Abolish the monarchy!

Submitted by AWL on 20 May, 2015 - 8:54 Author: Michael Johnson

After the election of a Tory majority government, it was heartening to hear Jack Straw on the Today Programme last week, taking up the cudgels for those benighted souls who need it most, like Prince Charles.

In the wake of the release of the so-called “black spider” memos from Charles to the Blair government, Straw told the BBC that it was “absolutely essential” that Prince Charles had been able to offer his views in private. If the public was entitled to know what Charles was saying, he added, it would “stop him saying anything at all to ministers”. 

And your point is, Jack?

Heaven forbid that the government of the day would be denied Charles Windsor’s pearls of wisdom on the plight of the Patagonian Toothfish, the upkeep historic buildings, or the fate of herbal medicine. 

I almost feel for the ministers, too, having to pen obsequious responses to a mediocre crank, elevated to prominence only by lineal accident. That is, though, until you read the fawning responses, such as this choice sign-off, from one of New Labour’s other bio-degraded Stalinists, Charles Clarke:  “I have the honour to be, Sir, Your Royal Highness’s humble and obedient servant.” 

But there is an important point of principle here. 

Charles’ lobbying, banal and eccentric as some of it was, did touch on politically sensitive areas such as education policy, on which he had privileged access to the government with no democratic sanction whatsoever.

And we do not know the whole extent of his lobbying, especially now that the law has been changed to restrict Freedom of Information requests on royal correspondence.

Liberal responses, such as the objection from the outgoing Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger, that the prince was a “powerful person” who should be “above politics” miss the point. 

The monarchy is not, in reality, “above politics”. The whole institution, in times of political deadlock and crisis, plays the role of lobbying and manoeuvring to secure a new government. In order to preserve the fiction that the monarchy is “above politics”, the work is necessarily done in secret, away from the prying eyes of the electorate.

Seemingly harmless now, in times of heightened class struggle the monarchy could serve as a hugely important reserve power for the ruling-class, acting to concentrate the forces of reaction against the impositions of working-class democracy.

Charles’ letters make clear what we already know, and demolish the cant that the monarchy is a quaint reality-TV-show-cum-tourist attraction. 

It’s not. It’s a vile and backward institution, and a survival, in James Connolly’s words, “of the tyranny imposed by the hand of greed and treachery upon the human race in the darkest and most ignorant days of our history.”

Abolish it now. Up the Republic!

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.