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The Labour Party Conference

Michael Chewter
26th September 2011 at 10:35
3 comments

Watching and listening to the Labour Party conference this morning I have heard some socialist voices raised and no doubt there will be more of them as the conference proceeds. I heard no such voices at the Lib Dem conference and such a voice at the Tory conference would cause collective hysteria. So the Labour Party conference is different from those of the other two major British parties.

However, the voices I heard came from delegates on the floor of the conference. From the platform the focus was on developing a general election programme that was populist and appealing. Such an expedient approach suggests an ideology that is already given. It is above discussion. Voices from below may be listened to, but they will not be heeded. Policy is not a matter for consideration by the rank and file.

Such is the desire for a Labour government to replace the Coalition that discordant voices are merely background noise, to be tolerated but not seriously considered. Take your protest and demands for New Labour to be held accountable for its misdeeds to the fringe meetings. There you can applaud to your hearts content. The powerlessness of the Labour Left is explicitly displayed for all to see.

Comments

on 30th September 2011 at 14:44, Andrew Fisher said:

Michael, no one can deny that the left has been marginalized within the Labour Party for a long time. But as you detected there was definitely a more receptive audience for socialist ideas at this year’s conference.

Our own fringe meeting was attended by over 150 people, and reported on by the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15074300

Of course it will take time to build and organise the left into positions where we can win on policy and win positions of power in the party consistently, but there are reasons for optimism at the moment. We’re starting from a low base, yes, but we’re heading in the right direction.

I’d also add I don’t think the leadership’s policies are populist at all, but quite conservative and cautious- focused more on the opinions of leader writers than of the population.

on 5th October 2011 at 10:03, Michael Chewter said:

Thanks for replying Andrew. By populist I don’t mean popular, but appealing to what they imagine the electorate will support, rather than taking a principled approach. I believe that what we need is an alternative policy, rejecting the New Labour agenda and proposing a principled but pragmatic programme for socialist democracy. We need to explicitly break with support for NATO and neoliberalism.

Ed has clearly stated that he is not left-wing but on the ‘centre ground’. So where is the left-wing option for the electorate going to come from ?

on 8th October 2011 at 16:52, Brian Lynch said:

I agree with Michael’s points on the conference and the mistaken continuation of hanging on to centre ground politics at all costs. The new shadow cabinet announcements only reiterate these points from a left spectrum point of view. The question is, how long are the trade unions and genuine left wingers in the labour party willing to put up with this? How can socialists/social democrats get a democratic hearing in UK politics?
Could it be time to start a new left wing spectrum party incorporating the greens, as we saw in Germany? In Scotland the SNP have shown that social democratic policies are still very relevant. So moving onto the left of centre ground, and now controlling it. Could this be a lesson for the rest of the UK?