Thursday, 21 February 2019

Far-Left call for Blairites to be kicked out!

The Socialist issue 1030: Blairites out, Tories out

The old Militant Tendency was in the news again it was announced that Derek Hatton, he of the redundancy notices sent to workers by taxi fame was re-admitted to the Labour Party. It wasn't long before he was suspended and out again when a tweet that intimated anti-Semitism was discovered from 2012.  I'd almost feel sorry for him but the spiv doesn't deserve it.

Meanwhile his old buddies in the Socialist Party, the larger of the two groups that came out of a split in Militant is calling for the expulsion of all "Blairites" as they attack the seven MP's who quit the party this week.

Their rag The Socialist rants:

...the announcement of a Blairite breakaway should come as no surprise.

Since Jeremy Corbyn's election as leader, the Socialist Party has argued that the potential exists for the formation of a mass workers' party, with a socialist programme, around him. But we have also warned consistently that this exists alongside a pro-cuts, pro-capitalist Labour party. It is this pro-capitalist wing that remains dominant in parliament, local council chambers, and Labour's bureaucratic machinery.

The ultra-Blairites who make up the Gang of Seven should have long ago faced replacement, via a democratic process of mandatory reselection, with working-class fighters and socialists.

Indeed, so should all the MPs, most of who remain on Labour's benches, who have acted to undermine Corbyn's anti-austerity, anti-war stand. After all, a whole number of them, including deputy leader Tom Watson, are now using this betrayal as an opportunity to attack not those who have split from the party, but Jeremy Corbyn.


They forget themselves. Even Corbyn's Labour spurned their laughable proposal for an !alliance" or affiliation". However what they write is the view of many Corbynistas including the PCS General Secretary a former ally turned enemy having dumped the Socialist Party in his union.

Socialist Appeal - International Marxist Tendency

Meanwhile the smaller remnant of Militant the Socialist Appeal group (who actually still are in the Labour Party write on their :

Good riddance. This will be the sentiment amongst grassroots Labour members towards today’s news that a group of seven Blairites are splitting from the party. Delight at their departure will be mixed with immense anger towards the treacherous role that these right-wingers have been allowed to play over the past few years. The task now is to kick out the rest of the saboteurs who remain at large inside the Parliamentary Labour Party. This is why we need mandatory reselection.

Never mind the need for a broad based party that might actually get elected and be able to achieve something. Just ideological purity imposed and as we all know dissent suppressed by bullying and intimidation....

Solidarity 496

According to paper of the Alliance for Workers Liberty a smaller grouping of Trotskists within the Labour the complaints of Luciana Berger were real:

Here was an an MP subject to vile antisemitic abuse from fascists and others. She was also highly critical of many aspects of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership and policies, from a right-wing angle: she has now left the Labour Party. Every Labour Party has the right to table no-confidence motions if it disagrees with the stance its MP is taking. But the ground was cut under the movers when a glance at the Facebook page of one of the movers, Ken Campbell, revealed it contained posts promoting “Zionist” conspiracy theories. Campbell turned up at the CLP meeting proudly brandishing a letter informing him he was subject to investigation as if it were something to be proud of. 

It seems attempts in the Wavertree constituency to get a motion supporting a Two-State solution to the Middle East was rejected by an unholy alliance of Socialist Appeal and Lexiteers. Socialist Appeal seems to have also been involved in the push to oust the Jewsih MP but make no mention of the anti-Semitism problem when they write:

Berger was due to be next in line, with members in her Liverpool Wavertree constituency only withdrawing a motion of confidence at the last minute due to pressure from Labour HQ.

Anti-Semitism is so inconvenient for most of the left, the AWL excepted.


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