Both liberals and socialists represent the 'left' albeit in different ways, each separately representing alternatives to conservatism, the 'right'. On each of those benches however there has been an ongoing struggle to establish a wider base, one more democratic, more moderate and more representative. In essence these have sought to unite these various left branches in a new alignment. These attempts were in a way accomplished in the 80's by a group of Labour Party members breaking away and forming the Social Democratic Party. So named for the common political approach on the continent, advocating the social market economy with more libertarian leanings to civil liberties.
This party, the SDP, quickly developed an alliance with the Liberal Party that eventually merged into the Liberal Democrats, dragging the Liberals to the economic left. In the meantime it also forced the hand of the Labour Party. After a decade being on the sidelines of the political scene, John Smith's protégés, Mr Tony Blair and Mr Gordon Brown, came to the fore and took Labour towards the centre ground. With the SDP merging into the now Liberal Democrats some members rejoined the Labour Party, which was now gathering steam towards a watered down version of its previously state driven stances, heavily influenced by social democracy towards attempting to make capitalism work for socialism.
This switch I think can be represented like this:
Labour in the 80's: Economic - Left Social - Centre-Right
Labour in the 90's: Economic - Centre-Right Social - Right
Liberals pre Merge: Economic - Right Social - Left
Liberals post Merge: Economic - Centre-Left Social - Left
The Labour Party had discovered, it seems, the need to appeal to a broader voter base in order to garner a strong enough position from which to administer the social justice it still offered. This has driven Labour markedly towards a results only tendency, at any cost; hence then their willingness to compromise on their economic system to best get the money to put into place all the exceptional systems they have during the previous 13 years. In doing so I don't think it would be unfair to suggest that this has alienated many older voters, the party left, comprising the mostly old socialist wing that feel betrayed by a party 'selling out' to the market & big business to get the job done and pandering to the rapidly expanding majority middle-class to win elections.
If nothing else the large number of small socialist parties and alliances in Britain ought to be an indication of this. But to some this shift might not be as much of a betrayal, seeing Labour as simply changing to match the shifting face of workers from industries towards service and the middle class aspiration that seems to have followed it. As the venerable Tony Benn (2010) put it:
'Well the Labour Party has never been a Socialist Party, but its always had Socialists in it.'The Liberals on the other hand face a similar centre drift, but in their case suffer from a lack of results, born from a willingness to compromise on some aims in order to ensure things are done fairly and legitimately. The old Liberal beliefs of defending civil liberties & freedoms concern less particular day to day outcomes than they do ensuring that everything is done within a liberal framework, sometimes derided as a technocratic approach.
There had been moves towards a more proactive liberalism, seeking progressive outcomes within a liberal system. For a time in the 1990s and early 2000s when the Liberal Democrats were led by Mr Paddy Ashdown and Mr Charles Kennedy, attempts were made at what they called a 'Re-alignment of the Left'. In reality a shift towards making social justice work within a liberal world that respects the individual.
As Labour has faced criticism for the authoritarianism they have displayed when seeking to implement its strategies for social justice, so the Liberal Democrats have been criticised for its unwillingness it muddy itself in the waters of issues and outcomes.
Both parties seemed to have found their solutions in the liberal attempts at a realignment, but their hopes of forming a great left, 'progressive' and forward-thinking alliance have been dashed numerous times, first by Labour's success and later by Labour's reluctance to stick around to keep the Tories out.
The shifts of both parties have been abated in recent years however. The Liberal Democrats retreated to its old liberal haunts in electing Mr Clegg who has often spoken out and stood for doing things a certain way rather than achieving particular desired ends, willing to sacrifice ends to do things how he feels they should be done. And Labour have withdrawn to a position of almost passive neutrality following Mr Brown's departure from Downing Street.
This halt in the drift was brought on by the 2010 UK General Election, where the British left finally surrendered control of the government to the right. It is at the right we will look in the next issue.
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References:
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+ Tony Benn & Mehdi Hasan with Jeremy Paxman; YouTube 2010;
+ Ivor Crewe & Anthony King's 'SDP: The Birth, Life, and Death of the Social Democratic Party
';Oxford University Press, 1995.
Books on the politics of the Liberal Democrats
+ Duncan Brack, Richard S. Grayson & David Howarth's (eds) 'Reinventing the State: Social Liberalism for the 21st Century
';Politico's, 2007. (Various Contributors, inc. Nick Clegg)
+ Danny Alexander's (ed) 'Why Vote Liberal Democrat?
';Biteback, 2010.
+ Charles Kennedy's 'The Future of Politics
';HarperCollins, 2000.
Books on the politics of the Labour Party
+ Rachel Reeves' (ed) 'Why Vote Labour?
';Biteback, 2010.
+ Gordon Brown's 'Beyond the Crash: Overcoming the First Crisis of Globalisation
'; Simon & Schuster, 2010.+ Professor Andrew Thorpe's A History of the British Labour Party (British Studies Series)
;Palgrave Macmillan, 2011
+ Peter Kilfoyle's Labour Pains: How the party I love lost its soul
;Biteback,2010
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