Tribune leader, 3 July 1992
If there was any consensus at last weekend's conference of
Labour's democratic left, organised by Tribune and the Labour Co-ordinating
Committee, it was that Labour desperately needs a period of free debate about
its direction and organisation.
After its fourth consecutive election defeat, the Labour
Party cannot respond simply by giving support to its new leadership, changing
a handful of policies and waiting in hope for the Tories to hoist themselves
with their own petard. The last thing that anyone needs is an immediate return
to the atmosphere which existed in the party from 1989-92, when open
discussion was sacrificed in the interests of party unity in the run-up to the
election.
But, contrary to the fears of certain of John Smith's
supporters, there is no general enthusiasm on the democratic left for a return
to the bad old oppositionist days of the early eighties. Nor is there any
basis for any such thing.
The democratic left is united by its radical environmental
ism and, most importantly, by a strong sense that the empowerment of ordinary
people in their everyday lives should be at the centre of Labour's politics. In
line with this, there is agreement that both the European Community and the British
state need to be radically democratised.
But there were few signs last weekend of consensus about
precisely how this democratic agenda should be translated into political
practice.
The voices arguing for a massive increase in the powers of
the European Parliament and for the introduction of the additional member
system for Westminster are more numerous and more insistent than they were
five years ago, but they are by no means uncontested.
The differences within the democratic left are even more marked
on economic policy and on the best ways of countering the Tories’ plans for
the welfare state and local government. On the most immediate issues facing
Labour – how it should respond to the Maastricht treaty and how, if at all, it
should change its relationship with the trade unions – there is no consensus at
all.
This does not mean, however, that the democratic left is in
a bad way: quite the reverse. Despite the universal disappointment over the
April 9 defeat, last weekend's gathering was enthusiastic and upbeat, brimming
with ideas, and the arguments were conducted in a constructive and friendly
spirit.
If we can maintain the momentum, particularly in the pages
of Tribune and through the network of local Tribune Groups that the
parliamentary Tribune Group is planning to encourage, there is a real
possibility, with Labour's hard left a spent force and Leninism utterly
discredited, that the democratic left can once again act as the main creative
element of British radical politics.
