The disintegration of the NHS, the threadbare conditions of social care, the effrontery of the water companies first apologising for the uncontrolled discharge of raw sewage into rivers and onto beaches and then demanding customers pay an extra £10bn to stop it, the enormous monopoly profits of the energy companies and the banks, the state of the privatised railway system, all would enable any serious opposition to demolish the Tories. But that would involve challenging the way asset managers load debt onto the water companies or residential home companies in order to cream off profits. This Labour will not do: in government it will have to foster conditions where monopolies and the banks are able to maximise their profits. Its performance in the local elections depended on keeping quiet about immigration and asylum seekers: it will not challenge the evermore strident racism of the government for fear of alienating the racist sections of the electorate whose support it needs to win a general election.
It also has to ensure that it has the necessary legislation in place to deal with any working class resistance to a future of unending impoverishment. Hence the muted response to the Republic arrests at the Coronation, and Sir Keir Starmer’s declaration on the Public Order Act that ‘I think we need to let it bed in, we need to look at how it operates in practice… just because the police have got a power, doesn’t mean they have to use it in every situation, guidance emerges, so we haven’t even got to that stage yet, I think we need to get to that stage.’ Constituency Labour Parties need permission from Labour’s central office to affiliate to Republic among 11 other organisations. These include the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Stop the War Coalition which have both constantly trimmed their politics to the needs of their Labour Party supporters. Starmer’s goal has been to eradicate every vestige of radical influence: in that he has proved singularly successful. Labour is indeed fit to run the affairs of Britain PLC.
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! No 294, June/July 2023
