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New Socialist Settlement
by Roger Warren Evans
first published 20 March 2002
IV Public Primacy
And given the three core values, deployed in a democratic context, it
follows that public initiatives are to be preferred above the pursuit of
private interests. Public primacy is the key distinctive value of socialism,
differentiating it decisively from liberalism
or any right-wing Tory thinking. Governmental legitimacy is conferred by democratic election, in
a society where all three core values are honoured and respected. This reasoning has always been
strong, in UK Labour circles.
And this principle remains at the heart of UK Labour
thinking. It is this sense that is outraged by the seeming primacy accorded, by Tony Blair and
other leading Ministers, to the private sector contribution to the Private Finance
Initiative and Public/Private Partnerships. The Government is seen as trigger-happy, in using
the threat of private primacy as a technique to secure public service reform. Many of
these difficulties are presentational, for Ministers have been maladroit in describing their
approach. There are many examples of public service functions that can be discharged satisfactorily
by private firms. But to offend against the socialist instinct for public primacy is a mistake
as telling, for Labour leaders, as Margaret Thatcher’s dismissal of “society” was for her. Labour
should urgently review its approach to public primacy.
 For
the principle goes much wider than the PFI, or PPP. Given a society of free individual spirits,
able to engage in the democratic processes of society, primacy is to be accorded to initiatives that
enjoy democratic approval. Laws which carry democratic endorsement are to be respected and enforced,
even where they may conflict with private interests. In many sectors (e.g. Royal Mail,
prison administration, the Police, Post Office provision, the National Health Service,
primary and secondary education) NSS thinking would endorse
without qualification the principle of public primacy.
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If a satisfactory public option is open to Government, it should be preferred. There is a standing
presumption, in the New Socialist Settlement in favour of the public option – whether for
the Post Office, for Railtrack, for Air Traffic Control, for highway provision, schooling, the
National Health Service. For public processes are more open, more accessible, more equitable, more
considerate and humane, more amenable to principled management, than ordinary private-company
solutions. If the public sector has been proven unsuccessful (as in the provision of most
consumer and industrial goods and services), then the Settlement should turn to the
private sector, and seek to minimise the disadvantages of having to work through private
companies.
There is no dogma, in this phase of the argument. In one sense, the
pragmatic Blair is right: socialists should seek the most effective, practical solution for
the performance of each public function, combining public and private institutions as
necessary and appropriate. But NSS reasoning confirms the judgment that
public services are best provided by public institutions. That is the NSS presumption.
There is
of course room for major institutional innovation in the public sector, and socialists
should always be sensitive to that. Charitable institutions, and other not-for-profit options,
may offer better and more flexible options than conventional “state” organisations (Councils,
Government Departments, Executive Agencies). But these are merely an alternative
manifestation of the principle of public primacy, not a derogation from it.
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On the
international stage the principle of public primacy predominates. Indeed, there is
resentment when, as with the World Trade Organisation or perhaps the International Monetary Fund,
private institutions become too closely engaged in the discharge of public functions. And
organisations like the OECD are developing vital “policing” functions in minimising the evils
of tax evasion and corporate manipulation throughout the globe. The New Socialist
Settlement will be of great significance in the future conduct of international
affairs. - I >>>
Foundation Values
II >>
Individual Freedom
III >
Democracy
IV >
Public Primacy
V >>
Eternal Vigilance
What do you think? Drop me a line.
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