This contribution responds to the invitation for comments on Labour’s future as part of the Refounding Labour process, and is broadly endorsed by the ILP’s NAC. The renewal of the Labour Party, encompassing changes in its structures and practices, is long overdue and we welcome the Refounding Labour initiative. There is much to commend...
Articles
Members’ rights will not be compromised, says Hain
Peter Hain this week moved to allay fears that a new Labour supporters’ network will lead to ‘US primary-style’ party elections as a result of the Refounding Labour process on party reform which he is heading. Speaking at a meeting in the House of Commons organised by Compass on Tuesday (14 June), Hain said...
Celebrating Clarion House
The ILP will make a special presentation to volunteers at Clarion House near Nelson on Saturday 24th July to mark nearly a century of association between the ramblers’ tea shop run by members of the Nelson ILP Land Society and the national ILP. Members of the ILP’s national administrative council will present Clarion volunteers...
The North West’s Spain Volunteers
The 75th anniversary of the Spanish Civil war will be commemorated at Manchester Town Hall on Saturday 16 July with a celebration of the contribution made by volunteers from the north west of England. Organised by the International Brigade Memorial Trust, the event will mark the role of the north west volunteers in the...
Refounding Labour?
Despite its vagueness and many, many unanswered questions, Refounding Labour could be a genuine opportunity to renew the party, says WILL BROWN The future of the Labour Party, and in particular its internal organisation and operation, was a recurrent theme in the campaign for party leadership. All candidates argued that the party needs reinvigorating...
The Politics of the Coalition
MATTHEW BROWN reviews the birth and record of the Tory-led government and considers the current short-comings of the anti-cuts movement. Let’s go back a year. In fact, let’s go back more than a year, to shortly before the general election when a Conservative majority appeared almost inevitable. It may seem difficult to believe now,...
Remaking our Music
BARRY WINTER introduces the ILP’s new perspective document, The ILP: Our Politics, arguing that our political morality forms the basis of our critique of capitalism. When you look back at the history of the left in politics, whether in the UK or internationally, you could be forgiven thinking that with its often terrible record,...
A Sustaining Weekend
Around 40 ILP members, friends and fellow travellers gathered in Scarborough on 7/8 May for the organisations’s annual weekend school, where the politics of the ILP, the coalition government and the Labour Party came under scrutiny. “Why have people like us not given up?” asked Barry Winter at the start of two days of...
Labour, the left, and capitalism
An interview with Harry Barnes, former Labour MP and ILP friend, which appears on the Irish Labour Watch website: http://irishlabourwatch.wordpress.com Harry talks about his political influences, the politics of Northern Ireland, Iraq, Libya, new Labour, the Robin Hood Tax, and much more besides. Read the full interview here. Read Harry Barnes’ own blog here....
31 51 81: Why Labour stayed in opposition, part 3
The third part of BARRY WINTER’s report on a conference to explore Labour’s lost decades, held on Rotherham on 19 March. Part 3: the 1950s and the 1980s The 1950s Mark Wickham-Jones argued that some important reasons why Labour did not do so well in the 1950s have been neglected. Apart from a team...
Towards an ILP Perspective
The ILP: Our Politics is a draft statement from the ILP’s National Administrative Council of the organisation’s perspective in the current political period. It will be presented for discussion and general endorsement at the ILP Weekend School in Scarborough on 7/8 May after which we hope it will form the basis for the ILP’s...
Combating the Coalition, Constructing an Alternative
The 2011 ILP Weekend School Saturday 7 & Sunday 8 May 2011 On the agenda: the politics of the Conservative-led government and the growing opposition to the cuts the challenges facing the Labour leadership rebuilding the party’s internal democracy (we will be discussing the Party’s Refounding Labour review and consultation document) the ILP’s political...