Owen Jones calls on the left to unite against austerity

Chavs author, Independent writer and Labour activist Owen Jones talked to Salman Shaheen about the People's Assembly and the prospects for resistance to austerity

Chavs author, Independent writer and Labour activist Owen Jones talked to Salman Shaheen about the People’s Assembly and the prospects for resistance to austerity

If the People’s Assembly could be summarised in a word, it would be optimism. From the opening speeches it crackled, infusing enthused activists with the idea that austerity – a failure both in terms of restoring growth to the economy and protecting society’s most vulnerable – could be defeated with united action from the left.

Those speaking in the opening Plenary – angry, passionate and full of hope despite all past attempts to bring the left together in the face of neoliberal consensus – might have overstated the case and underestimated the challenge they faced, but the day was about inspiring people.

When I caught up with Owen Jones after the first session, he was naturally ebullient.     

“It’s going incredibly well so far,” he said. “Over 4,000 people are here, it’s the biggest anti-austerity meeting since the crisis began, and I think the arguments that people want on the agenda about alternatives to the self-defeating nightmare of austerity are going to be on that agenda for the first time. It’s such a broad cross-section of the country. And it’s a launch pad for local groups and actions across the country as well.”

But the People’s Assembly had the misfortune of falling on the day that Ed Miliband announced Labour – for many the natural locus of opposition to austerity – would be sticking to Tory spending plans.

While Jones appears to be very much in the Labour camp, he is less enthusiastic about the decisions of its leadership.

“The message for the Labour leadership should be you can no longer expect to automatically be the leaders of the opposition to what the Tories are doing in this country,” Jones said. “You’ll now face competition from those who want a genuine alternative to austerity.”

Jones pointed out the Labour leadership is used to being yelled at from the right, but now it’ll be yelled at by people from a different direction.

“Those sorts of arguments used to support austerity, as it has been proven to fail even on its own terms, they’re no longer credible,” he said. “We will be putting huge amounts of pressure and we’ll be building a national campaign which will give a voice to all those who do want an alternative to austerity.”

Of course, many have now abandoned Labour entirely. Ken Loach, who was reportedly barred from speaking in the closing plenary and relegated to an afternoon slot in the marquee because he was too anti-Labour, has launched an appeal to found a new party to the left of Labour. It’s an initiative that I and almost 9,000 others have signed up to and I asked Jones what his stance on projects such as Left Unity is.

“At the end of the day, we will always have different strategies and tactics,” he said. “The most important thing is we all have unity where we can agree on an issue by issue basis.”

Jones stressed that the People’s Assembly is not a party, but a movement bringing together people from lots of different parties, initiatives, unions, and campaigning groups.

“I welcome anyone, whatever strategy they have, as long as we can work together on that common aim which is building a broad coalition against austerity,” Jones said.

The answer from Jones, then, is left unity in action, if not in name. While we disagree on the question of Labour, and while the People’s Assembly in its optimism may have underestimated the strength of consensus around austerity forged by the three main parties, Jones is certainly right that left unity against the cuts is our only hope.

37 Responses to “Owen Jones calls on the left to unite against austerity”

  1. Harry Leslie Smith

    Labour has to ask itself why it wants to govern in 2015? There recent vision statements seem rather similar to the coalitions and they appear to be ashamed of their party’s single greatest achievement-The creation of the modern welfare state. The left is never going to unite against austerity as long as Labour plays this dangerous game of economic real politik in their efforts to form the next government. Until Labour comes to terms with the enormous damage that Blair and Brown did to the party and their ideals, the labour party for me will be a party of hacks, hypocrites and profiteers. Labour has to choose whether they are a party of opportunist and hollow slogans or a party that believes that the 21st century belongs to every Britain not just the rich, the well educated and well connected.

  2. GO

    It’s interesting to note that the position of the People’s Assembly is the same as Labour’s in its basic shape. Both organisations accept that as well as a cyclical deficit that can be closed by promoting growth, there is a structural deficit that must be closed through austerity measures (tax rises/spending cuts). Both organisations accept that reversals in spending cuts already made must be funded by increasing the tax burden on somebody, somewhere, rather than through extra borrowing. Where they differ is in their assessment of how much it’s possible and desirable to increase the effective tax burden on corporations and banks (and rich individuals?), and so how far it’s possible to reverse cuts already made. And this is where Labour seem to me to be more in touch with reality. *Maybe* we can extract an additional £10bn, or £20bn, or £30bn, from corporations and rich individuals every year, without seriously disrupting the economy, and so go a long way towards closing the structural deficit we inherit in 2015. But to think we can extract an additional £80bn, or £90bn, or £100bn, still without seriously disrupting the economy, and so not only close that deficit but also reverse five years of Tory spending cuts … that’s just pie in the sky, isn’t it? Those figures just don’t correspond to any figures I’ve ever seen on what can realistically be achieved through measures such as restoring the 50p tax rate, bringing CGT in line with the 40p rate of income tax, reversing cuts to corporation tax, abolishing higher rate tax relief on pensions contributions, imposing a Mansion Tax and a Robin Hood Tax, etc.

  3. Donald J Williamson

    This should help to heat up the general election campaigns of the main political parties, now that all three have all but launched their offiicial campaigns. Those of us with an eye on the independence referendum in Scotland don’t have far to look for an alternative stance on austerity. I’m only sad that I live 30 or so miles from the border, otherwise I know where my vote would go. Westminster, this is your wake up call!

  4. Salman Shaheen

    Scottish independence would leave those of us south of the border with a permanent Tory government. Then again, so would Labour 😉

  5. GO

    “Until Labour comes to terms with the enormous damage that Blair and Brown did to the party and their ideals…”

    I have no problem acknowledging New Labour’s failings – e.g. on inequality, on bank regulation, on the marketisation of public services. I do wish, though, that certain people on the left – usually those shouting the loudest about the need to resist cuts to public services – were a bit quicker to acknowledge its success in giving us such well-funded public services in the first place. There’s more than a hint of irony about all the “Down with New Labour! Defend Tax Credits!”-style rhetoric out there.

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