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Rochdale Open Letter: LP Conference UPDATE
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stefan
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Oct 02, 2005 04:57 PDT
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Dear Friends,
This note is to thank you for endorsing the letter from Rochdale.
If you have not yet given your support please read the comments I have so
far received.
I am setting out below a post Labour party conference report and up-date
version of the letter. Please feel free to circulate the text as broadly as
possible. I have also included a collection of the messages that I have
received in support of the campaign.
As I said earlier, the circulation of the letter has been very limited so
far, I would welcome any help or lists of people likely to be interested,
Co-operative party branches, all Labour units & CLP addresses.
I went to Brighton for the Labour conference in order to distribute the
letter.
I printed 1500 A4 letters for Brighton and 3,000 A5 letters to be
distributed in Rochdale.
In Brighton the bloc vote of T&G/AMICUS/GMB with the active support of 40
per cent of CLP's inflicted 3 historic defeats on Blair. The first on
secondary picketing. Second, on privatisation of the NHS. Third on pensions.
The T&GWU motion on secondary picketing was passed by 69.44 per cent to
30.56 per cent. In the CLP section delegates voted 60.76 per cent to 39.24
per cent against. The TU block bloc vote was carried by 99.63 per cent.
The party chairman, Ian McCartney, narrowly prevented Labour's national
executive committee from backing the T&G in open defiance of Tony Blair, who
has vowed never to allow its return. Had the vote gone ahead, it would have
been the first serious policy defeat of the Blair's leadership by the NEC
since 1997.
Mr McCartney averted the vote by adjourning the meeting after it appeared
that a narrow majority of the 32 members would back secondary picketing.
The NEC reconvened in mid-afternoon and decided to not to make any
recommendation on solidarity action The NEC did not convene again for the
whole of conference.
Some NEC members repeatedly asked for the meeting to be reconvened so they
could express support for solidarity action.
Tony Woodley, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union
insisted that the Gate Gourmet dispute, where 667 workers were sacked,
justified a right for workers to take solidarity action after a ballot, "at
least where there is a close connection between those involved". Strikers
would be protected from dismissal under the TGWU motion, which sought to
sanction British Airways employees striking in support of dismissed Gate
Gourmet workers.
Woodley told the conference that solidarity was at heart of Labour values.
The Gate Gourmet case exposed "severe weaknesses" in labour laws which
allowed the "legal exploitation and bullying" of staff. "It is unacceptable
and immoral," he said. "We aren't calling for wildcat action. We aren't
calling for flying pickets. What is this movement about if it isn't
solidarity with those less able to defend themselves?" He also attacked
ministers for taking so long to condemn Gate Gourmet management.
Four sacked Gate Gourmet workers received a standing ovation from the
conference.
Alan Johnson, the industry secretary, told delegates: "In our quest for full
and fulfilling employment we realised that we could not go through the 80s
and 90s only to emerge in the 70s. Back then this party supported secondary
action and opposed the minimum wage. Now it's the other way round, and
that's how it needs to stay."
Dave Allan from Amicus said the TGWU motion was a request for the tools for
"unions to do their job". Gerry Doherty of the Transport Salaried Staff
Association attacked Mr Blair for telling a recent TUC dinner that no Labour
government would restore the right to take secondary action. Doherty said:
"I don't think it is up to the current prime minister to tell us what we are
going to do in the future, because we will deal with that when it comes."
Blairites exaggerated the split between CLP's and the trade unions in order
to detract from their conference defeat.
Delegates voted heavily in favour of a motion calling for a universal state
pension linked to average earnings, and for compulsory contributions from
employers and employees.
David Blunkett, the pensions secretary, insisted the vote would be ignored.
Delegates cheered as a motion calling for the suspension of any further
expansion of private sector care into the NHS was passed overwhelmingly.
Tony Blair told union critics of his plans for greater private sector
involvement in the NHS to "get real" after the Labour party conference
inflicted a defeat on the leadership on the issue.
The brutal treatment of 82 year-old Walter Wolfgang, a survivor of nazi
Germany and Erith and Thamesmead CLP chair Steve Forrest was a disgrace and
an outrage. The sight of an 82 year-old being roughed-up by hired
professional security personnel and thrown out for dissent is an act of
gross intimidation and an example of New Labour control freakery. The
suppression of dissent is endemic.
Emergency resolutions at conference were excluded for "spurious" reasons
and delegates had received text messages from party officials telling them
how to vote.
The New Labour regime is characterised by intimidation, suppression of
dissent and gerrymandering of votes at conference and in CLP's up and down
the country. It is a disgrace and an insult to the democratic traditions and
values of the Labour party.
Walter Wolfgang was detained under the terrorist laws. The "global war on
terror" and calls for "nation unity" act as the pretext to attack the
fundamentals of political democracy through the drafting of a set of
comprehensive anti-terrorist legislation granting sweeping powers to the
state to eliminate all or weaken many of the checks and balances that remain
on government surveillance, wiretapping, detention and criminal prosecution.
These measures will violate political democracy, trade union rights, human
rights and civil liberties and will result in the expansion of existing
detention centres for the permanent imprisonment of untried and unconvicted
individuals.
Blair is introducing draconian measures in the name of the global fight
against terrorism. All the measures oppose and destroy the centuries long
tradition of democracy in Britain. Blair is introducing these measures in
the country which was the birthplace of Habeas Corpus. These measures oppose
and run counter to a tradition going back to the Magna Carta.
Let us leave the final word to Christopher Hill, The English Revolution
1640:
"It is struggle that wins reforms, just as it is struggle that will retain
the liberties which our ancestors won for us. And if the people find the
legal system ³not suitable to freedom as it is,² then it can be changed by
united action. That is the lesson of the seventeenth century for to-day. It
was of us that Winstanley was thinking when he wrote at the head of one of
his most impassioned pamphlets:
When these clay bodies are in grave, and children stand
in place,
This shows we stood for truth and peace and freedom in
our days.²
³Freedom,² he added with a bitterness born of experience, but also with
pride and confidence, ³freedom is the man that will turn the world upside
down, therefore no wonder he hath enemies.² And freedom for Winstanley was
not a cheap politicianıs slogan: it meant the living struggle of comrades to
build a society based on communal ownership, a society which ordinary people
would think worth defending with all their might because it was their
society. ³True freedom lies in the community in spirit and community in the
earthly treasury.²
³This commonwealthıs freedom will unite the hearts of Englishmen together in
love, so that if a foreign enemy endeavour to come in, we shall all with
joint consent rise up to defend our inheritance, and shall be true to one
another. Whereas now the poor see, if they fight and should conquer the
enemy, yet either they or their children are like to be slaves still, for
the gentry will have all.² [Winstanley]
³Property ... divides the whole world into parties, and is the cause of all
wars and bloodshed and contention everywhere.²
³When the earth becomes a common treasury again, as it must, . . . then this
enmity in all lands will cease.²
Finally, I would like to point out that this campaign is not sponsored by
anybody. Printing copies of the letter, buying stamps for those who don't
have the internet, going to Brighton costs an awful lot of money. I am
financing everything out of my personal resources. So if you could send a
donation big or small, it would be more than welcome.
Yours
Stefan Cholewka
Stefan Cholewka:
Member of Rochdale CLP
Elected delegate on the
Executive and general management committee
Direct delegate to the LGC
Member of the Labour party since 1980
To:
All members of the Labour party
All branches and CLP's
All the delegates and visitors to the Labour party annual conference,
Brighton 2005
Dear Comrades,
I am writing this letter to acquaint you with the events taking place in
Rochdale and to express my deep concerns.
These extremely precipitous events are, in my opinion, linked to the danger
that the party is facing due to the on-going policies pursued by Tony Blair.
Following the general election, which in Rochdale resulted in the loss of
our Labour MP, as it was unfortunately the case in other towns and cities
across the country, we were informed that a Labour/ Tory coalition was to be
established on Rochdale council.
You will not be surprised to learn that this coalition and the
privatisation of central services - that it supports - caused deep concern
and was opposed by units of the party ( i.e. Spotland & Falinge branch,
Middleton West branch, the local government committee, Rochdale CLP and
Rochdale Co-op Party) which passed resolutions against the privatisation
process and /or the coalition because these decisions diametrically go
against all our traditions.
I personally took part in a campaign demanding that Labour representatives
should break with the Labour-Tory coalition. The campaign also opposes the
immediate consequences of the pact that goes against the the interests of
working people in Rochdale, by agreeing to the on-going privatisation
process for Rochdale MBC central services.
The appeal in defence of the Labour party denounces a coalition that can
only lead to the destruction of the party in Rochdale. This appeal has been
signed by more that 400 Labour voters.
Last month all Labour party members in Rochdale received a letter from the
North West regional office informing them, " that over recent months a
number of complaints have been received at Labour North West Regional Office
concerning uncomradely behaviour at Party meetings and the inability to
progress business at those meetings" . The North West regional office added
that, " it has been decided to conduct a more thorough investigation and
that that there should be no further Party meetings held in Rochdale".
In a word, the CLP has been suspended on the basis of alleged "uncomradely
behaviour".
A few days later the Rochdale Observer published an article reporting the
suspension of the CLP. The Observer quoted a senior Labour party member,
"who did not wish to be identified" and was reported to have said : "For
quite some time now before the general election there has been an element in
the party which has been in total opposition to everything all the time. The
last straw was when Stefan Cholewka went to the Observer to criticise the
coalition " .
According to the Observer, the anonymous senior Labour party member even
added the words:" I do not agree with the word coalition. It is a
partnership ".
Yes !! This last quote - along with the rest- can be verified for accuracy:
Rochdale Observer (Saturday 13th August, 2005).
These are the facts.
I must confess I do not understand. Why is there so much anger and
animosity?
Yes, I will keep on campaigning against this coalition/partnership which has
begun to implement the Conservative agenda: by confirming Mouchel Parkman
& Agilisys as the preferred bidder for the privatisation of Rochdale MBC
central services, and by agreeing proposals to slash the subsidies on the
Council's 23 Bowling Greens.
Yes, I will keep on campaigning for Labour to break the coalition/
partnership with the Tories which goes against both the nature and the
history of the Labour party.
It must be admitted that we have had previous experience of such coalitions
in Rochdale over the years.
It cost us 12 years of Liberal rule on the council!!
When I fight against the Tories and the Lib-Dems today I am simply doing my
duty as a Labour Party member, as I was mandated to do when I joined the
party 25 years ago.
Is there anything "uncomradely" about that? Could it justify a threat of
expulsion from the Party?
I really do not understand why these threats have been relayed to me through
the press. Is it not in total contradiction with the history of the party,
with its tradition of open debate and free speech?
Yes, I do think that what is taking place in Rochdale is a direct result of
the political course taken by the party nationally under Tony Blair's
leadership.
Yes, I have said in the past and I will keep on saying, in Labour party
meeting, as well as publicly, what millions of Labour voters think and also
say openly: "We brought Labour back to power 12 years ago and since then we
have not seen the expected reversal of anti-working class policies".
Yes, I do say openly - what anyone can read in any report on international
labour standards, that our country remains the only one in the whole of
Western Europe not to comply with ILO conventions because Tony Blair refuses
to repeal Thatcher's anti- union laws.
I see that the refusal to re-nationalise the railways has caused terrible
death and injury. It has made our railway the most dangerous network across
the whole of Europe for millions of daily commuters, and has gone a long
way to destroy all the social and economic gains of rail workers in Britain.
I see that the privatisation of the NHS and primary health care services
that began under Thatcher has now been extended under Blair. This is
pulling us back into the 19th century.
I see that all this equally applies to pension provision, state education
and social housing.
I see that all these policies derive from the total submission of the Blair
Government to the European Union whose constitution has just been massively
rejected in France and the Netherlands.
Is it a falsification?
Am I inventing these facts? Am I inventing the European directives and
their contents?
Am I inventing the privatisation of our public services, the destruction of
the pension system?
Am I inventing civil service job cuts, the break-up of state education, the
liberalisation of the postal services? Am I inventing the fact that the
so-called economic boom is in fact based on the continuing process of
deregulation and flexibility of the labour market, on the multiplication of
casual low pay & part time jobs, on the destruction of thousands of full
time industrial jobs?
We only have to pick up a local paper: Rochdale Observer, (Saturday 10
September), "THE BOMBSHELL news that 91 jobs are being axed with the closure
of a long-established factory has stunned the work-force. Vitaluxan, in
Lower Lane, off Broad Lane, will close early next year with some of the
production being transferred to plans in the West Midlands and Belgium..."
Who would dare say I am inventing these facts? Just like millions of people
I see what is taking place around me. I see and I speak out.
Is it "uncomradely" to say what I see, to say that we are all facing the
same traumatic situation and that we have already suffered far too long?
Can we imagine that this could be a cause for expulsion from the party?
Am I being "uncomradely" when I say that , in my own opinion, the course
taken by the Party under Tony Blair's leadership leads directly to the
destruction of the Party as a Labour Party, and consequently to the
destruction of the trade union movement to which it is organically linked?
These are my own views, based on what I see. Don't I have the right to
express an opinion?
I don't have anything against Tony Blair as a person, but I have the right
to say that the policies which have been enforced for 12 long years under
his leadership must be radically changed to return to Labour. I have the
right to say that when I see Tony Blair repeat again and again that he
wishes to go still further in the destruction of all the social gains that
have been won by our unions and our Party, I conclude that he is not the
man who can reverse the course of events. Consequently, to save the party
and to meet the demands and aspirations of working people and the youth, we
must get rid of him as leader.
Don't I have the right to express my views, don't I have the right to
express them any more?
Don't I have the right to express my deepest concerns and reject the
continuation of Thatcher's policies?
Don't I have the right to express my concerns and my rejection of a Labour
/ Tory coalition - which clears the way for privatisation in the town where
I live, just when, in my opinion, the most urgent task is precisely to fight
together with our party and our unions to renationalise all the services and
utilities that have been privatised by Thatcher and Blair?
Don't I have the right as a Labour party member, is it "uncomradely", to
say that I share the position of millions of people in this country. That we
have been lied into an unjust and immoral war in Iraq. That there must be a
link between this war and the terrible London bombings and therefore the
troops should be withdrawn immediately?
Don't I have the right as a long time defender of human and civil rights to
express my deeply felt concern over the suspension of the Habeas Corpus, and
to share Cherie Blair's position when she says "....it is all too easy to
respond in a way that undermines commitment to our most deeply held values
and convictions and cheapens our right to call ourselves a civilised
nation".
Don't I have the right to say that what must be recognised as the public
state execution of a young Brazilian in the London tube is absolutely
unacceptable for anybody believing in our democratic values?
Would it be imaginable that after 25 years membership of the Labour party,
of which I firmly intend to remain a member, I would be under a threat of
expulsion on the basis of what I think - and consequently say openly -
that the party is currently running the risk of disappearing as a Labour
Party, and that we must do all that we can to prevent this loss, whose
consequences would be incalculable for working people and all trade
unionists in this country?
If you agree with these questions and remarks, if you wish to express your
support,
if you have any comments, I ask you to get back to me.
Answers to be addressed to: Stefan CHOLEWKA,
31 Spotland Road, Rochdale OL12 6PE
Tel/Fax: 01706 642899
Mobile: 07901 913698
Email: ste-@macunlimited.net
FIRST ENDORSERS (personal capacity)
Christine Taylor, TGWU, treasurer, Rochdale CLP, Mick Cummings, TGWU,
Rochdale CLP, Mick Coats NATFHE, EC Rochdale CLP, Robin Rankin, T&GWU. GC
Rochdale CLP, Sonya Conwell, chair, Rochdale Co-operative Party, Sam
O'Brien, Rochdale UNISON, Tommy McClure, Middleton West CLP, Bill
Holdsworth, UNISON,West Norwood CLP, Nigel Maroney, Skipton & Sutton Labour
Party, Siggi Kaup,Skipton & Sutton Labour Party, Nick Phillips, UNISON,
Southwark, Helen Peters, London Metropolitan University, NATFHE vice chair.
Janet Shapiro, London Metropolitan University NATFHE, retired, Wood Green
CLP, John Calderon, Hackney South CLP, Francis Kelly, LSE, Brian Barton,
GMB, Milton Keynes South West CLP, Tony Heyes, Bracknell CLP (past
treasurer),David Hides, Moore Valley CLP. Cllr.Frank McManus, chair,
Todmorden Walsden & Stoodley BLP, Dr. N.M. Queen, School of Mathematics &
Statistics, University of Birmingham, Chris Duckham,Withington (Manchester)
CLP,Mike Bird, Conwy CLP, Paul McLean, Leeds North East CLP, Leeds
Co-operative Party,Joe O'Neill, Northampton North CLP, Martha Mundy,
Bethnal Green & Bow CLP, Cllr. Alexander Hilton Newbury Ward,London Borough
of Redbridge, Cllr. Sheila Peacock, Haringey CLP, Fred Groves, Bassetlaw
CLP, Francis Cook, secretary, Brikenhead & Tranmere BLP, Birkenhead CLP,
Wirral LGC, Dave Green. Fire Brigades Union: Executive Council Nottingham,
Gedling, Labour party, Peter Moore, Runnymede and Weybridge CLP Youth
Officer, Chris Purnell,secretary,Orpington CLP, Tony Richings, St Ives and
Cornwall Co-operative Party, George Neill, UNISON,Rajmil Fischman,
University of Keele, AUT, John Morton, Glenrothes County CLP and GC (also
Central Fife for Holyrood elections) Member of Fife Co-operative Party (also
chair of Markinch Community Council),Mike Calvert, Chair, St Annıs Ward
LP,Tottenham CLP,Assistant Secretary, Islington UNISON, Bahadur Najak,
University of Durham,Executive member, Association of University
Teachers,School of Economics, Finance and Business, Ray
Henderson.Co-operative party,Stewart Kerr, Secretary.on behalf of Scot-Mid
Co-operative Party Council. Hazel Becker, Antony Martin, Dr.Jeffrey Boss,
AUT, Stroud CLP, Jamie Thomas, (ex-NUJ), North Durham Co-operative party,
North Durham CLP,T ony ThorpeChair of Surrey & Berkshire Co-op
Party,Patricia Adams, St Ives CLP and St Ives Cornwall Co-operative
Party,Winifred Wheable-Archer, Denby Dale Labour Party, Wakefield
CLP,Malcolm Law, AUT, University of York, Tim Kitchin ,Partner,Glasshouse
Partnership, John Francis Sims, Yate & Chipping Sodbury, Br. LP Bristol,
Chair, South Gloucester TGWU,Bernard Morgan,Bath & Wansdyke LGC, Martin
Rudland,Tony Benn, (ex-Labour MP), Tony Richardson, BFAWU, Wakefield CLP,
Graham Brook,Wilmslow CLP,
The undersigned believe that nothing can justify the suspension of Rochdale
CLP, and that nothing can justify the threats of expulsion being made
against Stefan Cholewka.
The undersigned express their support for Stefan Cholewka.
Name........................................................................
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Address.....................................................................
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Labour Party
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Trade-union.................................................................
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Phone / Fax /
Email.......................................................................
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OPEN LETTER: Comments in Support of S. Cholewka
Member of Rochdale CLP
I have no objection to supporting any Party member under threat of expulsion
for exercising their democratic and party rights to engage in discussion and
debate and support a particular point of view. From what you have written,
your right to remain in the party should be supported.
Come on. Are we supporting Stefan here?
A Labour Tory coalition makes a nonsense of any Labour Party politics.
Anyone who enters in to one must be committing some crime worse than
suggesting voting for a waste of space Liberal..
There can never be a case for a Labour Tory coalition.
And as for putting the membership fee up massively and expelling anyone with
any kind of independent thinking. Donıt we object....There isnıt so much a
fight over policies going on in the party. The division is between creepy,
crawly, donıt rock the boat loyalists and normal, healthy, I sometimes
disagree members.
Dear Stefan
You have my support.
Dear Stefan
Obviously I do not know everything about what is happening in Rochdale, but
the picture you paint is disturbing. You also mention many issues of concern
to many people, and the fundamental point that, in Government, the Party is
not acting as the Labour Party is expected to act.
No doubt you will be attempting to have the Rochdale case settled at
Conference. I will copy your message to others in the Party to help ensure
all this is done in the open.
Stefan and other Comrades should be supported.
Of necessity socialists in the Labour Party are in coalition within the LP
with an assortment of in house Tories, neo-liberals and other hangers
on.'Partnership' with the official Conservatives is a step too far. It says
much for the state of the LP that a cogent argument in favour 'Partnership'
with the Tories can be made at all.
Dear Stefan, I fully support what you are saying. I am a member of
Northampton north CLP, we kept our MP Sally Keeble but lost our best Tony
Clarke, Northampton south, we also lost power on the town council but we
could have gone into coalition with the Lib-Dems. We did not. I am a member
of the Northampton shire AMAL branch of the CWU. I will be at the CLP
tonight supporting a motion against any FURTHER privatisation of the Royal
Mail/ Post Office.
Good luck, In Comradeship.
Disgusting to read the account below but not so surprising....
I fully support you in your fight, I would never join the Tories or Lib-Dems
in any council or party work. That goes against all what I have fought for
since I joined in 1956.
Dear Stefan
Thank you for your message, I am not atte4nding conference I will read your
paper and I wish you well, yours fraternally
You have my support, sounds outrageous.
Iıll bring this to the attention of the branch members and CLP / LGC etc.
I am sorry you lost your Labour MP as a marginal seat we fortunately
retained our very good and hard-working constituency MP (elected in 1997)
with a lesser majority than last time but with a smaller loss than any other
seat in the Eastern Region. For a third term some loss of votes was to be
expected and itıll be worse for the fourth so please do not try to stop
Our Party achieving and being united in that wish. I am really sorry you
are having hard times in Rochdale but work to reverse it and stop it
spreading please. Iıll be happy to meet up with you at Conference to chat if
you wish. Please do feel free to forward this to your distribution list.
Kind regards
The number of times I've been subject to "uncomradely behaviour" by elected
members at CLP meetings!! Think I'll start complaining to Regional Office.
Thanks
I'll take it up with our CLP.
Mr Cholewka
Thank you for your email.
There is much in your communication with which many Labour Party Members
would agree, though I will not say that I agree with every point you raised.
However, I believe that our opportunity to make a fundamental change in the
direction of the Labour Party will come at the time of a leadership
election. Too often I see people leaving the party over one policy or
another and it saddens me that they are only empowering further the people
who agree with those policies and remain in the party, marginalising those
of us who are still fighting our corner.
I very much understand your frustration. I was furious over a brief
coalition with the Lib Dems on Redbridge Council last year and other issues
have upset me from time to time. I also agree that it is unthinkable to form
a coalition with the conservatives at any level of government....
Hi Stefan
Go for it, if I was a bit closer to Rochdale I would give you a hand, down
in the south
we call Blair the second Tory party looks as though we are not far wrong.
Good luck, they don't like it when members are right, they make decisions
and they must be right because they made them, it's called new Labour, Ha!.
Bring back Old Labour at least we had values then. Kind Regard
Dear Stefan,
I am not, nor ever will be a member of Labour or any other party. However
the attempt to expel you is typical of the vile, brainwashing plague that
has been affecting this country since...Thatcher was in power. Gagging is
prevalent in every aspect of our lives, be it the workplace, home, the media
or in politics. We are becoming a stagnant turgid society where only those
who parrot out the mindless crap from the press and TV are considered worthy
of attention or praise. Any attempt to question the orthodoxy of one side or
the other is greeted with at best derision or at worst: smears, lies, and
sometimes violence. Good for you for trying to resist the smug rhetoric of
the right. I wholeheartedly support you in your campaign.
Something has sadly died in the Labour Party, as Voltaire said I may not
agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say
it. Free speech is the casualty and unless a new party is formed then it
will continue.
Stefan,
You can count on my support , as I fully agree with your position. The views
of some of our so called labour party members is unbelievable and is in many
case more right wing than the Tories. Unfortunately the Co-op Movement is
full of "Cllr. Bretts" in different parts of the country which is why its
going nowhere.
Dear Stefan
My fullest support to you. Any pact is bad for the party we should always
stand on our own and let the electorate decide at the end of the day. You
have the support of the SCOTMID CO-OPERATIVE PARTY COUNCIL.
Hi
It might take some time to sort it all out over there but at least you are
having a go, you better watch it though, the government has got lots of new
hostels to lock people up in it donıt like.
I feel ashamed to hear of Rochdale councils pact with the Tories.Kirklees
refused all such attempts even though this put the Liberals in control. This
is a matter the Regional office should condemn rather than suspending the
CLP and attacking Stefan Cholewka.
Dear Stefan
I wholeheartily support you but I have left the new Labour Party. I have
listened to all the arguments about working inside of the party but I feel
the party has reached the point of 'no return'. What we need is a new party
that can promote Socialism and look after the working man. After all the
country cannot function without him.. Tony Blair came to power and threw
democracy out of the window. If you are expelled there is no hope for this
party. You have only put into words what thousands, no millions of people
believe.
Best Wishes,
Dear Stefan,
I agree with everything you say. A while ago I heard a quotation from
Margaret Thatcher. When she was asked what her greatest achievement was, she
replied New Labourı because she then knew that their project was over.ı
Need I say more? Good luck and donıt let them throw you out of the party.
Regards,
Just as a matter of interest - the Bath & Wansdyke Local Govt Party has been
suspended since just before the last local government elections. I don't
want to comment on the reasons for this or your local problems but I have
been a bit uneasy about the power that our regional office seems to
have to impose an indefinite suspension. There doesn't seem to be any duty
to explain or justify the length of the suspension (I don't question the
need for the power to suspend); it seems it could go on forever.
Good luck
Stefan,
I cannot help but support you in this. Even though I'm New Labour, the most
left-wing edge of New Labour but still New Labour, I cannot help but agree
with what you've said. Regardless of opinions, as long as members believe in
the fundamentals of our party, then they must have the right to say that and
to be protected from those who disagree. I am also shocked to hear that
there is a coalition between Labour and the Tories. It's absolutely
disgusting. No wonder we've fallen to the lowest membership levels in
decades. You've got my support, even if I disagree with some of what you
say. (You're spot on in opposing the privatisation's though). Good luck and
God bless,
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