Labour Party Marxists

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June 8 was a disaster for Theresa May and a triumph for Jeremy Corbyn. Marxists need to explain how it happened and map outLABOUR how our labour movement can take further steps forward. Towards that end LPM presents 36 propositions T e results of the June 8 general discontented remainers because of their and Liberal Democrats is opposed to Brexit. One, the Labour right would fight an MP actually wanted to lose their seat, election were almost without manifesto promise to oppose Brexit and the Certainly, taken as a whole, this bloc has unremitting civil war against Corbyn and without exception they expected Labour exception excellent from our of er of a second referendum. True, they no wish to see a hard Brexit. T at said, the lef ; two, we had a once-in-a-lifetime to do badly. T erefore “working the tea 1. viewpoint. T e Tory share of the gained four seats. However, their share of when it comes to reasons for voting, while chance to transform the Labour Party; rooms” and the renewed preparation of vote was 42.4%. Humiliatingly though, they the vote fell to just 7.4%, an all-time low. Tory and Lib Dem voters rated Europe as three, there would be no hard Brexit; four, leadership bids. Yvette Cooper and Chuka lost 13 seats. Labour’s share rose to 40% An additional bonus: Nick Clegg lost in their key issue, Labour voters were much whatever May was saying about waiting till Umunna were widely touted. So was Clive and saw it gain 30 seats. No less positive, Shef eld Hallam - the f nal coda to the more likely to be motivated by education 2020 and the f xed-term parliament act, Lewis (thanks to Owen Jones). the Scottish National Party suffered a Cleggmania that swept the country just spending, NHS cuts, student grants, poor she would eat her words and call a snap 10. Terrified by the prospect of an signif cant setback. T ey are down by 21 before the 2010 general election. housing, low wages and opposing foreign election over Brexit; f ve, the Labour Party increased Tory majority, Jon Cruddas, seats. True, as we have long warned, there The UK Independence Party now intervention. Given how well Labour would come out of the general election Clive Lewis, Helena Kennedy, Hilary was an always present danger of a Tory looks to be heading the same direction as actually did, certainly when it came to poll badly defeated. Wainwright, Tulip Siddiq, etc pleaded for rebirth north of the border. Ruth Davidson the British National Party. And it was not predictions, it is clear that June 8 was not 8. Like many, we were surprised by Labour to stand aside for the Greens in now has a 13-strong group of Scottish Stand Up To Racism that was responsible a Brexit election. Labour’s strong showing. We expected that Brighton Pavilion and the Isle of Wight. MPs. But Labour is back too. Having - T eresa May stole their programme. 6. Arguably June 8 was a generational the ongoing attacks against Jeremy Corbyn In line with this, Compass - a “lef wing” been reduced to a single MP, Labour now T is helps to explain why the Tories could election. The figures are startling. Of by the pro-capitalist right in the Labour pressure group once aligned with the holds seven seats in Scotland’s central belt. increase their overall total vote to 13.6 those aged 18-24, a massive 66% went Party, aided by almost the entire bourgeois Labour Party, but now uniting “people T ose on the lef who pathetically trail the million. Nevertheless, especially in the with Labour, a mere 18% with the Tories. media, would lead to Labour receiving a across dif erent political parties (and those SNP - eg, Socialist Workers Party, Socialist north of England Labour too benef ted And this cohort came out in record trouncing in the ballot box. We feared a with no party af liation)” - promoted its Resistance, Scottish Socialist Party, etc, and from Ukip’s collapse. Northern Ireland’s numbers, many for the first time. But Tory landslide and that Labour reduced to ‘Progressive Alliance’. T is popular front wanted to “make” June 8 an “independence politics are ever more polarised. The when it comes to the over-65s, the picture a parliamentary rump would demoralise involved tactical voting and Labour, the Lib election” - have had their answer. And in Democratic Unionist Party gained two almost reverses: 58% Tory, only 23% the hundreds of thousands who had joined Dems, Plaid, the SNP, the Women’s Equality Wales, instead of the Tories gaining, it seats, as did Sinn Féin. In parliamentary Labour. What this reflects, however, or rejoined the Labour Party because of Party and the Greens getting together to was Labour. terms the of cial Ulster Unionist Party is not a generational war: rather class Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. We warned “co-create a new politics”. 2. With good reason we can say that there and the Social Democratic Labour Party retrogression - the proletarianisation, the that the strategic goal of transforming the 11. Of course, there was no increased is a return to two-party politics. Not that suf ered complete wipe-out. de-petty-bourgeoisif cation of the younger Labour Party would, as a consequence, Tory majority. Nor was there a ‘Progressive it ever really went away. Capitalism, the 4. Was June 8 a second EU referendum? generation. They might be attending f ounder. It seemed desirable to try and Alliance’. Thanks to Tory blundering, existence of two main classes, the f rst- Was it chief y about Europe and Brexit? university, or already have graduated. lower expectations in the short term with May’s cowardice, Corbyn’s wonderfully past-the-post system - all tend to produce T at is what pundits suggested when the But they come out of full-time education a view to securing the long-term goal. We successful town and city rallies, his more two great camps: one of capital, the other general election was first called. And, burdened with huge debts, and then they are glad that our fears did not materialise. than competent media performances, the of labour. obviously, that is what T eresa May and can only secure precarious or comparatively 9. Our fears were understandable. In alternative Labour machine in the form of 3. What of the other parties? T e Liberal her Tory strategists intended. T e same low-paid jobs. As for the dream of home the couple of weeks before June 8 polling Momentum and a huge army of individual Democrats were well placed to hoover up can be said of Paul Nuttall and Ukip, and ownership, it is likely to remain just that: a companies were reporting that, while members canvassing and campaigning, Tim Farron and the Liberal Democrats. dream. T ey have to stay with aged parents, the gap between the two main parties not least by Facebooking, Tweeting and However, unless they could not help it, pay exorbitant rents for tiny, of en shared, had narrowed, it was still considerable. Snapchatting, Labour did remarkably well. that was never going to be the case with flats. Sociologists insist on classifying ComRes gave the Tories a 12% lead (down 12. Nevertheless, by all accounts, the Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell. T eir them as middle class, but, of course, they from 21% when the election call was f rst Labour surge took place with the f nishing position on the EU was, and is, deliberately are no such thing. T ey are working class. made). ORB put the Tories at 44% and line already in sight. T e general election equivocal. T ey campaigned ‘remain’ in T ey have to get up in the morning and Labour 38%. On the day of the election, became really interesting only in the closing 2016 and now they say they respect the sell their labour-power. Even those who Lord Ashcrof produced estimates giving a weeks. According to Lord Ashcrof ’s post- 52%-48% ‘leave’ vote. Moreover, they want a still aspire to make it into the middle class Tory majority ranging from 52 to 96. Given election analysis, unlike the Tory vote, JuLY 1 Brexit that protects British jobs and British bitterly oppose the Tories, their austerity, past performance in by-elections and the Labour’s took some time to f rm up: 57% industries, while simultaneously making their anti-migrant national chauvinism, recent round of council elections, such decided to vote Labour in the last month, noises about reducing the f ow of labour their warmongering, their amorality f gures appeared quite likely. Labour was 26% in the “last few days” of the campaign. No.016 from abroad. A classic lef -nationalist fudge. and their worship of the market. Newly also plagued by a rightwing anti-Corbyn 13. And there has been another signif cant 5. Lord Ashcrof ’s analysis of the general qualified teachers, junior doctors and campaign that amounted to out-and-out inf ux into the party. Tens of thousands have election is revealing. Six out of 10 of those young techies alike voted Labour in huge sabotage. Labour MPs habitually briefed joined. It should be said, moreover, that 2017 who voted ‘leave’ in 2016 voted Tory this numbers. Corbyn excited them, inspired against Corbyn, staged coordinated the majority of them stand instinctively, time. Only 25% of them voted Labour. them, motivated them. resignations and regularly demanded his albeit vaguely, to the lef . T ey soaked up Meanwhile, amongst ‘remainers’ 25% 7. Ever since Jeremy Corbyn looked like resignation. Rank-and-file leftwingers Labour’s policies from the social ether voted Tory, 51% Labour and 24% Liberal he was going to win the Labour leadership were subject to vile charges of anti- … and gave them their own take. Tory Democrat. In other words, in terms of contest in 2015, certainly since the Brexit Semitism, intimidation and even assault. propaganda also had its own, altogether electoral base the Conservative Party is vote and T eresa May as prime minister, T ousands were expelled or suspended. unintended, ef ect. Corbyn was denounced solidly pro-Brexit; that of the Labour Party Marxists arrived at f ve main conclusions. While, of course, no rightwing Labour as a communist, a Marxist, a friend of LPM JuLY 1 2017 Theses

extremism, an advocate of class war. Te wage rises, attack irresponsible strikes Tories repeatedly showed old pictures of and back British capitalists against their him standing alongside Gerry Adams; foreign rivals. they repeatedly showed old pictures of him Terefore the real signifcance of For the speaking in Trafalgar Square in opposition many lies not in how lefwing it is. No, it to the Iraq war. encapsulates the political drif, the taming 14. This hugely expensive media and of Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell. advertising campaign totally backfred. Once they were lef reformists; now they Nowadays many people, especially the seem to have reconciled themselves to the young, are looking for an alternative to existing constitutional order and system capitalism. Tey no longer fear socialism. of capitalist exploitation. Obviously the Tey positively yearn for radical solutions same applies to the main writers of For … and they are looking to Jeremy Corbyn the many - reportedly Andrew Fisher, a to deliver. former darling of the LRC, and Seumas 15. The Tories attacked Corbyn for Milne, a former Straight Lefist. suggesting some causal link between 31. However - and it cannot be stressed what has happened to Muslims in the too strongly - for the ruling class, for the Middle East over the last couple of decades political, business and state establishment, and Manchester, London and other Jeremy Corbyn remains totally unacceptable recent examples of home-grown Islamic as a potential prime minister. His past terrorism. Well, there is a link. Tat is not statements on Marxism, the monarchy, to excuse the bombings, the car attacks, the Nato, nuclear weapons, the Soviet Union, stabbings. It is merely to state the obvious Iraq, Zionism, Palestine, etc, rule him out … and served to bring attention to Tory as a safe option. No wonder, as soon as cuts in police numbers in pursuit of their he was elected Labour leader, there were austerity agenda. rumours of unnamed members of the Moreover, the electorate was usefully army high command “not standing for” a reminded by the Tories that Corbyn was Corbyn government and being prepared one of the tiny minority of MPs who to take “direct action”. Prior to that, the consistently stood against the imperial normally sober Financial Times ominously interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya warned that Corbyn’s leadership damages and Syria … and the hell on earth they Britain’s “public life”. created. Not only has the ‘war on terror’ cost 32. Despite that - and again it cannot be the lives of “as many as two million people” stressed too strongly - the majority who (Physicians for Social Responsibility). Te voted Labour on June 8 did so not because conditions were created for al-Qa’eda, Ansar of what For the many actually says, but what al-Sharia, al-Nusra, Islamic State, etc. As they believe For the many says. Hence, while for Gerry Adams, British ministers now there is the strong probability that Corbyn regularly meet and greet him. Sinn Féin is Jeremy Corbyn wows Glastonbury and McDonnell will steer to the right in the integral to the constitutional arrangement attempt to secure PLP unity and victory at put in place by the 1998 Good Friday has no apparent appetite for a coalition the prospect of ending capitalism through in the German Reichstag in 1871). Te the next general election, there is also the agreement. As for being pictured alongside and is obviously relishing the prospect of a introducing socialism in one country at a working class should, as a matter of chance of transforming the Labour Party Gerry Adams - Charles Windsor, Bill decaying Conservative Party and outright time through piecemeal legislative change. elementary principle, oppose the standing into a united front of a special kind and Clinton, Nelson Mandela and Tony Blair victory in the next general election. 24. For the many accepts capitalism, army, not regret its reduced size. We are equipping it with the minimum-maximum have all posed for the world’s cameras, 19. Te fact of the matter is that Labour’s does not mention socialism, wants to for a popular militia, not weapons of mass programme of classical Marxism. smiled and duly shook hands with the For the many, not the few manifesto, is reconcile antagonistic classes. In fact, destruction. 33. It is quite possible that the Tories great peacemaker. only a tad to the lef of Ed Miliband’s 2015 for those willing to see, there are many 28. Nor are socialists purveyors of will be doing their damnedest to avoid 16. Te general election greatly diminished ofering. Britain can be better promised a tell-tale formulations in For the many the myth of Britain’s “long established another general election in the short to Teresa May. She is a shadow of her former ban on “exploitative” zero-hours contracts, designed to appease the pro-capitalist democracy”. Britain’s quasi-democracy medium term. Under these conditions our self. Her remaining time as prime minister to “freeze energy bills”, “abolish non- right in the Labour Party. No wonder afer is in historic terms recently established. main emphasis should not be demanding is surely limited. Already her trusted aides, dom status”, to “value” trade unions as the shock of June 8 one MP afer another And every democratic advance has been ‘Theresa May out’, etc. Just as David Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, have been an “essential force” in society, to “reduce has gone to TV and radio studios to sing won from below in the face of fierce Cameron was smoothly replaced by Teresa forced to fall on their swords. Leading tuition fees to £6,000” annually, invest in its praises. Te opening section of For the opposition from above. Most male workers May, the Tories will smoothly replace rivals retain their ministerial posts and health and education, put in place a national many includes the revealing statement only got the vote in 1918. Women in the Teresa May with another leader. No, our have demanded one token concession afer rail body and encourage “public-sector that Labour “will support businesses”. late 1920s. And, of course, the capitalist main emphasis must be on transforming another. Te “confdence and supply” deal operators”, build “at least” 200,000 homes, Big capital is given the assurance that a press, the media, the education system the Labour Party, defeating the right and with Arlene Foster and her Democratic “cut the defcit every year”, “replace” the Corbyn Labour government will keep normally ensures that the electorate democratising the entire labour movement Unionist Party is a recipe for weak and House of Lords with an elected “Senate of corporation tax “among the lowest of the normally votes for safe, careerist, bribable from top to bottom. unstable government. May’s allies are the Nations and Regions” and “build an major economies”. And then there is the candidates (eg, a clear majority of Labour’s 34. If a Corbyn-led Labour Party wins a sectarian, bigoted, eccentric, crazed ... and economy that works for working people”. pledge to “put small business at the centre of 262 MPs elected on June 8). Moreover, House of Commons majority and forms unreliable. Expect MPs to be transported 20. For the many promised to eliminate our industrial strategy”. We are furthermore the country is a monarchy, where the a government, we will defend it against to the Commons by ambulance. Expect the “government’s defcit on day-to-day told that Corbyn and McDonnell will set privy council, the secret service, the attacks from the Labour right, the capitalist desperate government bribes. Expect spending within five years”, “invest in a “target” for “eliminating” the deficit bureaucracy, the army high command press, the City, big business, the secret state, by-election defeats. Indeed, so slim is cutting-edge” industries and to “upgrade “within fve years”. and the judges can legally dispose of etc. However, while it would be quite right the government’s legislative majority, our economy”, bring back into “public 25. Indeed, sadly, it is worth noting that any unacceptable government. Yet For to place specifc demands on a Corbyn- so fractured are the Tories, that what ownership” the rails, establish “publicly- For the many internalises many aspects the many innocently proclaims that: led government, we need to bluntly state will happen in the Brexit negotiations is owned water companies”, no new “private of Tatcherism. Take the programme for “Democracy is founded upon the rule of that a Corbyn-led government based on extraordinarily unpredictable. prisons”, “regain” control over “energy building a million homes. Nine tenths of law and judicial independence.” A classic carrying out the For the many manifesto 17. The Brussels bureaucracy, the EU supply networks”, “review laws on trade them are projected to be private. Only a liberal formulation. And, apart from would not only be chasing an illusion - the 27 - crucially Germany and France - will union recognition”, “repeal the trade tenth council and housing association. A calling for an elected second chamber, a lef-Keynesian illusion of a fair, just, equal play hard ball. British negotiators will be union act”, “ban zero-hour contracts”, a Corbynite take on the Tory ideal of the “more federalised country” and a vague capitalism: it will be a capitalist government treated with contempt. Afer all, Teresa programme to build a “million new homes”, property-owning democracy: a cynical phrase about “inviting recommendations that, because of the exploitative inner logic May did not get the mandate she asked for. a Britain “for the many, not the few”, etc. attempt to undermine working class about extending democracy”, the existing of capitalism, will sooner rather than later She was rebufed, thwarted and punished 21. In other words, a pro-worker consciousness by getting mortgage slaves constitutional order is accepted. attack the working class. by the British electorate on June 8. True, Keynesianism that was tried, tested and to imagine themselves as little capitalists. 29. Te same goes for capitalism. For the 35. The danger is that this would the Great Repeal Bill that parallels Brexit failed in France with the 1981-83 socialist- 26. Nato membership goes unquestioned many believes that capitalism, the economic demoralise Labour’s voter and activist could be presented to parliament as a one- communist government under president and there is the boast that the last Labour system, can be managed for the beneft base, put the Labour right frmly back line motion. Politically, however, that is François Mitterrand. Having begun with government “consistently” spent above the of the many. It simply cannot be done. in control and lead to yet another, even impossible. Meanwhile the two-year clock is the mildly lefwing policies of the common 2% benchmark. Indeed it is claimed that Capitalism is a system of exploitation based more reactionary, Tory government. already ticking away. Te March 2017 vote programme, which were presented as a step the Tories are putting “Britain’s security at on the endless self-expansion of capital However, that scenario can be avoided on article 50 saw to that. Terefore, with in the direction of socialism, Mitterand risk” by “shrinking the army to its smallest and generalised wage-slavery. Individual if the lef, crucially the lef in the Labour an unprecedented mass of legislation to presided over the so-called tournant de size since the Napoleonic wars”. We are also capitalists and top managers can have their Party, commits itself, not to be a Corbyn steer through parliament, in all probability la rigueur (austerity turn) two years later. told that the “scrapping of Nimrod, HMS dividends heavily taxed and their salaries fan club, but, instead, to stand frmly on Brexit will simply grind to a halt. Tellingly, Capital went on strike, infation shot up Ark Royal and the Harrier jump-jets have capped. But capital has to expand through the principles and perspectives of working both president Emmanuel Macron and and French competiveness slumped. Te weakened our defences and cost British extracting surplus value from workers … class rule, socialism and the transition to the German fnance minister, Wolfgang fate of the Syriza government in Greece taxpayers millions”. Unlike the Labour without that capital will cease to be capital, a stateless, moneyless, classless society. Of Schaüble, have recently put on record that should also stand as a warning. 1983 manifesto, For the many commits stay as money, fnd its way abroad, etc. In course, those principles and perspectives the EU is “open” to a British change of heart. 22. Tat For the many is in fact Mitterandist Labour not to a “non-nuclear defence fact, the “creation of wealth” is not, as For have to be given solid, well defined 18. Big business frets over the uncertainty. lite did not stop the economistic lef going policy”, but renewing the Trident missile the many maintains, “a collective endeavour organisational form. Te lef needs to be Te June 23 2016 EU referendum came as into rhapsodic overdrive. Te manifesto system. Bizarrely, this is proposed in the between workers, entrepreneurs, investors reconstituted as an alternative Labour a terrible shock for the core representatives was welcomed as “a socialist platform”, “a name of fulflling Britain’s “obligations” and government”. Wealth is created not by leadership and therefore an alternative of capital. Now they have the June 8 2017 programme which would help begin the under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation so-called entrepreneurs, not by investors, government. general election. A double whammy. socialist transformation of Britain”, etc. Treaty. So building the next generation not by government. No, wealth is created 36. Under conditions of government, Note, Moody’s is already casting doubt 23. However, there was nothing socialist of SSBN submarines - together capable by workers … and nature. a thoroughly democratised Labour over Britain’s stability and its Aa1 credit about For the many. For orthodox Marxism of obliterating 172 cities - is meant to be a 30. Past Labour leaders have promised Party, a Labour Party that is open to the rating. Understandably, desperate voices socialism begins with a fundamental break step towards “a nuclear-free world”. much in opposition … but once in ofce afliation of all socialist organisations, a are being raised calling for a “national with capitalism - socialism being, the rule 27. No genuine lefwinger, no genuine they always side with the interests of Labour Party that has been remade into unity government” made up of ministers of the working class and the transition to socialist, no genuine Marxist could possibly capital … typically disguised with the a permanent united front of the working from both main parties. Of course, as the a classless, stateless, moneyless society. support For the many. Our motto remains: coded phrase, used by For the many, of class, would deselect en masse wayward Financial Times readily admits, in the But For the many does not even adhere to “For this system, not one man, not one putting the “national interest frst”. And MPs, including a wayward Labour prime “real world” it will not happen. Corbyn a reformist socialism … which holds out penny” (Wilhelm Liebknecht speaking in the “national interest” they keep down minister l 2 LPM july 1 2017 AIMS and Programme Principles

1. The central aim of Labour Party Marxists is to transform the Labour Party into an instrument for working class advance and international social- ism. Towards that end we will join with Ten-point action programme others and seek the closest unity of the left inside and outside the party. 2. Capitalism is synonymous with Even with a bad general election result there is good reason to believe that Corbyn would have seen war, pollution, waste and production for its own sake. Attempts to rescue the of another leadership challenge. Obviously, with June 8, Corbyn’s position has become considerably system through Keynesian remedies are diversionary and doomed to fail. stronger. However, while there is every reason to defend Corbyn against the right, we must go The democratic and social gains of far beyond that. Our goal is socialism and towards that end we must put in place and fashion the the working class must be tenaciously defended, but capitalism must be organisational means. That is why LPM advocates this 10-point platform. superseded by socialism. 3. The only viable alternative is organ- Fight for Labour Party rule changes. the “political neutrality” of civil servants. ising the working class into powerful Crucially, all elected Labour Te Civil and Public Services Association - and thoroughly democratic trade unions, representatives must be subject predecessor of PCS - reafliated to the TUC co-ops, and other schools for socialism, to mandatory reselection based in 1946. Now, however, surely it is time for and crucially into a political party which 1. aims to replace the rule of the capitalist on ‘one member, one vote’. MPs must be the PCS to reafliate to the Labour Party. brought under democratic control - from Force another change in the law. class with the rule of the working class. above, by the NEC; from below, by the CLPs. 6. Every constituency, ward and other 4. The fght for trade union freedom, Mandatory reselection, of course, terrifes such basic unit must be won and rebuilt by anti-fascism, women’s rights, sexual the right. It was this, “even more than the lef. Our individual membership grew freedom, republican democracy and nuclear disarmament and membership of from 200,000 in May 2015 to over 500,000 opposition to all imperialist wars are the European Community, that became the because of the historic opening provided inextricably linked to working class main catalyst for the launch of the breakaway by Corbyn. And with the general election political independence and the fght Social Democratic Party”. Progress, the campaign membership has again risen by for socialism. rightwing party within the party, furiously many thousands. A million members is denounces mandatory reselection as “a within our grasp. However, the lef must 5. Ideas of reclaiming the Labour Party and the return of the old clause weapon of fear and intimidation”. Yes, convince the sea of new members to attend four are totally misplaced. From the mandatory reselection is viewed as an meetings ... only then can we sweep out the beginning the party has been dominated afront by every wrecker, every hireling, right from the NEC, the HQ, the councils by the labour bureaucracy and the every parliamentary careerist. and the PLP. Elect ofcers who support ideas of reformism. The party must be It is worth revisiting the background. genuine socialism. Elect ofcers who are refounded on the basis of a genuinely Interestingly, and with good reason, we read, committed to transforming our wards socialist programme as opposed to social on the Progress website, that mandatory and constituencies into vibrant centres of democratic gradualism or bureaucratic reselection carries “echoes of the Paris socialist organisation, education and action. statism. Commune, and of the Russian soviets, 7. Our goal should be to transform the where delegates were subject to recall if they Labour Party, so that, in the words of Keir 6. The aim of the party should not displeased their local citizenry. It rests on Hardie, it can “organise the working class into be a Labour government for its own sake. History shows that Labour the idea that leaders will always be tempted a great, independent political power to fght governments committed to managing to sell you out, once they get power.” Well, for the coming of socialism”. Towards that end the capitalist system and loyal to the surely, that is what history actually shows. we need rule changes to once again permit existing constitutional order create For decades, sitting Labour MPs - lef, communist and revolutionary parties to disillusionment in the working class. certainly those in safe seats - enjoyed a afliate. Tat is what we mean by a united job for life (as long as no better ofer came front of a special kind. As long as they do not 7. Labour should only consider forming along). Tey might visit their constituency stand against us in elections, this can only a government when it has the active once or twice a year, deliver a speech to the but strengthen us as a federal party. Today support of a clear majority of the AGM and write an occasional letter to the afliated organisations include the Fabians, population and has a realistic pros- local newspaper. Meanwhile they lived a Christians on the Left, the Cooperative pect of implementing a full socialist pampered, middle class life, frequented Party … the Jewish Labour Movement and programme. This cannot be achieved various London’s gentlemen’s clubs and Labour Business. Allow the Socialist Workers in Britain in isolation from Europe and the rest of the world. spent their weekends in the home counties Party, Socialist Party in England and Wales, countryside with Lord this and Lady that. CPGB, the Morning Star’s Communist Party 8. Socialism is the rule of the working Despite such evident moral corruption, of Britain, etc, to join our ranks. class over the global economy created they were automatically the candidate for 8. Being an MP ought to be an honour, by capitalism and as such is antithetical the next election. Unless found guilty of an Charlton Heston in ‘Ten commandments’ . Our demands not a career ladder, not a way for university to all forms of British nationalism. act of gross indecency or had the party whip are from below graduates to secure a lucrative living. A Demands for a British road to socialism withdrawn, they could do as they pleased. particularly potent weapon here is the and a withdrawal from the European With the insurgent rise of Bennism college for the selection and reselection inertia imposed on Momentum has proved demand that all our elected representatives Union are therefore to be opposed. that situation was increasingly called into of candidates was introduced. Ordinary to be an own goal. Eg, Jon Lansman blocked should take only the average wage of a skilled 9. Political principles and organisa- question. Te Campaign for Labour Party members were given a direct vote for the all Momentum attempts to oppose the worker - a principle upheld by the Paris tional forms go hand-in-hand. The Democracy, founded in 1973, committed frst time, leaving GMCs with the right to ‘anti-Zionism equals anti-Semitism’ smears; Commune and the Bolshevik revolution. Our Labour Party must become the umbrella itself to a range of internal reforms - crucially nominate and shortlist only. Tis electoral nor did he allow Momentum to fight MPs are on a basic £67,060 annual salary. organisation for all trade unions, mandatory reselection of MPs, which was college system gave unions and afliated the 2016 purge of lefwing supporters of On top of that they get around £12,000 in socialist groups and pro-working class fnally agreed by the 1980 conference. What organisations up to 40% of the vote, with Corbyn. It is now impossible to transform expenses and allowances, putting them on partisans. Hence all the undemocratic this saw, however, was not a Labour Party ordinary members having some 60% (the Momentum into a democratic organisation £79,060 (yet at present Labour MPs are only bans and proscriptions must be done equivalent of the Paris Commune or the actual balance was diferent in each seat, - an organisation that can educate, activate obliged to pay the £82 parliamentarians’ away with. Russian soviets - there was no right of instant depending on party and union membership). and empower the rank-and-fle membership. subscription rate). Moreover, as leader of 10. The fght to democratise the Labour recall. Nevertheless, once in each parliament, Trigger ballots were a product of the So there is an urgent need for the lef to the ofcial opposition, Jeremy Corbyn not Party cannot be separated from the fght our MPs had to get the endorsement of their 1990s. Formally honouring conference’s organise within Momentum branches where only gets his MP’s salary. He is entitled to to democratise the trade unions. Trade local general management committee. Note, “desire to maintain reselection”, they made they still exist ... but, also, go far beyond that an additional £73,617. union votes at Labour Party conferences GMCs were made up of delegates elected by it signifcantly “easier for MPs to defend by expanding the infuence and organised Let them keep the average skilled should be cast not by general secretaries local party and trade union branches. Tey their positions”. Trigger ballots allowed strength of Labour Party Marxists. worker’s wage - say £40,000 (plus legitimate but proportionately according to the were sizable bodies, typically consisting of for a sitting MP to be subject to a full-scale 5. Winning new trade union afliates ought expenses). Ten, however, they should hand political balance in each delegation. 100 or even more delegates. ballot of the membership. But only if they to be a top priority. Te FBU reafliated. the balance over to the party. Jeremy Corbyn, At the prompting of the bourgeois media lost the trigger ballot. Excellent. Matt Wrack at last came to his John McDonnell and Diane Abbott ought 11. All trade unions should be encour- and desperately seeking acceptability, Neil 2. We need a sovereign conference once senses. He took the lead in reversing the to take the lead in this. aged to affliate, all members of the Kinnock sought to extract trade unions from again. Te cumbersome, undemocratic and disafliation policy. But what about RMT? 9. We must establish our own press, radio trade unions encouraged to pay the political levy and join the Labour Party the voting process altogether. He failed, but oppressive structures, especially those put Especially afer June 8 we can surely get RMT and TV. To state the obvious, texting, Twitter as individual members. accepted a compromise. A local electoral in place under the Blair supremacy, must militants to fnally drop their support for the and Facebook, etc have severe limits. Tey be rolled back. Te joint policy committee, thoroughly misconceived Trade Unionist are brilliant mediums for transmitting 12. The party must be reorganised from the national policy forums, etc, must go. and Socialist Coalition project. Not only simple, short and sharp messages. But, top to bottom. Bring the Parliamentary 3. Scrap the hated compliance unit “and vote Labour, but reafliate to Labour … when it comes to complex ideas, debating Labour Party under democratic control. london communist forum get back to the situation where people are and exert real infuence. And what about history and charting political strategies, The position of Labour leader should automatically accepted for membership, the NUT? Tis year’s Cardif conference they are worse than useless. be abolished along with the national unless there is a signifcant issue that comes saw the executive win an amendment by 10. Programmatically, we should adopt a policy forum. The NEC should be Sundays, 5pm: Weekly political up” (John McDonnell). Te compliance unit the narrowest (50.63% to 49.37%) majority, new clause four. Not a return to the old, 1918, unambiguously responsible for drafting meeting and study group operates in the murky shadows, it violates which efectively ruled out afliation. Tis version, but a commitment to working class Labour Party manifestos. organised jointly by Labour natural justice, it routinely leaks to the can surely be changed … if we campaign to rule and a society which aims for a stateless, 13. The NEC should be elected and Party Marxists and CPGB. capitalist media. We say, allow in those good win hearts and minds. Ten there is PCS. classless, moneyless society, which embodies accountable to the annual conference, Details in Weekly Worker. socialists who have been barred, reinstate Tankfully, Mark Serwotka, its lefwing the principle, “From each according to their which must be the supreme body in the those good socialists who have been expelled general secretary, has at last come round to abilities, to each according to their needs”. party. Instead of a tame rally there must Venue: or suspended. the idea. True, PCS afliation to the Labour Tat is what socialism is all about. Not a be democratic debate and binding votes. 4. Momentum proved to be an efective Party will run up against the Trades Disputes measly £10 per hour “living wage”, shifing Te Calthorpe Arms, 14. Our elected representatives must 252 Grays Inn Road, campaigning organisation. An alternative and Trade Union Act (1927), introduced by the tax balance and a state investment be recallable by the constituency or election machine for Corbyn and McDonnell a vengeful Tory government in the afermath bank. No, re-establishing socialism in the London WC1X 8JR other body that selected them. That to wield, given the sabotage, bias and limited of the general strike. Civil service unions mainstream of politics means committing includes MPs, MEPs, MSPs, AMs, imagination of Iain McNicol and the Victoria were barred from afliating to the Labour the Labour Party to achieving a “democratic councillors, etc. Without exception Street HQ. But politically the stultifying Party and the TUC in the name of ensuring republic” l elected representatives should take only the average wage of a skilled worker, the balance being donated to furthering 3 the interests of the labour movement l LPM juLY 1 2017 Sheffeld Hallam Parallel campaign delivers win One of the biggest upsets of the election took place in Shefeld Hallam, where a pro-Corbyn candidate defeated the former deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg. Carla Roberts reports

hefeld Hallam is one of the richest fees, their responsibility for austerity - as constituencies in the country well as their role in privatising a lot of and had never previously been services across Shefeld, when they were Sin Labour hands.1 Yet on June the largest party in the local council. 8 Labour’s Jared O’Mara, a member of Luckily, most people ignored the ‘advice’ Momentum, defeated former Liberal of the agent to stick to the script and lef Democrat leader Nick Clegg. the training session enthused and equipped Oddly enough, it was also an upset with some useful ‘persuasion techniques’. for the regional Labour Party too. Te Te video is now online.5 campaign was underfunded, understafed Afer that, the lef continued to organise, and would not have got of the ground mainly via email and Facebook (all Labour without the help of local Momentum Party meetings were, of course, suspended). supporters. No cash was allocated from the It took some efort to convince other lefies regional party ofce for Hallam’s campaign, from across Shefeld to come to Hallam. and so the entire £4,000 spent (compared to Incredibly, many of them had followed the maximum of £12,000 per constituency) the Labour HQ instructions and went to was raised locally. Tis leaves Hallam rather campaign for Angela Smith. But many short fnancially, especially when it comes eventually joined us in Hallam and on to sending delegates to annual conference polling day more than 200 people crammed in September. into the campaign headquarters. Was this just the result of the defensive Tere was an incredible buzz on June campaign run by the Labour HQ - an 8. Campaigners drove around Hallam in a efort to protect Labour seats rather than decorated car with a megaphone, playing take the fght to the Tories? Tat is what ‘Liar, liar’ and ‘Te magic money tree’, and is being argued now. But Te Skwawkbox calling on people to vote Labour. Groups reports similar underfunding problems in of teenagers waved back and shouted ‘Vote other parts of the country2 - including in Labour!’, while passing drivers raised their areas with marginal Labour seats held by fsts in support. Campaigners started to lefwingers, such as Wirral West. believe they could actually win the seat - But how come any lefwingers were although it still came as a shock to many chosen to contest in this election in the when the result came through. Te story first place? We know that candidates goes that Jared was so convinced he would were selected in backroom deals between come second that he had to shoot of in Corbyn’s people and the national executive. the middle of a night to a nearby 24-hour But the allocation of funds, resources Tesco to buy himself a new suit for his and manpower is organised via regional acceptance speech! Alas, we can reveal that Labour Parties - ie, full-timers appointed this is not true: he was wearing his dad’s by general secretary Iain McNicol and co. jacket and a black pair of jeans. It seems to us that what happened Despite our well-known criticism of in Hallam has indeed been part of an the Lansman coup in Momentum,6 I have organised, Britain-wide attempt by Labour to admit that Momentum nationally was HQ to undermine Jeremy Corbyn, prop most helpful. Once they were informed by up the vote of rightwing MPs - and accept local members that Hallam was indeed a that marginal seats with lefwing candidates marginal seat - and one contested by a pro- would be lost. If that is indeed the case - and Corbyn candidate - they really pushed for the evidence is mounting up - then heads Momentum supporters across the area to must now roll: McNicol must go. come out and help (and surprisingly went Shefeld Hallam was not identifed as against the instructions of the local Labour a marginal that would be worth fghting Party). Local Momentum supporters from for. Te regional Labour Party - no doubt across Shefeld report receiving several under instruction from Labour HQ - had phone calls and text messages urging them decided that all fre should be concentrated to get involved. on supporting the rightwing Progress In that sense, Jared O’Mara really is supporter, Angela Smith (who has called Momentum’s frst MP. Can you imagine for Corbyn’s resignation many times and what kind of impact an organisation like will undoubtedly do so again3), in Penistone Momentum could make it if it were a and Stocksbridge constituency to the north democratic, members-led campaign? But of the city, and directed volunteers from I am not sure Momentum is up for doing across the other fve Shefeld constituencies what is now necessary: helping to get rid to that area. Hallam was efectively written of the saboteurs in the Labour Party - and of, despite the fact that in 2015 Nick Clegg not just in Shefeld Hallam l only won the seat with a margin of just over 2,500 votes. Notes Jared O’Mara has a very low profle, to 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shefeld_Hallam_ 4 put it mildly. He is a disability campaigner (UK_Parliament_constituency). with cerebral palsy, has run twice - 2. https://skwawkbox.org/2017/06/12/proof-labour- unsuccessfully - for the local council and is hq-funnelled-resources-away-from-pro-corbyn- treasurer of the small Shefeld City Labour marginals. Party branch. In efect he was regarded as 3. www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtVoeTOAp2U. Nick Clegg: humiliated 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_O%27Mara. a mere paper candidate. 5. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpOfgUIzjxg&t=180s. But, once local Momentum members frst got together with Jared to take some did most of those things anyway and some try and convince them to vote for Labour. 6. http://labourpartymarxists.org.uk/yes-to-a- and others on the Labour lef heard that a photographs of him, plan the campaign were eventually adopted by the campaign. Tat sounds like an obvious thing to do, momentum-opposition-no-to-a-split. fellow Corbyn supporter had been selected and discuss how to make it as vibrant as The left really started to get its act but the ofcial election agent - who came as the candidate, they pulled out all the possible. It was Momentum members together at a crucial CLP campaign meeting along for a Q&A and to hand out material stops to make it a successful campaign. It who drove Jared to leafleting sessions a week afer the election was called. Over a for the first canvassing session of the was an uphill struggle against the Labour and events, because his ofcial agent was hundred people turned up and it became campaign - insisted that “everybody has to Your financial support is needed - bureaucracy: for days afer the election hardly ever around. clear that a majority was not happy with stick to the script”. Of course, the so-called please pay into the lpm bank account: was called there were no leafets, no web At times, almost a parallel campaign the ofcial mantra being put out by most national “script” consists of nothing more sort code 30-96-26; account number: 22097060 presence and hardly any ofcial support for had to be organised, bypassing official of the local leadership that ‘Hallam could than asking people on the doorstep which the campaign. Residents in Hallam were Labour structures. Sometimes it felt as not be won’. Momentum supporters and party they will vote for and which one they bombarded with one glossy, pre-produced though the bureaucracy was hell-bent on other lefwingers in the meeting disagreed voted for last time. Tis is called ‘voter ID’ OR SEND CHEQUES PAYABLE TO ‘LPM’ Lib Dem leafet afer the other, while the sabotaging things. Right until the end, and encouraged others to at least try and - a hangover from the Blair years which LPM, BCM BOX 8932, LONDON WC1N 3XX. scrufy black and white numbers produced even volunteers from Hallam itself were run a campaign to win the seat. needs to be got rid of. for Jared looked like something the cat encouraged to campaign for Angela Smith. The ball really got rolling when Clearly, if you want to build a real had dragged in. Large areas of Hallam Campaigners were told not to drive around Momentum organised a canvassing training party of the working class, then speaking OR CONTACT US VIA EMAIL: were entirely lef out of the ‘campaign with a megaphone, not to produce specifc session in Hallam at the beginning of May to people is a pretty basic necessity. [email protected] plan’ and no efort was made to leafet or leafets to hand out outside schools and not with a campaigner from Bernie Sanders’ Momentum’s fact sheet provided people canvass there. to organise any public meetings or even a team. For three hours the importance of with arguments to take on the Liberal It was Momentum members who fundraising event. But lefwingers in Hallam actually talking to people was discussed, to Democrats over their U-turn on tuition 4