Re: uk-policy Third way - Aspiration: too little or too m...
David Wild (david.wild@virgin.net)
Mon, 8 Jun 1998 14:58:46 +0100 (BST)
John Browning wrote:
>
> I've read the paragraph below three times now and I'm still completely torn
> between the fact that in my heart I agree with it and in my head it makes
> no sense whatsoever. To carry on the liberal joke of the preceding
> paragraph, which I snipped, is this then a person that campaigns door to
> door to try to get other people to campaign door to door for people's right
> to disagree with them?
>
> The heart of the problem seems to me to be that strictly enforced tolerance
> is profoundly intolerant. Therefore any morality which tries to base
> itself on tolerance per se -- rather than forebearance as embedded in a
> larger system of Christian/Buddhist/whatever beliefs -- is doomed to
> self-contradiction or paralysis. But once tolerance is embedded in a larger
> set of beliefs, there is no longer any guarantee of tolerance per se. Or at
> least there are limits to it. (And focussing on tolerance also begs the
> question of what that larger set of beliefs might be.)
>
> Stuart White, anybody, can help me here... Or am I just being stupid?
>
> And, while I'm enquiring, I'd also like to know where to find out more
> about the "non-statist socialism" that David Wild mentioned...
>
> >(3) Civic Liberalism: A decent society is a liberal society; and a liberal
> >society is one that tolerates differences in philosophy and life-style.
> >However, the stability and healthy functioning of a liberal society depends
> >on citizens of a liberal state possessing certain 'liberal civic virtues'.
> >These civic virtues include, most importantly: tolerance, mutual respect
> >,and reciprocity. Liberal citizens must be tolerant, mutually respectful,
> >and, as an aspect of mutual respect, they must be willing to make a fair
> >contribution to the community, to reciprocate the benefits which other
> >citizens labour to provide for them. The liberal state does have a
> >legitimate job to do in supporting these specific civic virtues. What gives
> >these values their authoritative status, however, is not that they happen
> >to be 'widely accepted'; it is simply that they are intimately connected
> >with the maintenance of a stable liberal regime.
>
> John Browning * 71 Richmond Ave * London N1 0LX
> t +44 171 700 1230 * f +44 171 700 5255
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> Posted to uk-policy, a service of Nexus. http://www.netnexus.org/
> Hosting and email provided by new media consultants On-Line PublishingThe work of non-statist socialists usually includes William Morris, GDH
Cole and Kropotkin. I am not suggesting that there is a blueprint
contained in any of these for the Third Way, but they are good for
orientating oneself. GDH Cole in particular fell foul of the Webbs for
his opposition to a centralised state. The most interesting work is
called'Self Management in Industry' from 1917. He also wrote excellent
histories of the co-op and Labour Movement in general.
As an active trade unionist my personal favourite is a Fabian pamphlet
from the Fifties called 'What's wrong with the Trade Unions'. This
should be required reading at the TUC. His analysis was that the unions
were making a strategic error by concentrating on living standards after
the war. He foresaw that this approach would bring disaster when the
econpmy went into a downturn. Instead the unions should be concentrating
on issues such as status and involvement in decision making. This would
mean having to bear some responsibility for the decisions.
His analysis was proved correct in the seventies and eighties. His ideas
are uncannily similar to those of stakeholding and active citizenship
and I would hope that academic colleagues on nexus with more time than
some of us would take the trouble to explore some of this material and
refeed it back into the culture.
David Wild
Chair Unison
Environment Agency
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