Owen Jones calls on the left to unite against austerity
Chavs author, Independent writer and Labour activist Owen Jones talked to Salman Shaheen about the People’s Assembly and the prospects for resistance to austerity
If the People’s Assembly could be summarised in a word, it would be optimism. From the opening speeches it crackled, infusing enthused activists with the idea that austerity – a failure both in terms of restoring growth to the economy and protecting society’s most vulnerable – could be defeated with united action from the left.
Those speaking in the opening Plenary – angry, passionate and full of hope despite all past attempts to bring the left together in the face of neoliberal consensus – might have overstated the case and underestimated the challenge they faced, but the day was about inspiring people.
When I caught up with Owen Jones after the first session, he was naturally ebullient.
“It’s going incredibly well so far,” he said. “Over 4,000 people are here, it’s the biggest anti-austerity meeting since the crisis began, and I think the arguments that people want on the agenda about alternatives to the self-defeating nightmare of austerity are going to be on that agenda for the first time. It’s such a broad cross-section of the country. And it’s a launch pad for local groups and actions across the country as well.”
But the People’s Assembly had the misfortune of falling on the day that Ed Miliband announced Labour – for many the natural locus of opposition to austerity – would be sticking to Tory spending plans.
While Jones appears to be very much in the Labour camp, he is less enthusiastic about the decisions of its leadership.
“The message for the Labour leadership should be you can no longer expect to automatically be the leaders of the opposition to what the Tories are doing in this country,” Jones said. “You’ll now face competition from those who want a genuine alternative to austerity.”
Jones pointed out the Labour leadership is used to being yelled at from the right, but now it’ll be yelled at by people from a different direction.
“Those sorts of arguments used to support austerity, as it has been proven to fail even on its own terms, they’re no longer credible,” he said. “We will be putting huge amounts of pressure and we’ll be building a national campaign which will give a voice to all those who do want an alternative to austerity.”
Of course, many have now abandoned Labour entirely. Ken Loach, who was reportedly barred from speaking in the closing plenary and relegated to an afternoon slot in the marquee because he was too anti-Labour, has launched an appeal to found a new party to the left of Labour. It’s an initiative that I and almost 9,000 others have signed up to and I asked Jones what his stance on projects such as Left Unity is.
“At the end of the day, we will always have different strategies and tactics,” he said. “The most important thing is we all have unity where we can agree on an issue by issue basis.”
Jones stressed that the People’s Assembly is not a party, but a movement bringing together people from lots of different parties, initiatives, unions, and campaigning groups.
“I welcome anyone, whatever strategy they have, as long as we can work together on that common aim which is building a broad coalition against austerity,” Jones said.
The answer from Jones, then, is left unity in action, if not in name. While we disagree on the question of Labour, and while the People’s Assembly in its optimism may have underestimated the strength of consensus around austerity forged by the three main parties, Jones is certainly right that left unity against the cuts is our only hope.
This interview was first published on Left Foot Forward
22 comments
22 responses to “Owen Jones calls on the left to unite against austerity”
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The trouble with Jones is that he makes a lot of nice sounding Left noises but when push comes to shove, he’s firmly in the Labour camp. He deluding himself if he thinks he can change the party from within. Many others better than him have tried and failed. I turned my back on Labour in 1985 after ‘that speech’ by Kinnock. Labour has betrayed the working class and organised labour for the better part of 70 years. Now its leader wants to offer us more Tory-lite policies. No thanks, Eddie, I’m not buying.
Labour moved to the right from 1997. I wont be a Labour activist again until Labour goes back to its core values. Both Kinnock and Blair are traitors to the parties true core values.
Well said buddyhell. Now the People’s Assembly “Event” is finally over we can clearly see, from the complete censorship on the day of any criticism of Labour from the platform, the censorship of any mention of our Left Unity project by Ken Loach in the Plenary, and the platform provided to bogusly posture “Left” for trades union bureaucrats with a dismal record of demobilising the struggle, that whatever spin Owen Jones and co put on the purpose of the event – its realoverriding purpose is simply to cynically try and attach Labour to the growing anti austerity “bandwagon”, as the “vote of the Left inclined” come the 2015 election. But of course , as Ed Miliband has clearly explained, Labour in office will be indistinguishable from the Coalition (maybe apart from a few patronising mock “consultations” with the TUC bigwigs over wine and canapes).
The likes of Owen Jones , with his glib but actually directionless “radical” rhetoric, are not simply naive. He and his ilk are simply not “politically mistaken” allies of the genuine radical Left; because the “Labour Left” nowadays is simply sowing illusions in a totally unreformable, corrupt, bourgeois party of neoliberal capitalism – not a “social democratic party which has temporarily lost its way ! And he’s certainly no ally of our Left Unity project.. Treat with caution.
OK John – I completely agree with your basic analysis, but we must remember to engage with others on the left in a positive and friendly way if at all possible. If we can’t engage with someone of Owen Jones’ politics, then what hope do we have of convincing the mass of ordinary people who are more Daily Mail
The People’s Assembly may have a pro Labour agenda but they may not be able to make that stick as people form branches all over the country. By working closely with any local Labour activists who have a principled anti-austerity position we can go some way towards making LU the ‘political arm’ of People’s Assembly (as one naive bloke asked from the floor – tee hee) and win people over to our ideas.
We have to be seen as solid, patient, humble campaigners in local campaigns and nationally and impress people rather than screaming at them that they are all wrong and only we are right.
Ray,
I’ve been to dozens of meetings and I’ve never heard anyone “screaming”!
What is wrong with arguing for positions one thinks are right and true? Surely we need to be open about our politics.
In my experience, people usually only object to the way arguments have been presented if they disagree with the arguments, as an avoidance tactic and a means of suppressing debate.
Owen Jones …Controlled opposition ….
I agree with John Penney’s strong criticism and warning about Owen Jones and the PA movement. LU and the rest of the real left need to stop treating him/them as clever, principled but simply naive and tactically mistaken. I’m convinced that they know full well what they are doing and its limited potentiality for even social democracy never mind socialist transformation – but represent a labourist strand within the PLP and trade union movement that spot an opportunity for harvesting dissatisfaction with the Party’s aimless shadowing of the coalition. Basically I think they believe that once they have gained power or shifted Labour leftwards it will be able to manage us better and more sympathetically and, in the process, it will be their turn to enjoy personally lucrative opportunities.
Jones has nothing to offer the left and the ordinary people of Britain let’s stop treating him as if he has.
I agree Buddyhell, and I disagree with Jones on supporting Labour. I’ll always work with the Labour left against austerity, but when it comes to voting time, I think Labour is a vehicle heading in the wrong direction, despite the best efforts of Jones and a few worthy others who are trying to push it back uphill.
So Milliband is going to stick to Tory spending plans – just as Blair did in 1997. Well, we all know where that led us. Add to that the hideous revelations about our institutions, the police and intelligence apparatus that are spewing out on an almost daily basis, how is it possible to have confidence in a Labour Party that has presided over much of it? Ken Loach is right, we do need a new party, not that I think we’ll get one that has enough clout and public confidence to win an election.
We might be able to work with the likes of Owen Jones on specific single issue campaigns.
But underlying his entire tactical approach is the idea that the best thing to do is get everyone to join and campaign for Labour.
That’s not just incompatible with building a left alternative, it’s directly opposed.
While we might be able to work with individual Labour Party members now and again, the Labour Party as an institution is the enemy. It’s time people started being so conciliatory to the Labour left. We’ve heard the “move Labour left” argument from them forever. And they have absolutely nothing to show for it.
“It’s time people started being so conciliatory to the Labour left. We’ve heard the “move Labour left” argument from them forever. And they have absolutely nothing to show for it.”
Surely you meant to say ‘*stopped* being so conciliatory’? I would agree with you then.
Oops, that is indeed what I meant to say! Well spotted.
if own jones ever built a semi-serious left-wing movement within the party that took on the leadership and the challenged the party machine he would be expelled quick sharp. a few lefts are ‘tollerated’ because they pose no real threat.
tim
So we are all anti cuts – then what? Being anti cuts and anti austerity on it own gets us only so far. Where I live in Milton Keynes we have a good anti cuts group of which I am Secretary but it cannot on its own pose a political alternative to the “Tory Lite” Labour Party who no longer can even deliver social democratic reforms. What is need is a new Socialist Party of the Left and Left Unity can be the foundation for that Party and the sooner the better.
There is huge audience out there that cant stand any of the four main parties-they hate them all, and can you blame them? (and I include the far right UKIP, there is a huge anger and some of this has turned in on itself into a distrust of all politicians and all politics which in itself is dangerous to any form of democracy and plays right into the hands of the right and far right “populist” parties.
Left Unity can give working people hope, it can reconnect working people with a Party they can trust that is “their” Party, that is Socialist and open and democratic in how it operates day by day. This Party of hope, of democracy, of equality, of Socialism and so much more can be built and will be built if we have the confidence and unity to try to build a future that we can now only dream about but which together we can create. So lets start turning that dream of a democratic socialist future in which people come before profit in which each and everyone of us is of equal value and in which we as human beings can truly realise our true potential for the first time in all history. Let the Party begin!!
Many years ago the Chartists had a clear set of demands which really addresssed peoples needs and I think this would have helped the PA process. Do need unity on the left but the PA has been top down so far. May get better when regional/local assemblies get going and start amending things and delegates are sent next year but Left Unity needs to focus on its own development. Our strength should be that we are a left wing party and will do what we say – the PA may be radicalised or not and may end up with a progressive set of demands or not but Labour will just ignore them! So I think our energy should be with LU.
If one thing should make progressives think it is that capital is international, why can’t we be? Can’t we work with progressive partners in Europe and Globally to build A Global Working People’s Charter? I have already suggested some ideas to help iINTERNATIONAL LABOUR – A Global Minimum Wage (Duncan 2013) , A Global Shorter Working Week, Global Earlier Retirement, Global Better Health & Safety, An end to Global Austerity & Neo- Liberalism., Global Equality between Black & White, Male and Female, Gay & Lesbian, and Disabled. Could we help to unite the progressives of the World around 10/12 simple demands and build A Global Charter for Working Humanity! 4,000 people sounds a lot but that is out of 60m IT”S TIME FOR THE LEFT TO START THINKING REALLY BIG AND BEING iCREATIVE AND AMBITOUS AS GLOBAL CITIZENS! There is real hope!
For me, Saturday has taught us what we suspected: that Labour is no longer a friend of societies’ disadvantaged, is just another supporter of the capitalist system and that the big unions are snuggled up very cosily under the duvet with them. The time has come to stop listening to those wanting a pull leftwards from within, it simply isn’t going to happen. If we truly want radical change and an alternative to neoliberal austerity, the ONLY answer is a new party.
I attended the People`s Assembly and was very encouraged by not only many of the speakers, but also the enthusiasm shown by the vast majority of those present.
At first my thoughts were that this may detract from the building of Left Unity, but on reflection I think it may well contribute.
The reality is that there are an increasing number of Labour Party supporters who are increasingly upset by the statements of their leaders particularly the two Ed`s.
Many of the one`s I know are good trade unionists and a number of them are very unhappy. It is unlikely that they will immediately join Left Unity, but by setting up local People` assemblies a number of them will support this.
This will mean that thay will come into contact with Left Unity members which provides an opportunity to recruit. In short I can see that we should support People`s Assemblies and build as broad an alliance as possible whilst taking the opportunity to win over some disillusioned Labour supporters!
Absolutely! I agree.
Congratulations comrades, a wonderful idea: attack an interesting, articulate advocate of the left – just because we disagree with his particular prescription for the way forward.
Good job that a significant section of the working class are with us, otherwise we’d look a bit daft.
And pray please tell us what is so ‘interesting’ and so ‘leftist’ about comrade OJ?
Ha !! Well said Ben. Let’s attack Owen Jones instead of Miliband and Balls!! Know your enemy! ;)
I think Owen Jones is wrong on the Labour Party. He will either change his view or sell out. Let’s see which. In the meantime he is an articulate advocate of left politics in a neo-liberal desert. If there were more people like him on TV all the time we could afford to be more picky!
Owen Jones like all of these nouvelle demigod leaders I think are a controlled opposition.