No 2 EU looks to Far Right for Votes
Andrew Ballard - Left Nationalist
Facebook (FB) is a peculiar world occupied by office workers, students and the unemployed. On it you can follow the latest intrigues of this or that friend, stalk the weirdest sectarians and at times find out somebody’s politics by where they post. The RMT, the Stalinist CPB and the “Trotskyist” Socialist Party of England and Wales (SPEW) have gone to lengths to try and convince us that the No2EU campaign is not right wing, not anti immigrant and certainly is not nationalist! FB exposes these claims as nothing but lies.
Leading Cardiff SPEW member Andrew Ballard has been doing his best to promote No2EU on FB, nothing wrong in that. The problem is, he is promoting them on far right, nationalist, racist and BNP controlled pages. Pages such as ‘British jobs for British people’, ‘get foreign labour out of Britain’, ‘UK jobs for UK workers’. The demands of these groups centre around getting foreigners out of the UK. For those who think we are making this up, have a look here at a copy of some of the pages he has been posting on. On these pages apart from posting links he posted this message:
‘British jobs for british workers and Italian jobs for Italian workers. The only reason the EU has such a large migrant workforce is to drive down workers wages and increase profits for the super rich. Vote no2eu on June the 4th.’
So much for a workers’ Europe then. Such slogans would find a loving home in the BNP and nationalists parties across Europe. Did he forget about internationalism?
So many of us on the revolutionary Left have been repulsed by this campaign, we have been called sectarians and all of the other usual crap internationalists get called. It is doubtful that Ballard is the only one, and is certainly not a loose cannon, he is leading cadre. When we said that No2EU is nothing more than little England politics dressed up in trade union clothes we never expected SPEW members to campaign on nationalist, far right and BNP controlled sites and pages. SPEW members need to sit up and wake up, good socialists are being dragged into a nationalist adventure by Left bureaucrats and vile opportunists.
Offensive posts that contain, racism, homophobia, sexism etc will be deleted. *ADMIN*
Hi Jessica with respect are you in the Socialist Party, the British National Party or neither? More fool me for not being able to tell the difference.
Yours in treachery,
Billy
Hi Jessica. I have intellectual rights to the above photograph. Please remove it from the site.
Respectfully
Andrew
Why do you have property rights to that photo?
He would like to keep his anti immigrant national socialist mug off the web if poss. Shame this is no longer possible. Diddums.
Can I suggest that comrades interested in the question of Europe take a look at this book, ‘Remaking Europe’ by leading CPGBer Jack Conrad. You can either read it online or order a copy of the printed edition.
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/books/Europe%202.htm
Is a great book. Must recommend.
“Is a great book. Must recommend.”
Despite its complete trashing of the ‘economistic Trotskyite transitional programme’? lol.
Robbie, Why is the Transitional Programme above trashing? Why is it superior to other forms of programme?
I never said it ‘was above’ trashing, I was just pointing out that I thought it was odd that a member of a strongly Trotskyist group would think a book that harshly took that line was ‘great’. But still, each to their own…
Fucking hell, i thought ‘outing’ socialists and putting their name and picture in the public domain against their wishes was beyond the pale even if you disagreed with them seriously.
What if this blokes employer finds this you idiots? then again I suppose you’ll cheer if someone you disagree with gets the sack.
Maybe you’d take it more seriously if someone went and posted up the real names and pics of all the cpgb members who use fake names when writing stuff in the weekly worker and on the web.
Tossers.
Darren, If Andrew was not posting his name and his face up on far right, nationalist and BNP controlled pages then I might take you more seriously.
What is more, if you go around posting up nationalist slogans whilst pretending to be a socialist you should be held to account for your actions and your politics.
Obviously we do care about the safety of everyone in our movement, however, Andrew has put his name out there as a “socialist” so I doubt he is that bothered by having his name on this website. What Andrew is objecting to is comrades rightly criticising him and his groups politics in the public domain. We don’t do politics behind closed doors, behind peoples backs or treat Marxism as a conspiracy.
To paraphrase Lenin, we are going to carry out an ideological war of extermination against Left Nationalism and backward elements in this movement until such politics have been driven to extinction.
So he posts stuff on facebook (which is a closed site) with a small profile pic, so you post a decent sized picture on a public website. Definitly the same thing.
“we are going to carry out an ideological war of extermination against Left Nationalism and backward elements in this movement until such politics have been driven to extinction.”
translation = we’re going to turn up to other groups meetings and annoy them until they ban us from theire meetings.
To me it makes sense to post on the right wing sites. Many who vote for these parties perceive immigrants as the enemy when really it is the capitalist system. Their anger is deflected on to ethnic minorities who are equally part of the machine. What is wrong with trying to convince these people that they have mis-directed their anger. It is possible to oppose the EU and the liberal system without seeing other races as the enemy, but rather as people equally affected by the system. Of course, many are just nasty racists, but surely there is value in trying to win over those who are just misguided?
Christopher, We have no problem with people posting on such pages, our problem is what they are posting. We are against self proclaimed Socialists posting nationalist slogans to win people to a Left Nationalist campaign when the only way to win these people from nationalist or racist ideas is by being honest and arguing for Socialism.
Darren, If people in our movement want to go around posting nationalist slogans and then claiming to be a socialist then they can expect to held to account. Simple as that.
If you get annoyed by people arguing against Nationalism at socialist meetings then you should probably think about UKIP instead of the “Communist” Party mate.
You are truly vile. You have twisted his posts to your own desires in order to make him a target. If you do not agree with No2Eu, or Andrews opinions on how to raise support, there are plenty of ways to protest against it without this character assassination. I dont care if you feel he is in the wrong, you are playing a very dangerous game. Never mind losing his job, there are extremists out there who might take on board you poisonous slant on Andrews posts, and seek him out. A difference in opinion does not warrant endangering someones life.
James, don’t be so hysterical, if anyone from the far right wanted to find out who Andrew Ballard they could look on their facebook groups Andrew has been posting on.
If you read the post and the subsequent discussion you will see that this has nothing to do with “character assasination”. We are attacking socialists using nationalist slogans and Left Nationalist politics.
You are portraying him as a racist and a facist. I know the individual in question and he is neither. What you are doing is spiteful in the extreme. As you said, anyone can see where Andrew has been posting on facebook, why then do you find the need to splash his face over the internet next to inflamatory articles? If you wish to attack No2Eu there is nothing wrong with that, an if you wish to cite examples for your argument, a simple mention of Andrews actions would suffice. You are going out of your way to cause this person harm, this constitutes character assasination. Further more, I know for a fact that Chris Brennan has debated with Andrew in a conradely fashion, only to delete his conversations and post this. That seems treacherous and backstabbing to me, not at all like the actions of a true socialist and conrade that Chris proclaims to be. Political differences aside, his actions are despicable..
James, read what we have written instead of making things up. You should also notice this one of many articles that ourselves and our comrades in the CPGB have produced on No2EU, Andrew Ballard takes up a minor space in our criticisms.
We have never called Andrew a racist or a fascist and have never sought to portray him as such. Andrew Ballard has been going around posting Nationalist slogans to trick people into voting for No2EU instead of arguing for socialism and internationalism. Is that acceptable? Andrew has been singled out not because we are spiteful but because he should be held to account for the crap he is posting. More than this Andrews slide into Left Nationalism is indicative of the SPEW’s opportunist attitude towards the No2EU campaign. Andrew is obviously not ashamed of posting nationalist slogans and backing such politics as his posts on this thread prove. Why are you so upset if he is happy to post this rubbish? Why don’t you take up some of the politics instead?
Chris Brennan can defend himself, however, nothing has been deleted on this thread except comments that were racist and homophobic. Those were deleted by me and as far as I can tell they were not posted by Andrew. If you know for a fact that Brennan has been “treacherous” you will need to bring more than your rants as proof mate.
The posts I am referring to were on facebook, and as the were deleted, I have no proof. I do not feel the need to prove it, I merely wanted to put across my opinion on Chris. I have involved myself with the polotics on previous occassions, and I feel it is fruitless arguing with Brennan. The way you have quoted Andrew is selective, and what he has written on this pages are not attempts to trick people. It is pointless preaching marxist sentiments on pages with no connection with Marx. All Andrew was attempting to do was engage with people on issues that they felt were relevent, if they felt they were relevent, then they had the ability to link to the No2Eu page where the polotics were displayed. Regardless, your way of campaigning is discusting in my humble opinion.
James, We are not against people posting on far right, BNP etc controlled web pages be it on facebook or elsewhere. What we are arguing is that against Nationalist ideas the only politics socialists should be putting forward is Socialism, Solidarity and Internationalism. Pretty simple stuff.
We have not selectively quoted Andrew, we looked at where he posted, what he posted and quoted him. His posts on here have not claimed that we misquoted him and he has sought to defend his Left Nationalism with loveley arguments such as: ‘We’re all waving flags. They don’t all have to be red.’ Says it all as far as I am concerned.
What do you mean by “It is pointless preaching marxist sentiments on pages with no connection with Marx.”? Are you saying we shouldn’t argue Marxism to non-Marxists.
James you poor soul :( I have apparently been all comradely in political debate and then somehow switched and been duplicitous?? and yet no proof! how very convenient, you do entertain us with your rants.
Let’s leave Chris S alone, he wrote a factually accurate piece. I have a blog. Slag me there. Do not besmirch CS with this shite.
http://brennanism.blogspot.com/
I am new to the Socialist party and not yet a member, sorry if this point has already been made but I thought I would throw it in here anyway. I have become interested in socialism largely because to me it is logical and based on doing what is best for everyone.
If joining the EU and allowing for people to work where they please is going to worsen working conditions and wages for more people then the Socialist party should oppose it. It is wrong to act on a matter of principal over a matter of logic and reasoning. While promoting freedom to work where ever is one of the Socialist party’s aims what is most important is to give power to the working class over the higher management.
Katie, thanks for your post, I hope some of your comrades follow your example comrade.
The EU is a bosses clube and does offer an opportunity for the bosses to attack conditions and wages. The way the CPB inspired No2EU platform seeks to oppose this is by falling back on the nation state as the key force for managing capitalism and defending conditions etc, they also see the the British capitalist state as a progressive force against so called “EU Federalism”. All of which is nonsense it is the British *capitalist* state that has carried out the most extensive neo-liberal and anti worker campaign witnessed in Europe.
We propose an alternative to both the little England politics of the Stalinists (Who run No2EU) and those that advocate a bosses Europe. We argue that Europe and closer intergration offers the working class a massive opportunity to form political and economice organisations that span across the entirety of Europe. I think it may be worth you having a look at Jack Conrad’s ‘Remaking Europe’ – it is very readable. You can find it online here: http://www.cpgb.org.uk/books/Europe%202.htm
Hi Katie, you are absolutely right that any ‘principle’ that fails to serve the interests of the working class should not be a socialist principle and needs to be overthrown. In that sense, in the final analysis the only *absolute* socialist principle is that our principles must serve the interests of the working class.
So we should take nothing for granted and constantly be prepared to re-examine our positions. However, there are very good reasons why principles such as the free movement of people have such a long pedigree within the workers movement. Any attempt to convince us that they need to be overturned is going to have to be based on something much stronger than assertion. But this is all we have had in this discussion from those that oppose this principle. People have said things like, “allowing for people to work where they please is going to worsen working conditions and wages for more people” (and I recognise that you preface this with the word “if”, but others in this discussion have been less cautious) without offering any further proof.
In spite of the lack of any real substantive argument in this regard, I think it is worth going over some of the arguments as to why socialists do support the free movement of people and how this is in the interests of the working class.
Firstly we ought to remind ourselves of who the working class are because some contributors to this discussion have essentially used mention of “the working class” as a synonym for “British workers”. They say that migrant workers being allowed to come to this country will worsen the position of “the working class” when actually they mean “British workers”. The working class, we must always remember, is global. But they are even wrong that the position of ‘British workers’ (in inverted commas because their defining characteristic is not their Britishness) is set back by allowing the free movement of people.
As we can only achieve socialism globally the interests of ‘British workers’ are necessarily bound up with those of the global working class. But, even if we set this fact aside for one minute, making immigration into this country illegal still actually weakens the position of ‘British workers’. Why? You would think that having less migrant workers coming here would mean less competition for jobs and therefore higher wages, less unemployment etc., wouldn’t you? That is what the nationalists tell us. But actually, whether illegal or legal, capital will bring into this country the foreign workers it wants to and will seek to use them to undercut wages and conditions. Immigration laws do not stop this. People from poor countries are determined to try and improve their position in life, and capital is determined to get cheap labour where it can. Why else are there the quantity of illegal immigrants that there are?
So what purpose does it serve that these immigrants are illegal? It serves the capitalists two main purposes which are directly in opposition to the interests of both ‘British workers’ and the world working class. Firstly, on a practical level, illegal immigrants – because of their illegality – are much harder to organise and integrate into the wider labour movement. Illegal workers are not covered by minimum wage legislation, safety regulations etc. If they step out of line and refuse to take a lower wage than those they are being used to undercut then they are easily dismissed and sent packing. It is far easier for the workers movement and trade unions to organise and integrate into its ranks workers who are legally allowed to stay here.
The second purpose that the illegalisation of immigrant workers serves is an ideological one – the setting of different groups of workers against each other and the buttressing of nationalist prejudices. This of course cripples the working class. Instead of uniting to fight their common capitalist enemy they are lead to blame each other for their woes.
This does not mean to say that legalising migrant workers and ensuring the free movement of people will solve all our problems – we still have to defeat the capitalist class. We are, after all, socialists not migrantists. But the struggle for the free movement of people is an essential component of the struggle for socialism. It is a fundamental democratic right that strengthens the hand of the working class. It is key to the breaking down of national divisions and bringing workers to recognise their common interests. Without the unity of the working class we will never succeed in overthrowing their capitalist exploiters.
This is why we fight such an uncompromising battle against all manifestations of nationalism in the workers movement. When Andrew Ballard says that it is “positive” to “feel solidarity with your neighbours”, I have to say no, not if your neighbours are capitalists. The implication is that the closer someone lives to you the more you have in common. This is completely at odds with socialism and neglects the issue of class. The spreading of these views in the workers movement only weakens our cause.
The British ruling class are one of the most reactionary anti-worker bunches of bastards in the world. They are also our prime strategic enemy. The worlds working classes are our allies in the global struggle against capital. Marx didn’t just say “workers of the world unite” because he thought it sounded good. He said it because it is a fundamental precondition of the liberation of humanity from the chains of capital.
The workers of Europe are those we are best placed to forge practical fighting unity with in the immediate period. We must do all we can to build bridges and form common fighting organisations such as Europe-wide trade unions and a Communist Party of the European Union in order to advance the workers’ cause. In the longer term the world working class must be equipped with a global strategy and global organisation. Capitalism is a global system and to positively supersede it we too must operate on a global level.
I would like to recommend two articles to comrades.
First is one I wrote when the SWP were busy dropping the principle of open borders in order to cozy up to George Galloway in the popular frontist Respect coalition. I think it is highly relevant today as we see the Socialist Party capitulating to the Stalinists in the CPB and their ‘British Road to Socialism’. http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/567/swp.htm
Secondly, here is an interview with Ewa Jasiewicz who was a Transport and General Workers Union organiser in the north-west with particular responsibility for the recruitment of Polish migrant workers. http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/639/poland.htm
Was it ever clearly established that Ballard was, as the CPGB claimed ‘leading [SPEW] cadre’? Because if he is just some ingenue it makes what you did in personally singling him out slightly questionable. Enjoyed the thread though.
In fact I enjoyed it so much I started a blog partially in its honour.