Kick Out The Monarchy

The anti-Monarchist organisation Republic has an online petition for the abolition of the Monarchy. I’d recommend every socialist sign it. Here: Take Action .

I don’t agree with all of the politics presented by Republic; I don’t think there is a need for an elected Head of State, for instance, any more than an elected House of Lords. Bourgeois democracy would be just as well served by an elected House of Commons unrestricted by the blocking powers of other Chambers. But, even within the restricted confines of bourgeois democracy, much more would be required. In the US, Senators can be recalled as happened a few years ago in California. It is also a basic element of democracy in Venezuela, so there is no reason not to have such accountability written into the British political system. In the US, the top Civil Servants are brought in by the elected politicians. Although, given the right-wing nature of all elected US politicians this means a right-wing bureaucracy to go with it – that is no different that the political complexion of the bourgeois state in every country. What it does mean, though, is that, if an when some Left-wing government were elected it would have the Constitutional right to bring in its own staff, thereby helping to overcome the natural opposition such a Government would face from the full-time permanent staff of the bourgeois state.

The same thing applies to all those other state officials – the Judges, the Police Chiefs, the Military Top Brass should all be subject to election, as well as there being far greater democracy within the armed forces and Police forces. In fact, in the US the bourgeois Constitution sets down the right to bear arms of all Citizens as part of a properly constituted Citizen Militia. Given the current economic situation it would be far more effective to scrap the standing army, and all the other paraphernalia of Imperial ambitions, and to set up and train the whole population to defend itself.

Alan Johnson has called for a referendum on electoral reform in relation to Proportional Representation. Good, the current First past the Post system amounts to nothing more than ballot-rigging and fraud. The argument that it ensures the election of a strong government has nothing to do with democracy. On that basis you could justify a one party state, or a Dictatorship! But, simply introducing PR is no good on its own, and some of the other suggestions like introducing US style “Primaries”, would be a step backwards. IN the US the system of Primaries is a farce, with supporters of one party registering as supporters of the other simply in order to vote to get the least electable candidate selected!!! However, the underlying principle that there should be a huge increase in the democratic base of those participating in the selection process cannot be gainsaid. It will mean that the Left will have to abandon its sectarian fantasies, and begin the job that Marx set out – to win the battle of democracy within the working class, by relating to and providing practical and immediate solutions to workers problems as opposed to fantastic visions of some far off socialist society or socialist revolution.

On “Question Time” this week, Ben Bradshaw spoke out against the House of lords, saying that there is no place in the 21st Century, for the Hereditary Principle. He restricted that to just the House of Lords, but if it applies to the Lords it applies to the Monarchy even more so. We should simply abolish both. The left, once again looking to its own narrow interests is looking to milk the MP’s expenses scandal to the utmost. That is most marked by the attitude of No2EU. In doing so it is missing a huge opportunity. The majority of the population are furious over that scandal, but it comes on top of the even bigger scandal of the Banker’s Bonuses. As I said in my recent blog, Greed Is Not The problem even that is small beer compared to the millions of pounds leached away by the top bosses in their own expenses scandals, expenses that drain the profits of the companies we work for, the companies whose profits should go as dividends to our pension funds, and whose profits should also finance the taxes for the Capitalist State. The Torygraph have opened a Pandora’s Box on the corruption that is endemic and inherent in the way the Capitalist system works, socialists should be throwing the lid of that box wide open not allowing workers to only glimpse into it so far as the issue of MP’s expenses.