We publish here a letter from Pamela Fitzpatrick, a Labour councillor in Harrow who was recently suspended as part of the Labour purge, who highlights the hypocrisy and bureaucracy relating to the actions of the Labour hierarchy. “Those found guilty of an abuse of power should be dealt with”.
Whilst the press attention has been on the “dangers” of so-called Trotskyist “entryism”, a number of right-wing groups inside Labour are hard at work preparing to sabotage the Party and undermine Corbyn’s leadership. Momentum, the trade unions, and the whole Corbyn movement need to respond by getting organised and fighting for a bold socialist programme.
A recent London meeting called by the Stop the Labour Purge campaign was attended by several dozen socialists and Corbyn supporters, all furious at the suspensions and expulsions being carried out by the Compliance Unit and the Labour Party bureaucracy. Socialist Appeal supporters, who were present on the platform and in the audience, report on the way forward in fighting the #LabourPurge.
The past couple of weeks have seen an acceleration of the purge against Corbyn supporters and socialists inside the Labour Party, in a desperate attempt to tilt the balance in favour of the Blairite-backed Owen Smith. We publish here statements from three Socialist Appeal supporters and long-standing Labour members who have been recently expelled.
Thousands of Labour members and supporters are likely to be denied a vote in the current leadership election as a result of a new wave of suspensions and expulsions by the Party bureaucracy. Despite such manoeuvres and machinations, however, the latest polling figures indicate that Corbyn is set to gain an even bigger democratic mandate by achieving another landslide victory.
Ballots go out today for the latest Labour leadership election. Despite the best efforts of the Blairites and the Establishment, Jeremy Corbyn is on course to comfortably win the contest – possibly by an even larger margin than last year. This would mark a major blow against Labour’s right-wing MPs. Vote for Corbyn! Fight for socialism!
A number of political donations to a new, shadowy organisation, “Labour Tomorrow”, have recently come to light after being declared to the electoral commission. This organisation, established by prominent Blairites such as Lord Blunkett and Baroness Dean, is another attempt by the right wing to counter the influence of Momentum and of Corbyn’s supporters on the left of the party, and is being touted as the potential organising centre of a split in coming months.
In his latest contribution from a series of hand-wringing articles lamenting the “existential crisis” within the Labour Party, Owen Jones has launched into a completely mistimed critique of Corbyn and the movement around him, full of “despair” about the “terrible plight” Labour faces under Corbyn. Now is not the time to weep, but to offer direction and leadership.
With the new Labour leadership contest well underway, Corbyn is already surging ahead of his only rival – the Blairite-backed Owen Smith. The current Labour leader’s support is most clearly expressed by the huge historic numbers that have already turned out to his campaign rallies in cities across the north of England.
The High Court yesterday rejected the legal challenge from a Labour Party “donor” to keep Jeremy Corbyn off the ballot in the upcoming leadership election. With Corbyn riding high in the polls amongst Labour members and supporters, it seems that the Blairites have run out of options in their strenuous efforts to oust the anti-austerity Labour leader.
Right-wing Labour MPs have now united behind one candidate in their bid to oust Jeremy Corbyn: Owen Smith, MP for Pontypridd. In a bid to distance himself from the hated Blairites, Smith has stated that he is “just as radical as Jeremy Corbyn”. Josh Holroyd takes a look at who Smith is and what he really stands for.
We are living in a period of sharp and sudden changes. The decision by Labour’s National Executive Committee to allow Jeremy Corbyn on the ballot for the leadership contest represents another important turning point. The situation in the Labour Party, Alan Woods writes, is now almost certaintly heading for a split.