When the going gets tough…

 

...the TUC gets going – often out of the back door under a cover of the usual platitudes the full-time officers reserve for times like these. The furore over the pensioners’ winter fuel cuts in the House of Commons and at TUC conference in Brighton may have reflected the anger on the street at this blatant attack on one of the most vulnerable sections of society but it also showed the weakness of the labour movement, that was unable to halt or water down the demand of the Starmer government to means-test the pensioners’ allowance that some say could lead to over 4,000 excess deaths due to hyperthermia in the winter months. 
Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader who now heads the Independent bloc in Parliament says “cutting winter fuel allowance is not a tough choice. It's the wrong choice - and we will not be fooled by ministers’ attempts to feign regret over cruel decisions they don’t have to take”. But sadly some union leaders fool themselves into believing that Starmer can be swayed by fine words and back-room lobbying while others believe that the Starmer’s cruel necessity is a price worth paying for the very modest concessions on pay and union rights that the Government has made during its first hundred days. 
It’s long been clear that the only people this Labour government heeds are those they believe represent the dominant bloc within the British ruling class; the City of London and the American diplomats that Starmer apparently liaises with on an almost weekly basis.
Labour was founded by the trade unions to give the working class its own voice within Parliament but the Parliamentary Party leadership has been dominated by the middle class intelligentsia since the days of Ramsay McDonald. In Parliament, even in Corbyn’s day, the Labour benches were dominated by right-wing factions. In the past left social-democratic and Trotskyist factions were tolerated to provide a “left” cover for the Cold War politics of the post-war Labour governments. No longer needed following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the people’s democracies in eastern Europe they were purged much like the Corbynistas in recent years. 
Though the Labour Party is dominated by the class‑collaborating right wing in the parliamentary party the possibility of their defeat exists as long as Labour retains its organisational links with the trade unions that fund it. The defeat of the old right‑wing union factions in most of the major unions over the past ten years demonstrates this possibility.
A Labour government, with the yet unbroken links with the trade unions and the co‑operative movement, still offers the best option for the working class in the era of bourgeois parliamentary democracy. Our strategy is for working class unity and our campaigns are focused on defeating the right‑wing within the movement and strengthening the left and progressive forces within the Labour Party and the unions. Day‑to‑day demands for reform, progressive taxation, state welfare and a public sector dedicated to meet the people’s needs are winnable under capitalism, particularly in a rich country like Britain today.
We support these demands and back the demands of those within the Labour Party and the  unions who are campaigning for greater social justice. We support those in the Labour Party fighting for left policies. It is part of our struggle against austerity.
In July we saw the election of independents including Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader hounded out by Starmer and the Blairite gang. They have now formed an Independent bloc in Parliament. They are all supporters of the Palestinian cause and other anti-imperialist struggles across the globe. Hopefully, they will soon become a focus of resistance to austerity in parliament – and on the street.