A position that seems to boggle the minds of the modern left is why communists of our persuasion constantly attack the Labour Party. We are looked at strangely when we don’t feel compelled to join in the leftist battle cry of ‘F*ck the T*ries’. The belief that, once the Tories are out and one of the other generic social democratic parties have found a way to win an election then the country will be a better place, is a thought process that is entirely lacking in understanding of the apparatus of capitalism. We want to tear down the system, not reform it. We want socialism, not a nicer brand of capitalism.
F*ck the Tories
Being anti-Tory has become synonymous with fake struggle. Angela Raynor embodied this with her infamous rant where she called Conservatives “…a bunch of scum, homophobic, racist, misogynistic, absolute pile… of banana republic… Etonian piece of scum… that I have ever seen in my life” All this being said whilst representing The Labour Party as deputy leader. A Labour Party with little to no discernible difference in policy to the maligned Tories.
The word ‘Tory’ was coined as an insult, derived from the Middle Irish word tóraidhe, (modern Irish tóraí,) which means “robber” or “outlaw”, taken from the Irish word tóir, meaning “pursuit”, as outlaws were essentially “pursued men”. In the Northwest of England, to call someone a ‘Tory’ is often used as a derogatory term to someone acting a little ostentatious. It can even broaden to just incorporate all Southerners. The slight assumes that coming from ‘down south’ means a more opulent lifestyle and automatic support for the party associated with this lifestyle and this part of the country, the Conservative Party.
There are many falsehoods with this thinking. There are as many working-class areas in the South of England with issues of impoverishment and deprivation which beset our class in the rest of the country. Not only that, Labour has long since ditched its working-class costume and fully immersed itself as a capitalist party. The Red Wall fell, and areas of London started turning to Labour for the first time in their gentrified modern history.
Labour
Tony Benn once said, “The Labour Party isn’t a socialist party, it’s a party with socialists in it.” We could pose the question that, if we pursue Socialism through a party with all the hallmarks and traditions of a social democratic party, are we truly socialist? Many Trotskyites argue that the reason they have aligned their parties to Labour is because of Lenin’s “Left Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder”, written in 1920 and before the Labour Party formed its first government. In this work, Lenin argued that the early Communist Party of Great Britain should seek affiliation to the Labour Party. Lenin did this in order that the communists could expose the Labour leadership of Ramsay MacDonald as being pro-capitalist before the eyes of the millions of workers who still viewed it as a workers’ party.
Lenin was always clear though that this was a tactical move based on the needs of a small, new Communist Party that was faced with a large Social Democratic party which had the support of millions of workers. Lenin was, however, never one to stick with a tactic when circumstances changed. Now, over 100 years later, our time are very much different. These days, workers view Labour and the Tories as being interchangeable and their policies only confirm this. At best workers vote Labour out of habit and (as stated above) millions switched to the Tories at the last election for the first time. The idea that the workers have the same view of Labour as they did a century ago is a bad joke.
This misunderstanding of Lenin’s work by the Trotskyites has forever wedded them to Labour in what became a marriage of convenience – Labour’s social democratic position and the Trotskyite’s counter-revolutionary position. The Trotskyites occupy vast swathes of the British labour movement, so this can cause confusion to newer leftists trying to find their way in politics. Many of us have fallen into this trap, but as you grow in knowledge and confidence and realise the failings of the Labour Party, this will hopefully help you to shed the social democrat skin.
Another misunderstanding surrounds the Clement Attlee years of 1945 -1951. After World War 2 had ended, Britain was faced with the reconstruction of a country ravaged by two world wars and the ‘demobbing’ of hordes of soldiers. These war-weary working-class men had seen the world and the effects of imperialism on it at first hand.
The spectre of Communism was haunting Europe. Revolutionary change was in the air and the ruling class were fearful. Hence their faithful servant, Clement Attlee, was able to step forward and make the reforms known as Welfare Capitalism. An olive branch was offered to the population in the hope of avoiding real socialism that was embodied by the Soviet Union.
The Labour Party adopted Clause 4 in 1918, which was originally drafted to state:
“To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service.”
This clause was interpreted to mean that socialism was enshrined in Labour’s constitution, however this clause was nothing more than the creation of an illusion of socialism without creating actual socialism. In 1945, with the ending of the Second World War, Attlee and his government went to work on six years of welfare reforms, creating full employment to busy the British workers and, arguably, to fool them into believing that this settlement, which included nationalising some 20% of the economy, was a settlement in their favour.
All of these ‘concessions’ to the working class was funded by subjugating workers of other colonised countries and by increasing the tax burden on British workers.
Labour has never swayed from supporting Imperialism, particularly in the Attlee years. The decision to brand Labour into two categories, the old and the new, has whitewashed the blood-soaked history of Labour and blamed its modern warmongering on Tony Blair. It should not be forgotten how the darling Attlee followed the USA into the UN-sanctioned Korean War in the Yanks’ war on communism.
Let us also not forget that was this same Labour government that signed the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) to continue the European-United States Imperialist alliance and every subsequent Labour government has continued its support of the imperialist NATO. Including the current messiah, St Jeremy Corbyn of Islington.
There is no doubt that The Conservatives are an awful political party. They are the ruling party who we should never doubt only serve only their class. Yes, they are the enemy of the working. Yes, we know this, and it is understood. Even young working-class children understand what the Tories are, but Labour have always professed to be of our class without ever acting as such. ‘We are the party of the working-class’ they say. They have said these words, but history consistently and absolutely disproves them. Labour have always acted in the interests of Capitalism and Imperialism. The reforms they have made have only been to placate the working-class, not emancipate them.
As a comrade said to me, a disguised enemy is more deadly than an open one. The Labour Party is that enemy. For real change in Britain we, as a class, need to smash the shackles of Labour and tear apart the capitalist apparatus that subjugates us to a red rosette.
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Class Consciousness Project 
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