You can't take resolutions to Labour conference any more: it will be sent to a policy forum for a possible decision in three years! - ie weakening of workers' rights and lowering of wages? KC: We should not presume the battle is over merely because this is what Blair has said.
Many European ministers did not agree with the Thatcherite agenda of the Tories, and do not agree with it now that Blair is pushing it.
He wants to prevent a 'social Europe' and to bring about the unravelling of the welfare state, but he will have a hard fight.
Part of the problem of the left in Britain is its failure to understand Christian Democracy. These parties should not be equated to wet Toryism; they are sociologically different.
They were part of the resistance to Nazism, they are mass popular parties, some with their own trade unions and cooperatives. They are far removed from Conservatism, leave alone Thatcherism. If we fail to under- Single mums in my stand this, we will constituency said not realise the difto me «What? Only ficulties in the way of Blair's Thatch- 47? Only 10 per fight. Otherwise, people will stay and dig their allotments.
Actually, you can oppose from inside or outside, if you work out what you can actually do. It is true that Labour Party members still have a distinctive role in this struggle, but it is becaming more difficult than ever before. The changes in party structure mean that it will no longer suffice to win an argument and take a motion to conference; instead, it will be sent to a policy forum for a possible decision in three years - by which time we will have lost me wetare stre.
There is a mass exodus taking •place from the Labour Party -per cent of my CLP have left. And these are not the 'Blair levy', but Old Labour, single mums, people who are losing welfare benefit.
The opposition, after much effort, was proud that it rightly persuaded 47 Labour MPs to vote against the cuts in lone parent benefit. But single mums in my constituency said to me "What? Only 47? Only 10 per cent of them? That's not what we voted Labour for" THE STATEMENT by Ken Coates and Hugh Kerr has posed once again the question of the need for a new party of the working class, in the light of the political direction of New Labour' and the actions of the Blair government.
Although they did not pose this directly themselves, it was clear that Blair and his clique would not coun tenance such opposition even if posed in terms of a 'protest' slate of candidates offering an alternative to his warmed-up and barely disguised Thatcherite offering. Their expulsion without a hearing has underlined this.
As a group of people we joined the Socialist Labour Party because we believed that a new party of the working class was necessary to fight for the interests of working people, the poor and the oppressed.
We have, however, left the SLP as a result of the grossly sectarian and undemocratic methods of its leadership, which has meant that it has failed to serve as a focus for those who are fighting the actions of the Blair government. However, we will continue to work for the building of a socialist alternative outside of the SLP.
The statement by the two MEPs was welcome, despite its limitations. In a letter to The Guardian, Ken Coates was right to stress the need for opposition to be mobilised outside parliament against the attacks which Blair is launching on the poorest and most oppressed.
Opposition is undoubtedly growing as the reality of the Blair programme emerges, but it needs to be organised.
We believe that there is a crying need for an alliance of socialists and those under attack from this government, to campaign in defence of the interests of single parents, the disabled, public sector jobs and services, as well as opposing the various forms of privatisation which CARE Support for the dockers - but not from Labour ministers or the TUC against the attacks of the government on the welfare state and the poorest sections of society.
For our part we are convinced that a genuine socialist alternative to Blair's neo-liberal New Labour will be necessary in order to successfully defend the interests of workers and the oppressed and to fight for a new society.
We believe that there needs to be a complete political break with the politics summed up in the 'social partnership' agenda which the trades union leaders have swallowed.
This was reflected in the fact that Church and business leaders could address the TUC Conference but the Liverpool Dockers were locked out.
The sectarianism which has dominated the British left for so long must be overcome.
What is crucial today is to seek to all those resisting the direction taken by the Blair government and striving to build a mass movement in defence of what remains of our gains of the post-war years. Our differences can be tested out in the light of experience.
We have suffered many years of defeats. We need to create the conditions for some victories, and to discuss how we can build a socialist alternative which connects with the living experience of millions of people.
Socialist Perspectives is a group of people involved in the struggle for democracy in the Socialist Labour Party. At a meeting on January 10 we decided to leave the SLP after the fiasco of its December Congress. For information or further comment contact: 333 Welcombe Ave Park North, Swindon, SN3 2PF 01793 496816