June 23...a crisis of hegemony of the British State?

Today a letter from IDS, Michael Howard, Lord Lamont and l Lord Lawson to the Telegraph show the crisis of hegemony coming to the institutions of the British  state, When two former Tory Leaders and two former Chancellors criticise financial institutions as biased we know that a crisis is coming. 

The political elite have long avoided criticism of financial institutions that support the neo-liberal agenda. Today's letter shows a deepening crisis in the civil war for the future of the Tory Party. Nothing will be the same again, whatever the result next week the crisis of hegemony is here. We have seen the destruction of the reputation of the Police over Hillsborough, and Orgeave is to come. The political elite have been brought to a new low over the case of Parliamentary expenses. The BHS amongst many other scandals has revealed the teak nature of large scale business. The sexual abuse scandal in the BBC and rumours of a Parliamentary Sexual abuse cover up pour fuel onto the flames of doubt.

A middle class, public school educated stock broker in these circumstances acts as a pied piper and fool the working class into turning their anger on the immigrant, the refugee and the scrounger. Whatever happens on June 23^rd things are rotten in the British state.

The Italian Marxist Gramsci talked about a “crisis of hegemony” Gramsci used the analogy of ‘the modern prince’ to describe the role of the political party. He saw parallels between the tasks that Machiavelli had outlined in his book The Prince, regarding the creation of a new, modern Italian state and the 20th century goal of a socialist revolution. By prince he does not mean a state leader or a dictator, he is referring to the task of leadership within the political sphere, in this sense ‘Prince’ could be translated in modern terms as ‘political party’”. The political party that the working class needs is one that coheres and forms itself as an institution within the class movement, fighting for hegemony and producing potential leaders for state power after the revolution. The party itself is not merely an expression of class interests on an economic level because although; “it is true that parties are only the nomenclature for classes, it is also true that parties are not simply mechanical and passive expression of those classes, but react energetically upon them in order to develop, solidify and universalize them.”

Perhaps we are on the edge of such a crisis..a crisis of hegemony. I am beginning to sense a dead heat in a weeks time between Remain and Leave. Perhaps that is the final tipping point who knows. Marx and Engels writing in the 19^th century long thought that the crisis of capitalism would come in the West in America, in Britain in Germany. Perhaps we are at that point. The crisis of late capitalism. Perhaps I am just tired and raving early in the morning. Perhaps I am correct...and there are seven days to go...........what if the Tories fall and Corbyn is in power by September. The effects of unintended consequences continue to fascinate me and I can see Gramsci's smile... a Brexited UK would enable a government to nationalise many industries..unintended consequences indeed......