It's been many years since I was either eligible for or took any particular interest in the youth wings of any party. Like Peter Hain I started off life as a Young Liberal way back in the early seventies when Militant took control of the Labour Party Young Socialists as a springboard to their other operations in the Labour Party. We all know where that that led and having joined the Labour Party in the late seventies I remember the events that led to the expulsion of Militant and the closing down of the LPYS.
Youth groups have always been vulnerable to entryist groups and Militant was far from the first group the Labour Party had problems with. The Socialist review group was kicked out in the early sixties. It eventually became the Socialist Workers Party. The Young Socialists then became under the influence of the Socialist Labour league & got booted to form the Workers Revolutionary Party.
Today is no different. Although small groups like Socialist Appeal and the Alliance for Workers Liberty (AWL) are trying to make inroads these modern groups are eclipsed by Momentum the modern Militant for all intents & purposes.
It remains important that Young Labour remains the official youth group of the Labour Party and is as free as possible from outside influences so that young members can develop rational and reasoned politics that we will need for the future.
One of the candidates for Chair one Eluend Anderson has withdrawn from the contest due to a huge on-line attack over some "off colour" joke she allegedly made some time ago. Besides the atrocious bullying that led to Eluend closing all her social media accounts this holier than thou approach to politics i dangerous.
After all who amongst us has never in all their lives said or done something "off colour in in their lives, I mean FFS I was a teenager and young adult in the seventies. Nobody, I repeat nobody is a saint and the expectations put on young people these days by the (for want of a better word) "woke" brigade who think everything is a micro-aggression or discriminatory for some reason has led to a shutting down of debate even at university level.
Something the Party as a whole needs to address one day.
In the meantime Labour to Win has recommended the following individuals for the internal Young Labour elections. They are from a variety of traditions apparently and I'm happy to reproduce their list for young members to consider though don't ask me any questions about the individual candidates because until the last couple of days or so I had not taken much notice of what is going on.
Young Labour Elections
If you're under 27, you'll also have received a ballot for elections for Young Labour's National Committee. As with the NEC elections, we're recommending candidates that represent a broad swathe of traditions in the Labour Party, but are all committed to engaging constructively with the party to build a better, kinder and more open youth wing. The candidates are as follows:
Chair - Cathleen Clarke
NEC Rep - Kira Lewis
International Officer - Rosie McKenna
U18s Officer - Jimmy Sergi
Student Representatives - Alli McKelvey and Dylan Patel
Eastern Rep - Tina Bhartwas
London Rep - Henna Shah
North - Adam Ellison
North West - Holly McCormack
South West - Marley Bennett
Wales - Jack Dunne
West Midlands - Jennifer Maidment
Yorkshire and the Humber - Jess Raspin
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