The Greens

Alongside the attempts of any ‘Socialist Labour Party’ to sabotage and head off struggles , we have to look at the manoeuvres by another form of social-democracy to do the same. The Green Party has never achieved the electoral success it had in 1989 in the European elections when it got 15% of the vote. In the European elections last year it polled only 2%. Membership has dropped to 4,000 and one third of the 200 branches are moribund or on the verge of collapse. The electoralism of the Greens has proved to be a failure. Nevertheless, they hope to continue in the same vein by attempting to win over sections of activists involved in the anti-roads and anti-Criminal Justice Act movements to ensnare them in the trap of electoralism and green reformism. Further, they hope to reinforce the ‘non-violent’ tendencies within these movements by a proposed Green roadshow which will include workshops on ‘non-violent direct action’. They still have their eyes on building bases in the structures of the local state-the municipal councils- where they already have a number of seats. They have placed an emphasis on this through their concentration on implementing Local Agenda 21, which came out of the Earth Summit in Rio and which laid down requirements for the local State to develop plans for sustainable development. Also, they hope to pick up people who are disillusioned with Labour- although obviously they will be competing with Scargill’s oufit in this.

Whether they will be able to exert much influence in the new movements remains to be seen, and indeed some of the Green Party activists might themselves be effected by attitudes towards political parties within these movements. Indeed , if new radicalised movements of struggle develop within both the workplace and community, then some of the radical fringe of the Greens may be won to revolutionary positions. Anarchist communists need to help this come about by developing a dialogue with this radical fringe.