Parliamentary control of the armed forces?
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Parliamentary control of the armed forces has been brought into question here
http://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2015-09-20/army-plots-against-british-pms-are-not-new/
We know that armies do not always remain loyal to parliament, that is another reason why we say that socialism can only happen once it has majority backing, we'd expect some of this majority socialist leaning to have filtered into the military as soldiers are for the most part just ordinary workers.Suppose some general was to attempt a coup in 5 years time from now. How many of the soldiers would be loyal to him? I don't think a majority would go with it. When Franco tried his coup I think around half(?) of the army remained loyal to the republic.
Apologies for re-posting this from another threadA modern historian's take on the last threatened couphttp://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/curragh-mutiny-had-dis…The SPGB takehttp://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/1920s/1929/no-294-…A related Forum discussion on this topic http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/general-discussion/capitalism-s…(To emphasise i boldened this bit)As we often say the most effective strike is the one that didn't happen – the threat of industrial action was sufficient. In the same way, the military can carry out their coup by simply raising the prospect of one if it changes policy. I will add that Peter Wrights autobiography proved that the British intelligence agencies conducted a smear campaign against Harold Wilson suggesting he was a Russian mole.I am also reminded of the events in the 70s with Mountbatten as a crucial player. In 1974 the Army occupied Heathrow Airport. Baroness Falkender (a senior aide and close friend of Wilson) asserted that the operation was ordered as a practice-run for a military takeover or as a show of strength, as the government itself was not informed of such an exercise based around a key point in the nation's transport infrastructure.MI5 officer James Miller claimed that the Ulster Workers Council Strike of 1974 had been promoted by MI5 to help destabilise Wilson's government. Colin Wallace, an Army press officer in Northern Ireland said it had been used in the 1970s as part of a smear campaign, codenamed Clockwork Orange, against Harold Wilson. 10 Downing St was bugged by MI5. We also at the time had a number of right-wing employers organisations active and collaborating with ex-military.I'm not a paranoid conspiracist by nature but i do think you under-play the possibilities.We don't need the majority of military to be active in a coup for it to succeed – as you say – Franco had military opposition and his earliest act was the execution of 800 loyalist officers. In Chile, the miltary was not all behind the coup against Allende and one senior ex-officer was assassinated in exile by Pinochet agents. Allende was actually convinced of Pinochet's loyalty so i think we can say your trust and faith in the loyalty of the British military just might be misplaced, too.Do i expect a coup against Prime Minister Corbyn – no – the media will ensure he will never be elected and they will be ably assisted by black-ops of the Establishment in many more imaginative ways than we can now envisage.I don't think we can make any parallels with a future socialist movement becoming dominant – different situation, different circumstances, oranges and apples
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