arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

In domestic terms, of course, its just the third hogwash, a third mishmash of
the ruins left and right, as left behind after Thatcher's rampage in the 80's.
But on the INTERNATIONAL arena, it does have a significance......
In 1989 - 91, the world power carve up, dominated by two 'superpowers',[
the USA and USSR, with a little bit left for the others, such as Britain and
China,] crumbled.
Russia has slipped in the league of military imperialism, the USA hasnt
appreciably expanded, and nor has China.
So what has happened to the remainder, for neither matter nor political power
vanishes into nothingness ? The NATO war of 1999 gave us the clue :
Britain is reasserting itself as an independent imperial power, through the
existing outlet of the 'Commonwealth', [sic, an outrageous theft of a 16th
century word for socialism !].
When NATO troops were poised to enter Pristina, Britain effectively broke its
alliance with the USA and allowed Russia to enter first, a clear throwback to
the days of the PALMERSTON regime [mid 19th century]. In Sierra Leone,
Britain sent in troops completely outside of UN control, to 'get the diamonds'
as C.Short so delicately put it. This is, ultimately, what makes Blair both the
successor and neologiser to Thatcher; if you live in London, you will notice
the new atmosphere in the air since 1999... The conceited City and Whitehall
types KNOW what has happened, and have a discernible swagger in their
gait.
Leftists must be on their guard against this new tendency. Too much of the
Labourite left have failed to understand the nature of Britain's secondary
imperialism after 1945, and may not even notice that it is gaining a freer hand
all the time.

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'ADD COMMENT' POSTING Re: Blair's "Third Way". Does it Exist ?
(REMOVED BY CODE WITH ORIGINAL BLAIR POSTING)

Hence the reluctance to join the Euro currency
by Mr Ayouze 8:43am Tue Aug 15 '00

Britain will not commit itself to the Euro unless/until it can do so on its own
terms, which means to exert control in favor of its other spheres of influence.
At the same time as Blair was pushing NATO into a full onslaught in Kosovo
[risking a world war with China], Neil 'Bash the Trotskyists' Kinnock had
already begun HIS onslaught on the European Commission. This is often
overlooked, although he is still meeting a bit of resistance.
Leftists must oppose the imperialism of their OWN countries in the first place.
Do not fall for the fiction that Britain is a little island full of redoubtable fighters
for freedom. For every spirit of DUNKIRK, there is a spirit of the CHANNEL
ISLANDS.
The biggest defeat for the British working class was the defeat of Napoleon;
from this point comes an unconditional class alliance between workers and
rulers for imperialist foreign policy. Labour, no matter what prefix you care to
attatch to it, whether 'New', 'Ken', 'NHS', 'Fabian', &c &c, is the left wing of
imperialism.

add your comments

Today, however, the continuing relative decline of British imperialism is increasingly forcing the bourgeois democrats, including those of the Labour Party, to shed much of the sloganising and to confront the mass of the working class with hideous class reality in the form of an assault on the gains of the post-war period. During the past 25 years, the manufacturing workforce has been more than halved (down from 8 million to just under 4 million), while the number of those employed in banking and insurance has nearly trebled.

Within manufacturing itself, one in ten manufacturing jobs are accounted for by the manufacture of armaments. Eleven of the top twenty British companies are involved in the manufacture of armaments. With such an erosion of its manufacturing base, and with such heavy reliance on the manufacture of the merchandise of death, how is British imperialism able to support the increasing proportion of the population involved in unproductive labour - the vast parasitic layers who produce no wealth, no surplus value? The answer, in the main, must be found in the export of capital and the earnings from it. In a good year, Britain's overseas earnings from capital invested abroad account for a third of all profit made in Britain. With such a proportion of the profits of British imperialism dependent on the export of capital, one can see why banking (the City) and militarism have assumed such monstrously gigantic dimensions. In these conditions, if British imperialism is to continue its parasitic existence (and it can have no other existence), if it is to continue to provide privileged conditions for the petty bourgeoisie and the labour aristocracy, every government policy must be subordinated to the interests of the robber barons of finance capital; every military adventure abroad must be fully and enthusiastically supported in order to make sure of the continued flow of tribute from abroad. The glee with which the Conservative and Labour Governments went to war against Iraq and Yugoslavia respectively, and the support given to these genocidal wars by which ever party was in the opposition are just two of the scores of examples one could cite.

Notwithstanding huge earnings from investment abroad and militarism (sale of armaments), the relative decline of British imperialism continues apace. Faced with this crisis, British imperialism is intensifying its attack on the poorer section of the working class. Nearly half of all employees in Britain earn less than the European Decency Threshold, and with the bourgeoisie now bent on dismemberment, if not the dismantlement, of the National Health Service, and the abolition of universal benefits, we are poised for a massive increase in poverty and the widening of the split in the working class. Increasingly the `contented majority' is turning into a minority, and for the first time since the end of the war, the overwhelming majority of the working class are being sucked into the abyss of absolute poverty, hopelessness and misery.

Today, however, the continuing relative decline of British imperialism is increasingly forcing the bourgeois democrats, including those of the Labour Party, to shed much of the sloganising and to confront the mass of the working class with hideous class reality in the form of an assault on the gains of the post-war period. During the past 25 years, the manufacturing workforce has been more than halved (down from 8 million to just under 4 million), while the number of those employed in banking and insurance has nearly trebled.

Within manufacturing itself, one in ten manufacturing jobs are accounted for by the manufacture of armaments. Eleven of the top twenty British companies are involved in the manufacture of armaments. With such an erosion of its manufacturing base, and with such heavy reliance on the manufacture of the merchandise of death, how is British imperialism able to support the increasing proportion of the population involved in unproductive labour - the vast parasitic layers who produce no wealth, no surplus value? The answer, in the main, must be found in the export of capital and the earnings from it. In a good year, Britain's overseas earnings from capital invested abroad account for a third of all profit made in Britain. With such a proportion of the profits of British imperialism dependent on the export of capital, one can see why banking (the City) and militarism have assumed such monstrously gigantic dimensions. In these conditions, if British imperialism is to continue its parasitic existence (and it can have no other existence), if it is to continue to provide privileged conditions for the petty bourgeoisie and the labour aristocracy, every government policy must be subordinated to the interests of the robber barons of finance capital; every military adventure abroad must be fully and enthusiastically supported in order to make sure of the continued flow of tribute from abroad. The glee with which the Conservative and Labour Governments went to war against Iraq and Yugoslavia respectively, and the support given to these genocidal wars by which ever party was in the opposition are just two of the scores of examples one could cite.

Notwithstanding huge earnings from investment abroad and militarism (sale of armaments), the relative decline of British imperialism continues apace. Faced with this crisis, British imperialism is intensifying its attack on the poorer section of the working class. Nearly half of all employees in Britain earn less than the European Decency Threshold, and with the bourgeoisie now bent on dismemberment, if not the dismantlement, of the National Health Service, and the abolition of universal benefits, we are poised for a massive increase in poverty and the widening of the split in the working class. Increasingly the `contented majority' is turning into a minority, and for the first time since the end of the war, the overwhelming majority of the working class are being sucked into the abyss of absolute poverty, hopelessness and misery.

see also :

Dixon, Keith "Un digne héritier", Ed raisons d'agir, Paris, 2000 (200 FB)