The Labour Party was founded by the trade unions because the trade unions recognised that the changes in society their members needed could not be achieved by industrial action and negotiation alone. The trade unions joined with the Independent Labour Party, the Fabian Society, and other socialist groups to form the Labour Party.
There has always been tension within the Labour Party between the social democrats who wished to make the present capitalist society less unpleasant, and the socialists who wished to transform society. The social democrats could usually veto anything too radical, and the socialists had nowhere else to go. The socialists had to support social democrat proposals because a modest improvement is better than nothing.
In the Blair/ Brown years the Labour Party lost a third of the 1997 Labour voters and 250,000 members, more than half its membership. Many of us see the present leader Sir Keir Starmer and the General Secretary David Evans as seeking to restore “the glory years” of Blair/ Brown.
Labour is losing trade union support. Unite The Union has reduced its subscription to the Labour Party. BFAWU (Bakers, Food, and Allied Workers Union) is actively considering disaffiliation.
Labour is losing members. Labour lost 75,000 members between April 2020 and November 2020. (See Note 1) More people have left the Labour Party since then.
Against the most malevolent, incompetent, and corrupt Tory Government in modern times Labour is not gaining electoral support. Labour HQ is “massaging expectations” for the May 2021 Council elections.
What should a democratic socialist do?
Many Labour Party members are fighting a valiant rearguard action. Their situation is doomed because the next Labour Party Conference will be stitched up by the Right. Constituency Labour Parties, individual delegates, and possibly even small trade unions, will be suspended to ensure that the Right has a majority. David Evans will be confirmed as General Secretary. Whatever changes Evans and Starmer need to secure their position will be approved.
We respect that comrades need to feel that they did all they could.
The big difference between now and the Blair/Brown years is that we socialists are now all in touch through social media. Whether we are in, out, or in transition we respect and communicate with each other.
Once one has left the Labour Party, where does one go? The alphabet soup of revolutionary groups is no more attractive to a democratic socialist than it was before. The groups assembled around former Labour MPs have gained little traction.
Left Labour is being set up as a democratic socialist party. Our current phase is that we are assembling a critical mass to pass a Constitution, register as a political party, and prepare for the next General Election. The Breakthrough Party have registered as a political party. We are friendly with Breakthrough.
Note 1: From “The Week” 23 November 2020 ” “According to figures published by Labour, the party had 552,835 members eligible to vote in its leadership election in April. That figure dropped to 495,961 in the National Executive Committee (NEC) elections two weeks ago.”
To lose 57,000 members in 7 months is unfortunate. The situation is actually worse.
On 24 July 2020 Gurinder Singh Josan tweeted that the General Secretary had just told the NEC that there were 570,000 members. All members who joined by that date would have been eligible to vote in the November NEC elections unless they were in arrears. If 75,000 members were not eligible to vote, it can only be because they had left or were in arrears. If they would not catch up with their arrears to vote in the NEC elections, it is unlikely that they will stay with the Labour Party.
According to Ian Hodson of BFAWU in February 2021, the number of leavers is now over 110,000.
Contact leftlabour@yahoo.com .
LEFT LABOUR 