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found this very disappointing tbh. @OwenJones84, @michaeljswalker & @paulmasonnews are all often fantastic, but this adds up to much less than the sum of its parts. very narrowly focused & very little practical direction out of it for activists
it's a discussion of left strategy between three men all of whose political perspective is focused primarily around the Labour Party, and who all have virtually the same outlook - stay in Labour and challenge Starmer from the left but only gently. really needed some wider voices.
why not include someone from the unions? how do you have a debate on Labour left strategy with no discussion of the politics of Labour's affiliated unions? a central failing of Corbynism was our inability to adequately join up the struggles in the party with those in the unions
the left has just lost the general secretary election in Labour's largest affiliated union, Unison (surprisingly narrowly!) - if we'd won, it would have been far more significant than even reinstating Corbyn. this didn't even warrant a mention!
Unite - which was absolutely integral to Corbynism's limited successes - is currently having its internal elections. the left is split and could well lose. if this happens, it becomes extremely difficult to see how any future victories for the Labour left will be possible
it seems obvious that winning Unite's internal elections ought to be the single most important & urgent immediate priority for the Labour left - yet it wasn't even mentioned! GMB also has important elections coming up (although the left is in a much worse position)
similarly, Momentum, Corbynism's main institutional legacy & the main organisation of the Labour left, is scheduled this year to start a democratic process to completely redefine the purpose, structure, & strategy of the organisation - nobody even thought to mention this!!!
in fact, i'm not sure there was a single mention of *any* organisation of the labour left - what they are doing, what they could or should be doing, what problems they need to resolve
there are tens of thousands of leftists either in labour, adjacent to it, or recently left, who are begging out for direction, for leadership, for strategy, for just *something to do* - and i really don't see what they'll have gotten out of this
we always hear what we're *not* supposed to do - don't leave the party, don't start a new party, don't just moan about "Keith Starmer" on twitter - but people are absolutely sick of hearing this without having a clear & practical positive agenda to work with instead
@paulmasonnews' section on the need for @socialistcam MPs to act as firebrands and mobilisers in the mould of Bevan or Benn was very good, but it was almost the only suggestion for action besides @OwenJones84' very vague calls to push Starmer on policy (how? by what mechanisms?)
there are all manner of extremely difficult and urgent and interesting questions that the Labour left needs to resolve, most of which weren't even touched on - instead all we get is mainly just more Westminster kremlinology
and don't get me wrong - it is extremely good & highly competent Westminster kremlinology. but if all we needed was competent Westminster kremlinology, we'd be reading Stephen Bush in the New Statesman. what's the added value here from three brilliant leftists on a left platform?
there are lots of big questions. what's happening in the affiliated unions? how does it relate to what's happening in Labour? what can we do about it?
what's happening in Momentum? what's its purpose? what direction does it need to move in? what role should it be filling?
what's happening in Momentum? what's its purpose? what direction does it need to move in? what role should it be filling?
what about the other organisations of the Labour left? are they still relevant? how should they relate to one another? have the debacles from previous rounds of the CLGA process finally been resolved?
what should the SCG be doing? how should it relate to the wider movement? what are its weaknesses & limitations and how can they be fixed?
what power does the left have in the party? what are the concrete mechanisms we can use & how far do they go? what can ordinary members do?
what power does the left have in the party? what are the concrete mechanisms we can use & how far do they go? what can ordinary members do?
what are the prospects for a left leadership challenge, either early or after the next election? what's the pathway there and what do we need to be doing now to prepare?
and this is without getting to any questions of how this all relates to the movement beyond just the party.
and this is without getting to any questions of how this all relates to the movement beyond just the party.
the most interesting part of the discussion was @paulmasonnews' claim that elections are won by the tempo & dynamic of the class struggle, not by clever electoral tactics - yet almost the entire discussion was limited just to the clever electoral tactics!
we really need to raise our collective game here! when Corbyn resigned, we inherited a glorified politcal life-support machine & lobbying operation centred around LOTO - and with the loss of its centre, we've just been adrift, rudderless & leaderless for more than a year now
every political discussion for the left really has to start seriously refocusing on the questions of agency - what needs to be done, who is in a position to do anything about it, what concretely can they start doing, how do they need to be organised
this got long enough i probably should have just made it an article, shouldn't i
