What should the working class do?

I had a really interesting and thought provoking question earlier tonight. I was asked well how I think the working class should be organised. This sparked interest in my mind and instantly I thought well why not turn it on its head this question. Why not ask ourselves how can the working class organise itself? Which is precisely the question in my mind right about now. I think leadership is important but not necessarily the concept of leadership we are used to. As a free thinking socialist I like to look at things from all angles so when someone says to me what about leadership and organisation I reply well those are both important but what type of leadership and organisation do we want and what should we strive for? It’s not that I believe that leadership and organisation are flawed but it’s the question to me well what kind of organisation should we look for and what kind of leadership do we need? Do we need one who looks and tells us what to think and act all of the time? Or as I do believe those workers and those who want change the progressives if you like can and will act and think for themselves. As marxists many do think a vanguard or a self appointed elite of workers or a so called advanced layer will need to lead the mass's to think and act for the greater good but I personally hold far more faith in the workers the mass's the down trodden if you like than most Marxists. I personally feel that we should not treat the working class as dumbed down backward thinking people but forward thinking free thinking even mass's who can grasp the situation at hand. As we speak the ruling class are rolling back all the concessions that the power of the organised working class has won from the state. The state is just the enforcer of capitalism, and making that enforcement more naked at the expense of ordinary people doesn’t benefit anybody except those with political and economic power. The real alternative is a world without either the state or capitalism – libertarian communism. To get to that, we need to replace state-provided social welfare with voluntary cooperation and mutual aid. But you can’t have that in a profit system founded on private property, and so in the present its state services or a privatised nightmare-version of 21st century feudalism. As far as the alternative to the vote, what has the ballot box gotten us? Even the vote itself was won through direct action, and the greatest gains of the 20th century – the welfare state and the NHS – were not a result of putting an x in a box. They were concessions offered to appease the strength of our class. “If we don’t give them reforms, they’ll give us revolution,” in Tory MP Quintin Hogg’s words. The alternative to the vote is that threat. The willingness to use direct action, not only for concessions in the present but also to push for a better world in the future. This is what we must keep in mind when asking the question about the working class it is not simply a thing we can mess with and manipulate for our own ends these are actual people with individual thoughts and feelings. I think as Marx always taught us the working class is the only revolutionary class and that class alone can only be the one who changes its own situation. I am not sure that a vanguard of workers those who have appointed themselves without a mass popular vote and decision can be the ones to take us all forward we need mass precipitation and engagement with democracy at all times. Let’s be wary of those who claim to speak for us and their real aims and objectives. We must remember workers have nothing to loose but their chains.....

Is the party over?

Political party membership is on the decline and has been for some time but I wanted to look at the possible reasons why this could be. Is it simply people don’t feel engaged by politics anymore or is it simply the political parties on offer simply are too similar and do not represent people. One of the central facts of recent British politics has been the decline of the political party. Fewer people are voting for them, memberships have collapsed, and strength of attachment has fallen away. The only party currently prospering, UKIP, is doing so because it has successfully exploited the prevailing ‘none of the above’ sentiment. Why has this decline happened? Does it matter? And what, if anything, might be done about it? It is easier to see why it has happened than it is to frame a coherent response. The great motors of the modern party system—class and ideology—has ceased to function in the way they once did. For much of the twentieth century, politics in Britain was organised on the basis of a struggle between socialism and anti-socialism (however defined) and this structured the two-party dominance of the post-1945 world. That era has now ended, and with it the leading role of the main protagonists. If politics is conducted on broadly similar terrain then it is inevitable that much of the old motive power that fuelled party adherence is diminished. For some, new passions fill the gap (getting Britain out of the EU, getting Scotland out of Britain), but for most there is a turning away from party politics of the traditional kind. It was once a source of cultural identity and pride for millions of British people. But at just over 1% of the population - low by European standards - party membership is fast becoming a minority pursuit. There are more members of the Caravan Club, or the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, than of all Britain's political parties put together. There are many theories as to why this has happened. The public have grown cynical and disillusioned with politicians. We live in a more individualistic age (Why rely on political leaders to speak for you when you can do it yourself on Twitter or Facebook?). Politics itself has become too boring and managerial - the ideological red meat loved by the "party faithful" is in short supply. There have also been profound changes in the way Britons spend their spare time, since the days when the local Labour, Conservative or Liberal club was at the heart of the community. "Most people don't use politics for socialising in the way they might have done in the fifties and sixties, when you had a realistic chance of meeting your future husband or wife at a party dinner or or dance. PARTY MEMBERSHIP • 1951 Conservative 2.9m - Labour 876,000 • 1971 Conservative 1.3m - Labour 700,000 • 1981 Conservative 1.2m - Labour 277,000 • 1991 Conservative 1m to 0.5m - Labour 261,000 - Lib Dem 91,000 • 2001 Conservative 311,000 - Labour 272,000 - Lib Dem 73,000 • 2011 Conservative 177,000 - Labour 190,000 - Lib Dem - 66,000 (Source: Estimates based on party reports and House of Commons L Many people hold an anti politics and an anti party feeling out there including more and more myself. I'm not anti political but increasingly anti party. The main 3 parties Tories, lib dems and labour do largely stand for the same thing and all look to defend and promote capitalism. Most of the voters out there are far to the left of all major political parties which means many would be happy to see public ownership of our railways and energy sector for example which currently no political party would dare to put forward in fear of the reaction of the "market" In years gone by you would grow up with a tribal instinct to supporting a certain political party so for example if your parents had always voted labour you war more likely to carry on the tradition of voting for the labour party. Today there is a real drop off of people voting in their 20's it picks up a bit when people reach their 30's but I don’t think this is any coincidence as those in the bracket of the 20's who are the most hit in terms of austerity being the younger ages which over 1 million young people are out of work and struggling to pay tuition fees and have huge debt around their necks. It is clear that that many in this age group do not feel politics is for them and that also they blame politics for the plight they find themselves in and with good reason too I would suggest. SO why don’t this younger generation join a political party? Well just the thought alone can give you an answer. They don’t feel it is for them quite simply. For many who grew up under a labour government who took us to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan despite huge opposition on the streets people feel disenchanted with the so called democratic process in this country The cost involved in joining a political party is a turn off to I think with recent findings showing • Labour - £41 standard, £20.50 unwaged and pensioners, £1 youth, £20.50 (union or affiliate group member) • Conservatives - £25 standard, £5 (under 23) • Lib Dem - £12 standard, £6 students and unwaged I would conclude by saying that the days of the mass political party may indeed be over but this does not mean politics itself is in decline in fact more people are interested in political ideas than ever before but do not associate themselves with a party. For me it is absolutely fine to be political without being in a party and with many benefits for example like myself I can think and act for myself without having to uphold a party line all the time. I am not tied to supporting a party dogmatically so I don’t have to defend everything it says and does. I am perfectly happy to admit when others out there have good ideas that we shouldn’t ignore just as we are in a different party this is the start of a sectarian agenda of putting your own party above the interests of those you are looking to represent. Only time will tell if political parties have had their day for good but what is sure we will not be going back to 80% turnouts in elections and mass membership parties again anytime soon I’d suggest.

Disabled people feeling the pain from workfare, the misery must end !

The number of claimants on sickness and disability benefits facing sanctions looks set to have doubled since December last year. 11,400 claims were slashed for failure to participate in work related activity or missing a meeting with the Jobcentre in the seven months between December 2012 and June 2013. This compares to 10,130 sanctions inflicted on claimant's of sickness or disability benefits in the previous 12 months. Sanctions have also soared for people on the mainstream unemployment benefit Jobseeker's Allowance, with the DWP boasting today that over half a million claims have been sanctioned between November 2012 and June 2013. Benefit sanctions lead to desperate poverty and are often handed out for the most trivial of reasons. A recent report by Citizens Advice warned that sanctions have led to people to attempting suicide, becoming homeless or resorting to begging or going through bins for food. This is all wonderful news according to Employment Minister Esther McVey who today proclaimed: "We always make the rules very clear – it’s only right that there is a penalty if people fail to play by them." The trouble is many do play by the rules as they are known but still find themselves sanctioned and in deprivation as a result including many disabled people. There are many reports of people being sanctioned for some incredible reasons and many are quite farcicle if we are honest. At the fantastic Johnny Void blog who i follow closely now on a recent post Johnny writes "Astonishingly many of those who have faced sanctions will have been plunged into poverty by charities who have been only too happy to sell out their service users for free workers and lucrative Work Programme contracts. Household names including the Salvation Army (@salvationarmyuk), YMCA (@YMCA_England) and The Conservation Volunteers (@tcvtweets) have all defended these vicious measures whilst employing countless unpaid workers under threat of sanctions on mandatory workfare schemes. Members of the Disability Works coalition have also got their snouts in the trough. Some of those on sickness or disability benefits who were sanctioned will have had benefits slashed due to 'compliance doubts' raised by charities such as SCOPE (@scope), Mencap (@mencap_charity) and MIND (@mindcharity). These so-called charities are Work Programme sub-contractors and have agreed to report back to the Jobcentre if a claimant misses a meeting or fails to attend 'work related activity'. Charities claiming to support disabled people are now complicit in destroying people's lives by snitching to the DWP that they aren't trying hard enough to find a job. This is despite these claimants having undergone a notorious Atos assessment which has agreed that they are unable to work at present. Appalling however sick and disabled claimants can still be sent to work unpaid on the Work Programme or face sanctions. They may be unfit for work, but they are fit for workfare in the eyes of the DWP. With yet more workfare planned, alongside ludicrous new 'conditionality' for unemployment benefits which expects people to spend 35 hours a week looking for non-existent jobs, the number of sanctions is likely to rise even further. The poverty now being socially engineered by the DWP is unprecedented in living memory in the UK. In one of the richest countries in the world people are now being left to go hungry or homeless with the collusion of charities - whilst the Labour Party boasts they will be even tougher on unemployed or disabled claimants than the Tories. It is down to claimants themselves - and all those who support a welfare state that does not abandon people to destitution for any reason - to fight back against this callous war on the poor. A good place to start is the Week of Action Against Workfare beginning on 2nd December, please spread the word, tweet and share: http://www.boycottworkfare.org/?p=3060 There is also a petition (I know) on 38 Degrees calling for all sanctions to be scrapped. Please sign/share etc: http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/benefit-sanctions-must-be-stopped-without-exceptions-in-uk (It's not all doom and gloom. Disabled people fighting the closure of the Independent Living Fund today had a major victory in the courts.) Above pic via the Benefit Claimants Fightback group on facebook. Follow me on twitter @johnnyvoid For quotes and extracts with thanks to Johnny over at http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2013/11/06/benefit-sanction-rate-doubles-for-sick-and-disabled-claimantss/

Do we support ATOS workers on strike ?

Normally i support all workers in struggle when up against the boss's but this latest strike has caused me difficulty and i'm not sure i can fully support the ATOS workers strike today. Being disabled and knowing many who have already been through assessments at the hands of ATOS i am just sickened by them the whole lot. People may say oh well its not the workers fault but that they have to do these assessments on some of the most in need people out there but i'd counter that by saying well they choose to work for ATOS and well what kind of person if you knew what ATOS were like and their reputation out there with disabled people and beyond would in their right mind take a job with them ? This dispute appears to be over pay this time though and Mark Serwotka the general secretary of the PCS union as i have published below claims these ATOS workers are hard working. This they may be but they are also inflicting pain and misery on many disabled people. The PCS again does not come out of this looking great i'm afraid. In a Union News Uk article "Around 2,000 PCS members working for ATOS are today on strike over a 2% pay rise at a time when their boss received a 14% rise and took home £2.3m. The French multinational company runs a number of privatised government contracts, including DWP medical examinations, National Savings, the Equitable Life compensation scheme and delivering IT support for customers such as the BBC. Staff working in healthcare have been offered a 2% rise; those working in IT services have been offered 2.8% in return for signing new terms and conditions that affect their annual leave. Last year Atos chief executive and chairman Thierry Breton was awarded a near 14% rise of £279,992, taking his total wage and reward package to £2,329,250. PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said : ‘PCS members will take action unless they get a fair pay deal. If the company can afford a 14% pay rise for its chief executive it can afford to reward its low paid hard working staff fairly. “Our members are angry and determined. Like workers elsewhere they have seen the money in their pockets and purses reduce, whilst food costs, energy costs, transport costs soar. This must end. Our members are being asked to suffer austerity whilst the cream from the £1.6 billion government contracts that Atos hold is skimmed off for the bosses and shareholders of this multinational company” Today’s action is likely to be the first in a series of walkouts that will seriously affect the company’s ability to meet government service level agreements on all of the contracts where PCS organise. The union will also embark on a “work to rule” from the 6th November that will impact on the company’s performance. * In Derbyshire, Atos, which assesses the capability of disabled people for work, will this morning be the focus of a demonstration by Unite members over the way it treats its clients. Unite’s local community group will be staging a ‘United Nations’ stunt at the Atos Healthcare Chesterfield Assessment Centre at Lordsmill Street, Chesterfield S41 7RW at 10.30am when a UN land rover with lights flashing will arrive to start ‘the probe’. Investigators, flanked by men and women in the trademark blue berets, will conduct ‘an investigation into alleged human rights abuses’. Unite community activist Colin Hampton, who is organising the demo, said “Many citizens in north Derbyshire have complained about their treatment at the hands of Atos which carries out the work capability assessments (WCAs). “A number of people, who have stories to tell of their treatment at the Lordsmill offices, will be there to give their testimony. The ‘investigators’ will attempt to question management and staff to ascertain the extent of the alleged abuses due to the implementation of government policy.” The Unite community group is also calling for a conference to be held in Chesterfield, early in the New Year to gather further evidence and propose changes to the current policy and systems, with the aim of restoring dignity to the sick, the disabled, and those that are out of work. " with thanks to http://union-news.co.uk/2013/11/atos-workers-living-wage-turn-heat-boss-claiming-2-3m/

What is going on on the old left?

The old left is going through a bit of a transition right now to what and where it will end who knows but there is a crisis that is sweeping the far left right now. Mostly Leninist and Trotskyist parties but can be found elsewhere too. It is a realization that much of what they have been saying while many of them believe what they are saying is just not caching a echo with workers and none despite the biggest and gravest economic crisis since the 30's are barely treading water and in many case's loosing members and stagnating . I do think there are systemic roots for this problem on the left. Having left the socialist party one of the better Trotskyist parties out there over a month ago I have seen a few too many incidents of some very unsavory nature to be honest. I have witnessed and read about some of the worst forms of human behavior over the last year with the cover up of the rape case with Comrade Delta in the SWP to bullying and harassment from others on the left. The latest falling out comes from the AWL - Alliance for workers liberty. A smaller group than the two bigger forces on the Trotskyist left the SWP and the SP. But the sense of party crisis has not escaped the AWL either it would seem. "...In the ensuing “debate” only two members – myself and Hannah Thompson – raised any criticism of the article. It is unclear as to whether this was because those who were critical of the article were not called to speak or whether they chose not to, but the debate was primarily used to denounce and attack critics and to rally support for the leadership. In one incredible contribution, members were told that is was not even necessary to even read the offending article before springing to its defense. Any critical, or thinking, approach was actually “disloyal” to the group. Moreover, it was even wrong to post their grievances to the internal list. We were asked to show solidarity with poor Sean and told that the Executive Committee’s public response was a defense of us all. Many of the arguments made in that debate are now being rolled out across the internet and in real life in a feeble damage limitation exercise..." http://www.cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/online-only/awl-resignation-matgamnas-article http://m.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cpgb.org.uk%2Fhome%2Fweekly-worker%2Fonline-only%2Fawl-resignation-matgamnas-article&h=lAQGOsNDj&s=1 This rings very familiar to myself who has always tried to think critically and keeping a balanced approach to things was called all sorts and charged with being "disloyal" while still a member of the socialist party I was ticked off several times for not taking my disagreements if you could call them that and points of misunderstanding as I’d prefer to call them up with others in the party. When I did as I maintain I did all is it not always in a official capacity due to my lack of confidence in public situations and public speaking I felt contacting individuals and speaking to them in what I thought was confidence would help. It later turned out any misunderstanding or disagreement as I was told they were in the end was not held in confidence at all and allot of what I said about my concerns with the party were relayed back to my region and beyond in some case's which I found to be a breaking of my trust. I think there is one thing being a open party but another to go tell your senior every time someone has a issue I felt like I could not trust very many people in the party in the end and allot of people were out to catch me out and find me guilty of being disloyal and not pulling the party line so to speak. It really did feel very 1984 at times where I would receive a sharply toned email warning me not to put my thoughts and feelings out on my blog and on social media. I replied each time saying I did not know the party had control of my blog and what I personally felt. But apparently while I was a member my personal blog represented the party despite me constantly stating this blog is my own and nothing to do with the socialist party and is the thoughts independent of the party and do in no way represent the parties party's views. Are personal views to be frowned upon on the Trotskyist left? It would certainly seem so in my experience. But this distrust of those with a critical mind is quite co common on the left I have now realized many groups have seen a decline in membership despite what they officially will tell you. Why would a party admit its lost members it doesn’t do its street cred any good does it? But we know for a fact members come and go all the time and on the left some groups have a very high turnover of members. In the SWP for example they estimate to have over 7000 members but no one surely believes this figure? I understand you are considered a member in the SWP if you have signed a petition or brought a paper sub paying doesn’t seem to be that important. I do think the internet is something the old left has yet to come to terms with and does not know how to deal with it. It is something that is out of their control. I think that is the nub of it really the control and the lack of being able to control what members say to each other on the internet. The old left had a way of organising and working that they kept everything internal and in meetings but with the addition of the internet this is no longer possible and I feel there will be more and more tensions with party members of all groups as people realise they can think and discuss with each other online and that discussion doesn’t have to be just limited to the holy branch meeting. I think personally it shows a lack of confidence on the behalf of the old left to not wish to discuss and debate its differences out in public view of the working class. It’s pretty patronizing I think as it says that the working class are not intelligent enough to understand the debates and discussions and only we as the chosen Marxists can understand which for me is hugely insulting and shows a lack of confidence in their own ideas and also a lack of confidence in the working class to act and think for themselves and of course the old left do not wish the working class to act and think for itself it must be lead to the promised land of socialism. There is much wrong with the old left and allot of its modes of organisation and methods of interacting are out of date but this can change and may well do in time. The working class is constantly changing and is far more fluid in its work situation. With the unemployed and those in and out of work a lot it will be harder and harder for work place organising even for unions as I’ve previously explained. New ways of organising and thinking will be necessary. Can the old left adapt to the new situations coming? Only time will tell.

A Very Public Sociologist: The Depravity of the SWP

A Very Public Sociologist: The Depravity of the SWP: Depravity is a strong word, but what else can describe the the latest batch of revelations regarding the SWP/Delta alleged rape case? Going...

The question of leadership

I have been in organisations with strong and weak leadership and have come to the conclusion that leadership itself is fundamentally flawed in many ways. During my time in the socialist party we were told the working class needs new fighting leadership but I am not sure this is quite true on many levels. Of course we were told while a member of such sects that Trotsky’s famous quote that the crisis facing the working class is the crisis of leadership and some seem to have taken this particular quote to the point of dogma and frozen it in time and done little with it sadly. I am a believer that we are our own leaders and that leadership as a concept is a concept for bureaucracy. I think we all have it within us to lead and control our own struggles now. Why do we need a self appointed leadership to control and manage our own struggles they are ours for a reason surely? I have firm belief that the working class can lead its own struggles and battles without a leadership. In fact leadership starts from within and some take it further but if we all lead our own struggles by not giving our struggles over to some far distant appointed body we can remain in control. In fact I believe now that if we reject the concept of leadership in the term understood today anyway which of course can and will change in time is no blueprint for success at all. I do think that if we, we own and control our own struggles we cannot and will not be sold out by leaderships and bodies looking to act and speak on our behalf. Only us the workers the rank-and-file of the movement and the world can control and affect change. Lets be honest when has a leader ever acted in our own interests. Once we have given permission to someone else to decide what is best for us we have in affect already lost because we can no longer affect change ourselves it is down to someone else not us. Leadership as a concept is not a bad thing but it is how that power of change and understanding shifts from us to a body of people we are trusting to act and speak on our behalf. I am naturally dis trustful of leadership due to my experiences some may have good experiences but I do think in the end we will all see leaders or those who claim to be our leaders in the light cold light of day for all to dsee as opportunists . The mass's have the answer and will not be fooled some may be some of the time but not forever. Workers and those at the bottom of the pile will have nothing to loose very soon and then you will see a fight back and this will be spontaneous and leaderless. For this to succeed people will need to learn for themselves and take each step at a time if they loose they must take that on the chin and learn from it not look to leaders to make things better as they simply will not they will act in their own interest as they always have done and always will.