The front cover of the Labour Party Manifesto calls for real change. This doesn't extend to its graphic design, which is pretty much the standard kind of thing that the Labour Party has been producing since the war. But if you have a radical message it is well to put it forward in a conservative way, and this is certainly a radical document.
Let's get the Corbyn issue out of the way first. The Labour Party is the party created by the working class and its supporters to advance its interests in a world that is rarely arranged in a way sympathetic to those of us who have nothing to sell but their labour. It is a broad movement and gets support from many sources. People who are attracted to the principles of socialism on an intellectual level or from an emotional desire to the right thing have always been part of the mix. But apart from the short lived leadership of George Lansbury, prior to Jeremy Corbyn's tenure the dominant trend within the party has been pragmatists rather than polemicists.
That approach has been ditched and in the foreword written by the leader a radical approach is revealed. This is what the part of the party often referred to as 'The Left' have always advocated and they are going with it. I am not sure of the wisdom of this. It feels to me that a more consensual approach would have been better. However, it isn't 1997 any more and maybe it is now better to appeal strongly to some rather than assuage the doubts of the uncommitted. Taking an extreme position doesn't seem to have done the Tories any harm after all.
Which brings me to what I didn't like in the Foreword. There are a couple of references to the Conservatives. I thought it was unnecessary and a distraction and brought a negative note. The Conservatives are Labour's only rival for government at the moment. We don't need to be reminded about them.
What I liked a lot was the first paragraph that announces this isn't the Brexit election. Labour is standing for change, and that change is in the direction of state activitism, equality and social justice. This is what the Labour Party is for and it is great to see it pushing for what it believes in. A typical sentence - "A Labour government will unlock the potential of all those held back for too long." The means are addressed as well as the ends. There is going to be investment in a green industrial revolution. In fact it is going to be The Green Industrial Revolution. That's the kind of project I can get behind. There's also going to be investment in education which sounds like a programme of giving access to individuals to develop their skills.
It is billed as being written by Jeremy Corbyn but it reads pretty much like the work of a skilled copywriter so it doesn't have the straight from the heart authentic feel of something that he personally would have written. This is fine - it's the party manifesto after all. But there is one thing about it that reminds me of Corbyn. He's not a bad speaker, but he isn't a great one. One of the things I have noticed is that he never manages to end a speach quite soon enough. He always seems to carry on talking after he has made all the points he needs to. In the same way, this forword is just a bit longer than necessary and could have got everything said with fewer words.
But that is a quibble. If the rest of the manifesto lives up to the promise then it will be well worth reading. I will get straight on it.
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