New Wales
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The Little Red Book

Continued > Page 8 of 8

first published in mid-January 1999 by Roger Warren Evans

ORGANISATION MATTERS, in politics. And in fashioning the Welsh "state", the new power structures of a self-governing socialist province, Labour should respect the principles of popular administration which informed the first Labour Constitution. At that time, in 1918, weight was given to "municipal socialism", to the participation of local citizens in the governance of their communities, to the practical expression of socialist values in the day-to-day business of life. The entire government of Wales should be built anew from within, empowering all local authorities, and developing new communal connections with the daily reality of peoples' lives. Labour throughout Wales should re-discover these values -

       THAT executive jurisdictions should so far as practicable be collegiate, subject only to justified general and particular exceptions, so as to minimise the incidence of personal and arbitrary power;

      THAT executive governmental jurisdictions should be vested within Wales in persons who have been directly or indirectly elected by the electorate, whether acting as a whole or in part; Labour in Wales should be assiduous to reform the quango state, which has weakened democratic institutions throughout Wales, and eroded the legitimacy of elective democracy;

      THAT all public records should be open and accessible to the public, subject only justified exceptions and the overriding provision of primary legislation; the Assembly should pioneer the new process of "open-book" government, as a means both of public education and of countering the abuse of power by public bodies, whether by way of the assiduous implementation of primary legislation or otherwise.




  THIS IS MY VISION of Wales, fashioned and informed by its own socialism, in which the power of government is democratically deployed to enable its citizens to lead healthy, fulfilling and satisfying lives -
    Where a keen sense of equality informs every aspect of our lives and conveys to every citizen an awareness of equal respect and value in the eyes of fellow citizens;

    Where universal human rights are translated into everyday reality;

    Where every culture, every language, every social and religious convention enjoys equal honour and regard;

    Where the fruits of material prosperity, and the burdens of material deprivation, are equitably shared;

    Where every citizen has an equal opportunity to play a part in the governance of society;

    Where no person is denied access at any time of life to the advantages and pleasures of education and the development of personal skills;

    Where every newcomer and every guest is made welcome and accorded equal respect and regard;

    Where the community upholds and supports its citizens, in sickness and health, without constraint upon personal freedom.

    End

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