Preparing the movement for future struggles

by New Worker correspondent

Members and delegates from affiliated organisations, including the New Communist Party (NCP), attended the annual conference of the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) in London last Saturday.

The LRC was established in 2004 by left-wing Labour Party members, MPs and trade unionists who want to restore the Labour Party to its original socialist roots.

Alex Kempshall moving the NCP motion

The NCP affiliated to the LRC in 2005 and a number of party members and supporters took part in this year’s conference, including NCP leader Andy Brooks as well as National Chair Alex Kempshall and Theo Russell from the Central Committee.

Although membership and affiliations were slightly up, this was not reflected in the turn-out at Student Central, the home of London students that was formerly known as the University of London Union (ULU). Just 127 LRC activists took part in the one-day conference, which largely opted to close ranks around the policy statement of the National Executive Committee. This was reflected in the defeat of motions to the left of the LRC mainstream, including an NCP motion on taxation, others on Zionism, and at elections that saw most candidates returned unopposed.

Fire Brigades Union leader Matt Wrack and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell made important contributions to the general discussion on where Labour is going in the run-up to a possible general election this year. Walter Wolfgang, the veteran Labour activist, moved the Labour CND motion on peace that was passed unanimously.

The election of Jeremy Corbyn – one of the leading founders of the LRC – to the leadership of the party in 2016 and the crushing defeat of a Blairite challenge the following year has led to a mass influx of new Corbyn supporters into the party. With over 550,000 individual members, Labour is now the biggest party in western Europe. How to reach out to them and to the other left pressure groups inside Labour was another key topic in the afternoon’s discussion.

Finally, in what has become an LRC tradition, the conference closed with a rousing speech from Ian Hodson, leader of the Bakers’ Foods and Allied Workers’ Union, followed by the singing of the Red Flag and the Internationale.

LRC: preparing Labour for power

Singing the Internationale at the close of conference

By New Worker correspondent

MEMBERS of the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) met for a special general meeting in London’s Conway Hall last Saturday to debate the LRC’s continuing role within the labour movement.

The modern LRC was founded in July 2004 by left-wing members of the Labour Party, trade unionists and others with the aim of restoring the party to its founding purpose of defending working-class interests, fighting for social democracy and the public ownership of the means of production and distribution. It was named after the committee that founded the Labour Party in February 1900.

That aim has largely been achieved with the election of Jeremy Corbyn – one of the leading founders of the LRC – to the leadership of the party in 2016, his re-election after a challenge the following year, a mass influx of new Corbyn supporters into the party and at the end of last year the winning of a left majority on the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).

It could be argued that the LRC has done its job – a task that seemed almost impossible in 2004 – but there are still battles to be fought. Some local authorities are still in the hands of right-wing Blairite Labour cliques who are wedded to Tory policies.

And the right wing is still committed to undermining Corbyn’s leadership, though so far all the plotting, slandering and double dealing seems only to have made his position stronger.

The first speaker on Saturday was Mick Brooks, the LRC’s political secretary presenting the National Executive Committee statement, pointed out that the LRC still has a vital role.

The mass organisation Momentum is doing great work campaigning for Corbyn to become Prime Minister and to counter the dirty tricks of old right-wing Labour MPs and councillors.

Mick Brooks said there was hope that the LRC and Momentum would be working together. “But,” Brooks warned, “the LRC is a properly constituted organisation; we have conference, we have elections. Momentum has a ‘democratic deficit’, which we hope will be resolved in due course.

“The LRC is not just a Jeremy Corbyn fan club. We are more about the policies and we need our own independence. For example, on the issue of Trident, we know Corbyn has always been in favour of nuclear disarmament. But currently the official Labour Party policy supports Trident so Corbyn is obliged to keep to that line.

“But we don’t have to make that concession and we can still campaign against Trident and keep reminding him until disarmament becomes official party policy.”

Mick Brooks warned that the radicalisation of the Labour Party is still in its early stages and is precarious. But the party is moving forward with the most left-wing leader it has ever had.

The debate was chaired by Matt Wrack, who is general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, about the Labour Party’s internal Democracy Review; about false accusations of anti-Semitism; about ending Labour councillors implementing Tory policies, especially in gentrification, demolishing council estates and replacing them with private luxury homes that the former residents cannot afford to live in.

A number of resolutions were discussed and voted on, including one from the New Communist Party on housing and the need to build more council homes, cap rents and raise tenants’ awareness of their rights in fighting evictions resulting from gaps in benefit payments by re-introducing the McKenzie’s friends of the successful anti-poll tax campaign. The resolution was passed unanimously.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell spoke briefly to the conference about the work of another conference he was participating in nearby discussing the economic nuts and bolts of taking utilities and services that have been privatised back into public ownership.

He spoke of new modes of public ownership, the creation of co-operatives involving workers in the rail, water and power industries and the users of the services in a way that would make it hard for a future Tory government to re-privatise them. He also spoke of compensating former shareholders of these industries by issuing Government bonds.

The conference finished with a rousing speech from Ian Hodson, leader of the Bakers’ Foods and Allied Workers’ Union, followed by the singing of the Red Flag and the Internationale.

The struggle for Momentum

by New Worker correspondent

 ON SATURDAY 29th October, at the conference of the Labour Representation Committee in London, Matt Wrack, the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union delivered a passionate attack on elements within the steering committee of Momentum who are using very underhand methods to prevent a planned founding conference for Momentum that would give it a constitution and democratic internal structures.

Wrack is a member of the Momentum steering committee – a body that was meant to be a temporary structure until Momentum acquired a proper structure. Currently it has a national committee which created the smaller steering committee.

He began with a warning that at the Labour Party conference the old right-wing leadership had organisationally “run rings round” the left-wing Corbyn supporters, stitching up the agenda, who was to be allowed to speak and so on in advance to prevent Corbyn supporters getting a word in.

He warned that Momentum and the Left needed to improve their organisation – just having the support of the vast majority of Labour members is not enough and that those who wish to destroy Corbyn are not going to accept his re-election but will continue to fight at every level.

Wrack continued with an account of how Momentum sacked its vice-chair, Jackie Walker, for alleged anti-Semitism because she rightly refused to accept that anti-Zionism equates with anti-Semitism.

“What took place immediately after the Labour Party conference was an organised attempt by people with key access to the Momentum office to lobby in advance of any discussion to make sure that when the steering committee met it was already a foregone conclusion that Jackie would be removed a vice-chair,” said Wrack.

“It shook me that when people talk about the ‘new politics’ what we are seeing is exactly the replica of the old ‘machine politics’ that we want to see the back of.

“John Lansman [the leader of Momentum] has questions to answer about the conduct of the organisation of Momentum.”

He went on to give an account of the debate about what sort of founding conference they want: “First of all some don’t want a conference in the first place. Some of us have been arguing for eight months or more that we should have a conference at the earliest opportunity. How can you possibly defend rules and structure without some form of founding conference?

“Then there is the debate about what sort of conference it should be. To me the logical basis of the conference is the local groups….” “And yet it strikes me that in the Momentum office that from John [Lansman] there is a great resistance to have any trust or confidence in the local Momentum groups.”

Wrack reported that at a steering committee just a week previously two proposals had been made about the form the founding conference should take: firstly a conference of delegates from local groups and secondly an online conference with online debate and online voting.

The audience at the LRC conference reacted strongly, appalled by the second suggestion.

Matt Wrack continued: “My concern was what would be the point of anyone actually going to the conference if everyone simply sits behind a computer screen clicking the button. Who would propose things? The truth is a self-selected group of people would propose things.”

The steering committee agreed to circulate both proposals but then circulated only the second suggestion.

Then an emergency meeting of the steering committee was called with less than 24 hours’ notice – at which many members were unable to attend. That meeting cancelled the national committee meeting due to take place the following week. In doing that, it exceeded its powers because it is only a sub-committee of the national committee. “This is quite a serious matter as far as I’m concerned,” said Wrack.

John Lansman, who was due to speak at the LRC conference and could have used the opportunity to defend himself, withdrew, and decided not to speak.

But the LRC itself is also affected by “the old machine politics”. It has, without warning or giving any reasons, disaffiliated some of its affiliated groups.

 Andy Brooks represented the NCP at the conference and other comrades also attended.