Labouring Labour

LABOURING   LABOUR         1








           There was a time, long ago, when the Labour party felt like a crusade.  Voting for it meant voting for fairness, equality, help for the poor and dispossessed, new and original thinking, a strike against conservatism.   Now, for many, it has become conventional, often indistinguishable from the Tory party.   So faced with a choice, the dramatic leap to the Tories in the election could be explained by voters thinking they might as well go for a continuation of the party which seemed to be the safest to get the country through the economic crisis.    That crisis was the centre of the leaders' battleground - there was little idealistic talk of overturning a regime, and revolutionary thought was far away.
             So, what will happen to the Labour party now?   Will it become more challenging, more left wing, or might it be in danger of dying out in its present form?  The latter certainly seems a possibility.
            Founded in 1900 to secure better pay and rights for workers in the new industrialised society, it had links with the 19th century Chartist workers' movement for political reform.  It  has had a long history of struggle    And the struggles have been not only against the Tories.   There have been breakaway movements of historic significance and another may be on the way now.  The role of Labour in a world ruled by capitalism is difficult.   The leaders now talk of the need to embrace business, but with no clear message on how this will be done without compromising some traditional Labour principles.
               Labour has seen two major splinter movements in its history - one led by Aneurin Bevan,an important wartime Cabinet member and founder of the National Health Service after the war, and the late Tony Benn, who held a number of top Cabinet posts in the Labour government in the 'seventies and whose eventual rebellion against Labour gave birth to a significant  Bennite faction, presenting a serious threat to the established party.
                The Bevanites in the 'fifties were a powerful group, pressing for an internationalism and  ideas then regarded as dangerously close to communism, so unequivocally were they in favour of the working class against the rest of society.   He was also a great leader who drew faithful followers.  "He is a Bevanite" people would say suspiciously of a leading local figure, meaning they were not to be trusted because of their extremist views.
                  Tony  Benn said:  ""If the British people were ever to ask what power they truly enjoyed under our political system they would be amazed to discover how little it is.  The UK is only superficially governed by MP's and voters.  Parliamentary democracy is little more than a means of securing a periodical change in the management team which is thus allowed to preside over a system that remains in essence intact."
                    Now it seems that he is being proved right.




ends.