There is no doubt that given the chance Labour would take every seat in every council, assembly and parliament across the land – and that, as a consequence, all other voices must be annihilated. It is worth recalling the words of Attlee: “The foundation of democratic liberty is a willingness to believe that other people may perhaps be wiser than oneself.” Today all that is remembered is Clement Attlee and a cabinet that seemed to do socialism to people and not with them. Labour itself was a rich, diverse movement. Yes, it was Labour that won the seats and pulled the then functioning levers of the state to remake a postwar society, but it was the Conservative Quintin Hogg who coined the term social security, just as it was William Beveridge and John Maynard Keynes, both Liberals, who invented the new system of social security and the new economic order to pay for it. Labour dreams of recreating the “ 1945 moment” – but in so doing misreads history. While Labour cleaves to the myth of one more heave, the reality is that such an alliance is likely to be needed again. In over 60 Tory seats the progressive vote was bigger than the regressive vote – but division on the left meant that purity was preferred to power. Jeremy Corbyn would now be prime minister if Labour had given even an inch to the idea of a progressive alliance last June. Owen Jones’ article last week, arguing that the Greens should join Labour, was a good example.Ĭhallenging this monopoly socialism has never been more necessary. But the predominant sentiment of Labour, from left to right, is the electoral extermination of anyone who isn’t a card-carrying member of the party. Not everyone in Labour is committed to monopoly control. In over 60 Tory seats the progressive vote was bigger than the regressive vote

Just as it would be bad for Labour if the party were to defeat the Green party’s sole MP, Caroline Lucas in Brighton Pavilion, at the next general election. This is not just bad for democracy, but bad for Labour. But her seat, too, will be relentlessly targeted come May, leaving Labour with an absolute monopoly of control and the lack of accountability that goes with it. In neighbouring Islington, Caroline Russell plays a similar role as the only Green councillor in that borough.

Monopoly socialism