In last month’s issue Labour Affairs argued that the British two-party system of representative parliamentary democracy was largely a theatre, giving the impression of serious political rivalry about substantial policies but artfully concealing underlying agreements between the parties on nearly all the important issues. Conventional party politics is an illusion of real choice. Phoney antagonisms are worked … Continue reading Party Politics and State Power—Editorial
Labour Party
An Active State—Rachel Reeves in America
Martin Seale Rachel Reeves made an interesting presentation to the Peterson Institute in Washington DC on 24th May. The speech was accompanied by a 33 page document called “A New Business Model for Britain” in which it was stated: “The causes of Britain’s economic weaknesses run deep, however. For too long, Britain has been held back by two misguided … Continue reading An Active State—Rachel Reeves in America
Starmer’s Moment of Weakness Approaches
Martin Seale Keir Starmer has a primary objective – that Labour forms the next government. For that to be achieved he believes that he will have to convince voters who have never voted Labour before to switch their vote to Labour in the 2024 general election. Anything that in any way endangers this happening will be … Continue reading Starmer’s Moment of Weakness Approaches
What You Should Know about Labour’s Economic Policy.
The Labour Party wholeheartedly supports the war on Russia in Ukraine and sanctions against the import of cheap energy from Russia. UK support for sanctions is the main driver of domestic inflation in Britain as energy is an input into all products and services. Labour is not committed to any significant revenue raising measures by … Continue reading What You Should Know about Labour’s Economic Policy.
Notes on the News
By Gwydion M. Williams Hard Right, Faded Left India Rising Snippets Bill Gates Goes to China Kosovo – Punishing Serbs Pro-Western Russians Hate Each Other Unwanted Afghans China – Solid Politics? More Illiberalism Hard Right, Faded Left Tony Blair persuaded Labour that we should drop our traditional commitment that the state could and should help … Continue reading Notes on the News
Workers Control
In 2008 Conor Lynch and Joe Keenan devoted a series of 6 issues of our magazine “Problems of Capitalism and Socialism” to Workers Control. They reproduced documents of the time for and against Workers Control, with commentary, including statements by the Institute for Workers Control, which, despite its name, did not support workers control when it came … Continue reading Workers Control
Jamie Driscoll banned
Jamie Driscoll banned from standing for re-election as Mayor. The Labour Party has refused to allow the highly popular Jamie Driscoll mayor for North of Tyne to be on the longlist for the new north-east region mayoralty. No reason was given as Labour’s bureaucracy continues to axe candidates with a smidgeon of socialism. It transpired … Continue reading Jamie Driscoll banned
Party Politics and the Labour Party – Editorial
The Labour Party is the official opposition to the government. What exactly does this mean? How should socialists regard the Labour Party? Finding a satisfactory answer to these questions is not easy. To answer them we need to look at the kind of system (representative party-political democracy) that the party system is embedded in. The … Continue reading Party Politics and the Labour Party – Editorial
The Press and the Labour Party
Eamon Dyas I remember when I worked at the British Library at Colindale discovering how most English towns, and even quite small towns, usually had two newspapers covering national and local events from either the Tory or Liberal perspective. The heyday of this was in the 1880s. It went into decline when Gladstone’s Irish policy … Continue reading The Press and the Labour Party
Analysis: local elections 2023
From the Workers Party of Britain, with permission by Phil Bevin Celebrating failure Despite whatever Keir Starmer says, the local election results were a crushing disappointment for Labour, grinding any hopes of their forming a majority after the next election into dust. As I have argued previously, Labour’s own working-out suggests that they need a … Continue reading Analysis: local elections 2023
Starmer’s Strategy—Editorial
On 4th May local elections take place in England. These local elections should give some feel for how Labour under the leadership of Keir Starmer is perceived in the country. Of particular interest is the fact that several of these elections are taking place in areas in which many Labour voters abstained in 2019. They abstained because … Continue reading Starmer’s Strategy—Editorial
Diane Abbott’s Letter to the Observer
By Catherine Dunlop Abbott in her letter was responding to an article in the Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/15/racism-in-britain-is-not-a-black-and-white-issue-it-is-far-more-complicated), by Tomiwa Owolade, a contributing writer at the New Statesman. This article commented on a report just published about racism in Britain, Evidence for Equality National Survey (EVENS). That report says that more whites than blacks say they have experienced racism. … Continue reading Diane Abbott’s Letter to the Observer
Starmer Changes Labour’s Electoral Base
Starmer Changes Labour’s Constituency The National Executive Committee (NEC) passed a motion on28th March which barred Jeremy Corbyn, the previous leader of the Labour Party, from standing as a candidate in the constituency in which he had been MP for the last 40 years. It’s a remarkable motion because it is fundamentally false. Clause 5 of … Continue reading Starmer Changes Labour’s Electoral Base
Budgets and Wars—Editorial 2
British politics is in a strange state. Since winning the 2019 general election with a substantial overall majority of some 80 seats, the Conservative Party has been tearing itself apart. It has already disposed of two Prime Ministers, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. It is now being managed by the richest Prime Minister in history, Rishi Sunak. His main … Continue reading Budgets and Wars—Editorial 2
Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.
Eamon Dyas The action by the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee, acting on Starmer’s instructions, to deny Jeremy Corbyn the right to represent Labour at the next general election stands in marked contrast to the way in which he has welcomed back into the fold the likes of Mike Gapes. In February 2019 Gapes resigned … Continue reading Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.
NEC Motion re Corbyn
Starmer’s NEC Motion For completeness we give below the full text of Starmer’s NEC motion to block Corbyn being a Labour Party candidate and how the NEC voted on the motion: This meeting of the NEC notes: the Labour Party’s purpose is to organise and maintain in parliament and in the country a political Labour … Continue reading NEC Motion re Corbyn
Labour Voters – the Lost and the Found
By Gwydion M. Williams The following article appeared in February 2020 Labour Affairs, and remains relevant. But some digressions and out-of-date comments have been removed. Corbyn is being blamed for “the worst result since 1935”. 1935 wasn’t that bad, if you think about political outcomes. If you don’t see Labour existing just to give nice jobs to ambitious … Continue reading Labour Voters – the Lost and the Found
Starmer’s Labour Party — Editorial 2
Starmer’s Labour Party Keir Starmer was first elected as an MP in 2015. He rose to prominence when he led the opposition to various attempts to implement Brexit while the party was under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. In 2019 he convinced the Labour Party conference to support a 2nd referendum over Brexit. There are strong reasons to believe … Continue reading Starmer’s Labour Party — Editorial 2
