TUC and the Cuts
The TUC is mobilising the Unions against cuts which hit the disdvantaged. So long as the protest does not become a rash of wild and damaging political strikes which hurt the very people it seeks to champion, this is all part of life in a free society and it is good for a virile democracy. It may not in the short run be good either for the TUC or Labour.
For too long the U.K workforce has lacked a champion. New Labour walked away and the absense of any serious political or intelectual challenge from the Left has contributed towards the excesses of the financial bubble and the disintegration of society’s ability to nurture the universal community spirit, so important a theme of life in Britain in times past.
This is now changing. Labour is moving left and if Ed Milliband wins, it will become both the conscience of the people, the champion of the workforce and the friend of the vulnerable in need. It will be focused and powerful, but it may not be electorally powerful enough.
Lined up opposite will be a revised from of Liberal Conservatism, last seen between 1931 and 1964. During that time the socially progressive Liberals, including Churchill, fell in with a much more liberal brand of one nation Toryism. During that time the combination held power for 27 of the 33 years. When given a choice between a left drifting Labour and right drifting Tories, the voters first went marginally for Labour and then at full blast for the Tories of Thatcher and Tebbit. Until Labour moved to occupy the vacated centre ground, it got nowhere. But for the prize of power, it sold its soul. Now Labour has to purge itself and renew. It has a duty to do so.
The country needs to hear the argument. To win it could take, if history repeats itself, quite a time. If the country sees winning back prosperity as a challenge like winning WWII, it will support the cuts and get on with the job. If it then sees the election year of 2015 in the same political terms as 1945, a renewed Labour could be there with a chance. A very big chance. It needs to prepare and plan. It needs to live again.