Wanted: Real Utopias and real democracy

“Democracy has recently become extremely important and the key issue in politics.” You can count the political figures who say and mean that on the fingers of one hand. But that was the uncompromising message delivered by John McDonnell to Occupy London activists.

McDonnell is a rare breed in the shape of a Labour MP with principles and perspective. He had been invited to kick off a debate on democracy as part of the New Putney Debates, developing themes from the original debates in 1647 during the English Revolution.

This particular event, organised by the Real Democracy working group, had McDonnell pouring scorn on those who have claimed that the slow evolution of liberal democracy and its economic counterpart – capitalism - had culminated in the “end of history”, with the present system deemed the optimal form of the political voice of society. His alternative view is worth reflecting on:

“But then along came the economic crisis of capitalism. People woke up realising that they have no control over their lives and that governments cannot control the economic system and cannot supply the basic necessities of life. Unemployment and insecurity is on a scale not seen for a long time. My constituency office is now organising food packages for local people.

“We are at quite a crucial moment in our history. The idea of a system which is perfecting itself has failed. The debate now becomes fundamentally relevant to people as it did in the English civil war. People realised they had an opportunity to question and re-shape everything. Virtually every element of the establishment is now seen as exposed and corrupt. People are searching for alternatives and answers.

“It is a time to start envisaging real utopias, based on democracy.  We need to address the state and the economy and the links between the two. People have lost confidence in the state system we have and the politicians within it. Representative democracy is not the last word.”

A leading supporter of Occupy London responded that the last 30 years had led to a “society without power”. There was something fundamentally wrong and the problem was to animate people to do something about it.

Another raised the issue of globalisation and how it dominated economics and politics: can institutions such as the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organisation and the United Nations democratised or do alternative international institutions need to be created?

The irreconcilable conflict that led to the original Putney Debates was powerfully brought to life in a performance at St Mary’s church, Putney on the exact day and venue that they took place 365 years ago.

Actors Damian LeBas as Leveller and senior military figure Thomas Rainborough, Michael Edwards as Henry Ireton (Cromwell’s son-in-law)  and Dominic Golding as John Wildman (civilian and probably the author of the Agreement of the People) were outstanding in an 11-strong cast, directed by Natasha Langridge in a rehearsed reading of Caryl Churchill’s play, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire.

Earlier, speakers had brought out the inspirational significance of the English revolution, which, said one person, “everything in our political culture today tells us – ignore it, forget about it, it never really happened, and if it did it was only a minor insignificant event”.

Leveller demands in the Agreement of the People, seen as the basis for a new constitution, were far beyond their time and were rejected by the army grandees. But the fundamental thrust of their arguments about suffrage and natural rights were to re-emerge in centuries to come.

A contribution from A World to Win proposed a contemporary form of the Agreement to open up “a new page in democracy that would have to go hand and hand with a social revolution in terms of ownership and control of land, the economy and finance.”

The New Putney Debates have opened the doors for a wide discussion on different approaches: “make and mend”, regulation within the existing institutions or a revolutionary change. The Revolution Will be Networked assembly on November 17 will take up this challenge.

Corinna Lotz

A World to Win

The Levellers' light shines on

Some 365 years ago this weekend, soldiers known as “agitators” and their civilian supporters, sprang a political surprise of historic proportions. They openly challenged the leaders of the New Model Army about the future direction of the English Revolution.

Charles I, who had provoked a civil war against Parliament which had gone on for five years, was the army’s prisoner. Oliver Cromwell was still searching for a compromise with the king, whereby Charles would remain as a figurehead, constitutional monarch.

The agitators, elected representatives to an Army Council, wanted none of it. Influenced by a political organisation dubbed the Levellers by their opponents, the rank and file demanded a republican constitution – without the monarchy or the House of Lords.

And they set out their demands in what they called an Agreement of the People and produced it like a rabbit out a hat at the Army Council that opened in St Mary’s Church, Putney, on October 28, 1647. Dominating the Putney debates, which went on until November 8, was the demand for the extension of the franchise.

The Agreement also raised for the first time the question of natural rights – those that come with being a human and not from the state. It put at the top of the agenda the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. The Agreement suggested that power lay with the people and that parliament was subordinate to them.

The Agreement spread like wildfire throughout the army. John Lilburne, a leading Leveller also known as “freeborn” because he advocated natural rights, inspired a second version which was due to go before Parliament in January 1649. But this was overtaken by the decision to put Charles I on trial for treason against his people. The king was executed at the end of January. England became a republic. Monarchy and the House of Lords were abolished.

Within a few months, Lilburne and his supporters were themselves under arrest for treason. They published a third version of the Agreement in May 1649, smuggling it out of the Tower. Within a few weeks, a series of mutinies in the army saw many regiments adopt the Agreement and denounce Cromwell. The mutiny was put down at Burford in Oxfordshire and the Levellers crushed.

What can we learn from struggles and debates almost four centuries old? Surely, it is that the breakdown of power and state relations between classes is an opportunity to find new democratic solutions. The Levellers showed that is possible to win support for a constitutional settlement that is revolutionary and looks to a future that does not yet exist.

Also significant is the fact that a revolutionary political settlement cannot be achieved through compromise. Although the Levellers did not succeed, the revolution was required to establish the triumph of parliament over absolute monarchy which, despite the restoration in 1660, remained the case.

The English Revolution was made on behalf of an emerging new capitalist class. The gentry, financiers and the big merchants held in check by the crown’s control over the economy and politics. They did not engage in civil war to share power with those below. Attempts by the Levellers to persuade Cromwell, the Grandees and Parliament to adopt the Agreement were doomed to failure.

Although the principles of the Agreement were eventually implemented in the American and French revolutions (with the US constitution referring to “self-evident” truths and “certain unalienable rights”) of the late 18th century and in Britain by 1867, the issues arise in a new way.

The representation the Levellers demanded has long been won. But the power remains elusive and out of reach. The present state is undemocratic and a pawn of corporate interests. An Agreement for our century is needed that looks forward to a new page of democracy.

* The New Putney Debates sponsored by Occupy London’s working groups are getting under way. Sunday’s events are devoted to the English Revolution and features Caryl Churchill’s play Light Shining in Buckinghamshire about the civil war. And on November 17, an assembly will be held in London to work on an Agreement of the People for 2012.

Paul Feldman

Communications editor