Why I’m standing for the Momentum NCG

By Lorcan Whitehead

My name is Lorcan whitehead. I’m a socialist. A trade unionist and a former councillor. And the chair of North Essex Momentum.

Like so many Momentum members, I paid my £3 to vote for Jeremy Corbyn in the 2015 leadership contest because for the first time in my life I had the chance to vote for a Labour leader who shared my politics. I’ve been fighting for the same politics ever since.

My CLP, Colchester in North Essex, was dominated by the right, and I organised with others to win key positions, re-establish local branches and worked to give members more say over local election manifestos.

I stood as a councillor and won my ward for Labour for the first time in 38 years.

I have supported local climate activism and I brought those demands into the council chamber by getting our council to declare a climate emergency.

And I’ve been working beyond the Labour Party, taking a leading role in my UCU union branch and in successful local grassroots campaigns like Save Our Libraries Essex, against plans by the Tory County Council for closures.

We need to talk about the future of Momentum – the biggest and best-resourced socialist organisation in the UK, not only today but for decades.

In my opinion, the future of Momentum will shape the fate of socialist politics in this country for many years to come.

And thanks to the current leadership we can all now help shape the future of Momentum.

But this wasn’t always the case.

Two years ago it was a top-down, undemocratic organisation, with a leadership so detached that they didn’t even trust the members to decide who we should back for leader and deputy leader of the Labour Party.

In stark contrast, the current leadership has put power back in the hands of members and given us the support on the ground to start to rebuild our organisation. I’m proud to stand on a platform with them and I’m proud that we can finally say that this is Your Momentum!

Some people in this campaign have criticised those democratic changes that have been made as a distraction. But we say: democracy isn’t a distraction! It’s how we organise effectively, engage our members and build grassroots, collective power!

So there have been positive changes. But we also have to be clear-eyed about the challenges facing us.

For example, the right has a firm grip on the key sites of power in the Party and the Left has been fractured and weakened by the loss of 150,000 socialist members from the Labour Party.

And from kicking Jeremy out of the PLP, to blocking popular local candidates from being selected to run for Parliament, we have a Labour leadership that would rather drive out socialists than take the fight to the Tories.

So we face huge challenges. But I think the biggest risk we face is the demoralisation and disillusionment that Starmer has sought to sow in our ranks over the past two years.

Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership was a lightning rod that gave confidence to working people and united socialists of all stripes. Now it is down to us all in Momentum to provide a beacon of hope around which socialists can unite. Because it’s still true that we are many and they are few!

We must continue the fight in the Party at all levels. But as socialists we also recognise that power isn’t just exercised through political parties: it is built through collective organising in our streets, workplaces and communities.

So it is therefore essential that Momentum also supports wider movement struggles and continues to help to build the left in the trade unions.

I’m so proud to be standing in London and the East not just alongside Imogen Tranchell and Sonali Bhattacharyya but alongside Amerit Rait – the newly elected socialist Vice-President of UNISON! Our comrades are on the march in UNISON with the support of Momentum – and they are showing that when we organise we can win!

We know the challenges we face. But we also know that there are no quick fixes, and that anyone offering them isn’t serious about taking those challenges on.

The current leadership has a track record, and this campaign has a serious, concrete plan to continue to build the left over the next two years.

So vote Your Momentum for the NCG. And if you aren’t already a member, join before Sunday July 3 for your chance to shape the direction of socialist politics in this country for years to come!