Comments on: Serious about Socialism http://www.glasgowguardian.co.uk/features/serious-about-socialism/ The award-winning website of Glasgow's top student newspaper Mon, 17 May 2010 16:35:18 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Ross Hutchison http://www.glasgowguardian.co.uk/features/serious-about-socialism/comment-page-1/#comment-31 Ross Hutchison Sun, 26 Apr 2009 09:45:25 +0000 http://glasgowguardian.co.uk/?page_id=330#comment-31 This piece seems to assume that the further deradicalisation of Labour represents a fundamental shift away from the Party's hard-line Leftism. If one was to take a look back on the history of the movement, since the Independent Labour Party in 1900 one would perhaps find that "empty rhetoric" has always been a systematic normalcy of the very movement itself. Marxist and true socialist Leftism, of any kind, is absent in the history of the Party. Obvious examples being the creation of the Party coming from the unification of groups such as a Fabian Society, with the working class itself being omitted from the process. Turning away from true radicalism and embracing the standard parliamentary approach, Labour alienated hard-left allies from the very beginning, and went so far as to oust them from the core of the party. The socialism of Labour was thus doomed to be a failed movement (although much of this blame could be placed on the very class structure of Britain itself). Despite the presupposed extremism in Clause 4, removed by Blair in his creation of the Third Way, analysis may yield that this was merely the natural step toward liberal capitalism that Labour has been heading towards since its inception. Clause 4 was an anachronism of the Party long before Blair finally removed it. Without true extremism, the socialism envisioned by the plan of mass nationalisation (the middle ground between the oscillations in interpretations) would have led only to confusion and as we saw: disillusion with the system and socialism itself. I did enjoy reading this article, and look forward to reading this paper as I enter Glasgow University next year! If possible, I would be interested in finding out how one would apply for membership at the paper itself, and where meetings take place. This piece seems to assume that the further deradicalisation of Labour represents a fundamental shift away from the Party’s hard-line Leftism. If one was to take a look back on the history of the movement, since the Independent Labour Party in 1900 one would perhaps find that “empty rhetoric” has always been a systematic normalcy of the very movement itself. Marxist and true socialist Leftism, of any kind, is absent in the history of the Party. Obvious examples being the creation of the Party coming from the unification of groups such as a Fabian Society, with the working class itself being omitted from the process. Turning away from true radicalism and embracing the standard parliamentary approach, Labour alienated hard-left allies from the very beginning, and went so far as to oust them from the core of the party. The socialism of Labour was thus doomed to be a failed movement (although much of this blame could be placed on the very class structure of Britain itself). Despite the presupposed extremism in Clause 4, removed by Blair in his creation of the Third Way, analysis may yield that this was merely the natural step toward liberal capitalism that Labour has been heading towards since its inception. Clause 4 was an anachronism of the Party long before Blair finally removed it. Without true extremism, the socialism envisioned by the plan of mass nationalisation (the middle ground between the oscillations in interpretations) would have led only to confusion and as we saw: disillusion with the system and socialism itself.

I did enjoy reading this article, and look forward to reading this paper as I enter Glasgow University next year!
If possible, I would be interested in finding out how one would apply for membership at the paper itself, and where meetings take place.

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