British Communists: Have they given up?

I have made no secret of the fact that I used to be a member of The Communist Party in Britain. I started as a teenager, in the Young Communist League, then transferred to adult membership when I was 18 years old. I wasn’t a very good local member. I rarely attended meetings, and never sold the Morning Star newspaper on the streets. But I did actively support the cause in other ways. I became a trade union ‘agitator’, with a Communist intent to try to make the unions more militant. Much later, I was part of a large group that infiltrated the Labour Party, by joining it, and then signed up as a member of an offshoot group, ‘Militant Tendency’, with an agenda to change the Labour Party into a radical Hard-Left organisation.

That ‘plot’ was discovered, and I was formally expelled as a member of the Labour Party. As that was at the time of Neil Kinnock’s leadership, I saw that almost as a relief. Soon after, I split from the Communist Party, because it took an anti-Soviet stance, and I felt that they were becoming too ‘soft’. The last time I was able to vote for a Communist candidate was in 1987, when I still lived in South-East London. He lost his deposit, and received so few votes that they never stood a candidate there again.

During the EU referendum, The Communist Party took a very anti-EU position, and that attracted me. This is what they had to say about the EU.

Nevertheless, the CP will continue to oppose Britain’s membership of the European Union, recognising that the treaties, rules, directives and policies of the EU are designed to protect big business interests and their capitalist markets against any advance towards socialism in any EU member state.
Like most Communist and workers’ parties across Europe, the Communist Party of Britain understands that the EU has also been designed to be unreformable as a construction to defend and promote capitalism and is now developing a military dimension in order to promote the common interests of Europe’s main imperialist powers.

This was exactly how I had always felt about the EU, and why I voted against joining, in 1975.

Since moving to Norfolk in 2012, I have not had many opportunities to vote. But when they have arisen, I have voted for The Labour Party. This is generally perceived to be a nominal protest vote in this region, which is firmly and traditionally Conservative, and on the right-wing of that party too.

So with last Thursday’s election giving an emphatic win for the Conservatives throughout much of the UK, I wondered what The Communist Party had been up to, and why they had never put up a candidate in Norfolk for me to vote for. I found this, online.

The Communist Party reaffirms its commitment to working for the election of a left-led Labour government on a left and progressive manifesto at an early general election.
Once again, we will call upon all socialists, progressives, trade unionists, Greens and Scottish and Welsh nationalists to vote for such a government led by a socialist who has a long and proven record of defending the interests of working people and their families and of opposing militarism and imperialist wars.
In order to demonstrate its commitment to unity around this perspective, the CP will not be standing candidates of its own in the next general election, providing Labour retains its left leadership and fights the election on a left and progressive manifesto.

It appears that they have so little faith in their own policies, that they urged their members to vote for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party, as the ‘best option’ for some kind of Socialist government in this country. Further research told me that it also did this in 2017, and in 2018, it announced that it would no longer stand any candiudates against Labour, as long as the current leadership was in place. Looking into it a little more. I discovered that the current Communist Party in Britain has less than 900 members.

I conclude that they have ‘given up’.

Backlash Politics

So the Conservatives win again, with a bigger majority.

This despite having a leader who almost nobody likes, and policies that nobody really wants.
Unless they are very rich of course.

And despite promises by the opposition to make the NHS secure, nationalise transport and utilities, and give out free broadband.

All too easy to blame it all on Jeremy Corbyn. Supposedly, the public just don’t like him, and his leadership cost Labour the election, as well as losing many historically-held seats.
That’s not really the case though, we all know that.

The election was only ever about one thing, and that was Britain leaving the EU.

Since the summer of 2016, Leave voters have been derided for being racist, stupid, uninformed, misinformed, duped, and many other things, including apparently all being overweight. Not one of them was ever given the credit for understanding what they were voting for, because they were considered to be unintelligent, incapable of reason, and unable to comprehend anything. The Labour Party was taken over by people insisting on remaining in the EU, as was the Liberal Democrat Party. During the recent campaign, many Labour candidates (including the one where I live) openly stated that they would fight to cancel Article 50, and stay in Europe as a member of the EU.

The Liberal Democrat leader made staying in Europe the main feature of her party’s policies and platform. She lost her seat, and has resigned as leader.

In former Labour strongholds that had voted to leave the EU, Labour was defeated by a swing to the Right that was unprecedented in those communities.

This is the backlash. The revenge of those people deprived of democracy after voting Leave in the referendum in 2016, and winning that vote. Ever since, they have had to sit and watch as politicians and organisations attempted to overturn that vote, and unravel the whole democratic process we thought we lived by.

So now we have this government. One run by the rich, for the rich, and nobody knows how bad it will get over the next five years. This country may well have a increasingly right-wing Conservative government for the rest of my life.

Is anyone surprised? I’m not.

The American ‘Left’

I read the blogs of a lot of Americans. The majority of my followers are from America, and they account for around 60% of the views on my main blog.

Some of them even follow this blog, and for that I thank them.

Since 2016, many of those bloggers have become very political, for obvious reasons. The election of Mr Trump has managed to divide opinion there in a way I have never seen previously.
Much like how Brexit has affected the UK, being for or against the Trump presidency has become a badge of honour for either side.

I tend to stay out of it, as I have little faith in the Democrat opposition to put forward a candidate that will interest me, or even manage to defeat the current President.

I confess that I do laugh at Mr Trump’s hair, every time I see him. I also think his outbursts are childish, and have caused many outside America to lose respect for that country. But my opinion doesn’t matter a jot, as around 40% of Americans support him, and want him to win in 2020.

But do the Democrats offer a real solution for the problems that beset the most powerful nation on Earth? I doubt it.

The Republicans and Democrats are both right-wing parties, with one slightly less ‘lukewarm’ than the other. Both support big business, and both receive funds from big business. Both support the continuation of private health care, whatever nice name they give it. Both support the rich getting obscenely richer too.

Over the past year, I have read a lot of accusations that the Democrats are ‘Socialists’, ‘Left-wing’, even (laughably) ‘Communists’.

Yes, there are people in the US who belong to a Communist Party. Here’s a link.

About Us


And others who are in Socialist parties too. More links to them.
https://www.socialistpartyusa.net/
https://www.pslweb.org/

But the chances of any of their members ever being elected into a position of real influence or power is non-existent.
And honestly, the Democrats are nothing like these people, nothing at all.

Take it from me, America. You do not have a single (actual) Socialist or Communist in any position of power over there, however minor that position might be. At the risk of appearing to seem patronising, here is a list of some of what Socialists and Communists believe in, at least as far as the official policies are concerned.

State ownership of all Utilities.
State ownership of manufacturing and distribution.
Stare ownership of Transport Infrastructure.
State controlled education, fair and equal for all.
State provision of free healthcare, on an equal basis.

Before you all get on your high horses, I know full well that all that hasn’t always happened, even in those countries ruled by that political system. Humans are corrupt by nature, and will take opportunities where they present themselves. But you REALLY do not have anyone in the Democratic Party who would advocate such reforms, believe me.

I speak from experience, as I am from Europe, and have had a lifetime of being involved in the politics of what is known here as ‘The Extreme Left’.

So, please calm down.

If the Democrats win in 2020, you will wake up the next morning to find that the only thing that has changed is the hairstyle of whoever became President.

A Right Royal Entitlement

So, a ‘Prince of The Realm’ thinks it is alright to have sex with an underage woman, and does not regret his friendship with a known paedophile?

He can simply ‘retire from Royal Duties’, whatever they are supposed to be.
Try doing that, if you are just ‘ordinary’.

Do we need anymore proof of the cesspool that is our supposed ‘Royal Family’?
Arrogance, entitlement, parasitic living, and a completely pointless existence.

And before anyone cries ‘Tourism’, let’s remember how many tourists flock to Disney World, Paris, and Rome.
They are in countries that haven’t had a Royal Family in living memory.

We don’t need the Royals anymore, and it is high time someone got rid of them.
Let them go and try to live on benefits, in a council estate.

Or send them to America, as a ‘travelling exhibition’. They seem to love them over there.

Coalitions, and The Ides Of March

Not long to go before the election, and the knives are out all round.

Labour Deputy leader Tom Watson, a well known moderate, (read borderline Tory) has announced his decision to quit as an MP, and not to continue in politics after the election.
He cites the fact that he wants to become a personal trainer, and write books about his weight loss, after being diagnosed with Diabetes.

So. after a lifetime in politics, he chooses working in a local gym, and writing self-help books, over being the potential number two to Corbyn’s Prime Minister.
(If Corbyn wins of course, which seems to be increasingly unlikely)

Once a moderate non-Socialist, always a moderate non-Socialist, so it would appear.
And the chance to stab a genuine left-winger in the back? That will do nicely, thank you.

The Conservatives have their own crop of defectors. Remain-friendly MPs, afraid to face the Leave constituents who voted them in on the understanding we would leave the EU. They are bailing out as fast as the First-Class passengers on The Titanic.

Then we have the Remain Alliance. Lib-Dems, Greens, and local Nationalists, all coming to various agreements about not standing against each other, hoping to tip the balance in possible ‘wavering’ constituencies.

The forecast is for a complete ‘mess’. The worst-case scenario is that we will get a fractured government, with no party able to scrape up a majority to do anything positive. Brexit will hang around into a fourth year, and Europe will be sniggering behind its fingers at the complete balls-up that is politics in modern Britain.

Is it any wonder that I have had enough of this circus?

The ‘No choice’ Election

Well it looks like we will have a General Election in December. That’s a ‘maybe’, until someone tries to stall it, like they have stalled leaving the EU for over three years.

December the 9th, or December the 12th. It matters not to me, because I have nobody left to vote for.

My usual default vote would be (somewhat reluctantly these days) for the Labour Party.

But now they want a second referendum on the EU, if they win. (Which is unlikely)
At best, they keep talking about a ‘People’s Vote’, just another expression for a second referendum.

So, I cannot possibly vote Labour, as they have ignored the result of the 2016 referendum completely.

Because they didn’t like that result.

I cannot possibly vote for the Conservative Party, because they are just privileged arseholes.
I would sooner bite off my own leg, than ever cast a vote for those insufferable bastards.

Liberal Democrats? Wishy-washy, no-policy losers, who want us to stay in the EU.
My vote is never going to go in their direction.

The Brexit Party? Right-wing, xenophobic Nationalists, one step away from Fascism.
It goes without saying that they can f***k off.

The Greens. All cosy, comfy, and worried about the planet. Hmm…
No. They want to stay in the EU. To hell with the 2016 referendum result.

So, that’s me. Done with politics. Sick to my stomach about so-called ‘Democrats’ who think it is alright to fight against an election result because they didn’t win.
Fed up with elected politicians who ignore the will of the people that voted them in, because it suits their pockets, and their personal ambitions.

Good luck with the election. I will not be participating.

Unless they put ‘None of the above’ on the ballot paper.

The Missing Duke

Ever since the Duke of Edinburgh crashed his car into someone else’s, we haven’t seen much of him.

Not long after that car incident, he supposedly returned his driving licence, and voluntarily stopped driving himself around.

Then it was announced that he was ‘retiring’ from public duties.

And he hasn’t been seen since.

Now I have a theory. I reckon he is already dead. He is 98 years old, after all. I postulate that his body is stashed away in the Royal Freezer. ‘But why would they do this?’ I hear you cry.
There is nothing like a State funeral to take people’s minds off something. The public loves the pomp and ceremony. The speeches, the eulogies, and the blanket news coverage. They might even make it a public holiday and give everyone a day off, you never know.

My thoughts are that they expect the EU departure to go tits-up at a very early juncture. And just when everyone is about to go ballistic with rage over the cock-up, they can thaw Philip out, and announce the ‘sad news’. By the time everyone has stooped boo-hooing over the loss of another Royal hanger-on, they won’t notice how all the rich people have carved up what’s left after Brexit.

As I said, just a theory.