Bloc / Party?

On the road to socialism and why a left bloc is needed before a new mass workers’ party can emerge in Britain

The path of least resistance for the working class in Britain to win political power is a revolutionary democratic road to socialism.

The journey will proceed through a succession of governments commanding a parliamentary majority and combining with extra-parliamentary movements of the working class and its allies to create a democratic republic.

Legislation passed by left governments could shift the balance of wealth and power towards working people and their families This would take place by removing the legal restrictions on effective trade unionism, peaceful protest, and the democratic functioning of local government.

With these reforms, the workers’ movement can grow in influence by taking collective action and building up a base in the local state which is capable of pursuing a limited form of alternative economic development, as previously has occurred at the height of the movement.

Democratic public ownership and control of strategic sectors of the economy would be the priority of a left government, which would face immediate resistance from the ruling class and its foreign allies in the form of threats to disrupt the implementation of the government’s manifesto commitments.

The working class movement and its allies will have to be mobilised in neighbourhoods, workplaces, and on the streets to demonstrate support for the progressive policies of a left government and guard against capitulation to the ruling class.

This approach to revolution requires that the growing strength of the workers’ movement must be matched in a revolutionary situation with a legislative majority which is opposed to the state-monopoly capitalist class. This ‘political majority of a new type’ will have the popular mandate to create a constituent assembly and establish a democratic republic, the form of state required for socialist transformation.

Why this road?

Current conditions in Britain mean that other paths to power for the working class which are often proposed in other contests – ranging from mass strikes to establish a new state based solely on workers’ councils or the formation of a paramilitary force to fight a protracted people’s war against the bourgeois state – are unlikely to command significant popular support.

The success of these insurrectionary strategies may ultimately depend upon the worst-case scenario for the working class in Britain, namely that the bourgeoisie brings about the ruin of the domestic economy to such an extent that uprisings occur as a spontaneous reaction and the masses turn towards direct confrontation in forms such as widespread workplace occupations as a means of survival.

In this hypothetical course of events, the current political system would break down as a consequence of economic disorder, and the content of the minimum section of a common programme for the working class would need serious reconsideration. But until such a scenario transpires, we do not need to give undue consideration to how we would proceed in those circumstances.

Why not Labourism?

The stability of Britain’s political system means that the organised working class has become accustomed to seeking reforms through parliament, via Labour governments. This explains the continued affiliation of trade unions to the Labour Party despite the wretched behaviour of the right wing of the party. In conditions of economic expansion, concessions can be granted to the organised working class to prevent the formation of a counter-hegemonic bloc to that of the state-monopoly capitalist class.

This relative political stability in Britain is due in large part to the position of the British economy in the capitalist world market. Rather than collapse, the British Empire transitioned to neo-colonial relations with nations which it underdeveloped. It became a junior partner with the United States of America, the capitalist superpower, along with the other imperialist powers in Europe.

There has been no serious reckoning with the institutions of the empire, no significant restructuring of the constitutional order to reflect the state’s multi-national character and allow the development of its nations and regions through progressive federalism. Nor has decolonisation been manifested within the leadership of the workers’ movement outside parliament, which lacks a clear line of opposition to imperialism.

The limitation of the Labour Party is that it is a bourgeois workers’ party: its leadership in parliament is overwhelmingly loyal to the ruling class and its undemocratic constitutional order, even though Labour’s institutional and electoral base is in the organised working class in affiliated trade unions and among millions of working people and their families to whom the Labour Party must appeal for support.

A left bloc in parliament would seek to include but be much broader than the Labour left. Its formation will likely be the result of splits from Labour and the election of independent socialist MPs. Independence from the Labour Party will not mean complete opposition – critical support must be given to pass legislation which is in alignment with the left wing programme.

Why do we need a Programme?

Building unity around a common programme can provide an immediate alternative to the acceptance of declining living standards, the restriction of democratic rights, and the further polluting of our environment.

We must establish programmatic unity in explicit opposition to the force that blocks our future: the state-monopoly capitalist class.

The Left Wing Programme must include the demand for a constituent assembly because the existing structures of the British state will not allow the working class to take full control of state institutions.

The creation of a democratic republic will allow the abolition of hereditary and unaccountable institutions which provide reserve powers for the capitalist class to block democratic progress, such as the monarchy and the House of Lords. It will also be necessary to restructure the state’s repressive apparatus to ensure loyalty to a democratic constitution.

Opening the road to socialism in Britain will require a democratic anti-monopoly alliance of millions. Only a political majority of a new type can sustain governments committed to a left-wing programme and transform the constitutional order.

A left government will be brought to power by the only force whose interests are fundamentally opposed to the capitalist class: the working class and its allies.

Why do we need a United Front?

Through the formation of a united front of the organised working class, its unions and political parties, we can reach out to win to the cause of labour a much broader popular front that includes progressive campaign groups and parties which represent the interests of the intermediate strata in Britain between the organised labour movement and the monopoly capitalist class.

Currently, the main block to the construction of a popular front is the absence of a coherent united front. This is the foundation of an alternative economic and political strategy: working class organisations which have a left wing programme, formally uniting in the face of the onslaught of real-term pay cuts and repressive legislation, and building alliances with others.

To this end, it is necessary but not sufficient to establish broad left groups within the unions to win support for an alternative economic and political strategy. There must also be a nurturing of rank and file organisation which is multi-tendency rather than dependent upon a single political party and also independent of the official structures of our unions and therefore capable of overcoming the block imposed by anti-union laws on effective trade unionism.

Even without immediate changes in legislation, the workers’ movement can make significant advances. But ultimately the working class needs a left government.