ED Miliband’s speech to the National Policy Forum was devoted to the theme that Labour, while ‘going beyond’ the completely discredited open worship of bankers and bosses favoured by Blair (New Labour), would nevertheless continue the Blair tradition of seeing its electoral role as winning the support of the middle class, by shifting the struggle onto the ground chosen by the Tories as to who really represents what they call the ‘Big Society’
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This is why the ‘socialist’ Miliband did not mention socialism, or nationalisation, or deal with any of the problems that workers face, and will face for the next decade – if there is not a socialist revolution – of savagely rising inflation, the slashing of housing, child, and incapacity benefits, and the loss of up to 700,000 jobs in the public sector, leading to four million unemployed.
Instead, he revealed the old Brownite aim of turning the Labour Party into a clone of the US Democratic Party.
As with his boss Brown, he wants to retain a link with the trade unions since they continue to finance the party, while being able to politically ignore them.
In the USA, the trade unions have financed the Obama electoral campaigns to the tune of tens, and even hundreds of millions of dollars, without having a shred of control over the US administration.
Miliband reasons that if this can be done in the US, then why cannot it be done here, especially since such a move could bring the Liberal Democrats into the Labour fold.
This is the purpose of the proposed Miliband policy to import the US primary system into the UK and have Labour Party leaders and officials and even policies decided on at mass meetings or elections in which non-party members are welcome to vote.
This is not policy. This is a form of demagogery, to replace or neuter the trade union bloc vote, but keep their cash.
Miliband says: ‘A hundred years ago when we were founded, people’s allegiances to party were much more likely to be inherited rather than chosen.
‘Today the world is very different. People are much more likely to choose their allegiance rather than inherit it. People are much more likely to wear that allegiance very lightly. And some people don’t want to accept lock, stock and barrel the idea of joining a political party.’
He is talking about the fickle middle class, not the working class that gives its class vote to Labour and was so shocked by the content of Blairism that it refused to do so at the last election in many places.
This turn away from the Labour Party to ‘community power’ is also being discussed in relation to the public services.
The opportunist Miliband, instead of pledging to defend the public sector, now wants to see it privatised under the banner of ‘community ownership’.
‘What are the solutions for the future that I am interested in? I am interested in mutual solutions to some of the issues we face in our public services. To community ownership of our public services.’
This is in fact the current Tory-led coalition’s chosen road to privatisation!
Miliband even declares: ‘Now it sticks in our throat when David Cameron tries to claim that he’s the man for the big society. . . So we need to think really hard in our policy review about how we are the people who stand up for strong communities and strong society and I tell you this, we’ve got to take that term ‘Big Society’ back off David Cameron.’
Miliband’s watchword is ‘Modest in our promises, ambitious in what we want to do for the country. That must be our watchword.’
He is telling workers that what they are about to receive they must grin and bear it.
The working class will reject this Miliband drivel. The trade unions do have a mission. This is to lead the entire population into action to bring down the reactionary coalition and bring in a workers’ government and socialism.