Bolton NE Labour members condemn Starmer’s assault on anti-war movement

CLP condemns Russian invasion, right’s exploitation and calls for UK to end status as ‘investment destination’ for ‘corrupt elites’ in Russia and worldwide

Bolton North East Labour members have ‘comfortably’ passed a motion condemning both Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and Keir Starmer’s assault on the anti-war movement. Starmer has accused the Stop the War movement of promoting Putin’s agenda, despite StW’s statements against the invasion, and threatened a number of left Labour MPs with expulsion from the party if they didn’t pull out of a rally organised by the group.

Bolton NE members also condemned right-wing attempts to exploit the crisis for their own racist aims and the UK’s willingness to act as an ‘investment destination’ for ‘corrupt elites’ and its selectivity in the international crimes it condemns.

The full resolution reads:

Ukraine

1. This CLP condemns Vladimir Putin’s decision to order Russian military forces to invade Ukraine and demands an immediate ceasefire. For one country to make first use of military force against another and to invade and occupy it, are always illegal acts of aggression. The Russian invasion has already led to thousands of people losing their lives, the senseless destruction of buildings and infrastructure, environmental harms, and to millions fleeing their homes as refugees.
2. We stand in solidarity with the ordinary people of Ukraine and affirm their right to national self-determination, to reform their own political system, and to protest and resist the Russian invasion and occupation.
3. We welcome the anti-war movement in Russia and support Russian troops refusing to participate in the war. We condemn the crackdown by the Russian government on anti-\var protesters and on independent media in Russia. We oppose Russophobia and discrimination against ordinary Russian people or culture because of the actions of Russia’s rulers.
4. We condemn any far right or fascist group, on either side of the conflict, seeking to take advantage of this war to exploit ethnic tensions and build their own organisation.
5. Russia’s war against Ukraine is in part also a conflict between the United States and Russia over Ukraine’s possible future membership of the NATO nuclear alliance, and Russia’s reckless invasion risks escalation to a global nuclear war.
6. We believe Western governments have a duty to the people of Ukraine and the world to support diplomatic efforts for a negotiated peace and Russian withdrawal. They should not make NATO expansion an obstacle to these aims. We are totally opposed to NATO military forces joining a war in Ukraine and believe the statements of the US President ruling out a NATO ‘no fly zone’ over Ukraine should be kept to.
7. In dangerous times, it is important to listen to anti-war voices and longstanding critics of our own foreign policy, rather than silence or smear them. We express our dismay at reports that some Labour MPs were forced by the leadership to withdraw their signatures from a Stop the War statement and that the labour Party has suspended Young Labour’s access to twitter, apparently because of criticisms of Boris Johnson and NATO.
8. We call on the Labour Party leadership to support the demand of Ukraine’s social movement to cancel Ukraine’s international debts, as part of an expanded programme of humanitarian relief and economic reconstruction. We also call on Labour to support visa free access for all refugees from Ukraine and other international conflicts.
9. Labour should promote measures to end the UK being used as an investment destination by corrupt elites in Russia and around the world, and to cease shoring up autocratic fossil fuel producers by rapid development of renewable energy. It should champion a foreign policy based on peace and consistent, not selective, opposition to international crimes.
10. 10, A copy of this motion should be sent to the Shadow Foreign Secretary, David Lammy.

Members of the CLP and the CLP itself have stood up against the anti-democratic bullying of the Labour leadership but now face likely censure. Keir Starmer has said that anyone who criticises NATO has no place in ‘his’ party.

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