The Labour Party National Executive Committee (NEC) meets today to discuss the crisis that is enveloping the party.
On the agenda is the question of whether to call an emergency recall conference – a means for the membership, not bureaucrats, to decide the fate and future of the party. This is the only way of resolving this crisis: to put power in the hands of members.
In advance of today’s NEC meeting, the campaign to demand an immediate recall Labour conference has been busy.
Supporters across the country have been organising online events as part of the Reclaim Democracy Roadshow, bringing together grassroots activists who are looking to fight back against the right wing and their attacks.
These culminated in an inspiring rally last weekend, on Saturday 6 March, with leading figures from across the labour movement speaking about how we can organise to take back control of our party.
“The members should decide, not leaders or fixers or head office,” asserted Richard Burgon MP, opening the rally. Richard was followed by Howard Beckett, assistant general secretary of Unite the Union, who stated that: “It is time to reclaim democracy – to reclaim our Labour Party!”
Sarah Woolley, general secretary of the Bakers, Food, and Allied Workers’ Union (BFAWU) chaired the rally, which saw over 400 people watching live at its peak.
Other speakers included Labour councillor Pamela Fitzpatrick, Streatham MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, and Socialist Appeal editor Rob Sewell. Rob closed the rally with a rousing call to arms, urging comrades to get organised and fight to transform the Labour Party into a vehicle for socialism.
Whatever the Labour NEC decides today, this will not be the end – but only the beginning – of the struggle.
