BEWARE OF FASCISTS IN BLAIRITE CLOTHING
by Frederick Forsyth
Two thoughts to conjure with. Parliamentary democracy is not a document; it is a belief. Fascism is not a belief: it is a methodology. It is a way of doing things. In other words, behave in a fascist manner and you become what you do, and the way you do it. There is a deep and growing worry among some very senior civil servants who work closely with New Labour but are not of it. The concern is that Blairism has quietly parted company with Old, or Real, or Traditional Labour and has taken (and continues to take) a swing to the ultra-Right. Not in the way it says but in the way it behaves.
Some may say: Impossible. Surely these people were once all hard-Left socialists. Such people surely cannot break with socialism and go to the opposite extreme? Wrong. Let us glance at history.
At Geneva in 1903, at the Third Socialist International, three ardent left-wing socialists listened to the debates. One was a Milanese schoolteacher, Benito Mussolini. He went home, founded fascism and swept to power.
The second was a Russian, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. He went home, changed his name to Lenin, founded the Bolshevik party and swept to power.
The third was Anton Drexler, a German from Munich. He went home and founded the NSDA party, later taken over by a certain Herr Hitler and better known as the Nazi party. He too swept to power. There is nothing new about left-wing parties being taken over by factions with a totally different agenda.
Still in the realm of history, some of it long ago, some of it much more recent and nearer to home, there are four immediate similarities that spring to mind.
In each case, the founding socialist party had firm principles but had fallen on hard times electorally. Morale among the brothers and sisters was low and they were highly susceptible to a siren voice promising salvation in exchange of leadership.
In each case, the takeover faction were latecomers who had never subscribed to the faith of the comrades but had only pretended to, or hard-left firebrands who, faced with the choice, proved their venality by the speed with which they changed principle for power.
In each case, the promise was not betrayal but reform and modernisation - two buzzwords repeated by Blairism over and over - as it has always been proposed by the extreme Right. And each takeover has been marked by the extreme ruthlessness used to deal with those inside the movement who saw through the trickery and objected.
Also worth noting is that the three tyrannies that devastated the 20th century were offspring of socialism. Not one derived from conservatism. So when political pundits continue to bleat: "The Tories are on the Right; Blair and New Labour/Labour are on the Left" they talk tripe.
That was 15 years ago when the Berlin Wall was coming down. Today, New Labour has morphed into Blairism which, behind the sugar coating, has swung to crypto fascism. Old Labour MPs, activists and voters are in denial, finding ot too hard to believe. If you still doubt me, consider the six unfailing characteristics by which rising extreme parties have identified themselves over centuries. Trust history.
- An obsessional conviction that all political opponents must not simply be defeated at the polls, but utterly destroyed never to rise again.
- An inner rage that demands that all dissentient voices, inside or outside [but especially inside) the movement must be silenced. Disagreement is not only unallowable; it is evil.
- A preparedness to use character assassination on any such person, however moderate or principled they may be, as a first recourse, not a last resort. Behind the smiling facade, bullies and hatchet men are used for this.
- A permanent craving to control and manipulate the media, especially public service broadcasting, using it to idolise their own and destroy their opponents.
- A latent anti-Semitism that comes out inadvertently in times of stress, unless it is wildly popular with the masses, in which case it need hide itself no longer.
- An obsession to create one leader figure and to raise him to almost a deity, constantly surrounded by praise, amounting to worship.
Everything I have said applies completely to Blairism. Behind the grinning lies anti-Semitic thuggery. Behind the slick presentation lies the blackening of those deemed "enemies" - from Mrs Rose Addis on her hospital trolley to Dr David Kelly with his dangerous knowledge.
We British have never needed people like this to put the word Great into our country’s name. So, on May 5, think carefully; think what you really want for the country you love.
from Daily Express 22/2/05