The May 5th elections certainly caused some grief within the two main parties.

After the Tories' relatively poor showing outside Scotland - especially their spectacular defeat in the London mayoral election following a campaign verging on outright racism - the party's warring factions immediately blamed each other for these results and resumed their in-fighting.

Meanwhile, contrary to widespread predictions, Labour did relatively well outside Scotland. This has left the party's anti-Corbyn faction without the pretext it was hoping for, to initiate a leadership contest - at least for the time being. However, its guerilla war against Corbyn can be expected to carry on unabated.

All this seems to be taking place on another planet where politicking and posturing are the only things that really matter. And indeed, there was nothing for workers to expect from these elections. But then no decisive change has ever come out of the ballot box for the working class.

Back to the EU again

No sooner had the polling stations of the May 5th elections closed than the politicians' wrangles over the EU referendum resumed. And we're bound to get a lot more of the same until the end of June.

But we should not forget what this referendum is really about. It has very little to do with the EU itself - and even less about giving voters a real choice on the issue - and everything to do with the politicians and their careers.

Fast-track back to the months leading up to the 2015 general election, when Tory backbenchers were running scared of losing votes to Ukip: it was at that point that Cameron announced the coming referendum. But it was merely a ploy, to pull the carpet from under Ukip's feet.

Despite his claims that he was "keeping all his options open" and would only support a "reformed EU", there was never any doubt that, whatever happened, Cameron would do the City's bidding. And since the City wanted "in", he would eventually find a good reason to call for a "Remain" vote.

And he did. After months of posturing from summit to summit across Europe, claiming that he was strong-arming the EU into "reforming itself", Cameron finally came back claiming he had "won" what he wanted and that he would, therefore, lead the "Remain" campaign.

In reality, Cameron had "won" nothing new. Except for one thing - that EU migrant workers would have no benefits for 4 years. This "concession" has yet to be approved by the EU parliament, but it was certainly tailor-made to fit in with Cameron's xenophobic overbidding with Ukip and this was all he really needed.

A "choice" like this is just a trap

So, now, 30-odd million voters are supposed to vote in this referendum for the sole purpose of helping politicians to sort out their rivalries! How irresponsible can these people get? But then, they're just like their masters in the City, who play with the economy as if it was a game of Monopoly - regardless of the consequences for the real world.

They tell us that this is giving voters a "choice". But what kind of "choice" is that?

The "Leave" camp claims that Britain would be better off by going it alone. But without its present free access to a large market, its industry would be unable to stand on its own feet - except by drastically cutting wages and conditions!

As to Cameron's "Remain" camp, it represents the continuation of the past years' policies, with the Tories' systematic attacks on public services and welfare and the bosses' drive against jobs, wages and conditions.

In other words, by voting for either of the two camps, workers would be endorsing the capitalists' attempts to make the working class foot the bill for their crisis! And to make matters even worse, they would be condoning the attacks against EU workers promoted by both camps, when what's needed, is more rights and freedoms for all.

Contrary to what politicians claim, there is nothing democratic in a referendum, quite simply because we do not get to decide the question which is asked. And not only does this one give us no "choice" at all, but it is a trap into which it would be dangerous for the working class to fall.

Indeed, we can only expect the winning camp, whichever it may be, to use its success as a justification for the next offensive it will launch against the working class. And it cannot be in workers' interests to give them more ammunition!

The ballot box is not and has never been a means for the working class to bring about change. Only using its collective strength can and will do so!