This
poses the wider question of how the left is organised in the Labour Party, and
despite the above it is true that the left did well in the NEC elections last
year, partly due to the failure of the right to agree a common slate.
There
are left organisations, some of which are organised locally, publications,
blogs and an e-mail network, and this has
obviously all contributed to the rise of Jeremy Corbyn, although the extent to
which that is so is difficult to establish.
The
main, indeed the only general left organisation for the UK is the Labour
Representation Committee (LRC), particularly since Compass ceased to have a
Labour orientation. It has a monthly publication, Labour Briefing, no longer
independent since 2012 after a bitter row with the Campaign for Labour Party
Democracy (CLPD),
which specialises in constitutional change and is always very active
at conference, but is a significant tendency in its own right. CLPD does not
organise locally, but LRC does, with 17 local branches in England, leaving
Scotland and Wales to the Campaign for Socialism and Welsh Labour Grassroots respectively,
neither of which organise locally to my knowledge.
The
only other organisation on the left of any size is Red Labour, which has
seemingly come from nowhere in the last two years, although it exists only on
Facebook and does not seem to have a centre or a conference. Nevertheless, it
boasts 46 branches, some of which are quite active, others dormant or little
more than a facebook address.
Other
publications include Tribune, Chartist, and Renewal. The leading blog is Left
Futures, but others are worthwhile including Socialist Unity and Socialist
Economic Bulletin.
Other
than that there are some local groupings that are not tied to any of the main
groups and a range of informal groupings and networks in CLPs, Labour groups
and trade unions.
Whatever
happens on September 12th, the left is now a more significant force than
it was four months ago and a new organisation that is able to unite it and
carry it forward is urgently needed.
What about labour list it is more or less dragging it's self from the right to the left mainly because of a few people who are backing Corbyn it is far bigger these day then left futures although it does have a lot of ham fisted Blair rites on it.
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