Olive branches?

[Cumberbatch]

Hello I am relatively new to the world of active politics although I have always been a Socialist I had given up and spent most of my free time distracting myself living in the past, but was inspired to join the LP by Mr Corbyn’s honesty.   Although after joining the LP it was soon apparent it was two parties in one with the PLP well organised, well oiled machine that is now in control of all communications that forces members to use their Labour party organise system, that reroutes everything up into the PLP and then only to be either delayed or removed.  This is one method that was used to stop members attending all member meetings!  Combine this with a membership who’s resolve is easily swayed by what I call the dark shadows of the PLP.

Add to this most people who are unhappy with the political system seem to believe a corporate facebook holds the key to fighting back!  Having joined a few Socialist groups on Facebook I was naively hopeful and soon realised this is not a method of capturing a large audience in fact its more like a large stage filled with Punch and Judy stands and is certainly not a place to discuss socialism let alone this false belief its the savour of socialism or even humanity.    I therefore have come to the conclusion we need an alternative and this is why I am asking the moderators to consider creating a room for those who are disgruntled with the Labour Party who have already left or are considering leaving the Party?  This would also give the members of the SPGB the ability to tread the sensitive and very painful edges with perhaps another perspective of the current events?

Kind Regards

Jon

[Bijou Drains]

Hi Jon

First of all welcome to the forum, always nice to hear new voices. Funnily enough there is a debate going on in one of our internal forums about how we can begin to look at putting forward our case for socialsim in different ways. I also agree with you that it is very easy for online forums and the likes to descend into “Punch and Judy shows” which end up being counter productive.

With regard to creating a room for those in the Labour Party who are disgruntled and have left or are about to leave, in way, you already have, by starting this thread, hopefully it will develop and fulfill your intention.

Getting back to the Labour Party, I think you are right about the top down model of the Labour Party. It is something that I think has always been there and was one of the reasons I left the Labour Party in 1981 or so. I had been in the LP from being about 16 till I was about 20-21, but realised that despite the outward appearance of being a democratic party (and to be fair back in the 1980s it was probably more democratic that it is now) it was clear that it was nothing of the sort, but more a top down model where those at the bottom complained about those at the top, until they got to the top and behaved like the people they had replaced. (Meet the new Boss, the same as the Old Boss!). I was also aware of the internal jiggery pokery and anti democratic methods of the various semi secret Trotskyist groups, that seemed more interested in destroying each other, than destroying capitalism and who certainly had at best only a shakey commitment to the concept of democracy.

Initially one of the things that attracted me to the SPGB in the first place (and is something we should be more enthusiastic in publicising) is the complete transparency and democratic nature of the Party. I am not sure how aware of our internal processes you are aware of, but we have no secret meeting, no cabals, no leaders and all of our meetings, including our Executive Committee, our conferences, etc. are ALWAYS open to the public, and a member who has joined the party five minutes ago has the same standing in the Party democracy, as one who has been in the party for decades.

There are other obvious reasons why I came to join the Party, not least its definition of Socialism and its opposition to reformism, but I’ll leave it there for the moment, hopefully we can do more of the compare and contrast stuff as the thread develops.

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