“At a time when the political ‘centre’ is groping, unsuccessfully, for new proposals – or, in the case of the Conservative Party, simply reheating the austerity of the 2010s – to seize the initiative the left must develop its own reservoir of ideas.”
By Sam Browse, Arise Festival
Last Saturday saw hundreds gather at a conference at SOAS, University of London, for a wide-ranging discussion intended to sketch a left political platform to address the interlocking “poly-crisis” facing the UK and societies across the globe.
The event, entitled ‘A society in crisis: building a progressive policy platform’ was hosted by John McDonnnell’s Claim the Future campaign, SOAS, and ICOP (Influencing the Corridors of Power), and brought together academics, journalists, and activists to debate and discuss the nature of the systemic economic, environmental, and social challenges posed by the crises.
McDonnell said “on almost every front, challenges are being made to the way in which our economy and community operate. It is increasingly clear that the scale of the problems our society faces means we cannot go on as before. More people have come to agree that radical change is needed. Today we will discuss what elements could be contained in a progressive programme for change, what a progressive programme for change would look like and how it could be moved forward.”
Speaking on behalf of the host, SOAS, Professor Costas Lapavitsas told the lecture theatre that the major issue facing the UK is the cost-of-living crisis: “inflation is not just a technical issue, it is fundamentally a question of poverty.”
“But can I stress, it isn’t just a matter of redistribution. That comes first. But it isn’t just a matter of rebalancing profits to wages. The problem is deeper. It has to do with the fact that Western core capitalism and across the world has performed terribly since 2007/2009 in terms of growth and sustaining incomes.”
“The left must learn to give concrete answers. It’s up to us to find the new language that we need and a message that will connect with the needs of working people.”
The starting point for the day’s discussion – initiated by Dr Mary Robertson, Senior Lecturer in economics and the former Head of Economic Policy for the Labour Party – was the message of the 2017 and 2019 Labour Party manifestos.
Robertson argued that “the programme the manifestos set out is and should continue to be the basis for a left policy agenda. I realise I sound a bit like Liz Truss when I say that, but obviously the crucial difference between us and Truss is that our policies haven’t been tested – we’re still fighting for a chance to implement them.”
She said that “the starting point wasn’t focus groups or prevailing notions of political acceptability; it was wanting to resolve the multifaceted crises that our society faces’ and stressed that the manifestos were not about bringing back the post-war Keynesian consensus, but ‘going forward to socialism.”
“They sought to roll back the profit motive in the production and allocation of resources and reduce the scope of markets in shaping our lives. I’m not arguing that our policies amounted to socialism, but they were a step in that direction – prefiguring a new society in which fundamental questions about the allocation of resources and how they’re deployed are decided through collective democratic processes.”
Having established the overall framework of the day, discussion began on a range of issues – from inequality, the economy, discrimination, the climate crisis, public services, and democracy, with speakers such as Professor Danny Dorling, Dr Maya Goodfellow, Ann Pettifor, and Jolyon Maugham KC.
The day’s debate struck a different tone to many left meetings which have – rightly – often focused on building the resistance to the Tory offensive on living standards. However, at a time when the political ‘centre’ is groping, unsuccessfully, for new proposals – or, in the case of the Conservative Party, simply reheating the austerity of the 2010s – to seize the initiative the left must also develop its own reservoir of ideas.
This should not be seen as an abstract exercise, divorced from movement building in the streets and workplaces, but is strategically important for cohering the disparate layer of people newly radicalised by the resistance to the Tories. As Robertson reminded the audience, the ideas in the manifesto were taken from the movement. The Labour Party became their political expression in the corridors of power.
If the left is ever to wield similar power again, it must not lose its capacity to think – in the sense that, in thinking through and offering real solutions to the crises, we speak to the growing layer of people radicalised by it; and in the crude sense that power without a programme is pointless. Events like this conference are crucial for maintaining and developing that capacity.
- Sam Browse is an organiser for Arise Festival and a regular contributor to Labour Outlook. You can follow him on twitter here.
- You can follow Claim the Future on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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