By Steve McKenzie, UNITE Community member
This article has been submitted to Left Horizons by one of our readers, Steve McKenzie. It is part 1 of a two part contribution on the role of the Labour and Trade Union leadership.
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A few years before the start of the first imperialist war, (1914-18), an up and coming Tory dignitary, confided in a more senior Tory dignitary. He feared that if the Labour movement kept growing at it’s current rate, “It would not be long before we had a Socialist government”.
His nerves were soothed by the elder statesman, who informed him, that this would take at least ten years, by which time we will have bought them.
At around the same period the leader of the British Social Democratic Party, Henry Hyndman, was chided by a female member of the aristocracy. “you train them, and we will buy them “
Early warnings of reformism in the movement
Real socialist leaders, around at roughly the same time were warning that, ultimately, the reformist leaders of the unions and the Labour Party, would turn out to be the workers’ worst enemy. Unfortunately, this prediction proved to be absolutely correct, and was sadly confirmed in the next two decades.
There was the TUC betrayal of the General Strike in 1926, and the abject failure of the Labour governments of 1924 and 1929-31. The latter culminated in the Labour prime minister, Ramsey MacDonald, crossing the floor of Parliament to form a National government with the Tories and the Liberals.
The fundamentals remain the same
Over a century on and nothing fundamental has changed.
Different individuals hold the senior positions in the Labour party and the trade unions. A different set of political circumstances exist, and there is a different balance of power internationally.
Since the days of the first Labour government there has been over a century of decline for British capitalism. However, as far as the psychology and approach of the Labour and trade union leaders are concerned, nothing has changed.
Absorption of labour movement leaders into the establishment
There are 173 Labour Party supporting peers in the House of Lords including this four who claimed to represent the working class in Scotland
Having established their position of power in the labour movement, these pro-capitalist leaders promote others in their own image and restrict access for those who genuinely fight for the emancipation of working class people from the miseries of capitalism. They protect, first and foremost, their vested self interest. Prestige, purse and pelf and place, not necessarily in that order.
Dishonest, duplicitous, and lacking any backbone or principles whatsoever, they compromise, compromise on the compromise, and end up putting forward the establishment’s preferred option.
Other, more genuine, activists who gain leadership positions, remain honest and principled, but the best of them labour under the false perception that capitalism can be reformed. Even they are not tolerated by the establishment. We all saw what happened to the meek and mild Jeremy Corbyn when he was the leader of the Labour Party. They will not tolerate someone who is not bought and paid for, getting anywhere near power.
Prospects for a Labour Government in 2024
The establishment’s man, Sir Keir Starmer, our modem day Ramsey MacDonald, is waiting in the wings, with his right wing Labour Party, ready to form a Labour government. His Majesty’s loyal opposition looks likely to become His Majesty’s government sometime later this year.
The establishment have recognised that the Tory party, as it currently stands, is a busted flush. It is recognised that it is well past time to put the ‘second eleven’ in to bat for a while. They recognise that Labour is now in a safe pair of hands.
Any expectations that anyone has, that once elected, the current leadership of the Labour Party will voluntarily implement any meaningful reforms, is an illusion. Even if they wanted to, they wouldn’t be allowed to. Every improvement will have to be fought for.
