Overcoming Fabianism in Labour’s Class War of Attrition

Written on September 17th, 2015 in politics Comments Off

Jeremy Corbyn, quo vadis? – Published on Dissident Voice, by T.P. Wilkinson, Sept 15, 2015.

… Corbyn’s political consistency has been remarkable. Since the beginning of socialist and labour politics in Britain—as elsewhere—there has always been what outsiders would call a tendency to factionalism. The inherent authoritarianism of the Conservative Party (and its equivalents generally assures that differences of opinion are kept within the walls of the clubs their members frequent. Expulsions among the Establishment are usually for breach of decorum.4 On the British Left, most expulsions have been based on the failure adequately to support imperialism or until 1989 any inclination to support communism—as defined by the ruling class.This led to divisions in the Labour Party (and the German Social Democratic Party) a century ago in the run up to the Great War. Labour was again divided by the British elite’s policy toward Hitler and Stalin. After the defeat of the fascist Axis powers in 1945, the benchmark for Labour became unwavering loyalty to Washington.  

A bankrupt British Empire had already mortgaged most of its defendable imperial interests (a euphemism for territories and markets under imperial control) to the US regime when Clement Atlee led the Labour Party to election victory in 1945 and again narrowly in 1950. While the US ruling class was planning the Cold War and jumpstarting its campaign to pre-empt the British and French in Asia, Atlee’s government soon came under pressure to submit to US domination. This culminated in Atlee’s lightning visit to Washington to assure the US regime that Britain would mobilise the imperial reserve forces to support the US invasion of Korea.5 The resulting arms build-up led to Aneurin Bevan’s resignation from the government … //

… One of the factors that contributed to the victory of New Labour—aside from the exhaustion of the Conservative Party in its last laps under John Major– was the importation of US public relations – electoral campaigning style. The same focus groups that placed Bill Clinton with saxophone in the White House—and were developed to sell every other product under the sun—were introduced to Tony Blair’s campaign. The British general election took another step toward Americanisation—the election of a prime minister with a brand instead of a party with a programme. This trend continues because it is the main marketing and propaganda strategy for Anglo-American corporations—who ultimately make what becomes government policy.

Jeremy Corbyn will have to face this monster, not only in the House of Commons but also in the mass media and the Internet. He will have to face the decades of Anglo-American political and economic incest, not that only manifested in the past century’s wedding of US plutocracy with British aristocracy. He will have to face the overarching military control over Europe exercised through the NATO command structure. Not least of which he will have to contend with the power of Finance Capital, entrenched in multi-national corporations and their “independent” agents, the central banks and multilateral banks—IMF, BIS, World Bank et al.

To do this it will be necessary to sandblast the layers of deception that make “markets” seem natural and rational while presenting human needs as irrational and even irrelevant. To do this will undoubtedly create conflict with Britain’s liege-lord, the US. As the post-war era has proven, the British ruling class has no loyalty to ordinary Britons that it is not willing to sacrifice to international profitability. The irrational and ultimately unnatural political economy imposed by Britain’s rulers—against which the Germans Marx and Engels first systematically preached—is the religious fanaticism and terrorism that a revived Labour Party needs to oppose.

(full long text, 18 notes).

(Dr T.P. Wilkinson writes, teaches History and English, directs theatre and coaches cricket in Heinrich Heine’s birthplace, Düsseldorf. He is also the author of Church Clothes, Land, Mission and the End of Apartheid in South Africa, Maisonneuve Press, 2003).

Read other articles by T.P Wilkinson: on Dissident Voice; on Google News-search; on Intrepid Report …

more on Jeremy Corbyn:

Find on en.wikipedia:

  • Fabian Society is a British socialist organization whose purpose is to advance the principles of socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow …; /Critisism; /See also; /External Links;
  • Chris Hedges / Christopher Lynn “Chris” Hedges (born September 18, 1956) is an American journalist, activist, author, and Presbyterian minister. Hedges is also known as the best-selling author of several books including War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2002)—a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction—Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (2009), Death of the Liberal Class (2010), the New York Times best seller, written with cartoonist Joe Sacco, Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (2012), and his most recent Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt (2015) …;

Links:

Days of Revolt – We are All Greeks Now:

Russia in Syria:

Flüchtlinge im Spiegel.de, 16. Sept 2015:

Alle Fotostrecken im Spiegel.de;

Refugees:

  • Fortress Hungary: Orbán Profits from the Refugees, on Spiegel Online International, by Jan Puhl, Sept 15, 2015 (Photo Gallery): In many respects, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has emerged as the political victor in the refugee crisis. Voters support his hardline stance and other Eastern European countries are following his suit;
  • on en.wikipedia - European migrant crisis: the 2015 European migrant crisis[1][2][3][4][5] or European refugee crisis[6][7][8][9] arose through the rising number of refugees and migrants coming to the European Union, across the Mediterranean Sea or Southeast Europe, and applying for asylum …;

More current Photo Galleries on Spiegel Online International;

It’s Time to Break With Saudi Arabia’s ‘Kingdom of Horrors’, on truth dig, by Stanley Heller, Sept 15, 2015;

US: Shouting Back at Donald Trump, on The Nation, by Julianne Hing, Sept 15, 2015: Trump’s circus of anti-immigrant rhetoric is all fun and games until someone gets attacked … // … “Donald Trump seemed like a sideshow, but it’s gotten to the point that he’s riled up the far right wing. It’s not just about a wall. It’s not just about anchor babies. It’s stirring up fear in people,” Carrillo said. “His rhetoric is leading to real-life consequences” … // … The irony, he added, is that most of the UWD members who took part in the action Wednesday were US citizens. “So it’s not an issue of immigration status. They saw people who didn’t look like them and immediately imagined they didn’t belong here” …;

US – Special Page on The Nation: Election 2016;

Daughter of The Revolution, 12.35 min, uploaded on YouTube by The Real News, Sept 12, 2015;

9/11 – Eternal Pretext, Eternal War, on Global Research.ca, by Larry Chin, Sept 11, 2015;

US Imperialism: Mom, Is it War Yet? – Part II: Two Suns in the Sunset, on Black Agenda Report, by T.P. Wilkinson, Sept 8, 2015;

Intermezzo in the Inferno, on Dissident Voice, by T.P. Wilkinson, Sept 8, 2015;

still important:

Comments are closed.