Philosophy of the Labour Party Article
Labour has been one of the top political parties in the United Kingdom since the 1920’s. Traditionally Labour has been biased towards the left of the political spectrum tending to sway towards social democracy ,but in more recent years notably under the banner of New Labour for who former Prime minister Tony Blair won a landslide election, Labour has focused towards the centre of the spectrum. u Blair himself described this new ideology as the ‘ Third way’.
Labour was born out of working class struggle in the early twentieth century, its political ideology ‘labourism’ refers to the labour of the working class. The party sees February 1900 as its political start when the first conference under the banner of the Labour representation Committee was held. When the Labour Movement started it was a desirable mix of the trade union movements and socialist parties such as the Independent Labour Party and the liberal majority middle class Fabian society. Although a mix of different movements it was designed to be the voice of the working class and was successful in establishing itself as a class party. The working classes at the time had demands, they were sick and tired of the gap between rich and poor which was blatant in the early part of the twentieth century. Labour stood up for these demands promising to protect their trade union bargaining rights, raise standards of living, free health care and cheaper housing for the masses. Labour as the working class party was seen as the bridge to do this. The early philosophy of the Labour party was a socialist outlook on things, it did have a hint of Marxism in opinions such as public ownership but was committed to non-revolutionary socialism. This Labour movement was designed for the working class, the everyday man and the bread winner made to combat the hierarchy of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats so why over in the last century has Labour changed?. Why has it moved away from it’s roots and adopted a new philosophy?
New Labour emerged initially as a slogan at their conference in 1994 but changes in policy had been seen since Neil Kinnock was made leader in 1983. However, New Labour was confirmed in 1996 in their manifesto named New Labour, New life New Britain. The change was evident in the underlying objectives of New Labour, no longer did they want to be appeal to the working classes but to the majority of voters in the middle classes. The traditional core of their philosophy under went the most radical change ever seen in the party’s history. The manifesto showed that ‘a new distinctive approach has been mapped out, one that differs from the old left and the conservative right. This is why new labour is new.’ Labour wanting to attract Middle England took a risk in re-writing their philosophy and in doing that creating a New Labour revolution .
The New Labour campaign was a success and it should be underlined that under Blair the prospect of change was exciting as the recent Presidential Campaign in which the youthful and different Barack Obama won. Blair similarly played on the same principles and won in a landslide election with a majority of 179 parliamentary seats. In power again, Blair promised his new philosophy ‘ the third way’ but what did this really mean ?some people describe it as the middle way something Blair definitely confirmed in his speeches. ‘we need a radical centre in modern politics.’ this quote from the build up to the 1997 election was a clear incentive of change for Labour but also a change for British politics. The third way is hard to describe and many different figures argue over what it actually is, some argue it is similar to Thatcherism without the political brutality others say it is a more defined modern version of social democracy and certainly some of the policies that have been carried out since have echoed this, for example the minimum wage. The third way to me seems like a mix of political motives, liberalism, conservatism and socialism .What New Labour did create was a new philosophy one which goes on the basis whatever works, almost like a mongrel of ideologies. This has meant that Labour has turned it’s back on the roots of the far left it has now defined itself at the centre of the political spectrum.
New Labour was indeed a success but some may argue it lost it’s soul in 1997, abandoning the working class and allied itself with the middle classes. This opinion certainly has been voiced by some politicians. One chief critic at the time was Arthur Scargill who formed the Socialist Labour Party in 1996 as a retaliation to New Labour. Scargill said’ New Labour is now a party that supports capitalism and the free market’. This does highlight a valid point that New Labour, through it’s more centralised policies has embraced capitalism and lost the support of the far left. It can also be considered that Labour has let the gap between rich and poor remain through capitalism, something traditionalist Labourites may dislike. Former Labour Minister under former James Callaghan Shirley Williams believes New Labour has lost it’s way on some policies ’New Labour’s dedication to the concept of the redistribution of income and wealth is less clear than it used to be’.
New Labour may have lost support from the far left but in abandoning the philosophy of the far left it adopted a new philosophy of modernisation and a more centralised movement. It is hard to see how they would have gained power in 1997 without this change in philosophy.
Labour has certainly benefited from the approach of Blair and his Third Way. New Labour has won 3 general elections in a row but the recent Conservative resurgence has left Labour lagging in the polls.What does the future hold for Labour, will they try again to change certain philosophies and methods to appeal to the masses? David Miliband Secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs wrote in an article in the Guardian which was seen as a direct challenge to Gordon Browns leadership but his words seemed to voice change.’ New Labour won three elections by offering real change not just in policy but in the way we do politics. That remains the right basis for the future’. Miliband is a favourite to take the leadership after Gordon Brown so maybe the ideological change of the Labour party is not set in stone and that under another leader the party may take another ideological direction.