Stop the Retreat!

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Excerpts from a letter sent to Labour general secretary Jim Mortimer by Hornsey Labour Party secretary DIANA MINNS Dear Mr. Mortimer, It has been said that he (Tariq Ali) should not be a member because he is a fornier member of an organisation ineligible for affiliation to the Party (Internaitonal Marxist Group) and that he stood against an official Labour Candidate at the 1979 Genexal Election.

There are many in the Partv who have been memberí ot other organisations and who have stond for other Parties in elections; indeed in Hurnsey there are tw, who have stood against that we snow of (Max Morris who stood for the Communist Party when they took more vote; ihan the Tory majority in Hornsey and Pat Arrowsmith who was a candidate in Cardiff South East in 1979)..

There is very great anger and frustration that the membership of Tariq Ali should be refused on totally irbitrary grounds. We are advised that the constitu tion does not grant the NEC powers of arbitrary action over constituency Parties.

sey Hornsey Party has at no time denied the power of the constitution. the rules of the Party or the authority of the NEC; it does, however, feel that it cannot tolerate decisions handed down to it without explanation or reason.

The Party in Hornsey is remarkably successful one - the membership is large, abuut 1,200, and very active. We achieved the best result for Labour in London in the 1981 GLC Election when Tony Hart won the seat for the first time ever and so contributed to regaining the GLC.

In the Borough Council Elections this year, the Hurnsey Party held its nine seats on the Council - in one ward with a vastly John Bloxam reports on the Labour Coordinating Committee AGM and the Campaign for Labour Party Demo: cracy executive LAST weekend saw two defeats for the campaign against the witch-hunt. The Labour Coordinating Committee AGM on Sunday voted about two-to-one- to apply for registration, and the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy Executive Committee meeting on Friday agreed. by the same margin to recommend to the CLPD AGM in January that it do the same.

The LCC decision was perhaps the less surprising. Over the last year they have equivocated on the witchhunt, and the AGM took place against a background of defeat in the EC elections for most of those who have fought against this.

Ann Cesek and Jon Lansman were kicked off the EC, and Audrey Wise lost her position as vice-chair, as the Clause 4/ILP/Peter Hain grouping tightened their grip on the LCC.

But the shift to the right is not confined to the LCC. Indeed, a joint statement from Peter Hain and CLPD secretary Vladimir Derèr is now being circulated arguing that the Labour Party conference decision on registration should be 'recognised' that not only the existing policies but also the existing leadership should be supported, and that while witch hunts and expulsions are not acceptable we should "refuse to allow ourselves to be diverted from working for Conference policies and a Labour victory"

Versions of the statement were presented to the CLPD EC (where we did not reach it on the agenda) and to the LCC AGM where it was carried 72 to 61.

Why did the CLPD EC decide on its recommendation fo January's AGM last Friday, instead of waiting until after the result of the rIPD'e ronsultative hallot? WHO VUIN.

The Secretary produced the novel argument that because the December 31 deadline for registration is now up in the air, the NEC might decide at its nex! meeting to bring it forward!

Conveniently, the EC recommendation thus appcared just before the LCC AGM and in the middle of the CLPD ballot.

More important as a sign of the political method used by sections of the CLPD is an article written by CLPD Treasurer Victor Schonfield in the latest issue of the CLPD bulletin, and circulated to 2000 supporters and affiliates.

His 'argument' in favour of registration amounts to little more than personal abuse and a threat that leading officers of the campaign will split unless they win. It has more in common with James Callaghan and his threat to resign unless abolition of the House of Lords was deleted from the 1979 Labour manifesto, than political debate in a campaign organised to fight against CY such abuses.

The recommendation was not, however, the most important decision taken at the : CLPD EC. When the EC discussed a recommendation on opposition to expulsions, the following sentence was deleted on the proposal of Vladimir Derer - 'This AGM calls on CLPs not to carry out any such expulsions, and will oppose any consequent action taken against them' Now this particular sentence was also included in the successful resolution to the LCC AGM recommending registration. So we have the situation where the majority of the CLPD EC are to the right of the LCC, and have adopted exactly the same position as Militant:

In the Guardian of Monday . 22nd, Lynn Walsh of Militant was quoted as follows on the decision of Islington Central CLP to refuse to expel Peter Taaffe and Ted Grant even if the CLP is threatened with disbandment: "We think they should fight and that constituency parties should unite against it, but we're not prepared to see it go to the lengths of disrupting • the Labour Party in thạt way"

Despite the weekend's votes, the fight for an effective boycott of the register is not dead. The, LCC decision will certainly give the right wing a boost, and lend credibility to an otherwise discredited witch-hunting mechanism. But while it will be difficult to organise an effective boycott without the CLPD, the same is not true of the LCC.

The CLPD is still decisive, and the fight to stop it registering remains open -immediately, in the consultative ballot, and then at the AGM where the final decis, ion should be taken.

The CLPD AGM will also decide whether opposition to expulsions will be confined to words and resolutions, or whether the campaign will be prepared to give a lead to CLPs to face down the right wing and publicly throw its weight behind those that do. The issue is central because the success or failure of the witch-hunt will be decided on the issue of expulsions, and it can be stopped only by action, not words.

A wide section of the Labour Party is committed to supporting such action. It is one of the central planks of the policy of Labour Against the Witch-hunt. The LCC is now also committed.

If they can be held to this, and the issue is won at we Cds decisions on thie weekend's decisions on the register could be relatively minor defeats, and not the first actions in a headlong retreat.

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Horn official Lahour candidates,