A recent survey carried out for the Institute of Race Relations said that Enoch Powell's estimate of 4.5 million coloured immigrants in Britain by the year 2000 was "wildly high". It also said that a high fertility rate among immigrants was a myth. Well, this was good news for the left. We had always known that Powell's figures were incorrect but could not prove it; now we had the facts and we could show people that they had nothing to worry about. Of course, if there were to be 4.5 million black people in this country in the year 2000 that would be a different matter...
Using statistics in this way - as some comrades on the left have a tendency to do - is both wrong and extremely dangerous. It is dangerous because it implies that there is a limit to the number of black people we would tolerate in this country - thus giving in to the racists - and it is wrong because what it is at stake is not statistics. Anyone can quote these to their own advantage but if the left do so, then they are doing so at the sacrifice of principle.
In the report, Dr. Everley, co-author, said that "Powell's total would only be reached if the law regulating the entry of immigrants was changed." By using these statistics in this report, we are implying that we accept the need for laws regulating immigration into this country, laws that we fought against at the time of their inception.
What we as socialists should be doing is not slaying Powell at his own game of statistics but fighting for the principle that person should be allowed into this country. We should be [illegible] under the slogans of "equality" and "integration". Recently Uncle Tom Learie Constantine said that immigrants in this country should be prepared to accept the norms of our (bourgeois) society and to realise that they do have lower qualifications than other people and should therefore not expect preferential treatment.
Socialists should be saying just the opposite. Precisely because of immigrants' lower qualifications - due to exploitation by Britain and other imperialist countries - they SHOULD be given PREFERENTIAL treatment; and the retention of national minority's culture should be encouraged.
The report talks about the "Powellite fear of whole tracts of England gradually turning black." If the left takes the line of the report by saying these fears are unjustified, it will be giving in to the racist elements, simply because of the implications that it would be a bad thing if this happened. That is, there is something wrong in being black but we are prepared to tolerate [illegible] small number as these do not imply any threat to us.
What threat? The only threat to the working class - and this must be stressed time and time again - is from the bourgeoisie itself. It is absolutely essential to show that the black people in this country are being made scape-goats because capitalism is in a crisis and needs some-one to take the blame. We must explain that Powell is not a phenomenon but a symbol of fascism that the bourgeoisie can and will resort to when capitalism is in a crisis. If it was not Powell then there would be some-one else. Powellism does not exist but the danger of fascism does and fascism cannot be fought with statistics.