Plaid revive decentralised socialism

Plaid leader Leanne Wood seems to bee taking  the Party back to the sort of decentralised  socialism, that we who were in the original National Left were talking about 30 years ago.
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The party leader made a bid to distinguish Plaid Cymru's left-leaning values from Labour's at a speech in Cardiff 

She said her party's brand of socialism was the "opposite" to the "undemocratic model" embraced by Labour

She said the new leaflet was about “creating the kind of Wales we want to live in”.

In it she set out a proposal for "the first draft of a set of values and principles" inspired by writer Naomi Klein's vision of a 'Leap' change in society.

The principles as described in the leaflet are:


Ms Wood told activists that Labour's brand of socialism "won't empower people because it doesn't trust people".

She said

"The decentralist socialism of Plaid Cymru is the opposite to the top-down, undemocratic model which has been embraced historically by British Labour," .
Outlining a vision for her own party, she said Plaid's socialism "should be a democratic exercise in stripping both political and economic power away from the multi-national corporations and the centralised state, bringing control back to the community through shared ownership and local democracy."

Ms Wood proposed "taking new and existing institutions away from where they are concentrated already, as Plaid Cymru has advocated for the new transport authority, football museum, national development bank, and other bodies".
She said her party would "legislate to ensure that legal safeguards were in place to fairly share public investment across the country, leaving no community behind," she said.
The party leader also outlined steps to reform the planning system, including "the creation of mixed zones for self-employment, where living and working spaces can be combined or co-located, to cut travel and other overhead costs for start-ups and self-employed people".
Ms Wood spoke ahead of a tour of Wales.

 "I want to speak with people who care about Welsh democracy... but who may be disconnected from Welsh politics or what happens in Cardiff Bay," .

The Ten Principles laid out by Leanne wee

Decentralisation

“People in all areas should share the wealth/prosperity. Power needs to be devolved within Wales itself. We must not re-create the unbalanced relationship between ‘core’ and ‘periphery’ that has been socially disastrous for Wales within the British state”

Self-sufficiency and living within our means

“Building resilience to future shocks and to be able to provide for our own needs, where possible, but especially for life’s basics. Climate change necessitates making the transition to end our dependnce on fossil fuels and people in Wales must be in control of that process.”

The maintenance and protection of existing rights and protections

“There is a risk that these could be watered down through the process of leaving the EU. We must strengthen workers’ and human rights...
"We should consider what community ownership of resources as well as additional linguistic rights would look like if we were to prioritise and protect the Welsh language and communities with a high percentage of Welsh speakers. We should also look towards granting full rights for all to access a lifelong education, a decent home, a high standard of healthcare and a clean environment.”

Striving for equality by lifting those at the bottom and working to eliminate geographic inequality

“The basic services we all need should be not for profit and where possible publicly or community owned.”

The assumption that our public money should be spent for public good

“Money spent abroad should contribute to the prevention of war and conflict and not the perpetuation of it. Military expenditure should be reducted to cover necessary security. The ratio of social spend to military spend must change to increase money for social programmes.”

Maximising democracy by increasing people’s ability to participate in it

“This includes a right to retreaining for green jobs and being democratic participants in that training.”

Openness to value and nurture all people

“Rather than treat newcomers with fear and suspicion. Value elders and recognise knowledge accumulated over a lifetime. Work to end the epidemic of violence against women.”

Co-operation not competition

“We can achieve so much more if we all pull together in the same positive direction”

Wales must be seen as a national entity

“Our education system needs to equip our citizens to see the world through a Welsh frame and to draw on the history of Wales to connect with the world”

What seems to be missing from Leanne's speech is the the reality in order to push forward these principals  Plaid need to first gain power in Cardiff Bay and in reality nothing less than Independence will allow the decentralisation of power from Cardiff.

The problem that Plaid and Indeed the SNP is that  they have seemed to concentrated on building a mirror parliament  of Westminster in both Cardiff and Edinburgh.

Centralism  whether it is from the Tories or  indeed the sort of Socialism Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters  still seem to aspire to has not and cannot work.

It concentrates not only power but major infrastructure, wealth and top jobs in one place.

There is a perception in the North and West of  Wales  that they are been sidelined  by the Labour Government in Cardiff bay in the same way  everywhere outside London and the South East of England has always been.

It is something that seems to be the case and Plaid and all the other parties in Wales need to address this.

The message of "decentralised socialism"  in Plaid Cymru is over 30 years old and I believe  it was never officially dropped .

Breathing new life into it, may just inspire a new generation of independentistas not only in Wales but beyond.