Against the EU treaty (even if we don't want to line up with all its opponents!)

From time to time I have been accused of working with strange – or even fringe – political groups within our movement (usually by those with little knowledge of what is really going on!) However I have encountered a weird sect stranger than most others…

The weirdo eurosceptics of the strange former leftwing sect the “CPBML” are seeking to lead the calls for a referendum on the EU treaty (a.k.a. constitution) in our movement.

It’s nice to see the “comrades” stick their head above the battlements and I hope to meet – in the course of their campaign - some of the paid officials of the labour movement who (anonymously) write all the articles in the little read magazine “Workers” (which is sadly afflicted with an opposition to migrant workers which can best be described as racist)(although to be fair they are also in favour of nuclear energy so their support for the reactionary politics of our ruling class is pretty wide ranging!) There are a significant number of paid officials of various trade unions who owe their position to their current or previous association with this slightly odd political faction – who once knew who was leading the way to the future…

I have been accused (by a nearly literate critic) of living in a “parallel universe” so maybe I am wrong, but I cannot help but observe that whilst our General Secretary criticised in his last Conference speech those who take their instructions from a “central committee” he doesn’t seem to have noticed these weird parasites from a once radical organisation now peddling the politics of the Daily Mail – yet they are influential in our Union and have numerous placemen (and women) in the paid and lay structures. (Any of whom are more than welcome to defend their politics here in their own names – or if one or more of their stooges wants to stick up for their political masters then they too are welcome to do so!)(indeed I will even publish anonymous comments from senior paid officials of my own Union who are associated with this weird political sect – as I often have in the past!)

In the mean time, I would be interested in informed views from real labour movement activists (as opposed to the odd bods of the CPBML) about the EU and the demand for a referendum. For my part, I support the policy of the TUC.