Republican Socialists in Bermondsey

 

 

Occupy London 12 May 2012 Video

 

 

George Galloway in Bradford

 

Love him or hate him Gorgeous George is at it again – knocking ‘em dead in Bradford West. Respect is not a republican party either formally or in spirit. It is more Big Celebs with Big Cigars than the puritan spirit of Cromwell’s ironsides. If he is not Lord Protector of England he is certainly the uncrowned King of Respect.

 

Respect ideology is really left wing old Labour. So like every Labour MP before him George will soon be swearing his oath of allegiance to Her Majesty before taking his seat.

 

Whatever we may think about Galloway’s dodgy politics, not least his flirtations with Middle Eastern dictators, we should welcome his defeat of the three Mainstream parties. It is a victory for the opposition to the Crown’s policies from the left. It shows that left Labour arguments can mobilise mass popular support. The opposition to war and austerity policies of the Tories, Lib Dems and Labour should inspire us all. If it can be done in Bradford, why not Bermondsey? We have no Big Celebs or Big Cigars. But we have three secret weapons – hostility to Simon Hughes, the working class and a democratic programme. All we need is a party which combines all three.

 

Defend the NHS from the Privateers

 

We are in the process of planning a meeting at LSBU in Mid June to discuss the threat to the NHS following the Tory-Lib Dem bill being carried through parliament. There is also some agitation for the TUC to call a demo at the end of June. If so the two things would tie up nicely

 

JubOlympics

 

The big Tory event this year is the JubOlypics – two for the price of one. Occupy is developing some plans and we will see what Republic is intending to do for 4 June. All BRS supporters should get their thinking caps on about what can done to upset these national celebrations of Tory values - monarchy, big business and patriotism. It should be a great year for Cameron to preen.

 

 

The English Question

 

British-England needs to address its own democratic deficit and national identity  

In autumn 2014 Scotland will have a referendum on the issue of independence which may lead to the break up of the UK. Such a major shake up of British politics would end British national identity as we know it. Of course the SNP is hardly a revolutionary party and Alex Sammond is no Lenin. He has been at pains to calm fears of the ruling class - Scotland will remain under the British monarchy and continue to pay its dues to the Bank of England. It will be a great place for multinationals to do business.

Salmond told an audience in London on 26 January that an independent Scotland would be “a beacon for progressive opinion south of the border”. He pointed to free university tuition fees and free medical care for senior citizens and more would come. An independent Scotland would exit NATO and the nuclear submarines would leave their base in Faslane. Friendship between Scotland and England would be “reinvigorated”. 

In this scenario there is nothing for progressive politics in England to worry about. A liberal-social Scotland would be little different from today. Perhaps cast adrift from Tory England it would move more to the left. May be this would waken the English working class to fight for better deal. Either way the left in England has surely enough generosity of spirit and democratic internationalism to wave good bye.

Tory England is not going to take this lying down. The old dog will not give up without a fight. Public opinion in England is already being primed with resentment. There is plenty of dormant chauvinism to be mobilised as witnessed on radio phone-ins - ‘the Scots are like welfare dependents being subsidized by taxpayers down south, these ungrateful recipients of state handouts are damaging all of us’. 

The SNP has its own answer. The Scottish state can rely on North Sea oil and doesn’t need taxes from England. But there are massive debts, over £1 trillion, to be divided up. This redistribution of wealth will drive the inevitable battle. Czechoslovakia broke up peacefully but the battle for Yugoslavia fuelled a violent aggressive nationalistic-fascism. Whether a break up will be progressive or not depends on the state of class struggle.

The Yugoslav scenario does not seem likely at the present, not least because England and Scotland have a different history to the Balkans. However, we must not be too complacent or think that some kind of national-fascism could not gain momentum. Future politics may seem an extension of current trends, but sometimes it undergoes sharp and unexpected developments. Flagging up an unlikely scenario is not designed to create fear but constitutes an appeal to the left in England to take this matter with the utmost seriousness.

National question

The UK is a multi-national state whose British national identity was forged over three hundred years ago. England is the largest country with the greatest population and resources, particularly its wealth creating working class. The national question concerns the interrelations between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and crucially this is not simply about external relations between nations, rather it is bound up with internal demands for democracy, sovereignty and a new national identity.

The struggle to redefine Scotland’s democracy and identity will stir up the forces of both reaction and democracy within Tory England. Last summer’s riots show that everything in the English garden is far from ‘rosy’. The alienation of young people in England is clearly connected to unemployment and the lack of real democracy which is reflected in relations with Her Majesty’s Constabulary.

The England question is very important. As yet it is neither recognised nor theorized by the English left. Yet to ignore it is to leave a major political opportunity for organisations like the English Defence League. The fascists are quick off the mark when it comes to reinforcing “Englishness” as a racial and religious stereotype which can be mobilised against perceived threats whether from Europe, Muslims or disloyal Scotland.    

Tory England

England is a Tory country and not just when the Tories are in government. It is built-in to our class based institutions and “British-English” identity. This includes the Tory monarchy, House of Lords, the Honours system, the constitution of the Crown and our history as an imperialist power. Official history identifies national icons such as Queen Elizabeth 1st and Sir Francis Drake defeating the Spanish armada, Nelson defeating the French at Trafalgar, the Dunkirk spirit and the battle of Britain.

The “British-English” have been one of the world’s most war-like nations over the last three hundred years. This dual identity under the British Crown is symbolised by the Union Jack, (aka the butcher’s apron), the flag of St George and the national hymn of praise “God Save the Queen”. However, in the last twenty years growing democratic demands from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have seen a search for, and the beginning of, a reinvention of the Englishness of St George.

There is of course another England. This is unofficial England, ignored, unloved and uncelebrated. It is a people’s England created out of the long struggle for popular democracy and sovereignty. This is an England fought for by the Levellers, Chartists and Suffragettes. It has many of its own heroes and martyrs including for example William Cuffy, the black republican and leader of the London Chartists who in 1848 was fitted up by the Crown’s ‘agents provocateurs’ and exiled to Australia.

The Peoples Flag

The Scottish referendum raises the question of what kind of England we live in. There is a democratic deficit in England, highlighted by the Scottish parliament’s reforms on student fees and welfare for senior citizens. It is time for Old Tory England with its British-English identity to be abolished. A new democratic England will redefine itself as republican, multi-racial, internationalist and secular country. To do this it must draw on our own popular democratic traditions which put the social and collective interests of the working class majority first.       

The resurrection of English radical traditions can be symbolised by flags and banners. The flag of England’s democracy is a tricolour which symbolises a republican and secular country. It is the recognition of a future England refounded on the sovereignty of the people. The three vertical stripes of red, violet-purple and green represent the values of liberty, equality and solidarity.
The historical roots of this flag go back to the Levellers, the democratic republican party of the English revolution. Levellers formed the most advanced pro-democratic wing in the New Model Army. Their colour was sea green. The tricolour connects with the Chartist flag (red white and green) and the suffragettes flag (green, purple and white). These colours identify with the most important struggles in England that have shaped our parliamentary democracy.  
Taken separately, the three colours highlight a future England which recognises the rights of working people who produce the wealth, the rights of women to full equality and the recognition of the global environment for the future of the planet. There has never been a time when the left in England needs to show it has new ideas, new slogans and new policies that point in the right direction. Clearly the Scottish question tells us it is not a new flag we need but a new country. But symbols matter and a people’s flag which reminds us of our radical democratic traditions shows at least we are starting to think about them.

 

 

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Previous Posts:

 

New World and New England

 

Occupy London has the passive support of many millions. Its strength is not in its numbers. Neither does it have the weaponry of the Crown nor the billions of the City. Its strength is its message. In appealing to humanity it connects with global protests from Egypt to Greece and America. It demands a new world, which for us starts here not over there. The occupation is a voice among the people of England angry with the City and banks. It demands a people’s democracy, the sovereignty of the people, and universal principles of liberty, equality and solidarity. Occupy London is a flag for England’s republic.  

 

The great English poet Shelly understood that the Crown was merely a mask for the power of finance - ‘fraud’ and ‘imposture’ represented by the 1688 constitutional settlement. St Paul’s was built to the glory of the City by Sir Christopher Wren. He was the architect of many churches built in the City during and after the 1688 bankers’ glorious revolution. The City of London Corporation coat of arms combines the cross of St George with the emblem of the City's patron, St Paul. It was believed that St Paul was beheaded by sword identified within the Cross.

No St George here! The flag of England - the Peoples Flag - raised at the anti-EDL demonstration held in Whitechapel on 3rd September 2011.

 

TORY ENGLAND IN FLAMES

 

Tory England is facing a crisis of self confidence. Cameron uses terms such as the ‘broken society’ and the ‘sick society’. The true state of Tory England is being revealed by the scandal involving the Prime Minister, the Metropolitan Police and the Murdoch empire. This has been supplemented ‘from below’ by the riots which have swept across many English cities. The articles below look at different aspects of this crisis. 

 

• 2010 Nick Clegg warns of riots if the Tories win the election
• MP Hypocrites? An open letter to David Cameron's parents

 

 

 

 

 

 

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