Social Democrat Group, has been
formed to celebrate and develop our social democrat heritage, and to reach out
to social democrats beyond the party
The Social Democrat Group has been formed to work with social
democrats outside the party, to build links with them, and encourage some to join the Liberal Democrats.
As I handed out leaflets to
promote our fringe meeting at the York Conference (see here for
a recording), I was asked why we needed another group when we already had the
Social Liberal Forum (SLF). A year ago, I’d have agreed a new group wasn’t
needed but the situation has changed.
When the party merged in 1988, there was a
lot of controversy about the party’s name. It was vital the party move on from
that debate, so many former members of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) agreed
that the short name become the Liberal Democrats. I feared this might mean we
would eventually be called Liberals, and the SDP heritage forgotten, but I
believed it was necessary.
Sure enough, increasingly, we have been called Liberals. I
haven’t liked it, but when there were so many other serious issues to grapple
with, it didn’t seem a fight worth having.
All that changed with the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of
the Labour party, and the appointment as Shadow Chancellor of John McDonnell, a
politician influenced by Marx,
Trotsky and Lenin.
The situation for Labour is far worse than
when the SDP was created in 1981. Michael Foot, the leader back then, was a
socialist, but he was not a close associate of Trotskyists. He was an
anti-communist, a supporter of NATO, who never referred to terrorists as
friends.
Once Corbyn was elected, I knew many social
democrats would leave Labour. However, if there was no visible social
democratic presence in the Liberal Democrats, would they see our party as a
safe refuge?
The Social Democrat Group aims to encourage
social democrats to join the party, by reaching out to them, and by helping
develop social democratic thinking in the party.
We also aim to build better relations with
social democrats who remain outside the party, especially in Labour.
We’ve already started building links with the Labour blog
Labour-Uncut, who recently published one
of my articles. We hope to build relations with all centre-left groups in the
Labour party.
For our purposes it’s not necessary to
define precisely what social democrat means. We’re a Lib Dem group, and anyone
with full membership is a Lib Dem member. As far as we are concerned, anyone
who thinks of themselves as a social democrat, and agrees with the values of
the preamble of the party constitution, is a social democrat. Those who aren’t
members can become associate members.
At our inaugural committee meeting at York,
we agreed that we would not be a campaigning organisation, promoting specific
policies. This won’t stop me or any other committee member expressing our
individual opinions. Just that those views will be ours, and ours alone.
Will we publish pieces you disagree with?
We certainly hope so. We want to provide a forum for debate, not an echo
chamber. We also want debates with as much mutual respect as possible.
We don’t want to duplicate the work of other
groups, such as the SLF. It is important for political parties that there are
groups which promote specific values and policies. In our party, this includes
the SLF, the Green Liberal Democrats, Liberal Reform, and others. These
organisations provide a creative tension within the party, and that’s vital. We
don’t want to duplicate their work.
While we don’t exist to promote specific
policies, we want to help the development of social democratic thinking, both
in and outside the party. However, we will be facilitators, not a pressure
group.
The current Tory division will make little
difference to the quieter civil war which is raging in the Labour party. As it
rumbles on, more Labour members will become disillusioned.
There are now many social democrats looking
for a new home, both in Labour and elsewhere. Sadly, they have forgotten the
rich social democratic tradition of the Lib Dems.
Some have recently joined us from
Labour. If we can remind them that we share many of their values, I believe
many more will do so. And that’s what we plan to do.
* George Kendall is chair of
the Social Democrat Group and this is an article he recently wrote in Liberal
Democrat Voice. He writes in a personal capacity.