My political spirits have been a little low of late but I have been immensely cheered by a trip to Cambridge where I met a great spectrum of people still engaged with the Labour Party. They ranged from young students involved in the University's Labour Club to comrades who were around 30 years ago when I was a member of the Castle Ward in Cambridge CLP . Different views, different experiences, but all committed to keeping socialism on the agenda . I hope the Cambridge LRC gets off the ground and I also hope the new generation of left activists put their names forward as much as they can as local councillors and PPCs. With MPs who have let us down standing down, there will be many opportunities for a fresh start- and candidates standing on a ticket of traditional Labour values . Let's get to it ! People have had enough of those who see Westminster as a gravy train......
Friday, 29 May 2009
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8 comments:
Cambridge, eh? Good to know that Labour is thriving in its heartlands...
Any of them on Labours list of up and coming Brownites, thats the real question if your not on the Labour list your chance of getting anywhere is well zero, but it would be nice to see a Few non students getting elected we have enough accountants enough solicitors, Barristers, how about a few house wife's and few bricklayers a few disabled people who are just disabled people getting a Chance. nope just a thought.
Cheap shot, VP.Cambridge is a marginal which has a long tradition of decent Labour activists. It is also a town where there are many council estates,low wages, deprivation and disgruntlement at the University's domination in terms of employment, owning valuable land and , yes, being a bastion of privilege.
It's no doubt easier to think the University is utterly comprised of toffs swilling champagne. The young people who were at the meeting ranged from the Compass left to the AWL and Socialist Appeal.None was New Labour. And they don't deserve to be sneered at. Neither do the CLP members who are just as against neo-liberal policies as those in more traditional Labour areas.But then you obviously don't know the territory - just the cliches
Ok, here goes.
Cambridge.
Cambridge is a city where 800 years of University domination have left it with a culture of low wages.
A city with no appreciable industry, and what industry it does have is being squeezed out by a synical collaboration between the Tory dominated County council and the Lib-Dem dominated District council.
A collaboration which means that virtually no land is going to be available for house building for a very long time, and yet, the City council has a housing needs register currently standing at 6000+ individuals and families needing to be housed.
A City of over 100 thousand people that didnt have to wait for the credit crunch to kill off its Woolworths,its Woolworths went years ago. Forced out by high rents and greedy landlords.
(By the way,the bingo hall closed last week...)
A City that serves a sub-region that had its major employing industry destroyed fifty years before the Tories closed the pits.
But I dont recall demonstrations in the streets in support of the agricultural workers.
A City where its hospital workers and street sweepers are forced to live 35-40 miles away because they cant afford to rent in the City, let alone think of buying.
But have to work in Cambridge because there just isnt any other work.
And,yes, a City with two world class universities and some of the most stunning buildings in the world.
So, I agree with VP, Labour is thriving in its heartlands.
Its thriving because it see's the people caught in the tourist trap.
Its thriving because it needs to be.
So, come to Cambridge, look at its beautiful sights.
Its commons, which bring the countryside into the heart of the city.
Visit its famous colleges.
Look at its internationally recognised art galleries.
Take a punt out on the Cam.
And then go take walk down Campkin Road.
Or Colville Road.
Or any one of the (former) council estates, or one of the eighties spec estates, and be aware of the other Cambridge.
End of rant....!
How many of those "young people" were Cambridge students, Susan?
Let's get real here - if the "revival of the Labour Left" relies upon constituencies like Cambridge then it is doomed. If the best response you've got is "it's got council estates and unemployment" (as has every major town and city in the UK, to one degaree or another), then I think it's you who doesn't get the political territory. When it comes down to it, Cambridge (or Leamington Spa, or Winchester) isn't really like Hull, Leeds, Doncaster, Liverpool, or Sheffield, is it?
The fact is that the "Labour" Party is well on its way to getting the mother of all kickings at the ballot box on Thursday, and it deserves to do so. No amount of wistful talk about a "left wing" membership who are just waiting for the right moment to boil into open revolt will change the fact that this is, structurally, politically and in terms of legislative record, a right-wing government which does not deserve the support of progressives at the polls.
I've nothing against good people who happen to be in the Labour Party (such as yourself), but it hardly seems unreasonable to point out the obvious fact that you're wasting your subs money and your energy campaigning to keep in power a government that will never be what you so desperately hope.
Similarly, having to divine signs of a "Labour Left" revival in university towns rather than in the cities that are Labour's supposed bedrock, hardly looks to me like a reason to be politically confident.
VP, you are wrong to concur I have any illusions about the current state of the Labour Left.
But if I were to take my subs elsewhere where exactly would I go?
I've watched the No2EU broadcasts and concur that some of the most deeply principled people in the labour movement are involved.
But on Friday, I'll lay money on it, their vote will be miniscule.
RESPECT is all but moribund, the SWP hollowed out.
The LRC, and yes I know it's small with only about 1000 members, is nevertheless attracting support across the country from largely Labour activists who want to see change.
With the Party in deep trouble, my answer is we need to hang on more than ever and carry on majking the arguments for change.
Yes, the young people at the meeting were studnets. The same was true when we had a meeting in Manchester.
It would probably be also true in any other "university town" of which there are now many.
Of course I don't see Cambridge as the epicentre of some revival of Labour's fortunes. It was just a good experience to meet people with enthusiasm. I often get accused of being negative but your utter negativity has no positive suggestions, either. Other than to leave the Labour Party. And go where, exactly?
I'm voting Green in this election, as I've said publicly and in several fora on several occasions. Even if your inexplicable loyalty to a party which has nothing - nothing to do with your politics will not allow that, frankly I'd suggest it's better to be doing nothing than to be supporting something bad in the unrealistic belief that you can make it into something good, which is what (sadly) you're doing right now.
VP - The Green Party are a thoroughly bourgeois party with no links to the working class and have been in coalitions with the Tories. The Labour Party for its faults, and there are many, still remains a bourgeois workers party and has links with the trade unions. And Cambridge is a very contradictory and divided city. The divide between town and gown is pretty marked and as someone who grew up and still lives here I can tell you that the majority are ordinary working class people who have been hit hard by the recession
Susan - would love to have made the meeting but didn't get back from Halifax in time. Hope it went well. Do you know if there are any plans for future meetings?
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