Back to the Popular Front
Have the leftists no memory? No imagination?
The dramatic title of the New Popular Front in France has stirred some controversy about the political direction of the formerly revolutionary left. In the 30s the popular front slogan marked very specific differences between the majority Communist parties led by Stalin and a left opposition whose major spokesman was Trotsky.
The context for that difference, mass workers mobilisations and the presence of major forces of the Communist Party, Social Democracy and of the revolutionary left, no longer exists.
The fall of the USSR saw a dramatic political collapse of the communist parties. The Social Democrats, whose radicalism was based on a need to counter communism, fell to the right. The smaller socialist parties moved behind the retreat. The world capitalist order was falling into decay, so workers saw many rights eaten away whilst unable to exercise enough industrial or political muscle to force capitalism back.
If we can use the term theory to cover a series of unconnected and disjointed rationalisations, the largest of the international left groups, the Fourth International, theorised this collapse.
Following the fall of the USSR it theorised an historic defeat of the working class and essentially no longer looked to the independent organisation of the working class. As social democracy moved right, it theorised a space on the left of that spectrum that could be filled by a “Broad Left.” This tendency reached its height with uncritical support for the SYRIZA Government in Greece, The collapse of SYRIZA and its betrayal of the workers saw the international body move further right to propose; “really useful parties” – that is, those that could win electoral positions. The latest call is for “Anti-systemic movements,” code for a wholesale adaptation to identity politics and trans ideology.
These adaptations have meant support for pro-capitalist green parties, bourgeois feminism and entryism into the US democratic party.
There was a material base for these political shifts. The socialist left was shrinking. The lower levels of the trade union movement no longer offered a consistent opposition to conservative union leaderships. a decaying academia was rapidly abandoning any remnants of Marxist theory in favour of postmodernism and attempts to persuade capitalism to be merciful. The entire movement had switched from attention to the working class to radical petty bourgeois activists based in social movements and NGOs.
One of the most dramatic effects of this shift was uncritical support for colour revolutions in Eastern Europe. In the case of the “Arab Spring”, very justified complaints about repression and corruption led to movements across the Arab world, but in two cases alliances were clearly sought with Jihadists and the left made calls for military intervention. They were Libya and Syria that was described at the time as a heterogenous revolution. The end result was a Jihadist war in Syria which is still going on and the overthrow of Gadaffi in Libya and his replacement with a thoroughly corrupt regime. Support for the civilising role of the imperialists has led to the destruction of Libya and endless wars in the Middle East as well as a string of US occupations across the area.
We have now moved onto new ground. The reformist groups are fervent supporters of the Ukraine regime and the NATO proxy war and firmly denounce Russian imperialism. The idea that you can oppose Putin yet accept that The US and NATO are leading a drive to global war is beyond them.
With this background it is hardly surprising that there was broad enthusiasm in the European and US left for the application of the popular front strategy in the French Elections.
The French NPA group, echoed
by the FI publication International Viewpoint, was full of optimism.
“The main lesson of the first results of this second round is the setback suffered by the Rassemblement National and its allies. The defeat of the hundreds of fascist, racist, Islamophobic, antisemitic and ultra-racist candidates put forward by the RN is a huge relief for racialized people, women, LGBTI+ people and workers”We can consider ourselves lucky that the workers got a mention!
The British group Anti-Capitalist Resistance was quick out of the traps, organising a local conference to embrace popular frontism. The explanation appears to be that the danger is “creeping fascism” – a fascist threat, but one moving extremely slowly. ACR already operated a popular front strategy, calling on workers to unite to kick out the Tories, that is to vote for Starmer.
One of ACR and international Viewpoint’s allies in is Paul Murphy of PbP/RISE in Ireland. Here there was bad news for the popular front. The Popular Front call in Ireland had been for a left government led by Sinn Féin. Unfortunately Sinn Féin did not achieve the expected advance and is in any case steadily moving rightwards in an attempt to placate anti-migrant sentiment. In addition the PbP/RISE coalition managed to force out of the European parliament Clare Daly and Mick Wallace, two resolutely anti-imperialist activists who have opposed the drive to war in Europe.
Not to worry, Paul has a new mantra: A left pact.
“A left pact could consist of a commitment not to join any coalition with Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael, to oppose any scapegoating of asylum seekers, and instead to fight for public investment in housing, healthcare, public services and climate action that would prioritise people’s needs over corporate profits, as well as enhanced workers’ rights. Beyond that, parties and Independents could be free to put forward their own election manifestos and to run their own election candidates”.So this is firstly an attempt to salvage the left Sinn Féin government theme through the back door and secondly a return to an earlier formulation that defines everyone outside Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael as left (Except those who are further right, obviously). No programme whatsoever is put forward, just a few aspirations. It is quite clearly an electoral pact with the aim of remaining close to Sinn Féin and retaining a reformist left presence in the Dáil.
Yet the rush to broad class alliances is not new and it always fails. Recent examples include the SYRIZA experiment in Greece. Following the capitulation of SYRIZA, the movement collapsed. A right-wing government is now in control and has just passed a 48 hour/6 day week law increasing the working week for certain categories of workers.
Another example is socialists embracing the cause of Scottish independence, even though it was hard to argue that Scotland was an oppressed nation. The result today is the collapse of the Scottish National Party in a sea of corruption. The end result of the experiment was the decimation of the socialist movement.
Why then do socialist groups persist along this path? After years of retreat the socialist movement is widely discredited and a revolutionary alternative is seen as unrealistic. Calls for unity to the right disguise the fact that what is disappearing is the revolutionary elements of the leftists former programme. For example, in the face of a major housing crisis, Irish leftists call for “affordable housing”, echoing the claim of the government’s housing policy and an endorsement of a housing market model based on private capital.
A recent decision to end a limited and temporary protection for tenants led to protests in the Dáil, but nothing further, even though the number of families in emergency accommodation doubled.
In the face of a growing racist movement they offer liberal chants rather than advancing a call for the unity of the working class. This anaemic leftism is enough to win seats in councils and the Dáil but has no impact in the face of waves of savage attacks by the state on the working class.
So what is the alternative?
We must describe the evolution of capitalism, the response of the working class to date, and the tasks that face the class in the future.
Let’s start with the general perspective of a global crisis of capitalism and imperialism. The driver of these crises is economic, around high levels of financialisation and low profit levels, resulting in massive bank and credit failures. There is no sign that this pattern is dying away. In fact, western debt, led by the US and other Western powers, now stands in the trillions.
The economic crisis is resolved by the state propping up the banking system and imposing massive austerity on the working class, but this does not resolve the crisis.
The expansion of the Chinese economy is now seen as an existential threat and imperialism is using threats of military force, along with sanctions and control of the world banking system, to threaten China and assert control in Europe through war and in West Asia through genocide. There is a growing militarisation, an attack on democratic rights and a growth in right-wing and racist forces useful in fragmenting the working class and heading off any movement to the left.
The immediate chaos in Britain is clearly a result of Brexit. That was not simply a withdrawal from Europe but a programme to smash worker’s rights and build a Singapore on the Thames. The failure of the project so far has led to the disintegration of the Tory Party. Now Starmer hopes to put lipstick on the pig. Minor concessions to union bosses mask a “Growth, Growth, Growth” agenda. Starmer won’t borrow and won’t raise taxes – the only source of further income has to come from cuts in living standards.
Socialist groups are mired in routine and in tactical discussions about criticising Starmer from inside or outside the Labour party. The starting point is Brexit and the socialist counterpoint is a United Socialist States of Europe.
In Ireland capitulation to Imperialism is so extreme that it is extremely difficult to even describe the economy, dominated by transnational firms. Corporation tax flowing in is balanced by an absolute drive to privatise all aspects of public service. Even bourgeois economists frequently warn of the extreme instability of the system. It is also evident that the state is being absorbed into the structures of NATO, European and US militarism and the global drive to war.
Again the socialist case should be clear. A Worker’s Republic at home, a united socialist states of Europe abroad. No more kowtowing to the transnationals and absolute opposition to the global war drive.
It will be argued that this is a utopian and unrealistic position. Yet in the period after the failed 1905 revolution in Russia Leon Trotsky was charged with preparing a revolution. His defence was that he was not preparing a revolution, but preparing for a revolution that would be organised, not by groups of revolutionaries, but by the working class.
The working class will return to the fray. It is they who will determine the process of revolution. The socialists will be asked to provide a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the capitalist opponents and a framework for the steps that will advance the revolutionary upsurge.
Reformist mumbling and tactical manoeuvres will not be enough.