THE new Conservative government’s immediate threats against the BBC, Palestine solidarity activists and the current electoral system can only be understood in the context of an ongoing crisis. This crisis — the collapse of faith in both the economic system and the political institutions that govern us — is not unique to Britain. It is wreaking havoc with the politics of France and Spain, Italy and Germany, the United States and many other countries.
It’s true that electing Labour would have meant a change of political direction and electing the Tories meant more of the same. But that “more of the same” means an intensified war against the organised working class and the further erosion of democratic rights.
Liberal reactions to the right-wing chauvinism of Boris Johnson often exaggerated the extent to which this bigoted Prime Minister differed from his predecessors. The hostile environment that led to Windrush was a product of the David Cameron-Nick Clegg coalition government. The normalisation of bare-faced lying, which played such a role in last week’s election, can be traced to the Tony Blair years.
Even so, the new government raises the threat level considerably. Since the bankers’ crash we have not had such a powerful government. Cameron was unable to win a majority against Gordon Brown, and had to go into coalition with the Lib Dems; his slim majority after 2015 was lost by Theresa May in 2017.
Johnson’s large majority means he plans to use the crisis of our institutions to reset politics in the interests of the ruling class.
The government’s refusal to engage with the Today programme, and rapid confirmation that it plans to consider changing the way the BBC is funded, comes after an election campaign in which the BBC was deployed by the Establishment against the left to great effect. But the Conservatives don’t plan on thanking it.
Tory explanations that Andrew Neil’s challenge to the PM to come and be interviewed, as well as coverage of a four-year-old boy forced to sleep on the floor of Leeds General Infirmary, amounted to evidence of an anti-Tory bias show an egotistical resentment of criticism reminiscent of Donald Trump. More importantly, they suggest the government intends to punish journalism it finds embarrassing.
The intended crackdown on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel’s illegal settlements on Palestinian territory show a similar authoritarianism. It will come alongside manifesto-aired plans to ban effective strikes on the railways and hints that the courts may have their wings clipped following the Supreme Court’s determination that Johnson’s proroguing of Parliament was unlawful. The Tories are also unpacking previously mothballed plans to rejig constituency boundaries to favour their own party and changes to electoral law to impose photo ID requirements aimed at reducing voter turnout.
Neither the courts — which showed how nearly illegal any national strike action already is with their ruling on the Royal Mail strike vote — nor the BBC are allies of the left or its organisations, but the Tory assault aims to permanently strengthen corporate and state power over society and shrink the democratic arena.
Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party has spooked the Establishment. The fragility of the free-market consensus was exposed and the mass appeal of socialist politics demonstrated. The British state and capitalist media pulled out all the stops to prevent Corbyn entering No 10 last week, but they hope not to be presented with such a risk again.
But if the ruling class has learned, so have we. Millions have woken up to the nature of state and class power. We know we will not simply be allowed to opt for real change without the forces of hell being unleashed against our movement. That understanding must be reflected in changes to the way we organise and fight for workers, with workplace militancy and community mobilisation our answer to an ever more repressive state.
