The evolving relationship between civil society and political parties: The British Labour Party’s turn to community organising James Scott School of Geography Queen Mary University of London November 2015 1 I, James Scott, confirm that the research included within this thesis is my own work or that where it has been carried out in collaboration with, or supported by others, that this is duly acknowledged below and my contribution indicated. Previously published material is also acknowledged below. I attest that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge break any UK law, infringe any third party’s copyright or other Intellectual Property Right, or contain any confidential material. I accept that the College has the right to use plagiarism detection software to check the electronic version of the thesis. I confirm that this thesis has not been previously submitted for the award of a degree by this or any other university. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author. Signature: Date: 06/05/2016 2 Abstract This thesis is concerned with the changing relationship between political parties and civil society, focusing on the turn to community organising by the British Labour Party in the aftermath of its 2010 General Election defeat. It documents the model of community organising developed by Movement for Change (M4C), the application of this model within the Labour Party, and the impact of this model on the Labour Party’s relationship to civil society. This thesis finds its theoretical home in debates about the role of political parties in modern democracy, the ability of parties to represent the myriad interests of civil society, and the extent to which parties with strong linkages to place-based forms of civil society associations are capable of bridging the divide between society and the state. Additionally, this thesis contextualises the Labour Party’s turn to community organising within a history of the party’s relationship to civil society from the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century, focusing on the ideas of Eduard Bernstein, Anthony Crosland and those associated with Blue Labour. Empirical material within the thesis was collected during a twelve-month period of participant observation within M4C between September 2012 and September 2013. This provided data on M4C’s community organising projects in Southampton and Cardiff. Through the development of these cases the thesis considers the potential for creating a collaborative space beyond the institutional boundaries of the party in which actors from the party and civil society deliberate on issues of common concern, development campaign strategies together, and take action to affect change. The examination of this space allows this thesis to argue that the organisational capacity of a political party is enhanced when it forms strong links to civil society associations engaged in a tradition of place-based political organising, as well as offering a means by which political parties can evolve in response to external challenges they are likely to face in the future. 3 Contents 1.0 The Labour Party and civil society ........................................................................... 9 1.1 The Labour Party’s turn to community organising .................................................... 11 1.2 The organising model developed by Movement for Change .................................... 15 1.3 Research Aim and Questions .................................................................................... 16 1.4 Thesis Structure ........................................................................................................ 17 2.0 Understanding the political party: civil society and the question of reversing decline .................................................................................................... 21 2.1 Research Aim and Argument ..................................................................................... 21 2.2 Party – civil society relations ..................................................................................... 26 2.3 Narrowing the divide ................................................................................................. 28 2.4 Widening the divide .................................................................................................. 34 2.5 Marxist approaches ................................................................................................... 40 2.6 Summary and relevance ............................................................................................ 43 2.7 The Labour Party’s crisis of declining participation ................................................... 46 2.8 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 50 3.0 Labour’s evolving relationship to civil society throughout the twentieth century ... 52 3.1 The Labour tradition .................................................................................................. 53 3.2 Labour as a form of reactionary radicalism ............................................................... 57 3.3 Labours emergence in Preston .................................................................................. 60 3.3 Eduard Bernstein and the Labour Tradition .............................................................. 65 3.3.1 Political Vision and the Common Good .............................................................. 66 3.3.2 Bernstein and the British Labour Movement ..................................................... 69 3.4 Anthony Crosland and the Labour Party ................................................................... 72 3.5 New Labour ............................................................................................................... 75 3.6 Blue Labour ............................................................................................................... 78 3.7 Community Organising .............................................................................................. 82 3.8 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 86 4.0 Researching the turn to community organising in the Labour Party ........................ 88 4 4.1 Research Design ........................................................................................................ 88 4.1.1 Access ................................................................................................................. 89 4.1.2 Participant Observation ..................................................................................... 90 4.1.3 Interviews ........................................................................................................... 91 4.1.4 Case Selection .................................................................................................... 94 4.1.5 Data analysis ....................................................................................................... 96 4.2 Approaching the subject ........................................................................................... 98 4.4 The challenges of party political research ............................................................... 103 4.5 Ethics ....................................................................................................................... 105 4.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 106 5.0 The M4C model .................................................................................................... 108 5.1 What is the aim of Movement for Change? ........................................................... 109 5.2 The phases of M4C community organising ............................................................ 114 5.2.1 Negotiating with the Labour Party .................................................................. 115 5.2.2 The 121 Meeting ............................................................................................. 117 5.2.3 Listening Actions .............................................................................................. 121 5.2.4 Campaign Strategy Sessions ............................................................................ 123 5.2.5 Developing leaders .......................................................................................... 125 5.3 An experimental model of organising ..................................................................... 127 5.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 130 6.0 Organising beyond the party: M4C in Cardiff ........................................................ 133 6.1 Negotiating space to organise ................................................................................. 134 6.2 Campaigns beyond the party - Home Sweet Home Cardiff ..................................... 146 6.3 Authority beyond the party ..................................................................................... 151 6.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 156 7.0 Organising within the party: M4C