Who writes the hostory?

Today the people of Greece will vote in a referendum  that in the words of an Athenian will determine whether the country starves quickly or a bit slower.Either way the Government and people of Greece are being used as an example to the other peoples of Europe:
"Do not defy the power of the market,do not think that you can defy austerity-we will crush you like a butterfly on a wheel"
And who will do the crushing? Why the international financiers,the bankers,the IMF and the governments of the powerful European states, you know the ones-those that had their debts written off after WW2, because their governments were compliant 'democracies'.

Of course these governments of financial rectitude and their pure driven snow bankers never did anything underhand or corrupt did they?
Consider therefore the case of a guy Akis Tsochatopulos,.a former Greek defence minister who is currently serving a 20 year stretch in chokey for bribery and corruption, and who was bribing and corrupting this mainstream Greek politician,why a German arms dealer called Ferrostaal,who flogged the Greek government a bunch of submarines and Akis creamed off quite a bit for himself.

Of course borrowing money and allowing corrupt arms dealers to get their paws on public money is not new.The national debt started in England with Henry V111 when he wanted to buy a few boats to fight the French.
So here's the deal, corrupt Greek governments, of Centre Right or Centre left buy tons of military hardware from Germany and other European 'allies',and of course the dear old USofA,they discover the cost of all those subs,fighter planes,tanks and what have you, plus the middlemen's cuts get obscenely high and then the debtors come knocking on the Greek peoples door asking for repayment.
Merkel wants her money that was used to pay her dodgy arms dealers!-and who pays?
Not the corrupt politicians of Greece but the pensioners and the young and the unemployed and the sick!
Whilst billionaire's yachts drift at anchor off the Greek islands-the people need to be austere.

It is interesting that many of the people who now suffer are the sons,daughters and grandchildren of the men and women of Greece who fought the Nazis to a standstill in the resistance,whilst the Greek elite were cosying up to the fascists.
And the colonels who led a military coup to destroy Greek democracy 
I am reminded of a song from Ewan McColl's Festival of Fools, a warning to the leaders of the junta from the young of Greece:
"We are the young ones,
The readers the writers,the copiers,
We are the young and small,
And we are the writing on your wall!"
If ever a song was prophetic, it was written when the Greek Queen Fredrika ,a fascist sympathiser was visiting London and Greek students were arrested for protesting about her visit.
They were the mothers and fathers of the young in the streets of Athens today, and indeed they are the writing on the wall.

  

The Labour party leadership=I have a solution!

Both my regular readers will know I have been agonisng over the Labour party leadership.Should I try to make a one vote difference?It's a conundrum a bit like the great 'Daddy or chips' debate of yesteryear.
Things have changed a little since my earlier blog.The arrival of Jeremy Corbyn, an MP I have always respected has somewhat changed things,but really only somewhat.
My heart says ,like so many other good socialists currently outside the party that at last there is a candidate who speaks the language of socialism not of bloody aspiration.
I am sorely tempted!
But I fear that it is my heart that is speaking to me in beguiling terms and not my jead.
I know all the arguments-thye stronger the vote for Jeremy the more likely the party will listen and change its ways.
It is an opportunity for the case to be put to thousands if not millions,the anti austerity,the anti Trident,the pro- welfare,the pro -union....all the causes that we believe are central to a socialist transformation of society.
I can hear my old comrades,the Lore lei voices of temptation to swallow hard and join the great cause and get back within the people's party!
But as I'm on a roll with my cliches I cannot forget that the leopard really doesn't change its spots  and if I stop and think for just a few moments then the head rules again.
I have quite recently seen how shallow the Labour party has become.Northampton Labour party is a shining example of how shallow the whole enterprise has become.The recent de selection of Winston Strachan, a good and decent Borough Councillor in Castle ward was once again an example of the hollowing out of the party.
Career moves are the only aspirations left in the Labour party-bugger any ideology or indeed anything that reflects principles!
Now I'm not saying Corbyn lacks principles,far from it, but I fear he,like the few genuine socialists  left are being used as a fig leaf to cover the monstrous vacuum at the heart of the Labour party.
His candidature is being used in a cynical way to demonstrate how 'broad; and tolereant the party is.But as his nomination went in some of those who signed it were busily yelling that they had no intention of voting for him.
Some like the London 'running dogs' did it to pretend to the left leaning London membership that they were really really leftish-strange that they all appear to be seeking the Mayoral nominatuion!
And then there is the scrawled signature of Frank Field.Given that he is the nearest thing in the Labour party to a Tory,apart from Kate Hoey,his endorsement should never have been contemplated.
Added to the shoddy practice of a bunch of opportunists there is the other ploy by a bunch of Blairites who are pushing that if a candidate wins that they don't much like, then within a few montghs a secret vote o0f the PLP can ditch the leader, and the PLP alone will select the new leader-probably one Miliband D.The leader over the water!

Then of course there is the well thought out plan that with two tier membership,full paid up members and 'supporters' it will be easy to throw the whole process into chaps.If I was a millionaire Tory backer the best thing to do would be to distrute £3 's to Tory supporters and flood the Labour party with Tory supporters who would be instructed to vote for.....?
I( have a simple solution, my first choice woukld be Nicola Sturgeon to lead the Labour party, but as she already has a growing wello disciplined and principled party anyway she is out of contention.
So there is only one obvious candidatem, who speaks with directrness and clarity, who can address the really big issue in the counrty the way it is being tavckled in Greece and Spain.A candidate not tainted with either decades of failure on the front or back bench, a candiadate who is young and charismatic.
It's obvious really, forget the dreary hustings, I watched some of the first one and felt sorry for the people of Nuneaton.
There is really only one candidate who can ignite the people of this country-Charlotte Church to be the next Labour Leader.

I'm still a Marxist (tendency Groucho)

There is an unsubstantiated rumour swirling around the political salons of Old Northampton that I have somehow transmogrified into some sort of right wing old municipal grandee.
That I stand for the status quo, that I'm keen to aquire status as an elder statesman of municipal politics, perhaps sympathetic to the Liberal-Democrats,or worse....

Well time to make it clear, over the decades i have had dalliances with other ideologies.I was born as many know into what Americans call 'a red diaper baby'. I joined the Young Communist league at the age of 14 signed up in a Lyons Corner House by no less a Communist superstar that the late great Jimmy Reid!
Jimmy who later led the Upper Clyde Shipyard workers (remember the 'nae bevvying' speech)was at the time the National Secretary of the YCL.
My future was set to wonder under the red star of the east!
Four or five years later the young comrades expelled my under the rule 'actions harmful to the league'.I was expelled by the London District of the league,with only two defending me,and one of them was a Cypriot comrade with the magnificent name of 'Stalin'.
his parents were very loyal supporters of Uncle Joe.
I then began my political meanderings, a little time with the Revolutionary Socialist Students Association, a spell as the rank and file of the SCC(M-L)-in case you've forgotten us we were the Sussex Communist Caucus (Marxist-leninist)
There were only five or six of us, one has since become a senior lecturer in politics at a Midland university,another has become a prolific writer on South African affairs,one has gone back to highly lucrative journalism in the States,another may have gone back to his day job in the CIA.
I moved to Northampton.
Where we spent almost 40 years in a brief flirtation with the Labour Party.When we joined we only intended to give it a couple of years,but like an old cardigan,the Labour Party was comfortable and secure and sometimes even seemed on the cusp of doing something quite significant.
For much of my extended honeymoon with the Labour Party its great strength was at local level, and in the early years there seemed real possibilities that local government could provide the party with a platform to effect change.
Remember the conference where Kinnock called local government 'labour's batttered shield against injustice'.
I think that was before he vilified and excoriated the comrades in Liverpool for providing just such a shield.But then it was a Militant shield not a god fearing profoundly middle of the road social democratic shieldette!

I've ranted on far too regularly about the hollowing out of the party,although interestingly enough in a disgusting blairite love fest in the Times this week his Chief of Staff wryly observed that the Labour Party in Scotland has been 'hollowed out'
But amongst the great balls-ups of the Blairite ascendancy was the cackhanded reorganisation of local government.The vision was the American model with elected Mayors and grafted on the Westminster model of a powerful executive (cabinet) and select committees (scrutiny) to hold the executive and the Mayor to account.
It was a system of checks and balances that could have worked.
But it didn't, elected Mayors have proved a complete waste of energy and resouces, indeed if Boris Johnston is the answer then indeed it was a fucking stupid question.
Cabinets gave too much power to a small tightly knit group of politically motivated men and some women.Scrutiny from day one had no power,everything it did was after the event, and at best call in could only delay the inevitable.
The Lib-Dems in Northampton tried to put a motion calling for the return of the committee system, but as there are only two of them their efforts were doomed.
The tories like the Cabinet system, because it gives power to a small number of their group and the rest merely collect their dosh and sit quiet-not a lot to do!
The Labour Party on the otherhand sided with the tories-they argue that the old committee system was slow and 'Victorian', did not reflect the dynamic and thrusting politics of going out and 'listening to people' and allowed a small group of Labour members to call themselves 'shadow portfolio holders', although I think they meant 'shallow portfolio holders'
Whilst the committee system was slow and cumbersome it allowed many more elected members to participate in decision making and for instance a decision like the new bus station would pass through a number of committees, like Traffic,Finance,Planning and ending up with Policy-ample opportunity for many members,and members of the public,to examine plans.
Slow yes,but maybe more effective.Right now Northampton Borough Council has half a dozen Councillors who take decisions and almost 40 others who are mere bystanders.
Of course I keep making the mistake of suggesting that councillors have power-silly me, with the Cabinet system the real power resides where it always should-with the senior management team!

maybe all my years have made me too cynical,perhaps I'm a Marxist (tendency grouchy) !

Maybe what we need is a movement not a party

It seems to me that all the values that the Labour party once had are long gone.It comes to something when an old left wing warhorse like Dennis Skinner is more concerned about where he sits in the House of Commons than who he aligns his politics with.

Of course the SNP are not a socialist party,but its about five decades at least when the Labour party could claim to be a socialist party.The last leader I heard describe the party as such was Attlee after his election victory in 1945.

The SNP are however a party of a different type.They are predominantly young, they mostly don't come from the 'political class' of special advisers, political groupies,party hacks or London based mediocrities who once,decades ago,worked on a trade union journal for a few months!

The SNP are also a mixture of folk like those who elected them, and they are exuberant and irreverent and do things normal people do.

When someone says something they agree with-they clap-they don't say 'hear hear'.They are disciplined and they are prepared to argue for what they believe in with a passion.

last week there was a debate ob zero hour contracts,albeit it was about such contracts in Scotland,but it was about an issue that during the election we were told the Labour Party cared about.I don't remember them putting geographical limits on zero hours,we only care about them in England!

So in the debate, 56 SNP MP's were there, 8 tories and believe it or not the people's party managed to turn out a whole half dozen!  

now I invite my few remaining friends in the Labour Party to explain this curious situation.Perhaps they were all spending more time with their families,maybe they had an important PLP dinner to attend,but one thing is for sure, they didn't give a flying fuck for their constituents on zero hour contracts!

Interestingly the SNP left a space for Dennis Skinners arse, and it is possible that he did later occupy it.But where were the rest?

I was thinking of trying to rejoin the Labour party as a £3 member,if only to write 'none of the above' on the ballot paper.

The candidates on offer are a sorry apology for the leadership of any party that claims to be left of centre.Right from the start they have conceded the ground to the tories, they all prate on about reducing the deficit,about making welfare cuts,about limiting migration and about continuing the privatisation of the health service.

Yet we have a possible parliamentary and extra-parliamentary movement emerging that is at the very least social democratic in outlook and potentially an even larger activist base that will move people in emulate what has happened in Scotland.

But its not just Scotland where there is movement, In Madrid and Barcelona it would appear that they are electing mayors not of a traditional party but from a broad anti-austerity movement.

I read a piece by John McDonnell, the left Labour MP arguing that there needs to be a mobilisation of all the left forces in this country if we are to take on this government.

I think he sees clearly that the Labour Party is unable and unwilling to make a fight that could involve thousands if not millions, that could re energise the trade union movement, bring young people into the battle and assist the dispossed to fight for their rights.

Strangely in his piece he made no mention of the SNP, perhaps he'd seen the letter from Labour's head office expelling a member in Scotland for urging support for the SNP.

It seems to me the traditional party model is as dead as King Henry, and we on the left need to understand clearly that the issue is no longer about selecting photogenic stooges to mutter platitudinous rubbish about aspiration and empowerment and hard working middle classes.

The Labour Party must change-or simply die.

What's left for the Labour Party?

We went  to the civic reception on Thursday to celebrate the election of the new Mayor.I(t was a decorous affair with the Tory Councillors quietly on their best behaviour and the Labour Councillor,well quiet.

In the press they are boasting that they will hold the Tories to account, and they have announced a shadow cabinet that will 'hold the Tories to account'

Given the fact that decisions taken at cabinet are not open for discussion with the opposition and are presented to full council as decisions already taken, the best the opposition-shadow cabinet member or humble backbencher can do is to question the report.

To appoint a 'shadow cabinet' largely of first time councillors is as futile a gesture as you can make, they've had there five minutes of fame by making thr announcement.The future is quiet obscurity for five years.

But then the Labour party locally and nationally are all about playing the games by the rules that exist-for Christ's sake there was more conflict in Cromwell's parliament than ever there is now.

it's easy to see how the Parliamentary Labour Party can fall into the torpor of being part of the establishment.

The bunch of young SNP members have clearly annoyed the Labour Party,that pompous arse Gerald kaufman called them 'goons' because they did such naughty things as took photographs in the chamber,clapped and made mockery of the 'oath of allegiance

For fuck's sake!

Simon Burns, another pompous arse lectured the SNP members on how to behave in the chamber, and told them not to clap but to say 'hear,hear' or 'rubbish'.

He was horrified when they clapped him

i suppose the most disappointing aspect of that whole charade was the behaviour of Dennis Skinner.Once a powerful voice on the left now reduced to a 'national treasure' a tame parliamentarian prouder of the traditions of the House than his radical past.

There was a time when Skinner would have welcomed the young anti-austerity Scots to join him on the front bench and strengthen the voices against the establishment,against the policies of austerity,against the growing inequalities and against the slimy racialism that is seeming to pervade the political discourse.

But the old 'Beast of Bolsover' is more concerned about where he plants his arse than his principles!

And that sort of sums up the Labour Party May 2015.

The choice for leader seems to be between Andy Burnham,a former minister,Yvette Cooper another former minister and Liz Kendall,another former minister and a reincarnation of all that was wrong with the Labour Party.She is a supporter of Free Schools, defence spending,helping big business and kicking the unions.Peter Mandelson in high heels!

Of the whole sorry parade of potential leaders the only one I have any time for is Tom Watson who is running for the Deputy leadership.

But we all know what is going to happen, Burnham will win and in an effort to 'balance the ticket' some snivelling Blairite will emerge as the deputy.

Business as usual in the people's party.

Yet there is an opportunity for the first time in my lifetime for a real progressive alliance to be built inside and outside parliament to mobilise in the way that the SNP did in Scotland,to create a progressive agenda that could bring about real change.

Just think of a bloc in Westminster the SNP,Plaid,the Green party,and whar socialists are left in the Labour Party.Why it might even attract some real left leaning Liberals( I know that is unlikely given they are utterly useless,clones of Lord Adonis0 and outside parliament the trade union movement that is getting more than a little fed up,the extra parliamentary groups,Left Unity (that hopeful grouping inspired by Ken Loach's film 'Spirit of 45') and others willing to bury sectarian differences.

Remember Shelley's line:

"Rise like lions,fresh from slumber

in unvanquishable number,

We are many, they are few"

The world does not belong to the aspirational middle class-it's still ours!   

'

A lot has happened since my last post

A lot has gone on since I last bothered to write my blog.It has largely been to do with the fact that I spent ten days in Northampton General hospital, my colon has become a semi-colon and I've been 'recuperating', or rather doing as little as possible and playing the wounded faun for as long as possible.

Why I've even had a chairlist installed to save me walking up and down the stairs.Sadly I've been sussed out and it goes in the next few days!

however my enforced idleness gave me a chance to think what is really important in this country of ours, and if I hear another bloody Labour politician bleat once more about the 'aspirational middle class' I will do serious damage to any aspirant labour politician that comes within my grasp,aas well as serious damage to the nearest bottle of single malt I can reach.

It seems to me that the most important example of aspirational politics was that achieved by my parents generation.

They had lived through the depression of the 1930's and all the horrors of unemployment,means tests,deprivation,poor health care and poor diet,lousy housing and premature death.They had seen poverty at first hand.

That generation also saw the rise of fascism in Europe and watched the ruling class cosy up to thefascists,why even the King who abdicated 'for the woman he loved' liked visiting Herr Hitler to be beguiled by the rhetoric of the master race.

Our parents generation more than any other had aspirations-not for big houses or fast cars or consumer goods coming out of every orifice.

They wanted jobs with security,decent housing,a pension, an education for their kids and a health service thatr worked for everyone.

They wanted a civilised for everyone, an altruistic society that had no losers.

Interestingly quite by accident the war radicalised many millions of men and women.

The ruling class had learnt one thing from WW1-that a bored and frustrated conscript army could create mischief bigtime.They were aware that armed soldiers could seriously fuck up a corrupt society.They had the lesson of Russia in 1917 and the Workers and Soldiers Soviets to remind them.

So in order to prevent boredom and disaffection setting in the barracks and the army camps they encouraged the creation of the Army Education Corps to engage the troops in 'purposeful activity.

I have no idea what they thought they were supposed to do-a bit of basket weaving,English folk dancing,pressing wild flowers?

My old man told me what went on.The tutors were frequently left wing teachers and lecturers and they initiated discussion groups with the men and women in the NAAFI, and they discussed the issues of the day.

They talked about the sort of world that they wanted after the war, they speculated on how things would be different, they examined the Beveridge Report that talked about a world without unemployment,povery,fear of want-they talked the language of aspiration and it was the language of socialism.

The L:abour party really couldn't lose in 1945.It's hard to beliecve now that there were even those in the leadership of the Labour party then who wanted to continue with the coalition with Churchill.

And there were those in the press who found it impossible to understand why soldiers threw out Churchill so decisively.

But then Churchill was part of the 'ancient regime' and the people of this country wanted hope not more of the same, they aspired  for something better,not more austerity and more poverty.

In 1945 the aspirational working class, and indeed much of the middle class wanted a comprehensive health service 'from cradle to grave' a housing programme that built decent homes for people,a public transport system and  those parts of the economy that were wealth creating in public ownership.

Whenever I think of that shopping list of aspirations I think of Brecht's poem:

"We don't want the patch,we want the whole overcoat"  

The SNP won convincingly in Scotland because they offered hope for a better future,not tinkering around the edges and a set of aspirational values for all the people-not simply the 'squeezed middle'.

I hope the next few months will see the coming together of a Progressive Alliance in these islands, the SNP,Plaid,The Greens, Left Unity and all the other progressive forces we can muster.I hope that the Trade Union movement can see where the future lies and I hope above hope that those sections of the Labour Party,who have been betrayed time without end will see for themselves what a hollowed out vessel their party has become.

For almost 40 years it was my party too,but frankly it is not fit for purpose, and any party that still contains Jim Murphy'even as tea boy,has no future.   

What's worth defending?

As we move quite quickly into the election period it is quite depressing to see that all that seems to be on offer to the people of this country is austerity of one sort or another.
Heading the list is of course the austerity package on offer from the coalition partners.More and then even more of the same.The budget that we've just had was a dreary bit of repackaging of tired old threats with a penny or two off beer prices and a promise of one hundred quid or so in tax cuts in a year or so.
If the Tory budget was uninspiring then the alternative budget presented by the Lib-Dems to a virtual empty chamber just about summed everything up.A Mickey Mouse empty yellow box which when opened was really fully of emptiness-a fitting finale to the fall and fall of the Lib-Dems as a political force in the land.
Thwe best thing that can happen to them is decent oblivion,I hope the SNP make the dreadful Danny Alexander history!
And then came the Labour Party budget.It was once again austerity at a slower rate.The opportunity to offer a vision of a different Britain,one that has no nuclear pretensions,one that doesn't worry about cutting the paper defecit,one that isn't going to continue the reactionary education policies.
And above all a budget that promises to really help rebuild the NHS, not prattle on about economy savings and 'priorities' in health care which really means another bouts of Titanic deckchair shifting.

Our friend in the Us is facing a heart operation, he needs one,but because of the absurd private medical system it will cost him over $100,000 to have the operation he needs now.
If he waits till he's 65 Obama care will kick in and the operation will be a mere$6,000!
This is a guy who has worked hard all his life paid his taxes and been a good responsible citizen.
Not surprisingly Farage,the back of an envelope populist wants some sort of health care system like America,based on private insurance.
I'd better declare an interest at this point.I'm going into hospital in a few days for a serious operatiion.The diagnosis is a bit grim but the prognosis is good.I have a thoughtful local GP who knows what to look for and a brilliant team of nurses and spercialist consultants who have the whole adventure planned to the smallest detail.
I am confident of the quality of our NHS.
I don;t want my country to sit at the top nuclear table,swapping yarns and threatening countries with 'shock and awe'.I don't want my country to be known as the 'deputy dawgs' of world policing.
I want my country to be like wee Cuba.Not an especially well off nation (Thanks to the US boycott) but a nation that pro-rata sent more doctors and nurses to combat Ebola in West Africa.

I want to be a citizen of a country that has the highest levels of international humanitarian aid possible.
I want to be proud ,not of the number of sabres we can rattle,but the number we can turn into ploughshares.
I want to vote for a party that can offer hope,not just to the people of this country,but to the people of the world.

So who do I vote for on May 7th?