A united socialist party: this would be our USP!

David Proudlove is the Left Unity organiser for Crewe. Here he reflects on political life and his hopes for a new party of the left

I first heard about the great Ken Loach’s latest film towards the end of last year, and it has to be said, its timing is just about perfect. Spirit of 45 will be shown throughout the country as yet another bunch of laissez faire, free market-loving, neo-liberal vandals set about dismantling what is left of our Welfare State.

The recent coverage of Loach’s film in the Observer, and the views of those who witnessed the birth of the Welfare State certainly stirred something in me: a country in ruins, on its knees following years of war, but stronger and prouder for seeing off fascism, rebuilt on the back of a consensus of welfare for all. This consensus delivered us a proud legacy, crowned by the National Health Service.

Screened against a back-drop of 21^st Century austerity, where the most vulnerable of society are put to the sword whilst millionaires receive the welcome bonus of a tax cut worth on average £100,000, the Spirit of 45 puts into focus all that we have lost, and given that 80% of planned cuts are still to be implemented, stand to lose.

The Welfare State is a great legacy, a legacy of the Labour Party, and their defence of it has been shameful. Spirit of 45 can be a clarion call for all those that care and believe in the role that the State can play in improving the standard of living for the masses.The challenge is to demonstrate that we will not go quietly into the night, and that the Spirit of 45 is still alive and kicking.

For me, this challenge is personal. I believe strongly in the principles that underpin our Welfare State. I have always been a supporter of the Labour Party. My hometown is Stoke-on-Trent, a city of industry, pits and pots, and I grew up in a home that was staunchly Labour: my father was a Potter, working for famous companies such as Wedgwood and Royal Doulton, and was a loyal union member. During my teenage years, I delivered newspapers to an old local Labour councillor who used to read the Daily Mail to “try to understand them Tory bastards”. Industry and opportunity was all around and people had jobs – my father told stories of being able to leave one pottery in the morning, and walking straight into a new job at another in the afternoon, and the Chatterley Whitfield Colliery was the first in the country to reach an annual output of one million tonnes – and the locals voted Labour. But things changed.

The nature of North Staffordshire’s traditional industries began to change in the 1950s with the introduction of the Clean Air Act, and by the time of Thatcher’s triumph in 1979, the Potteries was beginning to struggle. Pits were closing, and well known pottery companies were starting to disappear, and the economic policies pursued by the Thatcher administration accelerated the deindustrialisation of North Staffordshire.A number of things have stayed firmly in my mind over the years, things that have helped to shape my outlook on the world, and my beliefs. One such moment I will never forget was from the early 1980s. Stoke-on-Trent’s traditional industries were shedding jobs like confetti, and my father was a victim of the policies and processes that were eroding the city’s industrial base. As our family’s finances stood at the time, dad could not “get on his bike”. He did not have a car, or a bike, and could not afford one for that matter. At that time he couldn’t even afford bus fare (what sort of ‘failure’ did that make my dad Mrs Thatcher?). But he secured an interview for a job in the Cheshire town of Sandbach, around twelve miles away. He walked. There and back. But he didn’t get the job. The look of sheer despair on his face when he heard the news is something that will live with me forever.

My first political act came during the 1992 General Election campaign. Thatcher had been hounded out of office by the Tories following the Poll Tax debacle, and from what little I knew and understood about politics back then (I was fifteen, and about to leave school), I believed that Neil Kinnock’s Labour had a real chance of winning. It was certainly the view of my Labour-supporting dad. My own small contribution to the campaign was to put a ‘Vote Labour’ poster in my bedroom window. Of course, I had no understanding of the mechanics of the Labour Party at fifteen years old, and had no idea that by then, Kinnock and his supporters had begun the process of moving the party to the right. I was genuinely disappointed with the outcome of the election and the prospect of five years under John Major, who has to be one of the least inspiring political figures of all time; at least you could genuinely dislike Thatcher.

 By the time Tony Blair became Labour leader, and created the New Labour ‘brand’, adopting Thatcherite economic policies, embracing the Murdoch Empire and the City of London, the party had been out of power for so long, I believe it had become desperate; so desperate that it allowed the senior politicians at the head of the party to develop policies that have undermined and eroded the core principles and values that made the Labour Party the party of the working class. But on a wave of good will, and the toxified Conservative Party in meltdown, New Labour romped home to a comfortable election victory, that ultimately led to a further thirteen years of neo-liberal economics. In the run-up to the 1997 election, the Sun demanded “give change a chance”. A stamp of approval from Rupert Murdoch can never be a good thing for working class people.

After studying Building Surveying at Staffordshire University (and also stacking shelves in a Kwik Save supermarket – in the era of no student grants, I needed the money), I began a career in housing and regeneration (I know the term ‘regeneration’ makes many people’s blood boil, but if done properly, it can be a huge force for positive change). I began my career in local government, and began to understand properly the interface between local and national government, and how national policies and decision-making affects the services that local people receive. My first job in local government involved delivering housing renewal programmes, repairing and renovating the homes of the less well off, and adapting the homes of the disabled in order to meet their needs. This work gave me a unique insight into how local economies drive local housing conditions, and how the quality of housing affects the health and well-being of ordinary people, and I was proud to work for a local authority that promoted a renovation-led approach to housing ahead of demolition and clearance. However, little did I realise that amongst the think tanks and academics, something was stirring that would cause just as much damage to my hometown and other industrial areas as Thatcherism and Blairite economic policies.

During 2002 and 2003, based on the work of academics, New Labour launched the “housing market renewal pathfinders”, tasked with developing “innovative solutions” to what were seen as failing housing markets in industrial areas such as inner city Liverpool and North Staffordshire. Far from developing “innovative solutions”, the approach was generally to attempt to attract the middle classes to edgy urban locations by riding the expanding property market bubble – an attempt at an engineered gentrification process – tempting housebuilders and developers with large assembled sites through flattening terraced housing and capitalising on former industrial assets such as canalside sites and the conversion of old mills and warehouses to swish and trendy lofts. Working class people lost their homes, and were provided with little help and support to find replacements. The process has been variously described as “social cleansing”, and “slum clearance without the socialism”, and following the Credit Crunch and subsequent collapse of the housing market, devastation has been left behind. Whole communities have been laid to waste in the name of property development. The fact of the matter is that the housing markets were probably functioning perfectly well in many of these places, and if they were “failing”, it was due to the fact that their economic roles had been taken away, and in terms of new development, such locations were probably marginal in good times. Now the good times are no more, many working class areas have been left in ruins. Abandoned by austerity, and a government that doesn’t care because they have no votes in such places, those left behind or moved on have every right to feel aggrieved, and many will point the finger at the Labour Party. It is no coincidence that it is in such areas that the influence of the far right has spread.

As I was cutting my teeth professionally, I also cut my teeth politically, being elected to Biddulph Town Council. Biddulph is a former mining town in the Staffordshire Moorlands, and I was elected to represent Biddulph East, a deprived former NCB estate, ignored locally by the Conservative dominated local authority, and hit hard by the closing of the local pits and decline of other local industries. On being elected, my thought was “what can I do? How can I best serve the people that elected me?” So as well as working alongside my fellow – and more experienced local councillors – I also sought to use my professional skills and experience in a positive way. I promoted the formation of a Community Development Trust – and was Chair of its steering group – that sought to improve the local environment and engage with local people to provide learning and training opportunities. The initiative was supported by local authority officers, but floundered due to a lack of political support. This was back in 2007 – so much for the Big Society.

As 2007 was drawing to a close, local politics took a backseat for a few months. My father went into hospital for routine hip surgery. He never came home. He passed away following a series of serious errors at the hands of the NHS (my family and I are still pursuing legal action), which included misdiagnosis of a stroke my father suffered (which he suffered following his hip surgery), and a major infection in the wound, most likely caused by his being left lying in his own mess, having lost control of his functions following the stroke. My father’s treatment by the NHS was disgraceful, and my family’s experience in dealing with the machine that the NHS has become has been painful, and the one thing that hurt the most is that no one has ever said that they were sorry that my father had died. Our experiences at the hands of the NHS convinced me that reform is vital. However, the Coalition’s version of ‘reform’ is to accelerate the creeping privatisation of the service. If we think that care and treatment has declined over the years, just wait until the generation of profit is the main driver of our health service.

During 2009, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, which eventually led her to have (successful) surgery. When my father was in hospital in 2007, I was away from my Council duties for three months; my fear was that if my mother needed help and support from me for a prolonged period of time, I would be away from my Council duties once more. Although my absence would have been justifiable – and also understandable – I felt that it would not have been fair on the people that voted for me, and so I took the decision to resign.

Though my political activity ceased to a certain extent, my passion and beliefs never have, and through my work, I continue to deal with local authorities and MPs on a day-to-day basis: though I’m no longer a politician, I work in a political environment.

I am extremely passionate about my work, but since the Credit Crunch and subsequent economic crisis, I have become increasingly disillusioned with the implementation of housing related policies and initiatives, both those of the current Government, and the latter-day policies of the previous Labour regime. The worst example was the appalling Kickstart Housing Delivery programme, which was effectively a banker’s style bail-out of the volume housebuilders, propping them up and covering up bad business decisions on their part. The standards that some of these homes are built to are shocking, and I believe we have stored up some real problems for the future.There is a major housing crisis in this country, and the Coalition is fiddling as Rome burns, though this is not a new phenomenon: successive regimes have failed to deal with the fundamental structural problems with the housing industry. The disdain with which successive Governments can be summed up by the fact that since the 1997 General Election, there has been eleven Housing Ministers, a post that was once one of the most important in Government.

My job has got increasingly difficult since 2010. The Coalition vowed to eradicate waste in the public sector, and slash “red tape” – the usual right wing bullshit. I can certainly vouch for the fact that there is waste in the public sector, and I would always be in favour of eliminating it. But one of the first actions of the Coalition was to slash our budget dramatically, which has reduced the effectiveness of the work that we do, and have failed to develop a cohesive and comprehensive strategy for housing and regeneration since. They have relied on policy-making on the hoof, with many vague announcements, and the little new funding they have provided since 2010 is mere chicken feed and will not even make a tiny dent in the housing problems the country faces, whilst the new ‘Help to Buy’ scheme is a monster which could well lead to yet another boom-to-bust situation through encouraging unsustainable lending patterns. Do we ever learn? And meanwhile, cruel and punitive measures such as the Bedroom Tax have been adopted that have the potential to shatter communities, wreck families, and will further exacerbate our housing problems. But then when the Cabinet includes a host of millionaires, and their supporters don’t have to worry about paying the rent, why should it be a worry?

Though I have always believed that there are other ways out of the current malaise, I had got to the point where I thought that nothing would change. It is almost a cliché to say that the mainstream political parties are “all the same”, but the present circumstances as good as provide proof positive that this is the case: the Tories are the Tories, and it is perfectly clear that their dismantling of the Welfare State has nothing to do with “fairness” and reducing the deficit – as they ridiculously continue to claim – but is all about their pursuance of an anti-social political ideology underpinned by Chicago Boy economics; the Liberal Democrats sold their soul at the merest sniff of power, and by throwing their lot in with the Cameron and Osborne inspired neo-liberal vandals, have abandoned their principles, are finished as a political force as a result, and can no longer be taken seriously; and Labour’s continued silence – aside from Ed Balls’ insistence that the Coalition have cut too deep and too soon – can only mean a rearrangement of the deck chairs and more of the same.

I actually took the 2010 General Election result and the continued failings of the Coalition as a positive. I believed that given the unpopularity of Gordon Brown and the previous administration, Labour would be wiped-out, unelectable for a generation. But Cameron and the Tories missed possibly the biggest political open goal of all-time, and needed the backing of the Liberal Democrats to implement their programme of social destruction. I had continued to hope that the continued erosion of the public realm by the Coalition, an erosion that hurts ordinary working class people the most, would finally wake the Labour Party from its slumber and provoke a reaction in defence of the people the party is supposed to stand for. The on-going silence would suggest that I am wrong.

This silence has left me in despair at times. I am ashamed to say that I did not vote at the last local elections. I was living in the Stockport area at the time. Labour did not field a candidate, and I was basically left with a Tory or a Liberal Democrat. I felt that the appropriate response was silence. I believe passionately in the right to vote, but it has a hollow ring to it at times.

So where has it all gone wrong for Labour, and why do the left and the working class no longer feel properly represented?

Arthur Scargill after his trial at Rotherham court.

The roots of the decline can be found in the ‘triumph’ of Thatcherism, and the Iron Lady’s battle with the Unions and in particular Arthur Scargill and the NUM. It was during this period in the mid-1980s that Neil Kinnock and the senior members of the party started to move to the right. This ultimately led us to Blair, Brown, and New Labour, and their embrace of the City of London and the Murdoch Empire. This shift to the right has seen the party become lazy and complacent, taking for granted the support of the Unions and the working class, whilst at the same time neglecting this core support and their traditional values. In some cases, senior members have looked down on the views of ordinary Labour supporters: witness Gordon Brown’s “bigoted woman” jibe when questioned about concerns regarding immigration during the last election campaign. In some cases the upper echelons of the Labour Party are as elitist and as out-of-touch as the posh boys of the Tories.

The demise of New Labour and the 2010 defeat led to the departure of Gordon Brown as leader of the party, and a leadership contest that saw Ed Miliband – dubbed ‘Red Ed’ and with the backing of the Unions – become the party’s new figurehead ahead of his brother, and heir of Blair, David.

Ed Miliband could have made a major statement early on in his tenure to fight neo-liberal economics, and to truly embrace fairness, equality and opportunities for all. To date he hasn’t, and seemingly won’t. What does ‘One Nation Labour’ mean in reality? What will it mean in a practical sense? How will it improve the lot of the working class? I’m sure that he would deny such charges, and that a new Labour Government would not mean more New Labour, but given that the next General Election is just two years away, he is surprisingly and frustratingly quiet on what his Labour regime would do. Perhaps their silence is down to the shame that some of the Coalition policies were instigated by the previous Labour Governments, and that they would not repeal them? However, what is clear is that none of the mainstream parties would change tactics and head down a different path altogether.

The most shameful action of the Labour Party however, has been its failure to combat the continuing demonization of the working class. Branded ‘chavs’, and portrayed as scroungers and skivers, lazy and feckless by the bourgeois elite and the right-wing press, we now see the concerted assault on the Welfare State from the Tory-led Government that they believe as justified, having convinced great sections of the public with strategic help from the likes of the Telegraph and the Daily Mail, that much of the working class were now “benefit dependent and workshy”. In addition, the Tories have suggested that the nation “cannot afford” to provide social security, despite the fact that we are one of the richest countries in the world; the statement looks even more ridiculous when you consider that the Welfare State was originally created in an era of far worse economic and social circumstances than present. Labour has uttered the odd word in defence of those in need, but there has been precious little action, no real statements of intent, and no vision for a different future. There have generally been two reactions to this virtual abandonment: a lurch to the far right, or political apathy.

So, what to do?

It is simple. If the left feels that it is no longer properly represented, and the rights and concerns of the working class are ignored by the political elite, then the answer is as Ken Loach and many others are saying: “do it yourself”. In this case, “do it yourself” means the creation of a new party of the left.

New political groups are being formed all over Europe in response to the Austerity Agenda across the Euro Zone, but the need for a new form of representation cuts across more than this one single issue, and strikes at the heart of the failings of capitalism and Chicago Boy economics. Even George Osborne acknowledges the need to change the emphasis of our economic priorities, stating that “we need to start making things again”. The trouble is, he has no idea what this really means, and no idea how to go about making it happen. The new agenda should be about fairness and opportunity for all, but fairness is something that the majority of our current politicians cannot deliver on, and it is not in the interests of the elite to create opportunity for all.

In the UK, we have a politicians too enamoured with a London-centric, mainly right-wing press, with the current Government’s policies seemingly inspired by Daily Mail scare-mongering (the recent disgraceful headline – “Vile Product of Welfare UK” – regarding the sentencing of the monstrous Mick Philpott and his actions – though not at all representative of those in receipt of support from the State – just about sums things up). They are too in fear or awe of the likes of Rupert Murdoch and their agenda to properly represent ordinary people, hence the bad noise and squirming of David Cameron following the Leveson Enquiry.

Some have questioned the need to create a new party of the left, and have suggested that those wanting change should join the Labour Party and push for change from within. That is all well and good, but to change the direction of an established political party is like trying to turn around an oil tanker, and it could take a generation. We do not have the time to try to change an established political party; by the time that was achieved, the damage to the public realm could be too great, and the opportunity to effect positive and sustainable change may have passed.

The recent call for the creation of a new party of the left, and the discovery that there are many thousands of others that feel the same way has lifted me and many others, and provided a spark of inspiration. And that is something that no politician or party has managed in a very long time.

The time to make a change is now. The next General Election is just two years away, and there is growing unrest with the political establishment in the UK, and its incestuous relationship with big business, the financial services sector, and sections of the press. People no longer trust our politicians – the expenses scandal was probably the straw that broke the camel’s back – and interest in mainstream politics is at an all-time low. But there are also growing numbers that want change, and are demanding change, a move away from greed and cruelty, and a move towards fairness and equality, and this is reflected by those that have expressed an interest in Ken Loach’s call for the creation of a new party of the left.

So what would a new party of the left look like? What would be its core values and principles? Firstly, I would hope that it would be united and underpinned by modern socialist values and principles. A united socialist party: this would be our USP. I grew up a Stoke City supporter, and our club’s motto is “united strength is stronger”; this could also be the motto of the new left.

In no particular order of importance – indeed, these are probably of equal importance – the following are what I believe could be the core values and principles of the new left:

Fairness and Equality: all people should be treated fairly and equally, regardless of class, sex, race, religious belief, age, gender, and sexuality.

Respect for All: all people should be treated with respect, as per above.

Compassion: when people require help and support, they should receive it; cruelty, aggression and bullying of any kind would not be tolerated.

Peace and Justice: dispute resolution should be through peaceful means, and justice should be available to all, regardless of means.

Value of Work: people’s roles and their contribution to society should be properly valued and rewarded; capitalism should be tamed and re-made.

A Rational, Balanced and Fair Economy: the basics for a fair and sustainable society should be public goods (for example food, energy, water, transport, health services, housing, etc.); a tamed and re-made capitalism should serve society, and the financial services sector and taxation system should be reformed.

Environmental Stewardship: we are tenants of the Earth, and we should tread carefully as we go, with all policies ‘green-led’.

Education: a first class education should be available to all, and the education system should reflect the needs of citizens and a reformed economy.

Devolution and Evolution: there should be a robust and positive approach to community empowerment, and the power of Whitehall over the regions should shift; local government should be reformed to reflect true economic geography and not be forced through gerrymandering.

The new left can also learn a valuable lesson from the rise of UKIP. Many see UKIP as a one issue party: to take the UK out of the European Union. Following their ‘success’ at the recent Eastleigh by-election, Nigel Farage and his party were thrust into the spotlight, leading Farage to comment, “they’re taking me seriously now, I’d better come up with some policies”. The new left should not fall into the same trap. We should not be seen as a one trick pony; if we are to be taken seriously, we need to have robust and deliverable policies and strategies across as broad a spectrum as possible from the word go, and we must be able to articulate, promote and communicate them. We need to demonstrate that we can deliver progressive policies in areas such as housing and the economy, policies that must be meaningful to ordinary people.

And promotion and communication will be key to our success. We will not have much of the press on our side, but over-reliance on the press is for dinosaurs. We are in a new age; new media and the technological revolution can help us to deliver a political revolution by reaching out to a global audience with our message, and capturing and harnessing global energy, expertise and ideas.

The nation – and the world – is ready for positive change; a new politics, and a new left, and the time to deliver this is now. And by harnessing the spirit of 45, we can deliver that positive change.