CLGA: For a cultural revolution on the Labour Left!

 (Motion to LRC AGM 05.09.20 From Tina Werkmann)

This conference notes

1. The Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance, which failed so badly in the February NEC by-election, has once again been resurrected in order to select a slate of six candidates for the October NEC elections. Even some of the 13 organisations involved in the CLGA have complained about the secretive nature of back-room negotiations, the failure to consult members, and the lack of proper political scrutiny of the candidates selected.

2. The two main organisations running the CLGA, the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy and, now to a lesser degree, the ‘new’ Momentum, blocked Jo Bird from being a candidate on the left slate, despite the fact that she was one of the most popular left candidates in the February NEC by-election. She was blocked because she was deemed “too controversial” over her public opposition to the witch-hunt in the Labour movement.

3. The Labour Left Alliance has initiated an open and democratic hustings and ballot campaign for the NEC elections. It has asked all left-wing candidates their views on a range of important political questions: Will the candidate campaign for open selection, for party conference to become sovereign, for the Labour Party to drop its commitment to the IHRA mis-definition of antisemitism, against the implementation of the Board of Deputies’ 10 Pledges etc. The answers have been published online here: https://labourleft.org/labour-party-nec-elections-2020/. The LLA has invited a number of non-CLGA organisations to participate in its ballot to choose the best candidates.

We believe that:

4. The process to select left-wing candidates needs to become democratic, transparent and political. The defeat of Jeremy Corbyn has shown how important it is that left-wing candidates speak out against efforts to further expand the witch-hunt and to drag the Labour Party to the right.

We therefore resolve that:

5. The LRC shall withdraw from the CLGA and encourage other organisations to do likewise, including Jewish Voice for Labour, Red Labour and Momentum.

6. The LRC shall get together with organisations like LLA, JVL and others to formulate a truly democratic, transparent and accountable method to choose left wing candidates in the future - a method which must chiefly be based on the politics of the candidates chosen.

7. In the meantime, the LRC shall participate in the ongoing ballot and hustings campaign of the LLA for this year’s NEC election. As voting only starts on October 19, there is yet time to engage in a more democratic process that takes into account the candidates’ political platforms, their public commitments to fight against the witch-hunt as well as the number of CLP nominations they have received.

Please forward any suggested amendments to this motion along with the names of 10 supporting signatories to:
lrc.conferenceinfo2020@gmail.com

Supported by the following LRC members

Vicky Leverett
Tasib Mughal
Ken Syme
Phil Pope
Kay Lawrence
Dave Hill
Antoinette Magnion
Andy Gunton
Eve Drayton-Hill
Mike Higgins
Giorgio Finella
Tina Werkmann