Lewis Griffiths, the official left candidate for Wales representative in the upcoming Young Labour elections, explains why Young Labour needs to become a rallying point for workers and students looking to fight the Tories and capitalism’s crises.
Capitalism has entered the worst crisis in its history. Despite this, the capitalist class continues to inflate its already-nauseating reserve of wealth. On the other side, after a decade of austerity, the working class and young people are being forced to foot the bill for this crisis.
Seeing this injustice all around them, many young people are rightly taking direct action against a system that is fundamentally rigged against their interests. We have seen huge energetic protests by the youth during the climate strikes, the Black Lives Matter movement, and most recently against the government’s classist approach towards A-level results.
All of these are a sign that a new generation of workers and students won’t stand for anything other than a complete system change.
We urge young Labour members in Wales to nominate Lewis Griffiths (membership no. L1766214) for the Young Labour Wales representative position, and to vote for him in the upcoming YL elections.
Beacon
This highlights why we need a clear socialist leadership – one that is ready and willing to channel this enormous energy into overthrowing capitalism and transforming society along socialist lines.
Under a radical and militant leadership, Young Labour (YL) has the potential to play an important role in this, acting as a beacon to young workers and students seeking real socialist change.
The upcoming elections to the YL national committee provide an opportunity for young activists to forge such a leadership. We call on young Labour members to support the Momentum slate in the YL elections, where I will be standing for the position of Wales representative.
Thirst
To select this left-wing slate, Momentum organised primary elections earlier this year. I ran in these as part of the Marxist Voice for Young Labour platform, alongside six other Socialist Appeal supporters.
We – the Socialist Seven – ran a bold campaign, presenting a clear socialist programme, and calling for a militant opposition to the Tories and Labour right wing. Using our campaign, we raised socialist answers to questions such as the fight against racism, the housing crisis, and the battle against the right wing inside the Labour Party.
FIGHT RACISM WITH SOCIALISM!
Our comrade Fiona Lali explains how the Labour party must link up with the popular ferment against a system that is racist at its root. We must be unapologetically socialist and fight for real material change. pic.twitter.com/Sfsp3wHYzb— Marxist Voice for Young Labour (@MarxistVoice4YL) August 26, 2020
As well as winning the Wales representative contest in these primaries, our platform received strong support throughout the campaign. This clearly indicates the thirst for revolutionary demands amongst young activists.
Opportunity
The YL elections are taking place at the same time as the vote for the Labour NEC. Both of these contests represent an important opportunity for the Labour left – in the fight against Keir Starmer’s rightward turn, and to win back control of the party.
Under Starmer, saboteurs are being paid off; Blairite careerists are being promoted; Tory-lite policies are being pushed in Parliament; the Black Lives Matter movement is being ignored; and no serious opposition is being provided to Boris Johnson’s disastrous government.
In Wales, Welsh Labour leader Mark Drakeford has welcomed Keir Starmer’s leadership. Quietly falling in line, Welsh Labour has consistently and constantly enforced the same cuts and austerity demanded by Westminster for years. This must change.
Socialism
Young Labour – in Wales and throughout the UK – must become a rallying point in the fight against Starmer and the right wing. But to do this, we must enthuse grassroots activists by adopting bold and militant socialist policies.
For this reason, if elected as YL Wales representative, I will push for Young Labour to support policies such as: open selection for all Labour MPs and councillors; for all elected Labour representatives to take only an average worker’s wage, in order to root out careerism; nationalisation of the largest 200 monopolies, under workers’ control and management; providing decent jobs and a living wage for all; abolishing tuition fees; opposing imperialist wars; and linking up with the rank-and-file of the trade unions, ending the anti-trade union laws, and supporting workers who take industrial action.
It is only through policies such as these that can Young Labour offer an alternative to the millions of young people seeking revolution change.
Help build a socialist leadership! Fight for socialism, in the labour movement and on the streets! Join Socialist Appeal – the Marxist voice of Labour and youth!
