“For God’s sake, Jack, just tell us there is one,” said a Blackburn party activist and close friend when I told him I was writing a piece on the future of socialism to mark the republication of Tony Crosland’s work of that name.
My pal is notorious for his gallows humour and his pessimism. His life is a parable for new Labour. By day, he’s a senior manager of a large British plc. By night, in all weathers, he can be found pounding the streets, canvassing and leafleting because, like so many party members across the country, he believes profoundly and passionately in The Cause. He does it for no bauble or personal gain. He has never been a councillor. He holds no other public office. He’s always ready to take on the “I-did-but-now-I’m-not-so-sure” brigade and point out that voting Labour has transformed their lives. But deep down, there is a nagging doubt that The Cause may be under threat, submerged by the forces of post-cold war capitalism and globalisation, and blighted by general disillusion with a government almost ten years in office, and by the unpopularity of some of its policies. Add this past week’s display of raw disunity and one can see why my friend is worried.
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