Reading the recent exchange between Philip Collins and Jon Cruddas, I was struck by their agreement that Labour’s mission must be to empower people. In order to make that a reality, we need to move beyond a debate between ‘centralisers’ and ‘federalisers’, beyond a view that all routes to change must pass through Whitehall or the Town Hall. To achieve our vision of a good society, we need to create a progressive movement.
Labour’s achievements in government – the creation of the welfare state and the NHS in the 1940s, greater civil liberties in the 1960s and 1970s, the renewal of public services since 1997 – give us much to be proud of. But behind that change lies a history of struggle – of movements of people, coming together, to help and support each other.
Too often the Labour party is associated with one side of that equation: understanding in its lifeblood the power of the state at the centre to effect social change. But the Labour party today stands on the shoulders of popular movements. The growth of trade unionism and the co-operative movement in the nineteenth century, Asquith’s introduction of old age pensions and the enfranchisement of women: all show that sometimes unexpected coalitions of concerned citizens demanding social change and government action can be created to solve profound social and economic problems.
In our time, some of the most potent and inspiring movements are those that have challenged government. A party of government may not always find it easy to reconcile itself with these forces. But genuine renewal means embracing the movements that are grappling with the huge forces shaping this century – from the environment and social justice, to international security and stability.
There is a second vital element of movement politics: the politics of citizenship and civic mobilisation. Because without changes in attitudes, values and everyday actions, constitutional reform, or race relations acts, or climate change bills will gather dust on the statute book without fulfilling the vision of society that inspired them.
I do not believe our politics fully engages yet with the power of civic mobilisation, despite its importance. On the right, David Cameron calls for ‘social responsibility not state action’ – as if we must choose between paying our taxes and volunteering at our local community centre. For the left, meanwhile, representing the public interest has most often been about seizing control of the powers of the state and applying them for the good of the people.
A truly ambitious agenda for change must look beyond the state and ask how we can build a good society – where we use the freedoms and privileges and victories won by previous generations to enrich not just our own lives, but also those of others. New Labour’s mantra was to help people to help themselves. But a party that really believes in civil society must do more than this: it should be in the business of helping people to help each other.
Where the problems of the last century were tackled by big government or big business, the challenges of this century will require the mobilisation of millions of people to change their behaviour, shape their own environments and help one another.
When we see the consequences of unbridled capitalism in our communities – another gambling shop saturating a high street in Tottenham, another slum landlord exploiting migrant workers ten-to-a-room in our neighbourhoods – we know that regulation alone cannot create the kind of society we seek. It is a job for armies of ethical consumers, activist shareholders and empowered employees to take on. All armed with the rights, the information, and the power they need.
The left has to be bold and imaginative enough to make that possible.
The language of ‘what works’ has, at times, obscured the importance of what really matters. When we see teenagers murdered on the streets and young people worried by youth-on-youth crime, we know that we need a more ambitious response. Of course the sensible response is community policing and more officers on the streets. But the sensitive response recognises the arms of the state alone cannot tackle violent crime amongst young people. Young men need mentors – someone to look up to, to learn from, who they don’t want to let down. Our youth workers do a heroic job, but it is up to us too – and the progressive left has to find ways to remove the barriers, create the incentives, offer the opportunities to make this the norm, not the exception.
Too often, the political class sees civil society a bit like a lot of us see the weather: it’s nice when it’s pleasant, but there’s not much we can do to affect it. Rather than nodding with approval towards civil society, the really ambitious political project is one that encourages it, which challenges it and which learns to galvanize it to create the common good anew.
Any great party needs to be able to think both like a government and like a movement. That’s bound to be difficult. Being in power for any length of time means a rising risk that the government side of the brain drowns out the movement side of the brain. But as we enter turbulent times, when millions more will need help and support, we need to be more – not less – in touch with the spirit of mutual support that has always animated Labour at its best.