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Editorial of the Socialist, issue 882
After the Syria vote
How can Corbyn and the left win the civil war in the Labour Party?
- Stop the war on Syria
- Kick out all the warmongers
Working class and young people don't want this war. Hundreds of thousands have protested, signed petitions, and written to and lobbied MPs.
Bombing Syria won't make Britain safer. And it certainly won't make ordinary Syrians safer.
Yet the Tories, true to form, couldn't care less about our views or our lives. And shamefully 66 Labour MPs sided with the government instead of their anti-war party leader Jeremy Corbyn and the majority of their constituents.
An urgent discussion is needed on tactics for a mass movement against the war and against austerity, including how we can win a party that represents that kind of a movement at the ballot box, in parliament and in the council chambers.
Islington Jeremy for Leader rally, Sept 2015, photo Paul Mattsson (Click to enlarge)
Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party is at a turning point. On the one side we had the shameful 66 Labour MPs who voted to support the bombing of Syria, thereby bolstering the Tory government. This sparked intense anger from working class people and the overwhelmingly anti-war youth.
It was a serious mistake for Jeremy Corbyn not to implement a whip and parliamentary discipline on such a key issue. The argument that MPs must have 'freedom of conscience' doesn't hold water. The right do not practice what they preach - in 1935 George Lansbury was removed as Labour leader because of his stand on the issue of war and peace. Jeremy Corbyn should have insisted on a whip in order to demonstrate the role of these traitors who've sustained the Tory government.
In the run up to the vote the right made their feelings very clear. They want to try to remove Jeremy Corbyn at the earliest opportunity. Labour MP Frank Field has even suggested that there could be two leaders - one for the parliamentary party and then Corbyn for the wider party, with an obvious view to leave him with little or no real power.
Labour Lord Rooker said in the House of Lords: "We have to get rid of him." These are the views of the overwhelming majority of the right-wing parliamentary party.
We even saw in the House of Commons open congratulations to Hilary Benn from Maria Eagle, who reached across Jeremy Corbyn to pat Benn on the knee. This, for Benn's closing speech for Labour in the bombing debate, arguing against Corbyn and in alliance with the Tories - a speech lauded by the Tories and their press and the people who are pressing for wider war in the Middle East.
It was scandalous that he invoked the traditions of internationalism of the labour movement by trying to associate with the International Brigades - the men and women who went to fight heroically against fascism in Spain. This was the same argument that Blair used to justify the Iraq invasion in 2003. The traditions of internationalism of the labour movement have nothing in common with imperialism's attempt to interfere and compound the problems of Syria and the Middle East.
Lies
Julian Lewis, a right-wing Tory, spoke more truth than these pro-war 'Labour' MPs. He said that the claim that there are 70,000 local land forces who will be the ground troops in Syria was bogus, the equivalent of the 'dodgy dossier' on weapons of mass destruction that was used as justification in the invasion of Iraq.
Patrick Cockburn in the Independent wrote that Professor Joshua Landis, an expert in Syrian politics, "is dismissive of the idea that such a potential army exists, though he says there might be 70,000 Syrians with a gun who are fighting for their local clan, tribe, warlord or village", who are not a unified force.
On the other hand, we had the Oldham by-election, which has given pause for thought to the right wing. The Labour Party did significantly better than was expected and hoped for by the right. But the media immediately claimed it was nothing to do with Corbyn's leadership but instead was a victory for Jim McMahon, the right-wing 'local' candidate who was previously leader of Oldham council which has made draconian cuts.
One senior Labour MP was quoted in the Observer as saying that because of a high turnout from anti-war Asian voters: "The timing was very lucky for him. It was not a vote of confidence in Labour. You should remember this was a campaign in which Corbyn was airbrushed out. It was as if he did not exist."
However, if Labour had been defeated this would have been blamed on Corbyn. This is going to be the pattern of the arguments of the right wing and the media. For them Corbyn is in a no-win situation. If he wins elections, 'it's not him, it's the right's win'. If he loses, then 'it's down to Corbyn's leadership'.
The same thing will be done in the run-up to next year's local elections, particularly in relation to the London mayoral race or any byelection.
The right are conducting a war of attrition. They probably feel that in the wake of Oldham they can't strike immediately, but they hope for death by a thousand wounds. How will Jeremy Corbyn resist this?
The right have made it clear that this is a fight to the finish - they have declared civil war against the left. How should we respond? The issue of mandatory re-selection has correctly received much attention recently. It's not just the left who are demanding re-selection - this isn't just a re-run of earlier battles in the labour movement. This is communities and young people demanding re-selection.
Young people are furious at the idea that their future is being put in jeopardy and that bombings could take place in London because of the criminal responsibility of their 'elders', the capitalist politicians. And people also associate this with austerity, which was the main factor in the revolt of young people that won Jeremy Corbyn the Labour leadership campaign.
But like classical reformists, who in this period cannot carry through reforms, Corbyn and his team irritate the ruling class who want to get rid of them from the leadership of the party, but also fail to satisfy the demands of working people, particularly young people, for decisive action.
This is reflected in Momentum. Tom Watson has used the same terminology that was used in the past against Militant (forerunner of the Socialist Party) and others on the left, that Momentum is a "party within a party" and should be disciplined. What they want is that the right should be organised - as they have made abundantly clear - but the rank and file and the left should not be organised.
How does the leadership of Momentum respond to this? They suggest their own form of a witch-hunt - as shown by the disgraceful attacks of the Momentum leadership on Socialist Party members in Waltham Forest, and particularly Nancy Taaffe, for arguing for re-selection and democratisation of the Labour Party [see: After the vote in parliament to bomb Syria].
They do not seem prepared to discuss and debate these ideas. Momentum nationally has now stated that Socialist Party members and other non-Labour Party members won't be allowed to take part in Momentum decision-making meetings.
They won't succeed in their attempts to ignore the arguments of the Socialist Party, which reflect the growing demands of the rank and file, because a movement is growing at the base and in the trade unions - inside and outside the Labour Party.
There is a revolt, not just against the bombing of Syria, but also against austerity. There will be demands for Labour-led local authorities to stand up against the £10 billion of cuts that are coming.
No-cuts budgets
These cuts will not primarily be implemented nationally but by devolving responsibility and blame to local councils for the most savage cuts yet seen in Britain. For Labour-led councils to just hold their hands up and say they can't intervene is a scandal and there will be increasing demands for them to resist.
The right-wing parliamentary Labour Party will try to force Corbyn and Momentum to stop the demands for no-cuts budgets at local level.
The Momentum leadership seems to think that the only way we can strengthen Jeremy's leadership is by mollifying the right and, for example, backing away from re-selection. If they continue with this approach there is a real danger that the support for Jeremy Corbyn could ebb and the right wing can choose their time to wield the dagger and force him out.
The potential for this has been there since Corbyn was elected.
This is not the time for prevarication - we must ensure that Corbyn and the left win. That means winning a mass, democratic, open and accountable party, organised on a federal basis and with socialist ideas at its heart. This is the only type of party that would be capable of fundamentally solving the problems facing working class people and offering a different, better future to all.
This version of this article was first posted on the Socialist Party website on 8 December 2015 and may vary slightly from the version subsequently printed in The Socialist.
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