The London Drinker: scratch a sectarian, find an opportunist

‘Economy and ideology. The claim (presented as an essential postulate of historical materialism) that every fluctuation of politics and ideology can be presented and expounded as an immediate expression of the structure, must be contested in theory as primitive infantilism, and combated in practice with the authentic testimony of Marx, the author of concrete political and historical works.’ – Antonio Gramsci

Communists argue that the struggle to revolutionise society is not only a ‘political’ affair at the level of the state or an ‘economic’ struggle in industry, but also a thoroughgoing ideological battle against the ruling class. It is in this sense that we should welcome the publication The London Drinker, organ of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). Marxists should take ideas seriously, and such a publication can facilitate communication between the class and vanguard elements well-schooled in our collective tradition.

However, communists also realise that their role is not merely to highlight a variety of campaigns or class battles, but to point to the movement as a whole a strategy for moving forward to create a different form of societal organisation. For this very reason, when reading The London Drinker we can discern the fundamentally sectarian mores of CAMRA, who seek not to advance the wider movement but rather to promote their own particular shibboleths and to build their own organisation.The London Drinker may well be the only publication on the left which has argued that pub closures are a more important threat to the working class in the economic crisis than mass redundancies. Arguing that the communist movement should not limit itself to the domain of the workplace – when in fact we ought to seek to abolish work – CAMRA point to the fact that “the economic downturn has seen a marked increase in pubs closing because of insolvency – 74 in the final quarter of 2008″. To their credit, the comrades argue not for the intervention of a benevolent state, but the building of a movement from below to oppose these cuts, including forums “which will allow people from all over the country to talk to each other about local campaigns, share techniques and tips and make it easier for all involved to become activists”.

Unfortunately, rather than offering any substantive way forward politically for the movement, the group remains mired in reactionary nostalgia for the working class culture of the post-WWII Keynesian consensus, bemoaning the fact that “Frosty Jack white cider (7.5% ABV)… is looking to replace Buckfast Wine as the choice of Scottish urban youth”.

Alongside the typical exaggerated anarchist compaints about excessive use of CCTV and surveillance of drinkers, CAMRA echoed many petit-bourgeois elements on the Trotskyist left by refusing to extend support to Oz and James Drink to Britain on BBC2, failing to realise that – whatever the problems of its slogans – this offered a real answer to the crisis of confidence which has affected the real ale movement in the UK over the last three decades of defeat. Despite the nationalist rhetoric of Top Gear presenter James May, this put the movement to defend real ale back on the political agenda and showed that effective collective action is still possible.

And yet Roger Protz – who was 35 years ago a member of the executive of the International Socialists, now the SWP – uses The London Drinker to bemoan the BBC’s alleged failure to sufficiently adverise the activities of CAMRA,

“In the episode broadcast on 10 February, the pair went to a beer festival. No mention however was made of where the event was – it was in Worcester – let alone which organisation was staging the event… the only CAMRA view was on someone’s shirt… when it coms to real ale, CAMRA is the story, so why did the BBC not want to acknowledge CAMRA’s existence?”

Coming from Protz, this was a typical example of Leninist substitutionism, where a self-appointed leadership sees its own vanguard role – justified by a false tradition of leaders and holy texts – as more important than the existence of a real movement from below which might actually break real ale “out of the ghetto”.

An even worse example of this attitude – socialism-from-above if ever it existed – came in one report’s outrageous statement that “a dedicated contingent from CAMRA braved [!] a demonstration by Sri Lankan Tamils and sallied forth to host a successful parliamentary reception in the Houses of Parliament”. Cut off from grassroots anti-imperialist activists after their shoddy role in the Respect debacle and looking to the left of the labour bureaucracy to enact ‘reforms’, The London Drinker even urges its readers to “contact our local MPs, as nothing works better for them than a bulging post bag from local constituents”. It is quite clear that such tactics will do nothing to advance the Tamil cause, to which CAMRA clearly have no serious orientation.

The obituaries section offers some insights into the life of the movement, but they are of a rather superficial character. We learn that David Humphreys “was among those who helped gain SW London Branch [of CAMRA] as ‘an awkward squad’. He had strong ideas about how CAMRA should be run, and these often conflicted with the conventional wisdom… by the late 70s David had become somewhat disillusioned with CAMRA for what he saw as a lack of real campaigning zeal and his involvement tailed off. He turned his attention to the SPBW (hardly a campaigning organisation!) and over the years occupied various offices, including that of national chairman.” Similarly, we are  told about  Bert Field “an ASLEF shop steward who was given the nickname ‘Keyhole Kate’ for his campaign to have cab keyholes that caused draughts covered over”. Yet for all of these points on ‘campaigning’ leaders and attacking rival groups like SPBW, we are not given any critique of the overall role of such organisations – in reality, no ‘awkward squad’ of ‘left’ bureaucrats can break with their fundamental and structural link to capitalism.

Admittedly, it is impressive that CAMRA can advertise activities for no less than 13 London geographical branches – having overtaken the SWP and Socialist Party in recent years – but this is at the expense of the quality of analysis produced in The London Drinker. Basic Marxist categories and words like ‘communism’, ‘class struggle’ and ‘rank-and-filism’ are missing from the magazine. It is well-known among real ale activists in Surrey public schools that the main attraction of The Star on Church Street in Godalming is that you can get served easily even if you are only 14 years old, yet this goes unmentioned in The London Drinker’s basically economistic review of the pub.

Therefore it is only proper to class The London Drinker among the ranks of the traditional left press – forever willing to extol the virtues of their own organisation, never able to offer a viable alternative for the movement as a whole. The Campaign for Real Ale epitomise sectarianism – and when you’re in the swamp there’s nothing to throw but mud.