Welsh Assembly elections: why voting Nobody is going Nowhere

South Wales Anarchist Network and UKIP may seem strange bedfellows, but they are united in one belief: Wales does not need a National Assembly. Whereas UKIP is seeking election in order to dissolve the assembly, however, the anarchists are encouraging the electorate to 'Vote Nobody'. If (as seems likely) the number of absentions in the assembly elections outweighs the winning candidates' votes, SWAN will declare that 'Nobody' has won; a victory (in their eyes) against the bogus democracy on offer.

The campaign is a new departure for the South Wales Anarchists, born of a marriage between Cardiff Anarchist Network and Gwent Anarchists. Previously they have defined themselves as a direct action network and studiously avoided taking common positions - a collective voice compromising individual autonomy. Now, with this sudden turn to mass agitation, they have apparently agreed a whole number of positions, which cannot have been easy for a group which resolutely refuses to discuss politics at its meetings.

Nor have they done this in a half-hearted manner. The 'Vote Nobody' campaign has involved the printing of thousands of glossy leaflets to be pushed through the letterboxes of South Wales, together with press releases to the media, radio interviews, a MySpace page and videos on YouTube. In the midst of a lacklustre election campaign, many journalists have been happy to give the anarchists coverage.

Were it true that 'voting nobody' brought us closer to genuine forms of democracy, revolutionary socialists would enthusiastically endorse the tactic. In situations of 'dual power', where workers and peasants have formed their own councils and the ruling class attempts to use elections to restore their own rule, it is no more than common sense to refuse to participate.

However, that is not the situation in Wales today. Even the most idealistic anarchist surely realises that non-voters are not generally more politicised than those who do vote. We only have to consider what has recently happened in France, where hundreds of thousands of youths were drawn into struggle last year against draconian new labour laws, forcing a climbdown from the government. In the wake of that action there was a huge rise in the number of young people registering to vote. Their previous apathy had not been a mark of a higher political consciousness, but of their sense of powerlessness. Like many young working-class people, they had lacked both the interest and confidence to engage in any form of politics.

The 'Vote Nobody' campaign is also rather poignant given the present attempts in the US to bring to justice racists who murdered activists struggling to register poor black workers in the 1960s.

Then again, SWAN could look closer to home: Newport was of course the scene of a famous Chartist protest in 1839, when troops in the Westgate Hotel dispersed the crowd by gunfire, killing over twenty of those fighting for the right of representation in parliament.

Trotskyists have no illusions in the nature of bourgeois democracy. Behind the limited influence of an elected parliament there stands an unelected judiciary, an unelected civil service, and crucially, an army and police force which will act to defend the interests of the capitalist class should these come under threat. While this remans the case, every reform won through parliament in the interests of workers will remain under constant threat.

However, no-one can seriously question that reforms beneficial to workers can be won through bourgeois parliaments: indeed, the South Wales Anarchists, in their Vote Nobody leaflet, claim to 'care about' one such reform: the NHS. The NHS may be a poor reflection of what a health service would be like in a socialist society, but it was unquestionably a huge leap forward for the UK working class, brought about (as presumably the SWAN are aware) by a parliamentary election in 1945.

Nor are there any limitations at present on revolutionaries standing in elections on a revolutionary programme – if PR had the resources, we would certainly consider this. Elections provide a period of heightened political interest when we can engage in political discussion with workers on their doorsteps: it is a shame that the anarchists are not attempting to actively canvass as well as leaflet, since this experience might encourage them to get beyond generalities to propose revolutionary solutions to the concrete problems workers are experiencing.

If the South Wales Anarchists really want to assess how far their campaign has succeeded, they should not be calling for an abstention, but a spoiled ballot paper, with voters making the deliberate effort to go to polling booths, add 'Nobody' to the ballot paper, then mark it with a cross. However, the SWAN is clearly happier to celebrate a bogus victory which is in reality a reflection of the apathy into which a demoralised working class has descended.

In any case, direct democracy will not be won by abstract propaganda.  Direct forms of democracy emerge in the course of struggle, which is why PR engages with striking workers and others coming into conflict with the capitalist state, proposing where relevant measures such as picket-line defence squads, rank-and-file conferences and councils of action.  By contrast, the anarchists of South Wales have been notably absent from major struggles such as the firefighters' strike and recent action by civil servants.  Unguided by a political method, possessed by a sectarian, self-congratulatory attitude, SWAN will be condemned to impotent gesture politics such as the Vote Nobody campaign until they engage with those who have the potential power to really disrupt capitalist society and bring its political institutions to an end.

Sat 28, April 2007 @ 14:03