Breaking out of the past

It might be wrong to say so, but I am quite a fan of Chris Trotter most of the time.  He's an interesting voice from a different part of politics.

It isn't my politics.  One of the biggest shames of what one might call a nostalgic social democrat is the refusal to accept the idea that socially imposed inequality is bad whatever it is picking on.  The fight for decent work and a fair distribution of wealth and income is the same fight as that for an end to sexism, or racism, or homophobia.

The job of the centre left is to join those fights together on that foundational principle of equality for all.  It is not to pander to worn divides between groups who need to work together.

Easier said than done, of course, but there is no point in pretending that we will end up in a fair country without changing people's minds on some big calls.  My point is: we are stronger as a united left when we are helping each other with our battles against various forms of inequality, rather than sniping against each other.

So while I do enjoy much of what Chris writes, I do sometimes find myself shaking my head. Not necessarily because I have a problem with what he's written, and certainly not because it is nice to read and gets the blood flowing, but because I wish he would join that bigger fight instead of turning his face to the past.

It wasn't an accident that Labour won three elections by being in touch with New Zealand as it is and as it will remain: a massively diverse country that can be united around social democratic principles of equality for all. 

Labour would never have won in 1999, nor won two further terms, if it had tried to practice a politics built around an imagined backward looking culture war.

I've said before how I think we can make sure we are in touch with the country as it is: turning the party outside in and inside out, and really connecting with the communities we claim to represent. Community politics, not focus group politics. That is exactly what we are doing now with the Stop Asset Sales campaign (got a spare $10? buy a sign on the site), and you can expect to see more of it as the year goes on.

The Nats only won an election once they gave up their attempts at importing American thinking about culture war. It's ridiculous to think that heading back to a past, which no longer really exists and actually never really did, is the way for Labour to win once more.

This train of thinking came from a loosely related piece, this one, in the New Statesman. It's worth a read.

Memo to Blue Labourites: tone down the nostalgia

There was no golden age and the party must not idealise the working class.

Cast your mind back to the Labour Party conference in Manchester last year. For the gaggle of assembled political journalists, pundits and television cameras, various moments in the new leader's speech on 28 September stood out: the story of his Jewish parents fleeing the Holocaust and arriving on our shores as refugees; the call to a "new generation" of Labour "optimists"; his promise not to oppose the government just for the sake of it; and his defence of civil liberties and denunciation of the invasion of Iraq - prompting his brother, David, to voice his displeasure from the audience.

My ears, however, pricked up when the younger Miliband reached the section on "the good life". "We must be on the side of communities who want to save their local post office, not be the people trying to close it," he declared. "We must be on the side of people trying to protect their high street from looking like every other high street, not the people who say that's just the forces of progress."

There is no future for Labour in nostalgically dwelling on the politics of the past. Our party has always been at its best when it is facing the future, and building a politics that solves the problems people face today and tomorrow.

Comments

[TidgeH]

Hear bloody hear. And articulated much more diplomatically than I'd have managed :)

[Dylan]

I found this very vague and annoying to read but I'll start with this...

You criticize Chris for looking to the past
'I wish he would join that bigger fight instead of turning his face to the past.'
Only to then look to the past yourself
'Labour would never have won in 1999, nor won two further terms, if it had tried to practice a politics built around an imagined backward looking culture war.'
And the article you brought up to criticize nostalgia looks back 1 year when your asking us to look back like 10 years in this paragraph.

[Dylan]

And this point

'Our party has always been at its best when it is facing the future, and building a politics that solves the problems people face today and tomorrow.'

One problem people face today and tomorrow is finding employment. Does the fact that this problem is being faced today and tomorrow mean it was not faced in the past? No, it has been around for a very long time. So would it not be smart to look to the past to see how that problem might have been solved before? Is that not how anyone learns lessons ever.

How about the fact that our GDP per capita compared to the Australian and OECD average has been decreasing ever since 1984? Do you think it's not then worth taking a look at the year 1984? Especially since economic performance is good for this social equality your talking about, it means more businesses and more business confidence and therefore more employment, higher wages and standards of living, more tax revenue to pay for benefits, it means everyone being better off.

[Dylan]

And this 'One of the biggest shames of what one might call a nostalgic social democrat...'

I would say one of the biggest shames of a modern social democrat is going on endlessly about values and not about the methods to achieve those values and explaining those methods sufficiently. You say we can achieve social equality by looking at the problems of today and tomorrow but you don't even say what the problems of today and tomorrow are or how to fix them... you say 'connecting with the communities we claim to represent', Labour's been doing that for a long time and you claim we can't look to the past... and you don't say how we can connect with those communities... there is nothing constructive in this blog.

Tell us, Mr Future man, what are the solutions for the problems of today and tomorrow. We are already looking at the problems for today and tomorrow, they are the things like high prices of necessities and low levels of employment, the things that are hurting our standards of living and widening the gap between the rich and the poor. That is what needs to be solved to achieve this equality that your talking about and if all you have to offer is that it's got something to do with looking forwards then at least explain that relevance properly...

[millsy]

Well Jordan, Labour could start by promoting more involvement in the economy by co-operative and community owned enterprises...

Provides that third way feel without being too private/corporate or too statist.

If its good enough for fonterra, its good enough for everyone else...

[Jordan Carter]

Dylan - there are a whole lot of posts about the issues you raise on this blog already. You're welcome to criticise me but you could at least see what I have already talked about before assuming I haven't dealt with the subjects you raised.

Millsy - it's an interesting idea. I've got no problems with it. Question is, what should the Government do about it?