Collective Action to Meet the Challenges Ahead

On the left progress never comes in a linear ascent. It comes in waves. Sometimes a wave subsides and you have to prepare and push for the next one. Of course, we had a massive surge after Jeremy was elected leader - and both the general election and the recent leadership election results were part of that wave partially subsiding.

But the surge has left us with the potential of a mass campaigning membership and a socialist political programme, not just to conserve but to build on. We also have an intellectual architecture of left think-tanks and a huge network of issue-based campaigns working alongside a number of progressive trade unions.

If someone had offered me that five years ago I would have grabbed it with abundant enthusiasm.

So I don’t want to hear any more wailing on the left about how bleak the prospects are for the left. They are not and there are so many people out there who need our support. They need us to succeed not just in influencing the politics of the Labour Party but also in the shaping of society as we come out of the coronavirus pandemic.

I keep reminding people that in the Second World War when things were looking pretty bleak in the struggle against fascism, even then socialists were looking back at the 1930s and saying “never again”. They were dreaming of, discussing and planning for the society that they aimed to create after the war was over.

So let’s get our priorities right - let’s start by getting behind the immediate Labour and trade union campaigns to protect people in this crisis.

The Johnson government’s failure to pursue an effective strategy of protect, test and trace has proved to be a lethal disaster for so many working people and their families. It’s not just NHS and care workers who have tragically lost their lives as a result of this government’s failure to provide adequate personal protection equipment. It is also shop workers, bus drivers, tube workers, prison officers, DWP staff and, in my own constituency, two immigration officers at Heathrow airport.

Too many non-essential workplaces have continued in operation putting workers at risk. The #ShuttheSites campaign by the construction workers exposed the risks imposed on workers on building sites. They were either forced into work or they had inadequate financial support from the government - and were faced with the choice of either a risk to their health or financial hardship. Large numbers of workers have received little or no support from the government’s job retention, self employed or small business schemes. As a result, more and more people are experiencing the harsh reality of the extremely low levels of social security benefits.

There is also emerging, often behind the scenes, increasing pressure from Tory MPs for the government to ease or even end the current lockdown. They seem more interested in the corporations and businesses making profits than saving lives.

Some Tory MPs and right wing think tanks are already planning for another round of austerity to pay for the borrowing needed to see us through the crisis. Others have a more subtle plan of right wing Keynesianism. This involves the government maintaining a high level of fiscal stimulus but making sure that this is directed to maximising profits for the private sector - and certainly not to tackling low wages or insecure employment.

In the short term we need to throw our energies into supporting the urgent campaigns for the provision of adequate PPE and testing and also against the dangerous premature easing or lifting of the lockdown.

At the same time we should now be mapping out the foundation upon which we want to reshape our society, based on the lessons taught by the pandemic. They are not difficult to identify as they are the socialist principles we have advocated as a party from the party’s origin.

Society is a collective and, while we celebrate individual freedom, it is through collective action that we can best secure that freedom and meet the challenges ahead.

As we face up to the crisis of this pandemic, we must remind ourselves that we have hovering over us the ultimate crisis of climate change oblivion. We need now to be campaigning for the collective action needed to tackle this existential threat.

JOHN MCDONNELL

MP for Hayes and Harlington, Chair of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs and Chair of the Labour Representation Committee..