Third Camp Marxism

Covid-19, capitalism, and socialist organising - Zoom meeting 26/3/20

Martin Thomas introduced, summarising some of the ideas from Solidarity 540. He then invited a number of comrades still in their workplaces to report.

Below is a write-up from handwritten notes from the session. It'll be checked by the participants over the next day or so, so may contain errors or omissions, but we've posted it as soon as we can to get the basic story out.

LOCAL COUNCILS

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

I was worried, like all the other people in the world, about the lack of treatment for this virus epidemic, so I asked the WHO [World Health Organisation] this question:

“Do you have any global statistics on the lack of treatment, nurses, doctors, hospitals and medicine around the world, and how much funding is needed to overcome this epidemic?”

WHO replied:

The Guardian reports discussions among “senior Conservatives” about a national unity government or some other form of cross-party political collaboration during the Covid-19 crisis.

It suggests there is widespread sympathy for this idea at the top of the Labour Party. Socialists should argue and rally the labour movement against it. Taking responsibility for the Tories’ policies is the opposite of what we need.

“I dunno man, it can’t be right. Look at how many the flu kills, there is something up here. Look at the new laws, black boys gonna lose their lives in jail and they can bury them, no questions”.

E is holding forth in a control room that now has five of us in it. Two people could just about hope to be two metres away. At five it's an impossibility.

The coronavirus pandemic has created a new reality in the United States, as it has all over the world. And coming as it has during a presidential election, it has completely upended the political map.

Just a month ago, Bernie Sanders was the leading Democratic candidate and polls showed him defeating Donald Trump in November. Joe Biden’s campaign was sputtering along, as he polled poorly in early primary and caucus states.

Photo by Max Böhme on Unsplash

On 26 March, meeting over Zoom, the steering committee of Labour for a Socialist Europe agreed to launch a campaign to extend the Brexit transition period.

Two or three weeks ago we were discussing with other left-wingers in the union the slogan of closing all schools straight away, and we were against it because of the impact on children of key workers, free-school-meals children, etc.

Since Monday 21 March the schools have been partially shut, but kept open for those categories of children.

In my school I've raised the issue of pay for supply teachers - and got agreement on full pay for them - and of contracted-out school meals providers - where we haven't won yet.

Most Labour and trade union leaders have fallen silent, or rallied behind the government, in the Covid-19 epidemic.

There are exceptions. But mostly it falls to the activist left to insist that the labour movement make itself an "essential service" now, fighting for workers' control and to look out for the worst-off.

The semi-lockdown (no meetings, many workers at home) obviously makes it hard to coordinate. But the more the activist left can unite to insist that union and Labour structures continue to operate, especially above workplace level, the better.

The government’s Coronavirus Bill passed into law on 25 March after four days discussion in Parliament. It went through the House of Commons without a vote, since the Labour Party did not force one.

Universities have been among the worst offending employers of the crisis so far.

Sussex University has effectively sacked all staff on temporary contracts. King's College London, despite an easy "do what you can, don't worry" attitude to its academic staff, has sacked cleaner and UVW activist Percy Yunganina for missing a hearing that he didn’t attend due to government social distancing guidelines.