By Left Horizons reporters
[Editorial note: the text of the statement below, initiated by Durham University Labour club and signed by fourteen more student Labour clubs, was taken from Instagram. It clearly reveals a degree of opposition growing to the heavy-handedness of the Labour bureaucracy. Labour’s right-wing apparatus has already stretched its anti-democratic tentacles to every region of the Labour Party and every selection process, but now they seem to be interfering in the conduct of the Labour Students’ organisation, while trying a paint a picture of a conference (June 10 and 11) of peace and harmony]
FAO: NLS committee members.
Delegates are deeply disappointed about the fundamentally undemocratic and suppressive nature of a conference at which many were made to feel unsafe and unwelcome. Many of us have walked away from this conference feeling disillusioned, undervalued, and unrepresented by our party.
Firstly, we are appalled by the lack of due diligence involved in the decision to invite Sam Rushworth – a parliamentary candidate who has publicly extended his support to figures well-known for espousing transphobia. This is categorically unacceptable. Already, members of the trans community do not feel safe in our party, and it is disgraceful that the Labour Party has enabled the selection of somebody who has defended views of this nature. That Sam Rushworth was invited to speak at NLS conference is an unacceptable oversight in itself, but it is ultimately the responsibility of the party to ensure that a platform is not extended to those who contribute to the prejudice and discrimination which is faced by marginalised communities.
The arrangements for conference motions were fundamentally undemocratic. Delegates were led to believe that they motions which they delivered on behalf of their respective societies would be voted on and recommended to the national Labour Party. This, however, was not the case. Miscommunication led to a great many motions essentially being pointless – and indeed, it rendered the delegates’ presence at the conference pointless, too. It is evident that the student wing of the party is not being taken seriously, and given the centrality of student members to the success of our movement, this should not be tolerated.
Factionalism was evidently central to the conference agenda, and interference from the NEC about what could happen and who could attend exacerbated this. Comments were made by speakers about creating a ‘moderate block’ on the NUS committee, reflecting attempts to silence left wing voices. The panels were frequently dominated by centrists, some of whom were self-proclaimed, even though Clause IV of the Labour Party constitution states that the Labour Party is a ‘democratic socialist’ party.
Our party supposedly prides itself on being a broad church which accepts a diversity of ideological perspectives, but this has been undermined through the establishment of and ‘us versus them’ narrative which made it clear that certain ideas from within the Labour movement were not welcome at conference – particularly ideas relating to free education, a policy which was supported by every delegate who spoke on the issue, but which the committee attempted to suppress. We firmly believe that all factions of the Labour Party must have the opportunity to express their viewpoints and face scrutiny, always, but this principle was not upheld during the conference.
Social media coverage of the event documents a delegation which comes across as unified and satisfied – but this is simply not the case. We feel that our attendance was used to create the impression that the current direction of the party is supported unequivocally by its student membership; to be clear, it is not.
Signed,
Aston Labour Society delegates
Durham University Labour Club delegates.
UEA Labour Society delegates
University of Essex Labour Society delegates
Lancaster University Labour Club delegates
University of Leicester Labour Society delegates
UCL Labour and Co-operative Society delegates
Newcastle University Labour Society delegates
University of Nottingham Labour Students delegates
Oxford University Labour Club delegates
University of Plymouth Labour Club
University of Southampton Labour Society
Stirling University Labour Society delegates
Warwick Labour Society delegates
University of York Labour Club delegates.
