Party meetings become tough and tedious when moderates resist predatory groups that exploit Labour as a recruiting ground but don’t share its values of social democratic change by parliamentary means.
In the early 1980s there was a running confrontation in Brighton and elsewhere with the Militant Tendency, formally known as the Revolutionary Socialist League with a central committee, full-timers, and a printing press. I knew it well as a former teenage member.
Its tactic was to alienate people from meetings by extending them beyond the point when many would go home or to the pub. They could then push motions through barely quorate meetings and claim vindication. Militants used the word “comrade” as if they were sneering “so-called.” We had to be thick-skinned.
That such fights are cyclical was a lesson from the discussion between activists at the recent Progressive Britain political weekend in Milton Keynes.
Party meetings are a necessary evil to conduct essential business and to prepare us for more important meetings with voters. Meetings should not be a mere debating society but a means to electoral ends. We always have to ask how our discussions can advance our electoral goals.
We also know that new members who find themselves in a war of words and confusing acronyms will, very understandably, not return. We exchanged tips about how to minimise meetings becoming cockpits of confrontation and also more interesting and productive. A key one was to have a guest speaker who may be well-known or a local with special expertise and increase our understanding on issues that may come up on the doorstep.
Motions are sometimes the tofu and two veg for many. I’m sometimes tempted to ask my branch to pass a motion encouraging others not to submit motions as a habit. Motions for regional and national conferences may be necessary but routine “resolutionary socialism” can be needlessly divisive and often pointless. When a branch or CLP wants to adopt a position, it might be better to first seek a consensus in a free-running discussion before formal motions are taken when complex issues are difficult to handle given the necessary constraints of two minute speeches.
We should always respect that people are giving up their precious time and make it as painless and efficient as possible. We should always start and finish the meeting on time, if not before, and then socialise. Members who rush to be punctual and then hang around will resent the theft of their time. Some will conclude that being on time doesn’t matter and more will start being late which can spark a spiral of lateness or not bothering at all. Punctuality is the price we must pay for members wanting to come back.
After nearly 50 years of party meetings in several constituencies, I know that resisting organised Trotskyist groups is essential, but we mustn’t sink to their level. Not all dissenters are “Trots” and tough-minded but kind behaviour is better by far. Many of our best members have been through the maw of centrist groups and come out the other side.
The imperative is to deny such groups the ability to set the terms of the debate. As I was leaving the Militant orbit, I discussed the Middle East with a leading member whose cultish clincher argument was– so you think there’s a solution in the Middle East based on capitalism. My younger hesitant self was trapped but the right answer was “of course.” We cannot wait for the abolition of capitalism before solving issues now.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, the hard left tried to assert a moral equivalence of blame between NATO and Russia. Keir Starmer rightly stamped down on this. If he hadn’t, we’d still be arguing on historically incorrect terms that suited Putin’s playbook.
The weekend event in Milton Keynes did a lot to knit us together philosophically and socially, as we seek to amplify best practice across the party. If we do this, meetings can even be enjoyable and productive. We need clear-headed organisation to ensure the party at every level is in rude health and better able to understand and contribute to the huge tasks of turning our country around and protecting it from our enemies.
If you enjoyed this piece, click here to read another of Gary’s pieces for PB.
