• The complete tactical voter • Crisis in the blocs • Keliner on the left • What's on le télé • Maureen Duffy interviewed • Camden jazz The women of the - decent, caring & 6 What touches me most is the sheer bloody awtulness of women's May 198795p Thatcher leis by vot Eric Hobsbawm:
government.
NOP: andidate who is best I ne Communist The Battle Marxism Over Education Cilla Black Allance Assesse The The Gorbachev Effect Statesman.
Chernobyl and piranhae. who tion possibility SOCIALIST ACTION asked Eric to comment on arguments of Marxism Today, the Statesman and others favour of 'tactical voting' coalition government and to present his view of the alternative to it.
THE view of Martin Kettle in Marxism Today that the Alliance is on the left is a complete misconception of its position. The fact is that the Alliance, particularly the SDP, is by no means a left wing party. The SDP is a middle class organisation with a small middle class membership wedded to capitalism SDP were the people broke away at the decisive moment in 1981 to let the Conservatives in. By doing what they did, and lining up with the Liberals, they allowed the Conservative party to get back into office at the last election.
The Tories lost 700,000 votes in 1983. If the movement had not had the SDP breakaway, together with the activity of Callaghan and that grouping in the Party, we would have won the elec. tion. To call these people on the left is ridiculous, the SDP is another side of the capitalist coin This total misreading of the situation is quite deliberate. It fits in with a view of seeking alliances with the SDP and Liberals rather than building up the organised strength of the working class.
There is now a concerted effort on "tactical voting' from various quarters.
Today has abandoned idea of working class politics. concepts are clearly being ironed out in that paper. With the falling back of the Labour Party in the polls that has given an added impetus to their views.
same goes for the Statesman is a journal of the left, as it used to be, is wrong. The Guardian equally is a middle ground Liberal-SDP These are people who would like to eliminate all ideas of socialist policies once and for all from the party's proWe're already hearing talk about going to the election with the minimum of policy objectives.
There are people who after the next would quite happily make deals with Owen and company. could see, not a breakaway, but arrangements being made with them after the next election. There were people even before the last wanted to raise the question of coaliThis talk is undermining government with Labour positions.
This is another example of the type of self imposed wounds the party is inflicting. A lot of damage has been done to the party's prospects not only over the past few weeks but also over a longer period of time.
For some in the party to refer, like the capitalist press, to our councillors and local authorities as 'loony lefts' is a gift to our political enemies. To expel councillors and members for suppor ting the Militant newspaper or any other left-wing paper in the party is a gift to our political enemies. the in who To disciplinary action because members or supporters of Black Sections is a gift to the political enemy To fail minority groups like lesbians and gays is a gift to the political enemy.
To fail to support women's rights is a gift to the political enemy.
It is wrong for people in the Labour Party to distance worker wo demo vect cass suruse gle, who are fighting for basic trade any union rights and who require solidarity from all sections of the movement. The miners should have received wholehearted support, as printworkers and others. They did not get it, ellner trom some trade union ol Labour leaders, and their fight was weakened as a result.
The defeat watershed for the movement. past when workers have been defeatd in industrial struggle they have tended to look for political solutions. They have looked to the Labour Party, but on this occasion, because of the cracked note 1 UNI workers have hesitated and are not sure where to go or what to do It is our task on the left to give them some answers and political direction. We It is clear that we on the left of the party cannot sit idly by and allow the party to become the SDP Mark 2. If we do, that is a sure way to ensure the victory of our cluding the SDP/Liberal Alliance. the must go out and fight for our socialist principles and policies, knowing that in reality, they were the only policies that in the last analysis can deal with the problems that capitalist countries face.
The emphasis must be on the class basis of politics with the various issues integrated into the overall strategy The centrality agreements even Morning Star who doubtedly disagree with on issues of the internal regime in the Soviet Union. Clear v at the moment there are ares where the 'soft left', and what I would comrades with they i to suoport the rights ol ting the themselves meetings, nobody.
should the • We ownership of that of the miners was a dusties finance houses.
that trade political opponents, We vice.
social we in this and other restored.
unemployment.
politics LOUILL Y with people we would un- discussion get together. call the 'genuine left', are not going to agree on every policy.
On reselection, for example, there is a division between the 'soft left' •ang what I would call the 'genuine left'. We believe we have to have reselection on , the basis of the GCs which are reflec.
wards, branches and trade unions that are part of the constituency. This means MPs are responsible to the elected representatives of the whole party. The idea of selection by mass postal ballots, in fact means people who are accountable to But there can be a number of policies that we agree on:
back into public the industries and companies that have been privatised. Part must be a real fight for democratic management in such in• We can get a minimum agreement that we must extend public ownership in other spheres. We have to extend it ir particular in relation to the banks and • We can agrée to get rid of all nuclear bases, nuclear weapons and nuclear • We can agree that all the anti-union legislation should be abolished, WHOR rights should restored without interference in the internal affairs of trade unions. • We can agree on working towards proper financing for rebuilding the National Health Service and that it should function as a free National Health Ser• We can demand that the cuts in benefits should be • We can agree on an all out attack on • We can agree that we have to support the rights of women and the minorities within the party and the We can agree to oppose coalition If we can work out a minimum programme of that kind then, particularly after the next election, we can begin to
Socialist Action 24 April 1987 masses on the reformists is quite similar