The 2023 AGM of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy took place on Saturday on the fiftieth anniversary year of the campaign. It’s no exaggeration to say, as the group’s officers noted, that the current offensive against Party democracy is the greatest in living memory. On the positive side, this unprecedented onslaught underlines the continuing influence of the ideas of the left in the Party, which are so unpalatable to the right wing-dominated leadership.

In particular, a range of disciplinary processes are being deployed in an entirely factional way in order to exclude the left from standing for elected positions and to remove members from the Party.  Proscriptions have been used to try and remove a wide range of activists, including many whose only contact with a proscribed group is a highly marginal interaction on social media. Worse, such sanctions have been applied retrospectively. Furthermore, this anti-democratic factionalism has been accompanied by a deteriorating situation regarding racism and misogyny in the Party, as highlighted by the Forde Report.

Party democracy is not some luxury option but vital to ensuring that Labour develops an agenda that could succeed in government. A priority in this battle is achieving a just resolution of the appalling way that Jeremy Corbyn has been treated by the Party leadership and ensuring that he can stand as a Labour candidate at the next general election.

Speaking to the AGM, Corbyn said that CLPD had been part of his life, since he attended the founding meeting 50 years ago. He lamented the suppression of Party democracy being pursued by the current leadership and called for the Party to be opened up and for grassroots voices to be heard. Speaking of the Party’s suspension and expulsion of members for association with organisations that were not banned at the time – in short, retrospective punishment – he declared: “It wouldn’t stand up in court.”

Multiple motions were passed, including ones in favour of greater democracy in the selection of local council candidates, against proscriptions, for stronger links with the unions and on the need for a Labour Party ombudsman to deal with complaints in relation to alleged breaches of the Party’s rules and procedures.

The most contentious motion came right at the end of the agenda. It called on CLPD to promote a wider discussion on democratic questions in the UK, including the possibility of organising an event bringing together experts and key players to discuss the issue. Some members saw this as a first step to moving CLPD away from its long-held position of support for the first-past-the-post electoral system and duly voted it down.

A Campaign for Party Democracy was never more necessary . Nobody expects this onslaught against the Party’s status as a broad church to be halted in the immediate future, but activists can  take some heart from the fact that the policy ideas they advocate to solve the cost of living, health and climate crises remain popular wit the public and therefore cannot be dismissed out of hand by the leadership’s moving-right show.