Yes of the last Labour government the example of Chartism or the suffragettes which Foot amazingly places outside of the epoch of parliamentary democracy.
which destroyed the Tories last at lemmpt lo snackie tne umons. Allacks parliamentary action restrictions. on abortion rights for women have only been blocked by similar activity as is evidenced by victory over majorities favouring The free run given to the nuclear maniacs before the recent resurrection of CND shows there is no chance of nuclear drawing millions into action outside one piece of parliamentary action has done anything to reverse mass unemployment. But the flick of the miners' tail last year, showed what could be achieved that way.
Parliamentary legislation and action is often necessary to ratify such achievements. But mass struggle is the primary force for social change not even the best intentions of 'men of goodwill'.
There is no chance of without drawing millions into action outside parliament.
The Coscuice democracy, that is, a true democratic socialisin. is the involvement of the mass of the people in daily decision-making about every aspect of their lives from the point of production on the shop floor, to the level of state.
The fight for a Labour government has to encourage and centralise this approach Any Labour government that seriously embarks on this course will have to encourage and rely upon a counter that defenders of the status quo my, civil service and bosses' organisations.
Foot is playing games when he indicts those that foresee a violent confrontation for actually seeking one. The facts are that the workers will meet violent resistance in attempting to impose a socialist democracy.
No ruling class has ever handed over its power willingly but has resisted every means disposal.
Let us recall the example of Chile studiously ignored by Michael Foot. Despite the democratic election of Salvadore Allende, the military forces took action against his government because the workers began to take without things into their own hands.
dismembered and rights suppressed. the most highly developed parliamentary tradition in South America.
No ruling class has ever handed over its power would put the blame for this onto the left for tion'. The tragedy was that the lett as a whole did not foresee the problem.
British ruling class has rarely been faced with the prospect of the exsocialist propriation of their power. But even when a sniff of such an eventuality is raised, the British ruling class is quite prepared to ditch parliament.
It is now that during the winter crisis of 1974, discussion highest levels of the police and army began to parliamentary strike forces the ruling class did on a much wider scale to prepare for and defeat the General Strike in 1926. - the ar- even on smaller ruling class have no qualms about opposing parliament if they perceive it as being against their interests. In 1974, the Labour government army to break up the Uister Loyalist strike, but the army hierarchy simply refused.
has is allowing workers the rights that the bourgeoisie have. And in covering alr up the control by the capitalist class of state, he also covers up for the role of the right-wing in the Labour movesistent democracy, his exertions on its behalf do not stretch to denouncing Lord Denning struggle in the The workers' organisations were all democratic AUEW This was despite VIsIon is tha after the reality Solidarnosc in the fact It is a CIA view of reality that seeking violent comolla Britain is no exception to this. The third way exists.
proven a well established fact way.
and organisation at the organise extra fronted This was only regurgitating what capitalist Mauseous undemocratic questions, the the image of ordered the The essential difficulty that Foot government and the For all his protestations of 'conLed economy. and supporting right will go in for the kill. People out don't muck about when they think that the prospect of never being a cabinet minister again is at stake.
At least the right don't. They are • even if it means a loyalty oath to the IMF behind the The left have got to see what thev are taking on and come ou I think Labour Liaison should run a big campaign in the Party and the unions against the We in the POEU are prepared to We've got the Witchfinder General John Golding, as our He's going to find that there are The problem is it's much harder to fight in present day conditions And you need a clear national lead from the unions. And that's exactly To get anywhere the Labour left have got to take these people on cern The miners proved it in the early volved?
against the Tories can swing the whole picture around. and loads of people will feel they want a the left wing government and they will millionaire That will give a real boost to the left. So But meanwhile the Labour letts, particularly Benn, have got to come London GLC; it doesn't extend to the vigorous denunciation of Boyd and Duffy of the disregarding the democratically decided path Laurence Scott workers Foot's final haven of retreat is his claim that the only alternative to his of the totalitarian despotisms of Eastern Europe.
But this is totally disingenuous presented to us by 'blindness' here perhaps explains why he has left it to Thatcher to leech off the cause of the workers in Poland.
But there is no getting away from that the historic fight of Solidarity has given reality to what previously was a vision of Trotskyists. We had witnessed glimpser ot our third way in Hungary in 1956 and then in Czechoslovakia in 1968. But Poland in the 1980's has proven that a Poland in the 1980's has there is a third Foot has history on his side when he claims that 'the working class conwith the choice between democracy all insincerities and socialism, (it) will choose the former all the time But the choice is no longer of this type. The vision of mass democracy; accountability and immediate recall:
workers' control and self-management; the defence of nationalised property relations and rejection of capitalist restoration, have been seen up and down the workers organisation throughout the world. History is now on our side.
Foot has made his choice. He can lament the fate of Ebbw Vale, his constituency which has been mauled by capitalist recession. But these laments are mere patches on the weeping sores of British capitalism. The real alternative is the fight for a thoroughgoing socialist democracy based on a plannThose who assert the 'supremacy of parliament' are on the onel, losing siac.
against most of the present leaders in the unions.
How should they do that?
Labour Liaison have got to get ASLEF people, miners and the steelworkers.
need the sort of campaign we saw on unemployment but this time in support of those who are actually doing something to stop it.
But the other half of the story is the sort of democracy campaign that we've had in the party. It is a joke to see the union leaders pontificating over the Electoral College when they are there for life.
Of course each union will have to go about it under different conditions. But the Labour left can really give a lead here.
What about the argument that Inese questons are only ue con of union members in A load of rubbish. But seriously everybody knows that what goes on unions ls pontical. The press try to give a political lead to union members.
does Labour's right wing.
And they organise directly among the unions to get their way.
Socialist Challenge 21 January 1982
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willingly but has resisted with every means at its disposal.