WHAT'S LEFT OF THE PARTY.......

The chances are that I will go to my grave as a Labour Party member. I have lost count of the number of times in the last few years I have defended my ongoing membership and urged people a) not to leave b) to re-join or c) join the LRC.
Unlike many on the Labour Left, I did attend Labour Party Conference ( some of it) but it would be an utter lie to pretend I found it an enjoyable experience. A resolution we had worked hard on to get onto the agenda was effectively killed by our "Real Labour" trade union leaders and the rest was an endless stream of Ministers and hand-picked speakers .
The real debates were over the road at the Convention Of The Left. Knocked by some as a "talking shop" but in terms of comradeship and debate an experience far more gratifying than the insular bubble of Manchester Central.
There are some within our Party who seem to think we should not engage with socialists outside our comfort zone. That it's a waste of time trying to find common ground with progressives who do not share our urge to try and re-claim the Labour Party . That is a position I have no time for and frankly do not understand.
But Let me make one thing absolutely clear.
I do not think a new Left Party is the way forward. I think the LRC still has a valuable role to play carrying on its often thankless work aiming to change the structures, widen democracy and get socialsim back on the Party's agenda. But I also think the LRC CAN do far more than that. #
My union, the NUJ, is not ( and will not) affiliate to Labour or any other Party but it IS part of a new alliance - the Trade Union Co-ordinating Group - led by LRC members which has an invaluable role bringing together radical voices who do not kow-tow, roll over and die at every given opportunity while proclaiming their "Real Labour " roots.
It will also, I hope, give us all the opportunity to campaign on the issues which unite us and support a programme of change to protect people currently facing the prospect of a desperate recession.
The collapse of the New Labour neo-liberal consensus is not a time to turn inward and become sectarian, nor is it time to march out of the Labour Party. But it IS an opportunity to look putward and build what alliances we can to fight together with people disillusioned by the status quo.
The new apetite for radical change is also an opportunity to build the LRC nationally and campaign up and down the country wherever we can.
So, yes, I will be going to the LRC AGM. I will also be going to the Recall Conference called by the Convention Of The Left which will debate the current crisis we face.
And I will still be trying to bring in people locally to the Labour Party though God knows the machinations of the NEC and vicious campaign waged by some of our "comrades" against our PPC makes this a pretty dispiriting business at the moment.
In short, I am not giving in.
In the past year I have spent much time traipsing backwards and forwards to London for National Committee meetings ( four hours each way from Hebden Bridge) .I've convened fringe meetings, helped launch the West Yorkshire LRC and frankly worked bloody hard instead of whingeing about things and doing nothing. I would like to think the contacts I have made and the work I have done in 32 years of Labour Party membership and 20-odd years as an NUJ activists also equip me somewhat for a very difficult task - helping build the LRC into a truly national organisation. And that is why I will be asking for support and standing as Vice-Chair of the LRC.