General Election
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I’ve have received four leaflets from the LibDems in the last week one introducing some non-descript nonentity as the next prime minister. Talk about delusions of grandeur. But where’s the money coming from? Are the mainstream capitalists shifting their political funding from the Tories to the LibDems? Are the Liberals about to become the party of the capitalist class as they were in the 19th century?
Meanwhile Farage and the Brexit party are standing out for the full Brexit and nothing less. That’s a mind-set we can understand as we hold out for socialism and nothing less, but at least socialism is a change worth holding out for. Brexit won’t make any difference, in fact the sort of Brexit Farage wants (leave tomorrow with no transitional arrangements) would probably make things worse at least in the short run.
This is our election leaflet for distribution outside the two constituencies that we are contesting (Cardiff Central and Folkestone & Hythe). Election 2019 PDF
Cardiff Central, where we will be standing, is one of the seats allocated to the LibDems under the Liberal/Green/Plaid Cymru election pact just announced. That means two less reformist candidates standing – no Green and no Plaid. Good. There are already too many reformist parties.
That means we can revive the old slogan:
Labour, Liberal, Tory
Same old same old story
Just realised I forgot Farage’s mob. They might expect be standing. But I can’t think of anything to rhyme with Brexit except Schmexit.
Found it. Knew I’d seen it somewhere.
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2019/09/our-first-prospective-candidate-for.html
Useful comment too.
Turns out the SPGB would have contested Battersea North in 1929:
Link: Correspondence: Should we contest elections? (1931)
The 1931 article in response to letter, provides the quote from Marx in a justification made for contesting elections. In his “Address to the Communist League” he wrote:—
“Even in constituencies where there is no prospect of our candidate being elected, the workers must nevertheless put up candidates in order to maintain their independence, to steel their forces, and to bring their revolutionary attitude and party views before the public.”
It looks like Labour are going to be clobbered in the elections. The Tories are not doing too well either. The libdems and the Brexit Party seem to be the main gainers. It seems to be set for another hung parliament
I see the media are having a go again at Corbyn for refusing to commit himself to being prepared to press the button to continue a nuclear war and saying that he’s unfit to be prime minister. He is, but that’s a compliment.
The Labour Party’s pathetic and hypocritical response is that the decision would not be taken by Corbyn himself but by a committee, so as to show that the Labour Party is as fit to run the British capitalist state as it has always been:
Johnson has just described Labour’s promise to provide free broadband for everyone as a “crazed communist scheme“.
It is not clear which part of it he finds “crazy”. Is it the nationalisation of part of BT or that it is crazy to provide any service free? Or he may just be continuing his party’s absurd smear campaign against Labour under Corbyn and MacDonnell wanting to establish a state-capitalist dictatorship in Britain similar to what existed in the USSR, dropping the euphemism “Marxist” for the real smear “Communist”.
That sort of anti-Communism is old hat and is unlikely to go down that well these days, at least not with anybody aged under 40, but in associating the word “communist” with “free services” he may inadvertently be doing us a favour. Yes, broadband will be free in a socialist society; so will telephones, television, gas, electricity, water, transport, health care, education and all other services. What’s crazy about that? Surely the rational purpose of society is to satisfy people’s needs.
What is crazy is the capitalist scheme to require people to pay for these.
Just heard Sir Ed Davey, deputy leader of the LibDems, say that they want to “decarbonise capitalism”, so emphasising that they support and want to retain capitalism. Here is his what amounts to a eulogy of capitalism:
This is the bit I like:
“There will of course be a maze of overly complex regulations to cut through – but it must not detract from this vision to rebuild the City as a global centre for sustainable capitalism, where the needs of the planet and people have to come first.”
Makes you wonder what planet he’s living on.
We always knew of course that LibDems were an avowedly capitalist party, but it’s nice to have them confirm this so openly.
Here’s him saying it today and adding that a LibDem government would be a “government of business”. The LibDems are certainly making a serious pitch to become the main party of the British capitalist class as they once used to be. Whether they will succeed is another matter.
Former LibDem leader, Vince Cable, had already nailed their colours to the capitalist mast when, in an article in City AM on 14 May this year, he confessed:
“Capitalism is being questioned in Britain more intensely than for decades. Some want to destroy it. Others believe that it is the only economic system which works, but want to reform it. I am in the latter camp.”
‘The constant revolutionising of production, everlasting uncertainty and agitation – all fixed relations are swept away, all that is solid melts into air.’
If that sounds like the non-stop pace of our high-tech modern world – it was actually Karl Marx’s description of capitalism, 170 years ago.
But today’s critics of the onward march of free enterprise are not just confined to the far left – some traditional champions of the market economy are also calling for a rethink.
I could scarcely believe I was reading this on the subtitles to Channel4 news tonight at 7.00 PM.
The content was predictable rubbish though as you can judge for yourselves from this link.
The LibDems are continuing their campaign to regain their old position as the main party of the British capitalist class or “party of business”. Here’s their leader and here’s their deputy leader pitching for this. We can let them, the Tories and Labour slog this one out. What about the “party of the workers”?
I’ve spent quite a bit of time on the Have your Say part of BBC news over the last few days, They have links at the bottom of some news stories allowing you to comment on that particular story. As it’s an election they can’t delete any references to particular political parties, so it is possible to highlight the fact that there are real Marxists and real Socialists standing in the election. I don’t know how much people will actually see as it’s fairly fast moving and there is a work limit, but I’ve managed to get about 50 posts on line. If other party members were regularly posting on it it might create a bit of momentum (sorry I couldn’t think of another word). There are also lots of frothing at the mouth Tories who cry Marxist at everything, so it gives us a chance to point out that Corbyn et al are not Marxists, but that we are. I’ve managed to name check the constituencies a couple of times as well.
I noticed that in the match last night, when they were both asked what book they would give each other for Christmas. Corbyn replied quick as a flash “A Christmas Carol” so Johnson could identify himself with Scrooge. Johnson hesitated and fumbled the answer. I thought he was going to say another copy of Das Kapital but he didn’t. Anyway, Corbyn won that round.
In the meantime on the same day that the LibDem leader, some non-entity who imagines she’s going to be the next prime minister (the men in white coats must be waiting be in the wings to take her away to the place where others with similar delusions are kept), was telling the CBI that her party was the “party of business”, a leaflet from them came through my letter box which said:
“The Liberals Democrats will build an economy that works for everyone, not just the richest.”
They can’t have it both ways. Either they are “the party of business” and so support an economy that works “for the richest” or they are for the pipe dream of an economy that doesn’t. A pipe dream as no government can make “the economy” work for everyone as it’s based on profit-making and can only work in the interest of those who get richer and richer out of the profits businesses make.
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