Updated declaration for a new workers’ party
We, the undersigned, agree to campaign for the
establishment of a new mass workers’ party in England and Wales.
A century ago trade unionists and socialist came
together to fight for independent representation for the working
class: the result was the Labour Party. In the past the Labour Party,
however imperfectly, provided a voice for the working class. Today,
however, New Labour is a party of the giant corporations, its policies
a continuation of Margaret Thatcher’s attacks on the lives and living
conditions of working-class people. Public services are being sold
off; the occupation of Iraq has led to the deaths of hundreds of
thousands of Iraqis and thousands of ‘coalition’ soldiers; democratic
rights are being undermined in the name of fighting terrorism; and the
Tory anti-trade union laws, the most repressive in the European Union,
have been left almost completely intact.
At Labour
Party conference after Labour Party conference the trade unions
succeed in winning votes against New Labour policies. However, the
Labour Party conference no longer has any power and its decisions are
brushed aside by the party leadership. Gordon Brown has made it
absolutely clear that this will not change under his leadership and
that there will be no ‘shift to the left’.
We believe
that the chance to reclaim the Labour Party has long past and there is
no point in continuing to fuel false hopes. We pledge to do all in our
power to bring a new workers’ party into being in England and Wales.
We believe
it would be wrong, at this early stage, to attempt to predetermine the
structure or every aspect of a new party. That can only be decided on
the basis of democratic debate leading to agreement amongst the forces
involved.
However,
if it is to be successful, it is crucial that a new party, and any
pre-party formations, be open, democratic and welcoming to all those
who want to work together against the neo-liberal onslaught on the
working class. This means that all groups and individuals, provided
they are in agreement with the basic aims of the party, should have
the right to democratically organise and argue for their point of
view.
This
approach will help to ensure that the new formation is attractive to
trade unionists, community and environmental campaigners, and anti-war
activists. Most importantly it will assist in reaching out to workers
and to young people who are not yet active in struggle. In this way we
can unite the strongest possible forces to build a powerful
working-class party that is capably of effectively opposing the
anti-union laws, cuts, privatisation, environmental degradation and
war.
We believe that such a party would represent a
fundamental break with the big business parties which currently
dominate politics, giving workers the opportunity to resist the
neo-liberal agenda and fight for a socialist programme.
The CNWP believes that some of the demands which will be central to
the formation of a new party include:
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Keep health and education public. Stop and reverse cuts in, and the
sell off of, our public services. For properly funded,
democratically controlled public services for all.
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For decent, affordable public housing for all who want it.
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No to racism and discrimination - oppose the divisive BNP. No to the
specific oppression that people suffer due to their ethnic
background, nationality, gender, sexuality, age, disabilities or
health.
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For a living wage of at least £8 an hour, and a living pension -
restore the link with earnings now.
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No to trident nuclear weapons - spend the £76 billion on public
services.
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Ownership and planning of energy and transport, leading to massive
investment and expansion of renewable energy and clean, public
transport.
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Immediate withdrawal of the troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
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For a democratic republic - a radical extension of democracy
including all representatives elected by proportional
representation, subject to recall, and paid the average wage.
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No to the capitalist profit system. For a democratic socialist
society, based on public ownership of the major corporations that
dominate the economy, and run to meet the needs of all, and to
protect our environment for future generations, instead of the
profits of a few.
Way Forward for the CNWP
In the fourteen months since its foundation the CNWP has made
important steps forward. We now have more than 2,500 signatories to
the CNWP ‘declaration for a new workers’ party’. In 2006 we held
successful meeting on the need for a new workers party at eleven
national trade union conferences, as well as numerous local and
regional trade union events. In the recent local authority elections
CNWP supporters have been involved in supporting a wide range of
candidates; both socialists and other anti-cuts and anti-privatisation
activists.
However, we believe that we have only scratched the surface of the
potential for the CNWP, and that potential is likely to grow in the
coming year. This conference takes place just as Blair, after ten long
years, finally leaves office. But the end of Blair will not mean the
end of Blairism. It is clear that Gordon Brown, Blair’s heir-apparent,
fundamentally follows the same anti-working class, pro-big business
policies as Blair.
Gordon Brown’s programme for government includes cuts and
privatisation in the NHS, education and other public services, public
sector pay cuts, and the continued support for US imperialism’s
policies abroad. Even if, desperate to differentiate himself from
Blair, Brown removes British troops from Iraq, he will support them
remaining in Afghanistan.
The civil service strike on May Day gives some indication of the kind
of trade union opposition Brown could face, particularly over the
issue of pay. It is not excluded that, under mass pressure from the
working-class, Brown could temporarily retreat from some of his
government’s most brutal attacks on the working class. However, this
would not fundamentally alter the vicious neo-liberal nature of a
Brown government. Therefore, while there will be some workers who
‘hope against hope’ that Brown will reveal himself as more left than
Blair once elected; these hopes will be shattered on the basis of
their experience.
We do not believe that New Labour under Brown, any more than under
Blair, can be ‘reclaimed’. The Labour Party today is an empty shell
without democratic structures. Since 1997 the trade union leaders have
given more than £100 million of their members’ money to New Labour. It
hasn’t bought them a fiver’s worth of influence.
We argue the only way forward for working-class people and trade
unionists is to build a new party that actually stands in their
interests. Therefore the trade unions should disaffiliate from the
Labour Party and begin to build a new mass workers’ party. We will
argue that the unions should maintain their political funds and use
them to convene a conference of working class organisations to discuss
the formation of a party, and to commence the process of drawing up a
party programme.
Unfortunately, at this stage the majority of trade union leaders are
still mistakenly arguing that New Labour can be changed. If they are
sincere in this, those in affiliated trade unions should support John
McDonnell MP’s campaign for the Labour leadership, as the only
candidate who stands on a programme that is in the interests of trade
union members, in that it is against cuts, low pay and privatisation.
While we do not think John McDonnell’s campaign will succeed, given
the pro-big business nature of the Labour Party, if he gets on the
ballot paper, we will call on those trade unionists that have a vote
in the election to vote for him.
However if, as we unfortunately expect, the Labour leadership contest
or coronation confirms Labour cannot be reclaimed, McDonnell and the
other Labour lefts should draw the necessary conclusions from this and
throw their weight behind the building of a party that stands for the
millions not the millionaires.
We also not that, in the absence of a new mass workers’ party,
disillusionment with New Labour is also leaving room for the
far-right, racist British National Party to make some gains, falsely
posing as a party of the ‘white working class’. We believe that, in
order to successfully cut across the BNP, a campaign is needed which
both exposes the racist, reactionary character of the BNP and works
towards building a party that genuinely stands in the interests of all
workers.
The CNWP will continue to vigorously campaign to popularise the idea
of a new mass workers’ party over the coming year. In order to do so
we agree the following:
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We will actively support any initiatives towards the development of
a new party. In particular we will encourage those trade union and
trade union leaders that no longer believe that New Labour can
represent their interests to take active steps towards founding a
new party.
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We reaffirm our support for the declaration for a new workers’
party, as amended by today’s conference, and will continue to use it
as a means to build impetus for the idea of a new party. We aim to
have at least 5000 trade union, community, environmental and
anti-war activists signed up as CNWP supporters by the end of 2007.
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We will produce a short pamphlet on public ownership and the case
for a new workers’ party.
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We will take an active part in local campaigns against cuts and
privatisation, as we are doing on the NHS, and popularise the idea
of a new workers’ party within them. We will also take part in local
campaigns against the BNP, raising the need for a new workers’
party. We will appeal to local community, trade union and
campaigning organisations to invite CNWP speakers to their meetings.
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We welcome the RMT initiative to organise a conference on the theme
of ‘rebuilding the shop stewards movement’. We will encourage CNWP
supporters to attend this conference from their unions and for them
to promote the link between rebuilding the trade unions and shop
stewards movement and the need for a new workers’ party.
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We will organise a second CNWP speaking tour in the autumn out of
which we aim to develop the local CNWP campaigns further.
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We will have a major intervention into the national demo on the NHS
taking place on October 13th.
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We will again organise CNWP fringe meetings at as many trade union
conferences as possible.
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We
will approach all left councillors in the autumn to discuss a common
agenda.
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We commit ourselves to monthly emails to all supporters of the CNWP
and for the website to be updated at least fortnightly. We will ask
supporters of the CNWP to make a regular donation, even just £1 a
month, to help fund our work. We will also approach trade union
branches to donate to the CNWP and/or to buy our material to
circulate amongst their members.
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We ask the steering committee and officers to act to continue to
develop the campaign and to call a third national conference in 2008
to assess the progress we have made and look at how we take the
campaign forward from here.
This conference comes at a time when New Labour is
moving further to the right and is intensifying its attacks on our
public services; we are seeing ever growing privatisation and job
losses throughout the public sector. It is vitally important that the
CNWP grows and develops over the coming period by being involved with
all those struggles taking place up and down the country to
defend services. To this end we call on the CNWP to take the following
steps as a matter of urgency.
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Increase the intervention in the Trade Unions, especially at the
forthcoming annual conferences, as far as is practically possible
there should be caucuses of supporters and public meetings at all
major trade union conferences. This should also apply to trade
union regional, women’s and youth conferences where possible, with
literature produced specifically directed at trade union activists.
The caucuses of trade unionists established at the launch conference
should meet from time to time to discuss how the aims of the CNWP can
be developed in the trade unions.
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Communications need to be improved between the steering committee
and supporters with a periodic newsletter being produced which will
publicise activities around the country as well as provide useful
campaigning information. Such a newsletter could serve to link up
the campaigns taking place in the areas by providing contact names
and rally support for these local activities. Initially this
newsletter could be E-mailed to supporters and finance permitting
later circulated more widely to supporters.
The following campaign officers were elected:
CHAIR – Dave Nellist
VICE
CHAIRS – Gerry Byrne; Jeremy Dewar; Clara Pyard
SECRETARY – Roger Bannister
ASSISTANT SECRETARY – Hannah Sell
TREASURER – Greg Maughan
TRADE
UNION OFFICERS – Glen Kelly; Terry Pierce
OFFICER FOR WALES – Andrew Price
YOUTH OFFICER – Tracy Edwards
COMMUNITY OFFICER – Mel Mills
PRESS OFFICER – Pete McLaren
