The left has to learn from past experiences, argues Richard Bourne 

The left in Labour has a good case to make.  It could champion many serious radical policies, like the green new deal, wider public ownership or proper trade union and workers’ rights, and make them popular with electors – making the case in a way relevant to the post-Covid world but accepting the absolute need to appear to be financially responsible.

The opportunity arrived in 2015 but the left was not prepared. It had a leader who could draw crowds of people who agreed with him, but what was needed was to persuade those who disagreed.  There had to be a clear focus on winning the EU referendum for Remain and preparing the party for winning the next general election.  Both were lost.  And 2019 saw an end to the era after an electoral disaster.

There are some gains.  Some of the Labour policy in 2022 is influenced by that legacy.  There is also a suggestion that many – especially younger – people were drawn into party politics and enthused for change.  There was also a period when many of the sub-factions on the left came together and tried to disprove the widespread belief that the left always falls apart and can’t ever agree on anything aside from what they oppose – although the splits in Momentum tend to challenge that.

Some remain convinced that the failure to achieve greater progress (and even to win in 2017!) was due to a conspiracy based around the hostility of the PLP and the mainstream media.  It is claimed the Forde report supports this betrayal scenario.  Some of the Forde evidence made hard reading but what it shows most clearly is just how totally dysfunctional the Party was.  A more recent documentary using much of the same information raises more serious questions, but adds little to any understanding of why such bad things were going on under the previous leadership.  Maybe “Don’t look back in anger” is sage advice.

One obvious lesson is about being ready.  As Len McCluskey sets out, what unexpectedly became the leadership team in 2015 contained almost nobody – John McDonnell is a notable exception – with any relevant experience or knowledge. Those who formed the core group, tagged as ‘friends and family’, knew little about how to form a Shadow Cabinet, or how the opposition has to operate in Parliament. Virtually none had any experience that would help with the management of the party machinery.  Many had a history of opposition to Labour and of criticism of its leadership and staff.

Even after a period in charge, claims that the Party were ready to form a government in 2017 are not credible.  By 2019 almost all resistance from within the Party had been overcome, yet the 2019 result was a disaster, with nobody else to blame.

On policymaking there was not enough consideration of the obvious – you have to get elected under the current system (which is not favourable) in order to implement anything.  The nagging suspicion is that more attention was given to winning internal elections that general elections.

It is true that some political leaders are too influenced by polls and focus groups but to base everything on how popular a polixy was with the factional minority is worse.  And in both 2017 and 2019 lengthy Manifestos had lots of good and popular promises but lacked anything by way of a simple single message that joined it all up.  Despite all the hype, it hardly pitched a ‘socialist’ alternative.  Lurking behind the popularity of the promises was the suspicion of electors that Labour under that leadership would not be able to deliver.

So, to be ready for when the next opportunity arises, maybe the left has to think about a few things.  Like:

• How to explain to supporters who join the Party that this does put restrictions on what they can do and say: there is a price for membership above the subscription.  Find better ways to get ideas and messages across within the confines of the rules and structures that are there.
• What actually is the core message – is it ending private ownership?  Is it incremental or revolutionary?  How much is achievable through top-down government and how much has to come from the bottom up?
• How do you explain this to voters in Red Wall seats in language that is accessible?
• How to deal with tough issues which are popular with the bubble but not with electors.  How to have a more serious engagement with ‘outsiders’, not just denouncing them on Twitter.  How to better organise the Party! How to deal with the outliers like those who somehow latched onto the previous leadership or who were associated with it in unhelpful ways and opened up the suggestion of a cult?

Lots to think about, but where are the new leaders to start the new thinking? 

Richard Bourne has been an active party member and trade unionist for over 50 years.

Image: Launching 2019 manifesto. Source: Launching our manifesto in Birmingham Author: Jeremy Corbyn, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.