Milliband on the decline of left wing parties in Europe.

[pampango]

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/03/labour-european-party-germany

"Might it be more true that voters do not vote left at times of economic crisis and downturn? Instead, these periods see a rise of populist, nationalist identity politics often allied to economic and social protectionism and isolationism. The left came into power in Germany in 1970 and France in 1981 at the end of longish periods of growth. Labour did badly in the 1980s and lost a fourth consecutive election in 1992 at a time of high unemployment, house repossessions and mass business closures. By 1997, the economy was stabilised, growth was steady, and unemployment going down. Rather than the worse the better for the left, it may be more accurate to say that countries vote left when voters feel more confident about their future.

More precisely he discusses the failure of the European parties of the governing left to seize the moment. He claims that the parties of the European left have never been so excluded from government. That is a little unfair on Spain, Portugal, Greece and now Ireland. And David's father lived through the 1950s when Britain, Germany, Italy, the Benelux countries and Ireland were all solidly under centre-right rule as was France where the main left opposition was provided by the Communist Party which did protest not power.

The biggest problem for classic social democracy or Labourism is the disappearance of a nationally-rooted industrial working class, both skilled and blue collar manual. There is a proletariat but it is often immigrant, sometime without papers, disconnected from a common sense of national identity or the traditional religious and communal history of the left. If Labour owed more to Methodism than Marx what now is Labour's connection to Muslim Britain?

The European country where the left has held cabinet seats continuously since 1958 is Switzerland. But Switzerland is also home to Europe biggest populist identity party, the SVP (Swiss People's Party) which campaigns against the EU, against mosques, against Muslims and for harsh criminal justice. So does the left win and hold government power simultaneously with losing its hold over its traditional 20th century base - the national monocultural working class?

Interesting look at the rise and fall (and rise and fall and rise...) of left wing parties in Europe and how it is connected to times of prosperity versus hardship. (Of course, the reverse is apparently true that throughout recent European history right wing parties have benefited from times of economic difficulty.) Doesn't mean that this pattern has to hold true in the future, but it is worth noting.

[Hannah Bell]

1. the french socialist party is running the head of the imf as their nominee.

that tells you all you need to know about the socialist party of france, imo

i don't think your analysis about the right "benefiting" from hard times & the left from good times captures the reality.

think about it: why is a putatively "socialist" party running as their candidate, the head of the imf when france has 10% unemployment & faces its worst economic crisis since ww2?

it's laughable -- it's the imf demanding the austerity policies which are pissing people off.

off *course* people turn to the right under such circumstances.

it's a set up.

and there;s historic precedent for the pattern of manipulation

[xchrom]

2. +1

[siligut]

3. Worth noting because of the current economic hardship in the US

Interesting look at the rise and fall (and rise and fall and rise...) of left wing parties in Europe and how it is connected to times of prosperity versus hardship. (Of course, the reverse is apparently true that throughout recent European history right wing parties have benefited from times of economic difficulty.) Doesn't mean that this pattern has to hold true in the future, but it is worth noting.

This US hardship didn't happen on its own, it was created and I am thinking this is why.

[Hannah Bell]

4. yes.

[CJvR]

5. Dont know about other places...

... but here in Sweden the Social Democrats are imploding.
Not only suffering the worst election defeat since the universal right to vote was introduced but for months now they have failed to find a replacement leader for the one sacked after the debacle and in the process they have managed to plunge to even lower levels of support than those they got in the disasterous election.

The main problem IMPO is that they simply don't have any ideas for the future. The Social Democrats have become a conservative party dreaming back to the good old days of the 50'ies and 60'ies when there was no competition and 3-4% annual growth and full employment was a God given right. The last idea the Social Democrats had was back in the 80'ies and it was the so called "Löntagarfonder" basicly an extra tax that would be used to gradually nationalize private corporations. Even within the ranks of the Social Democrats the issue was controversial and once the right abolished it the issue was never raised again by Social Democrat goverments.

Here the issue seems to be more that the Social Democrats have no visions for the future. The Communist haven't had any visions for a century and seem content with that. The only party on the left wing that seem to want to do something are the Greens, and they are growning a bit. Unfortunately their neo-luddite tendencies and technofobia makes them an impossible choise for many.

Although it should be noted that much of the current difficulties are a result of past victories.