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Daniel Bensaïd ment of Lionel Jospin is looking a bit old-fash- finance markets. Everything else follows from ioned. there. Beyond speeches and symbols, the policy The Third Way is supposed to find a happy How left is Left in Europe? matches up to stated intentions. The sociolo- medium between the extremes, while invok- New Centre, Third Way gist Anthony Giddens, Blairism’s guru and ing the “natural constraints of globalisation”. author of its little Blue Book, says that “the The ideologues of the Friedrich Ebert Foun- Capitalism’s project of globalisation seems to term ‘centre-left’ isn’t an innocent label. A dation are in no doubt: the social democracy be running into problems. The spectacular renewed social democracy has to be left of cen - that emerged from the morass of neo-liberal- worsening of the world economic crisis and tre, because social justice and emancipatory ism will not be what it was before; they claim Gerhard Schröder’s victory in the German elec- politics remain at its core. But the ‘centre’ that the classic formulas of welfare socialism tions suggest that good news may be at hand: shouldn’t be regarded as empty of sub- will not be reinstated 5/. This is a far cry from the end of our winter of neo-liberalism, to be stance” 2/. Keynes, either old or new. replaced by a spring of social democracy. A From all this derives a bold programme to In an essay which has caused a stir of in- “neo” socialism is on the way. Remodelled; neo- establish a Third Way which is to be a “radi- terest across the Channel, Donald Sassoon Labour; and neo-Keynesian. cal centre”, a new “democratic state without suggests that “these parties are the only left However, it is not a new left. It is being enemies”, an active civil society, a “new mixed that is left” 6/. We need urgently now to counter hailed, rather, as a Third Way and a Neue economy”, a new “family democracy”, a “civic this perspective with another left, operating to Mitte (new centre). During the recent Labour liberalism” beyond the society of labour, a the left of that left. Party conference in Blackpool, Tony Blair was “cosmopolitan nation”. In fact, it is just old Because all the rhetoric about governance, ebullient about having turned Labour into a policies with a new label. Bodo Hombach, eco- willingness to submit, etc, is really a cover for party that was “pro-business and pro-enter- nomics minister for Rhineland-Westfalia and something else. The International Herald Trib- prise” 1/. On 21 September 1998 there was a economic advisor to Gerhard Schröder, has une, not generally given to sociological analy- summit in New York, around the idea of estab- his own views of what a German-style Third sis, observed that during the Labour Party lishing an International of the centre left. Way might be: he argues for “a Germany that conference the streets of Blackpool were no Tony Blair waxed lyrical about the “radical is distanced from the old kind of social longer invaded by miners in overalls, but by centre”. Romano Prodi – at that time still state” 3/. businessmen, lawyers and management con- Italy’s prime minister – talked of a “world- The textbook phraseology of Europe’s mid- sultants, most of them wearing suits and wide Olive-tree alliance”. And Bill Clinton dle-of-the-road socialism rejects outright the equipped with mobile phones 7/. Mr Blair’s was reportedly delighted to see the Third Way old left’s belief in Keynesian demand manage- government features Lord Sainsbury, head of becoming a global phenomenon. In this all- ment, limiting the role of the market, a com- the Sainsbury’s food chain and one of Britain’s conquering mood of modernity, the govern- mitment to egalitarianism and a homogeneous richest capitalists; Lord Simon, secretary of labour market. They call for less government state for trade and formerly an executive at 1/ International Herald Tribune, Paris, 28 September 1998. and more “governance” (in other words, a sys- British Petroleum; Martin Taylor, a Barclays 2/ Anthony Giddens, The Third Way, the renewal of social democra- cy, Polity Press, London, 1998, p. 45. tem of regulation that is administrative and Bank executive, overseeing reform of the social 3/ Bodo Hombach, Aufbruch - die Politik der neuen Mitte (New depoliticised). They are apologists for a new security system; and Peter Davis, an execu- Beginning: The Politics of the New Centre), Econ Verlag, Zurich, 1998. hedonistic individualism, not old-fashioned tive from the Prudential insurance company, 4/ Anthony Giddens, op. cit., pp. 24 and 43. 5/ René Cupérus and Johannes Kandel (ed.), “The magical return of solidarity. Anthony Giddens notes that we now heading the group looking at reform of the social-democracy”, in European Social-Democracy, Transformation live in a world where “no-one any longer has welfare state. Similarly, in France, Dominique in Progress, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Amsterdam, 1998. any alternatives to capitalism” 4/. The sole per- Strauss-Kahn, the Socialist minister of finance 6/ Donald Sassoon, A Hundred Years of Socialism, Fontana, London, 1997. spective of this new radical centre is to look af- and economics, is the founder of the Cercle de 7/ International Herald Tribune, 30 September 1998. ter the profits under the surveillance of the l’Industrie, described by L’Expansion as a “lob- 1 1998_12_00_db_E_211_Mise en page 1 12/01/13 16:05 Page2

bying organisation of leading industrial em- Labour is also “the party of law and order” so this provides a suitable institutional basis ployers” 8/. All this creates a rather special sort and “zero tolerance”. for change. But it also needs the political will of social relations. The incorporation of social In Italy, over a two-year period, the main capable of rising to the challenge. Today it is democratic elites into the upper echelons of achievement of the Prodi government has patently clear that “the apparent coherence government, industry, finance and commerce been to satisfy the Maastricht convergence of the model of a new era of growth was prospers in inverse proportion to their links criteria, while doing nothing to reduce unem- d e c e p t i v e ” 10/. A crisis that is already affecting with the world of work. Given the lack of sub- ployment, and at the expense of a marked 40% of the world economy is unlikely to spare stance of the European proto-bourgeoisie, un- increase in poverty and social inequality. In Europe. The present recession could tip over decided between its national roots, its transna- France, the Jospin government has produced into depression. It threatens “the legitimacy of tional alliances and its European interests, a series of U-turns and backsliding on its the international capitalist economy” 11/. social democracy has taken on the role of pro- already modest electoral promises. The Juppé In the face of this pressure, Europe’s mid- moting the neo-liberal Europe of Maastricht plan for reform of the social security system is dle classes are preparing for an imminent and Amsterdam. Since the traditional parties being applied. Dominique Strauss-Kahn has intensification of competition with Japan and of the European right are in crisis, it operates definitively buried the idea of a “progressive the United States. Their priority is to reorgan- a power of attorney (by default, and perhaps tax revolution”. Privatisation and the disman- ise the labour market, even if it means using only temporarily) over the new European im- tling of public services are accelerating. The “palliative measures” such as in-house train- perialism. concessions to the employers contained in the ing contracts and youth employment projects Tony Blair began his period in government law on the 35-hour week are destroying its po- as a way of avoiding too sudden a deteriora- by declaring the independence of the Bank of tential for job-creation; they undermine the tion in domestic markets. Giorgio Fossa, pres- England, much to the delight of the City. In credibility of the reduced working week as a ident of the Confindustria (Italy’s employers’ July 1997 he lowered the rate of company tax way of fighting unemployment and are bury- association), sums up the approach. “Raising by 2%. His welfare-to-work programme is de- ing for the foreseeable future any prospect of employment levels depend on the use of sev- signed to organise the transition from welfare a 32-hour week. The cause of pension funds eral levers: interest rates, taxation, labour costs – defined as “unproductive” – to forced labour, is gaining ground and influence. The Pasqua- and flexibility” 12/. During his recent meeting in return for basic (and conditional) social Debré laws on immigration have not been re- with Lionel Jospin, Giovanni Agnelli, the head needs. The other side of this neo-liberal coin scinded, only trimmed. of Fiat, spelled out the terms of the dilemma: is the pursuit of disciplinary and security- Mr Strauss-Kahn surveys this scene with does growth have to be at the expense of based responses as the sole way of dealing the satisfaction of a man who thinks that duty rigour? The answer is “it would be good to have with social disintegration: for Tony Blair, New has been done. “Actually, our policies are both both, but it would be difficult” 13/. Obviously, realist and left-wing. But to be persuaded of choices are going to have to be made. Robert A. 8/ L’Expansion No 580, 10 September 1998. The same article announces that the president of the north region, Michel Delebarre, this, people are going to have to abandon the Mundell, a professor at Columbia University was about to join the circle, as was the new present of the PSA, Jean- old benchmarks”, because “the days when be- and recognised specialist in economic and fi- Martin Folz. ing left meant that you believed in the contin- nancial affairs, puts the position bluntly: the 9/ Alternatives économiques, Paris, September 1998. 10/ On the dynamics of the crisis, see particularly Charles-André uous extension of the public sector are long function of centre-left governments in Europe Udry, “Ouragan boursier ou crise de l’économie capitaliste interna- since gone” 9/. is to follow centre-right economic policies be- tionale”, a series of three articles in Le Courrier (Geneva), 21 and 22 cause they have scant margins for anything September and 1 October. See also Robert Brenner, “Crisis of pro- 14 ductive investment and speculative crisis”, New Left Review No 229, Centre-right policies else /. London. Will the severity of the world economic crisis You need to be either short-sighted or com- 11/ Financial Times, London, 16 September 1998. result in Europe’s social democrats being placent to detect the beginnings of a Keyne- 12/ Il Sole-24 Ore, Milan, 28 October 1998. 13/ Il Sole-24 Ore, Milan, 30 October 1998. pushed to the left? Social democracy is cur- sian shift in all this, never mind radical re- 14/ El Pais, Madrid, 8 November 1998. rently in government in most EU countries, formism. The neo-liberal social policies of the 2 1998_12_00_db_E_211_Mise en page 1 12/01/13 16:05 Page3

past two decades have destroyed the tools that VAT and a commitment to progressive taxes pean affairs, Pierre Moscovici, says himself used to be available for intervention. Mone - on income from capital in order to redistribute that “this is not our treaty” 16/. So now is the tary management has been delegated to the di- wealth without pumping up demand. It would time to renegotiate it. Otherwise what is the rectors of the European Central Bank, who mean taxing movements of speculative capital, point of having a left and a string of left-wing are independent of Europe’s governments. Sys- to be coordinated Europe-wide, removing governments across Europe? tems of social protection are being dismantled. banking secrecy and shutting-down tax In the same article, Mr Moscovici gives his Privatisation has destroyed the classic lever havens. It would imply a strengthening, rather answer. “There is no suggestion here of ques- of interventionist industrial policy. The em- than a dismantling, of social protection, an ac- tioning the stability pact.” Obviously, if these ployers have been handed tax concessions tive policy of major public works and services, governments are going to adopt more radical without being asked to do anything in return. and would include taking public control over measures, they will not do it under their own The wage relationship which was the basis utilities (water, energy and transport) at the steam. As so many times in the past, it will for the Keynesian policies of the post-war pe- European level. And it would mean a ban on only happen through pressure from the social riod has been reversed by the abolition of in- mass redundancies, the increasing of social movement, and driven by a new relationship dex-linked wages, the localisation of wage bar- provision, the raising of low wages, and coor- of forces. gaining, a flexibility of working hours and the dinated measures to force a cut in the working Leaving aside national differences and weakening of trade unions and collective bar- week to 32 hours without loss of wages. variations, the Third Way of this New Centre gaining. What is needed now is not purely economic turns its back on the classic social democratic About all that remains is the manipulation or management remedies, but political choices. policies. When asked his opinion about a tax of interest rates, assuming of course that the There is no doubt that such measures would on speculation, Tony Blair replied “No, I would politicians succeed in prevailing over the prompt an immediate flight of capital, a credit say that that is the wrong thing to do, because monetarist orthodoxy of the governors of squeeze by the banks and great anger in the you actually want people to move money very, Europe’s banks. On this bold assumption, and finance markets, which are notoriously unfor- very quickly... My view is that the global mar- as long as the crisis does not turn too quickly giving. So what can be done to counter the ket, in the end, is a good thing for us” 17/. Ask into depression, investment programmes blackmail of the employing classes and the yourself who exactly is the “us” in this. As for financed by a European loan, a careful man- “social killers”? If we want to initiate a bold Lionel Jospin, his courage is confined to say- agement of a euro that is not too strong in re- policy of job-creation and social development, ing yes to the market economy but no to the lation to the dollar (in order not to handicap we need to build a broad-based movement of “total marketisation of society” – what is now exports), and a limited and concerted control opposition to the employers. Meet force with being called the “market society”. As if there of capital flows, might perhaps cushion the force. The citizens versus the market. were not a logical link between the one and shock for a while. However, it will be too little And we should begin by having the courage the other. to make a significant difference to unemploy- to break the straitjacket of the convergence ment levels. criteria and the stability pact. This is “an December 1998 A serious reforming policy would require a opportunity to get out of the impasse of Ams- Published in Le Monde diplomatique wide-ranging reform of taxation, a serious tax- terdam” says Jack Lang 15/. So why don’t we (English edition), December 1998. ation of accumulated wealth, a drastic cut in go for it? France’s secretary of state for Euro- Translated by Ed Emery.

15/ Jack Lang, Le Monde, 19 August 1998. 16/ Pierre Moscovici, Le Monde, 27 October 1998. 17/ BBC Radio 4, 30 September 1998, quoted in Marxism Today, spe- cial issue November-December 1998. 3