Where to for progressive politics in Ireland?

An acre of news print has been written about the future of progressive politics in Ireland since Pat Rabbitte’s resignation as Labour Leader, and Eamon Gilmore’s election unopposed this week. Some has been insightful and credible. From within the Labour Party though, too much emphasis has been put on ‘the brand’ and an increasing belief that their problems can be sorted with a refreshed image and a new logo. If only it were that simple.

It’s not just the Irish Labour Party reflecting on a series of electoral misses, the SDLP and the PS in France are in the same boat, all searching for ways to make their type of progressive politics appealing to the bulk of the electorate.

Some will argue that the ‘left’ is sliding because the relationships between capital and labour, on which it was founded, has changed to the extent that class based politics is no longer relevant. Others will say that the race to the centre has forced progressive parties out of their natural space and onto territory bringing only confusion and internal dissent (the trade unions are not generally too keen on public private partnerships for example).  The anglophiles will point to New Labour and its marketing success and in complimentary or condemnatory tones comment that they are all spin – and that is why they win.

So has the relationship between capital and labour changed beyond Marx’s wildest dreams? Yes. Is the class divide crumbling and is traditional socialism becoming increasingly irrelevant in the twenty first century? Yes. Is this a bad thing? Well, no, unless you think that better education and healthcare, better jobs, any form of globalisation and the technological revolution are bad things. But we all know that things aren’t perfect. Far from it, and herein lies the opportunity for progressive politicians everywhere.

In 2007 people are more empowered than ever. And the opportunity for the centre left in politics to represent that personal empowerment and deliver a continuing message of hope has never been greater. The successful centre left politicians of the past twenty years in Britain and Ireland have all stood in front of the banner of advancement – economic advancement, social advancement, political advancement and societal advancement. They were leaders of empowerment who connected with the marginalised as much as the affluent and most critically, who communicated to the ordinary working man and woman. They said “support me and I will support you and your ambitions, your hopes for your children and your community”. They connected with the working majority without forgetting the marginalised minorities. Essentially they were for the many, not the few.

John Hume was such a politician. His SDLP was positive and liberating. It talked about peace and jobs and a post-sectarian New Ireland. It was empowering and built on possibility not rejection. As Hume put it “solutions, not slogans”.

The same could be said for Dick Spring. In the late eighties he represented the ambition for a better Ireland that in many ways has become the Celtic Tiger. He talked about levelling up not levelling out. His Labour Party was about better education and health care of course, but also about innovation and entrepreneurship. There was substance behind the message.

In capturing the imagination and the votes of the ambitious they always sought to build on what was right about society. No ideology is perfect. None can claim a monopoly on right and the best progressive politics builds on what has worked in the past. It is never destructive or negative. Blair mastered this. After two decades of conservatism and a full decade in labour party civil war, his turn came to present a credible, and by this I mean electable, Labour Party to the people. Many criticised him for appearing to swing too far to the right. I think this is unfair. Any examination of the 1997 manifesto would corroborate that this was a Labour Party standing for election not a conservative one. What labour traditionalists were more likely criticising was his ‘appearing’ to swing. New Labour had learnt from the Iron lady and they were going to beat her party at its own game.  New Labour would be the party of opportunity and hope – not the party that says you can’t own your council house, the very thing Mrs Thatcher was to the people of Britain in the late seventies.

Fast forward a decade in Ireland and Bertie Ahern wins an historic third term as the Taoiseach of hope and opportunity, something Dick Spring had represented in 1997.  He became the hero of the commuter belt. The representative of those who drive the Celtic tiger, not from behind the CEO’s desk but in the call centre and on the shop floor, the ‘added value’ in the knowledge based economy.

There is a gaping need for progressive, centre left politics because there is a huge difference between talking the talk and walking the walk. Having a social democratic model for a society is pretty pointless if you never get the chance to implement it. Telling people all about what is wrong with their country when they are fairly happy with things is rarely successful. Being a party of protest in a world of opportunity is as contradictory as it sounds.

The Celtic Tiger is aging and the North has reached an accommodation and yet this is, more than ever, an island of ambition. As our major social democratic parties enter new phases they should think about how to start talking the talk and then set about demonstrating how they, above all others, can walk the walk. In simple terms, modernise your policies and develop strong messages. By this I mean polices that are relevant, new relationships with the trade unions, a little less protest. More than credible on the economy, strong on equality, a community voice with a national vision, pluralist and ambitious. That’s the sort of social democratic party that could succeed in the twenty first century.

p.s.
My good friend Ronan O’Brien, a former special adviser to Ruairi Quinn, has penned an article for tomorrow’s Sunday Business Post on the challenges facing Irish Labour which I’ll post it here too. Ronan is likely to bring depth and substance to this debate and I hope suggest come specific actions to meet the challenge outlined above.