Editorial from the January 1995 issue of the Socialist Standard
Every Labour MP is entitled to make one valid observation, even though most of them decline the opportunity. Aneurin Bevan described the Tories as being "lower than vermin" - a verity which should have had the average rat rushing for his libel lawyer. Churchill described the Tort Party as "organised hypocrisy" - until he left the Liberals and joined it with the conviction of a true-blue hypocrite. Major called them "bastards", so proving that nobody gets everything wrong. And Tony "Dim-But-Nice" Blair reckons they're bloody good blokes and why can't the Labour team be a bit more like them?
Socialists say that Tories are unashamed defenders of the indefensible: a social system which puts profits before needs. The only good Tory is a repentant one.
The thwarted effort to increase VAT on domestic fuel was but the latest in a catalogue of callousness only remarkable for its relentlessness. Will these people stop at nothing in their bid to squeeze more profits out of us? Will the Pope say mass!
Now the gathering swine are dividing, snorting their disdain towards one another like the overfed pigs in Animal Farm. Major hangs on to his Commons majority backed up by a combination of Ulster pig farmers who think he's the least demonic traitor to deal with the catholics and a backbench filled with estate-agent-mentalities who treat power like steamers treat a crowded underground train.
Never for decades has a government looked so incompetent at pretending to be in control of capitalism. Meanwhile Blair's Labourites perform the politics of impersonation, seeking further and further to ape the rhetoric of capitalism's apologists.
There is only one way out of this sorry mess. It is time to look at what the Socialist Party has to say. The case for production for use and not profit can never have demanded more of a hearing. We are not expecting it from the mass media which is tied to the dinosaur fighting of the parliamentary circus, when it is not chasing princesses round their gyms to give the punters a quick flash in return for the millions paid to the wretched Royals.
Look, there is an alternative. There's no point in saying that nothing can be done. Something can be done to change all of this. Help us make it happen.
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