It has become the practice that whenever Enoch Powell, the racist Tory MP for Wolverhampton, appears in public, he is "welcomed" by demonstrators representing many of the left-wing tendencies and organisations. The slogans and leaflets of these militants usually make an identity between Powell and Hitler, demand that racism be eliminated and that the "drift towards fascism" which they claim Powell represents, be stopped, In some communities, local "anti-fascist" committees have been organised to combat this trend "towards the right". This feeling that the ultra right are quickly gaining influence is strengthened through the physical attacks made by lumpen elements on Pakistani and other black workers, e.g the recent racist "riots" which erupted in Leeds,
The fight against Powellism and racism will not be victorious unless there is a full understanding of the real relationship of forces that exist throughout the country and unless there is a correct assessment of the direction which the class struggle is heading.
The form of capitalist rule in Britain today is bourgeois democratic. In countries like Greece the capitalist class rules through a military dictatorship. The German and Italian ruling class during the 1930's instituted the most inhuman and barbaric form of capitalist rule possible: fascism.
The two main forms of capitalist rule, bourgeois democratic and fascist, are not identical although one contains the seeds of the other, Marxists who fail to make a clear distinction between these two forms, or put an equation sign between the two, will make the most serious programmatical and organisational errors,
Under a fascist Britain, all democratic rights, like the right to run candidates against the Government, the right to print socialist papers and hold meetings, etc., would be eliminated. Working class and socialist organisations, including the Labour Party and trade unions would be crushed their leaders either murdered or held in concentration camps. Even dissident religious or social groups would come under the iron heel of the dictatorship. For this state of affairs to be reached the working class would have to be beaten, demoralised and defeated. The repression would permeate every aspect of society.
DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS
Bourgeois democracy is something different, Over decades of struggle the working class has won some genuine democratic rights: like the right to free speech; assembly and vote; as well as the right to organise unions and political parties, The working class will not let anyone take these rights away from them without a big fight taking place, The ruling class by-and-large, concede these rights although they nibble away at them from time to time,
To state and recognise the differences between fascism and bourgeois democracy and to recognise the positive aspects of the latter over the former, in no way forces a choice between the two, Both are forms of capitalist rule, In fact, a clear understanding of the nature and of the precise characteristics of capitalism (whatever its form) makes it possible to more effectively fight capitalism and replace it with a system where the workers control their own destiny - a socialist society,
To say that Britain is moving towards the right is incorrect, The reverse is true - there is a shift to the left. The same is true of America and most advanced capitalist countries in Europe, The degree of radicalisation varies from country to country, and within each country, What is common to each is a general radicalisation of youth caused primarily by the American imperialist war in Vietnam, and now supplemented by other factors.
MASS DEMONSTRATIONS
Almost one year ago, (October 27th, 1968) 100,000 people (one-third of whom were workers) filled the streets of London in the biggest anti-war demonstration ever seen in Britain, The vast majority of the demonstrators turned out to show their opposition to the role of American and British imperialism in Vietnam and to identify themselves with the Vietnamese freedom fighters, Others clearly identified themselves with some other left-wing demand or campaign,
May Day, 1969, was quite different from other May Days in recent years, Over 250,000 workers staged a one-hour strike to protest against the anti-trade union legislation then being proposed by the Labour Government,
The student struggles, highlighted by militants tearing down the gates at the London School of Economics last January, show that the bourgeois educational authorities, while still having room to manoeuvre and grant concessions, are unable to halt this general radicalization of student youth,
In Northern Ireland capitalist relations broke down completely a few weeks ago, when civil rights fighters commandeered everything on wheels to build barricades in order to stop the B specials and Paisleyite thugs from entering the Bogside, Almost every form of struggle used by the French workers and students in their May 1968 revolution reappeared in Derry only in a much more dramatic way.
Tory plans hatched in Westminster to raise Council rents and thereby impose a big cut in the standard of living of thousands of workers are being met by the organisation of tenants associations, Squatters movements are developing and empty properties are being taken over to rehouse the homeless.
All these struggles have taken place over the past two or three years and it is important to note that they have been taking place under a Labour Government and not a Conservative one. The consciousness of the participants is therefore much deeper.
THE REALITY OF THE SITUATION
To say that British politics are moving to the right is clearly not the reality and it is on reality that Marxists must base themselves to make their analysis, The strength of the ultra-right must be measured not only by what one or two individual leaders say or write, but also by how they and their supporters act, Up till now despite Wilson and Company playing into the hands of reaction by betraying everything the Labour Party ever stood for, there has not been one single demonstration held in support of the incomes policy: not one single demonstration numbering more than fifty held in support of the war in Vietnam; not one single demonstration or meeting held in England, Scotland or Wales in support of the B specials of Northern Ireland and the use of guns and tear gas against the Catholic minority there,
It does not follow that the vast majority of the population have a clear class understanding of all these issues. In fact a great deal of confusion exists. What is significant is that today, the voices of racism, reaction and anti communism do not receive a very receptive ear and the handful that do listen and agree are not prepared to do much about it,
The National Front and the super-white patriot Powell do not pose much of a fascist danger at this time, although they could at some future date. Potential fascist organisations become a real danger when their demagogic appeals are picked up by hundreds of thousands of people. when these masses are organised and prepared to do battle with the working class and its organisations and when the ruling class has tried everything else and failed, As a last resort the ruling class will give the fascists their full support.
A fascist movement does not come into being due to the wishes of a few reactionary individuals, no matter how gifted and powerful they may seem, Such a movement can only arise when the ruling class (or the most powerful sector of it) feels its power seriously threatened and when the mass of the people, in a mood of despondency through a series of defeats desperately try and solve their social problems by getting rid of the "working class agitators", "communists", "jews", or "niggers", thus instituting a "strong" government,
The attacks in Leeds on Sikhs and Pakistanis by white lumpen elements should be taken seriously by everyone concerned with the preservation and extension of democratic rights To let such things go by unheeded only gives confidence to the racist elements and increases the danger of further and more violent attacks, The black community has every right to organise itself for self-defence along the lines it considers necessary. Any qualification of this position is unthinkable
THE NEED TO STRUGGLE
Racism and religious bigotry are inherent in capitalist society and backward ideas permeate even the working class and socialist organisations. To eliminate their root causes it is necessary to eliminate capitalism. This will be done when the working class and its allies launch massive struggles to better their economic and social conditions. Such struggles, when they take place now, will no doubt be daring and heroic but whether they can solve the basic conflict between capital and labour depends to a great extent on how far the working class is prepared to go and whether there is a vanguard organization that is powerful enough to direct the struggle towards the seizure of power Without such a combination of forces the struggle will reach a climax and then the danger of repression becomes real. In such a situation the middle class hold the workers responsible for the crisis, and are influenced by right-wing propaganda and turn towards the fascist movement for a solution to their problems,
The tasks and problems we are faced with today are very different from those of fighting fascism, We have a leftward development which is much bigger and of much more importance than the polarisation that is taking place on the right. The tasks are to penetrate wherever this radicalisation occurs, to formulate transitional demands which are understood by the class yet deepen and push the struggle forward, and to build a combat organisation in preparation for this struggle, These are the tasks facing revolutionary socialists today,