LOCAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS!

Tomorrow's results could be mixed. If Labour is successful, which Labour will that be - Corbyn's, or Blair's?

Corbyn rightly "rails against" spending cuts (see LabourList article HERE) but Labour councils up and down the country are meekly implementing these very same Tory cuts to vital jobs and services!

That's why, to the extent we are able, TUSC is standing against ANY councillor who is not prepared to vote against cuts. Councillors have a choice in the council chamber. Labour councillors should start exercising that choice.

At the moment, they are not.

Momentum has much work to do if the "slow coup" against Corbyn is to be halted. They have much work to do if Blair's Labour is to become Corbyn's - a fighting party for working people.

Successes tomorrow will be presented by the yellow press as successes for Labour's "moderate" (read sub-Tory) Labour councillors. Khan's victory, given that he is hostile to most of what Corbyn stands for, will be presented in precisely that way.

Setbacks, needless to say, will be blamed squarely on Corbyn and Momentum.

This is not to be lamented. It is to be combatted! Not with retreats and compromises, but with a powerful socialist programme designed to do as much for working people, as the Tories' programme has done for the richest!

WHERE IS MOMENTUM GOING?

Momentum’s national website called attention the other day to Jeremy Corbyn outlining how Labour is, “standing up for our people locally, nationally and internationally”.

Whilst Corbyn is certainly doing that, the same cannot be said of the party’s councillors! The vast majority of them are “austerity lite”. They support Corbyn’s agenda in words only; if at all.

Labour councils up and down the country are dutifully implementing the Tory agenda of service cuts, attacks on trade union rights, job reductions and much else.

Labour councillors who have retained their spines, and have objected to this, have been disciplined or even expelled!

In a recent press statement, Dave Nellist, TUSC national chair and former Labour back bencher, made TUSC’s position clear. An abridged version is below.

“Dave Nellist, today appealed to the Labour leader to meet up and seriously discuss how to resist the new round of cuts being made by local councils.

The appeal was made after TUSC decided not to contest a forthcoming council by-election in Coventry, even though socialist councillors have been elected in the city in the past, including Dave himself.

Dave explained:
"When the council by-election was announced early in the new year we were immediately approached by trade unionists and community activists asking if we were going to stand.

The by-election is being rushed through by Coventry Labour Party for February 11th, just days before the council's annual budget-making meeting, where the controlling Labour Group are proposing a new round of cuts to council services and council workers' jobs.

People wanted to be able to vote for a candidate who would put Jeremy Corbyn's anti-austerity message into action, something which, unfortunately, Coventry Labour councillors have shown no sign of doing.

However TUSC hasn't yet had the opportunity to sit down with Jeremy to discuss what he can do to encourage Labour councillors, in Coventry and elsewhere, to help lead a serious campaign against the Tories' massive funding cuts to local government.

Part of this should be, in our opinion, assuring Labour councillors that they CAN legally defy the Tories - by using reserves and borrowing powers to pass no-cuts budgets, while building the campaign to force the government to reverse all funding cuts.

We would also like to discuss with Jeremy what council service users, trade unionists, and community campaigners should do in elections if all the likely candidates on the ballot paper are going to carry out the cuts.

We don't believe it’s an option to wait for the 2020 general election; huge destruction of jobs and services is planned by the Tories between now and then.

Time is short…

TUSC, co-founded by the late Bob Crow (RMT General Secretary), is committed to opposing ALL cuts to council jobs, services, pay and conditions. (See link HERE).

TUSC will work with any Labour councillor who is prepared to fight, and local TUSC groups are contacting Labour candidates to that end.

But we are also clear that any politician who votes for cuts cannot expect to have a free run at the ballot box, no matter what party label they wear".

OPPORTUNITY CROYDON?

Croydon's “Fairness Commission”, set up in January last year and chaired by the Bishop, has completed its report. See HERE.

Despite being sprinkled with modern management-speak and Obama-style references, it has a faintly Victorian flavour.

It will be seized by the New Labour Council as an answer to its prayers. It demands very little of it.

Like the council, the commission fully accepts the political framework set by the Tories, sustained by the corporate media, that more cuts to council services are *inevitable*.

Public services are under pressure, says the Bishop in his introduction. "By 2019-20 the Council’s budget will have been cut by 74 per cent. And the borough does not receive its fair share of funds, just £378 per head compared to £637 per head in Southwark or £586 per head in Lambeth”.

(Is there a suggestion here that Southwark and Lambeth should get less, so Croydon may have more?)

Accepting mainstream assumptions has led the Commission to look elsewhere for the balms to heal Croydon’s lamentations.

People face many problems, the report rightly says. But solutions must come from within - from volunteerism, from “good works”, from neighbourliness.

George Orwell could have said of it (as he did of Dickens) that the overall message, "looks like an enormous platitude: If men would behave decently, the world would be decent".

And there is a whiff of noblesse oblige - the expectation that the better off should find it in their hearts to help the poor. (Which of course they should. But this way?)

The report is undoubtedly well meant, however, and we do not in any way seek to question the motives of any of those involved (though we do think them misguided).

The Commission’s work has drawn attention to the scope and scale of the multiple burdens faced by Croydon. It’s just a shame that it’s proposals are underwhelming and fatalistic.

In essence our criticism is this.

Tory policy is having a devastating impact on people’s lives. But of this there is no mention. They are let off the hook.

The council could choose to use some of its many £ millions it holds in its reserves; or it could issue bonds to raise money very cheaply. But this is not broached.

The council could deploy more of its many powers. It could, for example, compulsorily repossess empty houses. Instead, the report suggests that spare rooms be offered to homeless people.

The council could, in the next few months, set a perfectly legal “People’s Budget” designed to make the most powerful impact on all the issues raised in the report. But there is only silence.

And, whilst he Commission lauds the aims of volunteering and community activism, there is no suggestion that Croydon Labour could, as part of a massive borough-wide campaign, call on its thousands of activists and volunteers to oppose Croydon’s cuts and demand proper funding from government!

We say: Jeremy Corbyn has called on Councils to resist Tory cuts. When will Croydon Labour start doing that?

HOW CAN MOMENTUM DEFEAT LABOUR’S OWN TORIES?

Labour Party activists were moving left during the period from the 1960s onward. But they were defeated comprehensively by the “social democrats” during the 1980s. There are lessons from that period for Momentum and the Corbyn campaign.

Some right-wingers exited the party and created the SDP (early 1980s). Subsequently they joined the Liberals. The others stayed behind, to finish their work on behalf of the Establishment.

For the Party, the outcome was the rise of Blair and the election of New Labour in 1997.

Despite the adulation of the press - then and since - New Labour was actually elected with fewer votes than John Major obtained in 1992. And between 1997 and 2010, New Labour went on to lose around 5 million Labour votes!

So; how can Momentum defeat Labour’s sub-Tories?

A useful, if somewhat academic book, by Leo Panitch and Colin Leys (first published 1997) covers the rise and fall of the Left and seeks explanations of why and how it happened - “The End of Parliamentary Socialism”. Here is a quote describing the left’s initial rise.

“The Labour Party (in Clay Cross) in 1959 had fifteen members and only two councillors. In this project [to shift Labour leftward] Dennis Skinner, who had previously only been active in his NUM branch, was joined by other young miners, and later by his two brothers who became members of the Labour Party Young Socialists when they were still at school.

They took the view that if they, the Labour Party, were to win the confidence of the people, they needed to embark on a course of political education for everybody. There was nothing patronising about their attitude; they wanted people to know what was going on . . . Night after night, doors were knocked on, leaflets distributed, public meetings organised and attended. …

By 1963 they had swept the municipal council and begun to implement a policy and a style of administration that was rather revolutionary.

They cleared the slums and built new council housing at a rate more than twice the national average.

They bent the rules, scattering Compulsory Purchase Orders “like confetti” and transferring money from the general rate fund to avoid paying high interest rates on government bonds which only ‘lined the bankers’ pockets’. They … charged the the lowest rents in the country.”

Clay Cross is justifiably famous for this, and because it defied the Tory Government of Heath in 1971. They unlawfully refused to implement the terms of the Housing Finance Act which would have meant increasing rents.

These are the kind of councillors we need today!

Have we got them? Can we get them?

HERE a London Labour councillor is expelled for opposing Labour's cuts!

IT'S THE ECONOMY, SILLY!

John McDonnell is organising an annual State of the Economy conference as part of his 'New Economics' discussion tour.

An excellent idea! The revelation by Oxfam that just 67 billionaires own the equivalent wealth as the poorest half of the planet shows just where corporate capitalism is taking us!

So getting the economics right must surely be at the heart of Corbyn’s Labour. Everything else flows from this.

With perfect timing, an excellent article in the journal Renewal, “Bring back the Institute of Workers’ Control”, revisits a pivotal period in Labour’s recent history during which this issue of economic strategy was first worked through.

During the 1970s and 80s, Labour and leading trade unions produced the famous “Alternative Economic Strategy" (AES).

The article, by Joe Guinan, opens by referring to the existential threat now posed to the planet by capitalism. He proposes democratic control over the economy as the only way it can be managed to meet people’s needs, without destroying the environment.

The heart of his article covers key events in Labour’s near history such as the occupation during 1971 of Upper Clyde Shipbuilders. This followed the Tory's withdrawal of financial support which would have led to its closure. That capitalist control of industry could be challenged in an urgent and practical way was given a material - and international - boost. (By the way, under occupation and workers’ control, productivity rose substantially!)

These events (and others he talks about) shaped the economic debate. A key organisations was the Institute of Workers Control. The IWC, supported by Tony Benn and many others, helped crystallise the alternatives, "to both moribund social democracy and emerging neo-liberalism".

Discussion by unions and workers produced workable strategies for deploying the skills, knowledge and experience of workers - but in a socially positive way. This has some immediacy. Workers employed by the Trident “deterrent” are rightly concerned about their jobs.

As early as 1978, a “Worker’s Enquiry into the Motor Industry”, led to proposals that included green and sustainable alternatives to internal combustion-driven cars - an early anticipation of hybrid alternatives, of electric cars and alternative forms of mass transit.

Organised Labour has produced demonstrable alternatives to capitalist management of industry. These alternatives not only can save jobs, but also create additional socially useful work. Here lies the answer to the legitimate concerns of Trident workers!

The "Alternative Economic Strategy" was ultimately defeated under the twin attacks from Thatcher on the one side, and her Labour acolytes, led by the likes of Kinnock and Blair, on the other.

TUSC looks forward to participating in McDonnell’s “New Economics”. It offers the opportunity to build a socialist strategy we can rely on - and one that will capture the imagination and commitment of all workers.

The Renewal article is a Must Read. It starts out in a somewhat academic style, but don’t be discouraged! After a few paragraphs, the real story begins. If you want to skip the academic intro - start reading from the section headed, “A Road Not Taken”.

We cannot leave the economy to the capitalists!

A PEOPLE'S BUDGET FOR CROYDON!!

Croydon’s right-wing Labour council will be setting its budget during February and March.

And on 28th January, the “Opportunity Croydon Fairness Commission" will publish its final report on, "what can be done to improve the borough,”

Labour councillors, presumably having no ideas of their own, asked the Bishop to lead the commission’s work.

Setting expectations, an email from the Commission spoke of the council having to, "make difficult decisions about how it can serve the people of the borough with far less resources…”.

Right-wing Labour Councillors will welcome the report. It will set an agenda of cautious and minimalist "reforms" for councillors unwilling to lead a popular fightback against cuts to funding and services.

Labour councillors will likely adopt the “dented shield” approach; favoured by spine-free councillors everywhere.

The money's just not there, they will say. There's nothing we can do. But at least we can prioritise cuts better than the Tories!

Like Tory/Liberal Sutton, they may offer consultation - but only on where the cuts should fall !

Fighting councillors, however, could make their own choices. There ARE things they can do. They can VOTE AGAINST CUTS!

Unite's local government national committee has called on Labour councils to do this; to set ‘no cuts’ budgets.

Furthermore, according to Croydon’s latest balance sheet the Council has nearly £90 million in “usable” reserves. If the “unusable” reserves were included, the total goes up to £362 million!

The total usable reserves held collectively by UK local councils is more than £22 billion!! - most of it in Labour councils!

If Labour councillors were determined to make REAL Corbyn’s claim that Labour are now an "anti-austerity party", then these reserves should be turned into a fighting fund!

The council could also issue Bonds to raise money - on very favourable terms too, in light of almost zero interest rates.

Rather than set a Tory-collaborators budget, councillors could instead set a “People's Budget”! A budget designed to meet the needs of Croydon’s citizens - not those of the pro-spiv Tories.

This could be done entirely legally! The Southampton Labour movement, for example, are already setting about this task. See HERE.

Activists in the Croydon Labour movement, joining with campaign groups and others, could draft a “People’s Budget for Croydon”. Croydon’s Trades Council has already started work in this direction.

A document like this could be distributed and publicised. It would shout out loud that a pro-worker alternative IS possible. It would be a powerful antidote to right-wing Labour’s lamentations and hand-wringing.

It could be used in the lead up to a mass lobby of the council on budget day!

It could be held up as the first volley in a political challenge to the pro-establishment Labour councillors - to signal their time is running out!

WHAT MUST LABOUR DO NOW?

The key question for Labour members and socialists outside the Party is; in the new situation what is the best strategy for ridding us not only of the Tories, but also their acolytes and little helpers in the Labour Party?

The next key battleground will be the local elections in May. If these elections are seized upon as an opportunity to take forward the fightback and consolidate the gains made so far, it will be a victory not only for Labour, but for all working people.

It was a real shame, then, that Corbyn sent a letter to councils on 17th December saying they must NOT set "needs budgets” - that is, budgets designed to meet the need of local citizens, rather than Tory policy.

In the same letter he said that Labour is now an anti-austerity party. But how so - if all that means is a purely verbal opposition? What is the point of a Labour council if all they do is wring their hands and pass on Tory service cuts and closures?

Labour’s 7,000 councillors control 120 councils up and down the country - what a massive potential base that could be for building real resistance - backed, as it would be, by 370,000 Party members; by trade unions, community campaigns and other left organisations such as Momentum!

But surely we must not sow illusions about the fighting determination of careerist Blairites.

It is plain wrong and potentially disastrous to lead anyone to think that Labour is worth voting for, constituted as it currently is, and with the vast majority of its MPs and councillors utterly hostile to everything Corbyn stands for - as made clear daily in the press!

Of course some council candidates and existing MPs will be worth campaigning for. But it is regrettable that these are a small minority at present.

There are two Labour Parties; Corbyn’s and Blairs. And we do a disservice if we conflate them and blur the distinction. We should not present Labour as having been utterly transformed. It hasn’t; although a very serious and hopeful start has been made. (See HERE, for example).

We must tell it as it is. Look for example at what was reported in the Financial Times (5th January) about Liverpool - a right-wing Labour Council with a right-wing Labour mayor.

Mayor Anderson was reported as saying, “It is not my fault that we have people with massive adult care needs. It’s not my fault we have a low council tax base. If we had had the average grant cut for councils, we would be £82m better off.”

As it is, the FT said, "Liverpool has lost £340m of its annual budget since 2010, a reduction of 58 per cent, and has laid off 3,000 staff". This is disgraceful. Sow illusions in these people?

Labour’s right-wing whine constantly that everything is the Tories’ fault. This is largely true of course (leaving aside the damage done by Blair’s Labour when in power...). But to then say there is nothing we can do is totally false.

Are we to plaintively lament to struggling workers looking for a lead that we must wait until the Parliamentary elections in 2020?! The further damage done by then, unless Labour fights back, will be unbearable for millions!

TUSC will not stand by. Wherever this happens, NO MATTER WHO IS IMPLEMENTING CUTS, they will be opposed by us - even if that means standing against existing right-wing Labour councillors.

We will be writing more, soon, about what is happening in Croydon and Sutton - where change is in the air....

GLEN HART & CROYDON MOMENTUM

Excellent solidarity demo for Glen Hart yesterday at Clapham Common Tube! (See photos below).

It's a scandal that Glen is being attacked by London Underground management - but it's a great and lasting credit to his union, the RMT, who are backing him so consistently. Glen is an excellent trade unionist who loves his work.

London Underground would show themselves in much better light if they abandoned their vindictive (and totally unsupportable) action against Glen.

LU’s case against Glen is totally unsupportable and without foundation. However, until they see sense, union and political pressure on them will surely grow.
----

Good news comes from an excellent Croydon Momentum meeting on Tuesday evening. Friendly and inclusive, the initial discussions are now underway to support and defend Corbyn’s Labour Party.

An underlying theme of all contributions was the need to positively present Corbyn’s policies and what he is trying to achieve. There will be no truck with the campaign of Labour's right-wing - largely sustained through the press because they have so little support on the ground.

A top issue was, needless to say, the Syrian bombing campaign, shamefully supported by 66 Labour MPs. Steve Reed's astonishing decision to ABSTAIN on the bombing campaign vote was discussed. His non-vote followed, as we understand it, a mysterious questionnaire he emailed to constituents - the results of which have not been revealed.

Also covered was the coming budgeting meetings of Croydon’s right-wing Labour council. The Council's policies will increasingly be challenged and key council meetings will be lobbied - and more so as we approach council elections in 2018.

Work will be done on this in conjunction with Croydon Assembly (an initiative of Croydon Trades Council).

All those in attendance, which included Labour Party members, TUSC supporters and others, will be building the fightback for a Labour Party worthy of the name.

Future meetings will be held on the second Tuesday of each month.

Meanwhile, ex-Labour MPs like Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling further expand their bank balances by finding work respectively with Pimco (a global investment firm) and Morgan Stanley (a global investment bank).

No picket lines for them! Who are the REAL "entryists" into the Labour Party?

WHAT NEXT? THINGS ARE MOVING FAST!

Sixty seven so-called Labour MPs voted to add “our” bombs to the rest of them falling on Syrian people.

Needless to say, the despicable Skully and Brake added their votes towards escalating the Middle East conflicts.

Croydon North's New Labour Steve Reed, principled as ever, abstained! On an issue as important as bombing another country, Reed abstains!

The less said about Croydon's two other social-climbers, the better.

Glen Hart, our candidate for Croydon North last year, has written to Reed following his brave abstention. His angry but measured letter can be found HERE.

And those opposed to escalating the war are depicted as “terrorist sympathisers”!

A cheap jibe from a cheap Prime Minister!

The media (including the craven local "Guardian") frames the debate by implying the bombs will fall only on ISIS !

Our views about terrorism can be found on earlier posts on this site. Unlike cheap politicians, our opposition to terrorism (and to war and to military dictatorships) is consistent and principled.

As for Labour, surely Corbyn must ultimately move against those Labour MPs who voted with the Tories on this. But he has suggested that he’s against deselecting these people. Why?

If due process is followed, why can’t a Labour Party reselect its MP? (However, there is a massive bureaucratic mountain to climb under the New Labour constitution).

As we’ve said in these posts before, Momentum's movement behind Corbyn is an excellent development. But there are now two Labour Parties! Corbyn’s and Tristram Hunt’s!

There is a pro-war Labour Party and a pro-peace Party. A pro-austerity party and an anti-austerity party.

These two parties cannot co-exist for very long. It is already clear that the Right is organising with determination against Corbyn - and what he stands for - with full support from the big business press.

We hope that in the new year TUSC and Momentum, in Croydon and Sutton, can meet up to discuss how we can proceed in harmony towards a Labour Party worthy of the name.

The By-election results have been a great boost for Corbyn and Labour’s left - but Labour Party members must make sure their candidates match up to the heightened expectations.

Momentum should not allow itself (in our humble opinion) to become door knockers and leaflet deliverers for candidates who are not fully behind Corbyn.

Would Momentum seek hard to pull out the vote for Reed, for example?

The year 2018 will be the hundredth anniversary of Labour’s adoption of the famous socialist Clause IV - deleted by Blair. Let’s find a way to bring it back!

WHAT IS SADIQ KHAN DOING?!

He is doing a great disservice to Muslims, and to all workers!

He is lecturing muslim people that they must “wake up to extremism”.

Is he suggesting that they are less aware of the issues than other people? Are they somehow more to blame for what is happening than non-muslims?

Muslims, and non-muslims, are being killed in large numbers by both terrorist bombs AND western governments’ air raids. Around 250,000 people have been killed in Syria alone since the civil war began there. And 6 million people have been made homeless.

He says (according to the press) that muslim people are not tackling “extremist ideas in their midst”. Is he suggesting that their is a wider tolerance of “extremist ideas” amongst muslims and, in ways not spelled out, this is somehow contributing to terrorism?

It suggests he believes that the total devastation of much of the middle east has nothing to do with terrorism!

Unwittingly (to be generous), he is making his own contribution to anti-muslim racist demagogy; echoed and encouraged by the yellow press. But he wants to be elected, so he leans into to the prevailing, poisoned winds.

There is a message that can be read into this, that the failure of muslims to “police their own people" is somehow contributing to the crisis.

Does he not realise that he is lining himself up with the very worst of the “collective punishment” ideologues?

Collective punishment is hardly new. For example, when the French Resistance attacked the Nazi occupiers of their country, in WW2, the Nazis would collectively punish the whole town or village - pour le découragement des autres

Although he says otherwise, the inescapable logic of his line of reasoning is that some of the blame for the latest outrages lies at the door of ordinary muslim people! This is despicable. It is scapegoating of the worst kind!

Momentum and Corbyn supporters must not allow themselves to be transformed into a “left cover” for the likes of Khan. These Tory subalterns must be challenged. They have no part to play in the Labour movement. They should go.

ANGER AND SADNESS!

Our heartfelt solidarity goes out to the families and friends of the people killed in Paris by the ultra-right-wing ISIS terrorists. They are cowardly murderers. The consequences of their acts will be dreadful, not only for those directly affected, but also on a much wider front.

Some effects will be felt right here in Sutton and Croydon!

Our opposition to terrorism, as socialists and trade unionists, has reasons additional to the natural human revulsion at the killing of innocents.

The fearful works of terrorists helps set communities against each other; with the help of the yellow corporate press, attempts will be made to stigmatise all muslim people. The consequences for the people of Syria and elsewhere will be similarly horrifying.

Socialism however stands foursquare for unity and solidarity between ALL working people.
Terrorist acts will boost right-wing arguments for strengthening state repression, state snooping, clamp downs and restrictions on immigrants and ethnic minorities. Muslim working people will feel the worst of the consequences of Paris, but all workers will suffer.

For example Irish people were stigmatised by the press for the activities of the IRA during the “troubles”.

Similarly, “Germans" were held responsible for what the Nazis did during World War 2 - even though millions of German people in Socialist and Communist parties, and trade unions, fought tooth and nail to defeat Hitler during the 1920s and 30s.

The terrorist acts in Paris will be a gift for every spittle-flecked ranting demagog.

Those calling for more bombing and military interventions have had their hand strengthened. But of course, that may be exactly what isis wants! (As we write additional bombers are doing their work. And many more innocents will be blasted to pieces).

The leaders of the Labour movement must respond loudly and with an independent voice. We cannot allow the corporate media, the reactionaries and the war mongers to make the running.

Jeremy Corbyn is taking flack simply because he has suggested that we should expose who is financing ISIS and selling it weapons etc. Shamefully some Labour MPs have joined the establishment it attacking him. But he is surely right to pose these vital issues!

Unless we intervene, the only winners in these escalating conflicts and wars will be arms dealers!
EVERY worker has a vital stake in the unity and solidarity of working people. Only united workers and youth can defeat terrorism and reaction and rid the world of the conditions that create poverty, injustice, violence and war.

No to Terrorism!

No to wars of intervention!

MOMENTUM & LOLLIPOP LADIES IN CROYDON

What has to change if Momentum is to succeed?

Following Corbyn’s campaign, thousands of enthused activists want to know how they can participate effectively in left politics; how they can stop the Tories shifting the economic burden onto working people, whilst Tory grandees and their backers accumulate £ Billions.

Will Labour be part of the answer? TUSC will be very happy if it is. But there’s work to be done.

It's early days yet, admittedly. Nonetheless, at present the Labour Party remains solidly Blairite. The vast majority of MPs are austerity apologists; the Party’s constitution is undemocratic; Labour councils up and down the country are mostly Tory subalterns.

You think that’s not true?

A few months ago parents near Woodside Fire Station, just north of Addiscombe, formally petitioned the council. They called on the council to re-instate a lollipop lady to help ensure the safety of children crossing the road.

This was the Council’s response, (Council Report of 19th Oct. Our emphases - in caps).

"We recognise the commitment of School Crossing Patrol Officers across the borough and how highly they are valued by local parents.

However, TOUGH DECISIONS HAVE TO BE MADE ABOUT HOW BEST TO SPEND LIMITED COUNCIL BUDGETS. ...

… There is no statutory requirement for a Council to have any School Crossing Patrol Officers and it is the responsibility of every parent to ensure that their child travels safely to and from school, accompanied as necessary. ...

IN THE CONTEXT OF SIGNIFICANT CUTS TO THE COUNCIL'S BUDGET WE ARE NOT IN A POSITION TO INCREASE THE SERVICE".

Pathetic!

This example is replicated a thousand times in “Labour” councils up and down the country! No red flag, just a white one!

We agree with Nadine Houghton from Momentum (HERE) who said that, "Momentum may hold the key to unlocking the possibilities that this new era of politics represents”.

It may indeed. But Momentum must be more than an uncritical Labour cheerleader. It cannot ignore who the MPs are; who the Labour councillors are; what Labour’s Tory-lite policies might be - and still formally are!

This must change. Otherwise a Labour victory in 2020 will be a sham.

OPPORTUNITY CROYDON?

“Opportunity Croydon” was set up by Croydon’s (pre-Corbyn) Labour Council. It has produced a somewhat milk-and-water interim report on tackling Croydon’s problems.

In many respects it gives good account of the range of burdens bearing on Croydon citizens. But its proposals are very weak, mainly because the Commission seems to take as gospel the Tory/Blairite narrative that, “we must live within our means” and that cuts in publics services are “inevitable".

(Where was this argument when we bailed out the banks with £350 billion?!).

Consequently the Commission's proposals tend to rely on community volunteerism; vague forms of “reaching out” and generally being nicer to each other.

They don’t match up to the scale of the problems Croydon faces.

Take housing. Around 2,500 families are living in temporary accommodation - a problem that’s been getting worse every year since 2009!

The report also tells us that, “the maximum payable in Housing Benefit is only sufficient to cover rents in the lowest 30% of of the private rented sector”. Leaving low and uncertain wages to cover the yawning gap!

But the impact the council could have, if it were to act and intervene decisively, as a Labour council should, is not addressed. The council is let off the hook!

The commission should demand that the council puts the needs of Croydon’s citizens first; not the needs of a Tory government.

Instead of looking for options to fit the Tory agenda, we should demand policies to strike at the heart of the crises affecting Croydon’s workers and youth.

On housing, here are just a few ideas being considered not only by TUSC but by everyone fighting for the interests of labour.

Any solution must have at its heart -
1. building more truly affordable housing;
2. ensuring that existing housing stock is proactively maintained and improved; and
3. ensuring that no houses, flats or buildings remain unused.

And to deliver this?

The council could bring all the independent social housing organisations back under their direct control.

Instead of leaving housing to the tender mercies of “the market”, this would re-establish local democratic control over the housing sector - fully involving tenants, landlords and the wider community.

The council could immediately identify, and if necessary take possession of ALL empty buildings in Croydon that could be used for housing.

The council could set up a "Housing Costs and Quality Agency”.

This agency could immediately cap rents at a much more affordable level. Thereafter it could establish a new rent regime for both private and public sectors going forward.

It could set housing quality standards and pro-actively monitor their implementation and maintenance.

It could ensure that the worst landlords, those failing in their responsibilities, are prosecuted. Tenants also would be expected to conform amenably with their agreed terms. At the same time, the agency would be on hand to help resolve disputes and hopefully avoid prosecutions.

And, not least, with new finance (see below) it could kick-off a new social housing building programme!

In these ways the council once again could become a direct housing services provider - and one that's democratically controlled.

It would no longer be a “facilitator”; no longer proffering inducements and incentives for private sector favours and co-operation. (Although no one would reject approaches from private builders with good ideas).

There is no escaping the fact, of course, that any council taking this road would come up against opposition from the government and its hangers-on.

So fighting hard for this ambitious programme would be crucial and unavoidable - but it would generate widespread community support for the council

Money would be needed. Additional funds could come from the council’s reserves (thats what they’re for) and from borrowing at the extremely competitive rates currently obtainable - especially for capital projects.

And an ambitious programme of work would put money back into the local economy!

We'll be looking at some of the Commissions other proposals - and the council's response.

HOW CAN CROYDON FIGHT BACK?

An important article in The Croydon Citizen has drawn attention to the continuation of service cuts that Croydon’s right-wing Labour Council is planning - cuts amounting to around £11 million so far.

If agreed, this will pile on more misery for Croydon residents.

We wait to see whether any Labour councillors will vote against - in support of Jeremy Corbyn’s stated strategy that Labour councils should fight back, not meekly pass on Tory policies!

Following Corbyn’s excellent campaign, there are now large numbers of people, both within and beyond the Labour Party, pressing for pro-worker policies and action.

Corbyn’s new Momentum organisation (see previous post) is a very positive development. Corbyn supporters within Labour have a major task to re-democratise the party and help turn it into a champion of the interests of working people.

The Croydon Assembly, meeting on 7th November, similarly has the chance now to help draw Croydon’s trade union movement into the No Cuts battle. Croydon desperately needs a united campaign not only to oppose service cuts, but also to put forward socialist policies that will turn the tide against the government’s pro-rich agenda.

Not unexpectedly, Croydon’s “Opportunity and Fairness Commission”, set up by Croydon Labour, is falling far short of what’s needed. Its interim report, just issued, highlights some of the dreadful conditions faced by so many Croydon residents; but it’s proposals fail to address any of the underlying causes of poverty, homelessness, unemployment.

Instead it offers a mishmash of volunteering and charity-based activity - with much Blair-style talk of “reaching out” and “working together”.

Behind every suggestion, between every line, is an impotent acceptance that, “there is no alternative” to austerity. That, “there is no money”, that, “cuts are unavoidable, and so on. It’s plain to see who sponsored the commission. Its approach overlaps substantially with Croydon Labour’s election manifesto.

Opportunity missed; fairness forsaken.

But in the new year, the council will be setting its new budget.

A Labour council COULD (and should!) be a people’s tribune. It could stand fast against austerity. It could lift spirits and hope by standing firm against service cuts.

At the budget session Labour councillors could announce, “NO! We are setting a budget designed to meet the needs of Croydon’s citizens - not a budget designed to meet Tory austerity!"

The budgeting period next year will offer an opportunity for a united, Croydon-wide campaign to influence councillors - some of whom may be feeling the sharp gusts of Corbyn's wind of change, and who in its wake may be willing to take a stand.

Many new Labour Party members, supporters of Corbyn, will be part of that fightback. We hope so.

MOMENTUM’S NEW CAMPAIGN

Momentum’s first big campaign (we understand) will be on the issue of voter registration. Whilst we agree unambiguously about the importance of this issue, we seriously doubt that it was the reason those many tens of thousands of people joined the Corbyn campaign, or joined Labour.

Voter registration is important not least because those most likely not to vote are those most badly affected by Tory (and right-wing Labour) austerity policies.

In our view, though, Momentum should seek to help re-take Labour back from it’s Tory-lite majority MPs and councillors. Something Corbyn seems already to be backing away from, unfortunately.

If it was successful in doing that, and Labour was once again the Party that stood foursquare with workers struggling for jobs and a better life, there would be no need for a registration campaign.

Workers and young people would be banging on Labour’s doors! As they have recently - when Corbyn's campaign offered the prospect of Labour returning to its roots.

Labour would once again be a party worth registering to vote for - and joining and supporting!

Corbyn’s campaign for leadership has already outlined many policies that would, “tilt the balance of power in society back in favour of working people and their families”, (to quote a phrase from a pre-Blair Labour Party manifesto). Those policies should be emblazoned on Momentum’s banner!

Why not, instead, start with a campaign to support the UK steel industry? Closures and thousands of job losses are set for Teesside, Scotland and Scunthorpe! Labour’s policy should be unambiguous: re-nationalise the steel industry! Make it part of a democratically controlled new industrial plan for the UK.

At the rate we are going we may be looking at a future where the UK - once the “workshop of the world” - will cease to manufacture anything very much!!

MOMENTUM!

A new left-wing organisation, Momentum, is being built. Tens of thousands have already indicated their support. A branch is being set up in Sutton - see below (nor sure about Croydon yet).

This is a very positive development which we unreservedly celebrate. Momentum’s purpose is to consolidate that enthusiasm and to build on the upsurge in political activity and interest.

Will Momentum help stop the pro-corporate avalanche of austerity and pro-elite policies? We very much hope so; and we will co-operate and participate in a friendly and positive way towards that end.

The enthusiasm of Corbyn's meetings and events arose not because the campaign was vague and “new”. On the contrary, it was because it started trail-blazing policies that at last offered a socialist alternative to Toryism and Blairism! Let’s not lose sight of that.

The campaign’s incredible success so far has been a direct consequence of speaking out about these policies. Policies which, for once, squarely support the interests of working people - such as the renationalisation of energy, the Post Office and the railways, the abolition of tuition fees, ending the privatisation of the NHS, controlling rents, opposing Trident, etc.

These and similar policies were the engine and the power of Corbyn’s campaign. TUSC supports them.

We hope this socialist core will remain at the forefront of Momentum. If so, we think it will deservedly grow in numbers and in influence.

But Momentum will also, we believe, face implacable opposition from the vast majority of existing Labour MPs and from 90% of Labour councillors too - many of the latter, with barely a whimper, are passing on Tory policies and cuts in social spending.

These MPs and councillors will seek to challenge Momentum. They will do it directly, or they will seek to subvert it and steer it well clear of radical politics. We are seeing this already!

TUSC will seek to stand against any right-wing Labour candidates in future elections who do not support Corbyn’s agenda. We cannot give them a free ride. We would encourage Momentum to take a similar view.

We look forward to helping.

Momentum's main website is > www.peoplesmomentum.com

Sutton Momentum’s Facebook page is

https://www.facebook.com/SuttonMomentum