[continues the debate on whether a new campaigning…]

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continues the debate on whether a new campaigning Li alliance is need in the Labour Party after the Brighton conference.

THERE CAN be no doubt that the Left suffered some setbacks at Brighton as a result of massive media coverage of the Right's activities' aided by lavish campaigning and resources from their apparatchiks.

The contrasts of the Brighton results are clear to see: Tony Benn's near miss in fact represents a massive achievement for the campaign - to lose by less than one per cent after an unprecedented media hatchet job shows what support there is in the labour movement for a leadership determined to carry out our policies.

The new NEC membership amply demonstrate the results of right wing corridor politics and the farce of 'left' unions voting for right wing candidates to get their BOTH the Labour right wing and the new Foot-Kinnock 'centre' are staking out the ground for their strategies after the Brighton Labour Party conference.

The Manifesto Group of 55 right wing MPs sent a deputation to Michael Foot last Thursday (29th).

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However the constituency sections of the Conference voted 83 per cent for Benn and solidly for many of the policy changes much work still has to be done in building support in an organised way in the constituencies, but the priority of work and organisation to get a leadership that will carry out the policies must be in the trade .The activities of union leaderships can be amply demonstrated in the role of They said they were writing to Labour's National Executive demanding that Pat Wall should not be endorsed as candidate for Bradiord I North-on no apparent grounds other than Wall's left-wing views. They are calling for a purge of 'Militant' supporters from us make post free. That's £9.60 for three months for bundles of 5, and £18 for bundles of 10.

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From: Socialist Organiser, 28 Middle the unions in voting ! nuclear disarmament a then supporting a candi ate for deputy leaderst who has promised not serve in a Labour Gover ment committed to tl policy. Quite clearly a lar number of union confere ces took policy decisions their conferences and th allowed their Gene Secretaries and delegatic to cast the vital votes both the NEC and 1 deputy leader of the Part The crucial question where do we go from herr the Labour Party, : wingers from NEC mittees.

Lane, London N8.

Please make cheques payable to Socialist for nd idto This ge enat len ral )ns for the 1S, of left >-comManifesto Group treasurer Ken Weetch said he wanted "clear signals ... showing that the party was It,7ax tuir 4ADA0 must campaign for changes Shore withdrawal.

The first campaign agreement idates for of the Nat twelve for section, al the alterat to end the they are in beyond the The ele members 1 going to be more, moderate in future." The right-wing MPs want "an accommodation"- ie. a wateringdown-on issues like unilateral disarmament, incomes policy, and EEC Peter Shore-who owes his tattered 'left-wing' repudemands trade A Labour . Government will only be sustained in office on massive rank and file trade union support, and that support cannot be won and kept during a three week election cămpaign. It has to be sought now, and this means taking the campaign outside al the normal orbits and questioning the, way in which trade unions cast their votes and how they elect their delegations to Party conference.

: objective of any must be to gain ; on seven candthe CLP section tional Executive, the trade union nd campaign for ion of PLP rules = position where . effect above and e party. iction of women to the NEC is an here the union were used to this section with who show no to the policies men's conference one exception, no tion to even attpresent them. ther objectives to extend our ing and involveIl the groups who involved in the leadership cam10 had hitherto nvolved in Labour tation solely to nationalist anti-EEC demagogy-followed up the next day with a demand to turf out the Trots' and an attack on 'organised subversion' (i.e.

conference delegates voting for policies Peter Shore doesn't like?)

There are a lot of signs that Michael Foot is willing to go along with "an accommodation" on policy. He and his co-thinkers, however, want to couple that. bat with sweeping purges, with a cooption of the Left into the watered-down consensus.

Thus the support by Foot, by general secretary Ron Hayward, and by the Benn politics because they • felt it was not relevant to them - women's groups, ethnic minority organisations, gay groups. This calls into question the role and state of Party organisation that restricts affiliation to a strictly limited sphere of trade union and Party branches and a smal number of socialist societies.

The purpose of such campaigning must be to win people to the Labour Party to enforce the carrying out of Party policy by electing leaders who are prepared to do that.

Mass support for the policies of the Party and a determination to carry them out will not be achieved by wheeling and dealing in conference corridors but only by a thoroughgoing campaign at all levels.

1° This article previously appeared in the November 'London Labour Briefing'] NEC majority, for keeping Tony Benn as chair of the Home Policy sub-committee, and for changing the subcommittees' make-up only slightly.

The two policies can, of course, mesh together-the 'centre' can offer cooperation in the NEC and the Shadow Cabinet 'exchange' for accommodation on policies.

Minimum

Everything will be done to brand firm insistance that conference policies are carried out as extremism. But in reality that insistence is the bare minimum left must fight for.

20g BRADFORD North Labour Party GMC has registered a sizeable step forward with the ousting of arch rightwing MP Ben Ford.

Connected with a string of reactionary dictatorships and sporting a wallet full of business interests, Ford has held the seat for 17 years.

GMC delegates voted 35 to 28 in favour of recommending Pat Wall, president of Bradford Trades Council and a lead. ing Militant supporter.

This setback for the Right comes at a time when Bradford West MP Edward Lyons has already deserted Labour to join the SDP, along with a small number of old-time reactionaries. The remaining right wing are beginning to clot around Councilor Mahon (of buy your own council house fame) in a newly formed 'Democratic Group' whose prime aim is to hall the influence of Militant.

Squaring

Ford, ever master of thr understatement, comment ed that the result was 'no entirely unexpected' presumably squaring to thi reality that only six tradi union branches or Labou wards supported him, com pared with around 2 supporting Wall.

Delegates were doubt less motivated by Ford' cynical disregard fo accountability, his vote fo Healey despite GMC views and his continuing suppor and membership of the all party group on Namibi in the teeth of public de nunciation by the GMI from its last meeting.

Despite his long associa tion with the Right of th party, Ford was able t begin his contribution b waving a letter from Mict ael Foot testifying to hi 'good works' in the Comur ons over the years.

Sheaf

His twenty-minul speech, meticulously rea out from a sheaf of not paper, was an A to Z i reaction, extolling tt 'Englishman's character defending. the realm, di crying mandatory resele tion, and, of course, callin for a united party.

Since the selection mee ing Ford has announced h intention to appeal to tr NEC against the decisio and the right wing Man festo group of MPs hi signed a letter calling c the NEC to refuse endorse Wall. It is essen tal that all socialists defer Bradford North's selectior BARRY TURNE

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