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Support Labour Left candidates for the CAC and NCC

15167566_363683487310378_6461076300909223024_oLeft Futures is supporting the following candidates for Labour’s Conference Arrangements Committee and National Constitutional Committee, elected later this year. It is of huge importance to the left in the party that we gain control of these bodies, which control the conference agenda and disciplinary procedures, respectively.

The candidates below were selected by the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance, a coalition of organisations on the centre and left of the Labour Party who campaign for democracy and socialist policies within the party, such as the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy. They are also all supported by Momentum, the grassroots network of Jeremy Corbyn supporters. 

Your CLP can nominate candidates for these elections. The papers that the Labour Party head office has sent to CLP secretaries say that each CLP can only nominate one member for the NCC. This is incorrect. CLPs can nominate two members for two places. An email from the head office correcting this is due to be issued shortly.

You can download flyers and read more about the candidates here:

Seema Chandwani

Emine Ibrahim

Billy Hayes

Anna Dyer

 

6 Comments

  1. John P Reid says:

    Billy Hayes is Hardly centre left

    1. Greg says:

      Yes he is.

  2. John Penney says:

    I’m sure I’m not alone , after the “Left Slate ” inclusion of that enthusiastic NEC purge enforcer, Ann Black, last year , to hope that the “smoke filled rooms” from which yet another “Left Slate” has mysteriously emerged, has this time selected candidates who really are solidly pro Corbyn Left Wing .

    It certainly isn’t possible to make a judgement based on the usual vague candidate statements.

    Does anyone know if there is an “Ann Black” type amongst these proposed candidates , or are they all solidly Left gooduns ?

    1. David Pavett says:

      John, The demonisation of individuals as a result of differences is a very unattractive tendency within political activism. Giving people labels like “NEC purge enforcer” to mark them out without the slightest information as to their supposed misdeeds is a case in point. Discussing comrades, even ones with a very consistent and long record of service, in this way is a sure fire way of driving out reasoned discussion.

      Like others I complained about the opaque process by which left slates seem to be drawn up and the lack of information from those candidates themselves. This article and the documents linked go some way to correcting that. It’s not enough but I think we should acknowledge that it is a step in the right direction. I know a bit more about the process and a bit more about what the candidates think than I did a week ago.

  3. John Walsh says:

    Equally, David P, needlessly picking fights with comrades who are clearly on the same side is a “very unattractive tendency within political activism”. I say needlessly as there have been clear examples mentioned on here of the person in question acting in a way that is very unhelpful to the left at this time. Like others in the same situation, commenting on here on this issue is a problem given impending NCC hearings. All I will say is that, for me, there appears to be a problem relating to the “long record of service” that you champion. Namely, a question mark over the willingness of people to embrace change and come to terms with where we are. If I can try and explain how I see it …

    John Penney has provided much useful comment on here on the effects of “neoliberal ideological hegemony”. In particular, these comments have described the ideological cage neoliberalism enforces which traps the self-identifying left within the morass of identity politics, instead of concerning themselves with the central issue of structural economic change. Our post-truth culture can be thought another aspect of the neoliberal hegemony – a very important one for NEC officers as it concerns the extent to which the right has a greater willingness to indulge in ‘alternative facts’, especially facts concerning the alleged conduct of members.

    To provide a hypothetical example, if a member contacted the NEC officer in question about mass suspensions in a CLP it would seem to me to be somewhat remiss to dismiss the right’s new-found manoeuvring tactics under the age old saying “there’s always two sides to an argument”. Not only is this remiss it speaks volumes about the experiential culture of the left, the notion that long serving officers know best.

    Surely, part of the reason there is an urgent call for internal democracy is to enable the Party and the left to adapt to changing circumstances. Hence, for many, there would need to be an open conversation with left slate candidates before people committed to voting for them. It would be fascinating to see how the NEC officer in question performs if that were to happen.

    1. David Pavett says:

      @John W. Not sure that I understand your response. I am not “picking a fight” with John I disagree with personal vilification and I criticised him for that. I fully recognise his useful contributions to debate and have even worked with him on that. Similarly Peter Rowlands and I usually agree but we have disagreed over Labour’s handling of Brexit. Disagreeing in a polite manner is one thing. Personal vilification is quite another. My point went no further than that and I stand by it as something that needs to be said.

      I am strongly in favour of campaigning to improve Labour’s woeful party democracy. I also have nothing against criticising party officers. All I am saying is that criticisms need to be clearly founded on what he/she has said/done rather than wholesale dismissal of the person. If we can’t do that then we will always end up destroying ourselves (there are so many examples).

      I am certainly not relying on a weak “there are always two sides to every question”. I do believe though that if a movement to take Labour to the left ends up treating people like Ann Black as the enemy then were are definitely stuffed.

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