The Problem for The Left

[aviet]

This is something I have bee thinking about for the past week; interested to here others thoughts and how this will pan out. Will the left be able re-align itself? Or will it continue its epic decline?

 

 

The coalition of the left is failing all over the West. In Britain the coalition of the left (Labour) was formed out of a growing underclasses that arose from population growth, mechanisation and a squeeze on resources. It was a coalition of poor people who wanted a better life and wealthier people who believed they should get it.

The Labour party used to be full of people whose primary concern was those who weren't so well off. It was diverse. It contained people from working-class backgrounds representing their area and peers coming down from their estates to (in their mind) help the little man. But over the past two decades the Labour Party in particular has been packed full of a narrow-band of  MPs. They come from upper-middle to upper class backgrounds, often infused with a jot of champagne socialism. They go to top schools and Universities to study politics, history, art etc. Once out of University they typically go into academia, journalism or become a political aide. And thus, very few Labour MPs ever have a job facing the market their old constituents known nothing other. Their top concerns are things which are obscure and cater to a fairly fringe audience. Recently in the Labour leadership contest, both candidates went against numerous issues that are people's primary concerns and instead began championing obscure and unpopular causes like staying in the EU, banning men from standing in certain seats and fixing the immigration problem by spending more money on migrants. These are the problems of the Islington dinner party and are in so many cases against the wishes of Labour's former base. When the left do want to try and message the working class, they do it by covering things which people aren't too interested in like worker's rights and the environment. I've never heard any working-class people mention these issues.

As a result the coalition of the left, formed by the poorer in society and better-off do-gooders is collapsing. The former and their concerns have been squeezed out of the party by privileged and disconnected accademics. As polled for years, the main concern in Britain is immigration, with a recent poll showing 40% of people think immigration is the number one issue. But for the most part, Labour has done it's best to say there is no problem and that anyone who think so is a bigot. Turns out a lot of former Labour voters are bigots, as they peeled off Labour for UKIP, even though UKIP is largely a carbon-copy of The Conservative backbenches that so many former Labour voters despise.

This leads to another crux of the problem for the left. Many people voted Labour for decades on a fairly-single issue basis - that Labour were for the working class. Many of these people would not be considered right-wing on social issues like capital punishment, immigration etc. So as Labour deleted it's messaging and policy for the working-class, millions had no issue in common with Labour and promptly moved to UKIP, largely based on a single issue.

This problem of left/right leanings among people whose primary issue is the working man has been addressed in Australia's Labour Party by having a left and right wing inside the party. Many other labour parties cannot bring themselves to even approach such an idea. And it's why they are slowly dying out.

A narrow-band of idealogues have taken control of left-wing parties and trying to cram everyone into their small, unpopular tent. They are so disconnected that they look like they are prepared to continue on this path for decades. Good.