Compass - taking Labour in the right direction or a sure fire way to the wilderness years?

Mike Ion Thu Jun 29, 2006 at 04:16:47 AM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

Is Compass pointing us in the direction of travel or is it leading us down a dead end?



No doubt many of you will have read Neil Lawson's latest 'letter to Tony' on the Compass website. What do you think? I am a member of Compass, been to a few of their events and backed a couple of their campaigns (most notably their opposition to the Education White Paper).

But recently I have been having my doubts about just what Compass is attempting to achieve.

In his latest letter to the Prime Minister, Neil Lawson writes:

"Your New Labour was a closed conspiracy of a few very clever individuals who in the glum shadow cast by Thatcherism seized a traumatised and disorientated party without breaking with the central tenants of that neo-liberal hegemony."

Is this true? Am I part of a neo-liberal hegemony? Is Compass suggesting that New Labour has not achieved anything because it has not done everything?

Is Compass pointing us in the direction of travel or is it leading us down a dead end?


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Compass - taking Labour in the right direction or a sure fire way to the wilderness years? | 9 comments (9 topical)

Re: Compass - taking Labour in the right direction (#1)

by John Miles on Thu Jun 29, 2006 at 06:32:40 AM GMT

Of course Compass are mad!

Using phrases like "neo-liberal hegemony" and banging on about Thatcherism 16 years and two Prime Ministers after she resigned are the marks of people who clearly haven't moved on since, at best, the mid nineties or, at worst, the eighties.

It's negative leftism at its worst - better to be against neo-liberalism than for something. Better to be against Thatcher than for something. Better to be against New Labour than for something. Better to feel morally superior to people who realise that comprimises have to be made to get things done and believe that good intentions aren't enough to fix the world. Better to deride people for being 'authoritarian' and 'taking our liberties' than considering whether those people lie awake at night, wondering if they did enough to stop 7/7.


Compass - not going anywhere right now! (#2)

by dancrawford on Thu Jun 29, 2006 at 06:47:08 AM GMT

I'll give anyone who is willing to debate ideas a fair hearing, but Compass need to figure out what they are about and fast.

Everyone within the party agrees that a period of reflection and discussion is necessary to generate the ideas that will take us forward. But Lawson's very public letter to Blair reads like a justification of his own position rather than a constructive critique of the government's failures.

Lawson was happy to support Labour during the honeymoon period, but backed away when the going got tough. It is, therefore, interesting that Lawson decides to decry 'your [Blair's] New Labour' given that he presented no alternative between 1999-2004.

Compass could be good for Labour and the left, but only if they swiftly move on from conferences, rallying calls and e-mails to substantive policy ideas.


Re: Compass - not going anywhere right now! (#3)

by John Miles on Thu Jun 29, 2006 at 05:29:25 PM GMT

To be honest, I can see this site becoming much more of a resource for renewal than Compass.


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Re: Compass - not going anywhere right now! (#4)

by davidfloyd on Thu Jun 29, 2006 at 11:33:32 PM GMT

Neal Lawson's letter to Tony Blair is a direct response to Blair's article in The Guardian earlier this week.

I think it's a bit long but he raises some important points, particularly in terms of the issue of economic efficiency and social justice.

Of course we all want a strong economy and we all want social justice but Tony Blair seems to think there are no situations where we have to make a political decision about which one of these goals is more important. Neal rightly points that this is not true.

I don't accept that there's anything wrong with conferences, rallying calls or e-mails but it's slightly misleading to suggest that Compass aren't working on substantive policy ideas as well.

They're currently developing a manifesto which I imagine will contain quite a few.


[ Parent ]

Re: Compass - not going anywhere right now! (#5)

by Mike Ion on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 01:09:35 AM GMT

My concern is about the paragraph below in Neal's open letter:

"Your New Labour was a closed conspiracy of a few very clever individuals who in the glum shadow cast by Thatcherism seized a traumatised and disorientated party without breaking with the central tenants of that neo-liberal hegemony."

What does it mean? By the way I think he meant tenets and not 'tenants.'


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Re: Compass - not going anywhere right now! (#7)

by John Miles on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 03:37:44 AM GMT

It means that Neal Lawson hasn't come to terms with the market. He equates New Labour's not returning to statism and acceptance that the private sector is not inherently bad with "Thatcherism"

"a closed conspiracy of a few clever individuals...seized a traumatised as disorientated party" is Neal trying to imply that Blair, Brown, Mandelson, Gould, Campbell, Whelan and Miliband (and a few others) took over Labour and used that party for their own ends.

Both of these views are, of course, utter rubbish.


[ Parent ]

Re: Compass - not going anywhere right now! (#9)

by davidfloyd on Sun Jul 02, 2006 at 10:58:36 PM GMT

"It means that Neal Lawson hasn't come to terms with the market. He equates New Labour's not returning to statism and acceptance that the private sector is not inherently bad with "Thatcherism""

It's one thing to accept that the market exists and that social democracy cannot and shouldn't involve either overthrowing it or attempting to suffocate it with regulation.

It's another thing to accept the Thatcherite belief the market is the solution to all economic and social problems and that the only way to improve public services is make them more like the market.

As a member Compassm I support the first one of these ideas but reject the second.

The current round public sector reforms suggest that the commanding figures in New Labour now accept both.

I don't think the private sector is inherently bad, or even that a significant a role for the private sector in the delivery in public services is inherently a bad thing.

What I do believe is that the greater equality of wealth and power that I'd like to see in this country is not acheiveable if further marketisation is the only policy being considered.


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Re: Compass - taking Labour in the right direction (#6)

by guido fawkes on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 03:27:04 AM GMT

Mike, I knew neo-liberals and you are no neo-liberal.

Does Neal Lawson have Prescott type problems with the written word?  His emails are sometimes difficult to understand - spelling and syntax - never mind the politics.

Compass are clueless.  When Tony goes you will miss him, you forget just how good he is...


Re: Compass - taking Labour in the right direction (#8)

by John Miles on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 03:40:21 AM GMT

Guido, you may be a crazy libertarian anarcho-syndicalist, anti-Labour mischief artist but you're right on the nose there.


[ Parent ]

Compass - taking Labour in the right direction or a sure fire way to the wilderness years? | 9 comments (9 topical)