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Paul Mason

18 Oct, 10 tweets, 4 min read

We're in another round of "I'm quitting Labour because..." Seriously? 1/ The state is central to neoliberalism's power; it's the only tool we have to stop climate change. Without a party how do we contest with capital for control of the state? medium.com/@paulmasonnews…

2/ Fine - repurpose some union funds towards extra-party activism. Let's start with a daily news website, massive boost for Momentum, the SCG, Open Labour etc... but shaping the next Labour govt is critical.... medium.com/@paulmasonnews…

3/ Or if you are a Leninist who wants to smash the state, fine, join a re-enactment group. The fact is, as with Cliff's SWP in the 1980s, you will still end up obsessing over who controls the Labour Party... medium.com/@paulmasonnews…

4/ If you don't want to spend long evenings wrangling over procedure at CLPs etc, then back the idea of digital party democracy: your card number gets you a vote and all votes happen online - that frees up 100s of hours for activism... medium.com/@paulmasonnews…

5/ The government is reeling today because Labour mayors fought back against the attack on Northern England; and because Keir Starmer called for a circuit-breaker... wouldn't you want a say in the future of that party? medium.com/@paulmasonnews…

6/ I understand people's lack of realism about what a left-Labour government could be. It's hard to go from networked street movements to the reality of class politics in an imperialist state with a mass colonial supremacy fixation... medium.com/@paulmasonnews…

7/ What's possible is a LEFT GOVERNMENT. It will probably have to be a coalition with progressive parties (as with Ardern); and it won't be a wish list - it will be an act of class struggle against neoliberal nationalism and carbon capitalism... medium.com/@paulmasonnews…

8/ To achieve a left government there has to be a strategy. So here's a proposal. Why don't we call something like the Socialist Conference, that happened in Chesterfield 1986 (I promise not to repeat my TV appearance)...

9/ Everybody with a stake in left government - the pro-Indy Scottish left, the Green parties, the climate NGOs and "activist lawyers" and the unions, new and old, affiliated or non-affiliated...

10/ We can build an extra-parliamentary movement alongside Labour to resist the Tories; that's what we did in the 80s... but our aim was always to set Labour policy, democratise the party and select MPs prepared to fight. In summary: medium.com/@paulmasonnews…

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More from @paulmasonnews

Paul Mason

@paulmasonnews

20 Oct

The Newsnight film on Labour's divisions under Starmer was pretty accurate... but 1/ Look how easily it has provoked more divisions. Len McCluskey's "counting gold" comment about Mandelson was a disgrace and so was Unite's initial defence of it... he is right to apologise...

2/ The allegation of Starmer being "untrustworthy" from Diane Abbot sounded to me like a left that has no intention of fighting for influence in a battle of ideas... I hope the #GrassrootsVoice NEC slate stays well away from this...

3/ There's a growing logic: the disaffiliation of a big union, a provoked confrontation over the EHRC report, a Unite-led "faction" so that tankies can live in a well-funded echo chamber while abdicating the struggle for a Labour government...

Read 6 tweets

Paul Mason

@paulmasonnews

12 Oct

We're in Covid crisis mode again - and this is just the start. Why? Because Johnson is trapped between libertarian herd-immunity crowd, and a faction that wants to use the crisis to privatise public health... there is no functioning state.... 1/

2/ They promised major businesses there would be no second lockdown - not in public statements but in private briefings. So whatever the epidemiology says, they have to stick to local lockdowns...

3/ But during the summer the libertarians were on top, urging the return of schools, universities, office workers and of course restaurants... the exponential curve is back as a result....

Read 11 tweets

Paul Mason

@paulmasonnews

12 Oct

Here's an attack on my review of Giles Tremlett's book. And here's some evidence, drawn from the best possible source: the Wintringham archive at the Liddell Hart Centre. 1/ Next up Colonel Gal...
international-brigades.org.uk/content/traves…

2/ Yes of course Frank Ryan & Jock Cunningham led the battalion forward singing the Internationale but Colonel Gal (János Gálicz) also rallied them & gave orders - it's a one par summary of a 3 day battle! So what's the real issue here...

3/ The real issue is that nobody writing about the International Brigades is allowed to criticise Stalinism. Here's the IBMT "line" on my review (and wait til they read Giles' Book!)...

Read 5 tweets

Paul Mason

@paulmasonnews

8 Oct

What's working/ not working for Labour? 1/ The strategy is right: a radical economic offer plus reconnect with voters over trust, on crime/defence/security and *where possible* refuse Tory culture war provocations... but...
newstatesman.com/politics/uk/20…

2/ ... this battle has to be fought in three dimensions: parliament, society and the labour movement. At present, it's only happening in parliament. And not enough: 2nd reading abstentions are read as weak and don't deflect Johnson's culture war jibes... newstatesman.com/politics/uk/20…

3/ ... so the left fears that by its MPs voting on principle it is being edged out of Starmer's coalition. But real battle is not in parliament: Johnson/Cummings are moving rightwards *slower* than parts of their mass base...
newstatesman.com/politics/uk/20…

Read 6 tweets

Paul Mason

@paulmasonnews

7 Oct

I don't relish Lockdown 2.0 - it has huge public/mental health costs: but we are now at a stage where "shut down all pubs in X street until Y time near Z university, but not anywhere near a rich area " doesn't wash. Social solidarity means we're all in it, and all sacrifice....

What I want to hear from epidemiologists is epidemiology: not economics. If the science says lock down again for a limited time, and the economics say that will screw the recovery, let's have a mature democratic debate about the tradeoffs....

We can calibrate the number of delayed elective operations, or the mental health cost, but the cost to democracy of seeing a total breakdown of social solidarity at this point would be great. Politicians should take decisions and put them to parliament/assemblies.

Read 4 tweets

Paul Mason

@paulmasonnews

7 Oct

Why the Golden Dawn verdict is important, but not enough. 1/ They were an outlier in European fascism, trying to combine the legal, parliamentary party with squadrismo (and major organised crime). The right-wing coalition government tolerated them; they infiltrated the cops...

2/ Today a member was found guilty of premeditated murder of Pavlos Fyssas; numerous members of consipiracy to murder; and the entire organisation as a criminal organisation... that's the decisive bit. It should now be legally dismantled and the leaders jailed...

3/ But Greek fascism has roots going back to collaborationism in the War, and to the Civil War, and strong Balkan, Russian and international ties... suppressed polls at the highpoint put GD's support at 18%

Read 9 tweets

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