Back soon...

Holidays and overwork are getting in the way of regular blogging. We had hoped to talk about the recent UK election, for example. Instead, we learnt a lot from the comment elsewhere in the blogosphere, particularly at Actually Existing, SIAW and Gauche (see blogs, right). If anyone's interested, one of our number here at FDTW voted Labour (without illusions); the other plumped for Respect (illusions on the side).

Normal service will hopefully be resumed by the end of this week with a short review of this book. Thanks for listening.

Comments

[Adam Buick]

What! One of you voted New Labour and the other voted Muslim and the both of you left the SPGB because of its "parliamentarism". You didn't have to live up to your caricature while in the SPGB of being the "Left Comical Tendency".
Adam

[Papillon]

LABOUR!!!!! RESPECT!!!!

Think its time you changed your bklog title. from "Depair to utter Oblivion".

[Silas Marner]

Christ on a bike!! That'll take some profound dialectical explanation.

[Tony Blair]

Thanks awfully,

Tony

[George Galloway]

Great to have battle-hardened revolutionaries on my side. Cheers lads.

GG

[Darren]

What's the line from that old film? "Say it isn't so, Jimmy Blue?" I'm paraphrasing.

I am genuinely surprised that Dave voted Labour though, 'cos when we used to natter about our politically trajectories he was always particularly proud of the fact that he had bypassed the whole Labour reformist schtick that so many of us *blush* gone through.

Your revelation does beg the question though: if I had blogged about voting SSP would I have actually got a few comments for a change? Something for me to think about come the next election.

[Finbarr Gilhooley]

Tch,tch. Michael Collins would turn in his grave, so he would.

Taig

[DespairToWhere]

Blimey, seven comments. I didn't know we had so many readers. I supposed we'd better write a short blog explaining ourselves. Perhaps we'll stick one up later this week. But in short, we thought that what is at stake in an election is not "socialism or capitalism", but who will form the government. We don't buy the argument that it doesn't make any difference who that is. And as for voting for a leftwing party (Respect) that had a chance of winning, and did win, that can't be a bad thing, in our view.

We could be wrong, but thanks everyone for caring.

[Darren]

Hello Stuart and Dave,

I would be interested if you do get round to writing a piece about your reasons for your voting patterns, with especial reference to the vote for Respect. Not to use as a sectarian cudgel to bludgeon you wish, but just that I would be interested in how a vote for Respect can be justified in class terms.

Even when you compare Respect to its previous (partial) incarnation, Socialist Alliance, I think it comes up short, and in George Galloway there lies a man that doesn't just have clay feet but has a clay head as well.

all the best
- Darren

[Papillon]

"And as for voting for a leftwing party (Respect) that had a chance of winning, and did win, that can't be a bad thing, in our view."

Left wing or right wing, they're both party of the same predatory capitalist eagle. Galloway has not been elected for his anti-capitalist views, but because of his stance on Iraq and becuse he is a reformist. He might be the most radical MP in the commons at the moment, but he still defends the capitalist system.

[Darren]

Is it the case that he is/was the most radical MP in the commons? I understand that - the issue of the Middle East aside - Galloway was by all accounts on the mainstream left of the Labour Left with a few idiosyncrasies thrown in for good measure.

One of them of course being that he considered the Soviet Union and its satellites as in some way progressive, and its demise as a tragedy of sorts.

[John]

At least comfort us with the illusion that you voted ironically! That you were drawing attention to the entire surrealist pantomime in order to mock those who believe that voting in parliamentary elections is a politically significant act.

[DespairToWhere]

Hi John,
All will be explained in a (very short) blog we will definitely write this weekend. But in short, no, we do not believe that voting in parliamentary elections is a politically significant act, unlike, I think, most of the people who have had a dig at us so far.
All the best
Stuart

[DespairToWhere]

Hi again John,
Just realised that that looks like I've contradicted what I wrote in this comments box just a few days ago. I think it is politically significant in that the votes cast determine who will form the government; not politically significant in terms of the sort of social change we would all like to see. Anyway....

[John]

Agreed.

[Anony Mouse]

So it was "politically significant" to vote labour and help determine Blair got elected?

[DespairToWhere]

Hi everybody,
We've decided not to blog on this because we feel we've already said everything we have to say and because for us it's just not a big deal.

To summarise, we don't feel voting is important with respect to "revolutionary politics" or communism. What is at stake in an election is, Who will form the government? And although we agree the differences are mostly paper thin, especially in the case of New Labour, we don't accept that it makes no difference at all. We were glad that the murdering, lying smug bastard Blair got in rather than the other bastard who campaigned on a vile Daily Mail agenda.

And if there's a chance to increase the vote for a left-wing party, helping to create a culture where left-wing ideas -- including those of our (mostly SPGB) critics -- do not seem nuts, then again, this is not a matter of indifference for us, regardless of the critiques of that party which we are of course aware of and largely agree with.

That's all from us on elections and voting, although we may respond to comments in our comments box, and will reply to any personal correspondence to our email address.
All the best,
Stuart and Dave

[Darren]

"And if there's a chance to increase the vote for a left-wing party, helping to create a culture where left-wing ideas . . . "

Could you clarify if the above is in reference to one of you voting for the Labour Party or refers to the other one voting Respect?

Bad jokes aside and speaking personally, I don't think its any great shakes that the FDTW team voted as you did in the election just gone. I guess I just can't thinking about all those political discussions that we had down the years when I was being berated for the political positions I held in relation to both the Parliament and the trade union questions, and how things have since shifted ;-)

I think I can understand the political transformation that you have gone through in recent years, and in some way can even sympathise in places with the thought processes that underpin it. However - and this isn't me just regurgitating clause 7 of the D of P unthinkingly at you and others - I can never agree that a top down vanguardist project such as Respect, and those groups that make up its compomemt parts, can ever have any connection with a serious and genuine attempt at the revitalisation or regeneration of working class politcs that will give breathing space to that culture of left-wing ideas that you write of.

PS - If you have a spare copy of the ICC recent publication: The History of Communist Left in Britain, that will easily buy me off. ;-)

Tried to buy a copy in Housmans yesterday, but it was sold out, so I settled for the collective novels of Martin Millar instead. ;-)

I'm sure the space cadets in the ICC will understand.

[DespairToWhere]

Martin Millar? Is he any good? I vaguely remember reading a novel of his about fairies in New York when I was a student, but can't remember anything about it. Should I go back to him?

As for the left, I have nothing to add for now, but may go back to it if/when we pick up on our half-finised series on the ultra-left.