Kinnock cracks down
By KEVIN FLACK THE Labour Party National Executive Committee declared open warfare socialists within its own ranks.;
Its recent decision to proceed with disciplinary action against 15 Militant supporters from Liverpool comes as part of a mounting - though admittedly unco-ordinated - series of witch hunts against socialists across the country. The 16 accused are to be called before an NEC "hearing" - but anyone who thought the Liverpool inquiry anything but a kangaroo court is rather naive to say the least.
As Eric Heffer pointed out after the NEC meeting on the BBC's Newsnight programme, when the Enquiry was set up. it was going to investigate alleged improprieties from behaviour to corruption and criminal offences: with this kind of motivation, securing the backing of the soft leit was easier. Eric pointed out. if the disciplinary action las been proposed because of the minor constitutional Irregularities that were found, why is it proposed to take this action against only some of the District Party officers?
That Michael Meacher and Audrey Wise voted for the inquiry but the hearing shows an incredible lack of understanding of the way the righ wing operates. No one should have any illusions that the "hearing" pulsions - Including those of elected Councillors.
Militant have a strong enough base in Liverpool to make the expulsions meanIngless and incapable of implementation. They also have the chance to build a broad-based campaign against the witch-hunt nationally with organisations and individual socialists within the Party.
It is likely. however, that they will prefer to use the capitalist courts - like they are doing in Stevenage and Carporary success through the (remember it failed at the time of the expulsion of their Editorial Board) is no victory in the labour movement. High Court battles between highly lawyers are no substitute for mobilisation within the Party and the Unions.
To call on the Tory Courts to settle a dispute within the movement is like calling in management 1o recruitment dispute between unions in a workplace. exposing the total failure of British Courts to uphold any real justice for the working class as we miners' strike, rather than appealing to them for help.
It would be easy, however, to denounce the use of the courts and then sit
Soft left cracks up as has on was unconstitutional even Heffer We must not do that. pace. Left Co-ordination. Labour aginst SVI0) and the fightback against it. will lead to ex- Labour loses control of the other its present mess! committed to defending widespread purge Council paid in Liverpool are quite clear: expelled "any settle main the official Labour candidate: two We should be as in Birmingham): did during the the policies it is run on elected mittee branches:
LABOUR....BOUR back and watch the witch-hunt gather
Working through the umbrella group of the left,
Tand its publication Witch Hunt News, Socialist elections: Viewpoint is helping to raise awareness of the extent of the witch hunt (see
Tor CLP.
The NEC under Kinnock's guidance have shut down the Liverpool District TGWU | Labour Party until after the May Council elections. On top of the recent Old Swan Liverpool by-election defeat, and the proposed expulsion of such leading Council figures as Derek Hatton, this shows that Kinnock is working to ensure
Council to the Liberal-Tory coalition that put it in
The last thing he wants to see elected is either a Labour Council committed to fighting the Tories or a Labour Council
Militant. A of Militant supporters will be much easier once they have lost the influence that comes with holding leading positions on Liverpool
The tactics to be adopted by the left
Councillor or Council candidate standing in May should re*expelled Councillors should remain part of the Labour Group (as Amir Khan Labour •the election campaign - particularly
- should be determined by either the District Labor Party continuing to meet. or by a com-
from each of the Socialist Viewpoint No. 11 March 1986 p9
U LABOUR 85
*the full time organisers that are to be brought in to replace the District Labour Party should not be allowed any control over the publicity put out during the
*no expulsions of individual members should be recognised by their branches
Attacks on Liverpool's GMBU and
union branches - merely because Militant have won a majority in most of them - should be resisted throughout those unions and not be allowed to remain just a Liverpool matter. Underlying the attempts to restructure the Liverpool District Labour Party is the attempt to reduce the influence of the trade unions - in many cases. the very people who are working to implement the Council's policies (so much for workers' controll).
The same style of District Labour Party - where trade unions have a direct say in the policy making of the Party -is of course not confined to Liverpool but is common especially in the North of England; it is based on the same principle as the composition of Constituencybased General Committees.
It is no coincidence that the attacks on the trade union input into the District Labour Party formed a major part of the dossier on Liverpool produced by the
Co-ordinating Committee (a TEP Pett amidst denunciations in the
amidst denunciations in its paper Labour Leader that the LCC was supporting a "witch-hunt").
laving lost the arguments within the existing structure. it is only through a drastically altered District Labour Party
The creation of a new right wing leadership
that the one-time left" of the ICC and the forces of the right and centre can hope to gain control of the leadership of the Party in Liverpool.
It is worth restating that the main reason why Kinnock is stepping up the witch-hunt at this time (it is, after all, 3 years since the Militant Editorial Board were expelled) is to silence internal opposition in the run up to the General Election.
That, they hope, will provide room for a peaceful ditching of socialist policies and the real possibility of an alliance with the SDP/Liberals after the Election. Kinnock's statement that Labour will not alter the Tory anti-union laws in any major way and his Wilsonesque outburst last summer that whatever the Party Conference decided over the NUM he would decide what went in the manifesto, both point to this conclusion.
But already the right face the possibility that the witch-hunt might be getting out of control. The response of the press after the Inquiry report to the NEC was: what about the rest? What about Militant's other 7.000 + members? What about Dave Nellist MP and Terry Fields MP? What about other Councillors who are "Just as bad" as Liverpool. like the Manchester Labour Group?
Neil Kinnock may yet find that in trying to satisfy the demands of the press and the local government "old guard" who want to cling to power that he has bitten off more than he can chew.
By BILL PETERS THE swing to the right which has taken place since the defeat of the miners' strike has atfected most parts of the labour movement. The TUC has dropped its opposition to the anti-union laws and shrunk from disciplining the EETPU over its role in Wapping. Many of the individual unions have swung to the right and in the Labour Party Kinnockism has grown and strengthened and witch-hunt against Militant is in full swing.
Although the willingness to light is still present amongst rank and file workers, and strikes are still taking place, this situation is having an el-
fect at shop floor level, particularly amongst local leaderships where the argument that "strike action always fails" — a line handed down from top levels in almost every union - has had an effect.
NUM militant