Where The AWL's Policy of Nation- alisation Leads

A clear example of where the Stalinist (national-socialist) politics of the AWL (and others), who call for nation-alisation by the capitalist state, leads is given in their recent article on Npower.

N-power, is making a large number of workers in the UK redundant, because it is transferring the work to call centres in India, where it can pay workers less.  In reality, this is no different than consumers in Britain buying cheap imported commodities from China and elsewhere, because they can obtain better value than buying the same commodities made in the UK.  This, unfortunately, is the way capitalism works.  Traditionally, socialists, as internationalists, have refused to blame those foreign workers for producing these commodities more cheaply than workers in their own country, and thereby obtaining the work.  They have blamed the unplanned and chaotic nature of Capitalism, for the fact that their fellow workers lose their job in the process, and pointed to it, as a reason that Capitalism needs to be replaced.

In that process, they have certainly refused to line up with their own domestic bosses to demand import controls, or any other measure that amounts to a reactionary, nationalistic call for "British Jobs For British Workers".  If the UK were a Workers State, with the means of production owned by their workers, then matters would be different.  It would then be a matter of using whatever means were necessary to defend that Workers State, and worker owned property against capitalist property wherever it was located.  The same is true where a firm is owned by its workers within Capitalism, socialists should call for its defence by whatever means are necessary against capitalist competition.

But, the UK most certainly is not a Workers State, and what the AWL propose is not to place the ownership of Npower or any other means of production into the hands of workers.  Instead, what they call for is for Npower, and other means of production to be gathered up into the hands of the workers main enemy - the Capitalist State!  They argue,

"We need to defend every job and at the same time campaign for social ownership of the energy sector."

But, its obvious under current conditions what this means.  It is a call to join forces with British Capital against those foreign workers.  It is a demand for Npower to be taken over by British Capital, so that it will keep those jobs in Britain, rather than them being taken over by foreign workers.  The clue to what the demand for Nation-alisation really means is given in the name.  It is precisely a Nation-alistic demand for British workers to join forces with the British national, capitalist state, and thereby with British capital, against foreign workers.  That is the reality of the demand for national-isation within the context of a capitalist state.  A thoroughly reactionary, and nationalist demand.