The following article is from the Socialist Worker (Canada) the paper of the
International Socialists December 1993. For subscriptions write Socialist
Worker, Box 339, Station "E", Toronto Ontario Canada M6H 4E3. Regular sub.
$10 Canadian. Institutions and Supporting $16. U.S. and Overseas $20 Canadian.
George Ehring and Wayne Roberts, Giving Away a Miracle: Lost
Dreams, Broken Promises and the Ontario NDP (Oakville: Mosaic
Press, 1993)
by Sean Purdy
The publishers blurb claims that Giving Away a Miracle is a
"lively, behind-the scenes account" of why "the Ontario NDP's
failures cannot be blamed on hard economic times or inexperience
but on the deep-seated flaws in NDP history." This is only
partially true.
Ehring and Roberts, two seasoned NDP left wingers, do provide a
spirited and amusing account of the Ontario NDP's long history of
sell-outs. They offer a exhaustive account of NDP history from the
1970s to the present, showing clearly that the party is concerned
solely with meekly tampering with the system rather than
fundamentally challenging it.
The leadership's obsession with the party's media image combines
elements of farce and tragedy. One day Bob Rae showed up at Queen's
Park with a weird pompadour hairdo with a blue suit and a bright
yellow tie. One reporter quipped that "His hair was all puffed up,
and if he didn't use a whole bottle of mousse to get it like that,
it was at least half a bottle." On another occassion, vainly
attempting to portray Rae as a working class fighter, the party's
spin doctor's touched up pictures of Rae to show a facial scar.
But the process of competing for mainstream political acceptance
has also led the NDP to accommodate or smash attempts among rank
and file NDP'ers and the working class generally to mobilize
militant fightbacks against the corporate agenda. Anything which
smacks of radicalism is suppressed by the party brass and the union
bureaucracy.
>From the days of party founder David Lewis's vicious red-baiting to
the assault on collective bargaining in the "Social Contract" by
the Ontario government to the party's failure to take a lead in the
fight against oppression, the NDP has proved time and again that it
will yield to the pressures of capitalism rather than standing up
for the interests of working people and oppressed.
Ehring and Roberts do a fine job of detailing the party's appalling
record on workplace issues such as health and safety, democracy
within unions, struggles around sexism, racism and homophobia, and
their cosying up to the business community. Far from being
"revolutionary" the authors rightly label the party
"resolutionary."
But "Giving Away a Miracle" fails to live up to the publishers
billing. Ehring and Roberts insist that the NDP has the potential
to become a real socialist workers' party. This leads them to focus
too much on tainted leaders and misguided policies which, if only
corrected, can transform the NDP.
Rather than highlighting the inherent problems with the political
project of social democracy - trying to modify capitalism while
accepting and defending the existing structure of power - the
authors identify ten "Deadly Sins" which only scratch the surface
of why the NDP betrays working people. These include lack of ideas
and imagination, distrust of the social movements, lack of internal
democracy, and a bureuacratic relationship with the labour
movement.
Concentrating on the form rather the content of social democracy,
the authors overlook the inherent problems of attempting to work
within the system. When they get elected, the NDP find they are
only in office and not in power, and quickly give in to pressure
from big business to modify their reform program. Soon after they
find themselves appeasing big business agenda and end up
implementing their agenda. This has been the sorry tale of social
democracy in Ontario and around the world.
It's a short step from Ehring and Roberts' superficial analysis of
the heart of social democracy to their endorsement of all kinds of
nonsense about a declining working class, environmentally friendly
businesses, nationalism and narrow social movementism.
Ehring and Roberts argue that "The party can keep on watering down
its content, but it's the container that leaks." They believe we
just need to patch up the leaks.
But if we want to turn back the corporate agenda responsible for
the attacks on jobs and social services we need an altogether
different container - a revolutionary socialist organization based
on the politics of militant working class struggle not bureaucratic
manoeuvring at Queen's Park, union headquarters and the boardrooms
of Bay street.
