How can we unite the Working Class?

This weekend (Saturday May 24th 2014) the left made big gains in the Local Elections.  I congratulate all the genuine left councillors who have been elected, and most importantly the people who helped in their election campaign, putting up posters, dropping leaflets etc. I noticed that for a lot of Left candidates running around the country the numbers of people actually helping was not that big at all. In a lot of cases a small group of people campaigned for endless hours to make it happen.



Then came the actual elections itself. The National overall turnout was around 48%, but in some places the turnout was 40% or lower (In parts of Ballyfermot I'm informed the turnout was about 33% for example).  There is a lot of angry people out there, but there is also a hell of a lot of helpless despondency.  The people are mistakenly believing the ECB and IMF cannot be challenged, they are far too powerful beasts that we have no choice but to bow down to, no matter how much it disgusts us. Also the media's onslaught has helped the Establishments drive to further the reach of the Mé Fein society.  I'm sure ye have all heard the stories from your parents or Aunts and Uncles, who would remaniss about the local festivals and other things the local community got up to in their day, the friendship and help offered by neighbours that you sadly don't see in many places today.  If you were out of Onions, and in the middle of making a stew, no need to dash to The Spar in your car back then, you just knocked into Mr's o'Toole next door, who gave you an extra one more than you had asked for, for luck.  Ads from Alone asking people to go check on their elderly neighbours were not seen back then, there simply was no need for them.  The vast majority of people were simply happy to have a working car to drive to work in, and a TV to watch The Late Late Show on. Most didn't care what year the car was, or how many inches the Television set was. 
Back when I was a kid I could count on my hand the amount of families I knew were both the Husband and Wife worked. Most often it was out of choice and not necessity. Times were hard then too, don't get me wrong, but not hard enough that they couldn't make ends meet on one income with a bit of ingenuity and co-operation between neighbours.  Nowadays it is near impossible for 90% of families to get by on just one income. The media are telling folks to forget about your neighbours, and others, and just focus on your family and yourself. This is purposely done. The less areas that have residents associations, and community link ups, organising events for local kids etc, the less chance there is of these same areas also joining together when something that causes anger happens EG cuts in the local school/Community Centre etc.

So we have a situation were a lot of people refuse to get involved in any sort of active resistance, collectively sighing that there's no point, as the ECB/IMF, and the government are too powerful, and will screw us anyways. I was out canvassing during the elections and was struck by the amount of people who simply did not answer their door when you knocked. They had no interest whatsoever in engaging with you on the pressing issues to find out where you stood, as they had the attitude of "They're all the same every one of them". This is patently not true, but Given the betrayal by Labour and the rotten Trades Union Bureaucracy, this sentiment runs deep, and it will take an enormous effort  to try and convince them otherwise.

The what about those folk who HAVE got active and involved in campaigns over the last period. As is evident if you listen to Liveline or other such shows, there are many peopl who helped canvass and leaflet for Labour Candidates at the 2011 General Election are disgusted at what has happened, and sadly have now said they will never get involved with any kind of political activity in the past. 

Another problem surrounding fresh people getting involved in campaigns is how at times some groups will lead them up the path. Some groups constantly hop from what they sweat IS the next big thing, to, when it does not come to pass, to the next thing that they swear IS it, no really this time this IS going to be bog, and off hopping they go again.  And very often via this in a conscious attempt to get people to work more fervently for the cause than they might otherwise have, they start filling them, often with quite, if not very unrealistic expectations. Thus the people concerned are buoyed up, and in abated expectation they wait for the promised land to arrive. But more often than not it does not, and they come back down with  mighty thump, like a drug addict a few hours after his latest fix.  And this has lead over the years to scores of people, who may have been active in a campaign on this issue for that essentially becoming resolutely demoralised, crashing out of activism, and on many cases never batting so much as an eyelid.  But if the groups concerned were more honest, Defenders of this type of approach from their particular group, oft argue that if they were actually more honest with people, made it clear that there was as much chance of it failing, as it was of succeeding, sure people would automatically think negatively and draw back and drop out. To me this is nonsense. I have talked to people who were involved in the CAHWT but have now pulled back, an were not involved in any election campaigns etc. Most of them were of the opinion that they were led up a hill and essentially dropped from a height. They felt that they were going to meetings to discuss things that were already decided on, and thought they were simply treated like circus animals. If these people are genuinely given a chance to have give an active input, I think more would stick around for the longer term than is currently the case.

The arguments to-ing and fro-ing at the CAHWT  National Steering Committees (NSC's) made independent activists feel like they were being isolated and their voices drowned out. There were times when raging arguments took place at the NSC's that were necessary and vital, as some crucial things had to be pushed through, or in some cases opposed as it would be very detrimental to the cause in hand.  But also a lot of times arguments raged that were completely avoidable and were merely what I call factional point scoring (EG the SWP trying to get one over the SP on some largely irrelevant point, that lead to blazing, but nonsensical arguing that pissed off many sitting and listening in the Teachers Club).  The fact that the two main political parties involved in the CAHWT placed such importance to, and spent quite a bit of time behind closed doors before NSC's discussing who the days chairperson was to be, and how they would have to frame their interventions as a result, is a stark case in point.  The myriad of independent activists present couldn't, and didn't give a fiddlers who chaired it. What they wanted was the various groups to be upfront and honest, and a true reading of the current situation to be given out. This was not always the case.

I will use an Architectural analogy to describe it more - It is pointed out various architects that there is an open space that is ripe for development. Instead of the Architects coming together, standing around a blank canvas and working together to fill in the designs for structure they wish to build, we have 7 or 8 different plans scattered haphazardly over a table. Each of the 7-8 Architects is doggedly arguing their plan is THE best one, and have no intention of listening to, or paying any heed to others plans. Yet there are bits from each one, had they been taken out and merged together would be brilliant. Thus long after the process has started, the space still lies idle with a mass of weeds  growing wild. The members of the Residents Association who were asked to liase with the Architects have grown pissed off, and have walked away from the whole process/

  Regarding the Working Class I've read many an inspiring story from the times of the 1913 Lockout, of the City Sheriff, and a gaggle of Dublin metropolitan Policemen converging on a Tenement to forcibly evict a poor family behind on their rent, who were brutally, and rightly beaten back by a determined force of angry Mothers, willing to sue use whatever force they had to keep a roof over that families head. (Though very often you couldn't even call it a roof, with all the leaks of rain and sewerage, and rats scurrying through holes etc.)   People. if asked to get involved in something want it to be fully and simply explained to them what they are being asked to do, what the aims of the campaign are, and what they are set to gain from their actions.  We can talk all we like about uniting the Left parties, but unless we have the bedrock of upon which we base ourselves, the working class, we haven't a hope of really achieving things. We've seen some great protests against cuts to local hospitals. But these campaigns are localised and in a few cases classed themselves as "Non Political" even though what they were doing, at it's very core, was political. I've heard spokespersons from some of these campaigns on the radio and TV, and horrifically their attitude simply was "Our hospital is far more important one that that one in X, so cut them and not us".  Imagine had these hospitals united in a real and sustained way. when cuts were proposed initially, imagine if Monaghan, Navan, Cavan and Naas had joined alliances, and suddenly then Government TD's saw that there was this big force in 3 counties which had the momentum to cause a lot of trouble for them. Money would have been found to keep many services intact etc.  But back then a lot of these campaigns were merely Labour Party fronts, and they were merely interested in gaining political capital from it, and didn't really care a jot what happened to the hospitals, once they got elected off the back of it. (Wexford and Sligo Hospital campaigns, and to an extent protests around Tallaght Hospital come to mind) this was also the case in other campaigns at the time too. Due to the ongoing fragmentation and sectarianism of the left, the forces in those areas, even if small, had they united on a common platform, and genuinely worked together, could have provided a strong bulwark against the scheming on the Labour Party.  Instead many people who came around those campaigns, joined protests, were rightly angered when the same Labour people later stood back as their local hospital was decimated.  Many of these people have a very negative attitude to politics and parties now, in many cases it is deeply ingrained and won't change anytime soon.

There are growing calls from people on the left for a ULA Mark II.  There should be a process of genuine dialogue amongst the left regarding the possible eventual mass formation and it's composition.  Sadly I feel that any endeavours that will be entered into in the next period, may like the ULA, be mere vehicles used by various left parties to enhance their electoral prospects. And then when the elections over, and they've managed to get more of their people elected via this new umbrella, will once again resort to the usual sectarian one-upmanship factionalism.  There are quite a few independent activists who really bought into the idea of the ULA, who have been badly burnt by what they witnessed and experienced within the ULA.  If a new alliance i to be launched it should not merely be the usual behind closed doors of a few political parties who then announce on Facebook etc that this group has been setup. What should happen is that once the various political parties agree that a new alliance should be setup, meetings should be held in various counties, with left activists invited along to discuss and debate how this new alliance should be shaped, what program it would adopt etc.  Thus individual areas would setup their own branches of the alliance, and send delegates to a formal founding conference, in Dublin, bringing with them motions from their branches with motions on various things etc. There must be NO veto's, and everyone should feel they are truly a piece of the jigsaw that makes up the whole thing, and that they have the power to effect change in the organisation/alliance, and are not left feeling they are merely spouting hot air at meetings, while the biggest political groupings decide and implement things over their heads.

Another measure I would love to see is the setting up of a dedicated and professionally operated Internet Channel. This website could show live streaming video from protests around the country (And internationally) and also stream meetings up and down the country. It could also stream from important meeting around the country.  but vitally and most importantly of all, it would have a de facto news Channel, reporting on the REAL news of the day, with in depth reports shown on it too.  Between the Unions, and political parties, I'm sure the money can be got to produce something of an excellent quality that would receive a massive regular audience, and be a vital counter balance to the propaganda of the mainstream media.

So if a new alliance that had genuine roots, a genuine strong platform,  and managed to get lots more people out voting again, who's to say in 2019 we can't at least double the number of genuine lefts elected to councils in 2019?

 

Banks to give us all a stress test

Jack looks at his watch, it's 15.40.  His friends are meeting down the field in 20 minutes to play football. If he does not get there by then, chances are he won't get picked, and will be out of the game. but Jack ha s a big problem. He still has to do his Maths homework, and then his homework is complete.  So Jack rushes his Maths homework to be in time for the match.  When's he's finished he quietly puts his book and maths copy away. He knows his sums are bound to be wrong, but doesn't want his ever watchful Mother to know. So he shouts "See ya later mam going to the field", and makes a run for the door. But just as he has his hand on the look a booming voice echoes "Err, where do yuo think YOU are going? You haven't shown me your Maths homework yet".  his heart sinks, he knows what's coming next. Having seen all his figures, his mother will make him redo them til they are right, an will sit at the table beside him to make sure he takes his time. why couldn't it have been his dad at the door? He'd have mere asked him had he got his phone with him, and wit an affirmative reply, waved him on.  But no his Mother is a stickler for these kinds of things. she wants to make sure everything is done correctly. 

This in a way describes the various strands that makes up the economic officialdom, and economic commentators in the EU.  Some, like France are like Jack fear the consequences if the full extent of the problem was uncovered. they are the child who fears the consequences of not being at the match in time, of having to explain to his mates exactly why he wasn't there on time.  Whereas Germany and Finland  would be in the group who wish to see everything  in detail, and often complain to the teacher in the school about other parents not checking their kids homework and the like, and in her view dragging her child back with them.  "Why won't the school take actions to force the other parents to properly oversee their kids homework, and general educational development outside of school hours? She would thunder"  It's not as easy as that" the teacher would explain. the teacher knows some of the other parents are unable to read or write, while some lack basic skills in arithmetic. 

The teacher feels said parent does not need to know this fact, and would not tell her.  Had she told Jack's mother, she would have caused a right old ruckus, and who knows where it would all end.  But in the back of the teachers mind, se is half full of dread. A special extraordinary meeting of the Parents Committee is taking place in a few weeks, orchestrated by Jack's Mother, and she is determined to raise the issue once more in front of a myriad of parents, and it's likely some of the parents present will back her up, and demand straight answers from the principal.   The teachers and principal tried in vain to get her to call a halt to her campaign, but no matter how many fudges they offered, she was having none of it.  Some of the parents on the night will be found out, as lacking numeracy and literary skills, and this will cause not just embarrassment, but serious problems all round.  Will some parents they seek to pull their kids out of the school, and home school them? 

The banks here are just like Jack.  They have put out statements claiming everything is fine and dandy their end, but refuse to provide any solid tangible evidence to back these assertions up.  surely if everything was indeed fine and dandy, surely they would go out of their way to prove just that, opening the books for  all to see and so forth. But the more they divert and spin, the more I, and many economists and the like start top stress.  The question here is not whether or not there will be holes in the banks balance sheets, but how big they will be.  If there was found to be enormous holes in the Irish banks that needed a lot more capital to fill them in, it would have the capacity to derail and economic upturn that this country is, and could face in the future.  The country is very fragile as it is, and as we have seen in previous years, it does not take much at all for freefall to commence. 

 It is primarily Germany and Finland who are going hell for leather for full stress tests on the banks.  It appears clear to me that Michael Noonan,. and some of his other counterparts are desperately seeking another fudge to get them out of this mess for another while.  Yup the plane may only have one engine in operation but look! it's still flying! but this time around, the box could be empty, with al the fudge used up already, and the Germans refusing to go to the shop and buy another box.

 Another thing that worries me is all the recent bond sales the NTMA has engaged in.  Yes, it has brought much needed finance into our economy, and helped us overcome some hurdles. But what I'd love to know is, what terms and conditions were these bonds bought with?  For example, if the banks were to be found with huge gaping holes, and this dragged the whole Irish economy with it, with the binds crashing, what happens then?  Will the bondholders  be forced to walk away badly burnt, or  will we the taxpayer, via another de facto bailout, be forced to pony up and cover their losses yet again?

It's going to be a very nervous 2014 for sure!