That is true in the propaganda sense, but everybody knows that this is still a long way from overcoming parliamentarianism practically… We must not regard what is obsolete for us as being obsolete for the working class… You must tell them the bitter truth. Parliamentarianism has become “historically obsolete”. On the first point, the basic approach of revolutionaries to electoral work was set out by Lenin in works such as “Left-Wing” Communism: An Infantile Disorder over a century ago: The second involves a specific reading of the accumulated experiences acquired in the past three decades, both in Britain and beyond these shores, which in turn flow from a specific political conjuncture. The first involves the general position of revolutionaries towards elections. There are two major areas of concern in our consideration of electoral work. The purpose of this article is to assess those experiences in a European context, to raise the theoretical level of discussion about electoral work and ensure that our next steps involve thoroughgoing debate on the deeper issues at stake. We must also learn from the historical experience of revolutionaries who have sought to engage in electoral work. In considering our approach to elections, those of us in the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and the wider revolutionary left should not simply navigate our way through hunches and short-term expedients. Diane Abbott, another prominent left Labour MP, has also been suspended from the party, with Starmer seizing upon ill-advised comments she made on the topic of racism. 2 That discussion will greatly intensify if, as now seems likely, Jeremy Corbyn announces that he will stand in Islington North against the party of which he was once leader, having already been told by Starmer that he will not be Labour’s candidate at the general election. 1 These include the continued rightward shift of the Labour Party under Keir Starmer the presence of various left-wing independents standing in local elections in May and the departure of Nicola Sturgeon as Scottish first minister, due in part to the exhaustion of her approach to Scottish independence. Several issues in 2023 have helped spark renewed interest in the potential for revolutionary socialists in Britain to engage in electoral work.
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