Tom Watson has effectively broken with his boss, but is not yet supporting Owen Smith. Watson stated that Labour was being subject to entryism. Jeremy Corbyn rubbished this claim.
Watson is one third right in his analysis. Labour is being subject to a Bolshevik triple whammy. There are elements of Leninism, Trotskyism and Stalinism in the attempt to take over the Labour Party and shift it to the hard left. We start with:
Trotskyism
Trotsky advocated entryism in the 1930s. He called for the Communist League to enter the French Socialist Party instead of forming a ‘united front’ as the Stalinist Communist Party did, stating:
“[…]we shall work in the membership and maintain discipline. We shall develop into a faction. In return for that, we shall be in constant contact with tens of thousands of workers, and we shall receive the right to participate in the struggle and in the discussion-and we shall have the opportunity, particularly indispensable for us, of controlling our ideas and slogans daily in the actions of the masses.”
(Writings of Leon Trotsky, 1934-35, p42)
Both the Respect Party and the Alliance for Worker’s Liberty have de-registered as political parties so that their members may join Labour. The Socialist Workers Party is not actually a registered party. As such, its membership seems to be able to walk into Labour.
The only way Labour will find out about these people, or those from any other groups, is if these organisations hand over their membership lists, or the party trawls the internet.
And on to:
Leninism
It appears that Leninism used two major methods to seize power in Russia. There was the debasement of State structures, putting them under stress until they could no longer function. This is epitomised by Lenin’s adopted slogan, ‘The Worse The Better’. The second was the establishment of alternative power structures that could be used to divert allegiances once the debasement had reached a critical level.
For the first, Labour’s existing organisations have been under continual stress as they struggle to adapt to the realities of two successive general election defeats and having to formulate policies that will attract the support of both SNP and Conservative voters.
For the second, consider Momentum. This is not actually an entryist organisation, or a ‘party within a party’. It does, however, conform to the Lenin’s Soviets, that competed with Kerensky’s Provisional Government for power in 1917.
Momentum have their version of the storming of the Winter Palace. Writing in The Guardian, John Harris describes the storming of the Brighton Constituency Labour Party:
“[…]Momentum organised a rally just prior to the local Labour party’s annual meeting last Saturday. There was then a massed walk from one to other, where serving party officers were all summarily replaced by Corbynites. The edges of the meeting were reportedly characterised by what one insider described as “a real nastiness”, manifested in the caretaker of the building being spat at, while two Corbyn supporters later claimed to have been called “scum” and threatened with violence.”
Labour has suspended all Constituency Labour Party meetings.
Labour was, for a time, unable to hold a party conference in Liverpool as it could not organise the security. Momentum are also holding a conference in Liverpool at exactly the same time. Would the BBC have televised Momentum’s instead?
Finally:
Stalinism
Stalinists love purging party members. Jeremy Corbyn openly associates with Stalinists. Corbyn helped form the ‘Stop the War Coalition’. Kamal Majid, a founding member of the Stalin Society, is the vice-chair of the Stop the War Coalition.
Corbyn, when launching his election campaign said:
“There would be a full selection process in every constituency but the sitting MP[…] would have an opportunity to put their name forward.
So there will be a full and open selection process for every constituency Labour Party through the whole of the UK.”
With Momentum moving on the Constituency Labour Parties after Corbyn is re-elected, the purge of rebel MPs could begin. The party’s National Executive Committee has been recomposed with a Corbynite majority so there may not be High Court challenges to rule changes.
So there you have it. The Bolshevik triple-whammy being conducted by people who regard Ten Days That Shook The World as less of history book and more an instruction manual.
Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin’s creation blighted this planet for seventy years. It is to be hoped that democratic politics in this country may limit the life of a party being recreated in Corbyn’s image to a fraction of that.
