Weekly Worker 586 Thursday July 21 2005

Weak, but still alive

At its annual general meeting at Congress House on Saturday July 16, the Labour Representation Committee established itself as probably the most serious grouping currently active on the left of Labour. Dave Lewis was there

The secretary’s report gave an individual Labour Representation Committee membership of 500, with over 60 affiliated organisations. These include four national unions, four regional union bodies and 31 local union branches (with a disproportionately high number from the Communication Workers Union).

Reflecting the massive weakness of the left in the rank and file of the party itself, just five Constituency Labour Parties are affiliated. Similarly, the past year since the organisation was founded has seen only two local LRC groups established - Islington and Southwark. Amongst other associate affiliates are groups such as the Cambridge Morning Star Readers Group, Torbay and District TUC and - oddly enough - the New Communist Party (whose stalwart, Daphne Liddle, took a few minutes of conference’s time to inspire us with tales of the enviable living standards of North Korean workers).

We commented last year that the category of associate membership was important, in that indicated a certain mindset. It implied a recognition that “the Labour left needs a conduit to bring the energy and numbers of activists outside the party into their own struggle with the Blairites: without this, it is doomed, frankly” (Weekly Worker July 8 2004). While the last year has not seen much flesh put on this perspective, it remains the correct one.

Several speakers referred to the need for comrades on the left of the party to look beyond the narrow vistas of parliamentary politics and the dull routine of Labour’s internal life in order to tap wider sources of energy and troops. Comrade Ted Knight in particular spoke passionately of the millions of people who had been mobilised in recent years - first against the war on Iraq and more recently to demonstrate outrage with the scale of Africa poverty.

However, the comrade who urged this broader approach most articulately - and, as Graham Bash alludes to, was able to draw on recent personal experiences to illustrate how it might work in practice - was Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the civil servants’ union, the PCSU.

As well as sketching a picture of New Labour’s vicious attacks on his union’s members, Mark used part of his conference greetings to “flag up” his views on the “way forward for the socialist left, both inside and outside the Labour Party”. He told us: “ I have never believed that we can changed society through purely industrial means. We need to sit back and seriously weigh up the situation that confronts us in this country.

“We should all welcome the formation of the LRC and the tasks it has correctly identified. It is a job well done to pull together all on the left of the Labour Party. But we also have to recognise that there are many, many thousands of people who also share the same goals to transform this country and the wider world, but are not currently members of the Labour Party.

“I put it to you that there is more that unites all of those people than has ever divided them. We are sure that we can all work together in common campaigns, both inside and outside the Labour Party for a better world. That’s why I think it is correct for those on the left to look at the experience of comrades in Scotland and from around Europe. We must seriously debate the benefits of proportional representation that in my view would give the socialist left a much better chance.

“We also have to accept that up and down the country, not every Labour MP is of the quality of Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell or Alice Mahon. In some parts of the country people are going to look for alternatives. We must ensure that we don’t fall into the trap of sectarianism, whether it comes from outside the Labour Party or inside.

“My personal contribution on election day was to be proudly knocking doors on behalf of John McDonnell, one of the outstanding parliamentarians of his generation. I also spent time in Scotland supporting the Scottish Socialist Party and, yes, in Tower Hamlets supporting George Galloway against Oona King and I think I was right to do that”.

Warm applause followed comrade Serwotka’s reference to George Galloway’s challenge to the warmonger, King. This is encouraging. However, the stark truth is that the left outside Labour is hardly in a much better state itself - it is similarly fragmented, disorientated by the continuing success of New Labour and in profound programmatic crisis. Organisational unity between leftists inside and outside Labour in campaigns and other political formations is very desirable. However, if we are to make that unity produce something more than slightly larger groups who still talk nonsense, the fight for political clarity via polemic and demarcation is indispensable.

It was welcome, then, that this year’s conference saw at least some muted debate from the floor on the pivotal issue of Iraq. It certainly made for a more interesting meeting than last year’s highly repetitive rally. This is something that must be developed, broadened and deepened - not shied away from for the sake of lowest common denominator ‘unity’, as comrade Maria Exall seems to imply. One’s attitude to the occupation of that country remains a fault line in British politics, so getting the balance right between our opposition to fundamentalist islam and our hostility to what Graham Bash correctly dubs “our main enemy” - our own British ruling class - is absolutely vital.

On a vast range of political questions, the left - broadly defined - has to initiate debate and generate some real thought. But it is not as if we have to start from scratch, comrades.

Tony Benn roused LRC delegates by reminding them that Karl Marx had recently been voted the “favourite philosopher” of listeners to Radio 4’s In our time (a rather put out Melvin Bragg conceded on July 14 that the man had triumphed on the crest of “an electoral tidal wave”).

All good stuff and bound to raise a cheer. But perhaps it is high time for us all to do this rather popular thinker the added courtesy of revisiting what he actually said, wrote and did as a politician, rather than simply use him as a mascot to wave at our enemies? l

Oppose the occupation of Iraq
RMT East Midland branch motion

We oppose the occupation of Iraq. It is impossible to have any faith in the UN forces making any difference when replacing the USA.

The dominant military forces of the ‘resistance’ are sunni-supremacist and islamic-fundamentalist. They will crush the new Iraqi labour and women’s movement if they triumph. We will work to give solidarity to the new Iraqi labour and women’s movement. This solidarity should be on an internationalist, labour-movement and working class basis: ie, solidarity with all currents of the new Iraqi labour movement against the employers, the transitional government, the occupation forces and the islamic fundamentalists, irrespective of the political differences we will have.

London terror blasts
Labour Against the War emergency resolution

The Labour Representation Committee unreservedly condemns the bomb attacks in London on July 7 2005. We send our condolences to the families of those killed and to those who have been injured .…

The anti-war movement warned that an illegal war on Iraq would lead to illegal attacks on civilian life in Britain. It was the war itself that has created a recruiting ground for terrorism, and it is the ongoing military occupation that is further swelling the ranks of the terrorists ….

The government must not compound its previous mistakes by taking draconian measures that further erode civil rights in our society: to do so would be a gift to the terrorists. We will find no answers to terrorists’ threats by closing down civil society in Britain. As long as Britain continues to have an army of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, British civilians will continue to be a target.

Related articles

• Questions that unite us. Interview with Maria Exall
• Broken silence. Graham Bash's column

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