Matt Wrack: we need a workers’ party

Submitted by Anon on 26 September, 2008 - 10:31 Author: Bruce Robinson

Report from The Convention of the Left, meeting in Manchester in parallel to Labour’s conference (20-24 September).

Though the organisers had successfully argued against a debate on links between the unions and Labour, the question of political perspectives for the unions ran through many of the contributions to the trade union session.

Matt Wrack of the FBU said trade unionists needed a political party and that he was worried by a drift towards the North American system where unions just backed whoever promised to do the best for them on specific issues (an approach supported by Mark Serwotka of the PCS at the LRC rally).

Maria Exall from the CWU talked about the need for campaigns to make the bosses pay and for public ownership in the face of the economic crisis. For affiliated unions, the best way to undertake political trade unionism was to “use the link in the proper way” while non-affiliated unions had to use the situation to make the strong case for political involvement.

Pat Sikorski from the RMT made a contribution largely praising everything the RMT had done, while interestingly the SWP speakers had little to say about a political perspective for the unions.

Generally, the Convention aimed to bring together the far left by emphasising “what unites us” and avoiding controversial questions that might disrupt what the central organisers see as the way to overcome the political divisions that have fragmented the left.

The Convention was successful in that the largest weekend plenaries attracted over 200 people. The age distribution and contributions suggested that many had been around the left for a long time. Many sessions seemed to be quite flat, either just campaigns presenting themselves or organised around well worn themes. However the Convention’s success lays a basis for the continuation of the initiative.

A session on international union solidarity heard Wilson Boja talk about the history and campaigns of the left in Colombia, while Nadia Mahmood of the Iraqi Freedom Congress talked about recent workers’ struggles in Iraq, moves towards unity among trade unions there and the Erbil Conference they will be holding early in 2009, which she urged British trade unionists to support actively.

The key question facing the Convention - what it is for and where it is going — was discussed at the last weekend session in the light of a “Statement of Intent” accepted by the Organising Committee. The statement said little practical beyond “resolving to find ways that the left as a whole can co-ordinate action both nationally and locally wherever we can”, “encouraging the development of local left forums, where appropriate” — which is welcome and should be acted on — and holding a “’Recall Event’ on Saturday 29 November at which we will seek agreement to ideas and demands emerging from the Convention.”

The statement was introduced in a knockabout speech by John McDonnell who said “there’s always one tosser who wants to move an amendment” (no amendments were allowed by the organisers), that he admired “the manoeuvres” used by the organisers to get us this far and that given the history of left unity projects, we shouldn’t “fuck it up this time”.

But what is the “it” John McDonnell referred to? Nobody knows including, by their own admission, the central organisers. Trying to avoid controversy means in practice a “live and let live” policy towards existing left organisations and campaigns regardless of their adequacy — something explicit in the Statement of Intent. What is necessary to achieve any lasting advance is to assess and debate the ideas that currently divide us within democratic structures that also allow unity in action.

If the Convention of the Left is to develop into anything more than a few days of discussion, it needs to address the question of how such a framework can come about. This should not be dismissed as a threat to the existing unity of the Convention but rather as the only way a lasting unity can develop. It demands a true democracy rather than “manoeuvres” through which “ideas and demands emerge” from the Convention through a series of filters and exclusions by the organisers.

It is as yet unclear how the 29 November conference will be organised and whether it will be open to organisations and individuals to make proposals to it.

To be effective in developing left unity and to offer a project that can appeal to those in the labour movement looking for an alternative to New Labour, the Recall Conference must:

• Be organised on the most open and democratic basis, allowing input from all supporting indivduals and organisations;

• Have a preliminary discussion on differing perspectives for left unity and the role of the Convention.

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