Communities: The foundation of Welsh Politics — Grace Davis

One mention of Welsh politics turns most of us towards the vision of the old mining communities. Long before my time, yet this continues to define what it is to be Welsh. Communitarianism, however, can be a contentious political ideology. How we can reconcile the theory of communitarianism with our liberal values is a question which has plagued political thinkers, and a question I think we, as Labour Party members, should be thoroughly concerned with. I believe the solution to such a question can be seen in our Welsh communities.

Firstly, the tensions between communitarianism and liberalism exist at least partially as the result of a growing tendency towards egoism. Egoism is the philosophy that self-interest is the motive of all actions, and it is this which has seen the fundamental shift from the communitarian politics of Wales in the 1980s towards our current London-focused Laissez Faire Britain. People of this thought don’t believe in the ability of communities to act with intention for each other, instead viewing society on a far more individualistic basis.

However, a form of a genuine contention can also be found between the two ideologies, beyond current political and philosophical fads. The overarching concern is of whether people can belong to a community, be governed by a community, belong to themselves and be governed by themselves. A clash of opinions between the community as a whole and the individual members of can be devastating for our view of liberal democracy — if democracy is liberal, how can it restrict our freedom in a way which makes us suffer the effects of a political decision we were on the losing side of. The most prominent and topical example of such a situation is Brexit. Those calling for a people’s vote and to remain in the EU do so on the basis that they do not want to be affected by a political decision they did not choose. Regardless of ones’ view on such matters, this presents us with a very real problem whereby their freedom to live as autonomous beings is being infringed upon, and comes in direct confrontation with our desire to live in a democratic community. This feels like a problem unique to our specific political climate, but really it is a far more deep-rooted problem between conflicting political values.

We respect communities when they further our ability to further our own interests; they cause us concern when instead they restrict this. The smaller communities of Wales do not have the obvious political problems as our society at large does, but still each holds its own unwritten and unspoken constitution which governs how its members act. So then, perhaps a community can only be deemed liberal if it is in tune with the opinion of each of its members. There is an obvious fallacy behind this: a community cannot conform to the viewpoints of multiple different members at once (assuming that different members of the community have different opinion). If we posit this, it leaves us with the unsatisfactory answer that communities simply can’t be liberal. As Labour Party members who value communitarianism as a basis for socialism, we should be worried by such a response.

In order, then, to see an answer to this question, we must turn towards the old mining communities of Wales in the 1980’s. The cooperation within communities at a time of such hardship is inspiring to Labour Party members, but should serve as more than just historical inspiration: it should inspire us too as a model to base our present society on. The Welsh communities showed that, as long as there is one key factor which members can be united behind, individuals can act in an autonomous way whilst still benefiting from their membership of. In this case the uniting factor was a desire to see a good life for miners and the community around it, in our larger society, the uniting factor is perhaps instead democracy. Members in the Welsh mining communities worked together for this purpose, and still were free to live their lives as they wished within the community, as long as they viewed it as their priority.

The communities of Wales were, and still are, some of the strongest in Britain. However, their destruction goes hand in hands with the trend towards egoism, and serves as the greatest threat to society. A society where we view our purpose as one towards ourselves is one in which we no longer value democracy and cooperation with others. It is the need of humans to unite which has led to communities being the foundation of Welsh politics. It is for this same reason that they are the foundation for any stable political system we might hope to see in the future.

Grace Davis is a PPE Student at Oxford University and LGBT+ Officer for Welsh Young Labour