SHIRLEY Williams has said that the current fight over Labour Party democracy and the leadership is like the crew of the Titanic having a punch-up in the engine room.
But are questions of democracy irelevant to the fight to rebuild the Labour Party and bring down the Tories?
Shirley Williams clearly thinks that they are and so does the Daily Mirror: 'As we head for new heights in post-war unemployment the mutineers talk only about who's manifesto (which isn't going to be needed for years anyway)."
Callaghan has tried to convince us it's not relevant - "we shall let hook'. Unfortunately the Tories aren't on a which 1s mainly himself, who says they have a democratic mandate.
Some are convinced that the proposals on democracy in the Labour Party are positively dangerous, mainly actually win. Power politics The Campaign for a Labour Victory, which has support from right-wing Labour MPs and union leaders, summed it up like this: the NEC wants us to believe that 'millions of working mc ana women went Margaret Thatcher and the most right-wing and anti-trade union programme put to the nation since the 1930s because Labour's manifesto wasn't left-wing enough'.
They go on to say that what the left is after is not democracy but 'naked power politics'. This alone should convince us that the question of democracy is not a side issue -afraid of it want to pretend that it is.
Roy Hattersley really went to the root of the matter, however, arguing: become all-powerful, established rights of the Parliamentary Party, then the battle to control the NEC will be fierce and continuous. If college, rival groups with different views about the leadership will compete for à majority Hattersley continued: If an MP is obliged constantly to contest nomination lutiey unrepresentative ElUDS formed both for and against.
Consensus Oh, horrors! If the Labour Party was more democratic we might find we don't all agree on everything! We might find that rather than the consensus view of Callaghan and Healey there is the right-wing view of Callaghan and Healey and an alternative left-wing view.
We might find there was a real debate over policy and strategy inside the Labour Party, and if there was, then Roy Hattersley might find himself on the losing side.
As socialists we are quite clear on the issue of democracy in the Labour Party -it, and for as much of it as possible. That is the way we can have a real debate about the way to fight the Tories and about Labour's alternative policies.
Of course, after the debate there has to be some kind of decision so that everyone can act together to take on the Tories. But how to fight and on what policies has to be in the hands of the members of the Labour Party. Defiance An article in Labour Activist, the bulletin produced by Benn's supporters, put it like this: 'Take for example last year's 5 per cent limit on pay increases. The repeatedly warned by trade union leaders right and left — that a 5 per cent limit would spell disaster...
'One purpose of making the Labour Party more democratic would parliamentary leadership imposing policies in defiance of the movement.
The article goes on to say that it isn't just a matter of incomes policy. Indeed it is not. Right ls question Parliamentary Labour Party gets away with leaving the fight against the Tories until the next election or whether it tries to lead a fight against them now.
The engineering strikes, the action against the Corrie Bill, and the widespread activities arainst the cuts labour movement to begin the fightback now. Increased democracy in the should ensure that decisions made by Sacialist Challenge 4 October 1979 Page 8 to write the the Tories off the due to Callaghan because the left might out and voted for - those who are If the NEC does sweeping aside the vicai dl clectora This small, be - we are for The Executive government was NEC be the stop incomes of whether the and decide.
reveal a willingness in the Labour Labour Party this is reflected in the bagovernment conference and in the activities of the left when it is over.
But the Benn proposals do not go enough. There is a proposal that the leader of the party should be elected by an 'electoral college' consisting of one third MPs, one third constituency want llcuben. trade union delegates This democratic than the present situation where the leader is elected simply by the PLP, so we should be in favour of the change.
However, electing the leader at conference would be the best and most democratic method.
electoral. college simol exaggerated power of the PLI attend the conference then they should vote there; they do not make up a third of. the It is also proposed that the final word on the party manifesto should rest with the National Committee rather Prime Minister . and Cabinet. proposal is a step in the right direcetion as the elected conference ICHICSC ANVe trade stituency Labour Parties and MPs. Guidelines But the best system would have the manifesto drawn up strictly within guidelines laid down by the conference conference is sufficient to ensure it is up-to-date with events. Day-to-day decisions have to be left to the party's leaders, but broad statements of policy are the job of conference to debate The final democratic proposal going to conference is on the mandatory reselection of MPs. This would be an important step on the road to abolishing power of the parliamentary Party to ride roughshod conference decisions.
Would all the MPs in the last Labour have cheerfully far parties?
and one third is clearly more 'MPs cae the than with the Kamsay MacDonald Again this Clearly, unions, conan annual likes;
not the case undemocratic.
OVCr accepted restraint was necessary if they knew they would have to explain themselves to their constituency The reselection proposal was defeated last year by 'Scanlon's mistake', a useful error for the bureaucracy as the engineering union had - crossing the House. mandated him to support reselection.
Lial! features conference Prat coreo tanarioo bei dor resure tunctioning democratic Scanlon should not have been able to get away with such a gross breach of mandate; delegates should not be bullied into remitting contentious motions; the three-year rule on debates should be abolished, as conference should have the right to discuss whatever it likes whenever it procedure for 'compositing' should be improved, and so on Some people have suggested that the block votes of the trade unions are an undemocratic feature of the Labour Party conference. This is they are only undemocratic insofar as the way the mandate is decided is To a considerable extent, democracy inside the Labour Party is dependent on democracy within the trade union movement. Calling for an end to trade union block votes is just a way of not dealing with the question of democracy within what has to be the major organisational base of the Labour Party.
democracy in all movement.
Parliamentary Labour Party. be the ideal situation. step to take to alter that structure.' Structures starts with representation' 1s inat representative democracy party to control elected MPs HUOLC Labour about it. MPs are are not recallable prevent with notions of Party is arguing for that.
Closer involvement of the trade unions in the Labour Party at a rank-and-file level through building workplace branches of the - can bring together the fight for sections of the labour Yet all the changes in the internal structure of the Labour Party cannot get round one very fundamental question - the situation of the One of Callaghan's supporters, David Basnett, general secretary of the General and Municipal Workers Union, said this: Parlamentary representation had a adualf structure to the party, with the Parliamentary Labour Party autonomous and separate from the structure of the party as such. This may not But it is a very serious Basnett hits the nail on the head when he 'the early days of Parliamentary - it is not that the Labour Party decided to have two separate structures the Parliamentary system of does not allow the MP Is nol responsible accountable to his or her constituency party. If an MP breaks with the party manifesto, even if s/he crosses to the other side of the Commons, there is nothing that the Labour Party can do supposedly there personally represent a community, not to argue for and act on a particular point of view. They The only way that the Labour Party can repetition democracy.
Unfortunately hardly anyone in the Labour
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Callaghan's view that a further round of pay Toný Benn and Eric Heffer have said that this Labour Party conference is the most important since the war. This is because they believe that their proposals on constituțional change in the party will make it 'more The debate is about the whole future of the Labour Party,
its falling membership whether Callaghan and It's not just a deba movement in the figure rank and file level.