l)

/r- U;,'l*l a/\ /70 c'/- /-*/- '/-

Thereare'threeparadoxesinthepresentBritishpolitical
situation. Iirst, any objective assessment of the Thatcher Goverruiient
must lead to a conclusion that it has failed- in the basj-c
tasks i'\:ct
j

itselfoncomingtopowerinl,layLgTg.TheToriespromisedtopr-ttl
isnrL
Britaj-n back to workl 'bheir farnous aclvertising s}oga1 wag 'tlabor:r
working,l.'Jnemploymentthenr,lasl.Jmil}ion.ItisnowovelJmi).li.olr
and still rising. [he Tories lromised to br:-ild up investment
in mant:-

facturing industries, bY allowing private incentive to lrosper'

I'Iay 1979 an1
Marrufact,ring investment has slumpe6 by about 2A/o aLnce
claim to
output itself is d.own 15%. flhe Governmentts onLy conceivable
succes8 is the red.ucti-onof tho inflation rate. But that is a recluction
only after rarupant inflation during 19BO and 1981 and- at a cost of greatly'
naybe terminally, industryrs infrastructure' Even the Talklands
dama6ing

conflict (a significant Bource of Goveznment popularity), onry aJ3ose

becauee of a blund.er by the Foreign office in assesslng
the sincerity of

bheArgentines'd.esireforinvaslon.Yet,despiteallthis,theTory
Government ::ides !-12 points ahead in most opinion
polls - an unplacedenl;eC

situation at this sbage of a Governmentrs life'

Thesecondparad'oxconceltlE,theriseofthesocial}emocratic
party. To read the Pressr You would. thlnk that a major change in Sritish
the s'n'P'
political though-b had occumed. rr!/e aJce breaking the roould'".say
rdil)-ia"ns'
leaders. They are stralge rnouJ.d---breakers: R:y Jenkins, ShlrJ-ey

navid. owen, 3i11 Rod.gers.If anything, they are the falLed rripreeentatives
of the o1d. mould.. They aLl held office in the last labour Government; Cr

arrdnotmerelydidtheyhold.officeinit,theyuere,Lnfuveryreal
aense,itsideologicallieutenants.Thes.}.P.raIkand.filearemacle
up largely of the middle-aged- and. roidd-lo class erstwhlle labour rilembers'

who have groern too fat and arfr*h'b to feer comfortab-,-e with Laborrr: anc
 -L-

whoselingeringsocialconsciencegpreventthemfromvotingTory;
-[t*SYf
,n" Halt working-c1ass ]'abour pol-iticians; ana that ephemeral-
gloupofsupportersthatalwaysclustersror:nd'anythingnev,thosethat
professtobel,non-po}ltj-ca1''.Yetitisc}eartoanybuttheroost
have touched. a Dower_
evangelica} of I,abo.trr calvasserB' that the S.I.P"
ful feeling a.urongsba particul-ar sectlon of the electorate: a"
diseatisfaction not so much with the polrcies of the main parties, but
with their rhetoric and perhaps ph:i-losophy'

Ehe third. paradox concerns the I',,abour Party' It is wid.el-Y seen

as intoleran-b undemocraticl d.estructive rather than constructive

and-
as it is ' be
support for the Labour Party should with uJlernol-oyment
dramaticandconsistent.InsteaditisbelowthatachievedinMay:-9T9"
for
its supposed intolerance was given as the principal reason
Indeed
forrningtheS.D.P.Yetfarfromnegativingd'emocracy,thepastfewyeaxs
party. M.P.rs mr:st now 80 tlrrough a
have seen it frourieh within the
candi-
raandatory re-selection process prior to re-nomination as LabouJr
e4perienced in
dates. (tiris was in a large Beasu.Ie d'ue to d-ifficulties
removing Reg Prentice from the Labour nomination
for a safe London seati
to the [ory Party becoming a Mlnister ln
once de-nominated he s,,rltched.
is no longer erected'
the Thatcher Goverrment). The leader of the Party
novement participabe
solely by the caucuB of M.P.ts. The entire Labour
giving 4a/o of the vote
in the election by means of an Electorf;g} college
totheUnions,andla/ifuM.P.'sandconstituencyparties.Thepictrrre
ieoneofpowerbeingdevolveddownwards.Itisapictulcere-printed.
inmarryofthelocalsovelDaentmarrifestos,partlcularlyoftheleft-
Buti,rs the left that is
wing corincils: decentralisation ie the therne.
most depj.cted as being und-emocratic'
 -1-

Itiseasytobecynicalorcarelessaboutthesepa.radoxesl
to dismlse them as part of the ebb and- flow of political fortunesl
ox as the erpression of the waywardness of electorates'
Such an

approachwould.befundarnental.lymistaken.Eachparad.oxcontainsaIr
important lesson for the labour Party and. the Partyts task
in the
'Lhem'
inuned.iate futr:re is to resolve
The Tory el-ection victory of l,1ay \979, in one sense, representetl
twrbl-ed' from
a devastating defeat for r,abour,. rtr Parllamentary strength
share of the vote by B/o'
l1g M.P.rs to 258. The Tories increased- their
Everyr^rhere the election was hailed" as a victory
for [hatcherite id'eologr'
cr:riously enough this rJ-ew vas most pror:ounc.ed- on the lefb, notably by

Tony Berue. It was eaid. that the Labour manifesto of 1974 was radical'

promlsinganl|irreversiblesh:iftintheownershipofwealthtoworking
people'r; that the ma:rd-ate given the !abor':r ParW by the October 1974

victory was unfu1fi1Ied.; that Healey and ca}la8han sowed- the seede of
Thatcherite monetarism by making pay restralnt and' cuts in public

erpenditu-re theprincipal found.ation of their econonic pollcy; and that

the fir1I.
the electorate, given no firm eoci,alist l1adr d.ecid.ed' to have
blow"n Toriee to the closet Tories wlthin the La'bour right'
self-proclaiming
Yet a deeper analysis of the 1979 results confound's this
vlew' Although

I,aborrrlost5lseats,itactuallypo}led'slight}yrnorevotesLnl9T9
by only 2'1%'
than in gctober 1974; and. its shaxe of the vote decllned'
Moreover, the traditional l-eft-ving position constantly
reiterated by
its
Tony Senn and othere - that laborir lost the election by alienating
support - cannot be sustained on an examination of
where
working*cIass
T,abourlost its seats. Jn Sco't1and' rr/ales and the North' the traditi'onal
I,abour retained
working.class, areas, where labor:r is much the strongest,
its seats; in scotland., perhaps the most economically d-isad'vantagpd'

of the electorate, Labourrs vote increase-d-. The seats vere almost

axea
 -4-

excluEively lost in the ltidlands and" South-East, traditlonally the

prosperous parts of the corurtry. fhis vas especially so ln the

suburcban a"reas lllce Basildon ancl Stevenage, aror:nd' !ond'on.

In at the crosgqqagq'r I Geoff Eodgson makes the

ilLab-ouf:

conventional left case. Ee quotes a Burvey of electoral opinion which

shows Labour support amongs mrd,dle a1d upper working*class people

remained constart lYom October 1974-Nlay L979; but serai and' unskilled

working class support dropped. 13on 57% to 47% during that period". .H9-

cites that as showtng working-class rejection of T'abour' But' as he

admits, the survey also shows that ln septerober 1978, semi-skil1ed- and
ekilled working*c1ass support for labor:r was JB/o, f% up on 0etober 1974.
In other words, the drop of support occuned entirely between September
rrthe vinter
19TB and llay 1979, over the period- of industrlal r.rnrest in

of discontent." That is a very d-ifferent matter froro the rejection of

the entlre Govelnment from 19?4 onwaxds. Ind.eed-, on the Benn caee, one

would. expect the most dramatic drop in support to have occuged betveen

1976-7978 when the $m' cuts were imposed and. pay restrqint under the
social contract was being enforced. Certainly, by September :..978, the
temper and. philosophy of the Labopr Government vas p1ain. Although the
erosion of the Labour vote between September 1978 - May 1979 cannot be

lgnored., it hard.ly makes a compel-Ilng case for the Beru: view.

Moreover, the point about :iJle ll974 manifesto ls dlsingenlous.
1rhee]ectorate carrnot seriously have thought that the Labour Party in
19?4 headed by Wilson, (himself Prime [inister of a very reformist

Government from 1954-70) and whose leadlng figures were Callaghant

Jenkine and I{eadlLeyr was Soing to bring about revolutionary change'
Probably the g:reatest electoral asset Labor:r had in 1979, from a
 (

popula^T point of vi-ew, was Callagha.n himself, somethlng conetantly

stressed by the l,abour campaign managers.

More challenglng statistics than those offered by Hod.gson
above, are those taken from the Butler and" Strokes surveys on the 1954,
L966, 1974 and- 1979 eleetions, md reported in Ivor Crewers essqy

rrhe Labour Pa:ty and the Electorater, rublished- in rThe Pol-i-tics of

the labour Partyt (ed. l. Kavanagh).

1'

These figr:res ajr'e more conpatible llith my own erperience,

canvasslng roughly BrO0O people during the Beaconefield cappaign (a}}

of uhom lived. in local Council estates or the cheaper end of private
housing). This erperience is that there are growing numbers of young

often socially upward moving people who are slmply not prepared' to
accept orrt, basic id.eo1og1 just because their forefathers did Es*'
There are very few of the younger a8e g,roup converted- to our ideologl
and we rely to a dangerous d.egree on the loyalty vote amongst o1d-er

citi-zens.
Many, rlght an6 Party, euffered similar
left within the Labour

erperiences when confbonting the electorate in May L979, For the right-
ving, this conflrmed" to thero their suspicion that sociallsm was dead;
Gaitskell had been right when trying to rule out the commitment to

public ownership in the Labour Partyrs constitution. It was th:is that

truly led to the S.D.P. (navid, Ourents book f Face the. Rr-b.urer, in
 -6-

hardback, used the langpage of socialism

to describe the S'D'P'
the hard'back' has the
philosophy; his paperba'ek verslon' fol-lowing
word reocialismr exctsed) '
tr'ortheLabourleftrpreciselytheoppositeconclusionwas
drar+n.ThedaysofButskilliteconsensuapoliticswasove]r.'Ihe
fai].r-:reofLabor.rrid.eolo6ywasthedirec.bresu].tofthefa.iltrreofthe
\^/irson and cal-lag.han Gover:rments to campaign
for it. No wonder the

tradeurrionswereunpopularwhentheyhadbeenattacked-bythe).;ac.er
ofthe],aborrrParty;ofcoursethepublicserviceswerenotsulported
whentheLabourGovernmentwasitselfcuttingthern;and.naturally
within those
nationalieation was a dirty word, vhen the workers
in charge under public
nationalised industries had seen the sal0e bosses

ownership as they had under private ownership

Ihepowerfu-lappealofthe}efttothefundamentalsocialist
defeat, easi}y over-
inetincts of the ParW, coupled. with the d.ection
whelmed.thetiredexcugeBofpragroatlenfromthel,abourright.As
of-tenlnpolitics,itisnothowthlngsactuallyare,buthowtheyare
percaived that is irnportant. The W 1979
election d-efeat waB per-

ceivedbythePartyandind.eed'LabourMovementasawhole,asavictory
fortheideoloryoffhatcherandadefeatforruid.d.le-of-the-road.
consensus Politics'
The left vith.in the Labour Party had. been rnaking poverful

advartcessj.ncetheearly}9?O's.Moreoveritnowtend.ed'tobeyoungel,
defeat propelled the
white-corlar a,d organised. The 19?9 election
leftwardsmovementforward.lnthreeways:first'ltlifted.the
of the Party' and ki11ed off
responsibility of power frorn the shoufders
the Party leadert
tlie argument that the ]eft shouldnrt, by criticising
rocktheboat.Second.}y,bypointingtotheelectiond.efeat,the}eft
r*ere able to dispose of the continual
refraj-n of the right-'ring that

modera.bionwasessentialtotheretainingofpower.[hird].Y,bY
 -7-

asseltingthathad.themorerad:icalpo}icieeoftheran]candfi}ebeen
followedLabourcou.].dhavevlonthedection,theleftattractedpowerful
supportfortheviewthattheP.I.,.P.hadbetrayed.thePartyandmustbe
So in 1980t cgme mandatory
re-
made more accountable in future'

selectionancltheelectoralcol}ege.Afurtherleftreform,giving
thedraftlngofthemanilestototheN.E.C.a].one,ratherthanthe
N.E.C. and the Shadow Cabinet'
failed'
Buttheconstitutionalreformsinrnarry},aysa.resecondaryto
theessentialchangethathastakenplacelnPartymenrbership.fLis
notreal-lyaccr:-rate'asTonyBerrnwoufdhaveit'thattherankald
filebecaagdismayedwiththePaltyleaclershipduringthelg?0's.lThe
[he people occupying the positions
in
ranlc and. file itself altered.
GeneralCommitteesofconstituenciesj.ntheearlylgTO'Sa.renolonger
change in the Labour
in offlce. fhere has been a massive Srass-roots
beneficial'.'o' exarnple' Black
Party. Much of this has been

a3e no longer unlanown. ot't*;; I,ond'on council 2J out of

corrnci]lors
itsTlCorrncillorsa.reblack.Thewomen|Bmovementhasmad.eacolossal
conmulity groups, envlrorrmenta}
input i:rto the Party. So have radica}
SroupBandsoon.Toalargeextent,theseBroupshavebeenonthe
of the 1950ts and 19?Ots student
1eft, roany of their members bejng
generation,VeryoftenonleavingUniversity,theyhavegonelntothe
publicsector-teachi-rrg,}ocalgovernment,socia.].workorresearch.
ThlschangemadeltselfmostdranatlcallyfeltintheDeputyl,eadershJ.p
battlelastyearbetweenBealeyarrdBenrr.Intheconstituencysection,
BenntookBf,4otthevote.M.P.ISrthoughtheyhadarrindependent
colloge' rr'ere under otrong plresgure through
voico ln the electoral
the re-selection process to vote
for Senn'

:il
 o
-o-

in 1981 may in retrospect' be seen not

But the Benn campaign
onlyasthehj.ghwatermarkof}riso}lnperBonalfortrrnesbutofthatof the
Ilost people on the Left supported-
the ,,far,rIeft in the Party'
so' crucially' did the left-wjn8 Union
and
constitutionaLchanges
coa]-ition of left forcee which proved
a broaC'
leaders. [here was thus
enormouslY effective'
Leader:ship1 cracks began to
Over the baLtle for
the Deputy

appeal.Asigrificantgroupofleft-wingM.P.'sarrr1r,:.rrionleacersslowly
begantod'epartfrornsenn.thiswasfortworeasons.First,therevas
und'oubted.}yacertainelementofBerursupportthatdisplayed.open
tha't did not support him' It was not the shouting
intolerance of those
downofpeopleatmeetinSsr(ttrisoccr:rredonlysporaclically),itwas
thewayinvhichavoteforBenrrcaloeincreasinglytobeputinterms
ofasocialistimperative.Second}y,astheelectoralunpopularityof
I,abor:rSpwand,astheS.n.P.tookoff,thebatt}eforDeputyLeadershi.p
Bee as running sores doing enormouEl
were
and indeed Benn himself
damagetotheParty.Benntspersonalunpopularitywasplaintoany
service union
when NtrPE (the public
canvasser' It vas illustrated
representingthel.ower-paid)voted.substantiallyforEealey,despite
being in favour of Senn' [he T'G'\'I'U' in
Union
the Executive of the in favour of
found' B out of 11 regions
its consultation exercise
Eealey.Yettheseurtionshadsufferedmostdr:ringtheyea.rsof vote'
contract' [heir vote was an anti-3enn
the llealey social
}Jhenthe}eputyl,eadershipvotestookplace,NeilKinnock'
JoanLeetorandotherevotedforSl].kin(ttremtddlecan&idate)onthe
firstbal}otandthenabstalnedonthesecond.Stlllothers}ike
the 1eft, voted for sllkln on the flrst
vrith
Jack strav, identified
for Benn'
I
l
ball-ot and only then opted
I

I
 -9-

on theleft hae grown' Klnnock

Sj-nce October
1981' the split
to severe criticisrn for their
welce subjected'
and- his supporters the crltlcisrn' the more
the harsher
sf Serri' 0f collrBe'
"betrayalrr
isolated.theyfeltfromthecriticsandthemoredeterminedtofight
the position of Lestor ana Kirn
the :. ::;::'ll-"];';;"
back. Party w
of the N'E'C' of
were bobh mernbers roo'b'
of cand*idar-es. I'iichael
party an. the endorsement
rruuring of the pogsessed
vith the right on the N'E'C"
together
from the centre' The crucial votes
were
to carrY the N'E'C'
lnsufficient numbers like
with other left r:nion leaders
together
Kinnockrs and T'estorrs'
Alex Kits;":" Foot: over the
thev besan to eupport
l";""-""
":-:
non.endorsementofPeterTatchel}aslabo\rlcand.idateinSermondsey
(ttrowirnot!estor);overtherefl:saltoadmittariq"A}itomember-
ship,and.finallyovertvlilitant.Thislastbattlehasflnallybeen
the left coalition'
the destruction of ,,hose rj
}&}itantisaJ:}avowed}yTrotskylstgfoup,vhoselinksgoback
totheRevolutionarySoclalistleaguej.nthe1960's.Ithas54rurr-
timeworkerarincludj.n8l4ataregionalleve}.}4llitarrtsaythat
fhe centre and "t-1;1i
,,selr rvl[itant paper'"
they only
the
it j'e' In ef , *t"-
a paperi
nuch more than iust a Sroup selling
conspiracyr4partY,.lithinthe?artY.tr'oI}owlngareportbythe
Genera}SecretarYandNationalA8entintoMi}itantrtheN.E.C.voted'
narrovly'boeetab}iehaRegioberofa}lsroupsintheParty.To
qualify,theBrrouPhastoshowitabldesbylabourrgConstitution.
[heConetitution!neffectoutlawspartlesvitYr-i:rthe!arW.Thusit
isplain,sincethereporterpreeslysaidthat]vli}ltantwasaparty

Iii'
 _-LU_

vithinaPartYrthatMilitantwlllnotbeperrnittedtoregister. by the
the N'E'C' has now been ratified
lhat decision by
by a' large ] or 4-1
rnajority' Al-I the majo::
1!82 Confexence and

unions(inc}ud.ingthenormallyleft-wingN.U.M.),saveforN.U.P.E.,
as a personal
Begister' The vote was Been
in favorrr
voted of the

triurrrphforl,fi.chael]loot.ThankstotheUnionvote,theN.E.C.a.}so
Foot need no
if not rightwards'
swung firmly centre';ardsl
Kj-nrrockrs vote'
longer d-epend on Neil . ,1 r - seemingly
undercrrrent to this
^^^m
There remains one worrying

omrrlpotenttid.eofsupportfortr'oot.Therrnionsmayhavevotedover-
whe}ninglyfortheRegister,buttheconstituencypartiesdidnob.In
fact,theyvotedoverwhelrninglyagainstit,byamarginofalmostg0g,6
to10%.[hereisthereforeanalarningdisparitybetweentheconstit.
uencypartlesarrdtheUnions.Itnaybeeaidthatthisdisparityhas
alvlayeeristea.Theunions,lnparticulartheurrionleadershlp,have
uoual}ybeenmorecongervativethanthe''id.ealisteltintheconstituency
paltieB.NyeBevantseupportinthelgSo,scame,predomi:rantlYrfrom
the right-wlng union leaders' cr
whilst
the constituency partiesr
ordinatedoppositiontohj.m.Buttheuncertainwof].eft.wingfeeling
h'l:'en Eugh
hae never been as it is now'
wittr-in the constituencies
vote on r:nllateralism' sone 5076 of
Conference
Gaitski[ ]ost the 1960
theconetituencypartlessupported.hinandvlereinetrumentalin
achievingthergversa}ofthatdecisiontn}g5l.suchconetituency in 1982'
,,right-wlng,' policy would be unthrnkable
support for any
Thisgapbetweenconstituencypartieeanclunlone,tiesin
earlier descrlbed' It !s the
with the changein ?arW membersh'ip
the '/tIE\.It TGwUt EEPIU'
G]'I$U'
malual labour unions -
N.U'R'andtheN'U']'I'-thatd'oninatetheLabour?artyConference' but even
the only sizeable white-coIlar r:nions '
NUPE and AS$'!S
are
level'
wtr-ite-co11ar' Yet at a constituency
NTIPE is only
partially
 -11-

NAIC0'the loca]
menbers of NU[t the teachers'
It ie increasingly of the
ASTIv1S and the
vhlte-co}Iar sections
government officers'

manualunions'li-keACTSSofthe[GhUandTASSoftheAIIEV'tha't
at a constituency Level and- party offials'
doninate both debate as paxt of their
not to partlclpate
these members tend-
f,\rrthermore,
Union,lntheSajnewaytheblue-collarrmiondelegatesd'oordid..
ild the vlews 'bhey
party memberg first'
They are quintessentially

expresgaretheirown,notthoeeoftheirunionhgnch.tuarrytltr|co Yet
the labor:r ParW tend to be on the left'
mombers active in
to the labour Party'
The
as a rxrion
NALGO is not
even affiliated'

membershiprejectedaffiliattonbyalnostgvotestolayeaxaS;o. from the

s centre and right can take
comfort I'abor':rr
So whatever

positlonofthe]-gB2Conference,!tisapositionthatrestsentire}yon
opposition. [he questi.o:
jn the teeth of constituency
r.rnion support, &d

ofthenextyearisgoln8tobewhetherthesoftleft/hardleftsplit
becomee ruirrored'
!n the constituency
unions
r,rj-thin the PLP and the

parties.Ifitdoesnotlthe],abor.uPartywi}lbegintodevelopa
schizophrenicpersonality,wlthacorleBpond-lngconfueionengpnderedin
for'
as to what labour reaIly etands
the eleetorate
be reconciled? 7f
a
in the ?arty
Eov can left and' right
of electora} support, how does
united. Labour Party
is a pre-requisite

it unite?
is a prisoner of ite
own
left an. right'
The labour PartYt
rabour reaael
lr.istorv. rt rs remarkable hov orten '"s^tt?rftifii"'-"
orpoeitiononthebasisofPartytradltion.Conference\sjleakersare
repletevlithreferencestoKeirEardie,l*,""and3evan.[herisht
when the PI'JP was
treate
the d'ays of the 1960ts'
recall nostalgically' when
vorkingclass Party membership and
with respect by a largelY
disaStreementscouldalwaysbellatchedupoverapintatthelocal.
 -:r-2-

The left point to the radical spirit of the Party for":nders, to the fund-
arnentalist socialism of cripps and cole and- e4plode at the c'escription of
the left as t'newtr when what it is saying is pale in comparison with those
early socialist proselyters. Both sid-es feel a need to represent themselves
as therrtruettLabour Party in an ldstorical sense' In doing so, instead' of
using history to e4plaln the present and polnt to the futu-re, they chain
themse1ves to the Past.
The rj-ght of the parr;y must come to vith two mattersr - -r'irst,
terrns

the scale of the problems we face as a people in l-982 are quite unlike those
of previous years: l* roiffion unemployed- vith another 1-2 million on short
time worklng or ternporary enployment schernes; the wholesale d'evastation of
trad.ltional industries such as the eteel ildustry and. rallways network
together with the declj-ne in rnanufactr.rring; 10-12 million people living at '

or below the poverty line; Bo many of our inner cities are just ghettos of
the socially d.eprived.. And. all this aga:inst a baclcground' of Reaganomics

in the u.s.A. and. the ever widening scope of new technologl. not+here PigP
The rnild'

tinkering r*rith the economy proposed. by the Social lemocrats/a1as measrrres

up to the problem. A massive reconstruction of industry is needed' Bowe'rer'

C,)nt;'-',:'
a reflatlon of the economy.that is unplanned would lead, aLso for a
{a^ d

certainty, to inflation)) thi" ,"sources required to re-construct manufacturing

bt|, -.t? .

industry ca]I for enormous State guidance ana inhlrri,ation. If the labour
Par-Ly really wishes to reduce wremployment in a secu-re vay by more than

short-ten1 gchemes of public lnvestment, its difficulty will not be one

of increasing cen'bra1 control- but of conta-lning that control and. marrying

it to ideas of industrial democracy. fhat in turn r+iII bring any Labour

Government into sharp conflict with the.powex of capital, particularly

multi-national capital. The trouble with the right of the Party is that
it has basked. to long in the praise of the leader.Eiters of the tr'inancral
Times, Times and Guard.ian, that it is no longer accustomed to givlng them
offence. It will find the e:loerience painf\1 but i'b ls vital.
 1a
-t)-

Secondly,therightmustaciorowledgetoitsel-fthattheParty
haschangedirreversibly.Theinfluenceofthenewwhj.te-collarpartici-
pantsintheLabourPartyisopentoroanycriticisms.Butitwonltgo
awayandthereisnod.oubtthatitdoesrepresen-bagenuine,ifl.imited.
raise axe different from tle straighb-
social movement' The issues they
forwardeconomismoftrad.itionalPartythought.Thoughontheleft,
nationalisationienotagreatpriority,theissuesa.resocj-alissues:
relations' feminism' Ironicallyt
nuclear disarmarnent, ecolory' race
indeed,theytend.tobeiseuescuttingacrosaPartyboundaries.The
ttnew,,left,soreadilyaccusedofbeingsectariarr,oftenembracepolicies
that have non-sectarian appeal'
on labor:rts traditional right to dismise these
There is a tendency

issuesastrendy,aspartofthestudentintellectualismoftheyoungleft.
ving,andasirrelevanttowhatarethebread.andbutteri.ssuesofjobs'
housing,healthandeducation.Thatisaner:roxofenormousproportions.
Theeupportofradicalcampa.ignssuchasCN!and'envirorunentalprotection
(- rtl 'r

look at tire riee of lhe CPdeer Parties in

canbe see across Europe -
}/estGermany.And-itshould"neverbeforgottenthatitisworkingclass
peoplethatdiettrroughharrd'lingasbestos.flhesemovementsaround.pax.b-
icu].arissuesarerea}arrdarefindingpotentand.immed"iateexpression
j.s point j-n pretending they d'onrt exlst or in
vithin the party. There no

attemptingtonrobillisetheUnionvotetoneutralisetheireffect.Instead'
therightshou].dbebryingtoundersta:rd.theseissuesandrecognisethat
theynownakeuparressentialpartof'tsoeiallsm||andthetllaboUl,'move-
ment.Itshould'betrying'too'toparticipateactivelyintheca:npaigns'
toassisttheirdevelopmentbylenc-ingthemthatpragmatism,thathard.
headednessofpr:rposethatisthequalityoftheright,whichtheleft
consisten-blY underestimates'
l

I
I
it
i

l
 -1 L-

Ilowever,thechallengefacedbytheleft'*it}rinthelaborrrParty
ieiustagj.mmense.ThelgE2Conferenceronthefaceofitatleast'
representsarealslapintheeye'ItisquiteapparentthattheUnions
19Bl and' 1982
of the N!$ to the right in
The reversion
mean businesg'

isaphenomenonr:rr]<rrovrnformanyyearB.EventheUnionsthoughttobeon
theleftarefedupwiththefightinginthePartyand',private}yatany
Benn'
they blame the left' especially Tony
rate, left: retreatt revenge or'
open to the
There are three coLLrses
is retrea't' but it is
not
least 1ikely course
reconciliation' The demoralised" by d'efeat,
loses
before. The 1eft,
inpossible. It has happened. its historic ro}e - the conscience
and goes back to
heart, s}rrugs its should.ers
ofthe?arty,butneveritshald.ltvil}thenfissionintocountlese
particlesretainin8]on}ythecommonfactoflragfgvance.Itwil].bea
or goals'
but without common leadership
broad band of disserters'
Suchacoulsgwouldbedisastexous.Eonestpeopleontherightand qulte
generated an eno,-nou. arnor:nt of
left has
centre will adrnit that the
necessalxrre.thinkinginthePartY,Wewereindanselofdriftinginto
beingt'thenatrrralpartyofgovernmenttlbutofasocietythatwasunradical-
too tactical}y astute
lsed'andunchangred.lJehadbeconemanaSprsofaconservativecountry. and
probably too 1ar8e,
tod.ay is
i Fortunatefyl the left ftrthermore the left
may
to be taken'
for such a couJge
i

'tc'o
deterruined
povier base within
the city
iq-tact its
li
but it keeps
ti
have lost the battle
t:
the Constituency ?arties' A nuch *"""
I ua]1: ::n"s:.::
wrth :::-":"::",';e
contempt anv ror:n
caets aeide
I

;::',,:"r*"i* *n" drawbridge and

i
of accommrr",.
the rabour party wtlr- break out ln
a:"s Bor civir- lrar in

d.eadlyearnest.Thatmuchundereetj$ated'nr:nbersofconstituencyactlvists
rll

whoreallydon|twanttogeternbroiledinpartyfightingata].1,w111be
I
lir
increasinglydrirrenoffneutralgror:ndandforced'totakerr,ositions'|.
ll
ii
 1(

,X----**..:..
Above all, the unions, reluctant though they are to have a fightr will-
not d.uck it if it is pushed. on them. The 1!82 conference was the d, $dq"Ll

foreseeable consequence of 1!B1o'

The last cotrrse open to the left is reconciliation. That wi]l
requlre painstaklng self-criticism and. a willingness to l-earn. ff the Ieft
sinply dismisses what the Un'i ons are saying to the constituency parties
as no more than the miurifestation of the power of the Union leaders, it
'
will coruoit a political act of huge folIy. The left should. learrr four
things
First, the Party alpeal must encompass nore than the trad"itional
working'cIass elenents of the electorate. To put it crud.el-y, an appeal
that reaches only the }{.U.M. and the Guard,iarr l-etter-r+riters is not going
to win labour a General Election. This is straightforward., obvious,
phychological sense. But it is remarkable hory often it is ignored.. The

left is fond of pointing to the radicaiism of early socialists as just-

ification for their or+n views. If that means the left should d""url on the
spirit of Party founders, that is positive; if it meang a blind obe&ience
to trad-itlonal- d.octrine, that is misguided atavisn.
The left may well be righ'L as a matter of history" rrThe labour
Party in Government'r j-s a collection of essays, published" in L91j, by
cripps, co1e, Atlee and. others. rt should be compulsory reading for
ring:r+ilgers who talk paranoically about the rtnewrr Ieft. The essays
represent politics rvay to the left of Berue and not far fron -bhe

revolutionary 1eft.
But since 191), there has been an enormous sociological sh:i-ft
in bhe class composition of Brlta:in. Almost 5A/o of Brltish people now

live in owner*occupied. houses. The average r.rage is almost fJ,l00 p.a.

over (.5o16 of people or"rn their ourn car. Al-most Joofi of people now work j-n

service lnd"ustries orbhe nublic sector. Crosland was right in 1955

 -:-6-

whenheid-entifiedrin[hetr\rtrr-eof99cia]-ism'majoralterationsin
living standards of sections
British society;rin particular, the rj-se in
white-co}lar class'
of the working*cIass and the emergence of a new
Whereher,raswron8r+asinassumingcontinr:-ingeconomicgowth
changes would continue
at the rate of the 1950tsr and therefore that these
andintensify.Instead,thelg?Otsplrrnged.BritainandtheWesternworld.
intoarecessionfromr,lhichtheyhavenotyetemer5ged.T}r-lsrecession'
rrnusual}y,hasbeenaccompanied.byinflation.Thereis,thus,alarge,.
gfoup 9f rrnemp}oyed'; and. an even largpr Sroup
of lor+ Pdd, about 7 miIlion.

lntotalperhapslo-llmillionoftheworkforcefitintothesetwo
workforce' They a:ce
categories. That is 40-45% of the entj-re countryts
thereasontheSocialDemocratshavenltahopeofwirrr,ingageneral
election;theyareforcedbysheerself-jxterest,evenifnothingelse,
in particular areas -
to vote Labour. Moreover, they are concentrated'
theinnercities,theNorth,scotland,Walesetc.Electorally,theseale
Labor:,r areas. Certainly under the
present electoral system' they r'riII

provide Labor.rr with a solid 200 seat base'

ButllhereaetheSociaJ.}emocratsrefusetofaceuptothe
group of workers, the left is at
irrelevance of their politics to th:is
rj.skofconfusingthemwiththemassoftheBritlshpeopleorthelabour
urremployed or lowly
electorate. There may be 40-45% of the workforce
pai-d.rbui;thatleaves5}'51trtrvhoarenot;whoevenwiththecutsinllving
standaxdofthepastfewyea.rs,stillmaintajnalife-sfyleincomparably
betberthantheirartcegtors.}israelisavBritainastvonations:the
richanr].thepoor.fhemoderntruthismorecomplex:Britainisbecoming
high-paid jobs or in
tr"ro societies: those in work in tradttionally

industrieswherethereareunlonswithrniscle;anc.thoseoutofworkor
injobswhereunionsarenon-existentorpowerless.Anelectoralappeal
exclusive}ytoonesectionwill&isinterestoraliena,betheother.
 -u-

Themogtvivid.demonetrationofthisistheoftencluobecl
reg:ionald'ivicle:northandsouth.[hedisparitiesinwealtharernatched
bythedieparitieejxvoting.fheSouth-Eastregion(i.e.leavingaside
London)oftheLaborrrPartynollhasonlyoneM.P.-JoanJ,estorinS).ough.
On the bor:ndary clanees
In the south as a whole there are only 11 M'P.'s' .,oyil=i"
i+-*.' .. l4

Laborrrl s base wi].} nalrow stil1 further.

Yet there is sti].I u.

terrdency to dismiss the south; to treat

the |'real', Labol:r Party as i;hab
(i*d'eec
,r ,lrrirrliindustrla1 tovrn in the North' Fbequently'
Crosland as out of cla'Le'
in the right as well as the l-eft), people describe
of capitalism etc' Tha't
fa-iling to take account of the stmctural- d'ecline
isasfoolishaviewastheviewthatc}assc.istinct:.onsaTeathrngof
the paet. fhe reality is complex and relative'
not absolute'
T.he second lesson for the left lead's
on from the firstl 0r perhaps

should. precede it. The left is keen on d.emocracy, ancl rightly so' 3ut
democracyshould.notbegeenaBsoroethingabstract,somethingtheParf,y
The Party must have a d-emocratic relationship
with
hae wlthin itself.

theelectorate.Thekeyword.isrelationship.ItwouJ-dbeabsurd'if
thePartydescendedintoobliquepopulism,merelyparrotingtheviewsof
nthe electoratert, however those views could be guaged' Equally absurd'
i
I

.\ be gained' froro captr':ri'ng

though, is the view that there is anyiing to
i

the voters behirrcl'

control of the Labour party maehine ,.rhilst leaving
j:nconsistent on dernocracy. It will arlvoca-be
I The left,s posi.bj-on is often

Farby democracyr Yet refuse one member one vote

in the Constituency
t

Sectionofthee}ectoralcollege.Itwilltalkofde-centralisationyet
from most of the opinions
find. itself at a bizarre and rernote distance
of those to whom rrpower'r io supposed to be given'
Partoftheproblemstemsfromthefal}r.:reofPartyactivlsts
tomixsufficientlywiththeelectorate.Itisasocia]-d.ifficuIty.
meetings a week. The t:roub}e
Party members will atbend. five or six or more
those w-ith
j,s that they can end up r+ith ltt"Ele or no time for rneeting
i1 r+hom

i1
 -18-

theydisagTee.Ad.ial.oguewiththeelectorateioimposstbleifyouonly
r1 evermeetthemonacanvass.Alocalpartyshou].d.growoutofalocal
comrrrririty.thePartymembershavingrootsinthatcommirnity.[Ihatis
notonlyfor.reasonsofpoliticalefficiency;itisbecausetheParty
I/ of the electorate'
will then be more sensitive to the needs arrd' wishes
Iwillgivetwod.e}iberate]-ycontroversia].examplesofthed.ifficulties
Labouriserperiencinginitsrelationshipwiththeelectors.Labour
would. ilisa1l0w the sale of council houses.
[hat is for perfectly sound

reasons of political pri:nciple. Yet there

is something ni1d1y &istaste-
virtues of public
ful about owner-occulier party roenbers preaching the
housingtoCounci]tenants.Second}y,I,ondonLabourBriefing(aleft-
organisation which pub)-ishes a roonthly paper)
ls perhap.s
wing Labo,r Party
themostpowerfulgroupingintheLondonLaborrrParW,withahegemonyas
comple.teasthatwhichused.tobeenjoyed'byl,aborrrlsright-wlng.But
Iventrrretosuggestthatmostl,abourvotersinl,ond.onwould'regard
Sriefing,iftheyweretoreadit,asincomprehensibleatbestand.at
with the quality of
worst aB sca4r. The left have got to come to terms
to represent' Moreover'
relationship they have with the people they wish
Blaming the
tt is no uae blarning the press for this poor relationslr-ip.
event, Fress ?aranoia can become'
Press wonrt al-ter its influence and in any
(as it has for Tony Benn) an irumrnity from self-criticism'
[lr.is}eadsontothet}:-ird.}egson.Itisirnpossibletodefine,
rI
intermsofastrates.,whattheleftnustd'otocorrecttheinpression
\\ to their feolings'
of the voterg that it is indifferent, if not hostile'
and- followed' to the
There is no detailed blueprint that can be exa'nined
the exercise of
letter. There is no logical masterplan' It requires
To many on the
political judgment and an anount of political maturity'
They suggest pra,patismi which spelle se}1.-
1eft, those are dirty phrrases.
out.Sotheymustbereoisbed,nomatterwhatthecost.Sometimesnot
evenifthecostisfa.i].rrreinagenerale].ection.
 I \]-
-

Politicaljudgrnent,however,doesnotmeancowax&Lce.Ttmearts
knowing when to fight and when to accept d-efeat.
It aclccow)-edges that

not every ie a se11-out. Above aII, it means a]1 appreciation

compromise
proposal
that there must be some system of priorities. For exarrtrlle, the
that Labour nationalises siate assets soLd off by the 'Iories without
compensation,hasagutappea}tomanyactivists.But,qu-iteapart
fronqueeti.onsofparliamentarydemocracy,suehapolicywouldcausenrich
rnore trouble for Labour - in terms of Labour being
portrayed' as aJI-

extremist authoritarial parrty both at home and abroad - than it coul-d

possiblybeworth.Ultirrate].Y,itwo.:]-cbeademonstrationofpo.]itical
of practical reali'y'
r,r ilii"v , not a rational- policy taking account
power):
As Lenin wrote (significantly after the Solsheviks had taken
'ttorejectcompromisestonprinciple|,torejectthepossibilityof
compromisesingeneral,nomatterofvlhatkind.,ischildjshness,which
Co**Su!tt'
it is difficult ever to conslder seriously.r' 1f'"ft-Wi"g
An Irytrntile Iisgrder) '
Lastly, the left must look for its political philosophy to

somethingmoreseneitive'morevisionary,inawordmoremod-ern,than
in the crude vanguardist form preached' by I'Iilitant
or
Marxism, whether
initsbroaderlibertarianformpractised'bygroupslikel,abor:rBriefing,
Chaf,ttet,Clause4a:rdsoon.Thereisastrangeironyin}eft-wing
socialistthought.Thegroupofinte}]-ectualswholeftrrniversityin
thelatesixtiesorea.r.Iyseventiesderivesitsfundamentalpolitical
philosophyalmos.texclusive}yfromMarx.Marxismisthefoundation,what-
everyva8uephilosophicaladclitionshavebeensuperimposedontopofit.
Notjuetthearralysis,butthestyleofBoetoftheperloclicalsan(l
journalslnfluen.italontheyoungLabourleftiethatofMarx,Lenin
a-:rd Trotsiry; Eava8€ in the
denunciation of o'oponents' eepeci-al-Iy withln
assessing and re-assessj-ng tacties; stud-ied'
in the
ttre Par.tyl constaritly
avoidanceofanyanalysiswhichhasgainedfa,rorrrinthemassmerlialand
 -20-

Ino8t particu}ar]y, with a political language that reqr:-ires the reacers

to be cotrnescenti.

The irony lies in the homage paid' to Marx at a time vhen most

casual political obeervers and certainly most voters

hold him arrd' the

reglmesfoundedonhispoliticalp}r.ilosolhyinfearand'c.istrust.The
urajor political charrge since the llJors, for EuropeaIls,
rs the existence

of the bloc of Durone. It is irnpossible to underestj-rnate the

llas.bern
post-\'IaI g€neration'
infl-uence which this has hacl on the thinl<ing of the
It has destroyed faith in irlarxism as a liberating force and is
a lemorse-
rt is quite
less deterrent to erperimenting with such a phj-losophy here.
vain for Marxists to effect erplanations for repression
in l'larxist

statesrnomatterhowplausibletheyare'Peoplewillnotriskit"
Doublyda.magingtothecauseofMarristsocialismisthefactthatit
if anything,
isnrt even efficient - working people in Eastern Europe are,
worse off. No doubt Marrism will alwaJs have an influence
within labour

Party thinking. But countenancing its d.onination is political-

suicid'e'

The early socialists had. plenty of visj-on; their socialism was youn8'
and furrd.anentalist. But it vuas untrammelled' by experience' l/nat rnight
\\ inspire hope then, vould inspire fear today'
The reasons the
I return to the paradoxes vith which I began'
Toriesarepopulaxa.retwofold.Iirst,theyhaveaplainpolitical
essence in
philosophy: individualism' It has a simple gut appeal' Its
a troubled world j-s srrrvival - Iook after yourself , root out "inefficiencyrr,
mi-sfits or
those that ca:r,rt cope, those that donrt fit. Retaining the
.ti},-o Tlri?\ fo:y.
carlrot
unfits ls a ltberal luxury]\which in this time of aueterity we
afford.. A country in d.eep receesion becomes scaxed and fear
makes the

peopleselfish.It|snorealsurprise,therefore,thatareglmeofeach
for hinself is popular or that al-'bernatives)qsed on ideas of
tl:e common utonl

and social justice find. it hard- to be accepted.

[hat is especially so

when the conventional wisd.om in the pubs and parlou-rs of the nation for
 -21-

so long has been that we a^re unDrod"uc'bive

and lazy as a r+orkforce arrd
that the current econornic
&ifficulties are in a real sense
our own fault.
rf Mrs' Thatcher has furthered any
colrective feering, it is a cor-r-ective
sense of masochism.

But it is not just the simplicity

of the Tories, message. rt
is al-so ilt" t'onir=iorr' of that simpLe
message wrth the fract*red
natu'e of
the onpositi.on. The combined
anti-Tory vote is still much higher. .bhar:
the Tory vote. Ilowever, the opposition
is fracturec not merely into
different parties but within the
parties.
The rabo,r party sits ,neasi!-y,
squashed. between trad.itional
II clause 4 part { socialism an.
an acceptance of the mixed. economyo rts
rhetoric may be more consistent r.rith
the for^mer but its polici.es are
consistent with the latter and. d,o not appear likely to ,nder*p very
aevere change in the near future. rndeed. the more lrconeen'uar,r
its economlc
pollcies' the more Labor:r speakers find it necessary to exti{pate consen'l-rs
from thej'r language in order
to appease thoso who regard ,consensu.,r
as
betrayal' The resuLt ls 'bhat people
flnd rabo,rrs philosophy incomprehen-
sj-ble and confusing' The policies
seem favor,-re. by popular
(orteil*.eai-a)
opinion but they are sold in
the language of the party faithful.
r.b
shoul-d be the other way
round: policies should be fo::rned.
by the party
faithf\rl (or at least by them in
conjunction with the broad. rabotir
movement)
but sold 1n a populax way to the
people at large. ff you asked
a menber
of the present rory party to define
Tory phil0sop\y, the task
would not
be d'ifficurt. A mernber of
the present rabour party wour"d
find it
extrernely dlfficult to define
labourrs philosophy.. Ee/she
mlght flnd tt
sasy enough to place their
own posi-tion or conception
of the trabour party
but not .bhat of the party as
a whole.
 -22-

Moreover' no credible oppositi-on

at all is presented. by the
s'D'P' or liberals' They show a humane, b1and.
u:robje cionabre face that
says very IittIe that is nottrmoderatet'; ard
nothrng.that is efficaci.ous.
They laek any clistinctive
image save for one of niceness.
Eavlng cut
themserves off from the
trade ,nions by their {isastrous embracing of
trre t'eurit 8i11, which c*rbed- trade union
rights, they have lsor-ated
rt themser'ves fron organised-
rabo*r, a fataf mi.stake for any
radical pa.ty.
yet their, sti,l high,
level 0f support is not surprlsing.
To the l0wer middle to mid.d-Ie
income people of the lost-wax
generat-ion, they
offer at least sone comDromise
between the overt carlousness
of ,Irs. Tha.bcher
and the o1d_fashlonec1 eollectivism
of labour. fhe greatest poli.bieal
error
labour cou-Ld make is, in defeating
the S.D.p. at the next election,
to
misinterpret the reason' for the
support the s.D.p. has and. has
had.. The
S.X.P. does express a real soci_ological
challenge to trabour. If Labour
ignores that challenger it will
find" the opposition vote split
between it
tf and the s'D'P'/liberals and'
the prospects of u"resting power
from the Tories,
reroote. rabour r+i.1 be the major
opnosition party beeause the grouping
giving rise to the s'D'P' ie
too sna11 to break the traditiona]
r,abour or
Tory constituency, certainly
under the preent electoral system.
But
r'abour needs those mid'dle grou:rd
voters to be suxe of d.efeating
the [ories.
rf this is so nor+, then it wir.r-
be so to an eyer greater degree when the
boirndary changes takeeffect ln t9Sj.
The crueial polnt that r
would make is that rabour can
aehieve
ll this support without altering its
pollcies at a1r. rts policies,
i.nd.eed
already recognise, if eoraetimes
unconsciously, the changes that
have taten
place in or* social and. economic
attitudee. r.:r fact in so far as policy
issues - r::riLateral- dj-sarmament,
withdrawal from the E.E.C. arrd.
incomes
policy - divide party members,
they are really much less fundamental
concept of socialism than
to a
is often supposed.. But the Labour party
must
 4a n

cease being a victim of its ovn past. It must recognise that its goals

of social equality and jusbice carurot be realised" in the abstract' but rnust bc

realised in a relative and often shifting world'

There exists within the present Labour Party the necessary stranrls

of radical thought: trad-itional |racle union militancy; a new anC v|tal-

II
cornrrrj-tment 'Lo democlacy and accountabilitylwi-bhin the 'lnstj-tutions th;it
govern us; ar} aDpreciation of the e.vergrowing danger losed by the nuclea:r

axms race; a recognition of the multi-cultural society in which we now

live; and a trad.itional belief in r:ocial equality and- justice through
public ovrnershlp and the welfare state. Theee strands exist but are often
disparate in their recognition in the Party. Members agTee with ih'--m, if
asked, but donrt see them as paxt of a whole. The task nov must be

-bo weave them into a coherent philosophy for the f\ture, rrnd-erstood- by

the Party and cour,ror:nicated- to the people'