THIS week I heard an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme with Kezia Dugdale, Deputy Leader of Scottish Labour and the favourite to take over from Jim Murphy as leader.
Ms Dugdale correctly identified that one of the keys to a Scottish Labour resurgence is attracting new members.
Ms Dugdale urged people "to join a trade union, to join the Labour Party", and that's the second time I've heard her say exactly that. The order is interesting: first comes union membership, joining the Labour Party trails in a poor second. That suggests Ms Dugdale sees the Labour Party as the political wing of the trade union movement and, if she does, that way lies further decline and defeat.
Trade unions are vital in the workplace. Those who formed them had to fight for decency against callous employers and an often antagonistic state. Many unions have a long and proud history. However, the UK has moved on and unions have struggled to adapt to the changes. There were 13 million union members in 1979; now there's only half that number, with the bulk of them in the public sector.
We've just seen what happens when the trade union barons select Labour's leader and the party strategy is to target its core vote. Scotland, like the rest of the UK, is now diverse, and a good thing that is, too. The traditional Labour voter is no longer present in the numbers of the past and, in Scotland, has largely gone over to the SNP. If a party doesn't have broad appeal, it won't win elections.
I don't know how Labour can escape from the fatal embrace of the big trade unions. After all, it's the big unions who provide the bulk of the party's funding and he who pays the piper, etc. The best hope is that the big unions will recognise that they have to step back, though I accept that's unlikely. Representation in the workplace and political power are separate things and there should be a space between the two.
Of course there are common values shared by the unions and Labour, but I have never understood why unions get so many privileges and so much power within the party. In today's world, it does neither side much good beyond the financial. Labour have a choice: break free or suffer a slow death by suffocation.
Doug Maughan,
58 Menteith View,
Dunblane.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article