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Labour's one-nation mantra can't disguise a clapped-out party Labour's one-nation mantra can't disguise a clapped-out party
(about 3 hours later)
Labour will assemble in Brighton in sullen mood. A narrow mid-term poll lead fools no one. Few think Labour can win, most fear it happening. Why? The reasons are deep seated and systematic. And because it's difficult, people shy away. Labour is a party with its fingers in its ears, intoning a one-nation mantra in the hope that the real world won't intrude so it can fall over the finish line first with just 35% of the vote. Then, without any political strategy, the party imagines it can continue where it left off in 2010 – before the voters rudely interrupted.Labour will assemble in Brighton in sullen mood. A narrow mid-term poll lead fools no one. Few think Labour can win, most fear it happening. Why? The reasons are deep seated and systematic. And because it's difficult, people shy away. Labour is a party with its fingers in its ears, intoning a one-nation mantra in the hope that the real world won't intrude so it can fall over the finish line first with just 35% of the vote. Then, without any political strategy, the party imagines it can continue where it left off in 2010 – before the voters rudely interrupted.
This tells us Labour ducked the real conversation after its second-worst result ever at the last election. Instead of using the message sent by voters to think afresh, to debate what the party stood for and assess its record in government, it simply agreed with what Ed Miliband wanted. A fragile and shallow unity ensued, underpinned by the bounce of a dead cat and vast coalition unpopularity. But as the Tories and Liberal Democrats claw their way inexorably back, three years have gone by and no strong floor has been put under the party – intellectually or organisationally.This tells us Labour ducked the real conversation after its second-worst result ever at the last election. Instead of using the message sent by voters to think afresh, to debate what the party stood for and assess its record in government, it simply agreed with what Ed Miliband wanted. A fragile and shallow unity ensued, underpinned by the bounce of a dead cat and vast coalition unpopularity. But as the Tories and Liberal Democrats claw their way inexorably back, three years have gone by and no strong floor has been put under the party – intellectually or organisationally.
Of course any assessment of Labour's fortunes depends on what you think is feasible. If it's simply to mitigate the worst effects of free markets and to slow the rate at which the poor get poorer and the planet burns, I suggest you look away now. But if your desire for Labour's purpose is more transformative – to change the country and build a good society – then there are three critical challenges that have yet to be faced.Of course any assessment of Labour's fortunes depends on what you think is feasible. If it's simply to mitigate the worst effects of free markets and to slow the rate at which the poor get poorer and the planet burns, I suggest you look away now. But if your desire for Labour's purpose is more transformative – to change the country and build a good society – then there are three critical challenges that have yet to be faced.
Challenge one: capital went global while social democracy stayed avowedly national. Labour still has no answer to the blackmail of global corporations that insist on low taxes and liberalised markets. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, says his creed is "companies over countries". But just when we need solidarity and policy across Europe, the one nation tag fails to answer this fundamental problem. In its opposition to a financial transaction tax, Labour shows it has learned nothing from the crash and the defeat that followed.Challenge one: capital went global while social democracy stayed avowedly national. Labour still has no answer to the blackmail of global corporations that insist on low taxes and liberalised markets. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, says his creed is "companies over countries". But just when we need solidarity and policy across Europe, the one nation tag fails to answer this fundamental problem. In its opposition to a financial transaction tax, Labour shows it has learned nothing from the crash and the defeat that followed.
Challenge two: capitalism has buried itself deep into our psyche through the consumerisation of our lives. With people going hungry, the question Labour needs to ask and answer is how big does the worker's plasma TV screen need to be? If enough is never enough, socialism won't ever catch-up with the demands of a turbo-consumerism that destroys the fabric of social solidarity and erodes Labour's electoral base.Challenge two: capitalism has buried itself deep into our psyche through the consumerisation of our lives. With people going hungry, the question Labour needs to ask and answer is how big does the worker's plasma TV screen need to be? If enough is never enough, socialism won't ever catch-up with the demands of a turbo-consumerism that destroys the fabric of social solidarity and erodes Labour's electoral base.
Challenge three: the shift to a world of horizontal relationships, driven largely by the internet and social media, creates a desire for self-management in which people have multiple identities and belong to myriad different groups and causes. And yet, in this vastly more complex and interconnected world, Labour demands blind obedience to its top-down nostrums. Its deep tribalism only makes sense if a parliamentary majority is the be all and end all of making change happen. Not only is parliamentary power insufficient given the wider forces reined against it, it's an increasingly unlikely outcome because of the precipitous decline in belief in all the three main parties and an electoral system that was designed for big single-party majorities but now delivers the opposite. If we are in for a long period of hung parliaments, Labour looks temperamentally ill-prepared for it. So people are going elsewhere to protest, campaign and think.Challenge three: the shift to a world of horizontal relationships, driven largely by the internet and social media, creates a desire for self-management in which people have multiple identities and belong to myriad different groups and causes. And yet, in this vastly more complex and interconnected world, Labour demands blind obedience to its top-down nostrums. Its deep tribalism only makes sense if a parliamentary majority is the be all and end all of making change happen. Not only is parliamentary power insufficient given the wider forces reined against it, it's an increasingly unlikely outcome because of the precipitous decline in belief in all the three main parties and an electoral system that was designed for big single-party majorities but now delivers the opposite. If we are in for a long period of hung parliaments, Labour looks temperamentally ill-prepared for it. So people are going elsewhere to protest, campaign and think.
The Tories are hollowing out too, but it matters much less to them because they're always in power, through the banks, the control of the media and the whole consumer-industrial complex that every minute of every day shapes our preferences. Labour has no sense of the countervailing forces it needs to create an equal and opposite dynamic.The Tories are hollowing out too, but it matters much less to them because they're always in power, through the banks, the control of the media and the whole consumer-industrial complex that every minute of every day shapes our preferences. Labour has no sense of the countervailing forces it needs to create an equal and opposite dynamic.
These aren't Labour's problems alone. September has already seen big defeats for the centre-left in Australia and Norway. And it was unimaginable that the German Social Democrats would lose on Sunday. But unless and until Labour works out how to address these three fundamental issues, then it's a party living without hope. It can have no compelling vision of a different kind of society and no ability to mobilise the forces necessary to make it happen. The half-life of Labour's power decays – from Attlee, to Wilson, to Blair and Brown. It gets weaker and weaker. These aren't Labour's problems alone. September has already seen big defeats for the centre-left in Australia and Norway. And it was unimaginable that the German Social Democrats wouldn't lose on Sunday. But unless and until Labour works out how to address these three fundamental issues, then it's a party living without hope. It can have no compelling vision of a different kind of society and no ability to mobilise the forces necessary to make it happen. The half-life of Labour's power decays – from Attlee, to Wilson, to Blair and Brown. It gets weaker and weaker.
In truth, the forward march of Labour was halted long ago. New Labour applied go-faster stripes to a clapped-out vehicle but won elections only by telling the country it wasn't really the Labour party any more. The sugar rush simply accelerated the long-term decline.In truth, the forward march of Labour was halted long ago. New Labour applied go-faster stripes to a clapped-out vehicle but won elections only by telling the country it wasn't really the Labour party any more. The sugar rush simply accelerated the long-term decline.
So Labour in Brighton will be going through the motions. It will showcase the madness of doing the same thing while expecting a different outcome. The tragedy is we need a radical party – that can set limits to the free market and democratise the state; that knows sustainability and equality must go hand in hand; that has answers to the anxiety and insecurity of modern life; and that prefigures the good society by trusting in people, empowering them and practising an everyday politics of love and compassion. The tragedy is not just that so much more is needed, but that so much more is possible.So Labour in Brighton will be going through the motions. It will showcase the madness of doing the same thing while expecting a different outcome. The tragedy is we need a radical party – that can set limits to the free market and democratise the state; that knows sustainability and equality must go hand in hand; that has answers to the anxiety and insecurity of modern life; and that prefigures the good society by trusting in people, empowering them and practising an everyday politics of love and compassion. The tragedy is not just that so much more is needed, but that so much more is possible.
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