In recent days, some have accused the LRC of staying silent on the issue of the recent strike action. This is neither a fair nor an accurate portrayal of where leading people within the LRC have been stating their case. John McDonnell's own statement regarding the dispute can also be read on his blog
Friday, 6 February 2009
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3 comments:
No need to be defensive Susan, only speaking for myself, as a member of the LRC I was hoping JM would release a statement earlier as not only would it have given more hope to the strikers, but i think and was proven right, it would be a common sense statement which people on the left could defend, unlike some of the far left ones.
By being late, without an official statement and media presence, the LRC did miss all the media opportunities that it afforded, ones where you could have put your commonsense views across to millions.
People all over the country are now crying out for a voice of decency: about the brutal welfare reforms, about the job losses, including those at royal mail, the anger at the bankers is reaching fever pitch(i don't exagerate) while cynicism about all the main (tory?) parties goes ever higher.
However , if we don't offer a progressive democratric socialist challenge, the danger is this anger will refocus on scapegoats, etc as John says, time is of the essence. Hopefully his powerful statement on the strikes will begin this challenge, I think it is excellent and will with others post it around the blogosphere.
Hi Susan,
I think Frenatics being unfair you have every reason to be defensive. As he said in an earlier posting the LRC 'statement' sounded like the position of one person and the conclusion"the Left needs a progressive position". Thats not a position that's a cry for help.
As for John. Its good that he's finally come out from deep cover. But comments about the need to respond quickly are a little rich from a guy who's taken a week to make up his mind, because that's what he's been doing. Or are we going to accept the guff about 'I wuz busy.' A guy who's still pushing for Leader of the Labour Party should learn to multi-task. You don't get the option to go to ground at the top.
Not exactly waiting for Godot. Just a long Pinteresque pauuuuuse.
Dave Draycott
Actually Dave, John has been putting his constituents first and gathering support for the Heathrow campaign.I don't think that's "guff" - it's what MPs are supposed to do. I think he was just being honest.
The original statement on the LEAP blog was by Andrew Fisher who is a member of the LRC exec .....my only defensiveness is because I'm so busy in Keighley I don't have much time to blog.
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