Thread by @docrussjackson

"For the past 13 years people have been obliged to live their lives at the mercy of this irrational force called the market. But we know to our cost that this approach has failed. The market must serve our needs, not we the needs of the market" - John Smith, 1992.
#EnoughlsEnough

Govts "have power... to bring about change, to improve the lives of the people whose trust they carry. That is why it is so unacceptable, so unbearable to see the injustice in our country, the waste of human talent, the lack of hope, loss of pride, because it is not inevitable."

"This Conservative government has an idea about people that I must say I find totally objectionable. Fundamentally, they believe people are driven, purely by greed and self-interest. They believe all of us are motivated by a desire to accumulate wealth with no regard for others."

"They see us exclusively as consumers in a market place. Everything is up for grabs as long as you have the money. In this blinkered view of the world there is little room for community, little room for compassion, little room for helping others to share the benefits we enjoy."

"Their language is the language of self, of self-interest. But I have too much faith in the British people to accept that view. I do not believe that the British people lack a sense of compassion, a sense of decency, a sense of honour."

"I believe they do care about others & that they are concerned about their country’s future, for people live in communities, not in isolation. They want to be citizens of a country which shows care & responsibility for all its people & which does not pass by on the other side."

"When the @UKLabour Party was born at the end of the last century it was born, out of the desire of working people to challenge the power of private capital and the tyranny of the ruling elite."

"It was born out of the determination of ordinary citizens to play their full part in society, to claim for themselves the opportunities enjoyed by others, opportunities of-individual advancement and fulfilment that had previously been denied to them."

"The Labour Party was a vehicle for their individual aspirations; it was a force for social justice & for change. Our strength today lies in these same principles, in our belief that people should enjoy as a right of citizenship and not as a privilege of wealth the opportunity...

of a good education, the chance to find a decent job with decent pay, the opportunity to buy or rent a decent home, to have access to child-care & health care & security in their old age, to enjoy a clean environment, to walk the streets of their neighbourhood in safety."

"Our strength lies in our knowledge that we are all members of one community, & it's our responsibility as citizens to work together for the good of that community as a whole, because we believe that the power of all of us together can advance the good of each individual."

"These are the principles that inspire us. They are the bedrock of our movement, and we know in our heart that our values, the values of individual opportunity and social justice, are also the values of the British people."

"An active government means providing efficient and caring public services. That is why we are committed to a National Health Service that is free at the time you need it."

"We will never abandon that principle, because it is the only way to ensure that all patients get the treatment they need, not the treatment they can afford"

"And it is the only way to ensure, that the people who work in the National Health Service can concentrate on providing the treatment that gives the best results, not the treatment that gets the biggest commercial return."

Active government means strengthening the rights of people at work. Labour believes we need to establish a framework of rights for employees as part of a fair system of industrial relations."

"We also believe that the rights of workers are best advanced through the work of free and active trade unions, with whom we in our party are proud to be linked."

"I have long been committed to a minimum wage which gives people a fair reward for their labour... We want Britain to be able to stand alongside her European partners and say: ‘We are proud of our workforce and we treat them with the respect and dignity they deserve.’"

"We believe that active government must also mean democratic government, with people having a real say in their community's affairs, having more, not less, control over the decisions that affect their lives. That is why we want to strengthen local democracy & decentralise power."

"We need to push back the barriers of prejudice that restrict the choice & waste the talents of so many in our society. It's not enough to make discrimination illegal. An active government must positively promote opportunities for all our citizens in every aspect of public life."

"I look around Britain today and I see millions of families who, instead of feeling that they are moving forwards, are struggling to stay in the same place, struggling to make the household budget balance, struggling to keep a job, run a business or keep a roof over their head...

...struggling to make sure their children get a decent education and a solid start to their working lives. The British people deserve better than this."

"We are a nation rich in talent & in skills, men & women who are eager to work hard & to succeed, men & women who want to play their full part in the life of our nation, & young people full of energy & aspirations. All these people ask is the opportunity to prove their worth."

"And it is up to govt to unlock the extraordinary potential of our ordinary people. For the people of Britain deserve good govt, & for that they need active govt, a govt that will stand up for them, a govt that will meet its responsibilities so that they in turn can meet theirs."

"But of course the responsibility of active government extends far beyond our national boundaries. Earlier I spoke about our duty as citizens to work together for the good of the whole community, in the knowledge that the power of all can advance the good of each."

"I have always believed that Britain's future lies in Europe and that we must take a confident and leading role in the European Community. That has been my firm conviction throughout my political life, and the events of the last few weeks have done nothing but reinforce it."

"But we cannot expect to influence either the major political and economic events of our own continent or the direction of global affairs if Britain is pushed to the periphery and relegated to the second division of Europe."

"We are not advocates of a European super state, we never have been, but we are determined to play our part, working closely with our sister socialist parties, in maintaining the momentum for closer co-operation, to build a stronger European community, to extend social justice...

...to preserve the environment and to deepen our democracy. That is why we are advocates for change and progress in the European Community. For Europe cannot stand still. We can either move forward or retreat into isolationism."

"Of course our commitment to Europe should strengthen, not weaken, our obligations to a wider world.... The new challenges to international stability come from poverty in the Third World, worldwide environmental decline and regional conflicts and unrest."

"At a time when the hearts of our people have been moved by the suffering in Somalia and elsewhere in Africa, what does our government do? It threatens a massive reduction in Britain's already shamefully low budget for overseas aid."

"To seek to inflict the results: of their economic incompetence upon millions of people living in poverty in the developing world is not just callous, it is morally repugnant."

"Labour knows that we cannot afford to allow the downward spiral of poverty, debt, protectionism and instability to continue. As a world community, we simply cannot afford it. So we must work to make Britain a strong and confident country again...

...so that she can play her rightful part in shaping the world of, the future, a strong & confident country within Europe, within the UN... Everywhere where Britain has influence we must strive unceasingly for co-operation and for new and imaginative solutions to our problems."

"We live in a time of great pessimism, not just in our own country but throughout the world. As the fear of nuclear annihilation recedes, it is not being replaced by optimism but by new fears, fears of environmental catastrophe, of economic disintegration, of racism & fascism...

...of new ethnic and religious tensions, and the fear that we do not have the means or the will to deal with what lies ahead. People want answers, but they feel there are none. They want action, but they see none."

"More than anything, Britain needs leadership: leadership to take the long view of problems & to act to solve them; to anticipate future tensions & to act to avoid them; to restore hope; leadership to make people feel their voice is being heard, & their needs no longer ignored."

"Labour is going to provide that leadership. In the years that remain of this discredited govt Labour will be a fighting opposition, relentlessly challenging every attempt by this govt to inflict further damage on the fabric of our society or to limit the chances of our people."

"But at the same time, in every week of every month, we will be working and preparing for government. For there is a void at the heart of our public life in Britain, a vacuum left by 13 years of Conservative rule. It is up to Labour now, to all of us...

...working together, to fill that void, to fill it with a new programme that responds to the real needs of our communities, with leadership that speaks for the real interests of our people & with a vision that will restore hope & create confidence in our country’s great future."

These were extracts from John Smith's 1992 Leader's speech, in Blackpool - his first conference speech as Party Leader & followed Labour’s third successive general election defeat on 9 April.

Full speech here:

britishpoliticalspeech.org/speech-archive…

The focus of this address was ‘Black Wednesday,’ the day on which the UK was forced out of the ERM. For Smith, these events proved conclusively that the Conservatives’ policies had failed and that they were ‘devalued’ as a government.

Labour, in contrast, was committed to ‘active government,’ which means increased investment in training, efficient public services, the increased participation of women in the workforce, and the construction of a stronger European Community with Britain at its heart.

I miss him.

My message to @Keir_Starmer: