ABSTRACT
The remaining chapters of this book take up the implications of the preceding arguments, concerning political analysis under conditions of parliamentary democracy and the notions of democracy and democratization, for the principal conceptions of socialist politics in Britain today. They are concerned with the forms of non-insurrectionary socialist politics adopted by much of the Labour Party and trades union left and by the Communist Party of Great Britain (hereafter: CPGB). Although these positions differ in the detail of what a left Labour government (hereafter: LLG) would look like and how it might be achieved, they are united in the view that the primary objective of socialist strategic calculation is precisely the achievement of a LLG committed to implementing a series of radical policies, usually including what has become known as the left’s Alternative Economic Strategy (hereafter: AES). There are many versions of the AES, ranging from a conventional reflationary package with some combination of import controls and devaluation to cope with its balance of payments consequences to more ambitious proposals to combine such a package with a radical restructuring of the British economy through planning agreements, expansion of the public sector and a major extension of workers’ control. It is these more ambitious proposals that are generally presented in the context of a political strategy for socialist reconstruction. The AES is then presented not so much as an end in itself but rather as providing the preconditions for moving on to
objectives even further removed from present conditions. It is often argued, for example, that the AES is not itself socialist but that its successful implementation would show that the left is capable of tackling Britain’s economic problems, thereby winning ‘confidence and support for the longer-term process of social transformation’ (Cripps, et al.9 1981, p. 132).Now, there are serious problems with most versions of the AES considered simply as an economic package. However, my concern here is not with that aspect of socialist thinking, important though it is, but rather with the political analyses and conceptions of contemporary British conditions which can represent the achievement of a LLG armed with its AES as a viable objective of socialist strategy. These positions usually involve a number of interconnected themes concerning, inter alia, a history of leadership betrayal in the Labour Party and democratization as a means of combating it, and a belief in the existence of a mass base for socialism in Britain centred on the working class but extending far beyond it. The most influential socialist critiques of these LLG strategies in fact share many of their basic presuppositions, especially that of a mass base for socialism in Britain. Where they differ most strongly is in their assessment of the Labour Party, and parliamentary politics more generally, as a vehicle for socialist politics. One side sees the Labour Party as basically socialist, so that the problems of leadership betrayal can be overcome by introducing a proper structure of accountability within the party. The other side sees Labour as inescapably incorporated into the capitalist structure of our society where it performs the integrative function of containing and suppressing working-class resistance. From that point of view it is a dangerous mistake to imagine that the Labour Party can become an effective vehicle for socialist politics.I argue that, for all their differences, both the LLG strategies and the predominant socialist critiques fail to come to terms with the conditions of British parliamentary democracy, and, in particular, fail to acknowledge the constraints
and room for manoeuvre that current political and economic conditions provide for socialist politics. These constraints should not be regarded as immutable: conditions do change, and some of them may be changed through purposeful political action. But to achieve that, it is first necessary to recognize conditions for what they are. My argument is that many of the conceptions involved in LLG strategies and the arguments of their critics inhibit effective analysis of current conditions and the pressing political and economic problems that they pose, thereby allowing free reign to the elaboration of political and economic fantasy.After presenting the main themes of the LLG strategies and their principal socialist critiques, this chapter proceeds to consider their consequences for political analysis, concentrating especially on the notions of democracy and accountability and the mass base for socialist politics that is supposed to be inherent in the structure of British society. To question these positions is to argue against the way the conditions of parliamentary and electoral politics are represented in LLG strategies, and to argue for a different approach to these conditions involving, in particular, a rethinking of the kind of Labour governments and policies that might reasonably be posed as socialist objectives. The following chapter continues the discussion of these issues, arguing that socialists have to be concerned, inter alia, with first, the furthering of policy objectives through government and, second, therefore with winning and sustaining electoral support. Current strategies of the Labour left are weak on both counts. The chapter examines left and right assessments of the relations between Labour and its actual potential electoral support and considers the prospects for improving its electoral position through changes in the Labour Party and the broader Labour movement.
