Our call for people to withhold their votes on May 5 and instead join our campaign to renew and extend democracy beyond the existing parliamentary system, is founded on the dramatic economic, social and political changes that have taken place since the 1970s. These changes have produced a global market economy dominated by a handful of corporations and a financial system beyond the reach of nation-state governments.

A World to Win describes how the parliamentary state that evolved alongside capitalism as its political expression, has been transformed by this process into what is sometimes called a “market state”. This state has one primary function: to ensure that the market economy runs as smoothly as possible within its borders and to extend this approach to bodies like the European Union.

What our book has also tried to show is that the system of parliamentary democracy that was ushered in by the Reform Act of 1832 is incompatible with the new form that the capitalist state has assumed. The state has neither the power nor the will to challenge the might of the corporations and an economy that in its operations transcends borders and governments. As a result, it is not possible – and hasn’t been since the 1970s - to elect a reform-minded government that is able to make significant improvements to people’s lives.

As a consequence, Labour became New Labour and the champion of capitalist market economics. Where the Tories privatised, New Labour has transferred billions to the corporations by way of the “private finance initiative” and other devices. All the other major parties have since adopted more or less the same outlook. In place of old-style parliamentary politics we now have a House of Commons that has no authority or power independent of the government and does what it is told. New Labour has commanded the state in an increasingly authoritarian fashion, lying its way to war against Iraq and abolishing democratic rights.

This necessarily potted history of the last 30 years goes a long way to explaining the turn away from traditional politics that accelerated under New Labour to total more than 40% of the electorate in 2001 (and 60% of young people). This is the stark reality and the question then arises: should we waste our efforts trying to revive what in any event has been the most restricted form of democracy? Should we not seek to de-legitimise this charade of democratic rule? And shouldn’t we instead develop a politics that is not dependent for its functioning on the existing, undemocratic state institutions?

There are those who believe we should use our votes on May 5 not to change anything – that is clearly impossible – but to “send a message” to New Labour that lots of us are unhappy with what has happened under the Blair regime. The latest convert to this ridiculous campaign is the noted anti-capitalist campaigner George Monbiot. A couple of years ago he wrote The Capitive State which showed how big business dominates the machinery of government and New Labour. A later book called for a system of world government to overturn the rule of the corporations. All that is now forgotten, however.

In his column in The Guardian on April 19, Monbiot called on voters to support minority parties like Plaid Cymru and the Greens, writing: “A big vote for Plaid and an average of 7% or 8% for the other left-wing parties in the constituencies they contest would not tip Labour out of office. But it would send a clear signal to the party that it cannot afford to forget its manifesto promises on aid and the environment, that the war has not been forgotten and that it had better start shaking itself out on issues such as privatisation, taxation and corporate power. Though you would not be electing a new parliamentary opposition, you would still be pulling Labour to the left.”

So that’s it. Where once the vote was used in an attempt to make changes through government action, now we are reduced to sending “a clear signal” to a government that rules hand-in-glove with corporate interests. Who is Monbiot kidding! Does he really think New Labour is waiting for a message from voters and that it will respond once it sees that a lot of people have voted for alternative parties? In February 2003 it had a significant message delivered in the form of the two-million strong march against the impending attack on Iraq. That fell on deaf ears, as history revealed shortly afterwards. They are heading for another three-figure majority and will be just as impervious to pressure as they ever have been. As for “pulling Labour to the left” – pigs will fly before that happens!

The pressure to get people to vote in this election dovetails with the political establishment’s fear of being de-legitimised by an even bigger no-vote than in the last election. It is also a way of burying one’s head in the sand and pretending that not that much has changed. The fact is that millions of people have already and will continue to disengage from parliamentary politics. Most people are aware that real power lies elsewhere.

A World to Win, therefore, firmly rejects these kinds of illusions, which leave us just as dependent as ever on a parliamentary system that is a parody of democracy. That is why we urge people to withhold their vote on the basis that the political process is undemocratic and is synonymous with corporate power. At the same time, you should move beyond mere abstention and join our campaign for an alternative, truly democratic way forward as put forward in A World to Win. We will take this forward at a launch event on June 4. We invite you to participate.

20 April 2005