I’ve joined Labour. There’s never been a better time for Green socialists to do so too.
This article is part of Bright Green’s ‘Labour or Green?’ series- if you’d like to contribute to this series, please send a draft to front-desk@project1-hvznj9e2s8.live-website.com
A few months ago, I resigned my membership of the Scottish Green Party (and GPEW), and joined Labour and Momentum. Now that Labour has a temporary reprieve in its internal war, it’s a good time to reflect on our objectives. I believe eco-socialists in the Green Party should join the fight.
I should say firstly that I don’t normally go around telling people to switch political parties (I have been invited to write this piece by Bright Green’s editors). I understand the many personal and political reasons why someone might stick with the Greens. I’m here to offer a perspective rather than to preach.
I was never a member of the Greens simply because they were the parties that I agreed with most. Nor was I deluded enough to think that one day the Greens will be in government, and everything will be better. Indeed, even if by some miracle Greens did win an election in time to make the changes needed to avoid climate catastrophe, almost everywhere in the world where Greens have been in government they’ve been the kind of liberal party which is obsessed with small business and willing to compromise on its principles.
Most socialists are under no such delusions about the potential for a Green socialist government. For a socialist the reason to be in the Green Party was threefold:
- Through political education and discussion, to promote socialist thought amongst a group of politically-engaged party members.
- To contribute leftist ideas to the public discourse through interventions in elections, debates, campaigns, etc.
- To create conditions which make it more likely that other parties (Labour and, latterly, the SNP) will take more left-wing positions, generally by presenting an electoral threat from the left.
The first of these objectives can be achieved in any left-leaning political party, or indeed any political group whether it’s a party or not, so it’s a moot point.
The second was actually achieved very convincingly by the Scottish Greens during the independence referendum, but I don’t think the Green Party of England and Wales has ever made a particularly significant intervention into public discourse, and it doesn’t really matter whether that’s because of a lack of mainstream media attention or because of the party’s ineffectiveness. Moreover, right now there are more socialists in Britain than there have been at any point in my lifetime, and socialist ideas have a greater prominence now than they have ever had in my lifetime. Those things have almost nothing to do with the Green parties’ work over the last 27 years, and almost everything to do with the election of Jeremy Corbyn to the Labour leadership just over one year ago. That fact alone made me realise that as a Green I was working on a political project which ultimately would be swept away by the currents of history.
And the third surely doesn’t need refuting. Why would you spend time and effort trying to make the Greens a sufficient enough electoral threat, in the vain hope that Labour will stop chasing the centre ground and start targeting left wing voters, when you could instead take part directly in decisions within the Labour Party about which direction the party should take, and which voters it should target?
Previously there was no point joining Labour because the lack of party democracy meant you would be a footsoldier for crap centrist ideas, but that is simply no longer true! The internal electoral system has changed, the left now has a majority at the NEC, and there is strong organisation on the left which has grown out of Corbyn’s election campaign. The fossilised structures which blocked democratic participation can be torn up and thrown away, but only if we pull together!
Some will read this and think that they can’t join Labour out of disgust at positions it’s taken in the past. But there have been three general elections since the vote to go to war in Iraq (and besides, most of the votes against that war came from Labour). There aren’t that many MP’s left from that era. Most party members have joined in the last two years and have similar views to you and me. Few of the same people are still involved, so what is it that actually disgusts you? The Labour Party’s brand? There isn’t much else which binds the party today to the party of 2003. Staying in the Greens for this reason says to me that you care more about the purity of your own political positioning than about actually making change.
You only have to look at the frequency with which Corbyn’s name appears on the front page of Bright Green to know that what’s happening in Labour right now is a pivotal point in the history of political awareness and discourse in Britain. Green socialists have much to teach our comrades in the Labour left about participatory democracy, decentralisation of power and approaches to the climate crisis, but we can do precious little by cheerleading from the sidelines. It’s time to join in.
The Author seems to have missed one major raison d’etre of the Green Party. The biggest socialist issue we now face is Climate change. Caused by the wealthiest on the planet and affecting the poorest this is the most fundamental struggle any socialist now faces. Corbyn hails from an era when growing the economy combined with wealth distribution was seen as the solution to wealth inequality. The Green Party is the only party who sees growth as part of the problem and is better off without such unreconstructed so called socialists.
The Author seems to have missed one major raison d’etre of the Green Party. The biggest socialist issue we now face is Climate change. Caused by the wealthiest on the planet and affecting the poorest this is the most fundamental struggle any socialist now faces. Corbyn hails from an era when growing the economy combined with wealth distribution was seen as the solution to wealth inequality. The Green Party is the only party who sees growth as part of the problem and is better off without such unreconstructed so called socialists.
I’m not sure what the Local Labour party is like in the authors area. Here in Brighton it is all out war between the Momentoes and Blairites (and yes that’s not an insult but a fairly accurate description of the leader of the council and his aides who have instrumented the annulment of a recent exec election where Momentum backed candidate s swept the board)
If activists want to spend most of their energy fighting an internal war..
A recent council Ward by-election sawa candidate get support from Momentoes from the area and beyond in canvassing etc. Here had photo shoots with Owen Smith and Corbyn. He secured the support of both elements, but which does he actually represent? Soo far he has supported a campaign to close a local library and continued as interim party secretary (following the annulment) which is now likely to split the area party back into 3 constituencies, ensuring Blairite MP Peter Kyle won’t be deselected. A charlatan has hoodwinked local Momentum activists it seems.
Think it quite likely there would not be a Corbyn led Labour party if it had not been for the greens, SNP and Plaid threatening Labour from the left. There is no need to join labour imv if you believe in equality, social justice and the devastating effects of ignoring climate change and want the next UK government to be a labour coalition. There is a need for Labour to support PR in their manifesto. They will not do that unless they believe that they cannot win the next election without the support of the greens,libdems, Plaid and SNP imv.
Rob
The reason I wouldn’t switch is simply that I see no evidence that the Labour Party takes the threats facing the environment seriously. I guess that means I stress the Eco more than the Socialist but there it is.
Generally sensible and well-argued, though I’m not sure you’re giving due credit to the GPEW, and the contribution that the Green Surge made to laying the groundwork for the rise of Corbyn, or the party’s potential future effects on the country’s political direction.
Good luck pulling Scottish Labour to the left! So far it’s seemed largely immune to the revitalisation we’ve seen in Labour south of the border, presumably largely because the Green and SNP both seem like more plausible vehicles for left-wing policies and discourse for now. If Scottish Labour ever start looking like a socialist party, I’m sure a few of us will be scratching our heads and wondering what to do next.
Firstly I would question why the editors of the Bright Green website invited the author to submit an article which is arguing that people should leave the Green Party for another party. Can only be intended to damage the Green Party as an entity. Secondly I don’t have a problem with anyone joining the Labour Party or Lib Dems if that is where they feel their political views are best represented. My problem is with the implication that the Green Party is just some repository for disaffected former supporters of other parties. It isn’t. It has existed under one name or another since 1973 and is the only UK political party which puts ecologism/ environmentalism, whatever you want to call it at the centre of its core values and also combines this with a radical social justice approach. Labour don’t really convince me on the environmentalism, even under Mr Corbyn, and the Lib Dems are neo-liberal through and through and help foist austerity on us.
Hi Mark- I’m one of the editors for the site.
The point of the series isn’t to ‘damage’ any political party, but to have a debate about where both are at and which (if any) is the best way forward (or if they can both be utilised by the left). Bright Green isn’t aligned with any particular party so there’s no reason we can’t run a series that does this 🙂
But I don’t agree with plenty of Labour policies! Nuclear power/weapons, supporting airports, carmakers, not supporting fair voting (PR), not understanding the sustainable economics that the Greens stand for. And I’m waiting for the examples of positive socialist governments in power (Ecuador maybe, slightly…?)
And I am very disappointed with Momentum/Corbyn presently: they’ve been rowing internally recently and failing to provide opposition eg re the Brexit/Parliament issue. I also think Corbyn is not any good at getting a positive inspiring message communicated, ie not just anti-austerity and inequality, but ‘we can build a better society and world by doing this xxx which will be better for all’ narrative.
Having said the above, I am doing what I can locally to connect positively and work with Momentum supporters etc