From "Homage To Catalonia" to "1984"

This photo is from the fine web-site of Poumista. It is taken in a Surveillence Zone in the Municipality of Barcelona. Anyone unaware of the significance of the photo should turn immediately to "Homage to Calalonia" et al and "1984".

Electoral Confusion

Seven weeks after Iraqis went to the polls, a special election court has disqualified both a winning parliamentary candidate from the Alawi bloc and 51 other losing candidates. All of these have had their votes discarded. If the decision is upheld this will require a recalculation of the votes and the possibility of reversing the narrow defeat of Prime Minister Maliki’s alliance by Alawi's bloc. This could give Maliki the first chance to form a new coalition government.

See this report in the New York Times.

UPDATE 28 APRIL : There is today fine coverage of the situation by "Musing On Iraq" who is worth following on a regular basis.

The Manifestos

Access the Manifestos of the three main parties here - Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem.

UPDATE 21 APRIL : The above Manifestos are due to be on sale at Waterstones. I understand that they will be £5 each and Waterstones will sell them as a 3 for 2 deal. But check by phone or email with your local branch first to see if and when they will be available.

They will have a short shelf life. Not only do Political Parties often deviate from manifesto commitments after General Elections, but should we get a hung parliament no proposal will be able to progress which can't find a majority in the new parliament. But they may prove useful for those who are into holding inner-party inquests after the election.

Electoral Confusion - Iraqi Style

The Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki has been successful over his challenge to the Iraqi Election Results which had given Allawi's Iraqi National Movement a lead of two seats over his own State of Law Coalition. The votes were initially counted electronically, but now the Iraqi Electoral Commission have ordered a manual recount of votes that were cast in Baghdad which was an area of Maliki's strength. No recounts are to take place in the other regions of Iraq.

There are also claims that up to $4 million of counterfeit US currency was used in the run up to the election. The finger is pointed at Iran, with the money being seen as being used to aid the Islamic Supreme Conference and the Sadrists who (in competition with Prime Minister Maliki) combined to take 70 seats from the votes they obtained in mainly Shia territory.

Defend Iraq's Oil Workers

FROM TUC INTERNATIONAL

Take action to stop harassment of Iraq oil workers!

After weeks of industrial action in the southern oil fields in Iraq, management are trying to undermine the Refinery Workers Union by sending four of its leaders to other workplaces. This is a standard management tactic in Iraq, and in the past has often meant sending union leaders to more hostile, violent areas of the country. But pressure from Iraqi trade unionists and trade unionists around the world has stopped this before, and we can do it again.

Sign the LabourStart appeal demanding that the Iraqi Oil Minister rescind the transfer orders and support the call for an ILO-compliant labour law in Iraq.

Still Needed - A Full Franchise

The Electoral Commission estimates that some 3.5 million people who are eligible to vote are missing from electoral registers. That is almost 7% of the potential electorate. It is just assumed by many that we long since achieved a full franchise, but this has been in serious decline for a considerable period as we became a more mobile and, in many cases, a highly rootless society. There has also been a falling away of interest in Party politics, so registration although a legal obligation is low down in the priorities of many. The numbers missing from electoral registers are highest amongst those living in bed-sitter land, the homeless, the poor, ethnic minorities and the young.

Non-registration is a serious undermining of the franchise and means that in an average parliamentary constituency there are some 5,400 missing voters. But because the spread of non-registration is much higher in urban conurbations, there is also a serious distortion of the drawing of constituency boundaries.

Until the 20 April there is a brief opportunity for those who aren't yet registered to correct this. The avenues for doing this can be found here and here. This is only likely, however, to place a small proportion of the missing 3.5 million onto registers.

At one time it would not even have been possible for people to have qualified for late electoral registration. For the deadline for registration was set for a date in October, with the registers not coming into operation until the following February. This wasn't altered until 2000 when what was known as "rolling registration" first came into operation based on a number of unsuccessful Private Members Bill I introduced into the Commons from 1993 onwards. The "rolling register" principle was extended during the parliament which has just ended, allowing registration as late as 11 days before a General Election.

But much more needs to be done. We need extra facilities for Electoral Returning Officers so they can trace the movements of those entitled to vote and exchange information as people move to new electoral areas. With the use of computer technology in an information-packed world this can easily be done. Then Electoral Returning Officers need the type of investigative avenues I pressed for in the 1990s. They are contained in the Bills I introduced, although advances in technology over the past decade are needed to update my proposals. Then Electoral Returning Officers need to be given the duty (and the resources) to canvass the public in order to ensure the fullest franchise that is possible.

Even under the current arrangements, the polling cards should have been posted to voters by now. With publicity, this would have shown those who did not receive a card that something might be wrong. They would then have 11 days left to ensure their registration.

For other franchise problems see my earlier analysis - although I underestimated the number of those not registered.

Al Sadr and Iraq's Hung Parliament

The Iraqi Parliament when in Session.
It is claimed that 1.4 million people voted in the unofficial referendum in Iraq which was organised by Al Sadr's Bloc to determine who to support as Prime Minister. Yet this would mean an average of 333,333 voters for what were claimed to be 42 polling centres. Furthermore some 32% of those who voted opted for candidates other than those presented to them on the ballot paper. They made use of a write-in facility. The results are given below. INA stands for the Iraqi National Alliance which won 70 seats in the official election, 39 or 40 of whom belong to Al Sadr's Bloc.

24% Ibramhim al-Jaafari (INA) Prime Minister April 2005 to May 2006
23% Jaffar Mohammad al-Sadr (State of Law) Dawa Party Leader
17% Qusay al-Suhail (INA and Al Sadr's Bloc) *
10% Nouri al-Maliki (State of Law) The current Prime Minister
9% Ayad Allawi (Iraqiya) Interim Prime Minister May 2004 to 2005
5% Baha Araji (INA and Al Sadr's Bloc) *
3% Ahmed Chalabi (INA) President Governing Council 2003-4 *
2% Adel Abdulmahdi (INA) A current Vice-President
2% Rafia al-Issawi (Iraqiya) A current Deputy Prime Minister *

* = a write-in. The total for other write-ins with lower individual percentages than the above was 5%.

In the official election, the result was Iraqiya 91, State of Law 89, INA 70, Kurdish Alliance 43 and others (no group with more than 8 seats) a total of 32.

Here is an analysis of the above situation. Also see here and here.

UPDATE 9 APRIL. Here is a fine analysis of the result.

Iraqi Sorrow

See Aljazeera

Muqtada al-Sadr's Initiative - Plus Updates

Muqtada al-Sadr (left) the Shia cleric has been especially hostile to the Iraqi Prime Minister Malaki ever since the Iraqi Government took military action to overcome much of the influence of his Mahdi Army from March 2008.

The Shia cleric also has little love for Malaki's main rival in the recent Iraqi Election - Allawi. For Allawi leads a secular grouping which has attracted wide Sunni support

Yet al-Sadr is always willing to take initiatives in Iraq to advance his own corner. The 39 seats his group obtained in the election gives him a bargaining chip he is using to the full.

Over yesterday and today Al-Sadr is running an unofficial referendum from 42 centres in Shia territory to determine who his group of 39 should support for the position of Prime Minister. All Iraqi's around the centres can vote (as below) They can choose from amongst 5 candidates or write in any other choice.

A further advantage of an unofficial referendum is that it has no international observers or official checks to look out for fraud.

Here are the five candidates on al-Sadr's ballot papers. All are Shia and none are Kurds -

1. Maliki the existing Prime Minister whose State of the Law Coalition won 89 seats.

2. Allawi appointed interim Prime Minister May 2004. This time, his list the Iraqi National Movement won 91 seats. But there are legal moves to ban six of those elected.

3. al-Jaafari Prime Minister April 2005 until May 2006. He is Chairman of the Iraqi National Alliance who took 70 seats. Yet his National Reform Trend itself only gained one seat - his own. Muqtada's Group of 39 are also part of this Alliance. al-Jaafari was expelled from the Dawa Party in 2008 for setting up his current Party.

4. Jaafar al-Sadr of the Dawa Party ran on Maliki's ticket with the State of the Law Coalition . He is the son of Muhammad Baqr al-Sadr, a leading Ayatollah executed by Saddam Hussain who was also the father-in-law of Muqtada al-Sadr.

5. Adil Abdul-Mahdi Vice-President of Iraq and with the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq who are on the list of the National Iraqi Alliance.

75 seats are held by groups outside those mentioned above.

See Patrick Cockburn on this issue in the Independent. He is the author of "Muqtada Al-Sadr and The Fall Of Iraq" (Faber and Faber, 2008).

UPDATE 5 APRIL - see how Allawi is between a rock and a hard place.


UPDATE 7 APRIL - Jaafar al-Sadr (number 3 above and photo) is reported to have come top in Al-Sadr's unofficial referendum with 24% of the votes. It must have been close because there were 5 candidates, except that write-ins were also allowed.

Shock, Horror - Capitalists Support Tories!

What will New Labour do now?

Iraq : Who Is The Winner?

Let us assume that (a) Maliki's attempt to seek a manual recount of the votes in Iraq fails and (b) the projected results show the result as it will be finally determined. Will Allawi or Maliki then be in the best position to form a Government?

As Allawi has gained two more seats than Maliki, he is given the first official shot at cobbling a majority together. But he has a hard task to do this. For Maliki would seem to have 49.5% of the seats within his control even before the manovering starts. These are made up of his own groups 89 seats, the 70 seats which went to the Islamist National Iraqi Alliance and the 2 seats of the Islamic Group of Kurdistan who are also Islamist. That would leave him only 2 seats short of a minimal overall majority.

To triumph, Allawi needs the following support to add to that of 91 seats he holds. 43 Kurdish Alliance, 8 Movement for Change (a newly emerged Kurdish group who are an opposition to the Kurdish Alliance), 6 Iraqi Accord Front (Sunni), 4 Unity Alliance of Iraq (Secular), 4 Kurdistan Islamic Union (who at least work closely with the Kurdish Alliance) and 8 from the seats provided for Minority Groups (five of whom are Christians).

There are, of course, other possibilities. Either Maliki or Allawi or both of them could drop out of the race to let someone else in to form a Government; or they could come together in a coalition holding between them 55.4% of the seats. But which one would hold the top job?

My details are based on this source and its links - as they stand at this moment.

Also see this detailed analysis.

UPDATE 30 March : See Musings On Iraq.

Support The Iraqi Labour Movement

Here the TUC explains the urgent need for the introduction of fair and just Labour Laws in Iraq.

Here the case is further explained in an interview with Hashmeya Musshin a-Saadawi (photo) President of the Electricity Workers Union in Basra. Having met her at the TUC, the Commons and in Iraq I know of her full commitment to the cause of peace and progress in Iraq.

To support this campaign sign up here.

And press your own Labour Movement organisation to endorse the campaign, by them sending a supportive email to Abdullah Muhsin, the International Representative of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) at postmaster@iraqitradeunions.org

Ashok Kumar

I am deeply shocked to hear of the death at the age of only 53 of Ashok Kumar, the Labour MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland. Our times in the Commons overlapped for a period of nine years. For several of those years we both had offices which were almost opposite each other on the same Committee Corridor. We often called into each others rooms, not just to talk politics but to chat to each about our other shared interests.

I knew little about his specialist field in Chemistry where he held a PhD, but we had common interests in areas such as Philosophy and Opera. We never visited each others homes, but he told me that his was overrun with books which went well beyond his scientific interests. Invariably his interests in politics also went well beyond the MPs' passing trade and he was well versed in the world of political theory. His Labour commitment was grounded in the ideas of political activists such as Anthony Crosland, whilst I had emerged from out of the Bevanite tradition. But the differences in our approaches merely added to the pleasure of our discussions.

When my wife Ann visited London she worked with me in my office and thought highly of Ashok. Ann and I went on a Easter Break to Vienna and when we went together to see Wagner's Rheingold she sent Ashok a copy of the following postcard with the comments "Silly me. I thought that when Harry brought me here it was to enjoy ourselves - then he also took me to see where Wittgenstein used to live!".

Ashok was born in India but had been to both Secondary School and then to the College of Art and Technology in Derby, whilst I was a Derbyshire MP. Then I had originated from the North East and knew something about the Middlesbrough area. So even on our passing Constituency business we could discuss our concerns.

I also observed many of Ashok's contributions in the Commons and we often sat in the same row of seats, again just opposite each other but this time separated by a gangway instead of a corridor.

The Speaker is correct in saying that Ashok "was a most assiduous Member" as is the neighbouring Middlesbrough MP Stuart Bell in pointing out that "he leaves behind an untarnished reputation." Given Parliament's recent battered standing nothing could be more important than that the coming new wave of MPs should follow Ashok's example.

Transforming Labour

Compass (who claim to be giving direction to the democratic left) are conducting a survey on how to transform the Labour Party after the General Election. They state that -

"Since 1997 Labour has lost over half its members. Win, lose or draw it is becoming very clear that after the general election the Party will need to think about how it renews and transforms itself in the months and years ahead......To kick things off and to get your direct input we've devised a short 10 min questionnaire which we're encouraging Labour activists, members, supporters and stakeholders to take part in."

It took me much longer then 10 minutes to prepare my submission. But excluding the survey's 35 tick-boxes (which is an approach I criticise as being a means of obtaining the answers they are looking for), here is my response -

• If you are a Labour member, why did you join the Labour Party?

I joined in 1957 in the Easington Constituency to qualify to enter an essay competition on nationalisation which was run by the local Labour MP, Manny Shinwell.

NOTE : In the specific questions you ask below I am only in a position to answer less than half of them and have otherwise clicked into the "Neither Agree nor Disagree" options. This is because I disagree with the assumptions which underpin such questions. I can't therefore give "yes" or "no" answers to them. When it comes to internal Labour Party democracy we need to encourage members to attend meetings, to enter into serious discussions at those meetings and to mandate delegates to Constituency Meetings and the like. Delegates then need to be held to account by the members who appointed them. This is not to rule out provisions for one-member one vote avenues in the Party, but it recognises the importance of the dialectics of debate when people meet face to face. We should also stress the rights of the individual members of the Labour and Co-operative Parties and of the members of affiliated organisations. We need to define who is covered in this process and not use the nebulous term "stakeholders".

(Some 35 questions follow which only provide for tick-box style answers and seem to be designed to achieve pre-determined answers. We then move on to the following).

• In terms of your own local Labour Party, could you offer any examples of best practice – have you successfully experimented with new structures? What works and what doesn’t? Have you run any good local campaigns that have been particularly effective? How have you made activities more inclusive?

My own local Labour Party runs political discussion meetings which are open to (a) any member of the Labour Party, (b) all members of the Club where the meetings are held and (c) to others by invitation (i.e. to people not in the Labour Party and to some who have resigned from it). Click into the blog "Dronfield Blather" to see. Some Local Labour Parties also run 20 minute discussions at the start or close of their meetings. Recently a discussion about the BNP was held in-between a Local Government Committee Meeting and a Constituency General Committee Meeting. There were 18 contributions.

• Are there other organisations you are involved in such as trade unions, pressure groups or NGOs where they involve their members, supporters and stakeholders in engaging and interesting ways? If so please outline these below.

The local Labour Party Discussion Group I mentioned earlier has led directly to (a) submissions to Compass, (b) a submission to a Commons Select Committee and (c) to members submitting motions to their Local Labour Parties.

• Do you have any other ideas you’d like to offer for Transforming Labour?

Political Education on the lines I have described in the above two boxes encourages the development of open-minded political understandings (and not dogmas) by its participants. This leads them to press for democratisation and intelligent discussions within both the Labour Party and in the wider Labour Movement. For a fuller explanation of this case see the blog "Dronfield Blather" for 20 February, 2009.

Voting In Iraq

Iraqi Women Waiting To Vote

Despite the flaws in the Iraqi political system those who bravely turned out to vote in the face of terrorist dangers have given us all a lesson in the importance of democracy.

UPDATE 4.30 pm The turnout in the Iraqi election is reported to be 62%, which is similar to the 61.4% turnout in the UK General Election of 2005. The turnout contrasts well with (a) that of under 55% of MPs who bothered to turn up for the votes last Thursday which determined some important changes in how the Commons will operate in the future and (b) the 34.7% vote at last years' European Elections.

UPDATE 13 MARCH : Speculation on the outcome of the election.

Michael Foot

I first came across Michael Foot on a Ban-the-Bomb March from Aldermaston to Trafalgar Square in Easter 1960. (The photo was taken at the Labour Party Conference later that year). I marched with a contingent that were associated with New Left Review and somehow on the way I finished up seated on the floor in a crowded room in the flat of Emrys Hughes MP, where Michael was the centre of attention. I had been a regular reader of Tribune for some time, so I was very much a follower of his political position.

From the mid 1970s I was a regular at Labour Party Conferences and often heard Michael speaking either at Party Conference or at Fringe Meetings. Then in 1986 when I was a Prospective Labour Candidate I met him at the funeral of Frank Cousins, which took place at the Crematorium at Brimington near Chesterfield. Earlier I had hoped to visit Frank who lived in my local North East Derbyshire Constituency during his retirement, but his illness had prevented this.

I then served in the 1987 to 1992 Parliament, which was Michael's final period as an MP. He was one of the few senior members of the Commons who spent time listening to others, rather than just popping in and out of the Chamber to speak. But when he did speak there was no one that was more impressive. This is shown in the winding up speech he had made just before Callaghan lost the vote of confidence on 28 March 1979, which then led to Thatcher's first electoral victory. Michael's speech lasts for half an hour, but it is well worth listening to as a way of remembering him.

The Future And Cruddas

Compass have just published a pamphlet by Jon Cruddas entitled "The Future of Social Democracy". It consists of two talks he gave. One being the Annual Compass Lecture on 9 September 2009. The other given two days later as a Keir Hardie Memorial Lecture in Merthyr Tydfil.

When reading "The Future Of Social Democracy" it is easy to miss the wood for the trees. In the 24 page contribution from Jon Cruddas he refers to 36 writers ranging from Aristotle to a recent publication by Jerry Cohen and also to 24 politicians from Campbell-Bannerman to Gordon Brown. In three pages, he manages to shoot out 28 different policy proposals based on thin or absent forms of analysis (which does not mean numbers of them aren't important). There is, however, a theme that all 88 bits and pieces relate to.

He advocates a vision for Labour which is drawn from the Liberal Collectivist tradition starting with writers such as TH Green and moving on to politicians such as Lloyd George. His criticism of the way New Labour has developed is that it moved away from this potential approach and came to be dominated by the free-enterprise wing of Liberalism. He even attempts to capture socialists such as Keir Hardie and GDH Cole to his banner on the grounds that they were influenced by the ideas of the Liberal Collectivists. Of course they were, but they also transcended the limitations of such approaches.

Cruddas is aware that Labour needs to give people a vision for the future, but his is based on radical liberalism/capitalism and not democratic socialism. Now I realise that a political party advocating socialist ideas might frighten the pigeons in modern society, but a vision is no vision at all unless it can inspire. The trick is to have a worthy set of values, whilst having the political wit to tack and manoeuvre towards them.

Cruddas is leading us astray.

HAT TIP - Getty Images

Solidarity With The Iraqi Teachers' Union

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber has issued the following message of solidarity to the leaders of the Iraqi Teachers' Union:

'British trade unions salute the bravery of the Iraqi Teachers Union and its leaders in resisting interference by the Government and political parties of Iraq. We call on Iraqi politicians to respect Iraqi teachers' desire for a free and independent trade union to represent them, and abandon threats and intimidation against its leaders.'

For the full TUC statement and the reasons behind it see here.

Hat Tip : Labour Friends of Iraq

Needed - A New Left

This is the cover of the first issue of New Left Review published 50 years ago when the New Reasoner and the Universities and Left Review merged. But it isn't a photo of my own copy for that is somewhat used and battered. For the issue contains material from Stuart Hall, Ralph Miliband, Ralph Samuel, Mervyn Jones, Richard Hoggart, Raymond Williams, Michael Barratt Brown, John Saville, Peter Worsley, John Rex and E.P. Thompson. They were all members of its editorial board. They were joined by other writers such as Vic Allen, Clancy Sigal and Arnold Wesker. Whilst others on the editorial board included Dorothy Thompson, Alasdair MacIntyre and Doris Lessing. Their books litter my bookshelves.(If anyone doesn't know who these all are, then they can now have a google feast).

Universities and Left Review had rejected the right-wing revisionism which had triumphed in the Labour Party and had developed a cultural critique of consumer capitalism. The New Reasoner was the publication of an oppositional current which left the Communist Party because it was shaken by the revelations about Stalinism and opposed the Soviet occupation of Hungary.

The intellectual fervor behind these two tendencies produced a synthesis that was heady stuff for a young left-wing labourite such as myself. But when Perry Anderson took over the editorship in 1962, New Left Review began to move into a field of specialised Marxist theorising and had less appeal to practical (but hopefully thinking) activists. The original project was, however, still pursued as was illustrated by the production of the "1967 New Left May Day Manifesto" which was edited by what was than the old New Left of Stuart Hall, Raymond Williams and Edward Thompson and re-emerged in an expanded Penguin Special as "May Day Manifesto 1968" with Raymond Williams as the sole editor.


The original New Left Review emerged less than a year after Labour's electoral defeat of 1959. It can only be an old man's fancy that history might be due to repeat itself.

Hat Tip - Poumista.

Defend The Welfare State

Click onto this notice to enlarge it -