[Although May ’68 itself failed to deliver a revolution, the
lessons of the era – alliance-building by including liberation
struggles outside of socialism – shaped my later time in power. ]
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55 YEARS ON, WE STILL NEED THE SPIRIT OF MAY 1968
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Ken Livingstone
April 21, 2023
Morning Star
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_ Although May ’68 itself failed to deliver a revolution, the
lessons of the era – alliance-building by including liberation
struggles outside of socialism – shaped my later time in power. _
SIGN OF THE TIMES: A 1968 protest at London’s Grosvenor Square,
AS this is my last regular column before May Day 2023, I thought I
would take the opportunity to reflect on the significance of the 55th
anniversary of May 1968, and what lessons and inspiration we can draw
from that historic time for the left today.
It is impossible to fully grasp 1968’s significance without knowing
about the decades before.
I was born in 1945 just as Labour came to power and gave my generation
the best life in British history, with massive council-house
programmes, the welfare state, our beloved NHS and jobs for all.
But although this was a big progressive shift in our economy, our
culture remained so deeply conservative it is hard to imagine today.
As a youngster, I had no interest in politics. When I left school I
tried to get a job at London Zoo but they had no vacancies, so I
became a technician at the Royal Marsden’s cancer research unit.
My parents had always been working-class Tories but now I was
surrounded by a dozen other technicians, all of whom were
working-class Labour. I started work in 1962, just as a new generation
of pop music burst into being, changing our culture for good, and we
also saw the sensational new TV programme That Was The Week That Was,
which challenged the rubbish we were normally told by the Tory
Establishment in the press.
This all sparked an interest in politics, and the following year
Harold Wilson became Labour leader, promising change with the “white
heat of technology.”
Although it seemed Wilson and Lyndon B Johnson would lead us into a
better world, both failed abysmally, with Wilson leading us into
economic pain by keeping an overvalued pound and Johnson escalating a
war on Vietnam which would kill over three million.
My generation had been changing culture — but as 1968 dawned, we
began to challenge the politics of the day.
In January, a massive assault by the Vietnamese against the US and its
puppet regime transformed the war, and globally we saw mass
demonstrations.
For the first time in my life I found myself on demonstrations, which
around the world were chanting: “London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, we
will fight, we will win.”
Here in Britain, Tariq Ali and other student protesters became
household names overnight and faced off with the police outside the US
embassy.
At this point, for many it looked as though we were on the verge of
global revolution, but by the end of the year Richard Nixon was
president and elsewhere the ruling class had partially defeated or
delayed the socialist challenge, including in France where students,
workers and others had led an amazing movement for social change.
I then had no doubt that the way to make change was by joining Labour
and working with other progressives.
I would later describe this as the only known case of a rat joining a
sinking ship, but fortunately, as I was the only person to join
locally in the previous 12 months, as hundreds had dropped out in
despair at Wilson’s disappointing government, within just a few
weeks I had been put on every committee.
Although I had been the only person to join, by 1970 a wave of others
surged back into Labour seeking change, much as would happen again
with “Bennism” and again more recently when Jeremy Corbyn ran for
leader in 2015.
I, like many others who had participated in the struggles that came
together in 1968, would take its key points and lessons into the
following decades.
These included fighting with the oppressed and those struggling for
equality, the importance of internationalism, and the need to build
alliances and reject the “divide and rule” tactics of the
Establishment.
Both the “Bennite” movement and the struggles that accompanied it,
including the miners’ strike and the fight of councils such as the
Greater London Council (GLC), not only involved many people who had
been politically awoken in 1968 but also represented, in concrete
ways, these key principles.
Groups such as Women Against Pit Closures and Lesbians and Gays
Support the Miners showed solidarity could be built between all those
struggling for justice.
At the same time, Arthur Scargill, Tony Benn, myself and others backed
the right of black people to organise themselves in Labour through
Black Sections, something that before the struggles of 1968 would have
been unimaginable.
In terms of my own political life, by 1973 I was a member of the GLC,
and was starting to develop the ideas and alliances that would enable
me to lead the GLC and later be mayor of London.
In both those administrations, the lasting effect of the politics and
movements that sprung to the forefront in 1968 could be seen.
Describing our approach at the GLC to the writer Tariq Ali at the
time, I said: “I am in favour of a coalition. I don’t believe that
society can be transformed solely by the male, white working class.
“But the coalition we need is one which includes skilled and
unskilled workers, unemployed, young and old, women, black people, as
well as the sexually oppressed minorities.
“A socialist political party must act broadly for and with all the
oppressed in society. This means us changing… Labour needs to listen
to new voices and then change itself.”
Of course, the GLC was vilified by the Establishment, with the Sun
famously writing: “This morning the Sun presents the most odious man
in Britain. Take a bow, Mr Livingstone, socialist leader of the
Greater London Council.”
But we faced this down, and I am proud that the GLC pioneered equality
and inclusion, and started to mainstream ideas that had come to
prominence in 1968 but hadn’t yet become commonplace in Labour, let
alone society.
We weren’t ashamed to support lesbian and gay groups, feminist and
women’s movements, disabled people, black and BAME organisations,
and others. We didn’t tell those oppressed groups to “wait for
socialism” for equality, but instead threw our resources and weight
behind their struggles.
We also understood that the struggle for socialism was intrinsically
linked to that for peace.
Later at the Greater London Authority we had less power in some areas,
but were still able to instigate a series of events, celebrations of
diversity and initiatives for equality.
And, again reflecting the legacy of 1968, we again worked closely with
peace campaigners against the war on Iraq.
In May 2023, 55 years on from 1968, those who fought on the streets
can be proud of the advances that have been won but also know there is
a lot more to be done.
Just as in 1968, we still need to fight together for a better world,
even when the odds seem stacked against us.
From being honest about the need for radical action to tackle the
climate emergency, to standing up against the horrendous Tory war on
refugees to backing the striking NHS workers demonised by the Tories,
it is through coming together in solidarity we can win a fairer future
for all.
_Ken Livingstone served as the Leader of the Greater London Council
from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of
London from the creation of the office in 2000 until 2008._
* 1960s
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* liberation struggles
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* socialism
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