(with apologies to regularly subscribers, no weird sociology this month, but a more ‘putting my cards on the table’ political post)
As I write this the Labour party are taking power in the UK following a distinctly underwhelming election campaign defined more by the collapse of the ruling Tories than any enthusiasm generated by the victors. Discarding the hopeful social democracy of the Corbyn years, Keir Starmer leads a party best understood as ‘grey Labour’, a managerial aura committed to making very little changes at all, despite the numerous climatic and economic catastrophes we are currently embroiled in. Aside from a few independent candidates and the Green Party going from one seat to a handful, the leftwing of politics has almost entirely been shut out of Westminster and with Labour winning a ‘landslide’ on less votes than the losing Labour effort last time, the first past the post system feels fundamentally broken.
This article is aimed at anyone who feels that the current state of democracy is fundamentally broken, particularly those, like me, who see the only options ahead being socialism or barbarism. It’s an article about a movement that defines a new way of organising, one that means it’s entirely possible for the left to come back, but only if it fundamentally changes its strategy. But it will also go into the weaknesses of this movement and how the strengths of the traditional left can help adding substance to this growing movement of community organising.
Post 2019
Much of the UK left and progressives are still nursing wounds felt from the sense of deep and profound disappointment that the 2019 election led to. The years following the defeat of Corbyn led to strategic disarray, with many clinging to the mast of HMS Labour for far too long, even as Starmer reorganised the ship so that the Labour left could never take sit at the captain’s table again, let alone take the helm. Some of this was born from sentimental attachment to Labour, a party with a storied history within the British working class (although its anti-imperial bonafides were always suspect), others believed that there was a chance to win back power for the left, though this usually amounted to little more that empty admonishments for comrades to ‘stay and fight’; it was easy to see what stay meant, but fight was always vague and without clear purchase. Momentum, at one time the largest left wing organisation in the country has rebranded as Inertia, unable to meaningfully organise in a party with no democracy, reduced to little more than rhetorical pulled punches at the new leadership.
There are of course plenty of those on the left and other progressives outside Labour. Some have formed new parties, invariably founded with the intention of uniting the left, and inevitably ending up adding one more micro-party to the list and at very best winning one or two local council seats. Then there are the paper sellers, groups that either set up local marches or sometimes co-opt them. Most have an ambivalent relationship to elections,but offer little in terms of alternative strategy, outside of keeping enough members to sustain their own organisation. There’s also the new activist groups, best embodied by Extinction Rebellion. Unchained from the traditional left and offering a more decentralised organising structure, they quickly gained more members than the entire micro party and paper seller left put together. At the same time, eschewing mainstream politics meant that when the strategy of ‘tell the truth’ about climate change to politicians and hoping they would act on it, didn’t work, they were out of leverage.
For my own part, I was on the frontlines of the Corbyn movement and like many remember that rainy day in December running around knocking on doors with an enthusiasm for politics that most adults save for sports teams or pop concerts. I also clung on to the Labour Party after, getting involved in debates over leadership and Momentum platforms. And after that have pinballed around various miniparties. But it was only last year that I found the place where it feels like things are moving forward and momentum is growing.
The Assemblies Movement
The assemblies movement is not an organisation or a party, it’s a movement of organisations and people who have realised that democracy is failing. A movement held together by a loose and informal alliance of people and communities committed to the idea of grassroots power and a new mechanism for achieving it. Simply, community assemblies where local problems are deliberated on by regular people who then take collective action to solve them. It’s still very early days but it feels fresh and chances are, it’s already happening somewhere near you. As you’ll see, it’s not a “left wing” movement (but it’s certainly not a right wing or a centrist one either), but it’s probably our best chance for halting the fascist tide. Below are some of the principles of the assemblies movement that radicalise the way we organise.
Anything is possible in five years.
Institutionalised Listening
Have you ever been to a meeting that promised to listen to your voice, but where you felt that the people running it were only interested in answers that matched their existing viewpoint? If you really believe in listening to people, then how does your organisational structure reflect this?
There are many different groups running community assemblies in the UK and there is no one true approach to assemblies, but at the core is the idea that organisers and participants alike go into an assembly not knowing what the outcome will be. Organisers curate the assemblies (and indeed there is a big debate within the movement about just how much they should set the agenda) but its the participants of the assemblies who deliberate and decide on their priorities which go on to set the community action agenda going forward.
Recognising that everyone is a creative intellectual
Political organising on the left usually starts with an ideology and a list of demands hoisted up the flagpole. This immediately puts the left in an antagonistic position to what they imagine is a homogenous blob of ‘the masses’: people who must be educated on the correct opinions. In a bureaucratic party, this inevitably leads to a division of labour, with decision making on the line becoming the preserve of an ever smaller number of people.
The assembly movement starts from the radical premise that regular people are creative intellectuals; given the right setting everyone can contribute meaningfully to the elaboration of a political programme of action. In practice, of course, some will contribute more than others, particularly in areas of expertise. But we also believe that everyone is an expert at something.
Mass movements are never pure
At a recent assembly I helped facilitate, one of the participants said he didn’t believe in in man-made climate change. When he said this, you could see people shifting uncomfortably in their seats. But while people felt very strongly about the issue, it never led to shouting, instead there was a consensus shared by everyone that no matter what you think about climate change, pollution and the overuse of fossil fuels was a bad thing.
In a normal party, disagreements like this would often be the beginning of a process of regulation and even expulsion. But in an assembly, differences are not just productive, but welcome, because it means that we’re reaching people who don’t normally ‘do politics’. This doesn’t mean that we’re ready to start telling people where they are wrong, but instead engage them in good faith discussion. Time and time again, when people from different perspectives come together points of commonality can be found. We’re not aiming for ideological purity, but understand that political education comes from collective action not discipline or mandates to read books. (Hey, I love reading Marxist theory more than most people, and genuinely find it useful in my own practice, but the idea that you can build a political movement around a reading lists and book groups is a particularly pathetic left wing notion).
One charge is that assemblies fall prey to the ‘marketplace of ideas’ fallacy. The problem with this accusation is that the fallacy is used to describe situations where there is a huge power imbalance, for instance the print media landscape which allows billionaires to dictate the newscycle. The assembly movement, as much as possible, creates spaces where people discuss, debate and deliberate as equals. This is not a ‘marketplace’, but a community.
The other charge will be that such an approach is tantamount to ‘sitting down for polite discussion with the enemy’. This is also an immature charge. Firstly, community assemblies are largely made up of regular people. It’s unlikely that CEOs or politicians (the real enemies of our age) will be joining. But even if they do, they will not be given a special soapbox to preach from. More importantly, the left has a huge problem with believing that people with dodgy views (of which there are many) are somehow ‘lost’ for good. We all accept that people have slid to the right or even far right, but for reason there is a huge resistance to the idea that these people can change.
I’ll let you in on a little secret, for all it’s focus on procedure and being neutral in discussions, most of the people who are organising assemblies come from the progressive or left wing but who have realised that bringing communities together is the best way to defeat fascism. That doesn’t mean they won’t fight in other ways too, nor will they allow people to spout bigoted crap at assemblies; all people but not all behaviours. But fundamentally we welcome disagreement as an opportunity for collective learning.
If you’re serious about a mass movement, then you need to accept that differences come with that territory. If your strategy amounts to gating yourself in, then your approach to politics is little more than a hobby.
An organic approach to mainstream politics.
The assemblies movement is not antithetical to party politics, but the strategy is to build community power first. The idea is that politicians should be answerable to their communities rather than national party diktats. So, if a community assembly decides to get involved in selecting and running an independent candidate, assemblies are not simply the means to alternative power but the ends too.
In its most aspirational moments, the assemblies movement is not just a ‘way in’ to Westminster but the building of a legitimate power. It feels too early to cohere things nationally right now, but when it happens the aim is for an assembly run 'House of the People’, a sovereign counter power to the nation’s traditional seats of power.
The weaknesses of the movement and how the left can help.
I’ll probably write more on this in a future post, but while the assembly movement represents the last best hope for democracy in the UK, there are some unresolved problems. This is where the left’s great strengths can help take the movement to the next level.
Firstly, despite the intention to make assemblies broad spaces, there is still the problem of activist over-subscription. Fundamental to making assemblies work is that they can’t be made up of the usual suspects but need to engage with the people who don’t normally engage with politics. The left’s links with working class communities and trade unions can help to broaden this movement for democracy and bring in those whose voices need heard more than ever.
Secondly, the ultimate aim for the assemblies movement is to both take and build power, whether that’s in the mainstream or through alternative means. The left’s experience with election strategy will be invaluable here, as will the wealth of contacts and organising skills needed to start cohering and skillsharing across the movement nationally. The step from communities to a national movement is a big one and organisers on the left can contribute their expertise to this.
Finally, if you’re still unconvinced and think the assemblies movement sounds like some wishy washy hippie dippy nonsense, then consider that movements are a reflection of the people within them. While assembly organisers primarily want to let communities set the agenda, there’s really no such thing as neutrality. Assembly organisers then, are best thought of as curators rather than polemicists. If you feel that something is missing that more people should be discussing, then get involved and help deepen the quality of dialogue.
Building the Network
Want to get involved? Ask around, there’s probably an assembly being planned near you already. Otherwise, some key players in the movement:
The Humanity Project
Since 2023, the Humanity Project has run over 50 ‘Pops’, it’s name for assemblies, across the country.
Assemble
A new group focused on getting a network of independent candidates elected through community assemblies.
Extinction Rebellion
The group’s new Upgrade Democracy strategy aims to utilise assemblies to tackle climate change
Cooperation Hull
Movement trailblazers. Cooperation Hull are successfully engaging the local community in a regular people’s assembly.
We are Collective
Not a community assembly group, but a movement aiming to cohere independent candidates, many of which are selected through community assemblies.
Sortition Foundation
Part of the larger campaign for a ‘House of Citizens’. The Sortition foundation also offer services for people interested in running representative assemblies.
Iswe
a more globally focused group, who organised the first ‘Global Assembly' in 2021 dealing with the climate crisis.
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