts to suspend or expel lefts from the Party, the excuse, as ever, likely to be anti-Semitism. Where there was no consensus was how much the right wing would get away with, in an atmosphere of relentless austerity and with the utter failure of Boris Johnson to make good on any of his election promises. What the right wing of the Labour Party want to do and what they will be able to do may not be the same thing.
Finally, there was a discussion on the role of Left Horizons as a website and as a political tendency inside the Labour Party. It went without saying that in the context of the election defeat and the most serious challenge by Labour’s right wing since 2015, that the left need to be better organised and more effective.
It remains to be seen if the Labour Left Alliance, meeting this week in Sheffield, can fill the vacancy created by Momentum collapsing to the right. The LLA does not look like being the open, transparent, broad left that many hoped for and even before its foundation it is showing an unhealthy dose of over-management from the top and an over-preoccupation with structure and organisation.
Buzzing afterwards
We’ll have to wait and see on the LLA, but one thing for sure is that supporters of Left Horizons will be beavering away and fighting in Party meetings and in the trade union movement for socialist ideas. We will not be cowed or intimated by the right. If there is a dearth of political discussion in the Labour Party – and that is often the case – or if there are members suspended and looking for a temporary ‘home’ then Left Horizons can provide discussion meetings and discussion groups where left party members can meet, discuss and support one another. We have to play our part, and we will.
It could be honestly said that everyone who was at this Left Horizons event, including several new comrades from Lancashire, were buzzing afterwards. It was a great meeting, of good, in-depth and comradely discussions. We are all looking forward to the next meeting. In Summer or late Spring?
February 17, 2020
