The time has come for a Labour revolution
jkitleft Sun Jun 15, 2008 at 06:24:49 PM GMT 
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Major shifts, go in 30-year cycles. Food and house prices experience bumps and rises, but go up generally with inflation over 30 years. The balance of world powers shifts around every 30 years or so: China and India will be major powers within the next 10 years or so. 20 years ago, USA was strengthened, and 30-40 years before that the European empires started collapsing. Major political acts take around 30 years to show their benefits: HeadStart was denounced as a failure in the US; after around 20-30 years every $1 spent had saved $7. But after 30-40 years every $1 spent had saved $40. I'm sure SureStart will have similar beneits.
And, in correlation to these models, political concencus' shift around every 30 years. The Peelite concencus lived on from 1850's-1880's, and then to the 1910's, it was the Gladstone/Disraeli concencus. After that, the Lloyd George concencus until 1945, when the Keynesian Attlee concencus lived on until 1979, when the Thatcher concencus started.
Now, it is 29 years afterwards. A new concencus will come around shortly, and we cannot let it be the Cameron concencus. Labour still has much to fix.
It is time to end the "always market=good" concencus. There have been important liberalisations, yes. But lets look at just a few examples of New Labour's obsessions with market politics can go wrong. A few years ago, the nurseries that were found to be failing, were largely private nurseries. The government wants to allow private companies to run failing hospitals, but this failed in Birmingham. Indeed the most marketised part of the NHS, in the cleaning industry, has been a spectacular failure.
We are at a time when polls show an increasing majority of people concerned about female pay, company director bonuses, the uber-rich, private equity firms etc.
We are witnessing an economic crisis which is a belated hangover from Thatcherite reforms. Northern Rock's collapse was caused by the market fundamentalism to Matt Ridley. The sub-prime mortgage market caused a credit crunch. This new market was established out of the slashing of consumers' rights across the Atlantic. Even hard-right Republican congressmen are looking on with admiration to the level of deregulation in the UK. Finally, our data losses are caused by Brown's determination to cut the number of civil servants, as the civil service trade unions warned us would happen.
Instead of heading these warnings though, the cabinet cries in uniform-push harder. Only tax cuts can save us, is what they say. Unfortunately, we can't have American tax rates, and European public services. Brown's demise started when he started slashing at social democracy. When he slated the tax that left-wing, and right-wing economists love, the inheritance tax, he not only looked weak, but he had lost his moral compass. Private equity firms couldn't believe their luck over capital gains.
Unfortunately, Labour seems to think people in Middle England love the rich, and are on 6 figure salaries. In fact, it's a constituency that can be won over in a far more social democratic way then the government realises. The median income of Middle England is around £23,000. They do not earn £150,000. Middle England is increasingly angry about those who avoid tax, because of the bizarre notion that those earning £150,000 are crucial voters. In fact, the 10% of the population who do not officialy fall into the basic rate group (those paying 20% rates on income tax), have always, and will always be in the majority, Tory supporters.
The biggest shame of the Thatcher years, is that her reforms could have been conducted with a left-wing model. The right-to-buy, could have resulted in a massive council house building programme. The inner city areas, and the declining industrial areas could have been reinvigorated with a larger 'New Deal' programme than the one conducted years later, with large social spending from proceeds of North Sea oil.
Non-proliferation in conjunction with the Soviets could have continued detente, and not cutting our budget could have avoided a war in the south atlantic, and the apartheid regime could have fallen quicker.
Decentralisation could have occured through extension of devolution to all regions, councils, and allowing elected mayors. A NI Peace agreement could've been reached faster. Modernisation could've been reached not by mass deregulation of markets, but with a windfall tax that kickstarted a technology revolution, and benefiting our education system.
Trade union modernisation could have been reached through industrial democracy, and the ending of state monopolies through alternative routes of common ownership.
It is time for a new concencus. We must stand up and say that we need higher taxes amongst the rich for European style pubic services. We need to ask hard questions, like to what level of liberalisation in our economy we are comfortable with, as Sweden manages massive private sector involvement in education and pensions, and Denmark has Flexicurity, which doesn't weaken their welfare states.
So here's part of the revolution I propose:
The extension of childcare and care for the elderly into the welfare state. A massive comprehensivisation of education. A model of co-determination in every workplace. Breaking down the council house ghettos, by building council houses into either affluent areas, or middle-class areas. Increased devolution. A New Deal mark II, which would involve reinvigorating inner-cities, and the former industrial towns. An extension of this should be a massive skills training for older workers who have lost their jobs, re-training them, and training the young, and further tackling unemployment. Introduce alternative common ownership schemes: consumers' and workers' interest companies in water, gas, oil and electricity. Regional co-operatives in Post offices and telecommunications (as well as in an industry like NATS). Stron consumer representation in airlines, railways, local transport, LU, buses etc. The socially liberal policies of the Netherlands (even more so with regards to secularisation and drugs). An ethical foreign policy, commited to anti-tyranny. Prison reform. A commitment to multilateral non-proliferation. An end to institutionalised aristocracy (Lords, monarchy, and especially land laws). A consumer and patient's bill of rights. A constitution, including a US style Bill of Rights. Clamping down on the super-rich. A transition to new management structures involving staff, users and even local people in the public services and local amenities. An oil-phase out.
I'm sure you can think of other ideas, as to how we should complete this revolution.
And, in correlation to these models, political concencus' shift around every 30 years. The Peelite concencus lived on from 1850's-1880's, and then to the 1910's, it was the Gladstone/Disraeli concencus. After that, the Lloyd George concencus until 1945, when the Keynesian Attlee concencus lived on until 1979, when the Thatcher concencus started.
Now, it is 29 years afterwards. A new concencus will come around shortly, and we cannot let it be the Cameron concencus. Labour still has much to fix.
It is time to end the "always market=good" concencus. There have been important liberalisations, yes. But lets look at just a few examples of New Labour's obsessions with market politics can go wrong. A few years ago, the nurseries that were found to be failing, were largely private nurseries. The government wants to allow private companies to run failing hospitals, but this failed in Birmingham. Indeed the most marketised part of the NHS, in the cleaning industry, has been a spectacular failure.
We are at a time when polls show an increasing majority of people concerned about female pay, company director bonuses, the uber-rich, private equity firms etc.
We are witnessing an economic crisis which is a belated hangover from Thatcherite reforms. Northern Rock's collapse was caused by the market fundamentalism to Matt Ridley. The sub-prime mortgage market caused a credit crunch. This new market was established out of the slashing of consumers' rights across the Atlantic. Even hard-right Republican congressmen are looking on with admiration to the level of deregulation in the UK. Finally, our data losses are caused by Brown's determination to cut the number of civil servants, as the civil service trade unions warned us would happen.
Instead of heading these warnings though, the cabinet cries in uniform-push harder. Only tax cuts can save us, is what they say. Unfortunately, we can't have American tax rates, and European public services. Brown's demise started when he started slashing at social democracy. When he slated the tax that left-wing, and right-wing economists love, the inheritance tax, he not only looked weak, but he had lost his moral compass. Private equity firms couldn't believe their luck over capital gains.
Unfortunately, Labour seems to think people in Middle England love the rich, and are on 6 figure salaries. In fact, it's a constituency that can be won over in a far more social democratic way then the government realises. The median income of Middle England is around £23,000. They do not earn £150,000. Middle England is increasingly angry about those who avoid tax, because of the bizarre notion that those earning £150,000 are crucial voters. In fact, the 10% of the population who do not officialy fall into the basic rate group (those paying 20% rates on income tax), have always, and will always be in the majority, Tory supporters.
The biggest shame of the Thatcher years, is that her reforms could have been conducted with a left-wing model. The right-to-buy, could have resulted in a massive council house building programme. The inner city areas, and the declining industrial areas could have been reinvigorated with a larger 'New Deal' programme than the one conducted years later, with large social spending from proceeds of North Sea oil.
Non-proliferation in conjunction with the Soviets could have continued detente, and not cutting our budget could have avoided a war in the south atlantic, and the apartheid regime could have fallen quicker.
Decentralisation could have occured through extension of devolution to all regions, councils, and allowing elected mayors. A NI Peace agreement could've been reached faster. Modernisation could've been reached not by mass deregulation of markets, but with a windfall tax that kickstarted a technology revolution, and benefiting our education system.
Trade union modernisation could have been reached through industrial democracy, and the ending of state monopolies through alternative routes of common ownership.
It is time for a new concencus. We must stand up and say that we need higher taxes amongst the rich for European style pubic services. We need to ask hard questions, like to what level of liberalisation in our economy we are comfortable with, as Sweden manages massive private sector involvement in education and pensions, and Denmark has Flexicurity, which doesn't weaken their welfare states.
So here's part of the revolution I propose:
The extension of childcare and care for the elderly into the welfare state. A massive comprehensivisation of education. A model of co-determination in every workplace. Breaking down the council house ghettos, by building council houses into either affluent areas, or middle-class areas. Increased devolution. A New Deal mark II, which would involve reinvigorating inner-cities, and the former industrial towns. An extension of this should be a massive skills training for older workers who have lost their jobs, re-training them, and training the young, and further tackling unemployment. Introduce alternative common ownership schemes: consumers' and workers' interest companies in water, gas, oil and electricity. Regional co-operatives in Post offices and telecommunications (as well as in an industry like NATS). Stron consumer representation in airlines, railways, local transport, LU, buses etc. The socially liberal policies of the Netherlands (even more so with regards to secularisation and drugs). An ethical foreign policy, commited to anti-tyranny. Prison reform. A commitment to multilateral non-proliferation. An end to institutionalised aristocracy (Lords, monarchy, and especially land laws). A consumer and patient's bill of rights. A constitution, including a US style Bill of Rights. Clamping down on the super-rich. A transition to new management structures involving staff, users and even local people in the public services and local amenities. An oil-phase out.
I'm sure you can think of other ideas, as to how we should complete this revolution.
The time has come for a Labour revolution | 29 comments (29 topical)
The time has come for a Labour revolution | 29 comments (29 topical)
