03.10.2007

Labour left at sea

Confusion rules after the Labour conference in Bournemouth, writes Dave Isaacson

On Saturday September 29, Hebden Bridge?s Trades Club played host to a national gathering of the Labour left. Held in the wake of the defeats suffered in Bournemouth, this ?alternative conference? was shambolic.

Billed under the optimistic theme of ?21st century socialism?, in reality the meeting consisted of a great deal of soul-searching and head-scratching - though there were a few in the audience displaying blind optimism and loyalty to their Labourite convictions.

But even John Wiseman of Amicus and prospective parliamentary candidate for Westmorland and Lonsdale - the most upbeat speaker of the day - could see the funny side of his attempts to convince a local Socialist Workers Party comrade that he should join the Labour Party. ?It?s all about collectivism,? he explained, saying that, the bigger the organisation you were in, the bigger the difference you make. The whole issue of what politics that organisation might espouse had not escaped him, though.

Holding this ?conference? in Hebden Bridge (whilst being particularly handy for locals like myself) did seem to display a certain eccentricity on the part of the organisers. Whilst it is somewhere with a relatively vibrant Labour left, it is certainly not the easiest of places to get to from far and wide. Even taking this into account, attendance seemed poor to me, with around 50 people in the hall at its busiest. This for an event which had been advertised (admittedly not aggressively) nationally, while earlier in the year we had had around 60 people to an even less accessible venue for a local John for Leader rally. The defeats suffered - first in failing to get John McDonnell onto the ballot paper and now over conference democracy - have clearly taken their toll on the morale and senses of these Labour lefts.

As all the big-name speakers were late arriving, to fill the time we had a discussion on anti-fascist work led off by an activist from the campaigning group, Calderdale Unity, who had stood as a Labour candidate in opposition to the last BNP councillor on Calderdale metropolitan borough council. She briefly described the history of the recent rise in support for the BNP and the local anti-fascist campaign against them, before finishing by posing a number of questions which opponents of the BNP have been debating nationally.

The debate that followed revealed the real lack of consistent principles and any kind of theorisation which passes for politics amongst so many on the Labour left. Numerous speakers mentioned how they favoured votes for the best placed rivals to BNP candidates, irrespective of which party they were from, in order to keep (or kick) the BNP out. Some correctly noted that one of the reasons the BNP has made so many gains is because it is seen (however wrongly) as offering an alternative to the rotten policies of these mainstream parties - including the New Labour government.

But the common sense response from so many was that they can?t go around knocking on doors asking people to vote Labour, and at the very same time criticise the government. An absolutely shameful phrase that was brought up by Hebden Bridge councillor Susan Press, and Halifax MP and Campaign Group member Linda Riordan, was that in relation to Gordon Brown and the government we must act as ?critical friends?!

Almost alone in distancing themselves from this crap were those (some open, some not so open) members of the various Marxist groups operating within the Labour Party. A Socialist Appeal comrade remarked that it is no good canvassing for people to vote Labour if the Labour council has sold off all the council housing. Thankfully former Halifax MP Alice Mahon also said that the left cannot keep quiet about its differences with the government and that they must talk about issues like Iraq, where they differ so much from the leadership.

However, she kind of spoiled it for me by calling on everyone there to write ?Dear Gordon? letters on Iran. If Labour candidates are to be supportable by socialists in elections then they need to put themselves on a war footing with the government - become the mortal enemies of Brown, not ?critical friends? or pen pals.

Brian Caton, general secretary of the Prison Officers Association, was one of those to address the meeting before the arrival of the man everyone was waiting for, John McDonnell. Caton gave a militant speech recounting the recent unofficial action that POA members had taken. He claimed he wanted to shift the union to the left, that they would take strike action again if necessary, and that he was appalled that ?we have more black people in our prisons than in our universities?. He said he thought that the POA was the first union to throw BNP members out and if the courts wanted to challenge that, ?I say, ?Bring it on!?? While he did argue that we ought to have a say in who should not be held in our prisons, it was clear from his speech that he failed to see that the job prison officers do is in essence different from the jobs other workers do.

Finally John McDonnell took the platform to lead a three-hour question and answer session. The central core of what John had to say was very similar to comments he made in his recent Morning Star article (September 29). During his campaign for the Labour Party leadership comrade McDonnell always came across as being very clear in his understanding of where he stood in relation to his party organisationally, and argued forcefully for others to join, or rejoin, the party in order to build the left and win the party for socialism. This clarity of purpose is all gone now. The strategy he now proposes is a highly eclectic one.

He said that there were two significant events at the Labour conference in Bournemouth: Brown?s speech, which shattered any illusions that he might be more progressive than Blair; and the closing down of democratic decision-making at the Labour Party conference - a ?qualitative difference?. He also remarked that ?the old strategy? had failed, that the left could not rely on the unions. On this question Alice Mahon said, ?Don?t forget the power of patronage?, reminding us of Lord Bill Morris, and said that we should not be surprised to see Sir Derek Simpson or Sir Tony Woodley in the future.

Despite his talk of a ?qualitative difference? McDonnell himself appears to have no immediate plans to up sticks and found a Labour Party mark two. He knows the risks. What left project looks viable at the moment? The Scottish Socialist Party, Solidarity, the Socialist Labour Party, the Campaign for a New Workers? Party are all dead in the water. And unlike someone who only reads Socialist Worker, McDonnell is well aware of the crisis enveloping Respect.

Yet, while he is staying put for the moment, he made no call for others to join him in the Labour Party. When the issue was raised from the floor, he remarked that that particular discussion ?bores the arse off me?. If comrades were ?comfortable? working within the Labour Party and that helped them to intervene in broader movements - working ?within and without? - then he was happy, but he was not about to pressurise anyone to join, leave or stay.

Comrades from the Alliance for Workers? Liberty seemed at a complete loss as to whether they could carry on working in the Labour Party or not if Brown continued to gut the party of any democratic space. The leaflet they issued asserted that ?Brown?s plan has epoch-defining import? and, speaking from the floor, long-standing AWLer Bruce Robinson said we have two years to ?mobilise to overthrow the changes to conference?. But he then seemed to question his own assertion when he asked forlornly, ?When is the point when it is no longer right to fight in the Labour Party??

Comrade McDonnell?s main stress was that everyone should get involved with the campaigning work of various movements (environment, asylum rights, trade unionism, etc) in a non-sectarian and non-patronising way. Indeed his closing comment was that ?The most important thing is just to get out there and campaign.?

As far as the Labour Representation Committee was concerned, John argued that there was still a role for it, both in campaigning within the Labour Party and in organising the Labour left to involve itself in the ?movements?. He talked of the LRC holding its annual conferences in the week before the official Labour ones in order to shame them. The LRC would display its democracy and relevance by opening its doors to all non-Labour Party activists.

He also seemed to see 2009, and the review of the recent changes to conference that will take place then, as being a moment that Labour lefts should campaign towards, and also perhaps some kind of acid test. For what, I am not sure.