Political compass

Saturday 25th June and I was attending the conference of Compass on Building the Good Society. It's some years since I've attended this type of event, speeches, workshops and a question time event. Compass at one time a "Labour only" forum has opened its doors to what is loosely termed "the proggressive left". Hence my attendance. Actually there a fair sprinkling of Greens and some "social liberals".

The day started with interesting speeches from UK Uncut and UK Feminista , UK Uncut have been a breath of fresh air in the anti-cuts campaign, and it was thought provoking to listen to the experiences of the two activists.

My first workshop was on "Why should Labour engage with the progressive left ?" Immediately I felt the question was the wrong way round. After the experience of recent years, why should the left direct their attention to Labour ? An interesting debate, in which the contributions by the Guardian's John Harris were very interesting.

After lunch a seminar on political reform chaired by Caroline Lucas. This time a speaker from 38 degrees who also made a dramatic impact over the past twelve months fighting the proposed forest sell off.

Throughout the day I struggled with my recurring political conundrum of the past year. Having left the Labour Party in writing at the end of 2009, I have worked to detach myself from a grip that dates back 30 years. Once again I found myself much nearer to the ideas and vision of the Greens. Yes I may have to accept that the power base won't shift much beyond Brighton in the medium term, but that seems a an acceptable price compared to accepting the desire for power without political principle. Time and again I heard Labour spokesperson talking about "listening to the people" which was coded language for we'll be harder than the Tories on crime and immigration. No where was their the idea that political parties should form and mould public opinion not slavishly follw it, which seems like heading head firsat into populism.

At question time while Caroline lucas and John Harris tackled questions on wealth redistribution and salary inequality head on, Labour wriggled and said little. The accomodation of capital was there for all to see. When a Labour MP told public sector workers that they shouldn't be going onstrike next Thursday, another nail was driven into the coffin of the Party that I once worked so enthusiastically for.

I don't know what the future holds politically, but if Saturday confirmed anything, there's no turning back, my Labour days are behind me.