Whose money is it, anyway?
This pamphlet, written by Matt Wrack for the Socialist Alliance is a vital tool for all trade unionists as the debate on the political fund opens up in the unions.
As CWU General Secretary addresses the Green Party Conference, and GMB’s John Edmonds says he will give money to the Tories or the Lib Dems if they back the union’s policies, both the SA trade union conference and this pamphlet could not have been more timely.
Wrack charts the miserable record of new Labour, elected to government by thousands of trade unionists desperate for change after the long night of Tory rule, highlighting Byers’ recent description of public sector workers defending jobs and services as "wreckers".
As he argues "over the past decade, the Labour Party has increasingly stolen the initiative from the Tories in courting and granting privilege to big business".
He takes us back to the creation of the Labour Party by the unions at the beginning of the last century, and the history of the political funds themselves – covering aspects of this evolution that are not necessarily familiar to those facing the new debates in today’s conditions.
His conclusion, with which we completely agree, is that we need to fight today to democratise these funds, to break Labour’s monopoly.
Organisations like the SSP and the Socialist Alliance "should have the right to argue their case in front of union members. Similarly Labour should also have the right to argue for support for their candidates and policies. Anyone who has any respect for the intelligence of trade union members should be able to support such a process. Lets have the debate and allow democracy to work".
The final section of the pamphlet is some frequently asked challenging questions about the political fund, with suggested answers.
These are extremely useful because they pose challenges from a variety of different political positions – from those who don’t think political funds should exist at all, to those who think that opening up the funds would mean giving money to the Tories.
This is a valuable resource – every trade unionist, every socialist should read it and use it
Get your bulk copies now from Socialist Alliance, Wickham House, 10 Cleveland Way, London E1 4TR by sending a cheque made payable to Socialist Alliance for £6 for 10 copies – or youcan pay by credit card by ringing 020 7791 3138