not the few

The name of this blog is from a line in Labour's constitution:

"by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many, not the few, where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe, and where we live together, freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect."

You will note that this is from the revised Clause Four. The old version said, in more technical detail, that the aim of the party was

"To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service."

The motives for changing the wording aside, it's clear that the stated goal is to increase the power that people have in their daily lives, in their places of work and leisure.

The trade union movement was borne of the struggles of ordinary people for democratic participation. The Labour party was created by the unions to advance the interests of working people.

I start this blog in 2010 - over fifteen years since this famous article of Labour's constitution was altered.

Without going into boring details of the whys and wherefores of it, we are faced with a situation where the party could again be out of office, replaced by a Tory government committed to helping the most fortunate, and putting back the progress of working people by depriving them of legal rights and statutory services.

Unlike the 80s, we face a global economic crisis, a global climate crisis, and a national energy crisis.

As Labour's leader writes, "we need a policy for growth and for the future of jobs – and the difference between Labour and Conservative is that the Conservatives reject industrial strategy as a matter of ideology."

Not only as a matter of ideology. Politics is not about concepts or morals - but interests.