A programme for rescuing the worst exploited and the unemployed, the aged and the disabled, the poor and oppressed everywhere from the results of two decades of social and environmental neglect by governments, following extreme capitalist principles and practices, would have been necessary without a major world economic crisis. The threat of a slump developing deeper than any recession experienced since the 1930s makes it not just necessary but imperative. It is a tragic irony that the present leaders of the Labour Party should have espoused capitalist policies and capitalist alliances at the very moment when the whole capitalist system is in total disarray. Such defection from Labour's socialist foundations leaves the Party powerless and rudderless in face of the greatest opportunity it has had since 1945 to show that there is a democratic popular alternative to the rule of the untrammelled power of private wealth.
As democratic socialists we believe that it is necessary to create an alternative to the market domination of our economy and society. We believe that the creation of wealth should aim at the satisfaction of people's needs, instead of being subordinated to the criterion of profit. We are against the injustices, inequality, social exclusion and environmental destruction which is caused by unbridled markets, and we aim to overcome this process by the extension of democracy in economy and society, to prioritise social need and environmental protection, and put a stop to the polarisation of society into obscenely rich and desperately poor. This polarisation generates unemployment and economic crisis, and accompanies severe ecological damage.
The triumph of allegedly 'free' markets had already, before the onset of global crisis, brought about a dangerous erosion of democracy, and in Britain has undermined the independence of the Labour Party, with grave consequences for the representation of the majority of British citizens. The recent Labour Party Conference, for instance, was estimated to have involved two and a half million pounds of commercial sponsorship. Naturally, it was not possible to criticise those who funded this event. Indeed, one charitable organisation was asked to withdraw posters because they were deemed offensive by a commercial exhibitor in an adjacent slot in the Conference foyer. But of course, the commercial domination of the Conference is merely a public reflection of the private commercial domination of policy, with the incorporation of significant business interests at the heart of government.
Meantime, the traditional constituents of the Labour Party, whether they are working people and trade unionists, or whether they are pensioners, disabled people, students or poor people and claimants, find that their interests are not merely neglected, but they are actively targeted and victimised in a wholly unacceptable 'reform' of the welfare state. We think that the Welfare State needs reform, to make it more compassionate and accountable to those who need it as well as to those who work in it. But for New Labour, reform simply means 'cuts'. These cuts are driven by commercial considerations, seeking to diminish the 'burden' of taxation on companies and rich people. The frenetic attempt to reduce tax does not aim at improving the livelihood of poor and middle income citizens. It is predominantly concerned with maintaining the adverse redistribution of wealth, which so powerfully enriched the rich during the ascendancy of Mrs Thatcher. In this matter, as in so many others, the present Prime Minister is a direct continuator of Mrs Thatcher's work.
This is why the Independent Labour Network was formed, in order to bring together people within and outside the Labour Party, who wished to contribute to a renewal of British socialism, on the basis of a thorough-going commitment to greater equality, sound environmental policies, and internationalism.
The destructive 'reform' of the European electoral system was our first challenge. In order to purge the European Parliamentary Labour Party of a large number of Members who were opposed to the New Labour project, a wholly undemocratic system of proportional representation was invented. This would involve voting for Party lists, not for individual representatives, and would enable the Party leadership to decide not only who the candidates would be, but which of them would be allowed to 'win'. Whilst there is much to be said for an honest and fair system of proportionality in elections, there is nothing to be said for allowing Party bosses the degree of power which they will now have. And there is nothing whatever to be said for the abolition of Constituencies, which enable electors to hold their Members, whom they know, accountable.
Naturally, those who came together in the Independent Labour Network were bound to discuss whether or not this purge, and the destruction of democratic rights in the European elections, should be answered by an electoral challenge. But the priorities of the Network had been, from the beginning, the defence of the Welfare State, the demand for adequate pensions, opposition to the iniquitous imposition of student fees and the abolition of grants for students, and opposition to the penalisation of lone parents. From the beginning, the Network was actively involved in the defence of disabled people, who came under attack through the Benefit Integrity Project.
Network members have been concerned to find the best way to help to organise the defence of these wide sectors of the population who are the direct victims of New Labour's declared subordination to the market, and the 'dynamism of enterprise'.
We have concluded that the appropriate challenge in the European Elections should come from an Alliance of those social and environmental groups who have been opposing the impact of adverse market decisions and greedy entrepreneurs, however 'dynamic' they may be. So that, for the elections of 1999, the Independent Labour Network seeks to create an Alliance, as inclusive as possible, which would enable pensioners, students, the disabled, and a multitude of environmental defence groups, to make common cause for electoral support. We do not seek to create a new Party, but we are anxious to compel the Labour Government to return to its roots, and to uphold its long-term commitments to these constituencies.
Thus, we are committed to ending the scandal of poverty pensions, a pledge which every elected Labour representative has reiterated many times before the advent of Mr. Blair to the Labour leadership. Not one single labour representative had ever distanced himself or herself from the firm commitment to link increases in pensions to rises in the cost of living or average earnings, whichever was the highest. If our candidates were successful in the European Elections, they would naturally call on the Government to recognise this, and to immediately take appropriate action to liberate our pensioners from poverty. If the Government were unwilling to do this, then the Alliance would reserve the right to field more candidates in the next round of elections, until new Labour agreed to honour the promissory note which had been issued by the Labour Party prior to the present take-over by neo-liberals. In the same way, we are committed to a comprehensive education system open to all ages, free at the point of delivery. Making nursery places available to all children, lowering class sizes at primary and secondary level, ending tuition fees for students and restoring grants. Here, too, our abstention from future elections would require a reversal of Government policy.
Likewise, we are committed to rebuilding the National Health Service through democratic control and ownership. Services should remain free at the point of delivery, so that the Government should provide funding at the levels necessary to meet the health needs of the people. This implies an end to prescription charges, and action to make preventative care freely available. Similarly, we are committed to the provision of a decent Welfare System based on the redistribution of wealth through progressive taxation. We are committed to maintaining universal benefits free from means testing and taxation, and to ensuring that benefits are restored to 16 and 17 year olds. Levels of benefits, including pensions, child and maternity benefits and disability allowances must be fixed high enough to provide a decent standard of living. To meet these goals, we need to raise domestic spending levels on social welfare to at least the average enjoyed by our partners in the European Union.
We are committed to full employment by the introduction of a national 35 hour week, ending the casualisation of work, planning the social economy to create worthwhile jobs that meet social needs and protect the environment. Above all, we are committed to promoting a European strategy for job creation, with a new deal for massive investment in the economic infrastructure, and social and environmental recovery. This new deal should be developed in agreement with all the other socially progressive forces in Europe, to prioritise employment over all other economic considerations.
We are committed to a strong economy based on accountable public initiatives, with democratic controls. Rather than rely on laissez-faire capitalism, we seek positively to promote common and co-operative means of ownership, decentralised democratic control of public services and utilities by employees and local communities, and the introduction of nationalisation where nation-wide co-ordination makes common sense, such as postal services and the national grid.
We are committed to action against discrimination and the introduction of enforceable rights for all those sections of society usually faced with discrimination and social exclusion in all walks of life.
We are committed to the introduction of a charter of Trade Union and Workers' Rights which include the right to belong to a Trade Union, and the right to strike. We support full rights for all young people and part-time workers. And we are agreed that all existing anti-Trade Union laws should be repealed.
We are committed to protect our environment through the introduction of measures to control pollution, damage to health and environmental devastation. We are in favour of enforceable measures to reduce CO2 emissions substantially by the year 2005, and the introduction of quotas for industrial use of recycled materials. We also support the use of environmental protection policies to provide long-term employment. We shall continue to support the active efforts of environmental defence groups, and to provide public resources to make certain that such groups are never compelled to go without adequate legal support when they contest proposals for open-casting, landfill tipping, destruction of the Green Belt, inappropriate road construction, or polluting by recycling or other plants.
We think that the Alliance will be more than capable of developing these simple commitments, and widening the discussion in the population, in order to bring more and more people into the position in which they can actively participate in reshaping the conditions of their social and environmental lives.
Each of these commitments should be acted upon by Government, but if no such action can be agreed, then its absence invites further electoral opposition. This, the Alliance should consider at the appropriate time.
As for the Independent Labour Network itself, we are strongly committed to peace and to European Nuclear Disarmament. We think that Europe should become a nuclear-free zone, committed to the peaceful solution of disputes between States. We think that in Britain this means the decommissioning of the Trident programme and the reduction of the defence budget to at least the average of other European Union members. The savings on military spending could be reallocated to help secure improvements to education and the Health Service.
As democratic socialists we are committed to internationalism. We believe that all people should have the right to self-determination and be free from imperialist interventions. We are in favour of measures to cancel the developing world's debt and we are opposed to the introduction of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI). We are committed to work for an accountable, federal, democratic socialist Europe. This must be free from racism, xenophobic nationalism, and domination by multinational employer cartels. We are committed to work for democratic control over the institutions of monetary union and the European Central Bank, so that the new single currency will be used to improve the life and well-being of European citizens rather than provide profits for the rich to the detriment of public services and the environment.
Globally the advent of the Euro could, given wise socialist policies, help to crystallise new policies for international recovery. But if the Euro is only seen as a buttress for fortress Europe, then the crisis will be aggravated, and recession around the world will dip into outright slump.