BOTH John Smith and Bryan Gould agree that a reform of Labour's links with the unions is necessary; indeed this is the broad consensus among Labour and union leaders alike.
All declare that the public wicking of the huge block vote is inappropriate to a modem party. What lies behind these proposals for change, and how should socialists react?
The present form of the block vote is of course highly undemocratic -hundreds of thousands of votes cast at Trade Union Committee Labour conferences oy right wing union bosses, without the least consultation with their members. But this is not the reason for the current trend to dimin. ish, or abolish, the block vote.
Working class
Rathor, what is being posed now is a move to weaken the links between Labour and the organised working class. It is part of the process of trying to radically shift the Labour Party away from its identfication as the party of organised labour.
The present form of the block vote has been the guarantee or tint-wing
OCIALIST Unshackle the Unions