The potential for a progressive paradigm shift

Abstract

The banking crisis and the pandemic have both demonstrated the potential for a progressive paradigm shift that could break with the hegemony of neoliberalism over Britain’s political economy. The Covid pandemic has demonstrated how many of the ideas and policies that formed the basis of the Labour Party manifestos of 2017 and 2019 are essential to tackling the current crisis of the pandemic and also for tackling the next crisis, which is the existential threat of climate change. For those on the left and progressives, the task is to discuss and plan the economy and society that will translate these lessons into a vision for the future of our society and into the concrete policy programme needed to achieve that vision. This article is based on a lecture given at the Marx Memorial Library on 23 June 2020 and we are pleased to reproduce it here.