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I had posted on Corbyn before I read this piece by Richard Seymour on Johnson ( I will not use the bastard's first name ever). As always with Richard I am struck by his brilliance and then am left with a struggle against depression usually of enormous dimensions. But first a very obvious point. We are heading into a political crisis in the UK and that might well tip us into a very deep economic crisis as well. I keep getting asked what is going to happen and always I have to answer "I do not know" and neither does anyone else. We have a first rate opportunist up on the Tiger's back in the UK (ditto in the USA). Richard is correct to say that if Johnson plays the race card he may well win a GE. But there will be a terrible price to be paid for such a victory. Will he take the "No Deal" door out of the EU & provoke an economic and political catastrophe? Will he win the race election and then betray the Brexiters by staying in the EU while continuing to negotiate another deal? Let me try and rework these choices by going back into history. In WW2 Britain was facing defeat after the retreat from France. To get the US into the war Churchill had to open his Empire to American interests. In other words he played America against Europe but from a position of weakness. Still it was a popular and successful move.Johnson too would like to play America against Europe but Trump is no FDR and nearly (or possibly over) half of the UK is pro-Europe. So a tilt towards Trump would be very unpopular in the UK. Very. Besides what would it solve? For me Johnson represents the last throw of the dice for a section of the English ruling class. He is the inheritor of the ruling caste based consciousness. But this consciousness is residual in political terms and can only present it self in its clownish, eccentric bonhomie mode. The laird must be full of pretended self mockery to distract the peasants from noticing he is still in the mansion. Contrast that with Churchill who presented himself in the heroic mode - We will fight them on the beaches etc. But there are lies a plenty clinging to the Churchill myth. He did not go up North to address miners until after the fall of Stalingrad. & I would bet all I have that the Communist Party facilitated & policed his visit. Now the North of England has changed since the 1940s but still the spectacle of Johnson getting pelted with rubber balls in Manchester will have given the elite some pause. So will caste make way at last for class in the UK? I suspect that there is a good section of the bourgeoisie who are terrified of Johnson. They would love to do a deal with Labour but the price they demand is the axing of Corbyn. The Labour parliamentary party would deliver that in a flash but the party membership would not. For the moment Captain Johnson is in charge. Or is he? I have tweeted that he is like the prankster who has convinced everyone he is a brain surgeon. Now in the theater the patient is on the table fully prepped and the nurses and other doctors are looking at the Joker, who they think is brilliant because he has been to Eton and it is time to operate. We will see how he goes and very shortly too. comradely Gary On Sat, Aug 3, 2019 at 4:51 AM Louis Proyect via Marxism < [email protected]> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > We have to prepare for the worst, but what is the worst? > > The predicament facing Boris Johnson is clear. He has just lost a > byelection in a Leave constituency, Brecon and Radnorshire, to the > largest Remain party in the constituency, the Liberal Democrats. Had he > won the Brexit Party's vote, he would have held the seat. The fact is, > even with Johnson threatening a 'no deal' Brexit, much of the Farageite > hardcore just doesn't trust him. And they won't until he actually > delivers. Now he has a majority of one. > > https://www.patreon.com/posts/what-will-boris-28859282 > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/gary.maclennan1%40gmail.com > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
