Josh Asker at Socialism 2020

Josh Asker spoke at a virtual meeting of 115 people at Socialism 2020:

For the capitalist class it is an advantage to have two parties supporting capitalism. That is why Margaret Thatcher thought her greatest achievement was to transform not just one party but two.

Labour was effectively two parties under Corbyn. The possibility of turning Labour into a mass working class party has been pushed back.

And yet there are mass campaigns like the Black Lives Matter and campaigns by the trade unions so the conditions for a mass working class party exist.

Workers find their aspirations are no longer represented in Labour. All the Labour opposition has been saying to the government is "we agree with what you are doing but you did it too late."
Political representation for workers at the ballot box is necessary.

In fact Johnson has spent more than Corbyn proposed to spend. Yet Corbyn's spending plans were derided as a "magic money tree" at the time.

We need to have a conference to bring together the working class movements to create a council and parliamentary challenge.

Labour conference can no longer determine policy. Labour became a completely capitalist party under Blair. In the late 19th Century the working class movement had a capitalist party - the Liberal Party - which purported to represent them.

It will not be a straightforward fight any more than the genesis of the Labour Party itself was.

For a start trade unions should not be giving money to MPs and councillors who vote for cuts. The whole issue of affiliation to a capitalist party is being raised in the trade unions. Union money should be used to promote union policies.

A major demand will be that the working class should not be made to pay for the Covid-19 crisis.

 

Sir Keir and the Israeli Defence Force

Sir Keir's sacking of Rebecca Long Bailey blows out of the water any pretentions to unite the Labour Party.

The left were saying that he wanted to ditch any radical policies to make Labour more acceptable to fleet street and to do so he would sack anybody with links to Jeremy Corbyn. The left were saying that he was too subservient to the interests of the Israeli state. Why did he have to go and prove them right?

The American Police learn all their dirty tricks from the Israeli defence forces. According to an Amnesty report:

"Baltimore law enforcement officials, along with hundreds of others from Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Arizona, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington state as well as the DC Capitol police have all traveled to Israel for training. Thousands of others have received training from Israeli officials here in the U.S."

The full text is here

The Israeli Defence Force has its own way of dealing with unarmed Palestinians and these are the methods they are passing on to the American police. Perhaps Rebecca Long-Bailey has a point. Perhaps Sir Keir should not be so quick to defend them.

Hold your nose and vote Labour?

I understand that people may vote Labour to get the Tories out. I just think we could do a lot better if the unions refused to fund candidates who support privatisation or cuts. That would rule out most of the Labour Party :-) #socialistreviews