Left Unity statement on the Labour leadership election
Left Unity congratulates Jeremy Corbyn on his victory in the first battle against the coup plotters. Attempts to win a decision by the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party to effectively bar Jeremy Corbyn from the leadership campaign – by wilfully misinterpreting completely straightforward party election rules – were a complete disgrace. The plotters were defeated and the NEC agreed that the incumbent shall automatically appear on the ballot paper. Nevertheless this whole shameful episode is one of the most underhand and undemocratic political acts of modern times.
But the next battle is already joined. Despite the fact that the clear will of the Labour Party membership, now more than half a million strong, was reflected in the overwhelming mandate that Corbyn received in the leadership campaign ten months ago, Corbyn’s opponents are seeking to undermine that support through effectively both raising a time barrier on membership voting rights and imposing a tax on voting for Corbyn.
In order to vote in the leadership election, members have to have joined the party by 12th January. In order to vote as a supporter, those who joined as £3 supporters under the previous rules now have to pay £25 within the next two days to be eligible for a vote. Such exclusionary rulings are nothing short of electoral rigging to reduce the support base for Jeremy Corbyn.
Corbyn’s opponents on the NEC have also suspended internal party democracy. All normal party meetings at CLP and branch level have been suspended for the whole of the leadership election. So although keeping Corbyn off the ballot paper was deemed a step too far they are doing everything else possible to demoralise and demobilize the movement that has been built around his leadership. More than 120,000 members who have joined the Labour Party in order to be able to participate in both the leadership contest and Labour Party meetings find themselves excluded from both.
The strategy of the right is to portray Corbyn supporters as interlopers and ‘thugs’ and to shut down as much internal party democracy as they possible can. We can expect more dirty tricks as the campaign continues.
The Labour Party was founded to represent the real needs and interests of working people. Those in its leading body and in its parliamentary party that have pursued this approach to forcing the removal of their elected leader should be ashamed of themselves. They should instead be uniting to provide effective opposition to the Tory Party and the attacks on working people that will be launched under its new leader.
Left Unity stands foursquare with Jeremy and the vast majority of Labour Party members. We give full support and solidarity to those in the Labour Party working to support Jeremy Corbyn and secure his re-election. We condemn the ongoing leadership challenge: it will only serve to strengthen the ruling class at a time when their policies are doing untold damage to the fabric of our society and the lives of ordinary people.
Kate Hudson
Left Unity National Secretary
13/07/16
5 comments
5 responses to “Left Unity statement on the Labour leadership election”
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I as a 70 year old pensioner am insulted to be referred to as an interloper & a thug for having political views. I have worked all of my life and will continue to support the labour party. I have great respect for Jeremy Corbyn and wish him every success.
I do not agree with our National Secretary’s view in this matter.
Rather I agree with the view of Labour Party NEC member, Pete Willsman, as reported in the Huffington Post article : ““I want the party to split, so we can get rid of the Blairites!”
John Pearson
Left Unity National Council member
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/jeremy-corbyn-national-executive-committee-nec-how-he-triumphed_uk_57856207e4b08078d6e765d3
A barrister has informed me that the attempts to put conditions on eligibility of members to vote in the leadership election, could contravene the Human Rights Act. If this is the case, perhaps some other qualified person could clarify the situation for us. It certainly has all the hallmarks of another devious right-wing attempt to stitch things up.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with the comment, by John Pearson, who wrote, “I want the Labour Party to split”.
But, we will now need ‘Left Unity’, or something similar, to provide an independent electoral challenge to Labour, and the other, incorrigibly, right-wing parties, more than ever before.
I, personally, have been having these problems with the Labour leadership since 1964, when (aged 14, and too young to vote) I stood in the streets of Newport, Isle of Wight, selling CND’s newpaper (called ‘Sanity’) whilst shouting ‘Get your Sanity ‘ere’, and ‘vote for Harold Wilson ‘cos he is going to ban the bomb’. Labour MPs did promise us, in 1964, that, if Labour won the election, they would scrap Polaris.
The reason that they didn’t do so was because, since 1964, every new British PM has been required to fly to Washington DC to make a secret deal to subordinate UK policy to US policy. (see;- Clive Ponting, ‘Breach of Promise: Labour in Power, 1964-70’). That is the origin of the reason why Labour (or any other party who wish to be in Westminster office) have to be profoundly, internally, undemocratic.
Neil Kinnock (who had previously been in CND), completely destroyed any semblance of democracy within Labour. Kinnock’s close friend, Joan Ruddock (Labour MP for Lewisham, and Chair of CND) persuaded CND that they didn’t need to demonstrate against nuclear weapons any more – but that, all we had to do, was wait for a Labour government and they would abolish nuclear weapons.
Then we had Blair, who took us into the Iraq war and took such decisions without even consulting his own cabinet. (Chilcott)
The rest of the story of Labour betrayal is too long to be detailed here.
I attended an inaugural meeting of ‘Red Pepper’ magazine at Manchester Town Hall, where Hillary Wainwright argued that we should be “simultaneously inside and outside the Labour Party”, whilst I argued that we should be entirely outside the Labour Party.
I have, almost entirely, consistently, held that view, ever since I resigned from Labour, in 1991, in protest against Labour support for the first Gulf War (and my local Labour council’s support for the poll tax).
The only exception to this was when I registered as a £3 supporter to vote for Jeremy Corbyn and then rejoined the Labour Party, on the day that Corbyn was elected leader, with 60% of the vote.
That was a mistake on my part. It soon became apparent that the party had not changed, despite promises of internal democracy, and that Labour MPs would, still, have complete contempt for any, grass-roots, Labour democracy. Within less than a month I had resigned from Labour, again, and demanded my £3 (and my Labour membership fee) back, because we were ripped off by false promises (again). Now, it seems, it will cost £25 to register, for anyone wanting to do the same, again. If they let Corbyn stand as a candidate, at all, we will only have a repeat performance of the same betrayal, if he wins, again.
Even my own constituency MP, Clive Lewis, who is Labour’s Shadow ‘Defence’ Secretary (ie Shadow Minister for War), a founder member of ‘Momentum’ and a prominent member of Labour CND, will not promise me that he will vote against Trident renewal (I am predicting that he will abstain, again, as he did on the Queen’s speech amendment debate on Trident renewal). Recently Clive Lewis has, also, spoken in parliament accusing Putin of, allegedly, trying to destabilise Europe (this is a warmongering lie, the reality is that NATO is aggressively trying to de-stabilise Russia, and putting us all in danger of nuclear war).
Right from the start, the ‘Momentum’ campaign has dropped any mention of Corbyn’s peace movement concerns, including his opposition to Trident renewal. Len McCluskey has promised union support for Trident renewal and opposition to Corbyn’s anti-Trident views, and to remove union funding from Labour politicians, if they disagreed with him (although the ‘Unite’ union, who McCluskey claims to represent, is affiliated to CND).
And (like David Cameron), McCluskey made a speech at the BAE Warton factory, promising to expand the arms trade, so that a few union members can have more wage-slavery (I have actively campaigned against weapons production at Warton, including in support of women who damaged a Hawk jet, that was to have been sent to the Indonesian government, who had murdered a third of the population of East Timor). Clive Lewis has, also, told a local (Norwich) CND group to stop campaigning against Trident until “after the local elections”. These people are supposed to be Corbyn’s loyal supporters! If these are his ‘supporters’, what chance has he got against his enemies?
In less than a years time, the Labour Party, either will not exist at all, or it will exist as an organisation of right-wing Labour MPs, in alliance with the current eight liberal-democrat MPs, funded by right-wing, warmongering, trade unions, and the CIA.
That is why we desperately, need a genuinely democratic, left, alternative, capable of putting up candidates, especially in the constituencies of those right-wing Labour MPs who are opposing Corbyn. It is why, after I resigned from Labour the last time, I joined Left Unity, hoping to find such an organisation. But, I fear I will be disappointed, yet again.
An excellent contribution, Clive Fudge.
It is great that you have joined Left Unity. I am confident that you will not be disappointed. Why not contact us at Stockport branch (Stockport@leftunity.org) and let’s get a dialogue going.
I am a member of the Party’s National Council and I am keen to see that it (and Party Conference in Liverpool on 29 October) develops a principled position on the Labour Party crisis. Increasingly we are – after decades of mass media induced stupefaction – beginning to see the development of a politically aware population. The people can recognise honest politicians from dishonest ones. The former are those (and Corbyn is one of them, hence his appeal and despite his isolation – you are correct that Clive Lewis did not stand by Corbyn in last nights vote – see the Public Whip record below) who elevate principle above tactics. That is what Left Unity must do.
http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2016-07-18&number=46&display=allpossible