ALL SIX candidates on the Left/Centre-Left slate for election to the Constituency section of the NEC have received at least the requisite 3 nominations from different Party regions. Several have received many more.
The leadership has also put up a slate of the great and the good - Council leaders, media stars and the like.
They are rumoured to be organising a team of students to use the phones at Labour's headquarters to call members, encouraging them to vote for the favoured candidates.
A further indication that they are prepared to pull out all the stops is shown by the fact that MPs have been handed ballot papers for their section of the NEC with the leadership's candidates printed in!
A substantial vote, or even victory for the Left in the election would not in itself change much - it is only for a section of an NEC. which has anyway been sidelined in terms of its ability to take decisions in favour of the Joint Policy Forum with an inbuilt leadership majority.
Such a result would, however, indicate a growing rejection of the government's policies.
The task for the left in the OUR next three months is to ensure the biggest possible campaign for the candidates. This does not simply mean a drive to get members to vote in the one member one vote election for the candidates, but to use the election to organise the opposition.
The election of several, or even all six, candidates will not mean much if the campaign is not used to organise their support.
Weak platform
The political platform on which the six candidates are standing is very weak, but they should be encouraged to speak out on their own views which go well beyond this, and the Network of Socialist Campaign groups will be producing leaflets spelling out the key issues in the election.
Emphasis needs to be put on linking up with those involved in the unions and single issue campaigns around key policies.
Several campaign groups and other left bodies around the country are already planning meetings with candidates and supportive MPs in July (precedent suggests ballot papers will be sent out towards the end of July).
These need to be organised in all towns and regions to widen the audience for alternative politics.
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