Labour Assembly Against Austerity- key discussions for the left

The Labour Assembly Against Austerity meeting on November 14 is an excellent opportunity to discuss the key economic issues, promote the anti-austerity policies of the Labour leadership and debate the way forward. 

The Labour Party and the left in Britain generally has never before been in a situation where its leadership has been under such sustained and ferocious attack from its opponents. This is because Labour’s new leadership is also something entirely new. It espouses policies which run counter to the austerity offensive, which is the main project of big business and its political representatives. So bringing together all those who want to defend this leadership against right-wing attack, discussing the alternatives to austerity and debating the way forward is vital.

The keynote speaker is the Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell. Along with Jeremy Corbyn and their allies, he has pushed the Tories back on cuts to working tax credits, so much so that it would now be a surprise if at least some concessions were not made. But it should be clear that any gains made through amendments to Osborne’s plans and the Tories’ political difficulties arise because there has been such firm and clear opposition from Labour.

Even if there are certain tactical retreats, it is also clear that the Tories will be relentless in their pursuit of austerity policies. There is no significant section of big business opinion which does not support austerity. Therefore it will be increasingly important for the entire anti-austerity movement and the Labour Party to clarify its economic alternatives and to popularise them among the widest possible layers in society. The debates should be about how to defeat the Tories and their austerity policy, and what the sustainable alternatives should be. As such, the debates will need to be comradely ones aiming to maximise light while minimising heat.

In Britain and in many Western economies in the period since World War II there has been a bastardisation and then the almost complete marginalisation of advanced economic thought. The most important economists are reduced to fortune cookie phrases in the case of Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand’, completely distorted with reference to Keynes’ ‘digging holes and filling them’ or ignored completely in the case of Marx. Building a movement that is capable of challenging and then defeating the Tory arguments will require a culture of debate and familiarity with these authors and more besides.

SEB has shown that growth is required to raise living standards and that growth itself is primarily determined by the rate of investment. It is because the rate of investment is so low in the British economy that there has been no growth in living standards since the crisis began. The economy has expanded by just £100bn from the 1st quarter of 2008 to the 2nd quarter of 2015, less than 6% in over 7 years. But of this growth £80bn has been the growth of consumption while just £4bn has been a rise in investment. We remain in an investment crisis.

The Labour Assembly Against Austerity meeting will offer the opportunity to hear from leading figures in the Labour Party, the trade unions, campaign organisations and the anti-austerity movement. A series of workshops will allow more detailed debate. Both of these are necessary if the movement as a whole is to continue its momentum and build a clear understanding of the alternative to austerity.

Labour Assembly Against Austerity
10am – 5pm Saturday 14th November
Institute of Education, London WC1H 0AL

Speakers include:
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP
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Diane Abbott MP
Lucy Anderson MEP
Michael Burke,