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﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, Why the NDP Matters  - Article﻿</title>﻿

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﻿<b﻿>﻿Why the NDP Matters 

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by Alan Sears﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, April - May 1999﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

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﻿<font﻿ ﻿size="1"﻿>﻿The following two articles continue the ongoing discussion on social democracy in the pages of NEW SOCIALIST. We welcome our readers' contributions to this debate.﻿</font>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


Let's start with the obvious- the NDP is a disgrace. We can skip the list of historic crimes and go directly to the crucial role the NDP has played in paving the way for neo-liberal policies over the past 10 years. NDP provincial governments and federal politicians have played a central part in the dramatic shift to the right of Canadian politics. We don't need to go through the whole list of right-wing policies introduced by NDP governments right here, but three prominent examples would be hospital closures in Saskatchewan, the anti-labour social contract in Ontario and welfare crackdowns in B.C. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The NDP has been on the front line in the attacks on health, education, social programmes and public sector workers in the 1990s. The appalling impact of these policies on the lives of working class people, particularly those with lower incomes, is an indictment of the NDP. Further, the NDP's championing of right wing policies has given legitimacy to the claims of Paul Martin, Mike Harris, Ralph Klein and a whole host of others that there is no alternative to the cuts. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The NDP's adoption of neo-liberal policies is not just an accident or the result of particularly pathetic leadership. Pretty much all the other social democratic parties like the NDP have adopted similar stances, for example in Britain, Germany, Greece, New Zealand, Spain and Sweden. This should be no surprise. These parties are absolutely committed to the capitalist state and to capitalist rule in the economy. At a time when business leaders and state policy-makers have pretty much reached a consensus about the direction required to bolster profitability, you can expect social democracy to join the chorus and sing in harmony with the voices of pro-business boosterism. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The NDP and parties like it have squandered opportunities for opposition and helped to sew up the official consensus on social policy that we hear echoed back from almost every spokesperson and media outlet these days. Just shout "deficit" and watch the NDP jump. So why not end the article here? We could end with a simple conclusion - the NDP is just like the other parties in office, maybe even worse because it breaks the hearts of the left and marries the official labour movement to right-wing policies. 

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Some radicals and socialists take that view of the NDP and it is easy to see how they got there. But the problem is that the NDP matters. The only thing worse than the NDP and similar social democratic parties is the prospect of politics without them. Just think about the state of official politics in the United States (if you can suppress your gag reflex). Of course, the difference between Canadian and American politics is not simply a question of the presence or absence of an NDP-like party. There are other crucial factors, including the relative strength of the labour movement in Canada and the crucial impact of Quebecois struggles on Canadian politics. But the NDP is an important component in the infrastructure of the left with an impact that can't be ignored. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The NDP contributes to the politicization of the labour movement. Simply the recognition that a labour party is necessary represents a step beyond the idea that pure and simple trade unionism will be enough to fight for workers' interests. Of course, this is a very partial politicization as it shackles the labour movement to the very narrow realm of official politics in capitalist society. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The separation of politics from economics in capitalist society narrows politics down to very specific questions of what the state can do in a particular capitalist context. The whole wide range of political, social and economic issues are reduced to the question of who should administer capitalism and how they should do it. The NDP sees the world from the perspective of parliament and the capitalist state, so that capitalist profitability is seen as the absolute foundation for any kind of prosperity. The NDP is committed to achieving social justice as a by-product of capitalist profitability. That is a very weak commitment to social justice. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

So, the NDP presents us with a dilemma. It helps politicize labour struggles by claiming a place for independent working class politics. Yet it narrows the vision of that independent politics down to a parliamentary focus and pro-capitalist policies. The NDP may sometimes disagree with at least some business leaders about which pro-capitalist policies are correct, but it is always committed to some strategy of bolstering profitability. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The politicization of the labour movement, however partial, is important to socialists. We believe that mass working class mobilization is a crucial component of struggles for immediate reforms and broader social transformation. That means that the everyday political consciousness of wider layers of working class people really matters. Support for the NDP against the parties of big business is a form of class consciousness. 

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So how do we weigh our disgust with the NDP off against the recognition that the presence of a labour party matters? Socialists have often tried to answer this question with a simple slogan that gets elevated to the level of a principle. Call for a critical vote for the NDP. Join the NDP and become active in it. Never join the NDP. I think it is a mistake to think that one simple slogan is enough to equip socialists in finding their way through the complex, contradictory question of our approach to the NDP. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

It seems to me we need to think about the NDP in the context of rebuilding our movements and promoting militant activism. We need to think about the way people's actions in this election will contribute to or take away from activist mobilizations. We can't ignore elections and other events that most people think of as crucial political moments. It is possible for socialists and other radicals to become self-isolating, to become so convinced about the inanity of official politics that we find it hard to engage with most working class activists. If we simply satisfy ourselves with abstractly counterposing electoralism and militant activism, we will often find ourselves outside the discussion. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Rather the challenge is to think of how we use elections and discussions about official politics to raise the question of militant activism. For example, in the context of the upcoming Ontario election our crucial message should be that the Days of Action mobilizations had the potential to be way more important in determining the future direction of government policies than our votes on election day. But if we simply say that, people will accuse us of missing the point about what to do in this election. The idea of an activist election strategy certainly is an important way of closing this gap, actually using the election campaign to rebuild movements. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

It seems to me that there are other things that follow from the idea that the NDP matters. First, we need﻿ to know more about it and there is a lot of analysis to be done. Why is the NDP so much more marginal than labour parties in many other countries? Shouldn't the NDP have done well in the past decade of chronically high unemployment, mass insecurity and cutbacks? Why has the NDP sucked so badly on Quebec self-determination? Who is actually active in the NDP? A socialist organization and its publication should provide a forum for discussing and debating these and similar issues about the NDP. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Secondly, in the upcoming Ontario election Buzz Hargrove of the CAW and other union leaders are absolutely wrong to call for a tactical vote for the Liberals where it looks like the NDP won't win. This is the basest form of electoralism, arguing that one big business party is a bit better than the other. A vote for the NDP at least places us in the arena of independent labour politics. So, if we insist that Buzz should call for a vote for the NDP, doesn't it follow that we should as well? 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Finally, for small socialist groups in a period where the left is marginalized, getting the slogan right is less important than the active debate and creative thinking. Good discussion and debate should take into account the particular circumstances in the political jurisdiction at the current moment. Nonetheless, when it comes down to the line we believe that action matters. I think it matters on election day how many votes the NDP gets - it is a practical but limited measure of a particular form of consciousness. At the present time in Ontario, there is no meaningful electoral activity to the left of the NDP. It seems to me we should call for an NDP vote and use that call to convey our disgust. 

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﻿<font﻿ ﻿size="1"﻿>﻿Alan Sears is a member of the New Socialist Group in Windsor. ﻿</font>﻿</font>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


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