Following their defeat in the presidential and parliamentary elections, the French Socialists are now at the same crossroads as Labour were after 1979. The Dutch Socialists, too, have been ejected by the voters and Gerhard Schroeder is in a tough fight for re-election. What follows is a snap-shot survival guide on how to deliver and shape a modernised social democracy á l anglaise:
- Stop blaming someone else. If the left loses, it is because our policies or leaders are wrong. Whining about electoral systems, Miami votes or media hostility won t do. Sensible politics, combined with a clear leadership that can speak beyond the left s natural constituency of support, can keep a progressive government in power for a decade or more.
- Address fear but defend values. The huge dislocation after the end of the cold war has given rise to a movement of peoples unparalleled since the depopulation of Europe in the direction of America and the colonies in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Immigration is good though spare a thought for the best and brightest fleeing nations which need their talents but it needs to be controlled, channelled and supported by education in the receiving countries.
- Defeat protectionism. From the repeal of the corn laws to the creation of the single European market, progress has always been linked with the dismantling of trade barriers. Steel and farm protectionism in the USA even if promoted by trade unions is as wrong as the EU s agro-protectionism, even if it is supported by anti-globalisers like José Bové.
- Return work to the workers. Without work they become passive, dependent on state charity and open to populist appeals. This requires reducing the barriers to employment created by old structures and encouraging new job-creating entrepreneurs. A return of work to workers empowers responsible trade unions.
- A commitment to maintaining public security. The campaign against terror must be won if democracy is to survive. Banning possession of handguns, installing closed circuit television in public areas and active disruption of the internet circuits that allow illegal money from drugs, pornography and paedophilia to enrich the new post-national cyber-criminals, all need to become part of progressive politics.
- Permanent economic reform. The modern economy is based no longer on the production of goods but on the use of intelligence. It requires many, not few, economic actors. It needs to move away from dead-end production, based on subsidies or hidden protectionism, to improve the quality and variety of goods and services by ruthless competition.
- Support for, and reform of, public services. Good public services lie at the heart of the contract between the progressive state and voters. Serving the public, not serving the producers of public services, is key. Public goods, like health, old-age insurance and education, should be based on mandatory payments designated by the state. But the state does not have to manage the delivery of every public service and should not be the employer of all public service agents.
- A commitment to internationalism. The best of countries are the most internationalist of countries. That means learning from the United States, Brazil and Asia. The challenge for progressive politics in the 21st century will be the creation of an international rule of law and supra-national institutions which command popular support. Support for the World Trade Organisation, for example, is vital to maintain progress in breaking down trade barriers, allowing developing countries to grow.
- A belief in equality. The rise in inequalities inside and between nations threatens democratic values. Historically, progressive politics have advanced on the basis of empowering principally through access to quality education the disadvantaged, even as income levels have varied. But the nature of modern inequality the importing of Latin American levels of difference between rich and poor into North America and stubborn, enduring poverty in major European nations needs to be addressed.
- A rediscovery of confidence. Progressive politics works best when its practioners believe in what they are doing. The long period of Democratic rule in the United States between 1932 and 1952 changed America for the better and in ways that could not be rolled back. Sweden s cautious, pro-capitalist, reformist social democracy was constantly attacked by the European left but held sway for half a century. British progressives still do not quite believe we are in power and have won two successive elections with handsome majorities. Perhaps we are more in tune with the times than we dare believe. If progressive politics does not believe in itself, the right will keep on winning power.