Over 110,000 socialists have left the Labour Party since Keir Starmer was elected. If another 110,000 leave after the September conference, where will these 220,000 political people find a new political home?
Left Labour is a democratic socialist party designed to attract politically homeless democratic socialists. Its virtual Founding Conference is on 30th May. Its web site is www.leftlabour.org.
Most of its members are people who have left Labour. Party members intend it to be firmly to the left of the current Labour Party.
Left Labour’s plan is ambitious, but plausible.
Its members argue that the difference between now and the Blair / Brown years is that those who have left, those on the left who have stayed, and those in transition are all in touch through social media.
They believe that once the Left Labour Party has a critical mass it will be in a position to attract most of those who have left Labour or who will leave Labour in the future. They expect to average 300+ activists per constituency.
Left Labour intends to hurt Labour without giving seats to the Tories.
In over 60 constituencies, Labour has over 60% of the vote. In a straight fight between democratic socialism and Starmer’s social democracy, either Left Labour will win or supporters or the rump Labour Party will hold the seat.
The Convenor of Left Labour is Charles James, a Labour member since 1972. When he resigned from the Labour Party in December he was Secretary of the 3,000 strong Labour International CLP.
“Ours is a battle between democratic socialists and right-wing social democrats” he said.
“We need to show that a majority of traditional Labour supporters in Labour seats prefer our politics. Once we have won that battle, a lot of undecided Labour voters will swing to us.
“Many in the social democratic camp honestly believe that traditional Labour voters will not vote for radical socialist policies. Once they see that Labour voters really will support socialist policies, they will have hard choices to make.
“Up to a fifth of the population are not able to make use of digital technology and use social media. They tend to be the older people and poorer people. In our target seats, their percentage may well be more than 20%.
“If we are leafletting almost every month, Left Labour will be seen to be on the streets. If a street is leafletted by the same person month after month, that person is seen as the face of Left Labour. People will talk to our leafletters, and raise issues of concern. If we are seen to be helping people even before we are elected, that must be good.
“Once we are in contact with our communities, we will discover needs for actions that we can fill. It might be door to door petitions, street stalls, soup kitchens, breakfast clubs, night shelters or whatever the community needs. Maybe just very cheap bingo to fight social isolation, once Covid is no longer a danger.”
“Left Labour will concentrate resources. Activists from 6 local constituencies will be fighting each “safe” seat. Left Labour will have “boots on the ground” that rump Labour cannot match.
“Knocking out right wing Labour MPs will hurt the Labour Party financially, because it will lose the national grant known as Short money. Short money going to the Labour Party currently runs at £18,297 per MP. Replacing them with Left Labour MPs will alter the relationships and political weightings within the House of Commons.
“It would be a waste of resources to have socialists fighting each other. We have every expectation that current socialist MPs will come to us anyway, without us having spent any money or effort to get them elected. These MPs will be less frightened of losing official Labour support if they know that Left Labour will welcome and support them.
“When we have Left Labour MPs fighting for socialism, we will squeeze the remaining rump Labour Party. On every vote where they do not support socialism, Labour MPs will be exposed and politically diminished.
“In some areas there are no Labour seats at all, but lots of Left Labour activists. If they believe that they can turn a marginal constituency over two or three General Elections, they will have our full support.
“To gain a Left Labour government, we need to win not only all the 200 current Labour seats, but 125 others as well. Seats that have been Labour in the past are more likely to turn Left Labour. There are many constituencies that within living memory had huge Labour majorities, but Labour took them for granted, ensured that their MP’s were rightwing placemen (and women) and ignored their needs. If there are local activists prepared to put the work in by continuous campaigning over one or two or three General Elections, we can change the nature of political possibility in this country.”
How will the rump Labour Party respond?
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
Charles James
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