THE TIES THAT BIND

Union organiser Ben Peterson thinks the Labour Government can be forced off its centrist path but there's no evidence to suggest that this is plausible. Unfortunately Peterson's view holds sway with a New Zealand left that refuses to break its ties with Labour.

'Those who do not move, do not notice their chains' Rosa Luxemburg.

IN AN ARTICLE for Jacobin, union organiser Ben Peterson says that while Labour's election victory was a welcome one for New Zealand's left, Labour cannot be relied on to bring about progressive changes.

Given the antipathy that Labour has consistently displayed for left politics of any description, its hard to understand why Peterson should be so enthusiastic about Labour's re-election unless, of course, its simply because Labour isn't National.

In a country where inequality and poverty have increased under Ardern's leadership, Peterson should not be too loud in his toasting of Labour's victory. It might be claimed that Labour is 'the lesser evil' but lesser evilism doesn't provide jobs or put food on the table and it doesn't provide decent and affordable housing for all. Its possible you must have the benefit of a well paid union job to correctly understand the 'advantages' of a 'lesser evil' government. The advocates of such lesser evilism are a little like the military generals of World War One who sent the troops over to the top to be mowed down by the German machine guns while they themselves were many miles away. An unfair comparison? I don't think so. Capitalism kills, after all.

To suggest that Labour cannot be 'relied' on to bring about progressive change implies that Labour is open to persuasion. This is an argument that has been repeated ad nauseam by groups like Socialist Aotearoa, the Unite Union, the International Socialists and by individuals like blogger Chris Trotter and documentary film maker Bryan Bruce. But this claim isn't based on anything as logical as evidence but rather on an ideological determination not to admit - ever -that Labour is a political dead end for the left. Thirty years after Richard Prebble told David Lange he'd been thinking, we're still being asked to believe that Labour is reformable.

In fact the record of the first term Labour-led Government is compelling evidence that Labour isn't for turning from its centrist path. While a lesser evil practitioner like Unite Union director Mike Treen might want to highlight the minor 'positive' aspects of Labour's re-election, they are rather more heavily outweighed by Labour's abysmal track record including the failure to introduce a capital gains tax while, at the same time, rejecting calls to increase benefits to a level that would provide a little dignity for beneficiaries. We should also reflect on the fact that at a time of economic crisis the Labour-led Government delivered, as Bernard Hickey of Newsroom noted, '.. the biggest shot of cash and monetary support to the wealthy in the history of New Zealand, while giving nothing to the renters, the jobless, students, migrants and the working poor who mostly voted it in.'

Given Labour's election victory and the cannibalising of a healthy chunk of former National party voters, Labour will be more than determined than ever not to rock the boat. Writing for the UK's Novara Media Huw Morgan has pointed out that Labour's electoral strategy will inevitably lock Labour into its centrist path:

'Ardern’s theory of change relies on winning over those whose votes swing depending on the candidate’s personality or their own narrowly-conceived self-interest. This theory fails because it abandons the solidarity and movement-building necessary to shift the Overton window leftward, meaning that once an election is won, actual change is impossible, having been ruled out to appease floating voters. This would be fine, had this strategy – championed by Clinton and Blair, and adopted by a new generation of Trudeaus and Arderns – not sent us hurtling towards climate catastrophe.'

Ben Peterson might like to claim that 'Ardern’s 2020 win has left the door to radical change ajar' but the evidence tells us that the door remains, as ever, firmly closed. Maybe its time to recognise that Labour is an obstacle in the way in the development of progressive politics in this country and not a potential enabler. Given the climate crisis that we now face, the Labour-aligned left's continued misplaced loyalty to Labour will be nothing short of disastrous.