So you are a centrist and you want my vote?

Dear Centrist politician,

You say that you want me to vote for you. Indeed, you say that you are wondering just what it would take for me, a Labour voter, to switch over to your side. Very well. Allow me to explain.

You will first need a concrete set of policies, including at least some of the left-leaning ones I feel to be vital for this country. Ones that ensure my local library stays open and my local hospital is not forced to outsource further services. Ones which firmly buck the trend of the last 40 years and break with the constant drive to privatise and deregulate. Ones that dispense with the ‘New Public Management’ theory for good. Ones in which the notion of an ‘internal market in the public services’ is consigned to history. Ones that see an adequately paid job as a basic human right. Ones that make Britain a world leader in tackling tax avoidance, in stopping the flows of dirty money and in devising more effective ways of public governance, striving to make the state more efficient at running the public services and making investment choices.

If you think of it, we are quite a patriotic bunch really. We want the great institutions of this country — such as the Royal Mail or the NHS — to be run by its government. We want our compatriots to be able to make the best of their talents, irrespective of social background, and we want all workers to earn a decent living. We want British people to be better housed. We want Britain to be the envy of the world not for its weaponry or financial muscle, but for the quality of life for all its citizens and for all its communities.

But the good news is — you might not need to offer all of the above. We have been portrayed as fanatical, rigid and uncompromising, but in reality we are actually quite good at that compromise thing. We’ve had to do a lot of it between 1994 and 2015. And still doing it now — for instance I, a passionate Remainer, accept Labour’s ambivalent Brexit position. This is not, as you might think, because I follow the leadership blindly, not because I am a misled sheep that you need to rescue, but because being a voter in the UK is about having priorities, about deciding what issues you care about the most. I could also consider a compromise with you, but there are two conditions: first of all you have to offer a clear, concrete set of policies so I know where you stand and secondly you need to recognise the compromises I currently make in supporting Corbyn’s Labour.

That means talk of us ‘projecting our wishes onto Corbyn’ and ‘defining socialism through Corbyn’ has to stop and needs to be condemned by any centrists wanting our vote. Would you even think of saying that about a Tory Remainer who has decided to stick by their party? This particular voter ‘projects’ nothing — it is patronising to claim we do not understand what the Labour leadership stand for. No, I understand that my individual views — for instance regarding Brexit — may not align with those of the leadership. I fully understand that they, like other politicians, are flawed. However, I make a compromise because in my opinion, the good things about Labour at the moment massively outweigh the bad.

This dovetails into a more general rule: you need to learn to treat us with respect and intellectual curiosity and condemn those who wouldn’t. I want my (current or future) political representatives to be on my side, to fight tooth and nail for my interests, for my vision of the country. I do not want them to misrepresent or dismiss me. That means, that if you have ever referred to us as ‘Stalinists’ or ‘Trots’, or as people misled by those, you should apologise. Stalin and Trotsky between them killed tens of millions of people. The former also did his best to sabotage democratic socialism and kill democratic socialists around the world — I suggest reading Orwell’s ‘Homage to Catalonia’ if you want to know more.

Nor should you associate us with the pathetic SWP, with its misogyny and mistreatment of women. Indeed, you should let go of the ‘hard left’ term altogether: it is vague and not helpful. It says ‘Labour is a democratic socialist party’ on the Labour membership card: if you really need a collective noun to describe us, use ‘democratic socialists’.

You should also apologise if you ever claimed that our views are not founded in rationality. This includes calling us a ‘cult’, suggesting we are ‘fans’, or attributing a stronger emotive element to our support of the Labour leadership than to the support of any mainstream political party by its average supporter. We are coming back to that point about intellectual curiosity — if you want our votes, you have to understand us and where we are coming from. Instead of thinking up increasingly implausible explanations for why people support Corbyn, accept the obvious — we support him because of his economic policies, an issues we’ve prioritised above others. And I know that you think that our views are outdated and belong to the 70’s — no problem, you can tell us we are wrong and we will respect your view as long as you respect ours. We welcome differences of opinion, a debate on policy issues. We are not peddling some outlandish utopias here after all, just very moderate democratic socialism of the sort that worked before 1979.

You need to understand how privileged a position you have and cut people some slack. You might not realise this, but there is a power imbalance at play. That means, you have lots of power, and the vast majority of us do not. You almost certainly have a network of connections to die for, a perk of the job. Most importantly, you have this wonderful thing called a platform — what you think, what you say will be reported in the media, heard by many people. All we have is social media and the constituency party. If people have had a go at you through either of those mediums, in most cases this wasn’t because they are bad people, cultists or trolls: it is because they feel an inferiority to you, a need to shout loudly to be heard, something you do not have to do. Boasting about how many people you’ve blocked, ridiculing them or attacking hard-working activists in your CLP or Labour voters in general sends a message about you that is beyond terrible. Keep your powder dry for fellow politicians, attack those with power rather than those without.

It seems that we value different qualities in politicians. You value strong leadership, resolve, a sense of self-worth. We, above all, value humility, a willingness to turn the other cheek, comradeship, being able to forgive those weaker than you. Nothing quite turns socialists in the 21st century off than powerful people thinking they are better than you, than watching them punching down furiously. Of course, a small number people do genuinely go out to be abusive to politicians and aren’t just overreacting through frustration. But you need to avoid defining the whole movement through them. If someone is abusive, call them out individually, do not seek to connect this to anyone else.

It was not, after all, Jeremy Corbyn who created those tensions, they have always existed and have been brought to the fore because social media brings you and us into close contact like never before. Our common ancestors who fought for our rights did not win them because they were nice and respectful to power: they challenged it, and what you witness now is a constant challenge to your authority, but that is an inherent part of how our political system functions. When people called you red Tories, Blairites, they were in reality asking why you weren’t with them in opposing austerity and backing progressive reform. It was not an attempt to drive you away, but a desperate plea for you to stand alongside them.

And then there is respect for democracy. This includes internal party stuff. When a vote goes against the folks you wanted to win, it is very bad form to blame the voters who took part. Instead, you should encourage them to think why they lost and advise them on how they can do better next time. Whether this is offering a modified platform, changing the message or recruiting more people who think like them (and you) to the party. And this goes across the board — from CLP no-confidence votes to nationwide referenda. If your side lost a vote, take it on the chin and campaign for another one, which you will then try to win. It is a far more productive activity than going on about what terrible people the voters who took part are.

When (another) right-wing atrocity occurs, you should avoid condemning ‘the left and the right’. This is not just because it is unfair, as British Socialists — indeed the British Left as a whole — have been peaceful going back to the times of Queen Victoria. It is also because it lets the Right off the hook and plays into their narrative of ‘us only being as bad as the Left’. I know it is tempting to equate us to Trump supporters, but that by doing that you are taking a leaf out of Donald’s own book — remember the comments about ‘both sides’ after Charlottesville. Leftist organisations routinely take to the streets to oppose their ilk in this country — centrists, by and large, do not. Let each part of the political spectrum be accountable for their own faults and only their own — whataboutery such as seen here should be called out and condemned.

The dangers posed by populist right are real and we need to unite against them. They have massive resources to promote their message, a populist narrative that blames everything on immigrants and metropolitan liberals and the benefit of a near-constant exposure in the media. But if we keep pointing fingers at each other, keep arguing about who is a cultist and who is a traitor, we will all be swept away. We need to forget our divisions, treat each other with respect and focus on the main danger.

I hope that all helps. I know it is easy to ignore all of the above and go on about ‘the cult of Corbyn who wouldn’t listen to reason’. To do that avoids having to deal with the nuances and gives you the pleasure of rapturous praise from your echo chamber. Very well, it is your choice: but, in that case, it is also my choice to then not give you my vote.