The Labour Party's Last Hope?

Labour has misunderstood Britain. Time to start afresh: We need to rebuild a community-focused party, embrace electoral reform and pursue - dare I say - a New Socialism
Jon Cruddas, The Guardian, Wednesday 18 March 2009

Are we heading for a political tipping point? Across mainland Europe, the centre appears to be emptying, as parties of both the ultra-right and far-left prosper. Some think the British picture is reminiscent of the dread days of the early 1980s: authorities readying for a summer of riots, predictions of unemployment topping three million, and worries about strikes. June may yet witness a watershed moment for the political class, with a breakthrough for the British National party in European elections. On top of the recession, 2009's big story looks like being a crisis of political representation.

Within Westminster a rather timid critique of the government has emerged, often from former ministers. Its essentials are now almost a cliche: a lack of narrative, too much "initiativitis", and a stalling of momentum as the "Brown Bounce" of 2008 falls away. All these points have something to them, yet they fail to capture the magnitude of the squalls ripping through our economy, and the damage to our society brought on by the collapse of the 30-year dominance of market fundamentalism.

Among the commentariat and in the blogosphere talk of this crisis of neoliberalism is becoming rather hackneyed. But it reflects something real, and increasingly urgent: a deluge of work for local charities, advocacy groups and representatives, appalling housing cases with no hope of resolution, job losses, and people struggling daily to pay the bills. And palpable fear about what lies ahead.

New Labour has had increasingly little to say about these struggles. Indeed, by 2001 its policies were based essentially on a mythical middle England, drawn up by pollsters and located somewhere in the south-east, with affluence taken for granted. In this model, politics always had to be individualised. A leading cabinet member claimed that Labour's essential message was to help voters "earn and own". People were seen as being fixated only on themselves, with no wish to think in terms of collective experience. Aspiration was about buying more things rather than wanting to build the "good society".

Scotland and Wales may have been implicitly set apart from all that, but England is also very different from such an individualist caricature, and it always has been. Julian Baggini, in his book A Journey into the English Mind, identified a postcode in Rotherham as the typical centre of the country in terms of how we live and think. His exploration of the philosophy of England beautifully defines the conservative, community-orientated outlook of the mainstream, Protestant centre of the country with its rich sense of tolerance and fairness. Labour misread this communitarian disposition - grounded in a deep and still dominant working-class culture - for a shrill politics of individual consumerism. We assumed people would only respond to a sour, illiberal politics about consuming more, rather than a deeper ethic of fraternity and what we aspire to be as a nation. And we feared its nationalism. But public responses to a range of bellwether issues - the abolition of the 10p tax rate, the excesses of bonus culture, the privatisation of the Royal Mail - reveal a different middle England.

Labour lost the language of generosity, kindness and community as it lost the tempo of the country. England's abiding culture was never socialist, but as we misunderstood its essential ethic of solidarity we lost our ability to build a politics beyond the market - to mould a radical hope for the country.

Working-class culture tolerated Labour as long as it promised economic uplift. Sixty quarters of growth helped disguise our cultural distance from the country. The material class politics that we never confronted - around housing, employment insecurity and pensions - was submerged by the housing bubble. Now these tensions are being racialised as recession, employment standards and demographic change collide. The popular terms of debate around immigration capture a profound sense of unfairness felt by thousands, many of whom are on a journey towards a very different communitarian politics, built round a nationalistic nostalgia transposed into a modern tribal identity - essentially a class politics of the far right.

The Labour party is therefore at a critical moment. Already in government hardline market fundamentalists are regrouping, arguing for further dismantling of the state, more privatisation and suspending any equality agenda to placate business. On the left, a movement to leave Labour and form a new workers' party is stirring. What both sides share is a desire to polarise debate. But now is the time to build a different Labour party, to develop a new kind of economy and determine the just distribution of power and resources, in which government and the people work together toward a vision of the Good Society. Specific policies for fair taxation, employment security and job generation, the environment, enduring devolution in public services and housing are all available - if we have the will to reach for them.

We also have to face the crisis of political representation - especially among working-class voters. That means instituting a system of fair voting that can rewind the way Britain's political parties have sought to camp out in that mythical middle England. A grown-up Labour party needs to embrace proportional representation - not as a preserve of the liberal metropolitan intelligentsia, but as a core mechanism with which to combat a sense of working-class alienation.

Above all, the party needs a new language about our purpose. So try this, from 1995: "A nation for all the people, built by the people, where old divisions are cast out. A new spirit in the nation based on working together, unity, solidarity, partnership. That is the patriotism of the future. Where your child in distress is my child, your parent ill and in pain is my parent, your friend unemployed or homeless is my friend, your neighbour my neighbour. That is the true patriotism of a nation." That was Tony Blair, who had it - but lost it. Now, before it's too late, we need to rediscover that kind of Labour politics. And, not that I want to scare the horses, we might even call it a New Socialism.

Jon Cruddas is Labour MP for Dagenham cruddasj@parliament.uk

During the Labour Party Deputy Leadership contest back in 2007, Jon Cruddas seemed to be the only candidate who had anything to say in policy terms. As for the other candidates, (eventual winner) Harriet Harman's appeal seemed to be 'Vote for Me, I'm a Woman'; Hazel Blear's pitch was 'Vote for Me, I'm a Woman AND a Blairite'; Alan Johnson's USP was 'Vote for Me, I've a Working Class Background'; Peter Hain's appeal was 'Vote for Me, I've a Radical Past'; and Hilary Benn's appeal to people was basically 'Vote for Me, I've Got a Radical Father'. Nothing of any substance at all. I don't agree totally with what Jon Cruddas stands for- for instance, I have got the impression that he is pro-ID cards- but I cannot see Labour going anywhere after the next election with warmed-up (washed-up?) New Labourism.