Labour's NEC Election Results Demonstrate We Can Win
The election of my old friend Walter Wolfgang to Labour's National Executive Committee demonstrates the large majority that there is within the Labour Party's rank and file for candidates not just of the Left but also those that are opposed to war and opposed to nuclear weapons.
There are thousands of party members who are willing to use their votes in party elections to voice their concerns about the way in which Tony Blair has implicated a Labour Government in George Bush's military adventures in the Middle East.
I will be speaking at the Stop the War demonstration on Saturday calling for an immediate ceasefire in both the Lebanon and Gaza but also damanding that Tony Blair be recalled to Parliament to be held accountable for his failure to work with others to secure peace in Lebanon. I hold Tony Blair to account for the tragic loss of life in both Lebanon and Palestine. His failure to seek an immediate ceasefire and to support the Bush strategy has contributed to the significant loss of civilian lives and is unforgiveable. The failure of cabinet members to publicly demand a change of policy is equally a failure of nerve.
Saturday's demonstration will give voice to the anger at the failure of the British Government and will also allow the voice of the majorirty to heard.
There are thousands of party members who are willing to use their votes in party elections to voice their concerns about the way in which Tony Blair has implicated a Labour Government in George Bush's military adventures in the Middle East.
I will be speaking at the Stop the War demonstration on Saturday calling for an immediate ceasefire in both the Lebanon and Gaza but also damanding that Tony Blair be recalled to Parliament to be held accountable for his failure to work with others to secure peace in Lebanon. I hold Tony Blair to account for the tragic loss of life in both Lebanon and Palestine. His failure to seek an immediate ceasefire and to support the Bush strategy has contributed to the significant loss of civilian lives and is unforgiveable. The failure of cabinet members to publicly demand a change of policy is equally a failure of nerve.
Saturday's demonstration will give voice to the anger at the failure of the British Government and will also allow the voice of the majorirty to heard.
posted by John at 12:09 AM
20 Comments:
I expect Tony will be on an aeroplane long before the march starts. See you in Hyde Park.
www.stopwar.org.uk
Congratulations to Walter and all on the left of the British Labour Party from your Irish comrades. Best of luck to John in his campaign - from Dermot ( Irish Labour Youth; http://www.labouryouth.ie )
If you are going on the demo tomorrow it says on the Stop the War Coalition website to bring children's shoes to lay on the cenotaph on Tony Blair's doorstep to remind him of the children losing their lives in the conflict. It makes me cry just ti think that we are having to do this to try to bring Tony Blair to his senses but that's the situation we are now in, we have to keep banging away until he can be replaced by a leader with some humanity.
I also reckon that we should point out that every person on the march will represent about four or five others who couldn't make it e.g. because they are looking after children or are housebound or have some other unadvoidable commitment especially as it obviously hasn't been planned months in advance.
What is concerned here is not the morale of masses, whose attitude is unimportant so long as they are kept steadily at work, but the morale of the Party itself.
Even the humblest Party member is expected to be competent, industrious, and even intelligent within narrow limits, but it is also necessary that he should be a credulous and ignorant fanatic whose prevailing moods are fear, hatred, adulation, and
orgiastic triumph.
In other words it is necessary that he should have the mentality appropriate to a state of war. It does not matter whether the war is
actually happening, and, since no decisive victory is possible, it does not matter whether the war is going well or badly. All that is
needed is that a state of war should exist.
The splitting of the intelligence which the Party requires of its members, and which is more easily achieved in an atmosphere of war, is now almost universal, but the higher up the ranks one goes, the more marked it becomes. It is precisely in the Inner Party that war hysteria and hatred of the enemy are strongest. In his capacity as an administrator, it is often necessary for a member of the Inner Party to know that this or that item of war news is untruthful, and he may often be aware that the entire war is
spurious and is either not happening or is being waged for purposes quite other than the declared ones: but such knowledge is easily neutralized by the technique of doublethink.
Meanwhile no Inner Party member wavers for an instant in his mystical belief that the war is real, and that it is bound to end victoriously, with Oceania the undisputed master of the entire world.
Eric Blair, 1949
I quite agree John, the election of our comrades to the NEC is a sign that members want their party back from the New Labour brigade. Everyday brings fresh hope and renewed vigor to your campaign.
Jonathan Millins
Equalities Officer
Kent Labour Students
hhtp://comradejohnny.blogspot.com
Any delay in ratification of the resolution could result in extension of the land already taken. The ceasefire cannot hold if the southern Lebanese cannot return to their homes, I hope that the security council include withdrawal in the terms.
The Labour Party website lists the successful NEC candidates in alphabetical order with no hint of the number of votes each one received. If I was terribly cynical, I'd say it was to disguise the fact that Grassroots Alliance candidates came first, second, third and, er, fourth. Well done!
The full results were:
Ann Black 19491 ELECTED
Christine Shawcroft 17974 ELECTED
Pete Willsman 15759 ELECTED
Walter Wolfgang 14129 ELECTED
Peter Wheeler 13961 ELECTED
Ellie Reeves 13850 ELECTED
Mohammed Azam 13435 (GA)
Lorna Fitzsimons 13093
Bill Thomas 12830
Gaye Johnston 12498 (GA)
Helen Jackson 11443
Louise Baldock 11118
Azhar Ali 10493
Philomena Muggins 7982
Naz Sarkar 7303
Mehboob Khan 5567
Ballot papers distributed 178889
Ballot papers received 36316
Spoilt ballot papers 400
Emma
Ballot papers distributed 178889
Ballot papers received 36316
Unbelievable! Due to an administrative cock-up, partially my fault for renewing late, I didn't receive any ballot papers. To think that so many went unused....are these numbers accruate?
Yes, Curlew, these figures are right. Ann Black's winning score was below the bottom score in 1999. Last year, turnout was 22%, this year 20%. You can find past NEC results on Ann Black's website, here: http://www.annblack.com/nec_election_results.htm
Where were these results obtained from?
Yes, the fact that less than 20% of the party are 'members [that] want their party back from the New Labour brigade'rather dampens on your parade, no?
If the self-proclaimed 'left' continues to be as intellectually bankrupt as John McDonnell, it only has itself to blame for its ineffectiveness.
The low turnout just shows how much people have lost faith in New Labour - even its own party members cant be bothered to vote NL in the NEC elections - because New Labour are not doing anything for them.
John's campaign shows there is a reason for staying and fighting in labour.
And yes taking the top 4 seats is a good sign for the J4L campaign!
If less than 20% of the membership voted for the left in the NEC elections then clearly we need to engage with our members more - something the J4L campaign is doing!
Unlike New Labour who are just alienating them more and more each day and pushing even NL members to the 'left'
johnny,
These figures were in an email I received from Ann Black. Ann sends regular email reports to interested Labour party members. You can contact her via her website: www.annblack.com
steve,
It's the first time I've heard us described as intellectually bankrupt. We're usually accused of spending too much time reading Das Kapital. :-)
I agree with marshajane that many members have become so disillusioned that they aren't actively involved - to the point of not even bothering to vote for the NEC. John's campaign needs to change that and encourage those who've left the party to re-join and join in.
Emma
'New Labour are not doing anything for them'? Perhaps you should try visiting some of our poorer communities and ask how child tax credits, sure start centres, and properly funded NHS services are not doing anything for them.
There is plenty of scope for fighting for what you believe in within the Labour Party without tacking your beliefs to some egomaniac who is more intent on splitting his party than working with it.
Labour has an opposition - it's call the tories. People on this forum - and John McDonnell in particular - may do well to remember that before they form their own.
Steve I live in one of your "poorer communities" in east london and have been working with NEET kids all week (not in employment education or training) tell me what have NL done for them? New Deal with its route into Mcjobs!
As for properly funded NHS services? are you having a laugh yes its good that money has been ploughed in - but its been completly wasted and taken up by managers and private companies - rather than being spent on frontline staff and patients. Have you seen how many people are taking strike action because of job cuts and cuts in funding the latest was announced today NHS logistics (see http://www.unison.org.uk/ )
NL could have and should have done much better for "poorer communities" which is why we need John4 Leader to rectify that.
Perhaps you shoulld "visit" some of our poorer communities talk to us and see what we think rather than patronising from mount high.
In celebration of Walter Wolfgang's stunning success, we've produced Che Wolfgang t-shirt for supporters to wear at conference and other left events. Have a look:
www.ur-che.co.uk
Good luck John and hope to hear you speak in Manchester.
John,
Just found your website. Good to see that someone is prepared to take on New Labour.
I remember when there was a lot of angst relating to Militant Tendancy. We rightly expelled those who seemed to be determined to pervert an destroy the Labour Party. I fear that we are again locked in a battle to save the Party, this time against the abomination that calls itself New Labour. Tony Blair has proved time and timw again that he prefers the accolade of the Right Wing American Republicans than he does the support of the Democratic Socialists that are the core of the Labour Party. For Tony, its time to go. I am delighted that someone has the courage to stand against New Labour and those who created this corruption of our beliefs.
You have got my support!
There's the AWL as well of course! ;o)
how about a rout out the Blairites campaign! It's ironic that things have turned full circle politically since the Militant purge.
Well Steve I'll attempt to address your doubts: the trouble with New Labour policies such as the New Deal and Sure Start is that they leave many gaps in that some of us could benefit from them but are excluded from using them. Let me give you my own example: I have two kids and am married to someone with an income high enough that I am not allowed any JSA unless I divorce him and I don't live in a Sure Start area and I'm not under 25 so I don't qualify for the New Deal. I only get £20 a week towards childcare from tax credit so I can't work even part-time until I can find a professional wage again, yet my JSA ran out in 2002! My JSA adviser once tried to get me to return to working for the Immigration service where I had a case against them with PCS as I was bullied and I had been signed off sick due to the shift work giving me bad migranes (this was before the working time directive came in and the hours I had to do were all over the place, earlies, lates and nights all mixed together in the same week which takes it toll on you after a while as it's so irregular).Then my JSA adviser I had at that time once tried to get me to go back there but I don't think they would have taken me back to that dept with that history. (I had to drop the case as I hadn't been there long enough for a tribunal under the old legislation), but that is the poor quality of advice I was being given at the jobcentre.I couldn't be forced to go back as I don't qualify for New Deal. Apologies to job centre staff who I'm sure are not all like that I think it's just difficult for them when people don't fit into categories. Now that I have children I once explained that I can't just work in a low wage job to pay off my student debts as I can't afford childcare and if my husband paid we'd be worse off to a job centre worker I stood at the bus stop with , he listened and then said I should get a job in a shop! At five pounds an hour?! I would end up in minus after childcare and maybe bus fare! A friend of mine who lives in a Sure start area is "taking full advantage" quite rightly yet if I want a few hours in the day to fill out job apps etc I have to pay for childcare until the child is two and a half when the free mornings at playgroup/nursery kick in, this was a new Labour achievement so it's better than the Tories would do of course but I'm still stuck between a rock and hard place. The former communist countries of Eastern Europe had free universal childcare in Poland apparently you could have it from 6am till five so most women did work though it was not compulsory. New Labour have targeted help towards the poorest families in some ways of course but I'm sick of it being assumed that I can be a working Mum if I want to when the truth is I can't afford to and I can't pay off any debts until I find a professional job with a but bigger pay packet again which I can fit round a baby and a five year old. Basically the rest of us are saddled with the most horrendous debt crisis and the gap between rich and poor has widened instead of closed. The debt situation is as bad as all the redudancies that we suffered under Thatcherism - I've never been in credit since before I became a student in 1991! I don't owe that much compared to some of todays' graduates and we managed to get a mortgage when I was still working as my husband had worked a few years by then but I never thought I would have to have my children while still in debt and although I could usually pick up some temping between jobs it is another fallacy that this is well paid unless perhaps you are an IT specialist or similar, not for normal admin jobs and sometimes you get laid off with one day's notice if they've employed too many temps for example. My father-in=law was absolutely astounded as to how much as a proportion of our income we actually have to pay towards housing, it's a much greater percentage than in his day. I could go on and on in this vein but I'll spare you any more complicated details but just to say that when you look deeper into some of New Labour's apparent successes you will find that they do not benefit people universally - on a simple level what good is six new hositals when ten have suffered closure as I was reading today (can't think where for the moment....).Also my situation is realtively good compared to many other families I know, one with three kids where the Dad is a builder and the Mum a part-time carer are not getting the benefits they are entitled to of there is no building work for a week as happens sometimes as it's far too complicated to claim from differnt offices JSA, housing benefit and tax credit etc just for odd weeks yet they still have to pay rent and food. On Friday I looked after two extra children just so the divorced Mum could do an ironing job for an hour and a half as it's school holidays. There is a wraparound day care centre at the school but it is private not publicly subsidised and so most of us can only afford to use it on odd days such as if you need to go for a job interview of to a funeral etc as it's twenty odd pounds a day for each child.I live in a relatively well-off area but that dosen't mean there aren't people on benefits etc in it and we're also suffering from cuts at the local hospital (Wycombe) due to NHS privatisation. I was there last night as my son had concussion, the staff were excellent of course but some of the beds are being transferred to Stoke Mandeville miles away, I can't yet drive so my husband had to drive me and the baby home ten minutes to Marlow after the doctor's visit at 9.30 pm and then returned to stay the night with the five year old, if it had been Stoke Mandeville it would have been midnight before he got back yet the special care cots and maternity and possibly now A and E are going there despite the fact that it's so far away from our end of Bucks along a bad road that it's already been predicted that there will be tragedies even if they run more ambulances...65 people also recently died from an infection not EColi but similar that went round at Stoke Mandeville as it hadn't been cleaned properly. A geriatric ward at the Princess RoyalHaywards Heath probably the one where my Nanan (now deceased) stayed recently is now being closed to pay off debts of the Royal Sussex in Brighton -that's new Labour for you! I could give many other examples as I'm sure could the other bloggers of this website. In short the effects of New Labour'st policies are like Thatcherism and they've gone even further than her in privatisation within the health service and schools...John has the policies to stop this rot and they are all updated, (and they are not so called loony left stuff from the seventies and eighties which wasn't loony anyway but that's another story) and totally workable in today's political situation, as he is living in the real world unlike the Blunketts and Milibands et alor for example Ruth Kelly who can presumably afford a nanny and who will have a decent pension unlike most of us. Yet we have supposedly had a Labour government for nine years. It's no better than under the Tories when my Dad's Housing dept at Mid Sussex District Council was made into a Housing Association and they built ONE house only in a year (he left then). No wonder we have a desparate social housing shortage -yet in Germany students can still get a council flat!! Have a look at wwwl.l-r-c.org.uk of you want the detail of the policies John will be standing on and I hope I have won you over so I will go before I get writer's cramp!
After few christmas days at home with his family a man called me and asked: "Do I need a Family therapist ? It seems I don't understand my kids...and my wife doesn't understand me...but she understand our kids! Any idea ?" As a psychotherapist, I replied:" Well...there is something we can do!". After few weeks of therapy, he feels better and more aware of his new 'father role'.
http://www.relaxfamily.co.uk
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