We need to be strategic in opposing cuts

Again from New Left Project, a response to Richard Seymour's 'Axeman's Jazz', a piece by Sunny Hundal from Liberal Conspiracy entitled 'We need to be strategic in opposing cuts'.

Always good to see critical debate. Hundal comes from a position that validates the modernisation project of the Labour Party in the 1990s and for reasons to do with changes in class structure, basically that the old 'core constituency' for Labour 'wasn’t large enough to win power and not enough people wanted to fight a class war. They had aspirations and saw themselves as middle class, not working class'.

He points to the need for an 'intellectual response' to the crisis, which Labour hasn't provided - instead Paul Krugman, Martin Wolf and Danny Blanchflower get name-checked (and that is a mixed bunch).

And in terms of response he rejects a ‘no cuts at all’ position in favour of ‘The Cuts Won’t Work’

And in terms of agency he argues that 'the response to the cuts must be ‘people powered’ and not be a trade union led coalition. It has to be framed and developed as ordinary citizens trying to protect their local communities from this ideological assault. Otherwise the movement not only risks being caught in the sectarianism of the past, but will also be dismissed by the media and political classes as ‘vested interests’ that can be ignored. ' We have to tap into middle class anger.'

And finally: "The potential this crisis opens for us is vast. If we can work together and mobilise people, then we can not only put the Tories but also senior Labour MPs on the back-foot. We can change the economic narratives currently being discussed. We can change the way the financial system works. But for that to happen we have to carry as many people as possible with us."

Well a comment at New Left Project has already called this Popular Frontist, but I think the problem is really the ambiguity of talking about the 'middle classes' - such a slippery term.

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?