Fabians, Co-Operativists and the Living Dead of the Left
The news that our Prime Minister was going to rake the Co-op Party over the coals for Labour’s GE manifesto upset me. It really did. Everything the man touches turns to dust before our eyes. I went to bed last night dreading the possibility that the sensible discussion on mutualist solutions that this country so desperately needs was never going to happen having been further cursed by Gordon “Jonah” Brown.
Those of you who read this blog will know that I’m not a big fan of the Co-op Party being an “affliate constituent” of the Labour Party. State socialism and mutualism are not compatible. In fact they are mutually exclusive. So all this talk of co-operative schools and housing settlements mean nothing in the context of a welfare state.
As Simon Cooke quite rightly points out there is nothing remotely ’socialist’ about the John Lewis Partnership. But there is a lot to be said for individuals having a stake in the company or institutions they work for and feeling more connected to the profit that they generate. But there has to be profit.
On further thought what struck me was this: why all this emphasis on co-operativism from Labour all of a sudden? I find unlikely that Gordon Brown is seriously considering dismantling the welfare state… But where are the Fabians? Am I the only one who finds it interesting, however, that instead of harking back and shoring up the core vote in the typical manner, the Labour Party are changing their tack slightly?
Could it be that the Labour Party’s faith in Fabianism is faltering? Afterall we literally cannot afford Fabian style social democracy anymore. I would so much like for this to be to an acknowledgment of that. Alas, I fear this is not likely. Instead what we’ll see is the conflation of the remains of Fabianism conflated with soft mutualist rhetoric, the unfortunate hybrid of which will taint the name of genuine mutualism for years to come. These are very sorry days for any genuine mutualists, indeed.
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February 2nd, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Just a thought - why does there have to be profit?
A business is viable with no profit or loss- I’d suggest that actually a freed market system would tend towards this (although no economy would ever reach this state).
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:48 pm
Superficial is right. We know Gordon well enough to know that his only instinct is to centralise power, and lie of course. Though in the approx 30secs of commons footage I’ve seen in the last few months a Co-op member did stand up to complain about over-regulation, bizarre that that person would want to be allied with Labour. I think the truth is there’s barely a whimper of liberalism in the UK, be it mutualism or any other form, and no real culture/public attitude in that direction to speak of. It is depressing, but I’m afraid I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that there’s no saving Britain from itself.
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:11 pm
…have been reading some of those links… The other thing that comes to mind here is that Brown may take seriously the threat of the Co-op splitting away from Labour after the election, especially in a hung parliament situation: all bets would be off. Labour might also seriously go bankrupt, so if ever there was a time for the Co-operative party to break away it might be coming.
It seems that Gordon is listening to you, David Cameron is listening to you, but Nick Clegg? He’s still listening to the voices in his head.
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Maybe the Fabians are supportive.