Blair to step down within 12 months

[emma_goldman]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6090700361.html

[Keyser]

To be replaced by whom? Gordon Brown!

It is more or less accepted, even in the capitalist owned, corporate media (who ususally make an effort to fool us into thinking we actually have any form of choice under the current system), that Gordon Brown will take over from Tony Blair once the prime minister steps down.

Be it Gordon Brown, be it John Reid, Alan Johnson, Peter Mandelson, Charles Clarke or any of the other Labour Party flunkies who will take over as prime minister, none of it will make any difference whatsoever in terms of any change from what Tony Blair is doing.

Expect more privatisations, neo-liberal 'flexibility in the workplace' and 'making Britain a more competitive market', police oppression, attacks on any remaining civil liberties, imperialist wars abroad and the further militarisation of society with the 'war on terrorism'. All of this, regardless of who takes over the Labour Party.

The potential Labour Party leaders/prime ministers, not one of them even makes an effort to pretend to offer their support to the concept of 'social democracy'. Despite 'social democracy' being a rotten system by which it's only real legacy was to give false hope and illusion to the working class, in that capitalism could somehow be tamed, made better and more humane or reformed out of existence through parliament, despite this decietful role played by 'social democracy' in turning a large portion of the working class away from class based struggles and away from the politics of social revolution and class emancipation brought about via class warfare and a proletarian revolution, these flunkies who hang around Blair's rotting political corpse do not even dare pose as 'social democrats'!

Too many people on the Left have made the mistake of playing politics by the rules and protocols of the current capitalist system, by which 'choice' means not alternative ways of governence and society, but personality politics, in the same manner as a celeberity contest. Getting rid of Bush in the USA or Blair in Britain will not bring about any substantial changes nor will it rock the boat of the current global capitalist system.

So let us concentrate on more pressing and more relevant matters and let us ignore the futile 'debate' about who will be the next leader of the Labour Party.

[Okocim]

Originally posted by Anarchism Now@Oct 3 2006, 02:55 AM
Be it Gordon Brown, be it John Reid, Alan Johnson, Peter Mandelson, Charles Clarke or any of the other Labour Party flunkies who will take over as prime minister, none of it will make any difference whatsoever in terms of any change from what Tony Blair is doing.

Expect more privatisations, neo-liberal 'flexibility in the workplace' and 'making Britain a more competitive market', police oppression, attacks on any remaining civil liberties, imperialist wars abroad and the further militarisation of society with the 'war on terrorism'. All of this, regardless of who takes over the Labour Party.

The potential Labour Party leaders/prime ministers, not one of them even makes an effort to pretend to offer their support to the concept of 'social democracy'. Despite 'social democracy' being a rotten system by which it's only real legacy was to give false hope and illusion to the working class, in that capitalism could somehow be tamed, made better and more humane or reformed out of existence through parliament, despite this decietful role played by 'social democracy' in turning a large portion of the working class away from class based struggles and away from the politics of social revolution and class emancipation brought about via class warfare and a proletarian revolution, these flunkies who hang around Blair's rotting political corpse do not even dare pose as 'social democrats'!

Too many people on the Left have made the mistake of playing politics by the rules and protocols of the current capitalist system, by which 'choice' means not alternative ways of governence and society, but personality politics, in the same manner as a celeberity contest. Getting rid of Bush in the USA or Blair in Britain will not bring about any substantial changes nor will it rock the boat of the current global capitalist system.

So let us concentrate on more pressing and more relevant matters and let us ignore the futile 'debate' about who will be the next leader of the Labour Party.

ever heard of John McDonnell? He is the most left wing guy who's trying for PM after Blair.

Not that reformism will work, but I favour him.

[loveme4whoiam]

There's a left-winger still in the Labour Party? Who knew?!

Like Anarchism Now said, it won't make a damn bit of difference who the PM is.

[Keyser]

Ever heard of John McDonnell? He is the most left wing guy who's trying for PM after Blair.

Yes I have heard of him. Some Trotskyist groups in Britain, such as the Alliance for Workers Liberty (AWL) and the Socialist Appeal Group (SAG) are supporting him for the leadership of the Labour Party.

There are two reasons why I did not really bother mentioning him:

1.) He has next to no chance of actually becoming the Labour Party leader and prime minister, given how the Labour Party has got rid of even it's past facade of inter-party democracy and the fact that Tony Blair, his cabinet and the corporate media will actually decide who leads Labour after Blair.

Even if he did become the leader of the Labour Party and became prime minister, such is the set up of Britain's anti-democractic 'parliamentry' system and the autocratic structure of the Labour Party, that any genuine moves or policies he would make towards improving the lot of the working class would either be watered down into insignificance or would be vetoed outright.

2.) Like I stated before, I am opposed to all reformist paths, as they lead to nowhere but defeat and the demoralisation of the working class, given that they would waste much energy on a 'social democratic' experiment and then upon the failure of 'social democracy' the working class would either give up the fight, or in despair turn to reactionary, possibily fascist solutions. History has shown this time and time again, how many times do we need to waste our efforts on the rotting corpse that is reformism and 'social democracy'?

Not that reformism will work, but I favour him.

John McDonnell is a reformist, if you have just stated that reformism would not work, then why on earth would you support him???

[Whitten]

Originally posted by Anarchism Now@Oct 3 2006, 04:23 PM
John McDonnell is a reformist, if you have just stated that reformism would not work, then why on earth would you support him???

Reformists are better than neo-liberals

[Keyser]

Reformists are better than neo-liberals

Wrong.

Reformists actually play a crucial role in sustaining the capitalist system.

They give false hope to the working class, leading them away from class emancipation and social revolution, by fooling them into class compromise and giving legitmacy to the facade of 'democracy' that exists under capitalism.

Neo-liberalism, given it's naked barbarity and harsh nature, is able to turn more people away from the capitalism system at a much faster rate than a more tamed version of the capitalist system. This is now happening in Latin America and many people have now turned their backs on capitalism and are seeking alternatives to that, which can only be a good development.

If you are a communist, autonomist, anarchist, social revoltionary etc... then asking the ruling class for a few more crumbs from their huge profits and power, for a few reforms here and there, will not, in any circumstances, alter the relations of power that exist under capitalism, nor will it remedy the oppression met out to those capitalism exploits.

Either you reject capitalism is all it's forms, reformism included, or you end up, by default, supporting capitalism and giving it an extended lease of life, something any sane person should never do.

[RebelDog]

Whatever way we look at it, its more of the same. Gordon Brown looks like being handed the crown. He has been an ardent supporter of Blair's policies and came out with the disgusting, cynical phrase that whatever the cost of the Iraq war, the cost will be met. Ask the bastard how much there is for pensions and his extravagance suddenly vanishes. He stood up at the Labour conference and told us how he was going to end child poverty and all the rest. He has had 10 years to do that and things could not be worse. Fuck him and fuck all labour party members. Mr McDonnell gives indirect support to Blair and Brown by staying in the party throughout this New Labour, neo-liberal disaster. The Labour Party as a whole has taken the side of an anti-working class, maniac, murdering US president and aided and abetted his war crimes. Any member with a conscience would have left that party long ago and that includes Mr McDonnell.

[Okocim]

Originally posted by Anarchism Now@Oct 3 2006, 06:43 PM
If you are a communist, autonomist, anarchist, social revoltionary etc... then asking the ruling class for a few more crumbs from their huge profits and power, for a few reforms here and there, will not, in any circumstances, alter the relations of power that exist under capitalism, nor will it remedy the oppression met out to those capitalism exploits.

Either you reject capitalism is all it's forms, reformism included, or you end up, by default, supporting capitalism and giving it an extended lease of life, something any sane person should never do.

of course it won't. However, what it will do is ease the burden of the working classes and make life more bearable in the short term until the proletariat is sufficiently prepared for revolution and overthrow of the ruling classes. Without reformism we wouldn't have the NHS, minimum wage, council housing, free schooling etc and people would be even more miserable, oppressed and have shit lives than now.

I know John McDonnell won't get in, I know that if he did, as Bakunin said, "within a year he would be worse than the tsar himself" however, I think it's an incredibly selfish and arrogant attitude to wish for the proletariat to be given absolutely no concessions by the ruling classes at all and wishing for them to live in even more absolute misery than now. I agree that these concessions are pittance compared to the eventual emancipation which will be brought about by revolution, but until the proletariat are ready for revolution, we should aim at making our lives better now.