Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Bhaskar Sunkara, Maurice Glasman, Pam Cox debate the future of the Left.
Which ideas should the Left embrace, and which should it leave behind?
With a free trial, you can watch the full debate at iai.tv/video/the-lefts-identity-crisis?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=description
President Obama said “we hang on to our values… what else is there to guide us?” And typically those on the Left have championed universal moral values like equality and compassion, while making the case for growing the welfare state. But across the West, from Trump’s re-election to the rise of parties like Reform, many no longer seem convinced by this vision. In response, some on the Left propose a shift from compassionate welfarism to a more hard-nosed politics focused on work, productivity and national industry. In the UK, Kier Starmer promises to put “Britain first,” investing in defence while cutting welfare spending.
Is the future of the Left a replacement of welfare with work, and moralism with realism? Is it returning to the mantra of socialist playwright Bertold Brecht that “Grub comes first, then morality”? Or will the left mount a defence of the politics of kindness in the face of populist firebrands, or create a completely new rallying call for left-wing politics altogether?
#left #socialism #socialdemocracy #labour #labourparty
Maurice Glasman is a political theorist, Labour life peer, and founder of the Blue Labour movement in 2009. Pam Cox is the Labour MP for Colchester who was recently elected to Parliament in 2024. Prior to this she was a professor of social history and criminology at the University of Essex and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Bhaskar Sunkara is currently the president of The Nation, the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. He is a former vice-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America and the author of The Socialist Manifesto. Roger Hearing hosts.
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Bhaskar Sunkara, Maurice Glasman, Pam Cox debate the future of the Left.
Which ideas should the Left embrace, and which should it leave behind?
With a free trial, you can watch the full debate at iai.tv/video/the-lefts-identity-crisis?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=description
President Obama said “we hang on to our values… what else is there to guide us?” And typically those on the Left have championed universal moral values like equality and compassion, while making the case for growing the welfare state. But across the West, from Trump’s re-election to the rise of parties like Reform, many no longer seem convinced by this vision. In response, some on the Left propose a shift from compassionate welfarism to a more hard-nosed politics focused on work, productivity and national industry. In the UK, Kier Starmer promises to put “Britain first,” investing in defence while cutting welfare spending.
Is the future of the Left a replacement of welfare with work, and moralism with realism? Is it returning to the mantra of socialist playwright Bertold Brecht that “Grub comes first, then morality”? Or will the left mount a defence of the politics of kindness in the face of populist firebrands, or create a completely new rallying call for left-wing politics altogether?
#left #socialism #socialdemocracy #labour #labourparty
Maurice Glasman is a political theorist, Labour life peer, and founder of the Blue Labour movement in 2009. Pam Cox is the Labour MP for Colchester who was recently elected to Parliament in 2024. Prior to this she was a professor of social history and criminology at the University of Essex and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Bhaskar Sunkara is currently the president of The Nation, the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. He is a former vice-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America and the author of The Socialist Manifesto. Roger Hearing hosts.
The Institute of Art and Ideas features videos and articles from cutting edge thinkers discussing the ideas that are shaping the world, from metaphysics to string theory, technology to democracy, aesthetics to genetics. Subscribe today! iai.tv/subscribe?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=the-lefts-identity-crisis
For debates and talks: iai.tv
For articles: iai.tv/articles
For courses: iai.tv/iai-academy/courses
