On Saturday in London the TUC organised a large march under the slogan ‘we demand better’. There have been bigger marches but seeing the labour movement back on the streets with a wide range of campaigners reminded that there industrial power can still challenge the Tories. There was a good turnout of Labour activists and CLPs too even if Keir Starmer was elsewhere. With strike action very much on the cards on the rails and in the post and telecoms the Tories face a real challenge.
Meanwhile in Paris on Sunday an electoral coalition of the broad (not the far) left got second place with 131 seats in elections for the French Parliament depriving the President Macron of an automatic majority for his austerity policies. A general feeling of discontent also saw saw the fascist party of Marine Le Pen get 89 seats
What to make of all this? Melenchon leader of the left Parliamentary challenge was clear that the fight for a better world needed to take place in workplaces and communities. Those who marched in London mostly knew that but it can hardly be said that a left electoral challenge is on the agenda.
The Welsh Labour Party last week marked a centenary of electoral power back to 1922. The historian Daryl Leeworthy noted that just 10 years before the South Wales labour movement-the miners next step -focused on industrial power not electoral challenge.
100 years on there is a lot of history on both sides of the equation but finding a balance between Parliamentary and extra Parliamentary action should be a key discussion
Just written about this topic: “Macron’s regime in disarray – Anticapitalist Resistance” https://anticapitalistresistance.org/macrons-regime-in-disarray/