M-TH: Livingstone stands in London

[Chris Burford]

Ken Livingstone has taken the plunge, broken his word, and announced he is
standing for the new post of Mayor of London, against the official Labour
candidate Frank Dobson.

A snap telephone opinion poll for the Guardian tonight reports him to be
over 40 % ahead of his nearest rival, Dobson, who has 13%, with the
Conservative candidate Norris on 11%.

Blair's devolution strategy has already run into difficulties in Scotland
and Wales where people have relished the opportunity to distance themselves
from New Labour central policies. Livingstone's cheeky humour attracts him
to many. 

It is also a symptom of the success of New Labour that the opposition is
coming from within the Labour party. Another opinion poll gives Livingstone
a majority not only of Labour voters but of Liberal voters and of Tory voters!

The issues of substance here are

1) how much party machines can control the bourgeois electoral process
especially if US type direct elections are introduced. How can corrupt
contenders like Archer be excluded unless there are powerful party machines?

2) whether a contest like this will enliven interest in the mechanics of
bourgeois democracy

3) whether the system of people having a second vote will move us further
towards proportional representation. (Livingstone has shrewdly already said
he would like people to cast their second votes for Dobson)

4) In economic terms there is a major issue of how to raise the vast
amounts of capital needed to modernise the London underground system.
Livingstone is arguing for continued state ownership plus an issue of
bonds. Dobson and Norris are arguing for a public private partnership. 

IMO both methods almost certainly leave the dominance of finance capital
unquestioned.

How should surplus be raised for major civil engineering projects like
this? What despotic inroads into the rights of property would subscribers
recommend to Livingstone or Dobson, that will also get the wage slaves to
work on time and reasonably fit?

Chris Burford

London



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