Udo Erasmus
Well-Known Member
Lewislewis, if you don't believe me that Plaid's record in local government is poor, then you just need to read some of Niclas's writings before he moved rightwards that document their failings.
It will perhaps be more significant how the LibDems are presenting their deal with Plaid.
Suffice to say, the kids will be asking a few questions :
1) It is clear that Plaid have brokered a deal that they will support the programme of further school closures in Cardiff, in exchange, for a school being kept open in their patch. Is this a good thing?
2) The commitment to ending any further privatisation and PFI is to be welcomed, but it seems largely a rhetorical statement?
3) Does this coalition mean my Council Tax bill is going to go down, or is it going to be hiked up again, as it has under Labour and the Libdems?
4) Is this new coalition going to stop the attack on our culture seen in the harrasment of venues like The Point and the Toucan from the Council?
5) Will the new Coalition end the harrasment of flyposterers?
Your more substantial and interesting claim will have to be dealt with later.
Essentially, Lewislewis is arguing that their is a "new left reformism" being created by the nationalists as witnessed in reforms introduced in Wales and Scottland such as abolition of prescription charges, PFI being placed on hold in the NHS, the SNPs move to abolish Council Tax, and get Trident out of Scottland etc. Of course, this is self-dellusion as both the SNP and Plaid are very clear that they are wedded to the neoliberal orthodoxies, in Edinburgh, 5000 people recently marched against Council Cuts.
The problem is if you canvassed a ward in Cardiff and a ward in Bristol, you would find the same issues coming up. Clearly, workers don't feel that the Welsh Assembly is making much of a substantial diference in their lives witnessed in the fact that most people didn't vote in the Assembly elections.
The other problem is the contradiction that any reforms introduced can do very little to tackle the huge deprivation in Wales, the fact that wages are lower than in England. To actually begin to shift things would necessitate a break in Plaid and Welsh Labour's approach as I will elaborate in a future post. But their approach is that to confront New Labour head-on would jepoardise the tepid reforms that they have introduced. This is the central contradiction.
Another key question is the role of the Plaid Left. It is clear that, historically, the Labour Left have been far more robust: Prepared to organise against the leadership, cohered around a magazine and forming a more organised current, prepared to criticise the party and fight within it.
Yet do we see for example, the Plaid Left, holding the leadership and party in Anglesey to account for its support for nuclear power? Or openly agitating against the leadership? What is the Plaid Left saying about Adam Price's comments on the Tories? If Niclas, believes that socialists should join a mainstream party, how is he fighting for socialism within it. The capitulation of the Plaid Left over the Military Academy speaks volumes.
It will perhaps be more significant how the LibDems are presenting their deal with Plaid.
Suffice to say, the kids will be asking a few questions :
1) It is clear that Plaid have brokered a deal that they will support the programme of further school closures in Cardiff, in exchange, for a school being kept open in their patch. Is this a good thing?
2) The commitment to ending any further privatisation and PFI is to be welcomed, but it seems largely a rhetorical statement?
3) Does this coalition mean my Council Tax bill is going to go down, or is it going to be hiked up again, as it has under Labour and the Libdems?
4) Is this new coalition going to stop the attack on our culture seen in the harrasment of venues like The Point and the Toucan from the Council?
5) Will the new Coalition end the harrasment of flyposterers?
Your more substantial and interesting claim will have to be dealt with later.
Essentially, Lewislewis is arguing that their is a "new left reformism" being created by the nationalists as witnessed in reforms introduced in Wales and Scottland such as abolition of prescription charges, PFI being placed on hold in the NHS, the SNPs move to abolish Council Tax, and get Trident out of Scottland etc. Of course, this is self-dellusion as both the SNP and Plaid are very clear that they are wedded to the neoliberal orthodoxies, in Edinburgh, 5000 people recently marched against Council Cuts.
The problem is if you canvassed a ward in Cardiff and a ward in Bristol, you would find the same issues coming up. Clearly, workers don't feel that the Welsh Assembly is making much of a substantial diference in their lives witnessed in the fact that most people didn't vote in the Assembly elections.
The other problem is the contradiction that any reforms introduced can do very little to tackle the huge deprivation in Wales, the fact that wages are lower than in England. To actually begin to shift things would necessitate a break in Plaid and Welsh Labour's approach as I will elaborate in a future post. But their approach is that to confront New Labour head-on would jepoardise the tepid reforms that they have introduced. This is the central contradiction.
Another key question is the role of the Plaid Left. It is clear that, historically, the Labour Left have been far more robust: Prepared to organise against the leadership, cohered around a magazine and forming a more organised current, prepared to criticise the party and fight within it.
Yet do we see for example, the Plaid Left, holding the leadership and party in Anglesey to account for its support for nuclear power? Or openly agitating against the leadership? What is the Plaid Left saying about Adam Price's comments on the Tories? If Niclas, believes that socialists should join a mainstream party, how is he fighting for socialism within it. The capitulation of the Plaid Left over the Military Academy speaks volumes.
