A coalition of the willing

There is discomfort watching Labour's electoral post-mortem. Indeed a general sense of tribulation, so pervasive to the extent that political conjecture is permeating what otherwise should be an agenda of change. Obscure shadows are being cast on the very future existence of the Labour Party, on its very raison d'Etre. Instead of gearing itself for reform, Labour is back stepping on its own heels.

Obstructing internal reform is equitable with harassment of the only vital lifeline left available to the MLP. Opposing change is tantamount to self-destruction. Preventing introspection within Labour's rank and file throughout its diverse structures from the national executive, to the parliamentary group down to the smallest village committee, amounts to a lethal overdose of self-injected opium.

It is the hallucinating effect of fear, the phobia of deciphering the writing on the wall - the acceptance of consummate failure. It is the denial of defeat and, yet, a signal message that the necessary will to change and, consequently, the will to construct and achieve is missing. Indeed, it is a resource either accidentally untraceable or else inadvertently lacking in Labour's DNA. Conversely, it is visual proof of prostration, the humiliating relegation of a once-upon-a-time great party, now voluntarily steering towards historical oblivion.

True, the death sentence has been pronounced, but it has not yet been executed.

An unprecedented string of electoral condemnations are indicative of the unavoidable, of what can no longer be shelved and consistently postponed. Since 1981, Labour has been successively diagnosed suffering from a severe credibility syndrome. Labour's policies were consistently dismissed, often perceived as harmful to the national interest, and irrelevant for Joe the public. Few floaters are readily convinced that Labour can offer a viable alternative to the governing party, now almost uninterruptedly in office since 1987. But then it is little wonder considering the reasonable questioning, whether at the end of the day there was ever any real long-term policy vision guiding recent Labour's doomsday pronouncements regarding Malta's EU accession bid.

This credibility syndrome is a multifaceted deficiency, a chronic problem affecting the most basic element of political inputs - ideas. Labour is ideologically defunct, brutally uprooted from its legitimate ideological place of belonging. It is a party adrift wavering between the left-right poles of the political spectrum. Volatile shifts of wind direction push the party into temporary ideological ports of call, often in accordance to the dictates of prevailing circumstances. Like a ship doomed on the high seas, Labour is in the middle of nowhere with destination anywhere.

Gaining back a proper sense of political direction requires Labour recapturing its natural ideological niche. Labour must retake the ideological landscape it has mistakenly forsaken in exchange for right-wing ill-fated prescriptions. It must reject such contraptions in the shape of foreign policy "partnership" proposals and electoral "slogans" upholding the individual (L-ewwel Int) at the expense of collective societal well-being. Labour's political agenda is set wrongly, completely detached from Maltese social realities. Labour remains a relatively strong political pressure group but it is no longer in touch with the social pulse of the average Maltese citizen. Labour lacks a proper social interface. This is partially due to its self-imposed isolation from local civil society but it is also to a great extent the cumulative result of endless negligence over the years to protect its own electoral backbone - the working class.

In its endeavour to project a reformed image cast in the myth of "New Labour", the party has inadvertently exposed its weakest flanks for penetration by the demagoguery of the Nationalist Party. The latter have obtained significant inroads into Labour's vital social strongholds with Labour achieving no corresponding pathways within the middle classes, the traditional PN's bulwark. In short, not only did "New Labour" not deliver results, but it even backfired leaving Labour suspended, devoid of any securely entrenched electoral base discernible within social parameters. This is a critical source of grief and injury. The perpetual loss of the fourth parliamentary seat on the second district is emblematic of this grievance. It is a blow to whatever Labour is supposed to represent, defend and promote in our national interest.

Ultimately, it all boils down to a confusion of priorities. It is absolutely pointless for Labour to possess well-oiled political machinery if the cogs are not geared to cater for social ends. Labour needs to regenerate itself first of all, by tracing back its original scope. Revitalisation implies the reconstruction of Labour as a proper social movement. Once Labour is felt present, alive and kicking within the fabric of Maltese society, only then can it seriously attempt to launch a political offensive. Reversing the order of things is sheer futility. Only a sound social base can serve an effective springboard for political renewal and, subsequently, electoral success.

Meanwhile, there is urgent need to clarify priorities. Clearly, the paramount priority is that of reinstating logic within the party's cockpit. Put simpler, that translates into the ousting out of the current leadership regime. It is imperative that an immediate democratic process is unleashed whereby the MLP's national executive is replenished with new blood. Undoubtedly, new faces do not guarantee progress. Undoubtedly too, lethargic indifference precludes rescue operations heralding radical shifts in policy, hopefully in the right direction. Only a dynamic leadership, pregnant with ideas, can potentially resolve the ideological dilemma of a soulless party, bereft of leftist conscience.

In practice, the situation demands a "coalition of the willing" to come forth, forging a convergence of factions and interest groups both within and outside the party. Inquiring the purpose of such a political coalition immediately articulates one clear, stated objective: releasing Labour's reproductive organs from the remorseless grip of this strangling sterility.