Thread by @fromarsetoelbow

The reactions to Starmer's conference speech were predictable, on both the left & right, as were the heckles & the (media) reactions to the heckles. What is noticeable is that there was a distinct lack of zingers all round. The speech isn't going to be remembered.

The narrative of "closing the door on Corbynism" had already been established by the rulebook changes, while Starmer still has little of substance to say on policy (the promise that it will come nearer the election is made by the same people who criticised this approach in 2019).

Most of the announcements were either non-contentious (no party seriously thinks we shouldn't spend on the climate crisis) or retreads of past (mostly New Labour) ideas. There was generally a lack of novelty, hence the old rhetoric: tough on crime, the education mantra etc.

Leaving aside the guff about more police (a tad insensitive given the Everard news), or the attempt to raise a cheer for patriotism (a very meta move, showing Starmer isn't an instinctive patriot) - both simply tributes to the press - what stood out was the emphasis on work.

But this isn't work as the right to a decent wage, or as the route to social justice. Rather he envisages it in terms of individual identity & pride. This intrinsic valuation of work substitutes for labour as a social force, leaving capitalism alone as the motor of society.

Starmer's emphasis on his father, and the repeated use of "tool" as a metonym of his own worldview, occludes social relations in favour of the skilled worker's identification with the tools of his trade. In this example, it teeters on full-blown fetishisation of the commodity.

Labour has historically tried to balance labour (or society) & capital. Wilson's "white heat" was about ending "outdated methods on either side of industry", while Mandelson's "intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich" was balanced by "as long as they pay their taxes".

Starmer represents a departure from this (or perhaps a more blunt admission of the New Labour project, if you prefer). He proposes an alliance of capital & the state, with the latter's role focused more on producing a compliant, dutiful workforce than on restraining the former.