From the outset, let me say that I don’t support violence as a basis for political protest. Those of us who are democratically elected should think carefully before endorsing violent protest. But let’s not forget the lessons from history. Britain has a tradition of radical and violent political protest that has brought about significant change and has been a major contributory factor in ousting prime ministers.
Yes, the commentators and the same old tired and reactionary voices in the media are correct. A one off protest, where actions such as we saw in the recent student march, can easily be dismissed as the work of anarchists, extremists and a minority, rather than symptomatic of something more profound.
Many of those who acted as they did in Millbank are not Labour students nor, I suspect, members of some Marxist-Leninist revolutionary cell. But what we saw earlier this month was a genuine anger. It is just the beginning and Labour needs to recognise that.
So the question is: what will Labour do? The party needs to understand the anger and the growing militancy and harness it. That doesn’t mean encouraging people to become violent agitators, but Labour must tap into their discontent and direct it.
We need to foment and encourage protest and dissent – and make clear that we understand the anger. We must represent those who are angry and stress that the Government needs to face the consequences of its actions. It is not for us to apologise for those who express their fear and anger with protest. It is for others to defend their actions that have brought thousands onto the streets.
For too long, Labour has been reduced to the voice of “managerialism”. We have talked about efficiencies, targets, key performance indicators and so on. Now, however, another voice is needed.
We must again be the voice of a mass protest movement. We should take this opportunity to take the debate out of council chambers, town hall offices, Whitehall and Westminster and onto the streets and
into communities, hospitals, schools and workplaces.
We need to build and create a movement of protest – not a one-off student demonstration, but a co-ordinated series of protests, utilising the anger and determination within the trade union movement to bring about a wave of action that hasn’t been seen for years. If we remain debating on the Tory turf – that cuts had to come and we are “all in this together” – then a truly historic opportunity for Labour to reconnect with its roots as a mass movement party may be lost forever.
If we don’t seize this chance, another generation will go by without the passion that helped keep large parts of this country Tory-free. This isn’t about Labour retreating to its core support. In the beginning, with the media establishment worried and frightened by what it sees on the streets, it is bound to attack us and decry what it sees as extremism. But we must hold our nerve. A co-ordinated programme of campaigns in communities, in tandem with industrial action, can shift
the political paradigm away from discussing the economy and policies on Tory terms and in the comfort of Parliament to what is actually happening to millions of people.
The debate might then become, not a series of Tory politicians proclaiming what is good for us, but an argument about people’s lives, prospects, jobs and communities surviving. The focus must be on why the poorest are being hit hardest. Ordinary hard-working men and women are taking the strain of the Tory cuts. We must show that the Tory-Liberal Democrat political elite is out of touch, attacking the most vulnerable. We need to promote an organic movement demanding a different approach.
The alternative is that we march politely, get ignored, leave genuine action to those who can be easily attacked as extremists and resign ourselves to the fact that everything Labour has fought for over generations to build up and protect is being unpicked bit by bit by this ideologically-driven Government.
Some may despair that Labour has no sense of co-ordinated action against the sheer vandalism of the coalition. We will never win a debate where we accept that cuts are inevitable and reluctantly do the Government’s bidding and help to implement the cuts. That would be self-defeating, play into the perception of universal agreement over cuts and undermine any attempt to argue that the Government’s slash-and-burn approach is ideological rather than necessary.
As part of a new radical campaign of national co-ordinated protest, the message must be simple. The cuts are ideological and unnecessary. If we really were “all in it together”, then we might see the super-rich marching. The investment banks will continue to exemplify why we need to argue and act for change. Their bonus culture has returned – unabashed, unashamed and as obscene as it was before the banking crisis. It truly is one rule for the working people of this country and another for David Cameron and his fellow millionaires.
We are at a crossroads for the labour movement. It is time to embrace the coalescing of events and circumstances. Let’s reunite the political and industrial wings of our movement and fight hard to bring about a mass protest movement to shake this coalition to its very foundations. That will challenge its legitimacy and right to act as it is.
The alternative is to condemn the anger, missing the mood of those who should be part of the Labour fold, remaining managerial and aloof and unconnected and ignoring this once-in-a generation opportunity to make the case for an alternative vision for Britain.
From the campaigns of Chartism, for universal suffrage and against the poll tax, there is a tradition in this country of going beyond polite protest when we are ignored – and it has delivered real change. Let this decade bring a similar movement: one that Labour can harness, lead, define and grow to bring down this rotten Government which has, within months, begun to destroy that which we’ve spent decades fighting to build. Let’s understand the anger, tap into it and use it.
This is no time for managers in the Labour Party. It’s time for campaigning and it’s time to rediscover our movement’s roots – political dissent and protest to protect those who cannot represent or speak for themselves.
Alan Laing is a Labour councillor in Hackney. He writes in a personal capacity
