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The future of the left

Unite meets in Brighton this week in most troubling times for our country. Faith in the institutions forming the pillars of national life – from the political class to the press – has collapsed. Fear stalks the global markets, and yet our political leaders seem incapable of steering a course out of the despair.

At home, our government offers no hope to the millions on the dole. Calls from the sensible majority to rein in economic sadism and instead grow the economy go unheeded, while inhuman ideas like slashing benefits and access to employment tribunals take hold.

Our members understandably look to their union to provide a harbour in this storm. Growing this union is at the core of how we will provide the vibrant opposition to this government working people need. Organising and the 100 per cent drive – priorities for each and every officer – will build Unite into the most formidable force for working people.

Extending the reach of this union informs another Unite initiative – the launch of our community membership. By getting back into our communities we can remind them our values are theirs too. And if we don’t reach out, then who will? Unite will remain first and above all an organisation representing people at work. But if working people know what Unite is and what we can offer even before they enter or re-enter the workplace, then we become a natural and integral part of the fabric of their lives, from cradle to grave.

We are in the midst of an economic crisis of epic proportions. In the 1970s such crises were blamed wrongly on over-powerful trade unions. Today no-one can deny that it is unregulated, untamed capitalism to blame. Giving free rein to the greed and drive for profit has brought us to the brink of a second recession. Unemployment is at its highest for a generation – one million young people out of work and facing a future of despair while child poverty soars once again. And that’s even before the effects of the crisis in the eurozone are measured and felt.

In the face of this we have a government doing nothing beyond obsessing with balancing the books at the expense of the poorest and the services they need. That’s the importance of November 30 and the national day of action.

It may be about protecting the pensions of our members against the Osborne onslaught, but just as importantly it is about standing up for an alternative policy, an alternative society. This society could be one based upon tax justice – not just raising rates on the super-rich, but cracking down on the scandalous scams which allow Vodafone and co to welch on the £6 billion in tax they owe, or which let Goldman Sachs off a £10 million bill at the stroke of an official’s pen.

Cuts depress every single economic indicator and hit all workers, as threats to jobs at BAE Systems and Bombardier prove. Above all, we need growth to turn the unemployed into taxpayers, to meet needs and stimulate economic activity. Our political agenda is not just about opposing the coalition – it is also about reclaiming the Labour Party as our party.

It is a source of serious concern to members that, at the end of the Labour government, laws designed to stop us defending ourselves against employers were still in place. So I understand any member who wants to know how we are going to get political results in the future. One thing we are not going to do is meekly accept that the next Labour government might do as little for us as the last one.

Ed Miliband deserves our support for the new path he is setting for the party. He made a brave speech at the party conference, since then expanding upon how he will lead Labour away from neoliberalism. He recognises the frustration of millions at how money and morality have become separated, he recognises that the market does not cure all evils. He is drawing a line under new Labour.

Yes, his attack on the strikes of June 30 was a mistake, one that I hope will not be repeated this week.

Strengthening the progressive wing of our party is essential if we are to see our party more confidently express its values. That is why Unite is supporting the launch of a new think tank, the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (CLASS), to carry forward the battle of ideas. For too long the Lord Sainsbury-funded Progress has had it all its own way within the party.

We must play our part in forming the progressive ideas across range of issues from work to housing, democracy to equality and trade union freedoms so that Labour can act on a strong, radical agenda when it returns to office. Unite will not follow a counsel of despair. Writing off the Labour Party leads us nowhere.

At the next general election the choice will be stark – an ideological government which will have devastated the social architecture of our nations, or a forward-looking Labour Party with a radical rescue plan based on investment and fairness. Unite is very clear where it stands.

Delegates this week will take forward the passion for social justice and the vision for Unite which our members have voted for. They will be working to win for our members and for our class, to go that extra mile in shaping this great industrial instrument we have brought to life. Unite, ever proud of our past, is confident in our future. With the talent and endeavour of our members, we can create a union to be proud of – and play our part in stopping the ruin of all this country holds dear.

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