Conclusion

Continued…

60. The political situation is extremely unstable, making it impossible to accurately predict exactly how events will develop. However, some points are very clear. The next government will be highly unstable and crisis-ridden but will attempt to carry out further large-scale austerity. While there are still difficulties and complications, a legacy of the last twenty years, that government will certainly face massive opposition from the working class on a bigger scale than we have seen in the last five years. Consciousness has not yet caught up with objective reality but that process has begun in the brutal school of the Con-Dem years. The different lessons of that experience will not be drawn by all sections of the working class at the same time but in a series of battles, over an extensive period. The fury at the capitalist parties, combined with the failure of the trade union leaders, can mean we see anti-party and anarchistic ideas developing on a broader scale than we have seen up until now. On the other hand, the formation of a substantial new workers’ party, which will be on the agenda in this period, can partially cut across this provided it has a socialist programme and fighting approach. We have a crucial role to play in this process. There are also growing opportunities to win workers and young people to the Socialist Party. This is already the case – indicated by the enthusiasm of a layer of young people for Russell Brand’s call for revolution and by the search for Marxist ideas on the university campuses as well as those who are desperately seeking improvements in their existing conditions – but will be on a far bigger scale on the basis of the stormy events ahead in Britain.