Councillors form left group as rallying point and sign-post
A group of Labour councillors has formed a new group – on similar lines to the Socialist Campaign Group among Labour MPs – to help build Labour as a grassroots, local movement and to rebuild trust among communities.
The Socialist Campaign Group of Labour Councillors (SCGLC) website states that its aims are to:
- Build on our proud socialist traditions in local government, whilst organising and agitating for new alternatives to failing capitalism.
- Secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service.
- Demand and continue to fight for the democratisation of politics and the economy, including campaigning for Open Selection for elected representatives at all levels of the Labour Party.
- Support the work of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs, trade unions and the wider socialist movement, acting as a conduit for socialist values in local government.
- Mobilise the energy of the multi-generational, multi-racial, class-based movement – brought into the Labour Party by Jeremy Corbyn’s socialist leadership – to effect real political change and achieve socialism in our lifetime.
The group is encouraging all Labour councillors who agree with its aims to sign up to receive more information – and has already written to the Labour councillors who co-signed a public statement of support for Richard Burgon’s campaign to be deputy leader, to invite them to join.
SCGLC is also asking Labour Party members, who know councillors who might be interested, to direct them to the website.
Founder member and Brent Councillor Jumbo Chan said:
A few of us decided to draw from our experience of coming together [to support Richard Burgon’s campaign], and set up a new Socialist Campaign Group of Labour Councillors.
The coronavirus crisis has cast a spotlight on capitalism’s in-built tendency to degrade human dignity to protect profit. We aim to offer socialist solutions to those innate problems.
The group is independent of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs, but hopes to work with them and others from the socialist movement.
The SKWAWKBOX needs your support. This blog is provided free of charge but depends on the generosity of its readers to be viable. If you can afford to, please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here for a monthly donation via GoCardless. Thanks for your solidarity so this blog can keep bringing you information the Establishment would prefer you not to know about.
If you wish to reblog this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
A wonderful parting-gift to the wonderful man who has been our leader for four and a half years. Thank you Jeremy
1000% agree , Jeremy the best imo Leader Labour has ever had, a real Socialist which is what our Party is about . He saved a Party from Blairs neoliberal death grip and turned a dead and irrelevant Party round to becoming more representative of the working class roots once again.
A brave and caring/compassionate man exemplified in his resilience to the LOFI/JLM’s many many false attacks of AS against him along with the vile MSM /Tories .He showed great compassion and care for others .
But for the deliberate sabotage by McNicol and the Tory Labour MPs in 2017 we would have now had a Labour Govt doing a far better job under Corbyn.
Many MPs , ( that’s you Streeting /Phillips/Hodge/ex Smeeth, etc etc )in our present PLP are not fit to lick the dirt from his shoes.
A good initiative by those socialist Councillors to help to counter the coming Red Tories under Starmer ( if he wins ) push to turn back our Party to irrelevance once again.
A heart felt THANK YOU Jeremy for all your efforts despite the RW PLP.
This will send a strong message to the usual suspects. Can we support this group in any way?
After five years of hate, tributes for Jeremy
Corbyn on his last day as Labour leader
For those of us who supported his leadership from the moment he declared his candidacy, the praise Jeremy Corbyn has received for his time as Labour Party leader is nothing more than he was due.
He took a floundering political party that had badly lost its way after being hijacked by right-wing neoliberals and steered it back to its socialist roots.
It was exactly the right thing to do, triggering a massive membership boost that made Corbyn’s Labour the largest political organisation in western Europe.
https://voxpoliticalonline.com/2020/04/04/after-five-years-of-hate-tributes-for-jeremy-corbyn-on-his-last-day-as-labour-leader/
The man of peace
The man a lot of men need to be more like
A better man than me
‘Your a fucking anti semite and a racist’
‘I’m sorry you feel that way’
He would have made a great Prime Minister and the world would have been a better place for it
So very very true Doug
Peter Oborne wrote a great piece in the Middle East monitor which explains how Jeremy Corbyn has changed the face of U.K. politics. It’s very noticeable that not only the Tories/ Tory lite Liberals but also their fellow right wing travellers amongst the rag bag of malcontents within the Democratic Socialist Labour Party have changed their tune from the market knows best ideological mantras that the long suffering people have had to endure. Even Starmer, the chosen one for the MSM, State Broadcaster and his international financial handlers for the mantle of leadership has refrained from preaching openly the Neo Liberal doctrine. The legacy of Jeremy Corbyn will live on despite the best efforts of the shysters such has Watson, Kinnock, Mann, Blair, Brown and above most of his former new best friends! As Jeremy Corbyn said “ we won the argument “!
Interesting that this most penetrating tribute to Corbyn comes from a historical Tory (although I sense his politics have moved away from that Party).
Oborne highlights – by exception – what proper journalism is about. He is the one who originally called out the Israel Lobby in the MSM.
RH, and the Israel Loobby is at the crux of Corbyn’s failure. He attracted more Socialist members to the Party than ever before but failed to support them by not facing up to the Zionists in the PLP and the ‘management’.
I’m not sure it was *the* crux, Jack – more part of a wider propaganda campaign against Corbyn. The main issue on the doorstep, as you know, tended to be a rehearsal of all the general SunMail (not forgetting the Groan and others) distortions about Corbyn.
And, undeniably – it did work.
On top of this, the Tories have now benefitted from the Corvid-9 panic, and are currently at over 50% in the polls, so whatever you think of Starmer (and I didn’t vote for him), there is a job to be done, because nothing else is on offer.
– the Tories have now benefitted from the Corvid-9 panic, and are currently at over 50% in the polls –
For someone who puts so much store in the efficacy of data and statistics I’m surprised that you accept so readily the result of an opinion poll run by YouGov.
While they might be a member of the British Polling Council, that doesn’t mean their methodology doesn’t contain sampling bias, especially if they want to produce a certain result.
As you should well know opinion polls are often designed to influence public opinion rather than reflect it, and YouGov are, after all, an organisation founded and run by Tory members and supporters.
Compare that poll with Ipsos Mori’s on the government’s handling of the present crisis, where 56% said they thought social distancing was imposed too late.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-uk-boris-johnson-lockdown-positive-tests-cases-latest-a9442561.html
Something doesn’t quite add up here, methinks.
Just for the record, practically all the polls since the GE have had the Tories 15 to 26 points ahead of Labour:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election
A very decisive win for Keir Starmer.
I’m sure the democrats here will recognise it as an overwhelming and indisputable (as opposed to marginal minority) mandate.
Someone’s got a new-found ‘respect for democracy’ I see…
Sickening hypocrisy at it’s worst.
Cast a fly and catch a bunch of sour grapes.
(If you can’t tell the difference – you can’t count.)
LP membership demographic revealed. Rayner the perfect deputy for an establishment tool like Starmer. Cooper will no doubt be a front bencher again soon… urgh.
I am sorry for LP members who still hope LP will be a vehicle for real positive change for the many.
Maria – I suspect that Yvette Cooper will remain in post as Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee. It’s a post that carries a lot of influence.
You may well be correct SteveH. To be frank I didn’t know she was in that post… I avoid her as much as possible.
“LP membership demographic revealed.”
It is what it is – the main distinguishing feature being that it is a mixed section of the population that politically put their money where their mouth is.
I would guess that a lot of the Starmer vote came not from enthusiasts, but simply from those who reckoned that the alternatives in this unconvincing field were simply not up to it by any stretch of the imagination.
RH – You may well be right but what does that say about the judgement of ‘the left’ in choosing their candidates RLB & RB.
RLB got less than half the votes that KS attracted and Richard came third behind Rosena.
The problem is defining ‘the left’. A number who self-identify as such have tended to back certain key Tory policies. Their main distinguishing feature is that they hate everyone who doesn’t.
It’s now a holding operation until another socialist emerges in the PLP
In meantime my CLP have aligned themselves with JVL,
Every survey tells us we won the economic arguments, Covid 19 lays bare what is required in this country, not least to face the next pandemic
Dont let those who have laid down their lives on the frontline be betrayed by red Tories
All bets are off if he brings Luciana Berger and other Cockwombles back into party
Doug – “All bets are off if he brings Luciana Berger and other Cockwombles back into party
BUT wasn’t it RLB who after declaring herself to be a Zionist at the JLM Hustings then clearly stated that she would welcome both Luciana Berger and Louise Ellman back into the Labour Party. I wonder if it was Lansman who convinced her that would be a good idea or did she think it up all by herself.
But wasn’t it you and the other two gobshites plus your precious 70% not even scolding starmer on his undemocratic bulldozing of the broken promise to respect the referendum result that repulsed life-long labour voters in their hundreds of thousands (if not millions) which led to Corbyn’s position becoming untenable, in the first fucking place?
I’ll think you’ll find it was.
So let’s not hear another critical peep about starmer from you, laddie.
Media whore and toff wannabe, jess ‘it’s all about MEEEE’ philips will be probably be promoted to the shadow cabinet. So will stella greasy, along with plenty of other undesirables.
And don’t be surprised to find umunna shoehorned in somewhere, fairly soon.
Mission accomplished. Well in.
Doug – You’re right about the likes of Luciana Berger and others who allied themselves with far right fictions of the the Israel Lobby rather than with the Labour Party.
… and it would be good to see more CLPs backing JVL – a true voice of intelligence and sanity.
On the Covid-19 panic – it’s fairly predictably working in the Tories’ favour at present, and only time will establish the longer term consequences. Frightened populations tend to go along with their ‘masters’ – which is why fear is a potent political weapon with a long pedigree.
On the economic policy issues – it depends what you mean by ‘won’. True – separate out the individual policies , and you will see considerable polling support. But put them together in a package, and you get a different reaction.
There is going to be a slow plod to drive home issues like the dire nature of current disciplinary measures and the falsity of the ‘antisemitism’ scam.
It’s noticeable that the Brexit Village Band are still clinging to their only tune about the referendum idea as an excuse for defeat, and the ‘betrayal’ of swathes of Tory supporters.
Peace and Reconciliation
How about bringing back our lads and lasses
Now that would be a sign of unfeasibley large testicles from Keir
What % did Corbyn win by … twice .. do remind me .
Go ahead and crow if you like SH, now the responsibility rests on your shoulders and of those who voted for this establishment lackey . Sir Starmer ,it sticks in the craw a Knight of the realm at the head of the Labour party , the Tories must be PISSING themselves laughing at you .
STill don’t know who his Financiers are and we never will , it’ll just be the very subtle changes in policy that supports his masters and not the many.
A great loss to the real Socialists in the party . We await the RW purges to come .
Rob – First of all your claim about never finding out about Starmer’s financial backers is self evidently false. All the candidates have a legal duty to register their donations with the Parliamentary Standards Committee.
Corbyn managed to secure 49.6% of the membership’s vote in 2015 and Starmer secured 56.07% of the members’ votes in this election.
I don’t have any faith in elections since December. I’m sure the ever-faithful Ms Kuenssberg could have told us this result last week.
Perhaps one of the most significant results was Richard Burgon coming third in the Deputy Leadership Election, behind Rosena ALLIN-KHAN.
For me it is just further confirmation of the true make up of LP membership.
Maria – It is more or less the same electorate that twice voted JC into office.
SteveH,
Exactly my point!
Though I must mention the intimidation campaign waged on members by the ejection of vocal members supporting Corbyn and many of his long held views in the witch hunt. I wonder how many of those intimidated are among the non voters in the leader/deputy elections?
Majority of LP members seem to blow with the wind and hope for some windfalls. There don’t appear to be any red lines left… all are elastic now so long as the content of messaging is vague enough to cover most bases but sounds like fighting talk (however meaningless), it’s a winner.
Maria – Time will tell, we will get some interesting pointers as to the future direction tomorrow when Keir starts to announce his shadow cabinet. We should all bare in mind that Jeremy’s first shadow cabinet was a very inclusive one that encompassed all sections of the party.
SteveH,
“Time will tell, we will get some interesting pointers as to the future direction tomorrow when Keir starts to announce his shadow cabinet.”
Another blimey, that’s quick and on a Sunday as well. It will be interesting indeed. I’m already wondering when/how soon reshuffle 1 might come. I expect that might depend on how inclusive his initial shadow cabinet is.
I wonder…
Who’s here to praise Caesar; and who’s here to bury him. 🤔
Hang your miserable heads in shame. You KNOW who YOU are.
I think we both know from observing the comments over time who JCs fair weather friends and supporters are. Watch the likes of Nathan Yeowell, Leader of the Party within a party, Gurvinder Singh Josan, Luke Akehurst, Labour First, Stella Creasy, the Kinnocks, Brown, Blair and all of Starmers hidden transnational financial handlers rubbing their hands with glee.
Labour’s now a complete waste of energy.
Let the Tories have their one party state.
Maybe then we can have the revolution that wipes capitalism and capitalists from the face of the planet.
Broad church be fucked.
I feel totally heart-broken, really have to think very hard on how to proceed. I do not trust Starmer and CO.
David Niven, I agree with you, but what are we doing until then in the meantime?
Below is a full copy of the letter that Keir Starmer has sent to all the members of the PLP
Dear colleague,
It is the honour and the privilege of my life to be elected as leader of the Labour Party. It comes at a moment like none other in our lifetime.
Coronavirus has brought normal life to a halt. We’re reminded how precious life is, but also how fragile. It reminds us of what really matters, our family, our friends and the communities we serve.
We need to pull together like never before. Every Labour MP has a vital role to play in gaining the trust of voters throughout the country as we navigate our way through this crisis and beyond. I would like to pay tribute to Rebecca and Lisa for the way that they led their campaigns and for their warm camaraderie throughout.
I am delighted that Angela Rayner has been elected Deputy Leader and am looking forward to working closely with her in the coming years. I would like to congratulate all the candidates for Deputy Leader on their campaigns. Dawn, Ian, Richard and Rosena know it’s tough, relentless work on the campaign trail and they should all be proud of the campaigns they led.
Because we can’t be together in person for a while, I have agreed with John, Chair of the PLP, that we should meet via Zoom as soon as possible.
We have to face the future with honesty and candour. The truth is that antisemitism has been a stain on our party. I have seen the grief that it’s brought to so many Jewish communities. That is why I used my first words as Leader to apologise to the Jewish community. It will take time to rebuild trust but with your support we can do it.
We’ve just lost four elections in a row, so be in no doubt that I understand the scale of the task we face. We’ve got a mountain to climb but if we pull together across our movement we can do it.
As members of Parliament you have a central role to playing that mission. We must lead by example, showing our party, our movement and our country that we are united. We will have disagreements, but we must not let those divide us any longer. It is incumbent upon all of us to ensure we conduct our politics in a cordial, courteous and professional manner. My campaign centred on unity and it’s vital that we sustain that message. As leaders in your local parties and on the national stage you have a crucial role to play in showing our members and supporters that the party can unite in order to win.
I know that you are facing unprecedented demands for help from your constituents in this extremely challenging time. You have stepped up magnificently to support your constituents in a way that often goes unnoticed. I know how hard you’re working and want to thank you for everything you’re doing.
I will lead this great party in a new era, with confidence and hope. So that when the tie comes, we can all serve our country again in government.
Yours sincerely,
Keir Starmer MP
Leader of the Labour Party