Green Left Weekly's SHANE BENTLEY talked to MIKE WADDINGTON, the national secretary of Militant Labour in Britain, about the political trajectory of Tony Blair's "new" Labour Party, and its implications for building the left wing of politics in Britain today.
Question: In the 1980s, the British Labour Party was one of the most progressive social democratic parties in Europe, with a strong left wing led by Tony Benn. What has happened to this left wing?
The party moved very rapidly to the left after the Labour government defeat in 1979. This shift was pushed by working-class people fighting for decent living standards, which our organisation, then the Militant tendency, played an important part in.
But the mid-1980s saw defeats of such struggles as that in Liverpool City Council and the year-long miners' strike. In the case of the miners, the defeat was due to the failure of the trade union leaders to mobilise other members of the working class in solidarity action. In the case of Liverpool City Council, the Labour leaders defeated the movement themselves. The actions of those leaders, particularly Neil Kinnock, resulted in the isolation of the council and hundreds of expulsions of Labour Party members. Many of these were Militant supporters.
The few socialists who remain in the Labour Party today, those who weren't witch-hunted out, are quite demoralised. A number of Labour's European Parliament MPs are considering whether or not they should remain in the party. Other MPs still in the Labour Party are sympathetic to Arthur Scargill's initiative for a Socialist Labour Party (SLP), but believe that the timing is wrong; though we believe the issue of timing is an excuse for inaction.
So the Labour Party left is very feeble, weak and demoralised. Only new events under a Labour government will revive this left.
Question: Traditionally, the BLP has had strong links with the trade union movement. Has this changed under Blair, and is Blair likely to rely on a social contract with the movement like the ALP-ACTU Accord in Australia?
One Labour minister has remarked that the link between the trade unions and the Labour Party would be broken under a Labour government. We believe Blair will break the link between the unions and the party but wants to rely on the trade union leaders for support like the Democratic Party in the US, where the AFL-CIO [the peak trade union federation] does not have a vote inside the party, but donates millions of dollars to it and polices the working-class for Clinton. This process has been mirrored in Britain.
Blair recently intervened in a crucial postal workers' industrial dispute for a re-ballot in order to get their acceptance of a management offer. However, in the new ballot the workers voted overwhelmingly to reject management's offer — a considerable snub to Blair. This is going to be repeated many times once Labour is in office.
Question: Pundits have been predicting a Blair landslide in the next general election. What would Labour in government mean for big business and for working people in Britain?
Blair and "New Labour" have led in the opinion polls by more than 20 points for over three years now. Many in big business are supporting Blair. Labour now receives large donations from prominent businesses, and Blair talks of how important big business is to the economy and even calls in on Rupert Murdoch while he is in Australia. For the BLP to be embracing big business in such a way represents a historic turning point, with the BLP becoming another bourgeois/capitalist party.
Blair's main political adviser, Peter Mandelson, is quite open about not only the need to accept capitalism, but also the need to accept that class inequalities are a necessary feature of a successful economy.
Big business is obviously reassured and feels that a Labour government will be able to hold the working class in check a bit more effectively than the discredited Tory government has been able to of late.
Once a Labour government comes to office, it will be a turning point in working-class psychology. It will be the end of the Tories' 18 years of untrammelled rule and a psychological burden will be lifted off the working class. Their confidence in their ability to fight back will be raised, but their higher expectations will rapidly collide with the actual practice of the new Labour government.
Although there will be a short honeymoon period for Labour, a lot of workers will be saying that they want action and they want action immediately. Under these circumstances, the political landscape of Britain will change. We think that there will be big battles from the trade unions and from a whole layer of unorganised and especially young workers.
Question: How much of the British trade union movement is captive to the BLP? Which union leaders or rank and file groups have spoken out against Labour?
At the moment, virtually all the trade union leadership supports the Labour Party and the Blair project. Blair hopes to prolong that relationship well into the term of a Labour government.
Up to now, opposition to Blair from union leaders has been very much subterranean. At the Trade Union Congress conference, the only debate of any significance was one on low pay. Arthur Scargill from the miners' union intervened very effectively in favour of a minimum wage. But the miners are only a small organisation. They are nothing like the size that they once were, and they don't represent the same forces within the British working class and trade union movement that they used to.
Some of the so-called modernisers in the Labour Party are arguing to outlaw strike action in "essential services". This would obviously complicate the relationship between the Labour Party and trade union leaders. Even the Tories have shied away from this move.
In the British labour movement, there is a political levy — a proportion of trade union subscriptions that go into a political fund and that have traditionally gone to the Labour Party.
Militant Labour have argued that unions should keep political funds and give donations, but to left formations that support union policy (the minimum wage, against cuts and job redundancies, etc), not to the Labour Party. The national conference of the Fire Brigade Union will investigate this possibility, and the idea is gaining support in Britain's largest union, UNISON, the public sector union. While the idea has not yet received a mass response, it will once Labour are in power.
Question: What left electoral alternatives will people have in the general election?
The general election is expected to take place by May 1, 1997. Forces to the left of the Labour Party that are contesting the election include Militant Labour. We hope to run about 25 candidates in England and Wales, and in Scotland we are running as part of the Scottish Socialist Alliance. The SSA hopes to contest about one-third of the 72 seats, which will be enough for it to gain party-political broadcasts on TV.
The SLP is still advertising its intention to stand in 100 seats, though the reality seems to be considerably less than that. We have said to the SLP that an electoral pact is needed so the socialist vote is not split. However, the SLP leaders have adopted a sectarian position towards other parties.
The Green Party will also be standing in some areas. In others, the Greens have endorsed Militant Labour candidates or at least will not stand against us.
Question: Will a Blair government create opportunities for the left?
We expect that when the more confident working class comes into collision with a Blair Labour government, there will be the potential for an enormous political realignment. There is a real chance of all establishment parties splitting — a majority of the Tories could go over to an English nationalist, anti-Europe position, and a section of the "Tory left" could come together with part of the Labour Party to form a new centre party.
On the left, a new socialist party will also come into existence, possibly from an initiative from existing groups, possibly from a section of the trade unions angry at the failure of a Blair government to fundamentally change things.
This would mean enormous turmoil in Britain — an enormous number of struggles taking place. The combativity of the working class will increase, and so will the opportunities for socialists. We expect Militant Labour to grow out of those turbulent times.