Labour must unearth its decentralist socialist tradition

The Paul Richards colum

I am close to deadline for my new book, which you can pre-order from Amazon here. I don’t suppose it will sell as well as The Third Man, Peter Mandelson’s memoir, and certainly not as well as The Journey by Tony Blair, out later this year.

One of the themes is that for the Labour Party to revive its fortunes, we must unearth the decentralist socialist tradition, and apply it to the new challenges of the modern age. Socialism in the twentieth century was dominated by theories of the state. Our governing ethos was how the state could be used to help people. The tradition of self-help, co-operation and self-government within British socialism was always sublimated to the statist tradition, of centralised organisations and ‘Whitehall knows best’. Phil Collins defined the paradigm in a recent article in the Spectator as “between Alan Milburn’s anger that the council chose the colour of his door and Ed Balls’s centrally issued guidelines for rhubarb crumble”.

Even within New Labour, the decentralist tradition was crushed by those who believed central government (i.e. themselves) could determine what was best for local communities. Failure to pass power to the people, preferring to redistribute it amongst politicians and bureaucrats, is one of New Labour’s great disappointments. Our failure to pass power to the people allowed democracy to ossify, and also created a space for the Tories to masquerade as the party of devolution and local control. You can see the argument being played out in the debate about ‘Free Schools’, which sounds to the voters like the Tories are on the side of the parents, and Labour is on the side of the council.

You can’t begin discuss the decentralist tradition without revisiting GDH Cole, especially his early works on Guild Socialism. The Guildsmen had more than an abstract theory; they had a fully-worked up plan for an alternative society. William Morris provided the romantic inspiration. But Cole and the Guild Socialists spend hour after hour working up a blue-print. The state is replaced by the local Commune, with representatives of industrial guilds (representing the workers), co-operative councils (representing consumers), collective utilities council, cultural council and a health council. Their elaborate plans are no more than a historical curiosity. But the impulse towards self-government, and the empowerment of workers and citizens, has much to commend it. Cole also recruited Harold Wilson to the Labour Party, but we can forgive him that.

Anyway, whilst reading a biography of GDH Cole (which strangely omits to mention that he was partly the model for Professor Yaffle in Bagpuss), I came across this anecdote, which gives us a useful guide to how to deal with today’s Tories:

“[The Oxford University Fabian Society] introduced him to many of the leading socialists of the day, who came to lecture under its auspices. Keir Hardie’s speech in March 1909, at one such meeting, provided the kernel of a legend, which gives something of the spirit of the times. The Bullingdon Boys, a group of local Tory toughs, planned to break up the meeting. Getting wind of their plans, Cole enlisted the support of quarrymen from Headington, the eastern part of Oxford, to serve as ‘ushers’. According to the legend, they asked Cole to march with them from Headington into the centre of Oxford. Cole then stationed himself on the platform and, when a Bullingdon Boy entered the hall, Cole pointed him out to the quarrymen. A quarryman stationed himself directly behind each of the Bullingdon Boys. The meeting was raucous, and when a Bullingdon Boy rose to challenge Hardie in the middle of his speech, the quarryman behind him rose and pressed him down into his seat.”

Perhaps the trade union group of MPs might want to adopt something similar for the Prime Minister?