PES Manifesto

1. Win back working class credentials by ConorMac on Monday, July 28, 2008 at 16:59

I think we need to be careful not to generalise here. The PES is obviously a diverse party in itself, with member parties from all over the EU and beyond. Different member states have different internal situations.

Member states such as France and Britain for example have marked social divisions within the working class between different ethnic groups, immigrants and "natives." I believe that breaking down these divisions is something the PES member parties can contribute to by pointing out what common challenges 'WE' face as working class people. At a European level PES Activists can share their experiences and advise activists in other member parties how they went about addressing social divisions.

 I used the word 'we' to bring up a question you posed in the article...

'But if we are not working class, and we are supposed to be "labour" parties, then who will represent the working class, if they feel we are not talking a language which they understand?'

Like I said before, different member parties come from different enviornments. In Ireland, for one, it is not my experience that the Labour Party is run by an élite of academics. A number questions must be asked before I proceed. Do you suddenly become alien to the working class by going to university? Should we really asking patronising questions like 'who will represent the working class, if they feel we are not talking a language which they understand?

It is my experience, in both member parties on my island, that most members, not all but most, had a working class upbringing or at least in grew up in a working class neighbourhood. As such a person, I don't feel as if I suddenly became part of a distant élite as soon as I had the luck to be able to attend university. When I finish my studies next year I will still have the friends and family I did three years ago.

Of course this may not be the case in all member parties. I know that in Ireland, the Labour Party's current active membership has roots in the trade unions and the republican movement before the IRA schism. But I also must admit that many Labour votes do come from university graduates, particularly those still working in academia, and many Labour activists honed their skills as members of students unions.

In other countries where such grassroots activism has petered out in the last few decades perhaps member parties should try to win back their working class credentials by tackling the reasons offered in the Hungarian article you mentioned. These factors are preyed upon by the right to increase animosity towards immigrants and to widen the distance between the working class and the left. I believe we too can face issues like disillusionment and frustration head on. Such engagement will not only bring the left closer to the working class, to do so would only increase disillusionment, but will also help bring an end to these problems in their own right. PES member parties, particularly those like the Irish Labour party and SDLP who still have "street cred", can share their experiences and advise eachother to on how to win this effort.

This requires hard work and dedication on the part of activists. This requires interpersonal engagement not only media campaigns. This requires individual activists telling individual members of the public how vote for socialism is a vote for change. Once these votes are won, the working class need to really see how these changes are helping them. They do not need to be told how, perhaps, maybe in the future a committee could be set up to listen to their concerns with a view to eventual action.........sorry for the cliché..... action speaks louder than words.

2. Working closer with unions by eamonngog on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 at 10:35

Interesting posts. It is definitely true that different PES member parties have different situations and therefore different connections to the working class. As in Ireland, the British Labour Party has it's roots in trade unions. However, there is a growing distance. To the best of my knowledge, almost half of the Labour cabinet in the UK are law graduates and most if not all of the rest have university degrees. That said, the link with trade unions remains and one of the MPs tipped to become next Labour leader and hopefully Primeminister, Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for Health, has reached his current position by rising through the ranks of the Union of Communications Workers. The SoS for Children, Schools and Families Ed Balls has been very active in the Transport and General Workers Union.

While this link may exist in Labour parties in Britain and Ireland, I'm not sure if the same inherent link exists in other European countries. There is a widening gap I in many EU member states between the working class and those who claim to fight for them. Perhaps this gap can be filled by working closer with trade unions and community groups. 

3. Relative positions re Ireland and UK by carl0s on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 at 18:31

Thanks for the feedback, I'm pleased to get a reaction! In regards to the situation of Ireland, I understand that the Irish Labour Party has 20 seats out of the 160 in the Irish Parliament, and have not yet broken into the 2 main parties' core consituency. This doesn't invalidate your points, it just reflects that in this case the Irish Labour Party is a relatively minor mass movement, and it is therefore it is hard to draw parallels with the UK Labour Party, which has been in and out of government since 1924.

" At a European level PES Activists can share their experiences and advise activists in other member parties how they went about addressing social divisions."

Exactly right. But as I say in the original article, an analysis of the social and occupational attendees at Vienna would have shown a bias towards people with degrees, public sector workers, people in clerical or administrative positions. And for me it would be interesting to capture more of this data at the next Activists meeting. Because we are not simply acting to mend social divisions, we are representing the socially excluded and those who are employed across a range of industries and trades (ie most people). There is a big difference and the best way for the working class to be represented is to fully represent themselves.

It's hard to say whether the differences here between us are merely semantic or truly philosophical. Many social democratic parties are increasingly beginning to resemble "Animal Farm" with various cliques of slick young ambitious professionals playing the role of the pigs - and the other farm animals effectively excluded, often by default. And no, in many cases, social democrats nowaday are not seen to be on the side of the poor or disadvantaged. I'm really interested why not.

More parochially, very few trade unionists in the UK would back Alan Johnson, which is why he lost the deputy leadership last year. And Ed Balls may be talented, but as he is privately educated, he is not a link to the working class, and wouldn't pretend to be...