The new international order and the degeneration of Labour

By Steve McKenzie (member of Lewisham, Greenwich and Bexley Unite Community)

The degeneration of the right-wing leadership of the Labour party under Sir Keir Starmer is plain for all to see. Although taking inspiration from the New Labour of the Blair/Brown period it has actually sought to render the Labour Party even more openly right-wing and pro-capitalist than it was in that period.

This reflects the different economic conditions in which it finds itself. Stamer’s historical task seems merely to be responsible for isolating and excluding socialist ideas from the Labour Party and making the party safe for capitalism as it goes through a period of profound crisis.

We need to look at what has happened to the Labour Party, and why, and to examine the development of New Labour, the whole degenerate trend, from the nineties and through the first quarter of this century against the international backdrop.

Internationally, and led by America, a different kind of order has established itself. It has done so by controlling markets through tariffs, and US imperialism’s military threats and interventions. This has gone alongside Trump’s racist homeland policies, with mass deportations and the ensuing economic dislocations, not to mention Trump supporters seizing control of key positions in the administration to enable it to determine financial strategy. 

The dramatic changes in the United States that have taken place since Trump took office are the most obvious and prominent drivers of this latest phase in capitalist world history. However, it isn’t just in the US that these developments are taking place. There is Netanyahu and the Zionists in Israel, Modi and Hindu nationalism in India, Le Pen and the Rassemblement National in France, the AfD in Germany and Farage’s Reform UK in Britain. 

Fake consensus falls apart

The old international order and the political certainties of yesteryear, which had prevailed from the end of World War 2, are over. The fake consensus and selectively used international law, (for those the US favoured), started to fall apart with the fall of Stalinism and the end of the cold war in 1989. Capitalism was initially triumphant. It was the only game in town; some hysterically claimed the collapse of Stalinism was the end of history!

However, that over-exuberance was shown up for what it was and capitalism fell into a period of deep crisis, starting dramatically with the credit crunch, less than two decades later.

The so-called free market of capitalism, the pretence that international law prevailed, the mock authority of organisations like the United Nations and the International Criminal Court, have graphically and repeatedly been shown up for the farce that they are, and always have been. Might is right and the Trump regime has no time for the diplomatic niceties of the past and simply rules without them.

The US also continues to fund and arm ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza and the West Bank. This atrocity alone is graphic proof that the barbarism inherent in this latest phase of capitalism is still there, just as it has been in all previous phases of capitalism. 

The message from Trump and his bully boys, to the rest of the world is, “Do as you are told or you will be hit with tariffs or worse, you know what happened to Iran, and you all saw what happened to the president of Venezuela”. 

As is always the case, in the last analysis, this a reflection of economic reality. While the USA is still the most powerful nation on earth militarily, China is closing the gap fast economically. US imperialism is openly using its military might in an attempt to consolidate its increasingly precarious economic domination. Protectionism, manipulation of markets and military threats are rapidly taking the place of laissez faire and  globalised neo-liberalism under the so-called “rules-based order” of the past. 

It is against this world backdrop, and these economic realities, that centrist parties, (which in normal times represent a relatively stable situation), are collapsing everywhere and whether this dramatic decline turns out to be terminal remains to be seen. In Britain, both the Tory party and Starmer‘s Labour are imploding as the new situation has created sharply polarised political outlooks. Populist parties to the right, and to a lesser extent the left, are on the rise.

The New Labour project 

In 1994 the Labour Party under Tony Blair ditched clause 4 of the Labour Party constitution which up to then had formally committed it to the creation of a socialist economy based on common ownership of industry. The party rebranded itself “New Labour”. This was a signal to big business that the Labour Party was now completely safe and in their hands. The Blair/Brown leadership, heavily influenced by Peter Mandelson, was enthralled by, and representative of, big business and establishment interests.

Some of the reforms introduced by the Labour governments of 1997-2010 benefited working people but overall they only had a relatively marginal effect. Of those, meaningful reforms, like the building of new schools and hospitals, were undertaken under a financial arrangement known as the Private Finance Initiative. As a result of this mode of financing we saw tens of billions being shovelled into the pockets of the private finance and the building industries – tens of billions that could have been spent on public services, employing more doctors, nurses and teachers. 

New Labour, in satisfying the needs of big business,  fully embraced neo liberalism, privatisation, deregulation and the shrinking of the state. Inevitably, along with this, goes a growth in corruption, fraud, duplicity and dishonesty – traits that became increasingly apparent as time went on, although the full extent of the depravity is only now beginning to come to light. 

Most significantly, under the rule of new labour, Thatcher’s anti-trade union legislation wasn’t repealed. Keeping the unions hamstrung by the law suppressed working class resistance on the industrial front. Every move that new labour made was done with facilitating big business and the establishment in mind.

The Blairite economic policies were achievable in the boom years of the late nineties and early two thousands, and New Labour won three elections in this period. But unfortunately, the boom was based on an unsustainable credit which, as we all know, has to be paid back at some stage. The so called credit crunch hit the capitalist world in 2008. Living standards got worse and the Labour government fell in 2010.

There was no overall majority at the general election but the upshot of it was a Tory led coalition government led by David Cameron, with the Liberals led by Nick Clegg making up the number. Austerity was the coalition government’s answer to the financial crisis;  consequently things went from bad to worse, as austerity limited growth and living standards declined, especially for the poorest sections of the working class.

Labour wedded to neo-liberalism

Despite this the Tories won an outright majority at the 2015 general election, although this had more to do with the legacy of, and the continuing disillusion, with New Labour, at this stage led by Ed Miliband. Very significantly, going into the election, the Labour Party was still wedded to economic neo-liberalism and offered only minor reforms. Clearly the electorate had no confidence in them at all.

The rejection of the whole pro-business approach of Labour by the left was reflected in the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party later in the same year. That was the response on the left of British politics. Nigel Farage, anti-European xenophobia and the rise of UKIP was the reflection of it on the right. 

So powerful was the rise of right-wing populism that the Tory prime minister, David Cameron, called a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union. It was an arrogant miscalculation, and Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016 and Cameron resigned. Again, the economy went from bad to worse.

The hapless Teresa May then became the leader of the Tory party and the farce continued. Not getting Brexit done and losing the overall majority in the 2017 snap election that she had called was what finally finished May, who staggered on a bit longer propped up by the Democratic Unionist Party. She was eventually replaced by Boris Johnson who campaigned on the slogan of ‘Get Brexit Done’ which led to his election victory in 2019.

The more serious sections of the capitalist class were in an absolute frenzy as a result of the decision to leave the EU. From a capitalist point of view, the vote to leave Europe, the biggest market in the world, was clearly a disastrous decision. Their decision to then promote campaigning  for a second referendum was equally stupid and only consolidated the Brexit position, moving things even further to the right. 

To cut a long story short the subsequent corruption and duplicity led to the fall of Johnson. This was followed by the truly deranged leadership of Liz Truss, which just about put the lid on things and finally sank the Tories. Rishi Sunak was unable to repair the damage. It was irreparable, at least in the short term.

By this time, through subterfuge and deceit, the right wing had regained control of the Labour Party under the leadership of Sir Keir Starmer. The full extent of the treachery and dishonesty of the Starmer regime is quite incredible and is only now fully coming to light. On top of the duplicity, and servile toadying to big business and the establishment, there is also the breathtaking level of sheer political incompetence. 

The collapse in support for the Tories led to the landslide election victory for Labour in 2024. It certainly had nothing to do with any enthusiasm for the Labour Party. 

In just 20 months, Starmer’s Labour government, has made one disastrous political decision after another. Electoral support is dramatically draining away from them. The question in many minds of those on the left, is, have they gone beyond the point of no return, is it really all over for Labour this time?

Your Party

The immediate reaction, is the same as it always has been on the left in Britain in situations like this. There was a drive to build a new party to the left of Labour. Frankly the attempt to do that with the misnamed Your Party, echoes failed attempts to do the same thing in the past, albeit on a much larger scale.

The betrayal and corruption of Starmer’s old new Labour and the serious and sometimes farcical attempts so far to set up a new party, has benefitted the Green Party led by Zack Polansky. 

Although anyone on the left would always support a Green candidate over a Reform UK one, anyone with experience of the Greens in office suspects  where this is going to end up – with dodgy compromises, sliding into more serious betrayals.

Can Labour purge itself of everything new labour and become a party representing the interests of the working class? Can Your Party purge itself of the bureaucratic manipulators that threatens to bring the whole project to its knees? 

It could be argued that both are very unlikely propositions, and that is certainly how it looks at this moment in time. However nothing stands still and we are in a perpetual state of change. However hard it is to bear, the fact is that the working class has no mass party and no real political representation as a result of the utter degeneration of old new labour and the partial implosion of your party on the runway before it even took off.  

The trade unions

The key to when and how the lack of working class political representation is resolved ultimately rests with the trade unions. Given the bureaucratic nature of most unions, those affiliated to the Labour Party and those not, and given the corporate trade union approach of right wing unions, and some supposedly on the left, this is a depressing thought. However, it is a fact that has to be faced up to. The corporate approach and the bureaucratic nature of the unions has to be effectively challenged. 

Our unions have to be transformed and no-one is going to do it for us. Genuine rank and file trade unionism has to reassert itself. Anyone failing to face up to this challenge, or not fighting to democratize and radicalize our unions has no place on the left of British politics and cannot, and should not, be taken seriously.

Sloganeering isn’t enough; simply stating the blatantly obvious that the unions should be democratised and membership led may be true, but words alone have never changed anything. Everyone with a collective consciousness, and especially those with a socialist class consciousness has a responsibility to rebuild genuine trade unionism in the workplace and in the branches. 

Before our unions were almost completely controlled by the bureaucrats, employees that our subs pay for, there were a quarter of a million shop stewards in Britain, many involved in joint shop stewards committees and combines. If we are going to see truly membership led unions, if the organised working class are ever to have a real political voice, this is the essential groundwork that has to be done.

We need a political voice. 

At present the workers political voice is virtually inaudible and is clearly split and divided. What does this reflect? Disorganisation and weakness in the workplace and in the union branches.

How else has corrupt capitalism and the kleptocracy it spawns flourished as well as it has in Britain?. The utter corruption and barbarism of this latest stage of capitalism, that has been years in the making, has to be understood, organised against and defeated.

That means that there must be an effective working class political party, and as far as the first step to achieving that is concerned, that means transforming bureaucratic and corporate trade unionism into effective and genuine unionism.

[Featured image – Photo of Tony Blair in 2002 – Paul Morse – wiki commons. Photo of Sir Keir Starmer at the NATO Summit – Number 10 – wiki commons]