"Stop the Labour purge" campaign discusses how to fight back

A recent London meeting called by the Stop the Labour Purge campaign was attended by several dozen socialists and Corbyn supporters, all furious at the suspensions and expulsions being carried out by the Compliance Unit and the Labour Party bureaucracy. Socialist Appeal supporters, who were present on the platform and in the audience, report on the way forward in fighting the #LabourPurge.

A recent London meeting on Wednesday 7th September, called by the Stop the Labour Purge campaign, was attended by around 30 people, all furious at the suspensions and expulsions being carried out by the Compliance Unit and the Labour Party bureaucracy.

Speaking from the platform were Ronnie Draper, the suspended general secretary of the bakers’ union; Pamela Fitzpatrick, a suspended Harrow councillor; Michael Chessum from the Momentum national committee, and Ben Gliniecki of Socialist Appeal.

Ronnie highlighted the lack of due process in his suspension and the hypocrisy of the right wing, who are guilty of far worse crimes when it comes to undermining the Labour Party. Pamela explained that even Labour members in her local party who do not agree with her politics are shocked at her suspension – indicating how far the Compliance Unit is overstepping the mark, even just taking its own interests into account. Michael, meanwhile, said that, as well as fighting the purge, there are a number of other important political tasks to work in order to advance the cause of left-wingers in the Labour Party.

Ben spoke about the context of this purge: Labour’s ongoing civil war between ordinary working class people and a bureaucratic establishment that has crystallised over the last couple of decades in the Party. He argued that we need to readmit every Labour member who has been suspended and expelled in the recent period. He also said that the maximum possible democracy in the Party is essential, including the abolition of the Compliance Unit and its replacement with a more directly democratically accountable body, alongside the mandatory reselection of all Labour MPs.

The comments from the floor were all militantly in favour of defending our expelled comrades and taking the fight to the right wing. One person described what is happening in Labour as a “class struggle for the future of the Labour Party and the whole country”. A number of people made the point that it would be good to see Momentum take a more high profile lead in campaigning against the suspensions and expulsions, as well as more generally in pushing for Labour to adopt genuinely socialist policies and policies like mandatory reselection.

A number of other people, including two supporters of Socialist Appeal, contributed to the discussion with personal experience of their expulsions from the party in the recent period and some political analysis about how the Labour Right is preparing for a split. In the context of a potential split, it is more important than ever for Momentum to organise the Labour Left, to win the battle of ideas, and to wrestle back control of the Party at a local level.

Some important plans were made for establishing a committee to organise another event of this kind before the Labour conference in Liverpool towards the end of September. It was also suggested that comrades try to get their local ward or CLP or union to affiliate to the campaign and to sign the Stop the Labour Purge petition. Ben suggested that local wards and CLPs begin to circulate a petition of no confidence in their local Labour MP if he/she voted against Corbyn.

There is growing anger at the transparent attempts by the Labour Right to sabotage the Corbyn campaign by going after his supporters. All of this will probably come to nothing and Corbyn will still win the leadership election. After he does, we must demand that all expelled members are re-admitted, and that those who have been undermining Corbyn and expelling Corbyn supporters explain themselves to the Party members who they’re supposed work for.