The NEC elections opened last Thursday and candidates’ names and lists are being circulated to CLPs and on social media. Left-Horizons believes that it is in the best interests of the left of the Labour Party to support the so-called JC9 Momentum slate of candidates for the NEC.
These are:
Yasmine Dar
Huda Elmi
Navendu Mishra
Rachel Garnham
Anne Henderson
Darren Williams
Pete Willsman
Claudia Webbe
Jon Lansman
There are many good lefts in the Labour Party who are extremely concerned at the lack of transparency in the process by which these candidates were chosen. The process is shrouded in obscurity and many Party members might be forgiven for thinking that it is not very democratic. Momentum itself, as we have pointed out in previous articles, is unfortunately moving from left to right and its democratic credentials were completely compromised by the ‘coup’ of Jon Lansman last year. Judging by posts on social media, many lefts are considering voting for the slate minus Lansman in protest at his personal control and the political direction of Momentum. We think this gut reaction is completely understandable but is not the right thing to do.
At a time when right-wing MPs are conducting a coordinated campaign against Jeremy Corbyn – in reality they are against the radical shifts in policy and the fact that Labour now has a lively and questioning mass membership – it is essential that the NEC has a left majority that will stand firmly against this. The current attempt to label Corbyn and the Labour left as “anti-Semitic” is nothing more than a smoke-screen to cover sabotage of the Party, while simultaneously stifling criticism of the state of Israel.
Labour’s right wing has the support of the anti-Labour press and it is not impossible in the current febrile political climate that a right-wing candidate might creep into position by default in the event that one the JC9 slate is not elected. If that were to happen, it would then be less likely that the NEC would support radical policies for Labour and a radical re-shaping of Labour’s constitution.
The Momentum candidates may not be firmly on the left. Some of them are what we would have in the past have called ‘soft lefts’. It is particularly galling that the Momentum leadership have buckled under the contrived anti-Semitism campaign and that it has not thrown its considerable weight behind mandatory re-selection of parliamentary candidates. Nevertheless, it is still true that the larger the left majority, the more likely it is that the NEC will support the leader and the radical changes that are now coursing through the Labour Party.
Having said that, the lefts on the NEC should not be let off the hook. Through Momentum meetings (where they still take place) and through the movement generally, the left of the Labour Party should be demanding a re-institution of democratic processes within Momentum, including an elected executive as a ruling body not a ‘consultative’ panel.
The lefts on the JC9 slate, if elected, should send regular reports to CLPs – as some right-wing candidates do – justifying their votes and their positions on key issues. They should also make themselves available for Momentum and CLP meetings to explain the processes and decisions made on the members’ behalf on the NEC. They have to make themselves, in a word, accountable, far more than has been the case in the past.
We, therefore, urge all our readers and supporters to vote for the JC9 slate of candidates for NEC and urge them also to participate in discussions and debates with other Party members, to persuade them to the same course of action.
July 31, 2018
