Vital that left unites behind strong slate – and stays in party to vote
Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) has agreed a timetable for the election of its member representatives, which was postponed from its summer schedule because of the pandemic.
The loss of key votes during yesterday’s NEC meeting by a single vote shows the damage being done by the divided slate for three by-election slots earlier this year, which allowed right-wingers to take them.
Nominations for the elections will open 11 July and the results will be announced in November. A full schedule will be added here shortly.
It’s absolutely essential that the left unites behind a set of candidates to prevent further anti-democratic moves by the now right-dominated NEC, which has disenfranchised members by ignoring the party’s obligation to put rule changes to a vote by Labour’s annual conference.
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In other good news Forward Momentum candidates have swept to victory by winning all member representative seats in Momentum internal elections that mark the exit of co-founder Jon Lansman.
I welcome the decisive vote of 19 to 12 in favour of a switch from FPTP to STV for the election of the NEC’S CLP section that took place at yesterdays meeting.
As you know, some believe that the switch from FPTP to STV is not entirely good. On balance, I believe it to be an improvement, but one that necessitates strategic and tactical discipline by those voters supporting a particular slate and also the interests seeking to promote them.
So, yes, the left will better be able to benefit from the change than its opponents and detractors, the divide-and-conquer brain dead centrists, who only seem to succeed when manipulation and subterfuge (usually with MSM assistance) are possible.
Can I declare my ignorance here, why is STV less democratic in these elections
The quicker we agree our slate and recruit new members to back it, I cant see how the right wing can stitch us up
Dont forget Unite and GMB elections, same rules apply
Organise and Coordinate
It’s not less democratic Doug, it’s less prone to manipulation.
Our opponents believe that lefties only win arguments and votes by manipulation, whereas in fact socialism and democracy are indivisible and symbiotic.
Most of the genuine Leftwingers I know have destroyed their membership cards in disgust at Starmer – looking forward to finding out how many have left the Party or become Lapsed members, but it’s gonna be a lot. If the LP want’s leaflet posters they can bloody well pay for them or get the Rightist scum Blairites to do it.
Christopher – “Most of the genuine Leftwingers I know have destroyed their membership cards in disgust”
Are we to take it then that the self appointed guardians of ‘the left’ are relatively few in number because they don’t seem to have had much impact on the membership numbers. It was reported back in January that the Labour Party had gained approx 100,000 new members in the period immediately following the 2019 GE and it has just been reported that the membership currently stands at approx 580,000.
The Jan statement of growth in party membership applied to the mid-Nov numbers. Any departure by leftist members would not have occurred before Sir Nicely was elected.
Also, I hope the prospect of electing a trilateral-invitee as Labour Party leader attracted at least a hundreds thousand or two new members.
qwertboi – On the contrary the multiple news reports I read specifically referred to the 100,000+ increase in membership taking place after Jeremy announced that he would be standing down.
When I cancelled my standing order I sent a strongly worded email to Labour giving my reasons for leaving.
For months after that I got a stream of emails telling me my membership wouldn’t lapse if I’d resume my contributions soon, so I believe I was counted as a member for all that time.
Would it have been beyond the reach of the Bliarites to under-report the ‘Corbyn surge’ back then and inflate the membership numbers since he quit?
Given that key right wing staffers had the ability to throw two General Elections I imagine manipulating the published membership numbers would be relatively trivial.
Starmer’s probably getting Theresa May to advise him on making election speeches to specially selected (preferably paying) audiences.
Starmer’s current ‘virtual visit campaign’ seems to be running quite successfully without TM’s help.
Paying for them is central to the strategy: the point is to commercialise everything. And, in doing so, to undermine the claim that the leadership owes the membership anything. It is a plebisitary principle-the members are clients, dependent on the PLP and the bureaucracy.
The left needs to understand that democracy means just that-not rule for the people but rule by the people. All full time positions-from MP down- should be salaried at the average wage. All elected representatives should be monitored by elected control committees, and all mandates should require, automatically, resubmission to the membership, annually.
It was no coincidence that the Blairite governments created all manner of well paid, largely ceremonial political positions-Police Commissioners, elected Lord Mayors etc- to expand the numbers of those with careers dependent on maintaining the political status quo. Nor is it any coincidence that the use of BAME and gender quota and reserved office systems has coincided with the consolidation of power by the right wing as parachuted candidates have supplanted local democracy and filled both feminine and minority positions with large numbers of female and dark skinned clones of Mandelson and Blair- not spokespeople for neglected, oppressed or victimised groups but champions of the neo-liberalism which is the worst enemy of the most vulnerable sections of society.
I’m not saying that you should “stay and fight” in the Labour Party -not only am I not a hypocrite but I’m not so arrogant as to advise you what to do- but I know, just as you do, I suspect, that Starmer and his ultra Blairite cronies would be very happy if the Labour Party were reduced to a few thousand fans and was entirely financed by the capitalist class.
Just as the Democrats-who Blair always admired so much- are.
Incisive stuff bevin! So true…
Bevin, what credibility would a Labour Party funded by the wealthy have with the many as the many get poorer, as you seem to concede we will?
I believe we as a nation and as individuals are about to become considerably poorer in both real and relative terms.
Comparisons with other countries on the UK’s CV19 performance are already being hinted at by the MSM and I believe the UK’s economic performance will also suffer badly in comparison.
In fact I suspect their incompetence will make us the laughing stock of the world just as the Tories attempt to make new trade deals.
In the end it’s voter perception that counts and Tory propaganda won’t be able to conceal the UK dropping a number of places down the list of top economies or, say, the pound falling to parity with the Euro.
A Labour leader that’s argued for Tory policies that will have caused a decline in the UK’s global position comparable with the end of Empire might find that difficult to explain.
Even after leaving two months ago, I am still receiveing e-mail for HQ about elections, results & meetings. It makes me think that it’s true that there is some sort of “leaving period” before members are removed from the database, nevermind receiving mailshots. I read this was around 3mths but don’t ask me to reference from where I heard it. Here probably.
Makes you wonder whether anybody really knows the membership number.
At the cut off date for the 2020 Leadership election there were 552,835 fully paid up members that were eligible to vote. I think this is the most reliably accurate figure we are likely to get until the next official release. However it was reported yesterday on LabourList by a member of the NEC that the current membership currently stands at c580,000. As this appears to be broadly in line with the figures we are already aware of there seems little reason to doubt its veracity.
I don’t doubt for a moment that Corbyn’s resignation led to a large influx of new members. But they had only one role to play, namely to vote for Starmer and Rayner. Whether the people who signed them up and very likely paid their memberships for them will bother to spend any more now that they have stitched up the leadership, and got the power to expel and suspend socialists, is unlikely.
It wasn’t, for the most part, the people who voted for Corbyn who voted for Starmer but people who were drafted, at great expense and with considerable professional organisation, into the party by PLP and right wing Union staff members.
Bevin
Huge change came to Labour in 2015 after GE and 2016 after JC, it’s still there and desperate for us to organise and consolidate, not least as seems likely we will need to challenge the leader and clear out Quislings and Bad Actors on the right, that much we know because of the internal Labour report
There is no way back for the right after that, yes they are ruthless but they cannot change the maths
Personally I have no time for RLB, but for Keir, it was the moment the mask came off and low and behold another 50 faced right wing bastard who would say and do anything to get elected
Rejoin, recruit and vote
bevin – Those are very serious accusations that you’re making. Do you have any actual evidence to substantiate them or is your comment just a rather desperate evidence free rant?
I take you point that many of the new members probably voted for Keir but that begs the question why wasn’t there also an influx of new members to vote for RLB?
Broadly agree with Bevan here. However, there was a campaign to recruit JC supporters to the LP by the TU’s,so poss not all joined to support SS. I think we should bear in mind that the rt wing, pro establishment type, would sooner have anyone in power except a socialist Labour Govt.
UCATT went bust recently, became part of Unite. Despite their precarious financial position over the period leading up to this, they spent about a million quid in expelling a number of Blacklist Support Group members (and trying to expel others) whose aim, still, is to expose the collusion of some TU officials who actually put TU members names on the blacklist. Their priority was maintaining their well paid positions, not construction workers.
I also remember the Kinnock years when the LP spent years expelling and suspending socialists instead of fighting the Tories. The colluded to enable a democratically elected City Council to be removed from office, after which Kinnock became a Lord, presumably for services rendered..
These people don’t believe in a democratic process, They care nothing for decisions made by a majority, or the principle that a majority should decide in any vote or election. So, we can stay in and fight, which I intend to do, but at the same time have no faith in the LP Rt ever accepting being in a minority.
The Left have always been told to support the LP, ‘stay in and fight your corner’.. Very admirable principle I think but only works if we’re dealing with honourable people who share the same democratic values. They don’t, and we all know it. These people absolutely don’t believe in democracy (so what are they?) and will betray the movement at every given opportunity. We need to be looking to the outside as well as what’s happening in the LP.. The LP isn’t likely to be electable in the foreseeable future, and, judging by ‘our’ political position on many of today’s problems will only further alienate working class voters.
We need to be thinking how we continue to engage with the general public, explaining how public ownership would not only ensure that we all have the basics in life, but introduce democracy and accountability to positions of authority. I think that concept would be readily accepted by the voters, but never in a million years by those who intend to ensure that working people never have a voice, let alone decision making powers.,
potatoclock
The internal report is our statue, to be put in the Labour party museum to educate people in the future
Doesn’t matter how it came to this, only how hard we fight now to remove Quislings and Bad Actors, at every level of party and unions
Regards
Just had an email from awful Akehurst, so at least I know who NOT to vote for…
….and further to my last post, I doubt that many joined to support RLB. Why would you? 🙂
These discussions are good I think. I work at ‘street level’, the discussions we have here are of no interest to the ordinary Jo Bloggs.
If the Left ‘got together’ I think, and am told many times, our arguments would strike a chord. I’ve also have the point made to me, with suitable ‘street language’, that people don’t give a toss about many of the issues in which we seem to envelop ourselves,
Antisemitism, trans issues etc aren’t the issues on the street; it’s about how to survive. Therefore the topics that ‘hit the headlines’ are a distraction, ‘Red Herring’, ‘Straw man’ arguments, and many members jump into these debates instead of concentrating on the issues that most working people are keen on. It’s deliberate. We know how to win a political argument on the street, but the LP won’t let us.
Put recent shenanigans to bed once and for all on Brexit and Independence, no one gets a referendum unless they have been polling 60% plus for 12 months
Winning arguments at Street level
Houses and Jobs
Doesn’t matter what the question is, the answer is
Houses and Jobs
Build on that, Green new deal = Energy Efficient Houses and highly skilled highly paid jobs
Free Broadband = in every house, highly paid jobs, essential for a modern economy and paid for through your TV Licence
Nationalisation only when we figure out the legal structure of each entity, not for profit, cooperative or a partnership
Empower 3rd sector, secure their funding and give them teeth, will keep government and markets honest
But more than anything else call out the scams and the racism, we dont want their votes, fuckem, then go to town on the MSM and toilet papers, jail the corrupt and the tax avoiders
Message on the street, we are all in it together, pay your dues and build for a better future for your bairns
I agree Doug, but that’ll only happen if we get a Socialist Labour Govt. So between now and then, the argument will be ideology, principles and honesty, building a movement based on the need for common ownership of the necessities of life. With that we ( the Jo Bloggs) have some control, rather that the heap of crap that we currently have and inspires nobody. There’s no way that capitalism can even maintain the current falling standards, let alone provide hope for a better future. The Far Rights engines are warming up; they’ll offer answers that sound good to the desperate. They’ll fill the void if we don’t.
When Dennis Skinner & Chris Williamson are rejected by their own political Party Membership, I have to question what’s left?
Consider supporting those candidates that support ‘Open Selection’
https://youtu.be/WwENbvDPeag