Green 2000
Encyclopedia
Green 2000 was a movement to streamline the constitutional arrangements of the Green Party of England and Wales
in the early 1990s, with the stated aim of getting a Green government by the year 2005.
, Sara Parkin
and Jean Lambert
. Moderate supporters of the proposals included Caroline Lucas
, Jenny Jones
and Darren Johnson
.
The constitutional changes passed in 1991 included:
These Executive and Regional Council structures replaced a very large single "Green Party Council".
Although the changes were adopted by the party, many of the members who proposed the changes left the party at the end of the first year's executive, in September 1992, leaving 'decentralists' and a leftist group called Association of Socialist Greens
grouped around the newsletter The Way Ahead, who had opposed the changes, in charge of the party's new structures.
Derek Wall says: “The right around the Green 2000 faction wanted to make us into a mainstream party with mass appeal, ditch the radicalism, reengineer the Party constitution and centralise power. We fought them. I remember Sara Parkin talking to the Independent about 'socialist parasites' i.e. myself and Penny Kemp who had been members nearly as long as her. They won and then imploded, when the Party received just a couple of percentage at the 1992 General Election. When the 'realists' believe in achieving a Westminster Parliamentary government by 2000 (thus Green 2000), give me fundamentalism.”
The disputes leading up to Green 2000 in the late 1980s were also a factor in the decision of the Scottish Green Party
to become independent.
“The Party is itself a coalition between its environmentalist and electoralist right wing and a left which is libertarian and anarchistic. The former is comfortable with the traditional party form and conventional political activity. The latter could have rejected the idea of party altogether but has instead tried to reinvent it.”
The group of Green 2000 supporters that ran the party in 1991-2 presided over an unsuccessful General election campaign, which was ill-prepared, and led to a subsequent demoralization and large drop in membership. The party was also unable to cope with the growth in members it had experienced some years before. The strategy was open to criticism for raising hopes unrealistically and not then delivering the necessary changes needed to drive the party forward. However, the Green 2000 group itself felt that the 'decentralists' managed to sap their energies and prevent direction being formed.
It also strengthened those in the party who shared Green 2000's electoral bias but thought they were going about in the wrong way.
Green Party of England and Wales
The Green Party of England and Wales is a political party in England and Wales which follows the traditions of Green politics and maintains a strong commitment to social progressivism. It is the largest Green party in the United Kingdom, containing within it various regional divisions including...
in the early 1990s, with the stated aim of getting a Green government by the year 2005.
Overview
Prominent members included Jonathon PorrittJonathon Porritt
Jonathon Espie Porritt, CBE, is an English environmentalist and writer. Porritt appears frequently in the media, writing in magazines, newspapers and books, and appearing on radio and television regularly.-Early life and family background:...
, Sara Parkin
Sara Parkin
Sara Parkin is a former Green Party of England and Wales activist and politician. She rose to prominence during and after the 1989 European election, in which the Green Party received 15% of the vote...
and Jean Lambert
Jean Lambert
Jean Denise Lambert is an English politician, and Member of the European Parliament for the London Region. A member of the Green Party of England and Wales, she has been an MEP since 1999...
. Moderate supporters of the proposals included Caroline Lucas
Caroline Lucas
Caroline Patricia Lucas is a British politician. Lucas is the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, and the Green Party's first and only Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom...
, Jenny Jones
Jenny Jones (Green politician)
Jenny Jones is an English politician and prominent member of the Green Party of England and Wales. She currently represents the Green Party in the London Assembly, and is standing to be Mayor of London in the 2012 elections. She was Deputy Mayor of London from May 2003 to June 2004...
and Darren Johnson
Darren Johnson
Darren Paul Johnson is an English politician and prominent member of the Green Party of England and Wales...
.
The constitutional changes passed in 1991 included:
- Creating a party Executive of 10 members to replace the Green Party Council of 25
- Reducing the official Principal Speakers from six to two
- Creating a single party Chair to replace the three Co-Chairs
- Creating a Regional Council to hold the Executive accountable between conferences
These Executive and Regional Council structures replaced a very large single "Green Party Council".
Although the changes were adopted by the party, many of the members who proposed the changes left the party at the end of the first year's executive, in September 1992, leaving 'decentralists' and a leftist group called Association of Socialist Greens
Association of Socialist Greens
The Association of Socialist Greens was a political faction founded by Derek Wall and others in response to attempts to organise the UK Green Party on more conventional lines in the 1980s...
grouped around the newsletter The Way Ahead, who had opposed the changes, in charge of the party's new structures.
Derek Wall says: “The right around the Green 2000 faction wanted to make us into a mainstream party with mass appeal, ditch the radicalism, reengineer the Party constitution and centralise power. We fought them. I remember Sara Parkin talking to the Independent about 'socialist parasites' i.e. myself and Penny Kemp who had been members nearly as long as her. They won and then imploded, when the Party received just a couple of percentage at the 1992 General Election. When the 'realists' believe in achieving a Westminster Parliamentary government by 2000 (thus Green 2000), give me fundamentalism.”
The disputes leading up to Green 2000 in the late 1980s were also a factor in the decision of the Scottish Green Party
Scottish Green Party
The Scottish Green Party is a green party in Scotland. It has two MSPs in the devolved Scottish Parliament, Alison Johnstone, representing Lothian, and Patrick Harvie, for Glasgow.-Organisation:...
to become independent.
Critique of Green 2000
Clearly, the aim that the Green party could enter government by 2005 was optimistic. But it reflected an ‘electoral’ bias – perhaps the real division in the Green Party. Opponents at the time felt that direct action, grassroots networking and other tactics were more likely to provide political benefit than a focus on gaining councillors and then Westminster seats. Morrissey, for instance, believed:“The Party is itself a coalition between its environmentalist and electoralist right wing and a left which is libertarian and anarchistic. The former is comfortable with the traditional party form and conventional political activity. The latter could have rejected the idea of party altogether but has instead tried to reinvent it.”
The group of Green 2000 supporters that ran the party in 1991-2 presided over an unsuccessful General election campaign, which was ill-prepared, and led to a subsequent demoralization and large drop in membership. The party was also unable to cope with the growth in members it had experienced some years before. The strategy was open to criticism for raising hopes unrealistically and not then delivering the necessary changes needed to drive the party forward. However, the Green 2000 group itself felt that the 'decentralists' managed to sap their energies and prevent direction being formed.
It also strengthened those in the party who shared Green 2000's electoral bias but thought they were going about in the wrong way.