words about politics
Labour must rediscover the modern to win power
In this leadership election, much has been made about a period of self-reflection, and yet it appears that most of the debate has been stuck in the prism of 2019; Brexit, Corbyn and the manifesto taking centre stage. To forge ahead, Labour must look to its past if it wants to create the future.
In 2024 the Labour Party will have been out of power for 14 years. The three totemic victories of 1945, 1964 and 1997 bare a distinct similarity with 14, 13 and 18 years out of power respectively. It is for this reason, that we must look to those victories and the vision of modernity uniting them, which spurred Labour back to power, when trying to find the path to victory in 2024.
The modernity that shaped those Labour visions, of the welfare state, white heat and cool Britannia, can shape Labour again. An inspiring and hopeful vision of Britain’s future must be put forward, one that should be centred around the Green New Deal and 4-day week. Labour can capture the passion for green issues and use the GND to centre the next manifesto, while steering away from the controversial aspects of XR. Over 35% of the UK public think the government should do more to tackle climate change – Labour must run with this opportunity and allow their policies to flow from there.
Much of the groundwork has already been done; energy, wildlife and transport policies from the 2019 manifesto are ready to go. However, these were swamped by the flurry of manifesto promises that seemed to keep appearing throughout the campaign. The next manifesto does not have to abandon its ambition and scope, but it must have a tight, coherent message to transfer to the electorate. When knocking on doors, activists must be able to explain in a sentence or two, what a Labour future would be.
Labour cannot be seen to be a reverting or a tweaking party, it should be one with an ambitious, yet coherent, forward looking vision. Too many policies have been discussed in purely economic terms. When Thatcher made the argument for privatisation of the economic necessity, that ‘there is no alternative’, Labour have been trapped in eternally talking about policies in a financially transactional manner. Centring the GND as the thematic vision provided by Labour, allows the ability to assert and argue for policies beyond economic viability, but on their ultimate necessity – act now, to protect and create the future, free from environmental catastrophe.
The Green New Deal would stretch far beyond being a purely environmental policy issue, it would be a platform from which to push wider manifesto policies. All candidates in the 2020 Labour Leadership Election have committed to the pushing of green policies, however Rebecca Long Bailey seems the only one to be embracing the GND as more than just environmental policies, this is the correct direction. It can breathe new life into areas and communities that have suffered from deindustrialisation. It can provide a brilliant opportunity to reconfigure the public transport networks of Britain, not just for trains, but buses, trams, metro and light rail would all be revitalised. The need for such large-scale solutions to our environmental problems, would also in many cases necessitate bringing several industries into public ownership. Finally pushing back on the post 1979 economic consensus, making vital public industries orientated towards the people rather than profit.
The GND is a great foundational point, and one that won’t upset the apple cart, so Labour must not stop with their modern vision there. In 5 years’, time, as more events like the 2019/20 Australian bush fires occur, the Tories will likely push a few tepid environmental policies, so Labour need something more to stand out. Labour must champion the 4-day week again. They must first hold their hands up and accept the poor timing of it in 2019 – agreeing such a radical transformation to British working life at Conference, and an election occurring 3 months later never gave time to fully develop the reasoning or implementation of the policy. But that doesn’t mean it was a bad policy, more of an emblem of the strategic failure of the 2019 campaign.
Finland seem to be initiating the 4-day week proposal, and much of what could end up in Labour’s 2024 manifesto will be based on successes and failures there, but as a party we should steer into the issue, not away from it.
I have grown up in the age of technology, and it continues to change at an ever-rapid rate. Memory sticks get smaller while holding more capacity, top of the range micro processors are installed in ultra-thin laptops, 50 inch TVs are as light as a feather and Tesla cars can drive themselves. In 1996 a computer beat a world champion chess player for the first time, and in 2015 a computer won a game of Go, considered much harder than chess which has an estimated number of board positions that amounts to more than the number of atoms in the universe. The point here being that we are vastly improving our technological capabilities and capacities, it seems almost inevitable that many jobs will sooner or later become obsolete. Take an admin assistant for example, surely many of their functions will be superseded by a computer program that is cheaper than employing a person to perform the function. As a party, Labour must face head on the changes that are coming and be ready to provide a path through.
The Green New Deal and the 4-day week can provide the modern vision that the Labour party needs to encapsulate if it is to win back power in 2024. We must offer hope of a new tomorrow, not proclaim that the sky would fall under the Tories; they don’t believe us, and they don’t vote for negativity – be the change.
Among the wreckage of the 2019 General Election are the pieces that can form a coherent vision for a socialist future in Britain. The next leader of the Labour Party must seize that opportunity, while taking inspiration from our victories in the past to win, not just in 2024, but beyond.
Richard Baker 