The struggle for social democracy and towards the SDP with some personal recollections
Part 1.
On Monday January 25 it will be 35 years since the signing of the Limehouse Declaration which led to the Social Democratic Party in March 1981. Those are the official starting points but as with much else the story goes back much further.
On Monday January 25 it will be 35 years since the signing of the Limehouse Declaration which led to the Social Democratic Party in March 1981. Those are the official starting points but as with much else the story goes back much further.
It took well over twenty years for the
party to come into being because the more one delves into the events of the
1970s the more one gets dragged further back into the events of the 1960s so
that in actual fact the SDP’s historical lineage goes back to the end of the
1950’s.
The same is true when examining the
histories of the Labour and Liberal parties.
The historical timeline of the political parties greatly interests me because it teaches us so much about where we are now and what is taking place these days. Also it is always the case that when we are too close to the action there is invariably a tendency to miss the key signs.
The historical timeline of the political parties greatly interests me because it teaches us so much about where we are now and what is taking place these days. Also it is always the case that when we are too close to the action there is invariably a tendency to miss the key signs.
The fact is that where it is today the
Labour party has been there before and indeed one can say the same to some
extent about the Liberal Democrats (Liberal party).
But to return to the Social Democrats
and their ultimate emergence as a political party, the divisions really started
with the struggle between the Aneurin Bevan and Hugh Gaitskell in the late
1950’s.
The Labour party has always been an
uneasy coalition It was born out of an alliance between working class trade
unionists and middle-class socialist intellectuals. So throughout my lifetime
it has never been able to decide whether it is a party of gradual reform in the
liberal and social democratic tradition or a left-wing and socialist movement.
So the party has more often than not engaged in a struggle between socialists
and social democrats.
The first period where the social
democrats inside the party were strong and in fact had a controlling influence
was between 1955 and 1963 under Hugh Gaitskell’s leadership. He also had very
powerful support from a group of loyal and right-wing trade union leaders as
well as a strong group of intellectuals like Roy Jenkins and Anthony Crosland.
The latter’s book ‘The Future of
Socialism’ was the clearest and most influential expression of Gaitskell’s
philosophy. In his book Crosland built on the ideas of Keynes and Beveridge and
stated that the Labour party should exist for the pursuit of equality,
preservation of personal freedom and representative democracy. Most crucially
he argued that nationalisation should no longer be the key goal of a modern
social democratic state.
Of course all this was anathema to
Aneurin Bevan and his left wing followers and so there followed bitter
struggles. As a teenager, brought up in a predominantly mining environment
these struggles were well rehearsed in the communities where I lived. Indeed I recall going to hear Bevan speak in
vast market hall in Carmarthen – I would have been no more than14 years old.
Apparently there were some 4,000 there and I remember to this day the heckling
and shouting that went on as he was speaking and also the crowds’ roars of
laughter as invariably Bevan got the better of the hecklers with his oratory and
wit.
Labour lost the 1959 General Election
and Gaitskell at a two-day conference that followed the defeat proposed that
Clause Four of the Party’s constitution should be done away with and
consequently the Labour Party would abandon its commitment to public ownership.
There was fierce opposition from the left and indeed even some moderate trade
union leaders gave it a cool reception. So the proposal was quietly dropped in
the interest of party unity and compromise. It’s worth noting that it took the
party over 30 years to drop Clause 4 when Blair became leader and he also
proceeded to change the party’s name to ‘New Labour’ (SDP Mk2)!
The left were buoyed by Gaitskell’s
retreat and at the 1960 Scarborough Conference the party’s defence policy of
multinational nuclear disarmament was replaced in favour of unilateralism.
Although Gaitskell indicated that neither he nor the Parliamentary Party
(PLP) would feel bound by this decision
and angrily displayed his defiance during his Leader’s speech to ‘fight and
fight and fight again to save the party I love’.
So the first open schism emerged then
and the social democrats agreed a manifesto and formally launched in November
1960 ‘The Campaign for Democratic Socialism’. It is interesting for me to
recall some of the names associated with that group as I became to know them so
well in the 1970’s – Dick Taverne, Brian Walden, Denis Howell, Bill Rodgers and
Shirley Williams who did not get too involved as she was Secretary of the
Fabian Society at the time. The group achieved its aim – unilateralism was
defeated at the 1961 party conference and a number of these social democrats
were selected as parliamentary candidates by 1963.
The pendulum swung back by 1963 and the
social democrats were in full control of all major organisations of the party –
PLP, National Executive (NEC) and the Conference. So believing that their
victory would be permanent the ‘Campaign’ movement as an organisation was
disbanded.
That January Gaitskell died and there
followed a leadership contest between the social democrat George Brown and the
more left wing candidate Harold Wilson who was one of Bevan’s disciples in the
1950’s. Wilson won for a variety of
reasons that I won’t dwell on here. .
Labour won the 1964 and 1966 General
elections through the sheer campaigning genius, oratorical skills and the
relaxed and clever television appearances of Wilson. His government were
typical of the man himself – non-ideological and pragmatic. Also his cabinet
was dominated by social democratic heavyweights such as Jenkins, Crosland,
Healey, Brown and Callaghan.
Because of his pragmatism, compromise
and fudge style of leadership Harold Wilson succeeded in alienating the left
and the right alike and this led to bitter in-fighting and feuding that carried
on well into the 1970’s. Ironically his two governments also marked the decline
of the social democratic influence inside the party.
The second Wilson administration 1966
-70 saw the left wing of the party gathering much more influence and strength,
the new members joining the party were more socialist in their beliefs and they
were supported a newer and more left wing group of trade union leaders. Hence
increasingly there were conference resolutions more critical of the Labour
Government.
However following the 1966 General
Election young and very able new social democrats arrived in the Commons –
David Marquand, John Mackintosh and David Owen – and in 1967 the three
published a pamphlet ‘Change Gear’ that interestingly included establishing
elected assemblies for Scotland, Wales and the English Regions. Of course they
did not get far with their social democratic ideas and they were dismissed out
of hand.
This was also the time that I became
really aware of what was going on. Before what was taking place had been
nothing more than of general and academic interest to me even though I had been
a party member since about 1960. In 1967
I became candidate in Carmarthen then later in early 1969, at the request of
Jim Callaghan, I found myself the Research and Public Relations Officer for the
party in Wales in 1969 and then MP in June 1970. So the events of that period
are very well known to me as I was closely involved in quite a number of them.
I entered Parliament as a sort of
Lib/Lab type politician with clear views on many aspects relating to Wales
particularly the Welsh language, devolution of power and party democracy. But I
soon realised that the Labour Party I believed in was not the party that was
represented in Parliament. In fact it didn.t take me long to believe that I was
probably ‘in the wrong party’. But more about all this when a book on my life
and times will emerge later this year!
My recollection is of a PLP that was
perpetually divided on the questions of Europe, defence, public ownership, role
of the trade unions and economic policy. Then in addition to that list the
Welsh Labour group of MPs were divided not only on those issues but also the
Welsh language and devolution. At the time the Welsh MPs who were social
democrats included Cledwyn Hughes, Ifor Davies, Wil Edwards, Tom Ellis, Ednyfed
Hudson Davies, Jeffrey Thomas and myself.
Within the PLP the social democrats
were divided mainly into two groups of MPs – the Roy Jenkins group some 60
strong often referred to as the ‘Jenkinsites’ and the Anthony Crosland group of
some 20 MPs. The latter grouping was more accommodating towards the Wilson
leadership and the general leftward slant of the party at the time.
What caused a more serious chasm than
hitherto and one which led ultimately to a complete fissure was the Labour
party row over whether or not Britain should join the European Common Market
(EEC). Wilson’s was ambivalent on the issue working hard to keep the party
united . On the one hand he had a deputy leader in Jenkins who was pro Europe
and a PLP that was seriously split but then the NEC, party conference and
general membership in the country were opposed to Britain’s entry.
As far back as 1959 Roy Jenkins and
others had set up a Labour Common Market Committee which became in the mid 60’s
the Labour Committee for Europe. So Europe had been for a long time a matter of
principle just as much as the struggle over nuclear disarmament was in 1960.
Throughout the months of long debates in Parliament in 1971 over whether
Britain should join the EEC the ‘Jenkinsites’ – 69 of them - voted with the
Conservative Government. In fact they operated as a party within a party with
Bill Rodgers acting as unofficial whip to the group.
Sometimes I voted with them but at
other times not, particularly on the issue of whether the party should declare
itself in favour of a referendum on EEC membership. To me that seemed not a
fudge or a compromise position to take but the correct policy so I parted
company with Jenkins on that issue and some others as well most notably the
likely impact (as it was perceived at the time ) joining the EEC would have on
Wales in terms of industrial and economic development. In April 1971 Jenkins
resigned as deputy leader on the issue that the next Labour Government should
hold a referendum on Britain’s continued membership of the EEC. Nevertheless
from 1972 onwards I became ever closer to Jenkins and the social democratic
wing of the party for a number of reasons that would take too much space to
explain.
Increasingly over that period the pro-
EEC group of MPs were effectively becoming disengaged from the party and the
atmosphere within the PLP was not good or a happy one. So by 1974 Europe had
become to many of them more important than remaining members of the Labour
Party. Indeed many Labour MPs had difficulties with their local parties over
their pro-EEC views throughout the period and none more so than Dick Taverne.
There was a history of disagreements
between Taverne and his local party going back a few years and eventually in
1972 his constituency party in Lincoln voted that he should stand down at the
next election. He appealed to the NEC and his appeal was turned down so Dick
resigned his seat which resulted in a by-election. I recall the events very
well and to be honest social democrat MPs did not take kindly to what he had
done. He on the other was pushing for a breakaway party and that Jenkins should
lead this breakaway. I recall Roy telling me that Dick had been pushing that
line since November 1971 but felt the time was far from being ready for such an
outcome.
At the by-election March 1 1973 Dick
stood as a Democratic Labour candidate and won with a massive 13,000 majority.
Later in October that year he launched a national Campaign for Social Democracy
with the intention of fighting elections across the country but before much
else could happen to his plan Heath called an early General Election in
February 1974 at the time of the miners’ strike and the three day working,
power cuts and so on. His motive was clear and his belief was that the
electorate would back him.
However it was not to be and to
everyone’s surprise Heath narrowly lost the election. He did try and hang on to
power by trying to persuade the Liberal to come into coalition after a few days
of internal rows within the Liberal Party the venture failed. So Harold Wilson
was Prime Minister again for the third time and Labour was back in Government.
So the referendum on Britain’s
continued membership of the EEC was once again back on the political agenda and
a very serious storm if not a hurricane was soon going to be on the way. By now
I was Roy Jenkins’s Parliamentary Secretary and a Member of the Council of
Europe and I realised that inside the Labour Party in Wales I was very much a
‘marked man’ – there wasn’t going to be much of a future for me in the party
after that!
I had only managed to hang on to my
Carmarthen seat by 3 votes – one of the most historical elections in Welsh
political history so I firmly was of the opinion that the leftward lurch was
damaging to the party. It was also a time when Tony Benn was upping the stakes
and beginning to call the tune and dictate matters through the NEC. So much so
that I released a press statement that included the sentence:
‘The captain of the ship (Wilson) in the middle of a storm does not
attend a meeting called by the first mate (Benn)’
I was interviewed by Robert Kee on the
ITN lunchtime news and when I returned to the central lobby of the Commons
there was Wilson’s PPS waiting for me seeking an assurance that I was not
‘having a go at Harold’!
My next intervention was possibly the
one that sealed my fate when on June 27 1974 in a letter to the Executive of
the Carmarthen Constituency Labour Party I warned the members of what was
happening to the Labour Party
‘
cannot any longer conceal my acute concern about some developments in the
Labour Party which will in my view not enhance the prospects of the party and
will also affect the longer term unity of the Labour movement …….I happen to
believe strongly in the principles of Social Democracy …..Some doctrines which
are propagated on the extreme left of the Labour Party are neither cherished
nor supported by the majority of those who vote Labour’
Those same sentiments I also voiced to
a crowded meeting of the PLP.
A month later Roy Jenkins delivered a
speech in Haverfordwest on July 26 and one that both of us and Mathew Oakshott
who travelled with us from London knew would cause a major furore within the
party. Roy himself recounts in his memoirs ‘A Life at the Centre’ that the
speech was:
‘one of the most explicit and critical
speeches that I had ever made about the Labour Party’s drift to the left’
It received extensive press coverage
and on reading the papers he said it was with ‘a mixture of excitement and
trepidation’. I also spoke at this meeting where there must have been 600
present and it was like a rally and a call to action. Again Roy recounts that
after the speech ‘I had a lot of letters… more than at any other than when I
resigned the deputy leadership’
After that meeting both of us knew
that, as we had discussed several times before, it was ultimately going to lead
to only one conclusion. Then Christopher Mayhew joined the Liberals.
Part 2 to follow
The EEC Referendum and beyond.
Part 2 to follow
The EEC Referendum and beyond.
