Enemy of the People. Not

I went to bed last night a little sickened by BBC election coverage.  Apparently we are now a four party state, although you'd think we were in fact a one party state of UKIP.  Short of Dimbleby asking if he could sniff Farage's bottom, it couldn't have been more obsequious. 

So waking up to hear that this revolution resulted in less than ninety council seats gained, compared to Labour's paltry 594, and counting, was a relief.  But then I checked on results where friends and colleagues were standing.  In Hengrove in Bristol, a staunchly working class, largely deprived ward, UKIP won.  Labour's candidate was Yvonne Clapp, a woman who spent her working life as a union rep in the NHS, defending members and services.  Despite losing her husband last year, Yvonne stood as a councillor and lost out to UKIP, marginally.  So marginally, that if the votes to TUSC and Respect had gone to Labour, Yvonne would have won.

This makes me fume.  So I do what any self respecting political activist does and I tweet about it.  Cue outrage from TUSC tweeters. Yep, at least six of them.  "How dare you?" asks one.  Yep, get me, woman with opinion, tweeting about it. How dare I disagree or even venture an alternative view.  Then predictable bile ensues that any UKIP victory is ALL LABOURS FAULT.  You'll recognise that line, beloved of Coalition defenders everywhere.  Followed by accusations that it may also be my fault, because I am Labour.  Yep, me.  Apparently I have no other identity than Labour.  No other job, no political beliefs, no views other than Labour. People who know me are aware this is nonsense.  My political views are quite complex, actually.  I firmly believe capitalism is the root of injustice, especially when compared with retired NHS union activists, there's no contest.  I am opposed to EU membership on socialist grounds, and think our faith in the EU for workers rights was borne from the battering we took under Thatcher where we lost confidence in our own power to win rights for workers.  And that somehow along the line, Thatcherite politics changed the ideology of the working class and our task is to change it back.  I want there to be a genuine socialist alternative, but I fail completely to see how it will ever be achieved by attacking Labour and placing the blame for, well, pretty much everything, at its door and attacking women like Yvonne and encouraging people to vote for a candidate that was never going to get in.  

I know my Marxism.  I got as far as Volume 3.  Yes, really - analysis of capitalism's mutation into finance and venture capitalism anyone? Nowhere, but nowhere, is it stated that the enemy is Labour or even anyone like them.  Ah yes, claim TUSC tweeters in their smug "talking to idiot" tone, which has won them so many friends, but if Labour presented a genuine Socialist Alternative....  But Labour have never presented themselves as anything other than a social democratic party; kicking them for not being revolutionary is like kicking a cat that never barks.  Pointless and spiteful.