UK General election 2010

Well, as is well known to the electorate:

Parties should acknowledge that voting for them is not a support of their policies but simply the choice of the lesser of evils.

I can explain the British "Left" quite easily without looking anything up (oh wait maybe because I'm a goddamn stinking pinko... "

British Labour Party- Second International (from the 1890s)
went reformist very quickly as did the 2I, under the influence of figures like Bernstein, and by the 1900s had resulted in Millerandism, where a Socialist Party member became part of a capitalist government. In 1914 the International fell apart as each section supported its own capitalist government in the war. Offspring include the Social Democratic Party Of Germany, founded by Karl Marx ironically, now a right wing party of course. The Socialist Party of France, the defunct Socialist Party of America, led famously by Eugene Debs, and many others besides Labour.

in 1920s British sympathizers of the Russian Revolution formed the British Communist Party to fight for the principles of Socialism against the reformists
Stalinist counter-revolution took over the Soviet Union and the Third International was purged of genuine socialists. The parties were then, after a brief so called "ultraleft" period, instructed to back up the Social Democrats in a policy known as the Popular Front, which prevented revolutions from taking place in Europe.

in the 1930s real socialists abandoned any attempt to break the Communist Party from Stalin's grip and formed a British section of the Fourth International. In 1940, Trotsky, the FI's leader, was finally assassinated by Stalin after years of pursuit and after the murder of all his family members and comrades.

Following WWII, a large section of the Fourth International decided that it should be liquidated into the Stalinist parties and third world movements. These were the Pabloites. Groups in Britain reflected Pabloism (groups like the Militant Tendency), the "State Capitalists" group led by Tony Cliff (eventually represented by Socialist Workers Party), which was quite similar, and the International Committee party of derisively named orthodox or ortho-Trotskyists whose party was the Socialist Labour League. The Socialist Labour League became the Workers Revolutionary Party in 1973, and was the largest left wing party in Britain. In 1985, it split three ways as the result of the decision by the leaders that Pabloism was correct and the party should be liquidated and become subordinated to the Stalinist parties and third world movements. This was largely because they were demoralized by the conservative turn in the 1980s. A small segment of the party, however, remained loyal to the Fourth International and was vindicated by the fall of the Soviet Union, which was declared impossible only a few years before by the demoralized leaders (Banda and Healy). They continued on as the Socialist Equaliy Party, and want to rebuild the party on firmer foundations based on internationalism.

As for the Militant Tendency, it tried to rise to the top of Labour by entering into it, but its members were expelled in the 80s, ruining the stratagem, Ted Grant, it leader, died in the 2000s. The SWP is also opportunistic, teaming up with Labour politicians and promoting wide alliances. They have abandoned revolutionary change for supporting in practice Labour - they want to be a "junior partner." This is common, and there are equivalent organizations in the USA such as the International Socialist Organization, which is a middle class type protest organization.

etc.

^off the top of my marvelous head and I'm an American AND most of this stuff happened way before I was born


Edited by RoyFairbank - April 13 2010 at 18:59

Blacksword wrote: JJLehto wrote: UK leftist politics may be confusing and a mess, but at least you got them.The Democratic Party has always been a disappointment to me, and despite my hopes a leftward shift to my personal beliefs under Obama, no cigar. I believe the US is the only industrial nation without a social democratic party....But I'll leave this thread now, suppose I have no real point in contributing. Your opinions are perfectly valid and your contribution more than welcome. I'm often intrigued how people see British Politics from the outside. We must seem like an island of complete nutjobs, run by chinless, upper middle class crooks.

Nah....well maybe but I think many countries may fall under that latter part.
The only thing I found nutty about British politics, (and correct me if Im wrong) was that "debates" are pointless and mainly for show? Like as a test of the PM's oratory skills, and that any piece of legislature is already guaranteed since the PM's party is in the majority. I will admit, I learned about from a 75 year old conservative prof who is more of a francophile so I dont know
Also this whole "snap" election thing and ready to go shadow cabinet was a little strange to me.

But that was quite a tangent.
Seriously, vote Scottish Independence Party! Or if I was British I'd probably just go Labour......

I will vote for the Labour Party.

lazland wrote: Lizzy - the Welsh & Scottish Nationalists in the UK are left wing parties, both promote policies similar to those that Old Labour used to prior to Comrade Blair's election. There has been an increase in support for United Kingdom Independence Party, who want us out of Europe, and the Fascist BNP in England, which, as you suggest, is somewhat normal in times of economic trouble. However, I meant the nationalist parties of the Celtic nations, and I should have made that clearer.

Yup, know about the Scottish and Welsh nationalists' left wing policies, not as much as I would like to though.
But these parties have been on a growing trend long before the crisis, as they have a fairly long history compared to the BNP and UKIP. The economic crisis throughout Europe has mainly broght the right wingers to power, this including the right wing nationalists. Of course there are also the exceptions: first one that springs to mind is Croatia - they elected a Social Democrat president.
And a bit off topic - looks like almost 70% of the Hungarian Parliament will consist of right and far-right parties.

seventhsojourn wrote: ^ My voter power is apparently 0.229.

Mine is 0.236 apparently - in reality it is 0.000 since I live in a rural area and will not be voting Tory.

Cactus Choir wrote: It's basically a case of "Don't vote, the Government will get in!" I've always been Labour but don't think I can bring myself to vote for them this time, particularly since they were insane enough to elect Harriet Harman deputy leader. All the parties seem to be offering the same thing - economically conservative and socially liberal. This is bit of a problem for me since I'm economically liberal but socially conservative. They say you get the government you deserve so maybe that's what's happened in the UK. Egalitarian economic policies offered by old school Labour were continually rejected by the electorate so we've ended up with all the parties pretending to be a cuddlier version of Thatcherism. If Screaming Lord Sutch was still around I'd probably vote for him - after all he did promise to set all accountants in cement and use them as tunnel supports on the London Underground!

Its funny , but virtually  the same things are said on the punk forums . Basically we're all the same really if you take out the music .

^ My voter power is apparently 0.229.

So, a Labour candidate has been sacked for offensive tweets where he used ''unacceptable language'' to attack leading Westminster members. He also referred to the elderly as ''coffin dodgers''. My local MP initially backed him, making the excuse the guy was young and all would be ok. However as soon as the Labour Party sacked him, this same person was acclaiming this as the correct decision. Sorry, I can't trust any of these people.