Yesterday, 19 Labour MP's voted for Johnson's Withdrawal Agreement to take Britain out of the EU . In doing so, they also saved Johnson's reactionary Tory government. That, in itself, is an act of class betrayal, for which they should be branded with infamy. But, to do so, by voting for Johnson's reactionary Brexit Bill, is an even worse act of class betrayal. They should have the whip withdrawn and be kicked out by their local CLP's. Labour must make clear to its voters that any Brexit is reactionary, and that Labour will have nothing to do with it, will Revoke Article 50 at the first opportunity, and will take Britain back into the EU, if Johnson's reactionary government manages, by some means, to take us out. Only in that way will Labour have any chance of winning back all those 2017 Labour voters it has lost, in the last couple of years, by adopting its triangulating, centrist position on Brexit, which amounted to giving tacit support to a pro-Brexit position, in contrast to the anti-Brexit position of 90% of party members, and of conference policy.
The reactionary nationalist Labour MP's that scabbed by supporting Johnson's reactionary government, and his reactionary Brexit Bill, have used various excuses for their betrayal of basic class loyalty. They claim to be representing the views of their constituents. Bullshit. Their constituents hold numerous reactionary views that they would never dream of representing. For example, there is a very strong correlation between those who voted for Brexit, and those who hold bigoted views on other subjects such as homophobia, women's rights, the environment and so on. That is not surprising, because there is a strong correlation between those who voted for Brexit, and those who vote Tory, or for parties to their Right, which also hold these bigoted views. For example, 60% of those that voted for Brexit think that gay sex is unnatural .
Polls have continually showed a majority of the population in favour of capital punishment, though the majority has been getting smaller, over the years. But, in those areas that supported Brexit, support for capital punishment, as for all these other reactionary ideas, is stronger. So, will those scabbing Labour MP's now also vote for capital punishment, for banning gay sex, and a restoration of Section 28, for the diminution of women's rights, for less environmental protection and so on, as the Brexiteers also demand? Of course, they won't, so why then do they claim that voting for a reactionary view in relation to Brexit is any different? Besides, the point of being a Labour MP is not to be simply some passive transmitter of the reactionary views of some, or even a majority, of your constituents. Your job is to advocate and stand up for socialist ideas and principles, standing against the views of your constituents where that is necessary, and trying to change their minds. If you can't even do that, what good are you for anything?
The reason these scabbing MP's voted for Johnson's reactionary deal, and propped up his reactionary government, is because it is consistent with their own reactionary nationalist politics that is prepared to adopt easy answers, to blame foreigners rather than to blame British capitalism, and the actions of the current Tory government, and past Tory and Labour governments, for the austerity and falls in living standards of many workers. One reason they do that, is that many of them were members of those past Labour governments, many still support the Blair-right agenda of those past Labour governments and would introduce them again if only they could remove Corbyn. These MP's are self-serving careerists who have no commitment to advocating socialist ideas, only to advocating their own right to a cushy parliamentary career, and everything that goes with it. Like Groucho Marx, when it comes to retaining that career their position is “These are my principles, and if you don't like them, I have others.” Even in that they are totally misguided, because the reality is that, even in their constituencies, where they voted Leave, it was not a majority of Labour voters that did so, but still a majority of Tory voters and others to their Right. Supporting Brexit will not win over Tory or Brexit Party voters, or those who traditionally have supported the BNP and their ilk. Its only effect will be to turn away a large part of the 60% of their Labour voters who voted Remain, and for whom, today, it is the vital issue. By voting for Johnson's reactionary agenda, they are actually cutting their own throats come the next election, because many are in marginal seats, where, if even 20% of those Labour Remain voters, switch to the Liberals or Greens, or Plaid, it will be a sufficient drop in the Labour vote to allow the Tories to win in their seat.
The other argument they put is that this is a matter of conscience. Bullshit. Matters of conscience apply in moral questions – and even then these moral questions, often, in reality, turn out to be class issues, as for example with abortion. There is no moral question involved with Brexit. It is a clear class issue. Either you are in the class camp of the working-class and progress and modernism, or you are in the enemy class camp of the reactionary elements of the bourgeoisie and the attempt to turn the clock backwards. The Labour Brexiteer scabs have deliberately placed themselves in the class camp of bigotry and reaction. There is no place for them in the labour movement, let alone in parliament as our representatives.
The Labour Brexiteer scabs use the usual arguments of whataboutery. They point to Corbyn and say, what about all the times you voted against the party whip? Indeed, what about it? The issue is not about whether an MP breaks he whip or not, but the reason for doing so. Socialists will always defend an MP who breaks the whip where they do so for progressive, socialist reasons, where they are defending basic socialist principles and the interests of the working-class. But, that is not the case here. These scabbing Labour MP's have broken the whip so as to do the opposite, to support a reactionary Tory government, and a reactionary, anti-working class policy of Brexit!
But, this whataboutery by these Labour scabs is, in any case, disingenuous. Right wing Labour MP's, and others in the party machinery, did offer to Blair that they would organise for Corbyn to be deselected, and argued for Blair to remove the whip. Blair decided against it, because Corbyn and the handful of other progressive social-democrats, in parliament, were isolated, and ineffective. Blair had large parliamentary majorities that were in no way threatened by Corbyn et al voting against him on various issues, particularly where, as on major issues like the Iraq War, Blair could count on the support of the Tories as well. On those occasions it was not a case of Corbyn supporting a Tory government, but of the Tories supporting a conservative Blair-right government. For Blair, keeping Corbyn in place, simply emphasised the strength of his position, the idea that the party was a broad church, and that, within it, the ideas of the Left had no traction. Corbyn et al were left in position merely as tokens.
But, look what happened in the previous period when it was not a question of such tokenism. In the 1950's, when the Left was making significant headway in the party, the party establishment responded, by for example closing down the Young Socialists that had become dominated by the Socialist Labour League. In the 1970's, they continued to throw up every available obstacle to new members joining, in fear again of a takeover by left-wing elements. In the 1980's, Kinnock responded to the fight of socialists against Thatcher's attacks on local councils and trades unions, by himself attacking those socialists. Labour MP's and councillors that supported the Militant were indeed expelled from the party itself. Whole constituency parties were closed down at the height of the labour movements struggle against a vicious, right-wing Tory government. Indeed, that witch-hunt against socialists in the party was extended to the industrial realm where tacit support was given from the Labour leadership for left-wing socialists and shop stewards and militants to be sacked by their employers.
In 1983, when I was a Stoke City Council, I and my fellow ward councillor Jason Hill, refused to vote for a council budget that called for rent increases. We had stood on a platform of “No Cuts, No Rent or Rate Increases”, and won the largest vote, and largest majority, seen in the City for decades, despite the previous Labour Councillor standing against us, as an independent, with the overt support of the whole right-wing of the local Labour Party. The immediate response was for us to be expelled from the Labour Group, despite the fact that our position was the one consistent with the Stoke District Labour Party policy, which, as Assistant Secretary, I had helped develop. Indeed, in 1989, when I had just been selected by my new Labour Party Branch to stand in the County Council elections, the Regional Organiser insisted the selection meeting be held again, and told my friend and Branch Chair, the late John Lockett, that if they selected me again they would close down the branch, and impose another candidate. The idea that we have to support reactionary Brexiteer scab Labour MP's, because, in the past, they have tolerated people on the Left not abiding by the whip is nonsense.
Labour needs a clear, militant position on Brexit. Corbyn's failure to tell Labour MP's that they would have the whip withdrawn, if they supported the Tories, was another instance of dithering, and weakness. The Brexiteer scab Labour MP's, not only enabled Johnson's reactionary government a sizeable victory in getting the Second Reading of his Brexit Bill, but they provided him with another propaganda victory. He suitably repaid their scabbing, by immediately pausing progress on the Bill, after having failed to get his programme motion, to virtually cut out all debate on the Bill, so having made the scabbing of the Labour MP's pointless, other than to again illustrate their treachery and betrayal of basic socialist principles, and party loyalty.
Labour should dump these reactionary, Brexiteer scab MP's. They should immediately have the whip withdrawn. They should be branded with infamy for the rest of their days in the same way that, today, we spit on the names of Ramsey MacDonald, and Oswald Moseley. Their local parties should deselect them, and choose new, progressive, socialist and internationalist candidates in their place. The other despicable reason given by MP's for backing a reactionary Brexit is that voters are fed up of Brexit, and want to move on to other issues. Again nonsense. Sky's new “Brexit Free” news channel is getting pathetically low audiences. Only 100 people, last night, were watching it via its Youtube Channel! Brexit is the issue of the day, and, on it, the next election will be decided.
Currently, the Tories are corralling the Leave Vote, the Liberals are corralling the Remain Vote, and Labour is deservedly being squeezed by these two, as it hopelessly and disastrously tried to triangulate and sit on the fence. The reality, in any case is that even a No Deal Brexit will not be the end of it. It will only be the beginning, of ten years, or more, of further negotiations, at the end of which it will be realised that the whole thing was a reactionary delusion. Anyone who is fed up of Brexit, and wants to just be done with it, should, in fact, support revoking Article 50. That is the only way of making it end.
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