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The short answer to that is no, absolutely no. So this election was not a defeat for Left wing ideas no matter what nonsense pours out of the orifices of the Blairites. Milliband explicitly appealed to Tory voters. He attacked the SNP for being fiscally irresponsible. He was pro-Trident etc etc. But crucially he and his treasurer Balls refused to embrace even the Keynesian alternative to neo-classical economics, never mind the possibility of a rationally planned socialist economy So they had no solution to the de-industrialization of the UK. Thus they talked of guaranteeing apprenticeships for the young, when they should have guaranteed jobs. The political scientist David Mair wrote extensively about what Richard Seymour calls post-democracy, where a mandarin political class governs in the name of responsibility and refuses to respond to the wishes of those who elected them. That dialectic is at work all round the world. It produces massive abstentionism at election time especially in the USA and the UK. It also produces occasional and episodic vandalism and rioting, the flips side of despair. Now in Scotland the struggle to win a referendum on Independence totally transformed the political scene. The referendum was defeated largely by the Scottish Labour Party's counter campaign. If ever there was a Pyrrhic victory that was it. By winning the referendum campaign the Scottish Labour Party earned the undying hatred of 45% of the population. I would swear before godandhisholymother, that I could feel the anger down here in Oz. In a first past the post context, if 45% of the electorate hate you, then you are in trouble. Allied to the hatred was the SNP's oh so clever move to the Left and to embrace anti-austerity politics. That means that in Europe we now have four main anti-austerity blocks - Syriza, Podemos, Sinn Fein and the SNP. Whatever the doubts one has about the sincerity of the last two parties, it is still significant that in this juncture if one raises the banner of anti-austerity politics then the people flock to you. In Mair's terms, if one responds to one's political base rather than being "Responsible", then one will do well electorally. That is the truth which the Blairites have rushed out to deny against all the empirical evidence, because it is a dangerous truth. There are as well curious elements to all this such as Rupert Murdoch's sentimental approach to Scottish nationalism, probably because of his ancestry. Also, Sinn Fein is anti austerity in the South of Ireland but part of an austerity government in the North as Philip has pointed out. So what will happen now? Only a fool attempts to answer that sort of question, so naturally I cannot resist having a go. The pragmatists, con artists, opportunists in the leadership of the SNP will not be able to climb down of the anti-austerity tiger they have ridden to victory. They will try, I have no doubt. But the working class of Scotland have taken a step towards socialist independence and I do not think they will be stopped. In England the political rhythmic is set to a five year cycle. But we will see another election before that. It will emerge that the Tory party will have victoried themselves to death by their win in 2015. To survive the English working class will have to become ungovernable. They have no alternative now. They will link up with the struggles in Scotland and Europe and then politics will become truly interesting. But I begin to rave... comradely Gary _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
