I would still be interested in hearing a coherent response from
AuntiStella or
Andrew Hertford or anyone else who might speak in some way for the Green Party about the class issue, because as I already said, I'm someone who is sympathetic to green issues but who sees this as the major failing of the Green Party as it exists.
OK, I will give a go. But I can't claim to speak for the Party and I don't know the ins and outs of the Green Left group.
Basically, there is an assumption behind a lot of Green policies, not always spelled out, that we should/need to move to a decentralised, mutual society. So a lot of the opposition to new nuclear is opposition to large, centralised power generation rather than nuclear per se.
This can also be seen in Green policy on
Workers' rights and Employment. I've cut out a few relevant ones, apologies for the length:
WR360 The large income disparities which characterise our society are a sign of significant social and economic injustice. The Green Party believes that working people should be paid a decent, living wage and, like every other citizen, be entitled to a sufficient level of economic security to meet their needs. Every worker, like every citizen, should have the right to fair income security, whether working, unemployed, in retirement or in sickness. Everyone should be paid the same for work of equal value, regardless of age.
WR361 To these ends we propose (i) a Citizens Income payable to every citizen as a basic right, funded by an ecological and genuinely progressive taxation system, and (ii) a significant role for unions and workers to ensure decent wage levels. In the absence of a fully developed Citizens Income scheme, we support (a) the idea of minimum wage legislation, set at a level to combat social and economic injustice and the poverty and economic insecurity associated with low pay, and (b) the payment of decent benefits to low-and un-waged people.
WR600 A Green economy must be a more mutual economy, in which industries and enterprises which are run by and for those who depend on them and are affected by them play a significant role in the economy. We believe that the international co-operative principles provide the benchmark for such businesses. This means that the Green Party must enable both the creation of new mutuals and the greater involvement of stakeholders other than investors in existing businesses.
WR604 By giving workers the freedom to organise collectively, a Green government will enable trade unionists to prioritise demands for workers to have a greater say in what they produce and how they produce it. Sharing the responsibility for running a business will initially be achieved through a natural extension of collective bargaining, improved union facilities; training of workers representatives and access to company information.
WR609 We would broaden the existing legal framework away from its narrow focus on those people who "own" the majority of shares. We would promote the interests of the other shareholders and investors, with the ultimate aim of having capital provided by either those who work in the organisation, or by the immediate community on which it depends. The main stakeholders will become the workers, other businesses, shareholders, the local community and the environment.
WR610 We will grant employees the legal right to buy out their companies and turn them into workers co-operatives. Buy outs would be funded by a Green National Investment Bank and contingent on the co-ops following green and ethical policies. These co-operatives would localise economic decision-making and give employees incentives for greater productivity.
I'm going to characterise this as a society with citizen's income and a move towards mutuals.
I think two questions arise from this: 1) is this 'enough' of a class analysis for you? Do you agree that what they propose is sufficient? 2) Will they actually try and deliver any of it, and succeed?
For me, I would be happy with a citizen's income and co-operatives as the default business model. Citizen's income at a sufficient level would end wage slavery and worker/community ownership would end the extraction of surplus value (as I understand all those terms, at least). What do you think? How do you think it compares to e.g. Left Unity?
On 2), I think this is where we run into problems. I think that the policies listed above have a class analysis behind them, but this is not made explicit by the terms used. A downside of this is that a seemingly small shift in the policy can completely obviate any class analysis.
For example, proposing a living wage as an intermediate step to a citizen's income. Would a living wage be better than what we have now? Certainly. A living wage might be roughly around the same amount as a citizen's income, but would it necessarily make it any easier to implement a citizen's income? I don't think so. Is it a meaningful change in how society is organised, as citizen's income is? No.
How will this shift to mutual ownership happen in the face of certain opposition from current owners? It's not clear.
Partly you have the issue faced by anyone with fairly radical policies, of how to implement them in the current environment. If you're up for social revolution and don't like parliamentary democracy then you'll probably see the Greens as pushing their way into a blind alley. Though to be fair they do spell out the need to effect change at all levels and recognise the limits of the parliamentary system.
Specific to the Greens, I think there is a danger that as they become more mainstream they lose the more radical things and end up just as a 'bit more left than labour' party. I think it is undeniable that they are primarily a party of middle-class luvvies and as discussed above it would be interesting to see if the surge has moved them more to the soft left or the radical left.
All that said, I find it encouraging that a party with such policies is pushing into the mainstream and gaining support (especially among the young, who are often characterised as thatcherite these days). I also like Left Unity's policies, but I simply don't see them really going anywhere. Will the Greens simply be co-opted and made into an ineffectual 'we're nicer than labour' party? I hope not but I can see why many think that will happen.
