It’s the kind of insult that a party on the defensive hurls at its opponents. They know very well that what I’ve done is return the party to the mainstream of British and European democratic socialism, with a strong emphasis on the mixed economy and higher standards of social justice. For a party in the death throes of Thatcherism, that combination constitutes a real threat. So they have to pretend we are guilty of emulation.
Not really. There’s a gap between the new Majorite rhetoric and the Conservative performance. The way in which the incomes of the poor have gone down while the incomes of the very richest have gone up demonstrates that the Conservative Party is still the party of social division.
No leader has ever consulted as thoroughly as 1. But having been through that process, if there are people deliberately standing in the way, then it is necessary to marginalize them organizationally and intellectually. I don’t mean that they become nonpersons. But I invite the rest of the movement to ask itself whether these people are making a positive contribution.
Politics [can be] a hobby slightly less productive than fly-fishing. All I’ve asked is that the labor movement in Britain make a decision about whether they’re trying to achieve better conditions for their fellow citizens, or whether they are part of a rather self-serving debating club. I’ve been accused of something called “electoralism.” I’m happy to plead guilty, happy to be convicted and happy to serve a life sentence.
I think it’s necessary for the efficient working of a modern economy and for social justice for there to be a balanced distribution of income in the economy.
I could say we were first in, and we’ll be first out. The ideologies of the new right found their earliest and most savage expression in the form of Thatcherism from 1979. Christian Democracy in West Germany, for instance, still recognized its responsibility for the maintenance of a supportive economic structure. There are very few countries where the movement has been as damaging as in Britain.
No. We are firmly committed to the exchange-rate mechanism and hostile to devaluation of the pound. And we are committed to policies related to investment rather than consumption.
That’s a false alternative. Our economy is firmly enmeshed within European economies. So there’s got to be a strong European focus to our economic, technological and political policies. We have a natural relationship across the Atlantic in the defensive alliance, culturally and in commerce. We’ve got to be loyal in both directions.
If all that bonded the United States and Europe was the alliance, the end of the cold war would make a radical difference. But we have common interests that go beyond military defense. Both parts of the Western industrialized world would disadvantage themselves if they were to look inward.
I think we’d get on fine. But I think that [the Reagan-Thatcher] relationship was probably unique in terms of age and the co-identity of their political views. George Bush can talk in terms of replacing “a peace of tension with a peace of trust.” Well, he’s talking my language. But it’s not the vocabulary you’d expect from President Reagan, and it’s not the vocabulary that would be understood by Mrs. Thatcher. So just in a very short period of time, things have moved along.
title: “Next Stop 10 Downing Street " ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-10” author: “Nancy Fritz”
It’s the kind of insult that a party on the defensive hurls at its opponents. They know very well that what I’ve done is return the party to the mainstream of British and European democratic socialism, with a strong emphasis on the mixed economy and higher standards of social justice. For a party in the death throes of Thatcherism, that combination constitutes a real threat. So they have to pretend we are guilty of emulation.
Not really. There’s a gap between the new Majorite rhetoric and the Conservative performance. The way in which the incomes of the poor have gone down while the incomes of the very richest have gone up demonstrates that the Conservative Party is still the party of social division.
No leader has ever consulted as thoroughly as 1. But having been through that process, if there are people deliberately standing in the way, then it is necessary to marginalize them organizationally and intellectually. I don’t mean that they become nonpersons. But I invite the rest of the movement to ask itself whether these people are making a positive contribution.
Politics [can be] a hobby slightly less productive than fly-fishing. All I’ve asked is that the labor movement in Britain make a decision about whether they’re trying to achieve better conditions for their fellow citizens, or whether they are part of a rather self-serving debating club. I’ve been accused of something called “electoralism.” I’m happy to plead guilty, happy to be convicted and happy to serve a life sentence.
I think it’s necessary for the efficient working of a modern economy and for social justice for there to be a balanced distribution of income in the economy.
I could say we were first in, and we’ll be first out. The ideologies of the new right found their earliest and most savage expression in the form of Thatcherism from 1979. Christian Democracy in West Germany, for instance, still recognized its responsibility for the maintenance of a supportive economic structure. There are very few countries where the movement has been as damaging as in Britain.
No. We are firmly committed to the exchange-rate mechanism and hostile to devaluation of the pound. And we are committed to policies related to investment rather than consumption.
That’s a false alternative. Our economy is firmly enmeshed within European economies. So there’s got to be a strong European focus to our economic, technological and political policies. We have a natural relationship across the Atlantic in the defensive alliance, culturally and in commerce. We’ve got to be loyal in both directions.
If all that bonded the United States and Europe was the alliance, the end of the cold war would make a radical difference. But we have common interests that go beyond military defense. Both parts of the Western industrialized world would disadvantage themselves if they were to look inward.
I think we’d get on fine. But I think that [the Reagan-Thatcher] relationship was probably unique in terms of age and the co-identity of their political views. George Bush can talk in terms of replacing “a peace of tension with a peace of trust.” Well, he’s talking my language. But it’s not the vocabulary you’d expect from President Reagan, and it’s not the vocabulary that would be understood by Mrs. Thatcher. So just in a very short period of time, things have moved along.
