Won’t Get Fooled Again or Imagine

Letter from a comrade

George Mackin

Is it just me - or have you felt angry this week? Enraged. Just under third of a million deprived of all benefits this year and worse to come, much worse. What planet are these people on? Tories: lower than vermin; add to the pile the unctuous and venal Liberals. Back to the workhouse, back to the soup kitchen. Targets to be met, after all it is only common sense. George Bush on the perils and joys of water-boarding; a royal wedding; red poppies; student tuition fees; and a certain criminal and less than civil case which shines a whole new light onto the phrase the personal is political.

Never mind I’m not in the Scottish Socialist Party any more. I have done my bit. Thirty years of that political stuff. What thanks do you get? Anyway some of the Left are just bonkers.: one party states and would be little Napoleons handing out truth on high in condescending three hour rants. Gerry Healey and… make your own list of snake oil salesman … Want to know the truth? Read this book. Look no further. The stories I could tell of people on the Left treating other people like feudal underlings.

Never has political quietism been so appealing. Rock Guitar anyone? Hurry up Harry come on, were going down the pub. Dah Dah Dah.

So why do I feel enraged? A soon to be fifty year old whose best days are over. Winter’s breath upon me, not much time left, best to enjoy every sandwich.

There is a big neo-liberal train that has been a rolling all my adult life, like the Terminator it never stops. It is inexorable and loathsome. Vote Labour? Nah! Just a slower train but the same direction and let’s not forget Jim Murphy. Set Scotland Free vote by voting tweedle dee SNP. Nah just a different flag ( mind you I do detest the Butcher’s Apron).

The Labour Party; The SNP; The SSP, I have been in all three. In fact let’s not forget Militant Tendency I was a supporter/ reader of that party/ tendency/paper many years ago.. Another story, comrade. World Prospectus 1981 anyone ? SWP: the non-thinking man’s millenarian cult. That’s the problem with Capitalism : too much choice.

Which party are you in now? Not a question but a sneer riddled with guilt None. None?

Yet out off all the groups left standing which party to I most identify with ? Easy: The SSP. I’m Pleased that the Greens won a seat in England, though. Political parties, not the battle but the echo of the battle as James Connolly used to say.

How do you feel about that? Not being in a political party? Great. Shite. Relieved, Bereft. Depressed. Happy. Bitter. Angry. Enraged. Sad, so sad, what a waste. numb so numb.

Mind you if you think some of the Left are bonkers you should see the SNP.? Another story, comrade.

Imagine or Won’t Get Fooled Again? Which sentiment suits me best?

A credible Left, a Republican Left, a non-patriarchal Left, a smash up the hated British State Left, a radical Left; not content to live within the confines of capitalist Left, a non-neo-Stalinist Left, a Green left, a non-sectarian Left, an anti-nuclear Left, a non-primate dominance in any form Left. A humanist and sceptical Left..

A big rock fell upon us. Devil and the deep blue sea or A rock and a hard place, call it what you like. Hard choices were made. Ken what I mean? No textbook for those difficult paths. Nobody comes out squeaky clean. There is no one to cast the first stones. But let us not to be too hard on ourselves or on others.: we all could have done things better. We forgive as best we can; we learn our lessons as best we can - we move on. We make history but not to our own making.

The struggle continues; we rebuild. Life is green but the truth is grey as they say and life goes on until the end. No consolation for us materialists. One life and one life only. Do we accept? Or do we act? Do we let people exercise power over us or do we challenge their authority?

A Time to rage; a time to grieve; a time for sadness; a time for hope; a time to regroup.;a time for praxical reflection; a time for optimism and pessimism; a time to talk.

LETTER TO PAPERS ON BANKERS BONUSES

Whilst the Coalition Government with its ill-judged ‘recovery’ policies must share responsibility for the existing financial mess the country is in, the public should not lose sight of the fact that the previous Labour Government is at least equally if not more culpable.

We only have to think of Fred Goodwin who under that Labour Government received a knighthood for services to the banking industry. Even though he drove the Royal Bank of Scotland to within twenty minutes of bankruptcy his parting gift from the government-rescued bank was an enormous ‘golden goodbye’ and gargantuan pension.

Also let’s not forget that Tony Blair headed the Labour Government during the time bankers were being given free rein to act recklessly in pursuit of super profits. He is currently amassing millions of pounds from the lecture circuit and for working as an advisor to a number of the companies who are slashing thousands of British workers’ jobs.

Consequently, it is quite rich for the Labour Party, which once upon a time in a far-off land professed to be “Socialist”, to be calling for a ‘progressive front’ to oppose the ‘cuts’.

As for the Coalition Government, the hypocritical phrase “we are all in this together” which David Cameron and Nick Clegg are peddling has to be placed in its true context. Despite hundreds of thousands of public sector jobs currently being sacrificed or downgraded in a desperate effort to resolve the current financial crisis, the top bankers largely responsible for precipitating the economic downturn are still being awarded obscene bonuses and inflated salaries.

The working man and women are “together” in the mire and the bankers and politicians are “together” in the gravy. How long will this cycle of exploitation and abuse continue to be tolerated by the British public?

Ally Hendry 

West lothian branch