Letters
Time to bring the greens and reds together
Sunday 15 August 2010 Printable Email
Derek Wall (M Star August 11) makes an effective defence of the Green Party of England and Wales as an organisation of a left - unlike, as he acknowledges, the neoliberals of the old Irish Green Party.
The point does suggest a perhaps obvious issue, but one that Derek understandably does not dwell on.
Namely that if there is not an automatic association between green politics and the left, then there is a surely a process of argument, debate and struggle about the direction of such a politics to be had, not just within the ranks of the Green Party but in the wider ranks of those who see the link between a sustainable future and socialism.
Keith Flett
London N17
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1 comment:
Hi Derek
I guess I am with Keith on this one. Reaction to the article I wrote has been somewhat defensive. For example:
"At its best, the Green Party is part of a tradition of English radicalism that includes Tom Paine and William Morris. It is attempting to address many of the important questions..."
Not exactly an attack, as you would characterise it. And from the unedited version:
"One of the crucial questions for the Green Party concerns the extent to which they can become a party of the 'working Left' - with reference to the kind of family 'eco'-nomics so powerfully depicted by John Steinbeck in the 1930s."
In the article I am actually trying to point out to the readers of Tribune that the GPEW is close - very close - to becoming a genuine and radical party of the Left. I think that people in the Labour Party need to think about what this might mean and what is the best way to help. But the response has been angry.
If Labour people want to be involved in a process of 'shared development' there must be a better way forwards than simply saying 'join the Greens'. In the meantime, I stand by the criticisms I made of the European Green movement.
I would make different criticisms of our leaders in the European Socialists, but no less fierce. We face massive challenges across Europe, where I live there are 2000 applicants to each crappy job. We are led by miserable kings, lacking in guts and spirit, and something has to change, but it will not arise from the Greens alone.
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