Weekly Worker 417 Thursday January 31 2002
Nothing to celebrate
After a sluggish start, no doubt partly as a result of the post-September 11 ‘war against terrorism’, we can now expect outpourings of patriotic hype and nauseating sycophancy over the royal jubilee to flood the bourgeois media.
If you did not know about it already, you soon will. The subjects of Elizabeth Windsor are about to be coaxed, cajoled and corralled into celebrating the 50 years of her glorious reign. Earlier this week, Tony Blair announced the programme of events, which will include an equestrian spectacular, classical and pop concerts (“funky yet traditional”, said a spokesman) in Buckingham Palace gardens, a pageant, bell-ringing and the lighting of a chain of beacons across the United Kingdom, not forgetting the obligatory religious service of thanksgiving. In short, according to the palace spin doctors, there will be “something for everybody” - even republicans?
Just so we can all join in the rejoicing to the full, there will be an extra jubilee day in addition to the usual spring bank holiday - in order that the June 1-2 weekend of revelry can be extended by two days until Tuesday June 4. To add to the non-stop orgy of adoration the queen will tour every part of the UK, between May and August, and before and after she will visit Jamaica, New Zealand, Australia and Canada.
However, in addition the officially organised pomp, “The queen’s hope is that the focus of the celebrations will be on small, grassroots events” (The Daily Telegraph January 26). That means street parties - lots of them - just like in 1977 for the silver jubilee. Or at least that’s the theory. Councils are expected to waive the usual fee of around £800 to close off your street. But in no way does her majesty want you to use the occasion to express your veneration - on the contrary, the whole occasion is intended as “a thank-you for her people’s support”.
Apparently though, “Ministers have been stung by allegations of a lack of interest in the jubilee, both from government and from the public” (The Daily Telegraph January 28). Therefore, it is a case of turning on the PR heat. Last week the palace issued a list of 50 fascinating facts about the monarch - one for every year of her rule. For example, the queen is “patron” of 620 charities and other organisations - clearly worked off her feet, making sure they are all properly run. And did you know she has owned more than 30 corgis? More importantly, during her 50 years of service to the country no fewer than 10 prime ministers have crossed the threshold of 10 Downing Street.
There is a point to the emphasis placed on this last piece of information, of course: politicians may come and go, but the monarch is here to stay. She personifies an institution which represents continuity, stability and order - a focus for her subjects’ belief in the system as a whole. The queen stands above and apart from the patronage, politicking and dog-eat-dog reality of the establishment and its state.
That is why bourgeois politicians of all parties will play up the occasion for all they are worth. That arch-monarchist, Tony Blair, has been working hard behind the scenes to ratchet up the royalty worship. It was revealed over the weekend that Labour MPs have been issued with a standardised ‘pro-forma’ press release, purporting to be a personal plea to their constituents. It reads: “(name) MP: ‘We love our queen. She is a symbol of what makes Britain great. I think it’s only appropriate that we show how proud we are to have her as our head of state. I still remember the celebrations in 1977. They were great fun and I think many people in (constituency) will want to do their bit.’”
This was an unfortunate piece of jiggery-pokery, since not all Labour MPs are unquestioning monarchists. One of them, instead of loyally issuing the ‘personal appeal’ to local media outlets, leaked the whole document, complete with covering note from Millbank, to the national press - but not before one or two hapless members had already put it out in their own names.
Nevertheless, this episode illustrates the centrality of the monarchy to the system of capital in 21st century Britain. For the ruling order it is - in whatever royal personage - “a symbol of what makes Britain great”. The queen is both a very special, ‘good’ person and, at the same time she is just like you and me. Workers and capitalists, men and women, black and white - all are represented equally through her role as defender of the realm - or so we are meant to believe.
It is true that a minority of liberal (and not so liberal) bourgeois opinion does not share Blair’s enthusiasm for the monarchy. This section of the establishment regards what is now an entirely modern, capitalist institution as an archaic relic. In the minds of these bourgeois republicans the legitimacy of the system would best be served through an elected head of state (an elected monarch, if you like). But they are not as ‘rational’ as they believe. The constitutional monarchy serves capital so well precisely because of its apparent timelessness, well beyond the term of any president. It is this permanence that gives it its ability to cohere, to ‘speak for the nation’.
Unfortunately, and ironically, most of the left shares that same misunderstanding and underestimation of the monarchy’s role. After all, there are many bourgeois republics that manage to ensure the efficient extraction of surplus value and, besides, real power - economic power - lies with the capitalists, just as the ‘real’ class struggle takes place on the factory floor. Or so the tired argument goes. In fact what takes place in the workplace is class struggle at its most basic. A higher, more advanced form is one which challenges the capitalists at the level of their state.
In Britain the constitutional monarchy is the state’s lynchpin. That is why, if we want to up the class struggle, we have to take the opportunity presented to us by the golden jubilee. Yet we are rountinely told by our Socialist Alliance comrades that workers are ‘not interested’ in such matters. What concerns them is the size of their pay packet, the state of the health service, the quality of their children’s education. Vital as those issues are, if the SA restricts most of its campaigning to within their confines, we will never be able to raise the sights of our class.
In fact it is not true that workers are indifferent to the way they are ruled. Indeed many have strong views on such questions as the monarchy. Sadly, while a minority are scathing and dismissive, the majority, even amongst some who are class-conscious in an elementary, trade union way, are at least passively supportive of the institution - “good for tourism”, you will be told.
The jubilee provides communists and revolutionary socialists with a ‘golden’ opportunity to expose the whole fraud - Robbie Williams, Elton John, Phil Collins Mick Jagger and all. For the monarchy is much more than a potent symbol for the bourgeoisie. It also is - or could be - its weak point, exposing as it does a profound contradiction. The class which hypocritically claims to uphold democracy and equality energetically promotes their opposites - privilege and heredity. It defends the monarch’s constitutional powers to convene or dissolve parliament, to ratify or reject legislation, to nominate a government, to refuse new elections, as no more than window dressing. Yet these royal prerogatives are not left in place for nothing. During a revolutionary upheaval you can be sure that such powers - and many more - would be deployed.
The Socialist Alliance should use the occasion of the jubilee to prioritise our militant, democratic republicanism. Let us organise our own, working class festivals in opposition not only to Elizabeth Windsor, but to the whole rotten constitutional monarchy system.
Peter Manson
