This is a guest post by a young labour party activist.

The Left, broadly defined, has become quite fractious and
fissiparous. There are left-wingers in Labour, in the Lib-Dems, in the Greens, in Marxist groups and in no party at all.

The Progressive London Conference aimed to gather together speakers from the capital’s left. As an attendee, I found some of the sessions interesting and some of the speakers good. Others, however, notably Harriet Harman, fell flat. People were not happy with the government’s record and with its rhetoric. As Deputy Leader of the Labour Party she failed to inspire people with confidence in the leadership or with optimism that the government was going to move leftwards.

Although all wanted to see a Conservative defeat, many of those present did not want a Labour victory. The Lib-Dems and Greens present would obviously rather people voted for them rather than Labour. Unless left-wing voters unite behind the strongest anti-Tory candidate in every seat, the Tories will benefit from the splits on the centre-left.

The Progressive London Conference seems to be the brainchild of Ken Livingstone. As such, it is partly to build his profile for his candidacy for London Mayor in 2012. To regain the mayoralty, he has judged he needs Lib-Dems and Green support [or second preferences] as well as Labour ones.

Given this, the key test he may have for Progressive London may well be whether the Tories can be beaten in the 2012 Mayoral election rather than in 2010.

On broader political issues, there was a clear view articulated that the cost of balancing the budget must not be at the expense of public services. It is in defending public services that the left can strike the strongest chord with the public .However I was disappointed at the two Labour councillors who spoke at the ‘Defending Public Services’ session for failing to strongly articulate the notion that both local and national public services ought to be protected from cuts.

Another issue touched on is that the trade union movement is in need of revitalisation. It is through trade unions that workers can get a better deal and that inequality can be reduced. As is natural for a meeting held at Congress House, there were a number of trade union speakers. Both Frances O’Grady, Deputy General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress and Len McCluskey Assistant General Secretary of Unite the Union, spoke passionately about the need for strong trade unions and for more left-wing policies. Len McCluskey’s speech in particular articulated a strongly left-wing line while remaining committed to the Labour Party. If he is elected Unite General Secretary, there may be hope of the union exercising some influence on the party to move it leftwards.

The cloud hanging over the conference is that of the recession. As we know, economic policy has been dominated by the City for too long. Ken Livingstone spoke of the need for more investment. It is right that we should invest more in infrastructure and more in manufacturing industry. We can not be dependent on the City for a large chunk of our GDP – as we were during the 2000s boom. However, speakers cited China as an example of a society that is taking the right route to tackle the recession. Although China’s investment and stimulus packages are to be admired, it must not be forgotten that it is a repressive authoritarian regime. And, furthermore, it is one that has become more financially corrupt and has dismantled some state industries and allowed the private sector to dominate some of the newer parts of the economy.

We must look for a democratic socialist way forward – and not be too seduced by the fast rates of economic growth in authoritarian state-capitalist China as it plays “catch-up”.

Progressive London was good in terms of hearing from speakers and trying to build links between various elements of the left. However, it was hampered by the lack of a clear consensus on the way forward. Disparate sections of the left now need to work together to stop the Tories and also to tackle the neo-liberal free-market ideology that has dominated and withered away democratic socialist ideas in the Labour Government.