Many political writers, sadly not all right-wing apologists for continuing
austerity and relentless cutbacks, appear to swallow fully the Blairite
agenda with the description of the radical Labour manifesto of 1983 as the
"longest suicide note in history". This was originally written by the New
Labourite, Gerald Kaufman, who blamed the left-wing nature of many of the
proposals for the disastrous election defeat for Labour, and the majority of 144
for Margaret Thatcher`s Tories. Ever since then, the term has been dug up by
Blairites to remind the Labour party that it can never hope to win an election
with principles the party traditionally held dear for over a century. The proof
they use is, of course, that when Labour sacrificed its principles in favour of
Blair`s neoliberalism, Labour won elections. Now, the same old scare-mongering
is being adopted, because Jeremy Corbyn is winning support for his outspoken
views against austerity and inequality.
Obviously, some facts are sorely needed:
blaming the `83 defeat on the left-wing manifesto is totally misleading, as it
ignores the "hatchet job" done on Labour`s then leader, Michael Foot, by the
right-wing media. Who will forget the criticism he received because he wore, at
the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day in 1981, a short blue-green overcoat, bought for
him by his wife, "at considerable expense" at Harrods according to Foot`s
official biographer, Lord Morgan? His enemies, many of whom were in the Labour
party, had a field day, saying how he looked like an "out-of-work navvy" in his
"donkey-jacket", even though the coat lacked the necessary leather
shoulders.
Simply putting the blame for the defeat on
the "note" also ignores the facts that the anti-Tory vote in 1983 was almost
evenly split between the SDP/Liberal alliance and Labour, that the Tory vote
fell by 700,000, and that Thatcher had to resort to an unnecessary war in the
Falklands to bolster her own, and her party`s, support, so badly was she doing
in the polls. Corbyn is being blamed for not playing by the usual party
political rules, and for sounding different from the other "Stepford" candidates
for Labour`s leadership, but look where following such rules has got
Labour!
If such rules, as Blairites insist, forbid
Labour to argue against Trident, they presumably also prevent support for any
form of re-nationalisation, despite its popularity in the polls, or of wealth
tax, or of strict regulation of the banks; anything, in fact, which copies or
resembles proposals from the 1983 manifesto. That same "suicide note" included
pledges to raise living standards by a minimum wage, and to introduce a National
Investment Bank, with a commitment to "attract and channel savings, by
agreement, in a way that guarantees these savings and improves the quality of
investment in the UK". Also promised was a Keynesian £11bn "programme of
action", and the re-imposition of exchange controls to "counter currency
speculation". How our bankers would have loved that!
Many of the 1983 pledges were enacted, such
as the Freedom of Information Act, a ban on foxhunting, and devolution to
Scotland and Wales, but, of course, most were not, and the opportunity to
prevent the disastrous
neoliberalism taking hold, and with it the
inevitable rise in inequality, was lost. Were the months prior to the 1983
election really, as the likes of Toby Young imply, the "days of delusion" for
Labour?
Why should it be assumed, as the Tories
clearly do, that the monstrous £12bn benefit cuts will be forgotten by 2020,
especially by the 63% which did not vote Tory last May? A Labour party misled
into mimicking the Tories by its own right-wing, because it fails to understand
its own history, could well be writing its own "suicide note", but this time,
for real!
No comments:
Post a Comment