Tonight affiliated to the LRC. We regard this as an absolutely fundamental step which will help us re-build and recruit more members. It will also enable us to send out a clear message that our Branch, the largest in the Calder Valley constituency, is not signed up to New Labour policy and that we retain the socialist values which we have stood for ever since we campaigned against Iraq, tuition fees, privatisation, and the other policies which the LRC stands for.I urge other Branch Labour Parties to do the same and our next fund-raiser on Thursday August 6 will give part of the proceeds to the LRC.
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In Yeovil we have often discussed affiliating to the LRC but it was often seen as a divisive issue.
Excellent news!
I think the branch affiliation this week was a very positive and important step.
We've lost some excellent members from Calder in recent months. This is principally because they could not stomach the disgraceful harassment of our former PPC Janet Oosthuysen (which included lies, slurs and manipulation of the press) or the failure of the NEC to support her.
The affiliation sends a message on where we stand collectively on key issues, including that we are against sleaze and that we are for transparency.
I do hope that those activists who have left as a result of Janet's treatment will now consider re-joining us.
Thanks Joan and Andrew for positive comments. Lee, I don't see why affiliating to the LRC would be seen as divisive. Uniting around Labour values is surely a means of achieving the opposite
I’ve been in the Labour Party for nearly 40 years and I’ve seen it steadily infiltrated by right-wingers intent on abandoning the slightest vestige of commitment to socialist principles. They’re everywhere – in Calderdale and other constituencies across the country, in Parliament and in Government. They’ve turned a Labour Government into a Tory Government (B Division).They’ve successfully attacked democracy within the party. They’ve driven hundreds if not thousands of socialists out of the party. My own decision has always been to stay in and fight. It’s our party, not theirs. Well done Calder branch for sticking to socialist principles.
Susan, we are both aware that the LRC stands for something that not all members embrace. That is why it is divisive.
Lee, don't most LP members want to see the banks answerable to those who own them ( ie US), an end to wasting money on nuclear weapons, our transport system back in public hands. And troops brought home from Afghamnistan? Just a few things the LRC "stands for" which surely are in the mainstream of Labour values.
I think you confuse a false perception which some people have of what the LRC is about and what it really IS about which is offering a vision of society which socialists can see as a positive reason for staying with Labour.
Perhaps it would be a good idea to invite an LRC member to your Branch - I think it would be an interesting debate and might also change people's minds......
But isn't giving unqualified support to the Government also divisive?
I'm not really on the LRC wavelength but I can't see anything wrong with doing this if that is the majority view. Clearly those who do not support LRC policies in total should still be allowed to take a full part in the branch
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