‘Once upon a time there was only civil society and most of it was Christian’
(p40, Doing God – A Future for Faith in the Public Square’, Nick Spencer, Theos, 2006)
It appears that few people in the Labour Party, are amenable to the 'Big Society'. Perhaps this is unsurprising, however, this makes me a little uneasy. On a pragmatic level, if someone is championing social responsibility and civic society I believe they deserve to be at least taken seriously. Indeed, in the summer, two former Labour Special Advisers heeded caution about Labour offering a thoughtless response to the Big Society agenda. I think they have a point.
'The coalition continues to advocate the theme of the "big society", though with varying degrees of conviction. Imprecise as it is, Labour is wrong not to engage with the spirit and vision that lie behind it. Countering this idea with a benign vision of "the good state" is mistaken. Labour has to reclaim the language of reciprocity and mutualism'
'Labour's three steps back to health', Patrick Diamond and Michael Kenny, The Guardian, 9 September 2010
'If the ‘big society' was the wrong answer, it certainly addressed the right question. The trap Labour must avoid has been identified by David Miliband when he says that ‘if we are not standing for an empowering form of government, we stand for big government - and people don't want big government…..
…The future of the ‘big society' is going to be contentious but Labour has to engage with it, critique it and be seen as genuinely wanting to see it succeed. There are already legitimate questions to be asked'
'Don't cede the Ground', Richard Darlington, Progress, 13 September 2010
As a Christian, I recognise elements of the ‘Big Society’ debate that would go down well in many churches. It appears to portray a narrative that fits with the churches re-discovered hunger for social action. I understand fears that people believe that David Cameron is being naïve in championing this agenda. I also understand people's fears that this is a ‘shield’ for a ruthless agenda to roll back the state and cut public spending. However, those views, I believe are unfounded.
Of course, we do need to critique this agenda, as Luke Bretherton has so ably done (Votes, Vows and Volunteers:What is the Big Society? The Tablet, 10 July 2010).
Bretherton correctly identifies that the ‘Big Society’ is not new and is the latest attempt to define what happens outwith the ‘empire’ of the market and the ‘bastion’ of the state:
‘The Big Society is the latest iteration of a call for active citizenship that goes back twenty years’ (Bretherton, ‘Votes, Vows and Volunteers’).
Bretherton assesses differing manifestations of citizenship, vis-a-vis Religion, that touch on this debate. The ‘voter’ - individually expressing preference through the ballot box, the ‘volunteer’ - individually providing service within the ‘Big Society’ and the ‘vow keeper’ - faithfully pledging to uphold the common life. It is this third ideal that Bretherton appears to portray as more authentic and efficacious, particularly within the context of faith communities. Indeed, what historical examples does he cite as being exemplars of this type of citizenship? In the early pioneers of the Labour movement, such as Cardinal Manning and Keir Hardie. (Why is there not a film about Keir Hardie?).
It is this tradition that appears to be relationally strong:
‘….what all such movements shared is a commitment to the priority of relationships - family, friendship, and neighbourhood - and the commitment to a common set of values - taking responsibility, hard work, loyalty, reciprocity and the dignity of the individual’ (Bretherton, ‘Votes, Vows and Volunteers’).
Furthermore, they signify: ‘..the assertion of the priority of social relationships, and the upholding of common values and a common life over and against their instrumentalisation and commodification through political and economic processes’,(Bretherton, ‘Votes, Vows and Volunteers’).
Bretherton advises religious communities to avoid the various bear-traps inherent in the politicians' agenda for civic society through fidelity to the ‘vision of the citizens as vow-keeper’ (ibid).
What I believe the Big Society presents is a chance for Labour to rediscover its roots and the treasures therein within the area of non-state, communitarianism. This requires re-thinking our over-reliance on ‘statism’. It may even re-think what it means to be Labour at a local level. There is every chance that this process can be, in the long-term, very healthy for the Labour Party. Yet, in order to do this we need to ask some hard questions. The recently launched policy review is an ideal process to begin this process. How can Labour then respond positively to this challenge?
Firstly, Labour needs to be publicly affirming of those non-state institutions that serve, organise and provide advocacy in the community. It should affirm faith and specifically the Christian faith, the Labour Party’s 'Grandfather'. Decent people love, respect and cherish their grandparents. This particular Grandparent is not just an additional welfarist, safety net. The church is an 'agency' which, at its best, affirms the dignity of the individual, shields us from being commodified by the market and crushed as another statistic at the behest of the state. At best, politicians and the Labour Party will acknowledge the ethical dimension of faith. However, the real challenge is for it but respect (if not understand) the transcendental and distinctive facets of mainstream Christianity that produce the external, transformative behaviour. A Labour MP once warned me that 'religion in the Labour Party is the kiss of death' meaning if you claim faith credentials forget getting anywhere son. I would respectfully submit, rather, that faith for the Labour Party is the 'kiss of life'.
Labour can also be more clear in publicly honouring the co-operative movement, its values and models. And last not least on this point Labour should always have a fruitful relationship with the Trade Unions. Unions like Community who have sought to develop a meaningful expression of communitarian local models should be replicated in their philosophy and practice.
Secondly, we need to engage with the ‘Big Society’ on a serious level, I have been concerned about some of the non-imaginative and cynical responses that have been offered on the Big Society agenda. We should, of course critique this agenda, as a Labour response maturely developing a civic agenda rooted in the lives of working people and their communities would look different to a Conservative one. Nevertheless, I celebrate and admire the sincere and effective philanthropy of Shaftesbury and lifelong commitment to justice that Wilberforce is synonymous. Yet, there is another tradition, the Labour one that is not patrician and empowers communities and working people. Yet, where is it to be found in this libertarian and fragmented environment? In churches and organisations that esteem faith and active citizenship such as London Citizens. We can be plural in our appreciation of social reform and civic life. Yet, we need to reflect on what has happened to Labour civic heritage. The right place to start has to be with the Christian churches and community organizing bodies. Thus, civic renewal is difficult to envisage in this post-secular age without engaging with faith communities.
Thirdly, we should review our embedded default position of interpreting political challenges through the lens of ‘Fabian’ statism. This is not to advocate doing away with the state or converting to a neo-liberal disdain for 'Big Government'. We should re-articulate where the boundaries between state, market and citizen should fall. Too often the state is seen to be by people, and working class people to be the 'them', the powers that be, the bossy and distant bureaucrat who tells people what to do. The state and welfare state in particular, has benefited the professional middle-classes. As a mechanism that was designed to liberate working people, it has lost its way. Reviewing our approach and assumptions can strengthen and not decimate the state, so it can be an esteemed partner to civic society, not a monolith that crushes all rivals.
Finally, we should re-discover a confident Labour critique of the market and market values. The church, has the values, worldview and energy to resist the market or market dominance. Yet, the dominant view in public life (and to some degree even the church) is saturated with the market and an economic orthodoxy that has been discredited. With our values, history and Christian Socialist ideology and the global dysfunction of the financial markets how can we not respond to this challenge? This is not Marxism, it is biblical Christianity. It is about being seriously committed to liberating the people from the oppression of debt, low-wages, un-organised workplaces and the reckless greed of the few. Big Society, 'yes', Big Markets and Big Bonuses 'no'.
Therefore, I would ask that we have an open mind to the 'Big Society'. Tony Blair, is reputed to have commented that politics is not cyclical but it is rather sequential. There is nothing new under the sun. Ten years ago we had the 'Third Way' now we have Lord Wei. Perhaps, the Big Society debate is the latest (albeit Conservative) manifestation of the vexed debate of how we revive, affirm and re-define what it means to be citizens, what is it is to shape civic society, what it means to express the deep truth that individually and collectively we are precious, we need and value each other, we are not to be resigned to being commodified by the market or being administered mechanically and in a soulless fashion by the state.
We should hope that something substantive and enduring emerges from this fresh 're-discovery' of civic society. If a Tory is interested in job clubs for the unemployed (and they are) and helping and empowering the poor, as a Socialist then they are my friend.
If Labour can find an agile, credible and inspiring response to this agenda, it may find it has the treasures and commitment to embed and express a new common life, an authentic expression of community. The challenge lies before us, will Labour respond?
Well, there might be a few seeds of hope. In his recent speech to the Labour Party, National Policy Forum Ed Miliband said:
'We need to be people who stand up for those traditions, those institutions that people values in communities. It’s not social conservatism to say the local Post Office, the local pub is an essential part of the fabric of community life.
So we need to think really hard in our policy review about how we are the people who stand up for strong communities and strong society and I tell you this, we’ve got to take that term ‘Big Society’ back off David Cameron.'
(Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP, 27 April 2010)
By responding positively to the 'Big Society' challenge Labour can perhaps begin to re-connect with those traditions of the movement and working-class life that have been either derided, marginalized or sat upon. The reference to the 'good society' should generate a discussion and movement within Labour that Christians can engage with. The notion of upholding the good and need for values surely speaks of the need for morals and ethics rather than a bland, technocratic pragmatism that is rootless and ultimately doomed. If the Big Society awakens within Labour an awareness of and appreciation of civil society then I welcome it.
