Celia Foote explains how and why the Leeds Network was set up IN THE run-up to the General Election of May 1997, it became apparent to a number of Labour Party members that all was not as it should be in the Party. In the main these were members on the receiving end of the internal oppression exercised by Party officials and a select coterie of 'insider' members. In Leeds North-East Constituency Labour Party this took the form of paid Party officials fiddling the postal vote in favour of the Blairite candidate in the Parliamentary Selection procedure, and attempting to hi-jack the following Annual General Meeting. When this failed they suspended the Constituency and six leading members of the CLP.
Following a hearing at which all the allegations against the activists were demonstrated to be untrue, national officials put together an entirely new 'case' of false allegations.
Hearings were held in secret, at which all six were found guilty, four were expelled, one suspended, and one given the task of healing the rift in the Constituency.
Political activists fuelled by a sense of outrageous injustice, and a fair degree of bloody-mindedness, never die, they reform. In the European Parliament, two MEPs had refused to sign up to New Labour's 'loyalty oath'. Ken Coates and Hugh Kerr were given the treatment by the Millbank Propaganda Unit until one wondered how such manoeuvring men had ever been tolerated by what passes for civilised society.
Keen to continue promoting their socialist politics in Britain, the two MEPs established the Independent Labour Network.
At its inception they were at pains to express their regret at being unable to work within the Labour Party, and to make it cléar that the Network was not a Party, but rather a forum where members of several political parties or none could discuss and promote socialist policies, politics and politicians.
Activists in Leeds North-East saw the similarities in the experiences of the two MEPs and themselves, and were interested in discovering whether other links might exist.
One year on from the General Election our concerns were more than confirmed and indeed exceeded. The Blair Government has been proved to be the true heir of Thatcherism.
It would be easy to dismiss this view as the resentful whinging of "losers' and 'trotskyite enemies, but one need only examine the balance sheet of one year of the New Labour government to find the evidence for this position.
Not mentioned in any manifesto, but carried out with astonishing speed nonetheless, was Gordon Brown's gift of monetary control to the unelected financiers of the Bank of England.
The surprises continued with the removal of single-parent benefit, abolition of the right to free higher education, refusal to increase pensions in line with earnings, and extending the privatisation of public services, be it under the guise of 'best value', the Private Finance Initiative, or Education Action Zones.
Prisons are privatised, Legal Aid effectively abolished, and local authorities still starved of funds. 'Ethical' government has seen the continuing sale of armaments and 'crowd control' equipment to repressive regimes.
This is in sharp contrast to New Labour's behaviour towards Big Business. Corporation Tax has twice been cut and the bright young things who helped get the Leader and his ministers where they wanted to be have acquired lucrative, influential jobs. Conversely, there is the minimum wage for the starving cats, and the trade unions are marginalised.
The 1998 Party Conference saw New Labour in all its glory with Party members being used as human advertising hoardings for supermarkets, and ministers and MPs encouraged to sell their bodies to wealthy winers and diners.
A significant number of Labour Party members believe that Blair is doing to the country what he has done to the Party. Essentially this is to destroy all democratic structures in the organisation and replace them with centrally controlled, unaccountable methods.
And in whose interest does this take place? As the list above demonstrates, very few of the people who rely on benefits will find their lot improved. Neither will the Blair is doing to ever-expandthe country what he ing band of low-paid has done to the and partParty: destroying all time workers. Neither democratic will those structures who work in the public sector be included in Mr Blair's Brave 'New Labour' World - and definitely not trade union members.
In the realisation that the Labour Party no longer holds out any hope to the unemployed, the low paid, and believers in accountable and democratic government, socialists in Leeds North-East contacted Ken Coates and Hugh Kerr. In June 1998, over fifty people attended the inaugural meeting of Leeds Independent Labour Network. Ken Coates spoke of his belief in a just and equitable society based on socialist principles.
The Labour Party, much as at any time in its history, was threatened by the forces of the right-wing, in the interests of the rich and powerful. It was resolved to establish a Leeds group of the ILN. It will hold regular campaign and planning meetings, public meetings and social events, produce a newsletter, set up a website, and begin a supporters drive.
Other groups have been set up in Hull and Doncaster and in other parts of the country. It is intended to establish a regional network and planning is underway for a national meeting of local representatives.
Many members of the Labour SOLIDARITY CANT WAIT LET THE TAMESIDE WOMEN!