Drei Pfeile - Yesterday, Today and Forever

 

"Gentlemen, the time will come when men must stand or fall by their actions – when all human pageantry shall cease – when the hearts of all will be laid open"

Thomas Muir of Huntershill

Ever since the days of the Iron Front (Eiserne Front) in 1930's Germany, Christian Socialists, Democratic Socialists, Social Democrats, Anti-Fascists and Trade Unionists have rallied to the Three Arrows symbol (Drei Pfeile). The three arrows represents our left-wing opposition to the extremism of Monarchism, Nazism and Communism, in defence of democracy.  

I was recently reminded of the Three Arrows and the Iron Front while reading former Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard's semimetal tribute to Scottish Communist Willie Gallacher. You can watch the entire nauseating video here  https://fb.watch/ATdEgPfiIz/

The FB post alongside the video is entitled 'Communism is the philosophy of hope and faith in humanity'.

Of course, Communism is not the hope and faith in humanity, Jesus is the hope of humanity and no amount of romantic strings in the background of this video, can disguise the fact that Gallacher was an avowed Stalinist.

The reason Willie Gallacher is admired by the likes of Richard Leonard today, is because Gallacher adhered to the perverse idea that British Communists should always support the British Labour Party.

This bizarre arrangement allows the likes of Richard Leonard and co, to maintain some kind of revolutionary communist credentials, while also enjoying the privileges of being an elected member in a centrist/pro-market party.

The roots of this odd arrangement whereby communists are in a sort of alliance with Labour, lie in Lenin's demand that British communists must support the UK labour party.

Lenin's call came at a time when the newly formed Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was debating its relationship with the larger Labour movement. The Labour Party, made up of trade unions and socialist societies, held the allegiance of millions of workers. Lenin's directive was intended to influence this debate and ensure British communists adopted a flexible, tactical approach rather than isolating themselves through rigid ultra-leftism. 

And so this entirely negative and tired old deal still persists today through institutions like the Morning Star and the Communist Party of Britain, who continue to support Labour and in doing so, undermine and attack other socialists on their behalf.

You might well ask but surely, any kind alliance between Communists and Social Democrats (even with Starmer's Labour) is ok, especially in these times when a new United Front is badly needed to defeat Reform? 

Well while the creation of a United Front maybe be possible among many Labour Leftists, some Trotskyists and other Marxists, it can never be true of Tankies, for the simple reason that they do not ever seek to build a United Front.

Instead, they always seek to destroy or dominate a United Front, often on behalf of a ruing classes, both state sponsored and capitalist.  

If we need examples, there are very many - during the Spanish Civil War, pro-Soviet communists attacked the POUM (Workers' Party of Marxist Unification), which was an anti-Stalinist communist party. This conflict came to a head during the "May Days" of 1937 in Barcelona and resulted in the violent suppression of the POUM and other revolutionary leftists by the Communists.

In the 1980's the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) strongly opposed the Militant tendency, seeking to maintain their link and support for the Labour Party. 

Then there was the Morning Star, which is aligned with the Communist Party of Britain (CPB), advocating for a "No" vote on behalf of the Labour Party during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. Publishing their so-called  'Unity of the left' articles in the Morning Star criticising and attacking the Scottish Socialist Party for supposedly damaging the unity of the British labour movement.

There were the Alasdair Darlings and Peter Mandelsons of this world, who started of as revolutionary communists in the 70s, attacking other democratic socialists, eventually becoming staunch Blarites in the 90s, but STILL attacking other democratic socialists, except from the right this time. While maintaining at least some element of Stalinist political operating within New Labour. 

Ultimately, Stalinists are always a  tool of a capitalist party, being deployed against democratic socialists, and why not? After all, Communists are ultimately state sponsored capitalists with party bosses as the ruling class. 

Stalinist sympathisers have done capitalists dirty work over very many decades, while enjoying the benefits of high office and privilege.   

Finally, above the strains of violins, Leonard proudly declares that "Gallacher was never corrupted by the mellowing influence of parliament". An utterly bizarre tribute from a long standing  parliamentarian himself. Gallacher's self-righteous doctrinal purity and a contempt for our  parliamentary democracy, is exactly the type of politics which is currently letting the right run riot.

It is exactly this kind of doctrinal purity and sneering at democratic institutions which we need to bin before we can create a united front to defeat Reform. 

As the Iron Front used to say "neither Stalin's slaves nor Hitler's henchmen"