New Labour System: Historical Perspective - Essay Example

 New Labour System: Historical Perspective Abstract In the struggle for power, groups and organizations are formed to command a higher influence over the political system. The British political system has evolved from small resilient groups which laid the major foundation of its present vast political organizations. This paper intends to look into its formation (from cadres to mass, catch-all and cartel) that later on developed into the New Labour System that currently governs the seat of power. Introduction In the struggle for power, large groups and organizations command a greater advantage in forming government mandate. Politics thus, centers itself on an organization that systematically arranges people to work for the goal of winning a public office in a nation to influence its policies. Generally, a political party, as an organization seeks to attain power in the government by participating in election campaigns. The groups cause is geared towards winning public office in elections and influencing policy. Sometimes parties are not permitted to choose nor seek power through elections which is why so many turn to lobbying as a form of putting pressure or by working on the public opinion and sometimes even by violence and terrorism. Parties however often adhering to their own certain ideologies may also represent other disparate interests. In effect, some political parties are more concerned with recruiting individuals to give them power in selecting government officials. Other interest groups however, are more concerned with public policy and involve themselves with the elections for the advancement of their own policy interests. British political history impresses pride in the formation of parties as large associations essentially composed of formidable political organisation into one which has achieved major social and political reforms over the years and during the 20th century. The major political parties include the reigning Labour Party; the Conservative as its opposition; the Cooperative Party and the Liberal Democrats. The future agenda according to Dalton (1988)1 of these political parties is to ensure that the values become deeply embedded in the culture to achieve the lasting economic and political scenario in Britain. These parties are groups of people who come together out of a common desire to obtain political power as a controlled group of elites contending for a position; cadres and sub-elites or the mass-membership party;(Downs 1957)2 that adhere to the joint formulation of interests around program platforms and the allocation of political values according to socially accepted preferences. The aggregations of functions in particular, seem to have been threatened over the past 30 years that is most notably seen by the inability of mainstream parties to mobilise citizens (Dalton and Wattenberg 2000)3. The declining membership levels—overall patterns from the 1960s point towards a significant fall in the numbers of party members (Katz and Mair 1994)4. To recall, politics was dominated by the Whigs and Tories prior to the mid-19th century as pointed out by Fisher(2000)5. Small kingdoms and crumbling organizations examined the variation in constituency of party memberships and resources. They were not political parties in the modern sense but a group with loose alliances of interests and individuals. The Whigs were associated with the newly emerging moneyed industrial classes, and the Tories were associated with the landed gentry and the Anglican Church. These two parties dominated the political scene until the 1920s, when the Liberal Party declined in popularity and suffered a long stream of resignations. Although the party system is popularly characterized as a two party system, there is usually the third party presence which in 2001 elections showed at least 71 different parties(Dalton)6. The system is best understood at its evolution to qualify a sound description of their differences and their foundations from the roots of the cadre systems. The Cadres and the Elites In the two parliamentary groupings historically known as the Tories were the landowning cadres promising fidelity to the King. The Whigs, devoted to trading were more inclined to a parliamentary cause for the common good. As cadre groups, they had little ideologies save for the protection of their own self-interest. Asserting tradition over radicalism, the landed gentry were tasked to form from the ashes of the old Tories, the Conservative Party. The more radical views favouring free trade moved towards the Whigs where the Liberal Party was founded on. Where the future of the landed society members were questioned, the party system was then carried on to mass politics the alliance with ordinary folks whose votes were needed. The Conservatives then cried for the guardianship of all sections of the society symbolizing their dominance through social reforms as a strategy to extend its support as the main foundations of their modern Conservative Party. At the same time, the Liberal Party in its heyday had provided the rationale of radicalism and reform (Downs: p 27)7 by strictly accept free trade and later on adhered to the Irish home rule. By the end of the 18th century the modern mass party system provided the results of democracy offering a formidable electoral potential in the emergence of the mass parties. Mass Composition The two great Reform Acts set the alliance of the Conservatives and Liberals into the two party systems with its adversarial style of thrust and parry. There was no more room for electoral corruption and the parties fostered organizations in its constituents. They were also given the crucial responsibility of choosing their own candidates for the position. The Carlton for the Conservatives and the Reform for the Liberals became their party headquarters that were established to forge a sense of national unity (Kircheimer 1966)8. The mould for the modern system had been cast by parties that were ideologically mass organizations, led by elites seeking office by wooing the electorate. The failure of the working class to capitalize on the mass vote significance was a manifestation of the power of the dominant classes to keep the participation limited to the choice between the two elite groups. They did this by showing some concern for the working class which stalled the liberals’ promotion of major social reforms in the early 20th century that was in effect beneficial with its pro-employment reforms. Marx’s critique of liberalism soon spooned socialist movements that were advocated by working class activists who harbored the same parliamentary ambitions of their own. In 1869, the trade unions created a labour representation. Some working class candidates also managed to enter the Parliament under the liberal banner however the Liberals were reluctant to cooperate with the working class still voting for either the Conservatives or the Liberals. Under Macdonald and Ramsay as key figures in mass organizations, the group worked to combine the Liberals and unify the anti-Conservative vote to oppose the established elites. The Liberals were then replaced by the newly emerging Labour Party as the main left-wing party by which an alliance between the Trade Unions and various socialist societies emerged. Labour grew out of the trade union movement and socialist political parties of the 19th century after an increasing need for representation of the large working class population. The party describes itself as a democratic socialist party. The Conservative government of Arthur Balfour intensified the support for Labour Party against a government that was uninterested in the problems of working class in 1902-03; the Party won two by-elections (Wring and Horrocks, 2000)9. James Hardie, who took the leading role in getting the party established, was elected as Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party and its leader by only by one vote over David Shackleton after several ballots. In the party’s early years, the Labour Party provided much of its activist base as the party did not have any individual membership until 1918. By 1910, Labour had gained 40 seats and 42 seats respectively in two elections. Support grew further for Labour during the 1910-1914 as a result of an unprecedented scale of strike action. Seamen, rail workers, cotton workers, coal miners, dock handlers and workers and many other groups all organised strikes other held their own in sympathy (Downs,p28)10. This mass action can be explained by the recession and subsequent rise in unemployment, as well as the growing support for radical change among the working-class. This was no doubt helped by the sometimes heavy-handed measures of the Liberal government; Winston Churchill then sent troops to the Rhondda valley in 1910 to deal with coal miners, resulting in some fatalities. The unease grew within the Party as the First World War raged and this was reflected in a number of wildcat unofficial strikes organised by a Labour Party affiliate, the British Socialist Party that resulted in Arthur Henderson resignation from the Cabinet in 1917. The Labour Party’s local activist base was reflected in the elections following the War, and the cooperative movement providing for its own resources to the Cooperative Party following the end of hostilities. The Co-operative Party was later adjoined in an electoral agreement with the Labour Party. By the 1922 general election Labour had supplanted the Liberal Party as the main opposition to the Conservatives. The Labour Party’s main electoral bases were in the industrial areas of Northern England, the Midlands, Scotland and Wales. Because of the concentrated geographical nature of labour support, industrial changes tended to hit Labour voters directly. Evidence suggests that most party members were often working-class, but also included many middle-class radicals, former liberals and socialists. Ramsay MacDonald, as the first Labour Prime Minister, formed its first government with Liberal support in January 1924. His government collapsed after only nine months when the Liberals voted for a Select Committee inquiry which MacDonald had declared an issue of confidence (Maor, 1997)11. The ensuing general election saw the publication four days before polling day of the infamous Zinoviev Letter implicating Labour in a plot for a Communist revolution (Pelling 1968)12, and the Conservatives returned to power. At the end of the war in May 1945, Labour resolved not to repeat the Liberals’ error of 1918 and withdrew from the government to contest the subsequent general election to oppose Churchill’s Conservatives. Labour won a landslide majority, reflecting voters’ perception as the party most likely to carry through wartime promises of reform and saw Clement Attlee’s government as the most radical British governments of the 20th century. It presided over a policy of selective nationalisation with the Bank of England, coal, electricity, gas, the railways and iron & steel (Katz& Mair)13. It also developed the “cradle to grave” welfare state under health minister Bevan which to this day considers the creation in 1948 of Britain’s tax funded National Health Service as its proudest achievement. The divisions leading to the Cold War prompted Attlee’s government to make a secret decision to proceed with nuclear deterrents in defence as one of the issues for Labour itself, especially on the amount of money Britain was spending. Bevan eventually quit the government over this issue and the government started facing fuel crisis after a payments crisis in 1947. Labour narrowly lost power to the Conservatives in October 1951, despite actually winning more votes. Throughout the 1950s and early 60’s the party became split between moderate modernisers associated with the main trade unions, and more traditional socialist elements within the party. The split and the public’s content with the Conservative governments of the period which preserved most of the changes made by Attlee kept the party out of power for thirteen years. The series of scandals such as the Profumo affair in 1960’s engulfed the Conservative government, which damaged its popularity. The Conservative party was seen as being out of touch with poverty as the economy began to turn down. Due largely to this the Labour party saw Harold Wilson in 1964 who remained in power until 1970. The catch-all system of the Labour Party The 1960s Labour government had a different emphasis to its 1940s predecessor. Labour did introduce several social changes, such as the partial legalisation of homosexuality and the abolition of the death penalty. In addition and for the first time, legislation was introduced to improve race relations and reduce racial discrimination. Wilson’s proudest legacy was the Open University and the ending of means testing for supplementary social benefits, the linking of pensions to earnings and the provision of benefits relating to industrial injury. The Labour Party itself also adopted a left-wing agenda of the Labour’s Programme in 1973, which pledged to bring about a shift in the balance of power and wealth in favour of working people and their families, critics agree the catch-all sentimentality provided the warmth needed in Labour sector gaining sentiment over the British population. Despite the economic difficulties faced in the 1970s Labour governments did succeed in introducing enduring social democratic reforms such as the introduction of child benefit and redundancy pay. Wilson as the “white heat of technology,” was referred to as the author of modernisation in the British industry. This was to be achieved through the swift adoption of new technologies aided by government infrastructure and creation of large high-tech public sector corporations. The general direction of economic policy tended to support a mixed economy. There were no further large plans for further nationalisation. Economic planning was sought to improve the trade balance whilst carefully targeted taxation was aimed at “luxury” services for everyone. Devaluation and pressure on the pound intensified the disagreements over the US foreign policy. Wilson’s refusal to provide British troops for the Vietnam War infuriated US President Johnson which the US government felt little obligation to support the British pound. For much of the remaining Parliament, the government followed strict controls in public spending, including some austerity measures which caused consternation amongst the Party membership and trades unions. In 1976, citing his desire to retire on his sixtieth birthday, Wilson was replaced by James Callaghan who immediately removed many of the left-wingers and Wilson’s supporters such as Barbara Castle from the Cabinet. In the autumn of 1976 the Labour Government felt obliged to go to the IMF for a loan to ease the economy through its financial troubles. Conditions attached to the loan meant the adoption of a more liberal economic programme by the Labour Government, meaning moving away from the party’s traditional policy base. In the same year as Callaghan became leader, the party in Scotland suffered the breakaway of two MPs into the Scottish Labour Party. Whilst ultimately the SLP proved no real threat to the Labour Party’s strong Scottish electoral base it did show that the issue of Scottish devolution was becoming increasingly full especially after the discovery and exploitation of North Sea Oil which signaled the turning point of the UK economy after 1978.Ultimately, the economic problems facing the Labour Government of the 70s and the political difficulties of Scottish and Welsh devolution proved too hard to handle. In 1979, they faced the disastrous electoral defeat to the Conservatives, led by Margaret Thatcher. The Thatcher government followed an uncompromising approach, and the deflationary Budget of 1980 led to substantial cuts in welfare spending and a massive rise in unemployment (Dorfman)14. State assistance for struggling industries was dropped, leading to recession and massive redundancies in many Labour-supporting regions of the country. Labour’s chances of electoral success were further damaged by the fact that the Thatcher government’s popularity was on the rise after successfully guiding the country to victory in the Falklands War. This bolstered Thatcher who had previously been low in the polls due to the severe economic downturn. At the 1987 general election, the party was again defeated in a landslide, but had established itself as the clear challengers to the Conservatives and had fought an effective campaign. During this time the Labour party also abandoned its links to high taxation and old style nationalisation aiming to show that the party was moving away from the left wing of the political spectrum and moving towards the centre. It also became actively pro-European, supporting moves to European integration. By 1992 general election, the party had reformed to such an extent that it was perceived as a credible candidate for government. Most opinion polls during the campaign showed the party with a slight lead over the Conservatives although rarely with a lead sufficient to give a majority. The party ended up 8% behind the Conservatives in the popular vote, a result which was considered one of the biggest surprises in British electoral history. The Cartel System and new labour The name "New Labour"15 originates from a conference slogan first used by the Labour Party in 1994, which was later seen in a draft manifesto published by the party in 1996, called New Labour, New Life for Britain. The name is primarily used by the party itself in its literature but is also sometimes used by political commentators as basis of a Conservative Party poster campaign of 1997, headlined “New Labour, New Danger”. It won a landslide victory in the 1997 general election, and formed its first government since 1979 under the Premiership of Tony Blair. “Old Labour” is sometimes used by commentators to describe the older, more left-wing members of the party, or those with strong Trade Union connections. Connections with other groups like the Cooperative Party and the Liberals had painted the Blair government of a cartel-like management system. The cover of Labour’s 1997 general election manifesto One of the first acts of the 1997 Labour government was to give the Bank of England operational independence in setting interest rates, a move that had not been foreshadowed in the manifesto or during the election campaign. Labour also held to its pledges to keep to the spending plans set by the Conservatives, causing strain with those members of the party who had hoped that the landslide would lead to more radical policies. Since 1997 Labour’s economic policy has sought to balance the laissez-faire capitalism of the Thatcher era (Douglass,2004)16 with measures to lessen the negative impact on society. Consequently one of the most popular policies introduced was Britain’s first National Minimum Wage Act, a policy negotiated by Labour’s affiliated trade unions in return for accepting the change to Clause IV of the party constitution. There have also been various programs which have been targeted at specific groups of the population: for reducing homelessness that was achieved by 2000. Chancellor Brown oversaw the scheme intended for young families with a new system of tax credits for those working with below-average incomes and an energy allowance provided to pensioners during the winter. Unemployment has fallen from just over 1.5 million in 1997 to around or just below the one million mark. Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell are most commonly cited as the creators and architects of New Labour were among the most prominent advocates of the right-wing shift in European social democracy during the 1990s. The use of “new” in their slogans reflected the American politics, particularly those of the Democratic Party, such as Roosevelt’s New Deal, Kennedy's New Frontier and Clinton's New Covenant. Parties included all those affiliated with trade unions, socialist societies, and the Co-operative Party, with which it has an electoral agreement. Members who are elected to parliamentary positions take part in the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) and European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP). The party’s decision-making bodies, on a national level, formally include the National Executive Committee (NEC), Labour Party Conference, and National Policy Forum (NPF) although in practice the Parliamentary leadership has the final say (Labour Party)17. Questions of internal party democracy have frequently provoked disputes in the party and criticisms over Blair’s apparent used of power and his control over the other minority parties and groups. References Dalton, R. (1988). Citizen Politics in Western Democracies. New Jersey: Chatam House. Dalton, Russel (1996). The History of Party Systems," in Dalton, Citizen Politics: Public Opinion and Political Parties in Advanced Western Democracies, 2nd ed. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House, 1996), pp. 149-164. Dorfman, Gerald, 1968, Government Versus Trade Unionism in British Politics, Hoover Institution Press. Downs, Anthony (1957). An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper and Row. Fisher, J. (2000). Small kingdoms and crumbling organisations: examining the variation in constituency party membership and resources, in P. Cowley et al. (eds), British Parties and Elections Review (London: Frank Cass). Katz, R. and Mair, P. (1994). How Parties Organise: Change and Adaptation in Party Organisations in Western Democracies. London: Sage. Kircheimer, O. (1966). The transformation of Western European party systems, in J. La Palombara and M. Weiner (eds), Political Parties and Political Development (Princeton: Princeton University Press),177–200. Maor, M. (1997). Political Parties and Party Systems .London: Routledge. Pelling,H. (1968). Popular Politics and Society in Late Victorian. Britain.London: Trafalgar Square. Wring, D. and Horrocks, I. (2000). The transformation of political parties? in B. Axford and R. Huggins (eds), New Media and Politics .London: Sage. 191–209. Douglass, John Aubrey(2004). A New Cycle Of Uk Higher Education Reforms:New Labour And New Fees May Foster Further Mission Differentiation. May 19, 2006. http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article= 1024&context=cshe Labour Party Encyclopedia (2006). Labour Party. 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