Axeman's Jazz debate.

The New Left Project is a very good blogospheric project. This week they have launched a debate about the politics of the left response to the cuts starting with an interesting piece, 'The Axeman's Jazz' (what a great title) by Richard Seymour. Seymour is author (among other interesting things) of The Meaning of David Cameron, published by the excellent Zero Books just before the election. This excellent and interesting book (or pamphlet with a book price, but mustn't grumble) had its moment in that precise conjuncture. I enjoyed reading it, had some criticisms - but so did the review in Socialist Review and it is always good to see critical debate (see response and discussion on Lenin's Tomb) . So it is good to see the analysis being extended into the new period marked by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.

Seymour's conclusion, for a left looking to and working in the trade unions, and more specifically
"a multi-party, multi-organisation, trade union-based united front, the sole criterion for unity within it being agreement on the objective of preventing the cuts and advancing alternatives." is very attractive. Followers of Richard Seymour's blog Lenin's Tomb, or observers of the SWP will wonder if this is the Right to Work Campaign, or whether RTW would be part of something bigger, if something bigger came along. Seymour's final sentence: "If we can achieve this much unity, and obstruct the cuts agenda, we will also create a crisis for the government that will throw wide open the debate about the real alternatives to the defunct policies of the last thirty years." does provide a pleasing vista - but note the 'if', and haven't we heard this before?