So we were told the Working Class would blame the immigrants and that Nazi Boy Griffin would win a seat. Whatever you think of Hope Not Hate, I disagree with Billy Brag but, week in, week out they were there on the streets and this has no doubt made sure Nazi Boy Griffin did not gain.
It was the same over England, now we know Anarchists have problems with pride, but understanding the political nature of class and the revolutionary background to England, having pride in our class is nothing to feel shame about. The BNP lost not because of the left, no, because the working class understand who their real enemy is: the middle class and, as we wake to a hung parliament, we need to make sure the loss for the BNP is not proclaimed as some victory for democracy and neither is a hung parliament. The only true victory for the working class is a revolutionary working class, one that self-organises and does not look to the Far Right , the Far Left or the Ballot Box.. none of them can contain our dreams.
This is a rare occurrence for a country whose political system based on ‘first passed the post’ and as such defines very differently how Parliament will conduct its business. For the political commentators and professional government watchers, party hacks and civil servant bureaucrats there will be a certain degree of interest and trepidation as unfamiliar territory is explored, for the rest of us it will be four more years of general social hostility and economic hardship as power formations seek to establish a governing ideology with which to tax us more, cut jobs, wages and benefits in order to repay the national debt that has been accumulating over the years.
As the Financial Times warned just prior the election “The next government will have to cut public sector pay, freeze benefits, slash jobs, abolish a range of welfare entitlements and take the axe to programmes such as school building and road maintenance” and adding “Packages of measures such as these are already under consideration in the Treasury and will be needed if further big tax rises are to be avoided as the next chancellor seeks, at a minimum, to halve the deficit by 2014 – a goal to which all the main parties are signed up”.
This then becomes the clear path the next government, of whatever hue, in whatever percentage share of the seats, will seek to push through. The choices that the next chancellor will face show that almost the whole population would be hit as the new government makes £30bn-£40bn of cuts in real terms to halve the deficit.
It is a cliché, but one that remains as true as ever; whichever party we vote for the government always wins, and so does capitalism, which will ultimately dictates the terms of and conditions of our economic future. The role of government is to provide a secure environment for capitalism to continue to flourish. The stock markets may stutter the day after the election results but the business of business remains resolutely tied to governments stated aims.
As a nation wakes on this Friday morning to the news of unfolding results and new names and faces are brought forward to speak about the hard task ahead, the only clear winner will be capitalism and the privileged and wealthy minority who benefit from such a system. The rest of us have another four year long hang-over to look forward to.
We need to be in our communities, as we were at Ranmoor, watching how the Lib Dems, in their power hungry lust, drove round telling students to vote with no need for them to have their polling cards, going into local pubs and offering them a lift to the polling station. No wonder there was a queue, of course the whole fucking electoral system is wrong, and as anarchists, we know it can not be reformed - it needs abolition. But, pissed up Middle Class students not given a vote was the most joy to be had in this whole fucking sham, at least they now understand what it is to be refused a vote, as do 70,000 prisoners who also wake up having been refused the same right due to fact they're in prison. Our grandparents did not vote for fascists, they shot them, neither did they fight to keep the privileged ruling class in power. They fought for liberty, truth, justice and freedom, now we need to do the same. Yes, we agree we are privileged to have the vote, but lets not delude ourselves Sisters, Brothers, Comrades, that the ballot box or parliament can offer us change. The only change we need is one of anarchism, when I wake up in the glorious sunshine of anarchy (an imaginary utopia), then I shall be truly happy. Lets not moan but organise, we either take now or stay the same..
