Which way for Labour Party democracy and effectiveness?

It has been good to hear of the victories of left-wing candidates supportive of the direction of the national Labour Party under its current leadership at the recent Annual General Meetings of Hove and Kemptown Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs). We shall see if Brighton Pavilion CLP also continues to be left-led later this week.

(It’s not modesty that prevents me mentioning the victory of the left at Brighton and Hove’s Local Campaign Forum last weekend, at which I was elected Chair – rather, much as I want to comment on the future of our campaigning across Brighton and Hove, I have something different to say just now).

There is a debate within today’s Labour Party about the two choices for organising at a local level which are permitted by our Rule Book. The first is the “traditional” model of branches electing delegates (along with delegates from affiliated organisations) to a General Committee (GC) (which is itself managed by an elected Executive).

The second model is the model of “all member meetings” (as applied by supporters of Militant in 1980s Merseyside and in the short-lived an ill-starred “City Party” in Brighton and Hove) which annually elects an Executive. Advocates of this latter approach genuinely believe that it is “more democratic”.

I think they are wrong for a number of reasons.

First, “all member meetings” do not of themselves increase participation by members in decision-making. If anything, they tend to do the reverse. Take a CLP with 3,000 members in six branches as a hypothetical example.

A monthly “all member” meeting would do well to attract 300 members to a monthly meeting lasting three hours (allowing the opportunity for a maximum of 60 members to make a three-minute contribution to discussion if there were no other business and no one spoke more than once).

Were those same 300 active and engaged members to attend six branch meetings to engage in similar discussion then (based on the same assumptions) it would be possible for every single member to have their say. This is because there would be (in aggregate) six times as long for debate in six separate meetings as in a single meeting).

Secondly, smaller branch meetings provide a safer and more conducive environment for contributions from members who may lack the confidence to speak in front of a very large audience. This multiplies the benefit of a branch structure for member participation in meetings (and whilst splitting an “all member” meeting up into groups could replicate this possibility to increase contribution such groups could not be decision making units of our Party as branches are).

Thirdly, a non-negligible point is that “all member” meetings exclude representation of Party affiliates from discussion (whereas affiliates, of which the trade unions are far and away the most important, can have a voice at a GC alongside branch delegates). This is not just a point about respecting Party tradition – the relationship between the political wing of the workers’ movement (the Labour Party) and our industrial wing (the trade unions) is central to the Party’s reason for existence. For all the imperfections of the often undemocratic relationship between the Party and the unions, this relationship is what distinguishes our Party from other Parties which merely seek to govern an unjust society (rather than mobilise those in whose interests it may be transformed).

Finally, and most importantly, a branch structure, in which branches are not simply “top down” channels of communication but are the basic unity of Party democracy, holding to account their GC delegates on a monthly basis, is the model which can entrench democracy not only within our Party, but also – through our Party – our wider society.

What we need from our mass membership Labour Party is a social force capable of defending our Government, when it is elected and faces sabotage from the forces of reaction (whether by a “run on the pound”, pressure from “international allies”, mobilisation on the streets by the far right, attacks in the media or a conspiracy within the “deep state”). To build this we need roots deep in each community, in every street and neighbourhood.

Building up our branches is the most important thing which we can do. More important than any election or any selection of any candidate (whether for local or Parliamentary elections). If we can succeed in building a mass democratic Labour Party then that Party will suffice to hold to account our representatives. If we cannot build such a Party then the project of our future Government cannot succeed.

A branch based delegate structure, in which vibrant branches hold delegates to account and assert the authority of the rank and file membership over the structures of the Party, is the best guarantor of Party democracy (and therefore of the effectiveness of the Party as a vehicle for the transformation of society). “All member” structures cannot possibly replicate these benefits – but provide the illusion of mass membership influence over a local leadership which (as we saw in Brighton and Hove) is able to distance itself from meaningful accountability if it will.

An “all member” structure may be an acceptable substitute for effective local organisation in areas where the local Labour Party is not (yet) a mass membership organisation – but it is very much second-best to an effective branch structure.