Transforming the left

By Marcus Hobley / @marcushobley

The Present

In the post-election climate, there is a greater need than ever before for those on the left to present a coherent and well-orchestrated alternative to the coalition’s state-shrinking cuts agenda. Pressure groups such as Compass will continue too play a pivotal role in presenting these arguments in the debates of the next parliament.

Our priority should be to build links with the broader left movement particularly on areas of shared ground and build on the increased membership and campaigning activities over the last few months. Our ability as a movement to popularise a left of centre agenda and its ideas is ultimately the test of our success.

The Past

Too often in the past our language has not spoken to those we look to represent and our actions have not been reflective of our progressive values.

But there are past examples of organisations and campaigns that are really speaking to the real life experiences of young people, and are training up a new breed of activist. In conjunction with Toynbee Hall, fifty young activists were trained in creative campaign techniques which they could then put to work in their local communities. This led to the launch of the “all doled up” youth unemployment campaign launched in July 2009.

Against the backdrop of the MP’s expenses fiasco, the Electoral Reform Society built momentum behind the campaign for reform of the electoral system with the engaging Vote for a Change campaign, which brought progressives of all colours and stripes together around a single cause.

In light of Labour leaving office and the need for renewal of the left, Compass conference provided an opportunity to take stock of where the left is and where it needs to head next.

The Future

Part of our vision must be involving and engaging new audiences, including thosewho do not define their political viewpoint by party affiliation but rather by the issues and causes that define their daily existence and personal convictions.

“A man who has the knowledge but lacks the power to make himself understood is no better off than if he never had any ideas at all” – Pericles

This sums up perfectly that our policies can be perfect but unless we communicate them in a coherent way, the relevance and potential for good is all but lost in translation.

Priority No.1 should be to work with the wider trade union movement to develop an attractive package and message to encourage membership of a lost generation of workers for which the current trade union model often has little or no relevance.

Priority No.2 should be to build on relationships with campaigning organisations with which we share common ground. An example of this will be to play a pivotal role in the “Yes” campaign in the run-up to 2011′s referendum on the alternative vote.

Priority No.3 should be to play a constructive role in the building of a boarder left movement. An organisation leading on activist involvement is OFA (Organizing for America), which is the post-election incarnation of the campaign that helped get Obama elected in 2009.

Their goal during his first year of office was sustaining the social capital and community networks developed during the Presidential campaign. The email list of over 13 million members have been branded the permanent campaign – hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens engaged in the debates and issues of the day.

Within the UK, organisations such as 38 Degrees and POWER 2010 have made huge inroads, building groups of individuals focused around single-issue campaigns. The left must capitalise on the lessons learnt from OFA’s first year as we look to replicate the good bits.

The left and Labour must become a living, breathing campaign machine rooted in the experience of people it looks to represent.

Marcus is a center-left activist currently running in the Compass Youth committee elections.