Thread by @tonyseymour

Thread.
Blairite New Labour is not something unique, but part of international neo-liberalism as manifested by the EU and by US administrations. Extracts are from Norman Fairclough, “New Labour, New Language?”, Feb 2000.

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“The victory of Bill Clinton and the New Democrats in the 1992 US presidential election was a crucial external factor in shaping New Labour – in strengthening the conviction of Blair, Brown, and others of the need for the Labour Party to 'modernise' itself ..."

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".. in order to win power, to move towards the middle class and the political centre, and to incorporate elements of the political themes and discourse of the right and especially the new right. Blair and Brown visited the USA together in January 1993.

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" According to [John] Rentoul, the visit 'marked a turning point in Blair's development as a politician'. It was not a matter of Blair (or New Labour) borrowing piecemeal from the New Democrats, but recognising similarities between the 'modernisers' in the two parties ...

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" ..and applying 'some of the Democrats' vivid language to a body of ideas which had already largely developed'.... What these claims of Rentoul suggest is that the political discourse of New Labour was significantly shaped by what they learnt from the New Democrats.

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"As Rentoul points out, the traffic has been two-way – e.g. Clinton ... has recently used the term 'Third Way'.... Clinton's political discourse is indeed strikingly similar to Blair's. Both have selectively assimilated elements of the discourse of the new right ….

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" ..…. The politics and discourse of New Labour can appropriately be seen as 'post-Thatcherite' in the sense that it does not seek to ground itself in social democratic traditions which preceded Thatcher, but takes Thatcherism as its starting point …

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" [For] the New Democrats ... the 'cascade of change' is prominent as in New Labour, giving a sense of the inevitability of change. There is also the same elision of agency, causality, and responsibility when it comes to processes in the global economy ...

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" – information, money, and services simply 'move around the world' apparently under their own steam, and there is no indication of social relations and responsibilities behind these movements. There are striking similarities in themes, in arguments, in particular policies

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"... and in language. Both New Labour and the New Democrats advocate a role for government in equipping people to succeed in the global economy.... For both, welfare reform is framed in terms of the theme of responsibility. Both use the expression 'welfare-to-work' ..

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".. to focus what they see as the priority for a reformed welfare system.... ; both see ending the cycle of welfare dependency in terms of people taking more 'responsibility'..... Furthermore, both favour the word 'tough' ...

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" ... – being 'tough on work and responsibility', as well as being 'tough' on crime.... [Clinton wrote:] Families can't be strong if they're mired in welfare.... They can't achieve economic security unless they have access to education."

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"The European Union. There is little public recognition of the extent to which the policies, themes, and language of New Labour are also those of the EU. The language of New Labour is conditioned by the requirement of giving national shape to European Union policies.

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" 'Social exclusion' … has largely replaced 'poverty' in the discourse of New Labour... A fundamental aspect of ... New Labour ... is its abandonment of an economic role for the state – its assumption that it is faced with a 'new global economy' ...

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" .. whose nature it cannot change and should not try to change. This is in contrast with social democratic and democratic socialist traditions, which have seen the state as having the capacity and the responsibility to modify the capitalist economy ...

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" ... notably through nationalisation and the formation of a 'mixed economy'. When the expression 'mixed economy' is used in a speech by Blair, it is used … to refer to … 'public and private partnerships'....

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" .. Similarly... 'internationalism' is regularly used … no longer for solidarity between workers, but for the sort of cooperation within the 'international community' which has led to NATO attacking Yugoslavia …

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"New Labour is not unique. Its abandonment of the 'economic state' is broadly shared by the social democratic parties which constitute governments in most EU countries …. as well as the New Democrats in the USA....

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"Although there are significant differences in detail, reform of welfare systems along broadly similar lines is on the agenda of all of these countries.... There is a common orientation to strengthening the 'penal state' – to 'tougher' government action against crime.

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"One interpretation of these commonalities is that … governments are accepting the globalisation of the economy and the neo-liberal argument that it entails a drastic reduction of the welfare state, and adopting a punitive stance towards those who are the victims ...

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"... of economic change and of the retreat from public welfare .... Social democracy has from this point of view embraced economic neo-liberalism …

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"The new 'penal state' ... directed at criminalising deprivation and thereby normalising insecurity in employment, is becoming international.”

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