It was Margaret Mead who said: ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has’.
I joined the Labour party in 1988 inspired by the vision of my then local MP Alf Morris who envisioned a world with greater justice for disabled people. Driven on by his own family’s experience after the war he introduced the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act in 1970, the first such piece of legislation in any modern legislature.
I was, however, agitated by one of Alf’s agents, Duncan Healy, a retired Manchester councillor and former conscientious objector in the war who made it his life’s work to develop new and younger members. For anyone old enough to remember the Mikardo system, he looked out for 18-year-olds who had identified as Labour and had voted. He was organised.
Here at Movement for Change we aim to bring policy development closer to the everyday lived experience of people in their communities. In Preston we turned 10 people into 400 contributing directly in formulating the county Labour party’s manifesto. In Southampton a team of dedicated activists negotiated payroll deduction for council employees if they wanted to join the credit union. Now they are meeting with Southampton University to negotiate bringing in payroll deduction for their staff, and our activists will be picketing pay day lenders in the centre of town with credit union stalls.
In St Mellons and Northenden hundreds have shown up to tackle the scourge of blighted buildings. Up and down the land teams are campaigning on fair credit, loan sharks, health and housing. Small and sometimes larger groups of Members and Trade Unionists working with communities are winning change.
If we are to advocate and enthuse change in the culture of the Labour movement at every level of politics, from the shadow cabinet to local branches, we have to take back the debate from the polemicists in our media and win change through action by getting organised.
Leadership is the key element to this. Only by identifying and training local leaders to engage in this type of action can we begin to shift the mind-set that we can only be in power to achieve change. I often tell activists at our training sessions that if they don’t realise the power they have without office, how will they ever realise it in office.
Our method begins with building one-to-one relationships with potential leaders, bringing them together to identify what makes them angry about the situation their community faces and to take collective action on it. Movement for Change provides the relevant training in leadership and action and works with communities to build their own capacity to get organised. We also offer a residential weekend course at various times of the year for those wanting to understand this way of organising more.
Power in its simplest form is the ability to act and under this government, our communities are crying out for action on all sorts of issues. It was Ghandi who said, ‘be the change that you wish to see in the world’. It was a challenge to us all. By engaging in that challenge, Alf and Duncan’s legacy will be secure and available to the next generation.
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Mike Kane is acting CEO of Movement for Change covering for Kathryn Perera during her maternity leave