Democracy

We tend to think of democracy as a good thing, the type of thing we can all support. There is a sense in which everybody in so-called democratic countries knows what is meant by democracy. In essence, it is the idea of rule for the people by the people. This involves universal suffrage, representation, all votes being equal, the rule of law and decisions taken by democratic consensus.

So ingrained are these ideas that it is difficult to believe that, in a democracy, there are people who see democracy in slightly different terms. For some people democracy is a fine system if, and only if, it delivers for them, and their class, that which they desire.
We take democracy for granted. But it has not always been that way. Universal suffrage was only conceded in the UK in 1918, and even then only for those over 30. Full suffrage for every adult citizen (those 18 or above) did not arrive until 1970.

The fight for the vote was initially fought not by working people but by those who wanted political power to match their economic power – landowners, merchants and factory owners. Their idea of democracy was to have the right to pass laws which kept the working class firmly in its place.
Some people would have us believe that the right to vote was granted because the dominant economic classes were liberal and fair minded. If only that were the case. The truth is that every concession to universal suffrage was conceded only after mass campaigns and as a means to prevent working class people from taking control. Revolution not evolution has been the key to all suffrage movements.

Factory owners oppose any reforms even
those designed to protect children

If that seems unlikely to you then just consider how the same economically dominant  classes have resisted all attempts to make working people’s lives better. Every minor concession from reducing the working week, to holidays, to health and safety regulations, to the minimum wage has been met with hostility by those who profit most from the labour of ordinary people.
Interestingly enough, if you search the internet for references to how hostile employers were you cannot find it. The past has been sanitised so that we remember the names of pioneering liberals such as Edward Chadwick who worked to improve conditions but find little reference to those who opposed the acts.

When the last Labour Government proposed a minimum wage
 of £3.60 many commentators suggested that it would mean a
reduction in jobs. Fast forward to 2019 and Labour’s policy of
 a £10 minimum wage is met by Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies claiming “Clearly, the risk, given the choice between doubling the wages you’re currently paying 16 and 17-year-olds or not employing them at all… the risk is you will have fewer 16- and 17-year-olds in work.”

In other words conventional wisdom is that any attempt to democratically increase the pay of workers will be met not with their active resistance but by businesses deciding not to do the work at all. That even Philip Hammond, when still Chancellor, had to concede that job losses predicted by those opposed to a minimum wage failed to materialise is evidence of the way the economically dominant class use their parliamentary advantage to work hand in glove with their acolytes in civil society, particularly the media which feeds off the type of “think tanks” represented by the likes of Paul Johnson, who earns upwards of £129,000 somewhat more than £10 an hour.

If that seems far fetched ask yourself how often are trade unions represented in discussions about workers rights? And, when they are, how close are those we know – such as Len McLuskey – to the real lived experiences of ordinary workers?

The myth that every vote is equal pervades
our culture

We are taught from a young age to believe that we live in a society where everybody has an equal vote and by extension an equal say. But this is plainly untrue. Not all votes are equal, because somebody such as Paul Johnson, and we could add other commentators, have not just a vote but an unfair advantage in their
access to opinion forming forums.

What this results in is a public discourse totally
dominated by the concerns of the middle and upper classes. Or to put that more simply we live in a society where those who gain most from the current economic arrangements also control the opportunity to critique that system.

As Marx once wrote: “The class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force. The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it.”

This is not to say that countervailing arguments never see the light of the day. In a liberal, parliamentary democracy opposing views are allowed, even encouraged, but within tightly controlled parameters. Democracy is not for debate, neither is the basic functioning of the economy.

The holy trinity in all this are the tenets which are so taken for granted that we find them impossible to challenge without being labelled extremist: parliamentary democracy, a free press and a free market economy. The guardians of this system are the private schools which educate just 7% of the population. That 7% are embedded throughout the trinity of Parliament, media and economy. In 2017 some 29% of MPs were privately educated a figure which rises to 45% among the ruling Conservative Party. Remember only 7% of the population are privately educated so they are 4 times more likely to be MPs than their actual numbers suggest they should be.

If you areprivately educated you are 10 times more likely to
be a judge than if you are state educated.

The Press Gazette reported in June this year that 43% of the top 100 editors were privately 

educated. Whilst the Guardian revealed that in television the workforce is more than twice as likely than in other professions to be privately educated. Ofcom said the evidence suggested that the TV industry was disproportionately recruiting people from private school backgrounds. This means that political commentary in the papers and on TV disproportionately represents the assumptions of the privately educated.

Meanwhile The Guardian also reported in 2016 that a privately educated elite continues to dominate the UK’s leading professions, taking top jobs in fields as diverse as the law, politics, medicine and journalism, according to research. This includes 74% of top judges, 51% of print journalists, 61% of top doctors, and even in the arts 43% of BAFTA winners were privately educated.

All of this adds up to a social system that works very well for a small section of the population. And, in case, you are tempted to think that electing a Labour Government will change this, it will not. 

As Aneurin Bevan said in 1954:

“I know that the right kind of leader for the Labour Party is a kind of desiccated calculating-machine 

who must not in any way permit himself to be swayed by indignation. If he sees suffering, privation 

or injustice, he must not allow it to move him, for that would be evidence of the lack of proper 

education or of absence of self-control. He must speak in calm and objective accents and talk about a dying child in the same way as he would about the pieces inside an internal combustion engine.”

And, until 2016 that is precisely the kind of leader we have had. The point is not that we cannot have a different type of leader, or radical policies but that democracy is being undermined not just in parliament but, as it always has, by the media, the judiciary, and by those who benefit from the iniquities of the current economic system.

That Boris Johnson and his attack dog Fido Cummings have a distaste for parliamentary democracy and recently the judiciary too, is not proof that democracy is under threat. Indeed, the democratic deficit is not between the Tories and Labour (far too many Labour MP’s are supporters of the current social system) but as it has always been, between a class that rules and a class that is subject to those rules.

The democracy which we are taught to believe is inviolate and which left-wing Labour members spend such an inordinate amount of time working to uphold, is not the answer it is part of the problem. So long as we have massive inequalities in life chances and influence then Parliament exists to maintain a social system that benefits not just a few very rich people but also a large middle class who can both have very comfortable lives and convince themselves that they are better morally and politically than those below them.

I will confess here that I am lucky enough to be fairly comfortable, not rich, but I can get by. But, I have not forgotten that I came from a council estate, that I worked on building sites and in factories, that I spent a period unemployed and reliant on benefits or, more importantly, the condescension I received from middle class people who treated me as a moron because I was driving a van for a living. My heart and soul remains with the 14.6 million people in the UK living in poverty, with those being harassed by the DWP, and those who, mostly for reasons over which they have no control, are homeless or forced to use food banks. 

Democracy is important but until we are able to move toward a form of democracy that is more than the opportunity to change your oppressor every few years, the vested interests will continue to control the public discourse and make any move toward a genuine socialism continue to sound as probable as the British royal family being sanctioned by the DWP for failing to find real jobs.

I’m fed up

I’m fed up.

I’m fed up with being told that the Labour Party cannot win a General Election without changing their leader.
If it hadn’t been for Jeremy Corbyn the Tories would still have a 38 seat majority.
I’m fed up of being told that Jeremy Corbyn is responsible for Brexit.
He isn’t. David Cameron and the right wing of the Conservative Party (I.e. most of them) wanted the referendum and had no plan for what to do when Leave won.

I’m fed up of hearing that Jeremy Corbyn is an ineffective leader.
Compared to whom? A large part of the problem is that Jeremy receives no positive media at all, and is the most smeared politician in recent history.
I’m fed up of hearing that Labour is anti-Semitic.
It isn’t, it never has been. That’s not to say that there are no Labour supporters who hold anti-Semitic views but that is nothing to do with the party which has the most robust anti-Semitism policies and procedures of any party in Europe.
I’m fed up of hearing that the Lib Dem’s can lead a progressive alliance.

Lib Dem’s tell lies to get votes

The Lib Dem’s were part of a government that introduced austerity, cut benefits to the disabled, trebled students tuition fees (when they explicitly promised not to) and made it more difficult for workers to go to industrial tribunals.
I’m fed up of hearing that we are all better off.
According to the United Nations we have 14 million people living in poverty in the UK. Over 100 people have died in the past three years as a direct result of DWP decisions to cut their benefits.
I’m fed up of hearing that heatwaves and record breaking temperatures are something to be celebrated.
They are not. They are a symptom of a climate crisis that threatens not just our way of life but life itself.
I’m fed up of people criticising groups like Extinction Rebellion because they disrupt ordinary people.
I fully support Extinction Rebellion and the school kids led by Greta Thunberg for bringing the crisis to our attention. Having to take a different route to work for a couple of days is not disruption. Real disruption will be when the planet can no longer sustain human life because we have not acted to repair the damage we have done.
I’m fed up with being told that war is the answer.
If war is the answer we asked the wrong question.
I’m fed up with being told it is unpatriotic not to support our troops.
I can’t think of anything more unpatriotic than flag waving as we send our young off to die for
somebody else’s cause.
I’m fed up of hearing that the only thing that matters is (stopping) Brexit.
4 million schoolchildren going to school hungry every day, homelessness reaching record proportions and the rise of the right all happened whilst we were in Europe. Whilst Europe might not have been the culprits to think everything is centred on our relationship with Europe is naive.
I’m fed up of hearing one right wing Labourite after another undermine the possibility of a genuinely progressive programme getting enacted.

At the last General Election Labour were a cat’s whisker away from being the Government. That was with the half-hearted (at best) support of the Labour establishment. Since then as they have lost control of the party they have continued to sow the seeds of doubt in the general public about the Party for their own narrow, sectarian ends quite prepared to sacrifice the poor, the destitute and the powerless so that they can seize back control of a party that they had made unelectable.
I’m fed up of hearing that socialism cannot work.
As if capitalism has been a roaring success for all but a few. Socialism is an ideal based on the belief that we should act in the interests of the many not the few. It is a belief that we should protect the
weak and the vulnerable. Ultimately it is a belief that in a system founded on mutual respect that the well being of each is best served by ensuring the well being of all. It can work if only we free our minds of the fetters that prevent ordinary people from using their ingenuity and their creativity for the common good.
I’m fed up, but I’m not giving up. The stakes are too high.

Time to find a third way out of the Brexit impasse

It’s been a week for demonstrating. In every major city in the UK plus quite a few places that nobody has ever called major. Protests erupted against Boris Johnson’s plan to bypass Parliament to force a no-deal Brexit.
In Cardiff, my hometown, there were 2 demos in as many days. The first attracted about 500 protestors who were a broad coalition. The second much smaller demo was, essentially, hijacked by the People’s Vote Campaign. In London tens of thousands drowned out Johnson as he was visibly shaken by the chants of Stop The Coup.

I turned up for both Cardiff demos despite my reservations about the number of people at the first who were draped in the EU flag. But, I could not stay at the second where the majority of what was a quite small crowd were wearing the flag of an institution which was an enthusiastic supporter of austerity. I am not, nor have I ever been an advocate of a second referendum.

As I have said previously if the eventual outcome of this Tory-inspired mess is that we stay in Europe I would not be heartbroken. I voted to remain after all. But, that is not the same as saying I am prepared to ignore a referendum and stamp my feet until I get the outcome I desire.

People’s Vote as hostile to Jeremy Corbyn
as to the Tories

I cannot forget that at their large demonstrations the People’s Vote campaign encouraged the crowd in its hatred of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. I know that those demonstrations were also attended by Labour Party members loyal to Jeremy, but the overwhelming message was that Brexit was somehow Jeremy's fault.

Labour’s position on Brexit has always been difficult, not because it is complicated but because a number of Labour MPs refused to accept it and joined forces with the People’s Vote campaign. There was a strong sense that the anti-Brexit campaign was an adjunct of the anti-Corbyn campaign.

It has always struck me that the language of both the extreme leavers and the extreme remainers is remarkably similar. Both camps claim to be talking for the people when in fact they continue to talk at them. Both camps claim to be upholding democracy when in fact both are very prepared to ignore it in pursuit of their own agendas. And, crucially both camps refuse steadfastly to engage with the Leader of the Opposition, resorting to lies and insults.

Both camps claim to have, and quite possibly do have, large support among the general voting public. But both are peddling a myth. For the leavers the belief that Britain can ‘simply leave’ the EU or that it can get a better deal by bluster and threat is a total fallacy. But the remain camp’s claim that simply revoking Article 50 will somehow bridge the divisions in the UK is equally fallacious. As is their claim that the EU is, and always has been, a force for good.

The reality is that we should never have had a referendum in the first place. It was a Tory answer to a Tory problem. But, having had a referendum we must accept the result, despite whatever misgivings
we may have about the campaign. That is the only democratic option.

Right wing papers treat anything other than a
no-deal Brexit as if we are at war with the EU

However, accepting the referendum result is not the same thing as completely wrecking our economic relationship with the rest of Europe, and by extension, most of the rest of the World. Some Tory newspapers are keen on using war metaphors to pretend that negotiating with Europe is a case of “surrendering” to them. But, if they knew anything of war they would know that the old adage that an army marches on its stomach is historically borne out.

A famous study of World War 2 conducted by respected academics Edward Shils and Morris Janowitz in 1947 showed how the German army disintegrated after its supply lines were cut off. This is precisely what leaving the EU with no deal would mean for the UK. We rely on supply lines which run through Europe without which there will be severe shortages of food and medicines.

Whilst that outcome could be avoided by revoking Article 50 as the extreme remainers demand, such a move would also alienate 50% of the population of voters who voted leave. From a tactical point of view many of those are certainly Labour voters, but more importantly such a course could be devastating for our democracy.

Many people are starting to realise the binary choice
will not resolve the Brexit impasse

It is widely believed that the leave vote was the exasperated act of an underclass that had felt ignored and forgotten. It was an anti-establishment vote. What those voters now see is two sides of the establishment fighting it out with one side supposedly delivering what they voted for (as if anybody actually knew) and the other trying to frustrate that vote.

If the remain side win then the distrust of democracy and the establishment will run deep into the body politic. Many of the ordinary leave voters, already scapegoated by years of economic neglect, will see the far right as representing their interests. The fact that the remain camp have spent three years telling these people that they are stupid, racist and do not know what is in their best interests is hardly likely to have won them over.

In truth whilst the remain side of the argument like to pretend that they are anti-establishment to many leave voters they will seem to be authority figures who have always patronised those they believe to be less well educated or less well mannered. Snobbery, unfortunately, is not the preserve of the ruling class.

Between the extremes sits a third alternative. Respect the referendum but do so in a way which protects the interests of the population particularly those living in the harshest conditions. That means leaving with a deal. The reality is that there has never been a no-deal option. It’s just a question of when we do the deal or deals and the damage we do to ourselves in the intervening period.

We will no longer be formal members of the EU. No more MEP’s (Who most people didn’t vote for and could not name), no more European summits for our PM to attend, no more adherence to European regulations (except in so far as they are necessary to maintain trade) and no more opportunity to blame Europe for our own domestic failures.

But, a deal means we get a transition period in which we continue to have access to the single market whilst we agree our future economic relationship with Europe. It means no disruption to our supply lines and most importantly protects the Good Friday Agreement in Ireland.

It’s time to lose the flags and accept that Britain must leave
the EU but do so with a deal that protects our economy

The only way to achieve this third option is for extreme remainers to throw down their flags and to get behind the only party in the UK capable of negotiating sensibly with the EU. That is the Labour Party who will probably have to win a General Election in order to get into that position. For that reason whilst I continue to support #StopTheCoup I cannot support demos hijacked by extreme remainers. And I do think I speak for a silent majority in this country who simply want to get back to living their lives without the constant background chatter and childish public schoolboy pranks of a Brexit lobby who are prepared to sacrifice ordinary people on a gamble with the country’s economy.

Do we want an early General Election?

With the somewhat odd situation of a Tory Prime Minister elected by only 93,000 people, threatening to suspend parliament in order to force through a no-deal Brexit everybody, including Johnson and most of his cabinet, said was the worst possible option, it might be a good time for the left to take stock.

Many on the left are enthusiastically calling for a General Election in the hope that the Labour leadership can cobble together enough votes to force through a vote of no-confidence before Parliament is prorogued. Although, we now face a situation where Boris Johnson is threatening an early General Election if MPs pass a law which calls on him to ask for an extension to Article 50.
The left, generally and in the Labour Party, have been quick to support the ‘stop the coup’ protests which have sprung up throughout the UK. With all this excitement, and the prospect of a no-deal Brexit looming, it is easy to live in the moment and forget to take a longer term view of what is happening.
Just for the sake of clarity I am not an advocate of a no-deal Brexit, I was a remain voter, and I do not support the Tories apparent indifference to parliamentary democracy. I am, however, concerned that the effort being put into the ‘stop the coup’ protests could be at the expense of other equally pressing issues.
Whilst as a member of the Labour Party I would welcome a General Election, the timing of such an election could be crucial to the possibility of a Labour victory. A point which has surely not been missed by the cabal around Johnson. All eyes should be focussed on October 31st as this date is critical for all that follows.

I believe that one of the reasons Johnson is so determined to force through a no-deal

Brexit is because he believes that doing so will neutralise the threat of Farage’s Brexit Party. If leave voters get any whiff of a Brexit sell-out by Johnson then the Brexit Party will mop up disenchanted leave votes, leaving the Tories chances of winning an election in tatters. For this reason alone I think two things are likely. First, no-deal has become a strategy to secure Tory Government. And, secondly, there is simply no
way Johnson will go to the polls prior to 31st October.

Of course not everybody on the left agrees with this analysis believing that Johnson will be forced into a General Election by a vote of no confidence which he will lose. Here I think the role of Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson is critical. It was reported, by Natalie Rowe who tends to be right about these things, that Swinson held meetings with Johnsonin August. Neither of them have confirmed that these meetings have taken place, but crucially they have not denied it. It is well known that Swinson was an enthusiastic supporter of the ConDem coalition actually voting with the Tory whip more times than even Johnson.

So, what might these meetings have been about? It is clear that Swinson is a right-wing opportunist whose ambition to get a seat at the Cabinet is far greater than any principles she may hold. She has been clear that she would not support Jeremy Corbyn, even if doing so could prevent the no-deal Brexit she claims to oppose. Is it possible, I wonder, that she has done a deal with Johnson to prevent a vote of no confidence taking place in exchange for propping up a weakened Tory Party post-election?

It is noticeable that whilst many Lib Dem supporters have been demonstrating Swinson’s support has been lacklustre. She cannot be seen to oppose her own party (she is no Margaret Hodge), but I believe it was her brief to undermine Labour’s plan for a temporary caretaker government by turning this into a vote of confidence in Jeremy Corbyn. The compromise agreed by the cross-party coalition to use legislation to prevent no-deal was effectively neutered by Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament. I wonder when Swinson knew this proroguation was going to take place? Is this all a plan to block a Corbyn-led Labour Government and herald another ConDem coalition? 

I have my own reservations about the current demonstrations, though I do support them because they seem to be a popular uprising (albeit a very polite uprising). From what I have seen the protests are being hijacked by people wearing EU flags. In other words, far from defending democracy the protests are being taken over by people who seek to overturn the 2016 referendum.

I understand all the arguments against the referendum result, that it was advisory, that there were financial irregularities and that the leave side told blatant lies (Johnson was liar-in-chief once he decided which side would best serve his career). These are good arguments but repeating them ad finitum does not, and will not, annul the referendum. In the real world most people voted believing the result would be honoured, most people only believed lies that confirmed their existing prejudices and the financial irregularities were simply not sufficient for the referendum to be annulled.

I have believed for a long time that we should simply agree to honour the result which means finding a way to substantially leave the EU. However I, and many others, have never believed that we would leave the EU without a deal. Indeed, it is inconceivable that we will not end up trading with our
nearest neighbours. I suspect that Johnson and his pack of hyenas know this too. Hence this
pantomime of pretending that he is trying to convince them to agree to a new deal that he knows they have already said they will not do. The attempt to shift the EU is part of a strategy to lay the blame for any shortages post-October on the EU. It is yet another cynical deflection tactic designed to deliver Johnson what he most desires: power.

For the left, the possibility of an early General Election is enticing. For starters we appear to be in a strong position to win. However, we should also stop to think about what happens if we do get a Labour Government before Christmas.
The first consequence of an early election would be that trigger ballots, so important in bringing the PLP into tune with the leadership and members, will not happen. This means that a Labour Government will have 100-150 backbencher so who have already shown that they do not value loyalty to the party or its elected leader. I believe that a Labour Government could be undermined by a centrist coalition of Labour right-wingers and Swinson’s Lib-Dem rump. Is it paranoid to see the scaly hand of Peter Mandelson manipulating events in the background?

For this reason alone I would be wary of being over-enthusiastic about the prospects of an early election. But, there is also Labour’s policy on Brexit.




I do not think Brexit played a major role in 2017 partly because it still seemed some way off but mainly because the activist base were so fired up by a radical manifesto which promised to rebalance wealth and power in the UK. Some policies, such as renationalisation of the railways, were simply popular in a way that was unimaginable only a few years ago, and Jeremy Corbyn became more popular with Labour’s core support the longer the election went on.

In 2019, Brexit will be a major issue, either because we are in the fallout of a no-deal or because it has not yet happened. Either way whoever wins the election is going to have to sort out that particular mess. To enter an election promising a second referendum in which we support remain is going to draw all the oxygen out of promoting the other issues around equality, social justice, welfare reform and rebalancing the tax burden.

Take it for granted that whenever the election occurs not a single mainstream paper will support Jeremy Corbyn. And, whilst broadcast media face stricter rules on partiality expect every Tory lie about Corbyn to be taken seriously and repeated ad nauseum, whilst the Tories and Lib Dem’s will be treated with kid gloves.

I honestly feel that a General Election in 2020 offers Labour the best chance of success, even if we may need the SNP’s help in forming a government. We could go into a General Election with all but a rump of Blairite careerists removed from the safe seats they were gifted during the Blair-Brown years, and with candidates from the left actually committed to redefining Labour’s socialist credentials.