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On 10/05/2010 17:55, Dan wrote: > I am reminded of "Alice in > Wonderland" when I read such comments as "the Labour party is a party of > the working class whereas the Lib Dems is a party of the Middle Class". > Labour a party of the working class ? What a bizarre statement ... > NOBODY in England, in the streets at least, would ever make the claim > that New Labour is a "party of the working class". It is just "one of > the two parties competing for our votes". > The trouble with this assertion is that it is not based in any way whatsoever on an objective analysis of the structure, membership and voting base of the Labour Party. It's just an extravagant claim. That, not its policies at any given moment, was always the basis for the determination that it was a "capitalist workers' party". And if you think that nobody in England (or Scotland and Wales, presumably), would claim that Labour is a party of the working class, then you simply haven't been paying attention to the fact that working class people in their millions still vote for Labour, and that trade unions still affiliate to it, and that trade unionists still go on the stump for Labour. And when you say that big business financed all of Labour's election campaigns, that's not entirely true. Big business donated lots of money to Labour when it was winning: they like to back a winner, the better to gain influence. Truth be told, they've always done this - capital rallied behind the Labour Party before Blair was leader and before New Labour had even been heard of. But the biggest donors remain the unions, and in the 2010 election, Labour could not have mobilised over 8 million - overwhelmingly working class - votes if it were not for the decisive donations of Unite, Unison, et al. Contrary to the wishes of the Blairites, the union link hasn't been broken, and New Labour has never been able to become a party of the liberal wing of the capitalist class modelled on the Democrats. If you really want to understand New Labour's tortuous relationship with organised labour, and the gymnastics it has had to engage in to keep the unions on board, I recommend David Coates' "Prolonged Labour" (2005), which is by far the best analysis of the New Labour project in government. -- *Richard Seymour* Writer and blogger Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.leninology.blogspot.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/leninology Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Seymour_(writer) Book: http://www.versobooks.com/books/nopqrs/s-titles/seymour_r_the_liberal_defense_of_murder.shtml ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
