The background to
The People’s Charter…
…and where we might go with it
We often talk about the
“Thatcher generation” meaning those people whose growing up formative years
took place during those dark years of consistent and vicious attacks on working
people.
But the Thatcher years had more
effects than scarring many people and distorting a generation’s view of what is
right and wrong and how the world works and could work.
Those years saw the
establishment of a neoliberal consensus, though we didn’t call it that at the
time. They saw Thatcher’s “TINA” mantra – “There Is No Alternative” – firmly
established in the minds of many politicians far beyond the Conservative Party.
At first the shelving of
socialist policies and the move towards a neoliberal outlook was grudgingly
accepted by many particularly in the Labour Party in the name of electability.
Neil Kinnock elected leader in 1983 argued that it was “no good having all the
policies if we never have power” – and began a process of policy change. Many
reluctantly went along with such changes believing that a future Labour
Government would actually carry out much more positive, progressive policies
once elected.
The Labour Party in terms of
policy supported the Miners’ Strike, but Neil Kinnock chose to “keep his powder
dry” or sit on the fence as some would say. The defeat of the miners
accompanied by the decline in Trade Union membership that was largely the
result of the breaking up, privatisation and outright and destruction of major
industries convinced the “modernisers” in the Labour
Party that they had to accelerate the process. But Kinnock lost the 1987 and
1992 elections. The lesson learned was not that the labour Party needed to
return to its roots. Perhaps the process would have been different if the new
leader of the labour party John Smith had lived. But his early death brought an
arch moderniser to the leadership – Tony Blair.
Blair and his group pursued “The
Project” of modernisation but this was no grudging process with the mistaken
belief that to be electable you had to adopt the policies of the Tories to
attract “middle
The socialism of Marx, of centralised state control of industry
and production, is dead. It misunderstood the nature and development of a
modern market economy: it failed to recognise that the state and public sector
can become a vested interest capable of oppression as much as the vested
interests of wealth and capital; and it was based on a false view of class that
became too rigid to explain or illuminate the nature of class division today.
T Blair, Ethics, Marxism and True Socialism,
Fabian Pamphlet 565 (
The abandonment of Clause 4 of the Labour
Party constitution for the social ownership of the means of production,
distribution and exchange was not symbolic – it was a milestone, a signpost
indicating a new direction.
A much more was to follow in the New Labour
Government. Of course there were many positives. The public sector funding
famine suffered under the Tories was brought to an end.
But we also saw the policies of the neoloiberal consensus as we now call it.
The maintenance of the
anti-Union laws. The continuing and accelerating privatisation process and
attacks on the public service ethos as “complacency”. The
fragmentation of the education system. The
deregulation of the private sector – particularly the financial sector. The integration of the “business community” into government.
The widening of the wealth poverty gap – and despite early
progress, the increase in numbers of children living in poverty to its current
figure of 3.9 million. Inadequate benefits. The massaging of the growing unemployment figures. Real
terms pay cuts for the public sector. Attacks on pensions.
The development of the massive “bonus culture” for the
already rich. The alliance with the
The Labour Party haemorrhaged members, but
most did not join anything else. The Trade Union movement opposed the symptoms
but fearful of “getting the Tories back” stopped short of outsight opposition.
So here we are 12 years on from the election
of a Labour government. Are workers better off? Is there greater job security?
Does the economy work for the people, or for the rich and wealthy few? Is there
a better future for our children? Are comprehensive education and the NHS
properly supported?Are our
public services secure? Is there a future for manufacturing? Is everyone
guaranteed decent housing? Are pensions secure? Are we
guaranteed a dignified and secure old age? Are families protected from poverty
and homelessness? Is
It is against this background that the
People’s Charter has emerged. It was first called for in a Morning Star article
in September 2008. Shortly after a steering group came up
with the 6 points of the People’s Charter, which you have in front of you.
The Charter is a recognition that the trade
union and labour movement cannot go on keeping quiet and hoping for the best.
We cannot go on responding to individual attacks with the hope of winning. We
have to get off the back foot and take the initiative campaigning amongst the
ordinary working people of
That’s what the Charter is… a campaigning
tool. It is certainly NOT as some try to present it a new political party.
It is intended to be open to all. To members of the Labour Party to use in their battle to reclaim
their party from neoliberalism and return it, organisationally and politically
to the working people. To trade union members in their
efforts to get there unions to work together for new progressive policies, and
in their fight against the anti-trade union laws. To environmental
campaigners in their attempt to wake us all up to the disaster that unbridled
capitalism has brought us to. To anti-war campaigners,
ant-racist campaigners to help them embed their activities. To young people in their need for real jobs and training and decent
wages. To anti poverty campaigners to help them link up with all the
related areas of health and housing. And to many, many more individuals and
groups who will relate to the Charter from any one of dozens of starting point,
and start to work together in unity.
And it is certainly not an attack on Labour in
advance of the general Election as some have claimed. In fact it is a lifeline
to the Labour Party. Some claim that it will lose the election for Labour. The
fact is that there is only one political organisation that is likely to lose Labour
the election – and that is the Labour Party. They will not lose because
socialism has made them “unelectable”. They are likely to lose because working
class people feel betrayed and abandoned by New Labour. Only if the Labour
Party changes political course over the next few months – perhaps adopting some
of the Charter policies into the manifesto – will they have any chance of
winning that core support back, getting activists out on the knocker, getting
some feeling of political hope back instead of the resigned but often justified
cynicism that “I don’t think I’ll bother – they’re all the same aren’t they?”
So the People’s Charter belongs to everyone –
but to no political grouping or coalition. Its national convention on November
21st will welcome people of all political affiliations and none. All
that’s required is that they support the 6 points and want to work for them in
whatever setting the individual is active.
The endorsement of the Charter by the
overwhelming vote of the TUC was a big step forward, but we cannot now sit back
and hope that Congress House will get everything underway. We all need to get
stuck in and get Charter groups going all round the country. We’ve had a few
events here in