Thursday 10 December 2015

GLEN HART & CROYDON MOMENTUM

Excellent solidarity demo for Glen Hart yesterday at Clapham Common Tube! (See photos below).

It's a scandal that Glen is being attacked by London Underground management - but it's a great and lasting credit to his union, the RMT, who are backing him so consistently. Glen is an excellent trade unionist who loves his work.

London Underground would show themselves in much better light if they abandoned their vindictive (and totally unsupportable) action against Glen.

LU’s case against Glen is totally unsupportable and without foundation. However, until they see sense, union and political pressure on them will surely grow.
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Good news comes from an excellent Croydon Momentum meeting on Tuesday evening. Friendly and inclusive, the initial discussions are now underway to support and defend Corbyn’s Labour Party.

An underlying theme of all contributions was the need to positively present Corbyn’s policies and what he is trying to achieve. There will be no truck with the campaign of Labour's right-wing - largely sustained through the press because they have so little support on the ground.

A top issue was, needless to say, the Syrian bombing campaign, shamefully supported by 66 Labour MPs. Steve Reed's astonishing decision to ABSTAIN on the bombing campaign vote was discussed. His non-vote followed, as we understand it, a mysterious questionnaire he emailed to constituents - the results of which have not been revealed.

Also covered was the coming budgeting meetings of Croydon’s right-wing Labour council. The Council's policies will increasingly be challenged and key council meetings will be lobbied - and more so as we approach council elections in 2018.

Work will be done on this in conjunction with Croydon Assembly (an initiative of Croydon Trades Council).

All those in attendance, which included Labour Party members, TUSC supporters and others, will be building the fightback for a Labour Party worthy of the name.

Future meetings will be held on the second Tuesday of each month.

Meanwhile, ex-Labour MPs like Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling further expand their bank balances by finding work respectively with Pimco (a global investment firm) and Morgan Stanley (a global investment bank).

No picket lines for them! Who are the REAL "entryists" into the Labour Party?


Friday 4 December 2015

WHAT NEXT? THINGS ARE MOVING FAST!

Sixty seven so-called Labour MPs voted to add “our” bombs to the rest of them falling on Syrian people.

Needless to say, the despicable Skully and Brake added their votes towards escalating the Middle East conflicts.

Croydon North's New Labour Steve Reed, principled as ever, abstained! On an issue as important as bombing another country, Reed abstains!

The less said about Croydon's two other social-climbers, the better.

Glen Hart, our candidate for Croydon North last year, has written to Reed following his brave abstention. His angry but measured letter can be found HERE.

And those opposed to escalating the war are depicted as “terrorist sympathisers”!

A cheap jibe from a cheap Prime Minister!

The media (including the craven local "Guardian") frames the debate by implying the bombs will fall only on ISIS !

Our views about terrorism can be found on earlier posts on this site. Unlike cheap politicians, our opposition to terrorism (and to war and to military dictatorships) is consistent and principled.

As for Labour, surely Corbyn must ultimately move against those Labour MPs who voted with the Tories on this. But he has suggested that he’s against deselecting these people. Why?

If due process is followed, why can’t a Labour Party reselect its MP? (However, there is a massive bureaucratic mountain to climb under the New Labour constitution).

As we’ve said in these posts before, Momentum's movement behind Corbyn is an excellent development. But there are now two Labour Parties! Corbyn’s and Tristram Hunt’s!

There is a pro-war Labour Party and a pro-peace Party. A pro-austerity party and an anti-austerity party.

These two parties cannot co-exist for very long. It is already clear that the Right is organising with determination against Corbyn - and what he stands for - with full support from the big business press.

We hope that in the new year TUSC and Momentum, in Croydon and Sutton, can meet up to discuss how we can proceed in harmony towards a Labour Party worthy of the name.

The By-election results have been a great boost for Corbyn and Labour’s left - but Labour Party members must make sure their candidates match up to the heightened expectations.

Momentum should not allow itself (in our humble opinion) to become door knockers and leaflet deliverers for candidates who are not fully behind Corbyn.

Would Momentum seek hard to pull out the vote for Reed, for example?

The year 2018 will be the hundredth anniversary of Labour’s adoption of the famous socialist Clause IV - deleted by Blair. Let’s find a way to bring it back!