Why Europe’s Left Can Rise Again

Third, within the left, the centrists are winning the battle of ideas. The 1968ers have provided neither new ideas nor new leaders. But the next generation of moderates must prove they are not clones who will become a conservative force by simply rerunning the politics of the last decade. Their slogan "Proud, But Not Satisfied" seeks to combine governing credibility and idealism—that they knew why their parties needed to modernize but can remember, too, what they are for. If the Third Way seemed deliberately opaque, this generation is more confident in articulating the ends of reform: a "fairness" mission to extend life chances and equal opportunities.

And there is much interest in doing politics differently, adapting the lessons of the Barack Obama campaign in the United States and grass-roots movements like MoveOn.org to European conditions. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband talks of fusing social-democratic, liberal and environmental traditions to create new progressive movements. Three million voters took part in an open primary in Italy—a major innovation in center-left politics—to elect Walter Veltroni as leader of the new Italian Democratic Party. Sweden's Mona Sahlin has returned the center-left to a sustained poll lead, while the Reinfeldt government has shifted rightward in office and lost popularity.

When they listen to their opponents' ideas, or lack of them, the next generation of social democrats are confident they are winning the battle of ideas. They must now figure out how to win the battle of elections, too.

Katwala is general secretary of the Fabian Society, a leading center-left think tank in London.

© 2008