The anti-democrats
George Szamuely
Why should Britain, with its long tradition Of political stability and where notions of liberty, justice and freedom of the individual have such strong roots, be in such danger today? It is not because radical anti-democratic ideas have gained any ground among the British people. Nor have our economic troubles led to a radicalisation of opinions, since the crisis has been felt by few People. It is difficult indeed to see what great sacrifices' anybody has made. The Present surreptitious infiltration of constituency Labour parties is surely testimony to the lack of extremist views among ordinary Labour voters. There are, I believe, two sources of clanger. Over the last ten years or so two very important changes have occurred. Although they seem at first glance to be unrelated they are, in fact, inextricably bound together. One of the most important phenomena of our age is the massive expansion of higher education. Whereas previously students had been a small privileged elite, today they are a large social force. This has given rise to an intelligentsia. It is important to understand what exactly this signifies: a rootless, classless body alienated from society and, in many cases, seeking to overthrow it. The members of this group have Often come from working-class or lowermiddle-class homes and have drifted into the ever-expanding bureaucracy. There their talents are most usefully employed in Planning, welfare work, social research, teaching; occupations, in other words, Where they can indulge their urge for social reorganisation to their hearts' content or, rather, discontent. The 'bedsitter TrotsskYites' usually come from this group. To this trend a very important change has *seen added, namely the takeover of the trade unions by the Communists, Marxists, and their fellow-travellers. Although, many cPenple, including political 'experts,' have ng attached no great significance to this, Its disastrous effects are now very clear to see, particularly in the Labour Party. The latter is organically linked to the unions. ln fact it was the unions who had originally i ,clinded the Labour Party, and since that day have controlled it In no other Western country is this the case. More than 60 per cent of places on the Labour Party NEC and tnore than 90 per cent of the votes at the tarty's annual conference are controlled y the unions. It is hardly surprising then that once the Communists and their fellowtravellers had obtained power within the Unions a decisive shift to Marxism in the Labour Party would be the next step. So there we have it: the rise of the intelli gentsia and the Marxist shift in the Labour Party. The question immediately arises: what does the Marxist trade unionist, who looks to the Soviet Union and her satellites for his ideas and inspiration, have in common with the alienated intellectual who would dismiss the Soviet system as 'state capitalist' or 'bureaucratic' ? The answer, I believe, must be sought in the changing social and political climate of the 'sixties. It was then that the first results of the educational expansion could be observed. Every crackpot leftist idea was taken up by the press and television with enthusiasm. It became fashionable to denigrate every institution, every social convention. And it was at this moment that the new-style trade union leaders like Jack Jones, Hugh Scanlon and Clive Jenkins first emerged. Not only were they Marxists, but they made no secret of their admiration for the Soviet regime. Up to then the Communists within the unions had been lying low, particularly after the disastrous ETU case in 1961. Now, in their sudden emergence, the Communists were no longer alone; they were joined by Trotskyites, Maoists, International Socialists and their like who all saw industrial action as a political weapon for the destruction of the state. Their talk of 'class war' and 'working-class militancy' became the staple diet of the mass media. An endless stream of books, plays, films, 'documentaries' portraying embittered working-class life came forth. 'Working-class consciousness' became the
new catchphrase among trendy social scientists.
With the Marxists safely entrenched in the unions, their attempts to take over the Labour Party were inevitable. Because of the weakness and spinelessness of the 'moderates' success was achieved surprisingly rapidly. Marxists were gradually obtaining control of all the key bodies in the party.
During this process the working class has largely become disenfranchised. There is widespread political apathy among Labour voters. The Labour MP who today enters the House of Commons is frequently a lecturer in political science at some polytechnic. He will prattle on about a semimythical 'working class' which is demanding large-scale nationalisation, massive defence cuts, and, above all, socialism! His new constituency, however, is not the workingclass one of his dreams but the newly emerged intelligentsia. It is only this group that responds to fanatical egalitarian antibourgeois dogma. Among intellectuals radical and totalitarian ideas always take root. Indeed fascism, like socialism and communism, is a movement of the intelligentsia against bourgeois society. Fascism,
however, is a loser. With its romantic irrationalism, worship of elitism, and open repudiation of democracy, it is out of place in our democratic age. This accounts for the inability of the extreme right-wing parties to capture the minds of our intellectuals. This is very different from the Germany of the 1930s where the Nazis conquered the universities long before they conquered the streets. If our intelligentsia is drawn to Marxism it is not because of the validity of its scholarly analysis but because of its fervent messianism, its incontrovertible promise of revolution heralding the arrival of absolute freedom and absolute equality for all.
The perverse ideas of the intelligentsia invade all walks of life: schools, universities, local government, the shop floor, and, above all, the media. It is in this kind of intellectually chaotic climate that Communists, Marxist-Leninists, and Trotskyites can thrive. Is it surprising then that Mr Jack Jones, a man who has spoken lovingly of the Soviet Union and who has hailed Soviet 'trade unions' as enlightened institutions, can be described as the heir of Ernie Bevin, or that Mr Ron Hayward, the Labour Party general secretary, can speak of Mr Honecker, the revolting East German Communist Party boss, as 'a man of wisdom and experience, very proud of the German Democratic Republic and with every right to be proud' with hardly a condemnatory murmur in his own party or the press?
There has been, in a sense, an onslaught against the working class. The dual alliance of the trade unions and the intelligentsia has attempted to inculcate into ordinary working people feelings of resentment, envy, greed, bitterness and hostility to anything not 'working-class.' The concept of equality has been particularly fruitful. While most ordinary people may have vague notions that there should, in principle, be greater equality, the 'working-class spokesmen' go far beyond these notions.
Unfortunately, our politicians are also to blame. Many of them joined the intelligentsia on their bandwagon of denigration. Indeed some high-ranking politicians have risen to fame through their rantings about the British 'class system,' the public schools, our divisive education system, the inequitable distribution of wealth, the House of Lords, the electoral system, the parliamentary system, the judicial system, etc, etc, etc. Few politicians have sought to uphold our institutions (the Conservative Party's failure in this respect is deplorable). This is, in fact, the gravest indictment of our ruling class: its failure to stem the torrent of protest about every triviality, the exploitation of every grievance, real or imagined, large or small, by unscrupulous politicians, the institutionalisation of envy and bitterness, and, above all, the ceaseless denigration of every institution, tradition and custom.
Today political chaos and confusion reign; the totalitarians, while helping to spread these, are also waiting for the moment when they can restore order.
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