Now -read the book!

Here is a link to my memoirs which, if you are a glutton for punishment, you can purchase online at https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/an-obscure-footnote-in-trade-union-history.
Men fight and lose the battle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant, and other men have to fight for what they meant under another name. (William Morris - A Dream of John Ball)

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

John McDonnell's letter withdrawing from the Labour leadership election

I was sorry to get this letter by email moments ago. There are clearly not enough members of the Parliamentary Labour Party who yet understand the scale of the challenge we face to turn our Party into the campaigning socialist Party needed to fight the coming cuts!

"Dear Comrades
 
I am writing to let you know that I have withdrawn from the Labour Party leadership race this morning.
 
I stood for the Labour leadership as the candidate of the Left and trade union movement so that there could be a proper debate about Labour's future in which all the wings of the party were fully represented. It is now clear that I am unlikely to secure enough nominations and so I am withdrawing in the hope that we can at least secure a woman on the ballot paper.
 
We came into this campaign knowing that it would be really difficult to obtain sufficient nominations but we knew we had to try. The support we received from rank and file party members and from trade unionists was just overwhelming but we still could not overcome the barrier of gaining sufficient support from Labour MPs.
 
I appealed to the party leadership to lower the qualifying bar to allow all the candidates on the ballot paper. It was perfectly possible within the existing rules for this to be done. Reducing the bar to 5% would have allowed all the declared candidates to get on the ballot paper and the Party to have a full and open debate about its future direction. The party hierarchy refused and instead threw its weight behind one candidate.
 
I know that many Labour activists and trade unionists will be disappointed.
 
I want to thank you for all your hard work in lobbying and campaigning to secure sufficient nominations to get me on the ballot paper. You could not have worked harder.
 
I am urging everyone to continue the fight for democracy within the party so that in future elections rank and file members will be represented by the candidate of their choice.
 
We must also now throw our energies into the campaign to resist the cuts that the Coalition government is launching against our community. Providing
leadership in this struggle is critically important in this coming period. We will be convening rallies and demonstrations and linking up with trade union action to resist the cuts. Let's rise to this challenge.
 
Yours in solidarity,
 

John McDonnell MP"

If Diane Abbot now makes it on to the ballot paper she must use the platform she will have been offered to encourage and support the struggle to which John refers in his letter.

Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Diane Abbot?? Are you having a laugh? Is that the private education platform? A purely socialist principle. The one that says if you have the money then undermine the public sector and send your children to the private sector?? Don't be ridiculous commrade!!