The New Generation: what do you think?

Young Fabian Vice Chair and editor of ‘The New Generation’, Adrian Prandle, introduces the Young Fabians’ 50^th anniversary pamphlet, which was launched by Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP in the House of Commons. We are very keen to hear what you think of the pamphlet – please let us know your thoughts by posting a comment. This is the first in a series of posts from the authors of ‘The New Generation’.

When Ed Miliband, in his first leader’s speech, told Labour Party Conference that a new generation had taken charge, ears pricked up. He spoke of a new generation ‘idealistic about our future’ and ‘not bound by the fear or the ghosts of the past.’

The Young Fabians – and the four essays in our just published 50^th anniversary pamphlet – epitomise this new generation. We bring not just a new generation of ideas to the centre-left, but also an optimism, an ambition, and a determination about what government and society together can achieve. As Douglas Alexander, in his speech to launch the pamphlet, said: “Don’t underestimate the motivation, inspiration and insight that young thinkers, activists and participants have in our collective future.”

At a time when the potential of a mass membership movement is being recalled, the Young Fabians are ahead of the game. Our involvement in Labour politics may focus on ideas and participating in change, but in publishing this work we have also developed a highly participatory model of policy development.

The four Young Fabians policy development groups that have been meeting since May have utilised the heartbeat of our organisation: members. Members who individually, and collectively, are both doers and thinkers. The belief in collectivity, central to the movement, should never again allow us to forget the value of participation.

This is a key theme of our work on Labour Party reform. From participating in a functional policy-making process, and participating in driving change in our communities, to ensuring a boost in participation of the full diversity of Labour’s members, we must speed up in replacing command and control with listen and learn as the basis for action.

And so, Young Fabian members, involved and empowered, have presented their policy ideas in a variety of fora: meetings, magazine articles, blog posts; to politicians, to experts, and to each other. We have run wiki-policy experiments, and held online meetings bringing in passion, expertise and experiences from the breadth of the country, not just from within the Westminster policy world.

The policy development groups met in a unique context: with Labour out of power for the first time in most Young Fabian members’ political lifetimes, coalition government may well have brought ‘a new politics’, and, still in the aftermath of the global economic crisis, public services begin to feel the harsh impact of the new government’s extensive and ideological spending cuts. The results are impressive, and the pamphlet pushes for party reform and offers policy recommendations across a diverse set of areas.

Change starts at home, which is why Jessica Studdert, Chair of the Young Fabian special project group, Transforming our Party, argues for a vibrant, diverse Labour Party, utilising its members to respond to the issues of the modern world with relevance and innovation and to provide a link between leadership and wider electorate.  In The path to green and equitable growth, Adam Short presents the case for a holistic approach to dealing with the interdependent challenges of energy, global governance, and developing economies and livelihoods. Chair of the Young Fabian Work and Families policy development group, Josie Cluer, calls for a proper definition of the fairness Labour represents, a new economic narrative, and a willingness to transform workplaces and family life. In the final contribution, Young Fabian members Bren Albiston and Dan Harkin discuss the interrelation of aspiration and education, and look for a commitment of involvement and participation from beyond the education sector – in families, in communities, in trade unions and in business – with the support, not control, of government. Each chapter is packed with ideas.

Take these ideas to your CLPs, your union branch meetings, your community campaign groups. Write about them, talk about them – and let us know what you think.

This pamphlet presents new ideas for a new leader of the Labour Party – but also for the whole movement. Change is needed and together we must participate in that change. The new generation is ready and able.

A similar version of this post was published on LabourList.

Labour should build on trade, Europe and a revised interventionism for a fairer world

This article was originally published here for Progress on the 15th January 2010.

A Labour campaign on foreign policy should argue that the values which define our party should also define our international agenda. Values of internationalism, a global solidarity with those in greatest need, and the need to protect those who are vulnerable and suffering are traditional Labour values which we apply at home and should apply abroad. These are the cornerstone of our movement. They define our approach to all policy areas and separate us from our opponents.

We should focus on three key aspects in Labour foreign policy campaigns. Firstly, we should continue to use foreign policy as a vehicle for economic growth within our nation and beyond our borders. Secondly, we should commit to drawing up a new doctrine for intervention and, thirdly, we should not being afraid of leading in Europe and in other international institutions.

To take the first strand, Britain is a trading nation and needs access to the wider European market. As we move from recession to recovery our agenda for growth will require continued access to the global market to secure jobs and prosperity at home.

In the second instance, there is a need to reassess how and when interventionism occurs, and place it in a consistent framework. This should be founded on a clear relationship between morality and the rule of law. Interventionism cannot be founded upon hubris, neocolonial ambition or economic aspiration. The burden of intervention must also be carried by those who can share it, using international action for military and humanitarian causes.

And lastly, a key component of Labour’s international policy has been to recognise that the EU is more than just a market to trade with and should be used to strengthen Britain’s role in the world. However, there is a need to settle the economic argument that EU membership costs Britain more than we get in return. We must also defeat the political argument that pooling our strength leaves us weaker rather than stronger. In this international context Labour should continue to argue for reform of our global institutions such as the IMF and World Bank in order to secure a stronger system for global economics and build a more equal world.

British voters stand much to lose if a Tory government were to represent Britain in Europe again. Many of today’s Tories are obsessed by ‘process Europe’ and rarely by ‘policy Europe.’ We understand that Britain is strongest at the heart of Europe.

Labour has shown strong influence on the international stage. Those who want to tackle our energy and climate policies, to forge a fair way out of the economic crisis, to protect us from threats of terrorism, to continue to build a European economic area of shared prosperity and stable growth, and promote a positive agenda for the developing world know that Labour has delivered and will continue to do so.

The Tories meanwhile are isolated, alienated and on the wrong side of the argument. Hague’s liberal Conservative approach would result in a disastrous marriage of isolationism and inaction, a policy that leaves Britain vulnerable and alone, and the world a less fair place.

Labour recognises that the world has changed since the fall of the empires. It is Labour that understands that to achieve for one nation you have to work with others. Labour’s foreign policy is an agenda for a better Britain and a fairer world and that’s a cause well worth fighting for.

This is an abridged version of the international policy chapter from the Young Fabian report ‘Fast forward: The next generation of progressive politics’

Brian Duggan and Marie Loewe are, respectively, international officer and equalities officer of the Young Fabians

Labour Campaign for International Development

A number of Young Fabians have been involved in the establishment of the new Labour Campaign for International Development. Here, LCID Chair, David Taylor tells us what the organisation is about, and invites all YF members to the official launch with Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP.

Labour has transformed the lives of many people in the last decade, and nowhere has the impact of a Labour Government been more acutely felt than in international development. For many of us, eradicating poverty is the reason we joined the Labour Party, and there is much to be proud of.

Since 1997, Labour has helped lift 3 million permanently out of poverty each year. We’ve helped get some 40 million children into school. Polio is on the verge of being eradicated and 3 million are now able to access life-preserving drugs for HIV and AIDS. 1.5 million people have improved water and sanitation services.

Tackling global poverty has been high on the agenda of our Party, and we want to keep it that way. That’s why we, a group of Labour activists, have recently set up Labour Campaign for International Development.

We want to keep international development high on Labour’s agenda, and to push our Government to build on its success and be bolder and go further still, in a similar way to our fraternal friends at SERA do on the environment.

We also want to use it as a vehicle to bring people who care about global poverty and other single issues in to the Labour Party. Be they young people engaging in politics for the first time, or former members who’ve turned away from party politics, we want to engage them.

First and foremost, we need them to vote Labour. In the lead up to the election, we’ll be scrutinising the Conservatives to show just how much damage they would do to everything we’ve fought for over the last decade. Even if their promise to match our pledge to spend 0.7% on aid could be believed, it is what they would spend our aid money on that is most damaging – the same failed private sector solutions that failed in the 1980s. No one must be complacent of the Tory threat, or think that a vote for the Greens or Lib Dems will bring any more than a Tory Government.

But we can and will be more positive than that. We’ve got a proud record on development and we intend to shout about it to anti-poverty campaigners. By encouraging them into the Party, we can gain from their skills and energy and, we hope, help invigorate the Party in the process.

LCID is a growing organisation, and we’d love to have your involvement. We’ve set up a blog with regular news and comment at LCID.org.uk, and you can become a fan of our Facebook page to get regular updates.

To formally launch LCID, the Rt Hon Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for International Development, will be speaking at an event in the House of Commons on 02 February at 7pm. Please visit our website to RSVP.

We look forward to working with everyone in the Party over the coming weeks and months to keep Labour in Government transforming people’s lives and lifting millions out of poverty.

by David Taylor, Chair, Labour Campaign for International Development

Change-makers and the lessons from the US

Before heading off to Davos, Douglas Alexander MP kindly took an hour out of his hectic schedule on Monday evening to join a roundtable on the lessons learnt on the Young Fabian delegation to Ohio last October/November. He heard what ideas Young Fabians felt could be translated from Barack Obama’s incredible campaign to Labour campaigning in the UK.

Amongst the things discussed were trust and best utilising a campaign’s biggest resource – volunteers. Obama’s campaign, similar to other Democrat campaigns before it but differing to most Labour campaigns, did not exclude on the basis of not being a party member. Instead, volunteers had access to masses of information about both the logistics and the strategy of the campaign as well as policy. The idea that direction, but not control, should come from the centre is an important part of the process of empowering those of similar values who want to fight your corner.

Taking this on board is a massive culture change for the Labour Party. But Douglas was of the view that the best change in Labour organising has come in times of adversity. We are probably at that point right now. And there are some signs that the right ideas are being taken on board. But we have a fight on our hands. Douglas, in highlighting the important role of young people in our movement, challenged us to “be the change-makers we want to see”.

In his role as general election coordinator, he wants the concrete recommendations; our top fives; to know what the ‘war room’ of the Obama generation is.

It’d be good to hear what you think …