Image from Getup
By Situation Theatre 16/12/2019
Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the lesson from Corbyn’s defeat is “you don’t beat populism of the right with populism of the left”. As Hillary Clinton showed in 2016 and the Liberal Democrats proved last week, you beat it with a spineless defence of the suicidal status quo.
This second article in our series on escape routes from the death cult of Australian politics argues that the shallow and self-serving establishment analyses of the British election result can crawl back into the reject bin from which they came. Instead we make the case for a three-pronged democratic socialist strategy to end the shitfuckery and transform this country.
Remember that time when the establishment took a good hard at the incalculable suffering inflicted by centuries of unfettered capitalism, and the untold suffering yet to come due to climate breakdown, and honestly reckoned with what to do about them?
More familiar perhaps are the legions of establishment propagandists who will take any and all opportunities to attack the left in bad faith. Cue Labor’s Jim Chalmers, a man whose cardboard cut-out would be more engaging, with his “lessons” from Labour’s loss: centre-left parties don’t win by “preaching” to their base. No, they win by preaching to the conservatives’ base, isn’t that right Jim? Like how your strategy worked so well in 1998, 2001, 2004,2013, 2016, and 2019?
Let us waste no more time on the specious nonsense of Labor hacks which seems to do little more than help them sleep at night. Instead let’s take a brief look and the two actual causes of Labour’s defeat, before pressing on with paths to left victory.
According to research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research, Grace Blakeley, writing in Jacobin,
In 2017, Labour came close to victory by acknowledging this anger (at the political class) and transforming it into a movement to upend the status quo through a deep transformation of the economy. But since then, this transformative message has been drowned out by a failure of leadership, epitomized by the vacillating over Brexit. Among those who switched from Labour to the Tories between 2017 and 2019, 37 percent cite the leadership and 21 percent cite Brexit. Just 6 percent cite economic policy.
The policy agenda, in other words, is not to blame. Among the general public, 60 percent of people support Labour’s broadband policy, 64 percent support renationalizing the railways, and 63 percent support a Green New Deal. The centrist politics of Jo Swinson, Anna Soubry, and Chuka Umunna were roundly — and hopefully finally — defeated at this election.
Put simply, Labour lost more on leadership and Brexit than they gained from their popular policies.
Firstly, thanks to a highly successful four-year corporate propaganda war against Jeremy Corbyn for recognising Palestinians as human beings and for coming out in favour of a habitable Earth, by all reports he was electoral poison beyond a policy antidote.
In addition, despite Labour’s best efforts to change the subject, the primary ideological terrain of this election was the Brexit culture war. The right are the ninja warriors of such wars, while on this front the left continues to be a karate kid without the ability to learn.
Spare us the lessons about “moving too far left”.
Which brings us to the task of outlining a compelling strategy for the Australian left to get off the tedious treadmill of constantly reacting to the right’s dead cat culture wars and start laying out its own agenda.
It’s tragically clear from Labor’s track record over at least the last two decades, and especially the last six months, that they are not the ones to lead this fight. Not need to recapitulate the mountain of evidence here, this image will do.
Abbott 2014 v Labor 2019 pic.twitter.com/E6qKP4adW1
— Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) December 12, 2019
Maybe Labor can get back in touch if and when they ever have their 2015 Corbyn moment and make themselves a party worthy of more than 21 members. For now, The Greens must lead us. They have the principles, talent, networks, community support, and parliamentary resources that will be crucial in building left-wing power in this country.
As #Greens try to take on SmoKo for holding up a global climate summit until he gets the right to pollute more, Labor comes up with this.
— Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) December 15, 2019
‘Clean coal.’
C’mon Labor, help us take on the deniers, don’t parrot their lines. https://t.co/XFfwyMCkeT
Back in 2010, The Greens secured an historic high 11.76% vote share. In 2019, they claimed 10.4% of the vote. After nearly a decade in which climate change has been at the forefront of national conversation, their vote has gone backwards.
By now we all know we have about 10 years left to decarbonise our societies. Smoko and Albo aren’t gonna get us there. Something dramatic has to shift in this country and for that to happen, something dramatic has to shift in Greens strategy.
To tease no longer, three major changes are needed to smash the 10% ceiling and spark the Greens surge.
First, they need to become an explicitly anti-establishment party which emulates the successful class-based campaigning of Bernie Sanders. This messaging must both hammer the billionaires, but also outline a compelling story of hope.
Second, they need a more effective community organising strategy which embeds them in a broader social movement and brings material benefits to voters throughout the electoral cycle.
Third, they need a new leader. Richard Di Natale has had nearly five years to capture the imagination of the electorate. While his leadership is laudable in many regards, this isn’t one of them. If he was going to catch fire, it would have happened by now. His “steady as she goes”, “sensible mainstream” approach is ill-fitted for the times. They need a charismatic and trustworthy firebrand fierce enough to take on the establishment but also inspiring enough to carry a message of radical transformation. Easy, right?
The next articles in this series will mount arguments for each of these strategies, starting with part three on the need for an anti-establishment restoration story.
