Brexit: To debate or not to debate? Comrades should be wary of the ‘Labour Campaign for Free Movement’: many of its leading lights do not support the free movement of labour

If the anti-Semitism furore in the party movement should be able to have frank While the Labour leader has been rea- has shown one thing, it illustrates that and transparent discussions on any is- sonably successful in simply standing the developing fault lines between left sue, even uncomfortable ones. Political back and giving the Tory government and right in the party produce some differences should not be viewed as a sufficient Brexit rope to hang itself, the strange configurations. problem per se. A thinking organisation Labour Party’s position is hardly coher- Conference has been seeing an odd will always have disputes, and it is al- ent or convincing. Thus, , debate/non-debate around Brexit. The most always right to argue them out and the whole rightwing gang Campaign for Labour Party Democracy publicly. in the party are jostling for a chance to (CLPD) and really did not We need to be concrete, however. attack Corbyn on the issue and show want this thorny question discussed at Labour First and Akehurst wanted this him up for the benefit of their allies in conference and urged delegates not to issue discussed because they perceive the yellow press. Concretely, therefore, choose the issue in Sunday’s priorities Corbyn and the left are vulnerable on it. the demand for a debate on Brexit is a ballot. (This decides which ‘themes’ are For instance, at the Labour First rally on rightwing tactic, another attempt to beat allocated time for discussion). Sunday, the CLP delegates in the audi- up Corbyn and his allies. The CLPD argued that, “it serves no ence were strongly urged to give their purpose to debate the different views on first vote in the priorities ballot to a Brexit at this stage. The NEC’s state- debate on Brexit. Apart from any other Balance of forces ment and the plenary session on Mon- considerations, it was given this impor- Thankfully, they have not succeeded: day morning are quite enough at the tance by LF because Momentum is po- during Sunday’s priorities ballot, con- moment. We should try and limit the litically fractured on the issue, with ference voted overwhelmingly to follow damage the right can inflict upon con- deep disagreements between its “Stalin- the advice given by CLPD and Momen- ference”, as Barry Gray said at the ist” and “Trotskyist” factions. (LPM tum. Contemporary motions on Brexit CLPD fringe meeting on Saturday. comrades who braved the wrath of the will not be discussed, after that subject Ranged against them, you have the angry rightists at this gathering report received 72,000 CLP votes. As a com- Alliance for Workers’ Liberty (in formal that our organisation also warranted a parison: The NHS and housing received terms, also on the left) who sided with few mentions from the platform. None 187,000 votes each, social care 145,000 none other than Labour First’s Luke complimentary – though we would have and the railways 120,000. This gives a Akehurst to urge delegates to vote in been mortally offended if any were, of useful snapshot of the balance of forces favour of a Brexit debate. course.) at this year’s conference. Mindful of this As a general principle, Marxists So, the right has correctly identified continued on p2 argue that organisations in the workers’ Europe as one of Jeremy’s weak spots. background, it may

MONDAY 25/09

Success: ’s disputed formulation on Israel/Palestine is amended

Dozens join protest against Iain McNicol outside conference seem strange that an ostensibly left or- migration has clearly had in our econo- bring people in” and thus to push com- ganisation like the Alliance for Workers’ my.” panies to “begin to take people more Liberty should prioritise building a Now, it would be foolish in the ex- often from this country”. Fairly bog- campaign (‘Labour Campaign for Free treme to argue – in the manner of a sect standard Brit nationalism masquerading Movement’) that offers platforms to the like the Socialist Worker Party - that as ‘internationalism’, in other words. likes of Tulip Siddiq (who in January mass immigration always and every- The very fact of the AWL’s in- resigned as a shadow minister following where brings unalloyed economic bene- volvement in the ‘Labour Campaign for ’s decision to impose a fits and social harmony to indigenous Free Movement’ should set alarm bells three-line whip on Labour MPs to vote working class communities. However, ringing for Labour comrades. This is an in favour of triggering Article 50) and this in no way implies that we should organisation infamous for arguing Clive Lewis MP, who has of course oppose the right of working people to against the right of Palestinian people spoken out against free movement. free movement; to be able to seek a life to free movement – concretely the right In response to Jeremy Corbyn stat- for themselves and their families in any to return to areas they were forcibly ing publicly that he saw “no need” to part of the world they choose. ejected from by the colonialist Israeli curb immigration or impose more con- state. trols, Lewis said: “We have to acknowl- Among their leaders are people who edge that free movement of labour Voluntary unity are happy to call themselves “Zionists” hasn’t worked for a lot of people. It The key is unity, won from below. We and this softness on reaction saw them hasn’t worked for many of the people in need to fight for the integration of mi- support the purging of Jackie Walker as this country, where they’ve been under- grants into the culture of struggle of a vice-chair of Momentum. Their ‘fellow cut, who feel insecure, who feel they’re native working class (a reciprocal traveller’ on the Labour Party NEC, not getting any of the benefits that im- process of learning, of course), into Rhea Wholfson, voted to refer Jackie common organisation and unity against Walker’s case to Iain McNicol’s com- our class enemies. pliance unit – and happily speaks at This voluntary, combative unity is a meetings organised by the Jewish million miles away from what the likes Labour Movement, an affiliate to the of Clive Lewis advocate when they call World Labour Zionist Movement, a for obligatory union membership for loyal supporter of the state of Israel and migrant workers (as a precondition of home to many of those who have been their right to enter the country) to stop so keen to save the Labour Party from them “undercutting wages” – a proposal its ‘unelectable’ leader. motivated, he admits, by his core con- This campaign needs to be given a cern to “have an impact on the number very wide berth. As with every other of people coming to this country”, to issue and debate in the Labour Party “make it more difficult for employers to these days, context is everything. Strange bedfellows: We caught Luke Akehurst (Labour First) buying a copy of the AWL’s Clarion magazine

We need a positive vision for Europe, not a pro-business one

Keir Starmer has succeeded in getting the shadow Labour’s pro-‘remain’ members and voters resulted cabinet to come out in favour of staying in the single in a fudge. market (though in an interview on the Andrew Marr However, instead of getting embroiled in the ar- Show on Sunday morning, Jeremy Corbyn seemed to gument about what is and what is not in the ‘national backtrack somewhat from this again). Still, there re- interest’ – eg, staying in the single market versus mains a striking paradox. On Europe, Labour is articu- leaving the single market – Labour needs a class lating the interests of big capital. Not that big capital perspective. We should have no illusions in the Eu- will reciprocate and back the Labour Party. It is, after ropean Union. It is a bosses’ club, it is by treaty all, led by Jeremy Corbyn: pro-, pacifistic committed to neoliberalism and it is by law anti- and a friend of all manner of unacceptable leftists. working class (note the European Court of Justice For the sake of appearances, pays and its Viking, Laval and Rüffert judgements). But lip service to the 2016 referendum result. There is nor should we have any illusions in a so-called Lexit no wish to alienate the minority of Labour voters perspective. who backed ‘leave’. More through luck than judge- On the contrary the EU should be seen as a site ment, ambiguity served the party well during the of struggle. We should aim to unite the working general election campaign. The contradiction be- class in the EU in order to end the rule of capital and tween Corbyn’s historical hostility towards the EU – establish socialism on a continental scale. That now represented in the Commons by the Dennis would be the biggest contribution we can make to Skinner-Kelvin Hopkins rump – and the mass of the global struggle for human liberation. Protest against Iain McNicol LPMers happily joined the 30 or so protestors outside this morning to demand that general sec- retary Ian McNicol should resign (actually, he should be sacked!). Not only is McNicol responsible for the suspensions and expulsions of thousands of leftwing Labour Party members, he is also in the frame for attempts to sabotage Labour’s elec- toral challenge in June’s snap election. He and other right wingers were clearly hoping for a Labour result so dire that Je- remy Corbyn would have to fall on his sword. Thus, many CLPs were woefully under-resourced and a large number re- ceived not a single penny. (For example, Sheffield Hallam, where the pro-Corbyn left managed to oust Lib Dem luminary Nick Clegg and win the first ever Labour MP in the constituency, received precisely zip from either the region or HQ). The rightwing response to the protest was predictable. Johanna Baxter expressed to conference her tremulous out- rage at this protest and railed that a demo against “an employee of the party should not be allowed”. Deservedly, she was booed. Of course, the issue wasn’t really Ian McNicol’s employment rights, but Baxter’s solidarity with his politics. Before she was booted off the NEC last year, she managed to use the then wafer-thin right wing majority on the NEC to push through changes to give Wales and Scotland two extra NEC seats. This was not prompted by democratic concerns around regional devolution. No, Baxter was confident that the vacancies would be filled by supporters of the right in the party. Subsequently, of course, leader has resigned and been replaced (temporarily) by leftwing deputy leader . This produced a small left NEC majority. In turn, this was enough to push through the ‘Corbyn review’ and expand the CLP representation from six to nine, producing a leftwing majority on our leading body for the near future. Clearly, the right is in some pain. Happy days!

Labour First rally: all about Marxism

The crowd at the Labour First rally on Not surprisingly, given the general Semites” (for this, read “the left”) and Sunday afternoon was a pretty riled up election result and Jeremy’s huge spike in “stand up to the bullies” (that is, “silence bunch. Luke Akehurst and his mates are popularity and profile, Luke Akehurst and all criticism of the right”). Pretty classic - clearly feeling under pressure from left- his chums didn’t attack Corbyn directly. and pathetic - tactics of bureaucrats who wing delegates at this year’s Labour Party Instead, they concentrated their attacks on are politically incapable of answering conference … and they are not handling his supporters – the organised Corbynistas critics and are aware the game is moving the stress at all well. The chair launched particularly. These were “Stalinists” who away from them. For instance, in one of an attack on LPM as “not real Labour” - “fetishise military dictatorships” like Ve- his more honest moments, Akehurst had unlike the rows of Tory-lite manikins in nezuela and Cuba. The June poll was run to acknowledge that the right’s forces are the hall, for whom genuine Labour princi- down, however - “We have even fewer now too weak to “stop the McDonnell ples are as expendable as autumn leaves. seats than under ”, Chris amendment”. Furthermore, our very name is a “a con- Leslie MP complained. He went on to Wes Streeting MP suggested that tradiction in terms” – a short course in illustrate his encyclopaedic ignorance of Labour should “not argue for unilateral dialectics might clear up any confusion. Marxism, which he dismissed as a “de- disarmament”, but that the government The ever-delightful John Mann MP structive, hate filled ideology”. In com- should “increase defence spending”. Just scowled at our comrades, but didn’t deign ments that must have shocked many in the what the world needs – more weapons to speak to them – presumably because audience, he also revealed that Marxism is capable of annihilating our species and there were no cameras nearby. However, “revolutionary” and wants to “overturn more sabre-rattling. The real contradiction he did prevail upon a minion to pick up a capitalism” (well spotted). in Labour is that people like Mann, Ake- copy of the latest issue of Labour Party Akehurst suggested that the Labour hurst and Streeting have found themselves Marxists Bulletin. P a r t y s h o u l d “ p u r g e t h e A n t i - in a working class party. Success! NPF document on CAC: Death throes of the right The Conference Arrangements crucial. The unions and other affili- Committee reported two records: ates have 300 delegates at confer- Israel/Palestine there have never been so many dele- ence, the CLPs have sent 1,200. But gates at Labour Party conference - in a card vote, the affiliates’ vote is amended almost 1,200. And over 1,000 of counts for 50% of the total vote, ditto these are first timers. Of course, that the CLPs’ vote (which is then further The National Policy Forum is a relic of the reflects the tremendous sea change divided according to how many dark days of Blairism; a body Blair established within the party. But it also presents members a CLP has). Roughly, a to outsource the party’s policy-making. When the left with a problem. We have the union delegate’s vote counts four it published its dire, 90-page annual report in numbers, but we do not have the times as much as the vote of a CLP June, Palestine campaigners quickly noticed a organisation yet to halt the undemoc- delegate – and that can make all the glaring omission. The 2017 election manifesto ratic shenanigans by the right. difference in a dispute. called for an end to Israel’s blockade, illegal Take the CAC, which is still This chair’s discretion over the occupation and settlements. But these basic dominated by the old guard. Their format of voting is within the current democratic demands had been dropped from report on Sunday morning provoked rules, but normal practice in recent the NPF document, along with the pledge that angry responses from conference years – when it comes to reference “A Labour government will immediately floor. Two disputed issues should back of a CAC report, composite recognise the state of Palestine”. really have led to votes being taken motions etc – has been to allow any Had conference supported this document, to refer the report back; but the left delegate to make a call for a card it would have overridden the pledges in the was not organised enough to see this vote, which the chair is then obliged manifesto, as conference is – at least on paper challenge through. accept. – the sovereign decision-making body of the First was the CAC’s sneaky move This posed almost no problem in party. This omission was no ‘oversight’. Cam- to provide time for London mayor the Blairite period of the party: real paigners went into overdrive; LPM joined Sadiq Khan to address conference, disputes were absent from conference others calling on delegates to refer back this although this is clearly not within the floor, which had become a tedious, section of the document. CAC’s remit. The NEC had previous- stage-managed affair. The election of But page 14 of yesterday’s Conference ly decided not to allow any of the Jeremy Corbyn has changed all that. Arrangements Committee report includes, city mayors to speak, to give more Last year, a huge row broke out at without explanation, this small paragraph: space for delegates to contribute. conference over the NEC’s “reform “The following text, as agreed in the Labour Once the CAC had made its invita- package” that snuck in two additional Party Manifesto 2017, is now included in the tion public, the NEC caved in, pre- NEC seats for the leaders of Welsh National Policy Forum Annual Report 2017. sumably for fear of media ridicule and Scottish Labour. Delegates were On page 56, column 2, line 43, add: and scathing headlines. If Khan uses on their feet, shouting “card vote, ‘There can be no military solution to this his allotted time to undermine Cor- card vote” – but the chair simply conflict and all sides must avoid taking ac- byn or belittle the scale of the party’s refused and declared that the hand tion that would make peace harder to achievement in June, then we trust vote had “clearly won”. In a card achieve. That means both an end to the delegates will not be shy about voic- vote, the result would have gone the blockade, occupation and settlements, and ing disapproval. other way, as the unions were firmly an end to rocket and terror attacks. Labour The other issue is related to the against the addition of two right will continue to press for an immediate re- CAC’s implementation of last year’s wingers. turn to meaningful negotiations leading to a rule change to allow the partial refer- This shows how important it is diplomatic resolution. A Labour government ence back of National Policy Forum for the left to show its muscle in would immediately recognise the state of documents. Any delegate can now every party arena – including the Palestine.’” challenge part of the NPF’s (extremely middle layers of the party bureaucra- long-winded) documents and demand cy, of which the CAC is a part. Yes, It is not the kind of programme we would that the issue is revisited by the body. Momentum and CLPD successfully write on the Middle East (there is clearly a Of course, if the chair is happy with a campaigned for two leftwingers, Bil- tendency to equate the violence of the oppres- challenge, s/he will simply “ask con- ly Hayes and Seema Chandwani, to sor state Israel with the struggle of the op- ference if the reference back is be elected onto the committee by pressed Palestinian people - note the mention agreed”, as it says in the CAC report. direct ballot of the membership. But of “rocket attacks”). But a return to the origi- However, if the chair is not happy the CAC is made up of seven mem- nal formulation is a victory against those (like about the issue in dispute, then it will bers, five of whom will be elected by the ) who want us to be up the person chairing that session other methods. Therefore, we are not take the side of the Israeli state. The fact that to decide if a vote is conducted by entirely confident that the left will the JLM has perversely been given the ‘best show of hands or by a card vote. actually be running next year’s con- practice award’ by Ian McNicol serves as a The difference between the two is ference. reminder of how well connected this organisa- tion is to the party bureaucracy.