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Socialist Lawyer issue 50

Our fiftieth edition

This issue is the 50th issue of Socialist Lawyer. It’s an opportunity to take stock of the past, and reflect on the future. Our President, Mike Mansfield QC, is not the only Haldane Society stalwart to be surprised at how young Socialist Lawyer is. The first issue was published in the winter of 1986, and we’ve managed an average of around three issues a year since then. Nearly 22 years on, we may be older, but we’re just as ambitious in our desire to change the world.

Mansfield notices the similarities between Haldane’s concerns in 1986, and our priorities today. The challenges are depressingly similar: to defend civil liberties, campaign for extended employment rights, maintain publicly funded legal services. The most dismal distinction is that in 1986 those campaigns were against Tory government policies. John Hendy wrote “the labour movement needs a Labour government”. Twenty-two years on, a Labour government is undertaking precisely the same attacks. We find ourselves defending civil liberties against a Labour government intent on detention without charge for 42 days, defending law centres and publicly-funded legal services, and still arguing for basic trade union rights and freedoms.

Socialist Lawyer may only be 22 years old. The Haldane Society is nearly 80. David Renton’s research in the National Archives has produced some fascinating documents showing the degree of state concern about Communist influence on the Haldane Society during the Labour government of 1945 to 1951. Intriguingly, an internal Labour Party circular cautioning against “Soviet propaganda” in the Society finds its way into Home Office records. The Labour Party’s obsession with exposing suspected communist influence in its various affiliates led to the greatest crisis of the Haldane Society’s history, and the break-away of some leading members to form the Society of Labour Lawyers.

Today, we have friendly relations with the Society of Labour Lawyers, but, unlike them, we are independent of the Labour Party (and of any other political party). We cherish that independence. We may never be invited by the government to set out a programme of law reform, as the Society was in 1947. But then, as David Renton notes, the Labour Party refused to publish the proposals submitted by the Society.

Nowadays, our members may be members of various political parties, or of none. But as a Society, we are independent of all parties. We can stand up for socialism and remain plain speaking.

Reflecting on 50 issues of Socialist Lawyer, we take the opportunity to honour some human socialist lawyers. We’re delighted that Imran Khan, Kate Markus and Gareth Peirce have accepted our invitations to become Vice-Presidents of the Haldane Society. We celebrate their achievements in a short biographical piece, and with a longer interview with Kate Markus. Socialist Lawyer readers will remember the lengthy interview with Imran Khan published in January 2008. We hope that Gareth Peirce – one of the busiest and most committed lawyers on the planet – will manage some time from the extraordinary demands of her practice to give us an interview for the next issue. Imran, Kate and Gareth join the existing Vice-Presidents: Kader Asmal, Louise Christian, Tess Gill, Helena Kennedy QC, Michael Seifert, David Turner-Samuels, Professor Lord Wedderburn QC.

We’re very proud to be associated with all of these distinguished lawyers, each of whom has spent their career fighting against injustice. Nobody ever joins the Haldane Society in the expectation of political or legal advancement. Membership of a “socialist” society is probably a hindrance to a career in the Labour Party these days. In fact, getting involved in the Haldane Society offers few rewards and much toil. Catrin Lewis – who was Chair of the Society and edited Socialist Lawyer just a few years ago – can say what our current Editor is far too modest to say: “members of the Society give up their own free time to write for the magazine, or to put the magazine together, get it to the printers and to distribute it. From my own experience I know this can be a real challenge. Getting the magazine out regularly is a real achievement.”

We’re immensely grateful to all of our contributors for the time they put into their articles. We want more contributors – so that we can broaden the scope of our coverage. If you fancy writing something on a law-related issue, don’t be shy. Just volunteer.

Liz Davies, vice-chair, Haldane Society