Build a political alternative to New Labour

RMT conference on workers’ representation

Build a political alternative to New Labour

Bob Crow, General Secretary of the RMTTHE CONFERENCE on the crisis in working-class representation called
by the RMT rail union this weekend is potentially an important step
forward in the struggle for a new mass party of the working class.

RMT General Secretary Bob
Crow, believes new workers party is necessary

This is the first time that a national trade union has called a
conference to discuss the question of political representation and the
Socialist Party and the Campaign for a New Workers’ Party fully support
this initiative. Socialist Party councillor Dave Nellist will be
speaking from the platform.

Fiona Pashazadeh and Hannah Sell

Whilst Bob Crow, General Secretary of the RMT, has stated that he
believes a new workers’ party is needed, he has also made clear that
this conference will not take any steps towards the foundation of a new
party, but will be a discussion of the issues.

Undoubtedly, some of those attending this conference will argue that
we should concentrate our efforts on reclaiming the Labour Party. The
Socialist Party does not think such efforts can succeed.

Since 1979 the trade unions have given £300 million of their members’
money to the Labour Party – £100 million of it since 1997 – but it has
not gained a fiver’s worth of ‘influence’ with the government. New
Labour has shown since it came to power that it is firmly on the side of
big business. It has left the vast majority of the anti-trade union laws
intact.

Blair and his ministers have attacked working conditions, the welfare
system, free education, public services and are bringing private
companies into the NHS and schools. Despite huge levels of protest, the
war and occupation in Iraq continues.

Half empty

At the 2005 Labour Party conference the delegates’ seating remained
half empty while corporate sponsors were present in unprecedented
numbers. A majority of constituency delegates voted against all attempts
of the unions to push Labour to the left. Where the government was
defeated, due to the unions’ votes, ministers immediately made it
completely clear that the vote was as irrelevant to them as was the lack
of WMDs in Iraq!

We believe that, without a major influx of workers into the Labour
Party any campaign for rank-and-file control will be ineffective. But,
as the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) discovered when it
attempted to launch a recruitment drive in the anti-war movement,
workers and young people entering struggle have no interest in joining
the party they are fighting against. On the contrary, older trade
unionists, who had been Labour Party members for decades, are leaving in
disgust. The LRC itself has only 500 members.

That is why we will be putting forward the argument that not another
penny should be given to New Labour by the trade unions, which should
instead move to found a new party. The Left Party in Germany, which won
54 MPs and 8.7% of the vote in its first time out, gives a glimpse of
the potential for such a new formation.

Time for a political alternative

It is time for a political alternative to be built that will stand up
for working people against the attacks of big-business and the
neo-liberal policies of the three main parties.

After the conference, there will be a fringe meeting* with speakers
putting forward this point of view and there will be a chance for others
to contribute to the discussion.


Socialist Party meeting:

Friends
Meeting House, Drayton Suite, immediately after the RMT conference
finishes



Click
here for a copy of the Socialist Party’s statement to the RMT conference


THIS WEEK, a UNISON branch secretary and ‘Campaign for a New Workers’
Party’ supporter collected 21 new signatures in support of the
declaration from his union branch at Whipps Cross Hospital in East
London.

Also, Socialist Party members in Sheffield held a stall outside a
civil service workplace calling for a new workers’ party in England and
Wales with banners containing slogans such as ‘New Labour – Old Tories’.
During this, they gained 16 new signatories in support of the campaign.

New signatories this week include (all in a personal capacity):

Graham Geliher Mansfield Bus RMT Branch Secretary, Ian Whyles Whitwell Parish Councillor (Socialist Party), Dave Hamer Executive member NATFHE Wales, Pam Neild Executive Committee member NATFHE Wales, a Tower Colliery NUM Lodge Committee member, Zena Awad Socialist Students National Co-ordinator, Grant Fryatt Amicus Workplace Representative, Nick Long Green Party Candidate Lewisham West 2005, Clive Williams President Swansea Trade Union Council, Andy Beadle TGWU, Lawrence Stevens Vice-President, Lewisham NUT, Richard Belbin TGWU (South Yorkshire Voluntary Sector) Branch Secretary, Paul Heron Unison shop steward Lewisham Law Centre, Bill Meeds Sheffield CWU Pensioners Section branch chair, Calvin Payne Convenor “We Want Our Buses Back” campaign, Sheffield, David Robbie PCS branch secretary DWP Head Office branch Sheffield, Jackie Mahon DfES Branch Youth Officer.

For more information on the Campaign for a New Workers’ Party, go to
www.cnwp.org.uk, email
[email protected] or write to CNWP, PO Box 858,
London E11 1YG.