Posted by Alex Doherty
on October 31, 2009, 8:27 am, in reply to "Can NL be democracised?"
Serious efforts to democratise the Labour party were made by New left elements within the party during the mid 70's and early 80's - eventually they were beaten back by the centre and right wing of the party (people who today would be considered to be little better than communists by the NL leadership) - the chances of making NL into a democratic force for good is now negligible. Leo Panitch and Colin Leys document the efforts of the Labour New Left in 'The End of Parliamentary Socialism" - it's an excellent read:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/End-Parliamentary-Socialism-Left-Labour/dp/1859843387
--Previous Message--
: I was wondering how or wether it worth
: fighting to democracise NL. I dont know how
: much influence the members of NL have in
: producing the manifesto but from what little
: I know it seems virtually none.
: If it is possible, maybe a democracised
: Labour party should be the political aim of
: most of us wether, green, communist ,swp or
: social democratically inclined. Which would
: probably mean if it ever came about that
: most of the current NL crowd would switch to
: the Tories or the LibDems which is where
: they should be.
: Is it possible and if so could not most of
: the left agree to a manifesto within it.
: One of the ways to do it might be by the
: pressure of a modernised and forward looking
: TUC.
: RobB
:
Responses: