Break Out of the Grey: RCP election manifesto 1992

LIVING

Communist Party

MARXISM

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Break out of the grey The soap opera election Never before has there been such a divergence between a general election campaign and the reality of people's lives. People worried are whether they will have a job next week, about whether they will be able to pay their mortgage next month and about what the future holds. Meanwhile the general election campaign resembles a soap opera, with starring roles for politicians acting out one gimmick after another. The fact that the general election camirrelevant to most people paign is makes it all the more important for us to enter the electoral fray. The Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) may not be part of the televised election circus, but what we have to say is far more relevant to people's concems in the real world than anything that is said by the grey politicians in the world of party press conferences.

Our aim is to break the vicious circle of disillusionment and cynicism by presenting a real alternative at the polls.

Break out of the grey After 13 years of Tory rule, many people are ready to vote for something diffdifferent-whether erent, anything Labour, Scottish Nationalist or Liberal Democrat-to get the Tories out. But what is the point in voting for a similar set of policies under a different party label? Whichever party wins the 1992 general election it marks the end of an era in British politics. The collapse of the We believe in the possibility of a system that frees people from Soviet Union has speeded up the decline of the old labour ment and the left. At the same time the slump has exhaustion of the about policies of the 1980s. Labour has abandoned socialism, the unions and the working class in an attempt to become just another mainstream shift has not only left millions without a political voice, disoriented the other parties too.

The Tories can no longer rally much support by banging the antisocialist drum and the Liberals are no longer defined by being in the middle. Though all the major parties now agree on the basics, none has any new ideas about how to tackle the problems of the 1990s. It is not surprising that they have all failed to reach beyond their party loyalists to inspire wider support.

result is a campaign that puts trivia before substance and turns non-issues into matters of fierce controversy For a real change We offer different policies and a different approach to politics. On every issue from the Asylum to the Aids panic we are prepared to take the on view and challenge conventional prejudices. The autocratic leadership style of the mainstream parties reveals a profound contempt for ordinary moveorganisation is designed exposed the Conservative and safe candidates By contrast, maximise initiative This party. but it has Ireland. Only the best the capitalist system going periodic recessions, The ness in the poverty in the third world, renewed drive towards global scale and human beings Bill develop establishment men-should _ develop their talents members. Their bureaucratic mode of to ensure wins the tight central control, moderate policies anarchic our approach and experimen- There has against racism, for women's rights, against British imperialism from Iraq to -from All the old parties agree that, though say. not be may perfect, it is the best available. We look around at Britain and at the world and say-surely we can do better than this!

Capitalism can survive only by undercreating mass unemployment and homeless- West, starvation and and war on a Human beings developed capitalism are capable of creating a better world. We believe in the possibility of a system that frees allows everybody the opportunity lo We refuse to their talents. accept the inevitability of scarcity and inequality. Nobody should be denied access to the best and everybodywomen, black people, lesbians and entitled to he The issue that we want to talk about in this election is control. Not who controls parliament, but who controls society and our lives. Whichever party will not make the election slightest difference to the vast majority of people. As long as we live under an market system—a system which cannot even guarantee our jobs from one week to the next—we will never be able to control what happens in the workplace, in the environment or in any sphere of life. been a lot of talk in this election about constitutional change proportional representation and a bill of rights to devolution or for Scotland-giving independence people a chance to have more of a But form of constitutional no tinkering is going to transform the reality of people's lives. A few pieces of paper or a new parliament are not going to do away with the real source of all our problems: a market system.

that is out of control. No promises We make no promises to our voters.

The question is not what can we do all do for you, but what can We together, nol merely in the election campaign, but in the wider context of British society. While a vote for the mainstream parlies is a wasted vote, a vote for the RCP is a way to hit back. It is also a positive statement of faith in future, the declaration of confidence in yourself and in the potential of collective action, It indicates a willingness to fight back against the system, and a willingness too to take the imaginative leap from the dull conformism of the present to the awareness required to build the movement we need to win the future.

Revolutionary Bristol West Ben Brent, building worker Vauxhall Susanna OX Your U Communis vol + > Communist Party candid Ho

Oxford East programmer computer Keith Tompson, Glasgow Hillhead Helene Gold, student Manchester Gorton Pam Lawrence, nurse Hornsey and Wood Green Wystan Massey, journalist Massey, Sheffield Hallam Theresa Clifford, clerical worker Birmingham Selly Oak Kenan Malik, journalist dates Dishlished bv Alan Hardina.

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