Martyn in Europe

On Sunday the 7^th of  September 2008, the online Comment is Free section of the Guardian featured an article by Denis MacShane, that basically argued that if "trade union leaders indulge in destructive rhetoric, they will only have themselves to blame if Labour loses the next election". The title of the article was "With comrades like these".

Mr MacShane's original article can be found here: original. The following text is the first paragraph of Mr MacShane's article.

Once again, Britain trade unions can help save – or help destroy – Labour as a party fit for government. In the 1930s, Ernest Bevin saved the Labour party from wandering off into the irrelevance of non-intervention in Spain and thinking that a peace pledge petition would stop Hitler from annexing German-speaking parts of Czechoslovakia.

This following is my updated response to the article, which differs only slightly from my original comment published on The Guardian's web site.

What have we here? A bit of old fashioned union bashing, an energetic and a thankfully brief defence of that Miliband character, a side-swipe at Student's Unions, and a strident call to protect deprived capitalist enterprises from the nasty criticisms of those spiteful trades unionists. To say nothing of a gratuitously ingenuous mention of the Foreign Office Minister's role in the Ossetia Occurrence – the importance of which does not appear to be shared by the UK's senior EU partners.

But, all of this is food for thought, and worthy of consideration, if not our downright contempt. So, where to begin? What better place to start, than in year 1983.

It is far from certain that Thatcher was handed electoral victory in 1983, in fact the idea that the Tories only won the elections because everybody else rolled over and died, has the incredible effect of being offensive to almost everyone. If the Tories had lost in 1983, it would have signalled the end of Thatcherism, and no third term, and of course, no son of Thatcher. Nevertheless, this was not the case.

The year 1983, witnessed a notable rise in the electoral appeal of the SDP, which, in a winner take all system, allowed them to split the anti-Thatcher vote, which seriously damaged the chances of Labour, and in doing so, the SDP were rewarded with a miserable 23 seats.

In addition, the Labour Party that had lost the general elections in 1979 was still a party in a state of post-defeat depression and division, but this was not a significant factor in the Tories win.

All of these reasons and occurrences that I have mentioned, to a greater or lesser extent, as well the Falkland Factor, also contributed to enhance the image and electoral appeal of Mrs Thatcher and her party.

But, the key reason for The Conservative Party's victory in 1983, above all others, was the perception that the Tories had revitalized people's economic prospects, mainly through tax cuts and a stimulation of economic activity.

So, so much for the mendacious claim that the Tories were handed electoral victory in 1983.

As for General Election in 1987, the outcome was as simple as simple rocket science, and in their excellent and twisted campaign management, the Saatchi & Saatchi twins created a fantastically compelling story, one that they could easily share with the upwardly mobile electorate, the populist message was simple and resonated with Thatcher's Army. It was one that emphasised lower taxes, a strong and burgeoning economy, and strong defence – of course. The result was inevitable; The Tories won an overall majority, albeit with reduced numbers.

Did anyone hand the Tories victory in 1987? I don't think so.

Bashing Trades Unions has been in fashion for almost thirty years, so it is hardly surprising that the trend continues.

Trades Unions helped found the Labour Party, Trades Unions have contributed more than anyone to the survival and success of Labour.

Today, the Trades Unions, like many of us, do not want to bury the party they founded and nurtured, but to recover the party they have lost, the party that these New Labour impostors misappropriated, the party that had its socialist and trades unionist principles, core values and democratic credentials, shamelessly slashed and burned. It is time to recover the Labour Party, together with its egalitarian, plural and honourable heritage, The time is ripe for change, and some fast iterative work could see a Labour Party elected in 2010 – just not this shower.

The Labour Party politicians in opposition and government were allowed too much say in the Labour Party, and should have never been allowed to get away with their totalitarian control-freakery.

Blair and Companies abuse of their positions of power in the Labour Party, always appeased yet never restrained, contributed to the demise of Labour, as we knew it. These people, with their anti-socialist agendas, with their hate of trades' union democracy, with their abhorrence of open political discourse, with and their fears of unhindered and uncensored grassroots participation, together with a rabid dislike of political diversity, have no place in a modern and democratically unifying party of the left.

The Labour Party and to a lesser extent, the Trades Unions, sold their natural political home and their socialist inheritance in return for Blairism, political success and electoral victory. However, what they didn't realise at the time was that one of the consequences of the pact, would be that New Labour would become the beast that would eat its own children, alive.

Britain's trade unions never destroyed a socialist Labour Party, nor would they. That's why can I state, with a mixture of humility and some pride (to paraphrase): Mister, I was a Labour Party member and worked for Jim Callaghan in the Labour Party's 1979 electoral campaign, I knew Jim Callaghan, and in spite of his faults, and he had a few, Jim Callaghan was our comrade. Mister MacShane, you are no Jim Callaghan.

Martyn Richard Jones