A delegate from Labour’s London Conference maps the way forward

The biggest strike in over a decade took place on 1st February, with around 500,000 workers taking part. Members of ASLEF, NEU, PCS and UCU – train drivers, teachers, civil servants and university staff took to the streets in the latest chapter of the working class revolt against the cost of living crisis, the decline of public services and Tory anti-union legislation. Rallies were held around the country. In the London, Eastern & South East Region of the TUC alone, 32 rallies took place, including the massive march in London.

Ironically, just days before these events, the London Labour Party Conference voted down a composite motion from UNITE and Tottenham/Leyton & Wanstead CLPs which:

• welcomed the Labour leadership’s proposals set out in Labour’s ‘New  Deal for Working People and its commitment to repeal the government’s anti-strike legislation
• applauded organised labour’s fightback – both in respect of winning  substantial pay increases and taking action to protect jobs, pay, conditions and services
• welcomed proposals put forward by the unions and the Mayor of London  to address falling living standards
• called on “all wings of the London Labour Party including representatives in London – councillors, members of the Greater London Assembly and MPs – to openly support the industrial action taken by trade unionists, to join picket lines of striking workers.”

The Party’s right wing tried its utmost to defeat the motion. Only delegates opposing the motion were called to speak and UNITE were initially denied a right of reply. This decision was reversed after protests from unions, delegates and Regional Committee members.

Despite this, a show of hands indicated around a 60:40 split in support of the motion. At this point, a card vote was called, the results of which suggested a narrow majority against the motion, with 49.4% in favour and 50.6% against.

The right’s opposition to the motion implied that strikes are “unpopular”. Yet opinion surveys show strong support for striking workers, with nurses enjoying the backing of 65% of those polled. At the same time, only 17% believe that the government is effective in its negotiations with trade unions to prevent strike action.

The show of hands at Conference shows that Labour Party members have been affected by these wider events and that their views are more in line with the general public than are those of the Labour Party leadership. It also shows that the left within the party is stronger than many people had presumed.

What Next?

Dissatisfaction with the Tories has already manifested itself in huge opinion poll leads for Labour. The current round of strikes will reinforce this, and if Labour does ​form the next government, those voting for it will expect it to address all the issues that prompted the ‘Corbynista surge’, including insecure and low-paid work, housing, student fees, failing public services and the environmental crisis.

In such circumstances, the left of the Party must be clear that neo-liberalism offers no long-term solutions to the problems suffered by millions of people. We will need to argue for policies and campaigns that address these and other social issues, such as the Conference motions on Refugees and Asylum and the ‘Right to Food’. And, to rebuild support for a socialist programme to address the crisis, we need both to restore the confidence of our supporters and our support amongst those taking action.     

This means creating opportunities for the left to meet together. In North and East London, for example, a screening of “Manifesto” was held, followed by a Q&A session – which attracted nearly 200 people – and a number of CLPs marched together with their banners on the 1st February demo.

We also need to broaden our activity by building borough-wide networks alongside local unions, community organisations and campaigns – as is happening in Haringey, with the ‘Community Action Network’, and Leyton & Wanstead, with the ‘cost of living crisis’ campaign  – both of which were launched at huge public meetings.

Similar initiatives have been taken elsewhere in London – and building city-wide associations of the left along these lines would not only be a welcome development but would enable it both to see its real strength and pave the way for a resurgence of socialist ideas.

Image: Greater London map. Source: Ordnance Survey OpenData. Most data from Boundary-Line product. Lake data from Meridian 2 product. Inset derived from England location map.svg by Spischot. Author: Nilfanion, created using Ordnance Survey data, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.