Why do we bother?

I dare say like most people, there are times when as a Labour Party member I’ve asked myself why I bother. From the mere impoliteness of being told to “fuck off” or having a door slammed in my face, to being chased down the street by some thug, to having my activists pelted with eggs, sometimes I find myself wondering why I didn’t take the lie-in and watch Football Focus instead.

Maybe for you it’s sitting through a GC that makes you think you’ve finally lost it: that in a style akin to the plot of Shutter Island, the bat-shit crazy views, opinions and characters around you are just a construct of your sordid imagination (did that Branch Chair really just say that the pauperisation of the working class was a necessary step to global revolution?). Maybe it’s spending a whole day in the freezing cold failing to get into shared access accommodation, enduring the constant torment of the warbling bell to no avail.

My personal low point came in 2008 when I found myself trying to explain to a working mum why a Labour Government were doubling her starting rate of tax (I say explain, because we all knew at the time there was no justification). And I’m sure I’m not alone: that there’s a point when everyone in the party has let out an audible sigh of exasperation, whether the cause is some idiotic floor-speech, a party spokesman making a royal tit of themselves on Newsnight, or just the drip-drip-drip of bad news.

Why am I saying this? Well for some people there seems to be a trigger, a moment that they decide they can’t stay in the Party any more. And whilst I can sympathise with those people- their frustrations, the sheer exasperation- I don’t think I’ll ever understand or agree with the decision to change party. Yes, the Labour Party infuriates me beyond belief some times. Sure, sometimes it feels like it’s not worth it any more, that the party has finally gone and done it and succumbed to the save the whale/CND-type lunacy I’d rather stayed in the Green Party.

But then I remember it’s my party as well and that to give up is to give in. It’s to concede defeat, to accept that the only things Labour should be talking about are the things that matter most to its members, to agree that Tory Government is inevitable and that, well, it’s nicer being in opposition anyway because at least people like us again. It’s to stop fighting for a more just, equal society because it’s too hard, will take too long, and involves sitting through too many policy forums where the flipchart has the words “World Communism” written semi-legibly in permanent marker by way of summarising proceedings. It’s to ignore the thousands of other moderates in the party who are ploughing the same furrow, making a case for the millions of people who need a Labour Government that is both radical and responsible.

Labour is more than the activists who earnestly peddle their far-out single-issues, hobby-horses and crusades, however misguided I think (and tell them) they are. It’s more than whoever is leader at any one point, whether that leader is Stalin or Mr Bean. And importantly, it’s more than the indulgent egos of those members who think everyone should think like them and then flounce out without even trying to argue their case. Labour is an outlook, a way of approaching politics that is grounded in solidarity and giving people the tools to better themselves whilst looking out for those who cannot. It’s about realising that we achieve more by the strength of our common endeavour than we do alone. For me personally it’s in my blood, a part of who I am.

So whilst it might be temporarily tempting to give in to the lustre of a party exercising the levers of power, the question will always remain: in whose interest are those levers being exercised? Conservatism, beneath the gloss, is a defence of privilege: it’s critical to remember this fact and see that every policy concession made on the margins is made solely with that defence in mind.

The only way we get the kind of party we want is by engaging with those we disagree with and trying to win them over, whether they are within the party or out there in the real world. The long slog back to government won’t be glamorous. It’ll frequently be disappointing, regularly exasperating, and occasionally soul-destroying. But the fact remains that whatever its sins, Labour is the best vehicle for realising the aspirations of the majority of people in this country. That’s the reason why I, like hundreds of other activists, will be foregoing the lie-in again this weekend again to be back out on the doorstep, dirtying our fingers with riso-print, and listening to what people have to say. Not because we agree with everything our party says or does, but because the best currency for winning the argument in the party and the country is through understanding the lives and experiences of those we aim to represent. So if you fancy joining us, come along: we can always use an extra pair of hands…