According to the latest polls the most likely result of the current general election is a continuation of the current stalemate, only on a higher level. That is, instead of either an outright Tory or Labour victory and majority government we would have instead a hung parliament of no overall control. Labour, due to their vigorous campaigning, will likely win seats and the Tories lose several. But the real question is whether Labour’s success will be enough to replace the Tories with a Labour government.

In the normal course of events that kind of result would mean PM Johnson would suddenly discover a deep seated need to spend more time with his family (or families in his case) to be replaced by a Tory leader more able to lead their party with consensus. Corbyn would then be enormously strengthened and his position at the head of the party would become unassailable. However, we do not live in normal times. Anything less than total victory, a Labour Government with a comfortable majority, will see the hopes of the zombies of Blairism reanimated. Not so long ago the right wing of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) were confident they could topple Corbyn in a no-confidence vote, and would do so easily. Now, not only one of the challengers – Owen Smith – but also the de facto leader of the right wing, Tom Watson, have both stepped down as MPs. What remains of the neo-liberal right wing are now besieged in the PLP and the machinery of the Party’s administrative apparatus and are moving heaven and earth to keep themselves in position. From here they hope to thwart the implementation of Labour’s Manifesto in government by the passive resistance of right wing Labour MPs, the selection of whom as Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (PPC) has been kept, by one trick and maneuver or another, in the hands of the unelected and seemingly unaccountable administrative machine. However, with a membership of over half a million and no solution to the crisis of capitalism in sight, time is not on their side.

The spectre of Europe is haunting Conservatism

The particular crisis of British capitalism is of a long-standing nature and has been glaringly apparent to even the most dull-witted strategists of capitalism since at the very least the end of the Second World War. In a very real sense, all of British politics since that war have been attempts to manage the controlled collapse of British capitalism as it staggered from one crisis to another. This particular crisis point could be and was foreseen. It is not some sudden surprise arriving like a storm cloud in a blue sky; although its exact features could not be determined beforehand its general features were apparent. British capitalism had been unable to cope in the world market on its own and was forced to seek membership of what became the EU. Now it is unable to cope in the EU without further concessions that the EU were unable to grant. The British capitalists were, in their rise to dominate the world market in the 19^th Century, renowned as the most intelligent and farsighted ruling class that had existed. But in their decline, decomposition and senile decay they have forgotten everything and prepared nothing. Instead of using the respite of the boom from the mid-1990s to 2008 to prepare for this day of reckoning they indulged themselves in an orgy of profiteering speculation as British manufacturing industries either shrank or vanished without trace. Throughout all of this they gave no thought to the morrow.

What we are now witnessing is the unravelling of the key mechanisms that the capitalists have built up in Britain and perfected over the course of centuries in order to secure the most economical system of governance that would ensure their class’s rule with the minimum of fuss or resistance from the exploited classes in society. The monarchy, Parliament and the Conservative party are all mired in crisis and controversy and face opposition and critical resistance on a scale rarely seen in British history. The crisis in the Conservative Party is by far the worst since the repeal of the Corn Laws in the 1840s and largely for a similar reason; two sections of the ruling class at odds over the most profitable way to exploit the working class. The blame for the current Brexit crisis lays squarely with the Tory Party and the civil war in their party over Europe. That infighting is an expression of the conflicting material interests of the different wings of British capitalism – financial and manufacturing capitalists. This divide has meant that the Tories have been unable to negotiate a deal that was acceptable to either of the two wings of British capitalism or the political representatives in Parliament to leave the EU.

Johnson, in all his manoeuvres to become leader of the Tory Party and PM, had aimed to position himself as the people’s champion determined to push through a Brexit “oven ready” and “just add water” that could be “slammed in the microwave” come what may. The proroguing of Parliament and issuing notice of expulsion to any Tory MPs who voted against him was part of a calculated gamble that aimed at forcing a general election. Thus Johnson, the Eton educated millionaire, could pose as the “People’s Champion” against the out of touch “Westminster Elite” of Parliament and the Labour Party who would be portrayed as having frustrated and ignored the clearly expressed will of the people in the 2016 Brexit referendum to leave the EU. One effect that the Tory’s counted on was a honeymoon period, in the way a football club in the relegation zone will have a new lease of life when a new manager is appointed. Even top teams fear playing a struggler when it has just appointed a new manager. This effect deserted Johnson almost immediately, as could be seen in the televised debates where his oft repeated mantra “get Brexit done” was met with groans or ironic laughter.

The philosophy of creative destruction on the economic front has bred politicians, like Johnson, who share this philosophy and aim apply it to the body politic.  Politicians with an eye for vulnerability and chaos who opportunistically see gains for themselves in the creation or exacerbation of instability. What Johnson aims at is not substantial success but the mere appearance of success. If an issue cannot be used to reflect glory on himself he is absent. Unable to combat a strong, capable opponent such as Corbyn he invents an imaginary weak one such as the parsimonious Parliament and the Westminster elite. In his eyes, history and current events are merely material to build his vanity. Although placed by the accidents of his birth, wealth and connections on the very top of the class pyramid, he is merely a provincial politician of the vain and dishonest . There is an inherent danger of political representatives of the establishment inciting the mob against the very elite that they represent. That establishment creatures articulate this mood is vastly more compelling to the mob than if it were espoused by labour politicians. Their words will be more readily believed, will carry greater credibility, due to those political representatives of the billionaire elite lacking the kind of envious political motivations that Labour politicians would be suspected of and insider knowledge of the intimates of the elite would be assumed. The current aggressive stance from the Tories and the capitalists must be understood in this light. Unable to clearly see a way out of this mess for themselves, they are reacting with anger to any who would even dare question them. Thus this aggression is actually a sign of fear and weakness on their part.

For Bourgeois politicians of the Tory party historical habit and tradition often take the place of talent and intellect in normal circumstances of rule during periods of quiescence. When the economy is churning out healthy profits, and the struggle of the working class is at a low ebb, political and intellectual pygmies can appear to be titans. However, in times of turbulence talent and intellect are indispensable in order to navigate capitalism through the troubled waters of political and economoic crisis. What  is becoming increasingly clear in this election campaign is that Johnson has neither the talent nor the intellect to lead British capitalism through the rapids to the calmer water they hope lays on the other side. Faced with the hazards of climate change, the Brexit crisis and looming economic crisis, Johnson appears incapable of finding a way through without either crashing them on the rocks, or steering them in the wrong direction completely into even more economic or political difficulty.

The threat of Brexit is potentially only a matter of a few weeks away for the capitalists, but they are also deeply fearful of a Corbyn government, even though it would halt a hard Brexit. An exit from the EU is still far from certain. If as recent polls suggest the outcome is a hung parliament the best solution from their perspective would be to cobble together a coalition led by pro-EU, pro-business MPs – or hobble a minority Labour government, held back by the pro-business wing of the PLP. Either way works for them, just as long as they thwart Brexit and confound the left of the Labour Party to stave off the twin fears of British capitalism. Even if it came to a Corbyn led left Labour government, the programme outlined in the manifesto doesn’t immediately threaten the vitals of capital; its programme is a gradual one that would take many years to enact, leaving plenty of time to undermine it and – through determined efforts – demoralise the supporters of socialist measures. Or so they hope.

The media has always been biased against Labour; given that it is owned by a handful of billionaires we should not be surprised in the least. The advent of the internet and the closely connected demise of the print media has led to the situation where the broadcast media has to start eroding its formerly almost gospel like truth-telling status that it had built up over half a century. From this, the expressions “it’s in black and white” or “it was on the telly” came to mean something was an unchallengeable truth. They have been forced to take up the shrill tone that formerly was the preserve of the print media of the tabloid newspapers in their frontal attacks on Labour. For example, this week we witnessed the farce that was Andrew Neil attempting to deny, in the face of all reason and evidence, that documents that minute the exploration of trade talks between British and American civil servants contain no hint of any concessions to open the NHS to privatisation. This was to the exasperation of Labour’s Barry Gardiner who, no doubt along with the viewers of this debate, could barely believe Neil’s level of deliberate obtuseness in maintaining black is white. It is impossible for the broadcast media of TV and radio to maintain this level of dishonesty without seriously undermining their own credibility, destroying their own audience share and driving viewers further away towards the news sources of the internet where content can be compared and evaluated against actual evidence, unlike any TV or radio programme.

If the Labour effort is not enough to secure a majority Labour government in this most unfavourable time of the year for footslogging campaigning, and with the Tories playing with what they believe is their strongest candidate with their most divisive card of Brexit, the Tories will still have been fatally undermined by failing to win this contest. The right wing of the PLP will likely utilise any perceived failure of Corbyn’s to relaunch an attempt at a palace coup. But they will expend their remaining reserve strength in vain, with no way of taking society forward, ending unemployment, or increasing living standards. They have no real hope of success of even replenishing their expended strength. In fact, should they try to topple Corbyn, it will accelerate their own removal, as Labour activists turn on them and hold them to account for their sabotage of the left project in the party. This election is a great learning curve for the working class, many working people who go from year to year without ever bothering themselves with politics will have had to sit up and taken notice. Moreover, in this election they will have seen the best of the Labour Party and the worst of the Tories and the other bourgeois parties. This election is a salutary lesson for them. For Labour’s activists, the strengths of this campaign will be built on and will provide an impetus for moving the party even further to the left and in line with the historic needs of the working class.

Labour to power on an internationalist socialist programme!

Rhys Jameson – 1 December 2019