The politics of community

Today we’ve published a collection of essays from Labour PPCs called “Our Labour Our Communities”. They were curated and edited by Lisa Nandy MP, who also wrote the introduction to the series – which we’ve published here:

As we approach the most important general election in a generation, Labour politicians face the fight of their lives to overturn a tidal wave of anger, disillusion and despair in communities across the country.

The next election offers a clear choice – but it comes in the context of a growing sense of disillusionment and disengagement and a series of scandals that have undermined trust not just in politicians but in politics itself.

For people motivated by a commitment to social justice, the toxicity of the political debate is the biggest threat to the future of this country. With Britain governed by a Tory-led government that has built its support on the politics of division and despair, and the advance of right-wing politics that preaches hate and fuels fear, Labour politicians have a huge task that only we can live up to, to offer the country the hope and unity to build a fairer, stronger, more equal country.

Labour candidates standing for Parliament next year face another challenge, not just to be elected, but to be heard, to win the trust of the communities they seek to represent and restore their faith in politics. One thing that has become clear to me as I’ve spent time with them, in their communities, is how much they understand this. They know that politics has to change and they’re using their platform as Labour candidates to do something about it. Labour candidates from different backgrounds, areas and parts of the Labour movement are embracing a politics that is rooted in communities and committed to devolving power away from Westminster. They see themselves as representatives, not of Westminster, but of people, determined to beat down the doors of Parliament and force the growing concerns across of their communities onto the political agenda.

This generation, perhaps more than any other, understands that the command and control politics of the past is dead and that this country is only ever as strong as the sum of its parts. The candidates featured in this book are all, in their own ways, working alongside people, putting them in the driving seat of their own lives and communities, on their terms, not ours.

Seeing them in action has left me in awe, and inspired me to edit this collection of essays for LabourList. The wider Labour movement and the public deserves a chance to see how important this generation, collectively, is to our politics. Each of the ten candidates found time in their incredibly hectic schedules to write on the theme of community. Some chose to write about an issue that affects the area they hope to represent, others told the story of how they came to become active in their community. What emerges is a range of perspectives and opinions that are testament to the talent and dynamism of our movement.

A politics that draws on the widest strengths of grassroots action is a break from our recent past, but there is nothing new for Labour in this. We’re a Party that grew out of a tradition of voluntary action: mutual aid, friendly societies, co-operatives and trade unions. In the last few years, one man in particular has come to represent the revival of that politics for Labour activists and organisers. When Ed Miliband took on Arnie Graf he made it clear that grassroots organising needed to be hardwired into our DNA again, that to rebuild trust with people we needed to rebuild our movement. For that reason Arnie, who knows and has worked with many of the authors of this book was an obvious choice to write the foreword for it.

The politics of community isn’t about agreeing with each other. I don’t agree with all the ideas in this book, and I would be surprised if all the authors agree with each other. Communities are messy, full of conflicting ideas and interests, difference and frustration. Building community is about reconciling these conflicting aims, to work for a common good based on the things that unite rather than divide us. For that reason, there is no better publisher for this book than LabourList, a place where all parts of the party have found a voice and a home, to engage in real debate about our differences and remind us what we have in common and what makes us Labour.

Changing times demand a changed response, with a state that works alongside communities as a partner, drawing on the potential people have, not the problems they pose. There is talent, strength and passion in every community and those communities desperately need a government with a plan to match the ambition and energy they possess. These candidates put forward a compelling case for why that government must be Labour.

Lisa Nandy is the Labour MP for Wigan and Shadow Civil Societies Minister. You can download “Our Labour Our Communities” here, and join us for the launch event tonight at 7pm in the Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House, House of Commons.