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Bye election in Britain: 'A poll commissioned by the Tory peer Lord Ashcroft<http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/lord-ashcroft>from Populus found Labour on 46%, Lib Dems on 29% and Conservatives on 15%, with few Tory voters saying they are likely to switch their allegiance. An ICM poll in the Mail on Sunday put Labour on 44%, Lib Dems on 27% and Conservatives on 18%. Nick Clegg<http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/nickclegg>will be relieved that he has not seen his party slip into third place, something that would be a disaster for his leadership (from the Guardian).' I have to confess to finding the above results disappointing. I was hoping for a complete collapse of the Lib Dem vote. Nothing less will persuade the ruling class that they are in trouble. Some national opinion polls have had Lib Dem support falling from a 24% at the General election to a mere 7 or 11%. Yet the Oldham vote would appear to show that they are holding up. In a sense I think this is because it is generally recognised that they are the weak link and as such the minions of Capital feel instinctively that they must be defended. For me this explains Ed Balls' calls in August for an end to attacks on the Lib Dems and from Ed Milliband's insistence on the possibility of a future governing alliance with Clegg the Lib Dem leader and his party plus an offer to appear on a platform with Clegg calling for a yes vote on electoral reform. The shock of the student demos would appear, from this distance, to have worn off somewhat and there is as well a widespread and desperate attempt to persuade us all that it is business as usual in the UK. The victory over Australia would have helped as a distraction. Here I was very interested to hear the repeated remarks from the commentators that the band of English supporters known as the Barmy Army represented a total cross section of English society and that cricket united them all. Right! the unemployed and the pensioners have forked out the thousands necessary for a sporting holiday Down Under. Pull the other one for a change. So how do I think the struggle is going? Was the student uprising the herald of a new dawn? Or was it a more radical version of the protests that preceded the Iraq War? I am still inclined to support the new dawn theory. But then I would wouldn't I? Whatever the case there is a faint yet distinct whiff of worry from the ranks of those who support the status quo. Hence the need to assure us that with the coming royal wedding the happy couple will be frugal and prudent enough to use a car and not a carriage! How noble and self sacrificing of them! It might also have occurred to the minders that a carriage would be more difficult to defend. So to sum up I remain on balance quite optimistic about the level of struggle we will see in Britain, if only for the strong fact that we have not seen the last of the systemic shocks. comradely Gary ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
