Networking against Labour's privatisation plans
AS RECENT EVENTS in both Wales and London have convincingly shown, the base of the Labour Party is beginning to rebel against the spin doctoring and control freakery imposed on them by the Millbank Tendency and Downing Street.
Having accepted all the arguments, all the expulsions, all the erosion of democracy within the party, supposedly in the interests of achieving office, traditional Old Labour is now starting to question whether the price demanded has been too high.
They did not join the Party to support the policies being pursued by Blair's government, particularly over privatisation, but in a myriad of other policy areas as well. Whether their essentially disorganised and leaderless rebellion is too little, and too late, only time will tell.
In the meantime the left in the Party is beginning to regroup its depleted forces and in the process is finding some unlikely allies. It was in this context that the Network of Socialist Campaign Groups recently held its Annual General Meeting in Sheffield.
Responding to criticism that previous AGMs had allowed insufficient time for debate on motions, the organisers had allocated the bulk of the day to discussion of motions submitted by Network supporters, apart from an upbeat introduction from Alan Simpson MP and a contribution from a local woman trade unionist.
The Network established two key priorities for the coming year.
The central policy issue facing all of us, whether inside or outside the party, is the drive to privatisation, affecting areas as diverse as the London Underground, air traffic control, council housing, and perhaps most bizarrely, local education authority functions in places like Leeds. And not to be forgotten is the plethora of Private Finance Initiative schemes multiplying like bindweed in health and education. The Network agreed to link up with trade unions and local campaigns in opposing all privatisation proposals.
The second key priority identified by the Network AGM for the coming year is a campaign against the continuing erosion of democracy in the Labour Party.
When the Labour Co-ordinating Committee produced a pamphlet at the 1996 Conference, "New Labour: a stakeholders' party", proposing the abolition of constituency parties, and the replacement of the annual conference by an American style convention-rally, most people thought the proposals to be the unattainable aspiration of a slightly mad fringe group.
However, conference has already been gutted, and the groundwork for the replacement of CLP General Management Committees is currently being laid by a consultation document, "21st Century Party". GMCs will be replaced by forums open to all members in the constituency, overseen by a small unaccountable Executive.
Masquerading under the usual pretence of "modernisation", these proposals will end the involvement of trade unions at local level (which may well be to the liking of the barons at trade union headquarters), and end the ability of branches to influence constituency matters.
The AGM consequently agreed to work with the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy in publicising the implications of the proposals to as many party members as possible. To this end, material will be rapidly circulated to all supporters of the Network.
Other topics considered by the meeting included Ireland, the Livingstone campaign and the protests against the Millennium Round of the World Trade Organisation.
On Ireland, a resolution was agreed welcoming the Good Friday agreement, calling for public enquiries into the murders of Robert Hammill and Rosemary Nelson, calling for the dismantling of the RUC, and supporting the aims and objectives of the Friends of Ireland, was perhaps surprisingly, only quite narrowly defeated.
In spite of the loss from the Labour Party of many of the Network's natural supporters, it is clear that the fight to prevent the complete takeover of the party by the Blair machine is not yet over, and that there is still a layer of left-wing activists in the constituencies.
The growing disenchantment with Blair of the old Labour core means that the left is increasingly building alliances to the right, posing the danger of a political drift to the right.
This is reflected in the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance slate for the NEC, which has been drawn up since the Network's AGM.
The list apparently now contains someone who failed to oppose the witch-hunt against Militant and another who regularly voted as a councillor for cuts in local services.
Nevertheless, nominations for Raghib Ahsan, Ann Black, Rosina McRae, Mark Seddon, Christine Shawcroft and Pete Willsman should be supported. The deadline for nominations is April 7.