Contacts: 

Alan Minsky, PDA Executive Director, (818)-749-9497 Alan@PDAmerica.org

Mike Hersh, PDA Communications Director, (301)-602-9388 Mike@PDAmerica.org

Today, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) released a statement about Thursday’s UK General Election. Here are key quotes:

Alan Minsky, PDA Executive Director, said, “On Thursday, the British public has a historic opportunity to elect a truly pro-worker, pro-environment, anti-war and anti-racist government by voting for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party in the UK General Election. A Labour victory would represent a sharp break with neoliberalism, the failed economic orthodoxy of the past four decades, which makes an idol of the “market” and re-distributes wealth and power ever-upward.”

Minsky warned, “The choice that British voters face on Thursday is stark.  We in the United States know first hand the results of the neoliberal austerity that the Conservatives will continue. We have lived under that regime for decades and the situation in the United States is dire. Poverty and homelessness are rampant. Housing and healthcare unaffordable. Debt loads are soaring. It’s almost impossible to make ends meet with a basic job. The once vast middle class is evaporating. Almost all new wealth goes to the already wealthy. Democracy is in serious peril,” adding, “Also, please understand, it’s neoliberalism that produced President Donald Trump.”

Minky concluded, “The neoliberal era began in the UK forty years ago. On Thursday, British voters can launch a new era of economic prosperity and justice for all. In an uncanny act of historical symmetry, we in the US can join with you next year. A Labour victory will be a beacon for the world.”

Progressive Democrats of America is a grassroots political action committee. The organization was founded in 2004 to transform the Democratic Party and U.S. politics by working inside the party and outside with peace, justice, civil rights, environmental, and other reform movements. For more information please see www.pdamerica.org

Here is the statement in its entirety:

Statement in Support of the U.K. Labour Party from the Progressive Democrats of America

On Thursday, the British public has a historic opportunity to elect a truly pro-worker, pro-environment, anti-war and anti-racist government by voting for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party in the UK General Election. 

A Labour victory would represent a sharp break with neoliberalism, the failed economic orthodoxy of the past four decades, which makes an idol of the “market” and re-distributes wealth and power ever-upward. 

The neoliberal project was launched by Margaret Thatcher in 1979, and Ronald Reagan a year later. The record is clear: neoliberal economic policies deliver society’s wealth into the hands of the few, condemns the rest of us to lives of struggle and debt peonage, rips apart worker’s rights, maintains structural racism and permanent wars, and generates ever-greater environmental degradation.

The Labour Party Manifesto, in brilliant contrast, lays out a clear pathway to a more just and equitable society. It calls for the revival of tried and trusted policies that produced the most prosperous societies in human history in the Post-World War II era. At its heart, the Labour program is about re-distributing wealth, empowering workers, and allocating resources to deliver social necessities (health, education, housing, and green energy infrastructure) that the market won’t fund. The plan creates jobs and puts money into the pockets of people who need it and will spend it, generating further wealth.  Don’t believe anyone that says it isn’t possible. 

The choice that British voters face on Thursday is stark.  We in the United States know first hand the results of the neoliberal austerity that the Conservatives will continue. We have lived under that regime for decades and the situation in the United States is dire. Poverty and homelessness are rampant. Housing and healthcare unaffordable. Debt loads are soaring. It’s almost impossible to make ends meet with a basic job. The once vast middle class is evaporating. All wealth goes to the already wealthy. Democracy is in serious peril. 

Also, please understand, it’s neoliberalism that produced President Donald Trump.

Opposing Labour is a Tory Party led by the UK’s Trump, Boris Johnson; a man as self-serving as the U.S. President, with equal contempt for the constitution and democratic principle. Johnson will join the growing ranks of ethno-nationalist autocratic rulers: Erdogan, Modi, Bolsonaro, Putin, Orban et al. Have no illusions, a Johnson victory will be seen as the greatest triumph yet for global Trumpism.

How does Brexit figure into this? It’s simple: would you rather have a relationship with Europe designed to favor the interests of international finance Capital and the wealthy (as put together by Johnson); or one that foregrounds the concerns of average people and workers, as Corbyn would pursue? Even better, Corbyn would allow a final public vote on the deal he negotiates.

There is a cacophony of noise being raised against Labour and its leader by the elite and their courtiers. There is a reason for this. They know that a Corbyn victory means the end of the reign of high finance, the end of the Oligarchy. 

The neoliberal era began in the UK forty years ago. On Thursday, British voters can launch a new era of economic prosperity and justice for all. In an uncanny act of historical symmetry, we in the US can join with you next year.

A Labour victory will be a beacon for the world.