This time last year the financial world was holding on to the cliff edge by its fingernails. If it had fallen of completely, an almost apocalyptic depression would have followed. Banks would have closed, cash machines turned off, lending vanished – and widespread poverty, joblessness, and crime would have taken their place.

Only by embracing Keynes’ teachings (the teachings that have been scorned and rejected by the right and New Labour for the 20 years preceding the crisis), was this disaster avoided. Nationalising banks, quantitative easing, slashing interest rates, and a hefty fiscal stimulus dragged us back from the brink. And at almost every turn, the British right, led by the Conservative Party, opposed these vital measures. Had the Tories been in power, we would now be facing a full-scale depression. Progressive politics and economics had been vindicated – the left was right all along!

How, then, do we find ourselves in such dire straits? How is Labour facing a ‘generation in opposition’? How have the Tories succeeded in convincing people that our now massive public debt is a result of a bloated public sector, and not a reckless financial one? Unarguably, Gordon Brown shouldn’t have deregulated, and he was foolish to think he’d broken the business cycle – but these are all things that the left were saying! The Tories were envious of Blair/Browns’ pro-market approach. They looked on at the New Labour-City of London alliance in jealousy and admiration, not disapproval. Things would have been then same, if not worse, under a Tory government.

We can point to Iraq, an ugly and uncharismatic leader, an abused expenses system, and 12 years in power as excuses for when we lose the election. Or we can do something about it now, and prevent the train-wreck that will be a Conservative Government. The left needs to get out there and let the public know that the last thing we now need are drastic cuts in public spending. Gordon Brown is right to say that GDP growth is the best way to reduce public debt, and Conservative policies would only hinder this. The Government should be dedicated to keeping people in work and improving our public services, not scaling them back.

These are things that the public would agree with, if only we managed to get that message across. What we need is a clearer message, emphasized and reiterated over and over again. The labour leadership needs to get a grip of itself, of the arguments, of the media, and start the fightback.

The financial crisis should have lead to a renaissance of the left. However, Labour were too slow and too embarrassed to pick up on this. We didn’t seize the initiative, so the right did. Guido Fawkes and other right wing bloggers are setting the pace for grassroots politics, and the media seem to be captivated by them and their nasty message. But it’s not too late; the facts are on our side. If we write, organize, and campaign, we can, and will, turn the tide. We have to show that the choice facing Britain is one between Labour growth or Conservative cuts. If we can get our message across then we can win the election and ensure a better future for both the British Left and for Britain.