The Convention of the Left

The place was as empty of ideas as it was of people. Sad.

I honestly do not know why I am bothering to report on this non event of the year. Other than perhaps to gloat over the demise of the "visible" left. The smarter and more devious ones are embedded in the government and also in the conservative party. Ready to take over and carry on with the same wet marxist dream, come the General Elections.

After pushing "The Convention of the Left" that took place from 20th - 24th September for close on a year, less than 300 people turned up. And those that did were mainly the supposedly crowd pullers of their sponsors.

By all accounts there were more on the top table than seated in the hall, that had the sad appearance an empty dance room waiting for people who were not coming.

Among their sponsors and speakers were the same old tired faces and names;

Confirmed participants include Tony Benn, John McDonnell, Jeremy Corbyn, Mark Serwotka, Colin Fox, Pam Currie, Frances Curran, Sue Bond, Jeremy Dear, Matt Wrack, Maria Exall, Jane Loftus, Carolyn Jones, Rahila Gupta, Tariq Ali, John Lister, Jonathan Neale, Kate Hudson, Andrew Murray, Lindsey German, Bill Greenshields, George Galloway, Abjol Miah , Ken Loach, Rob Griffiths, and Derek Wall.

Sponsoring organisations include the Labour Representation Committee – and the Left Women’s Network and Left Economics Advisory Panel; Scottish Socialist Party; Communist Party of Britain; Green Left; Respect; Morning Star, Socialist Workers Party, Greater Manchester Association of Trades Union Councils, Manchester Trades Council, Liverpool Trades Council and many others.

Like the pathetic T-Shirts with Revolucion, Cuban Flags and images of Chez Guevara printed on them, that were on sale, their ideas and discussion were just as outdated and long past their sell by date. Dinosaurs who do not know they are dead.

The theme of the event was "The Break up of the United Kingdom" and "pride of place" was given to the Scottish National Party(SNP) and Plaid Cymru of Wales. Both committed to the destruction of Our Island home and (I thought he was dead), Tony Benn.

Plaid's representative at this event was the toad and Welsh Assembly member Leanne Wood and for Scotland, Chris Harvie of the SNP. Harvie's speech went down like a lead balloon when, sounding like a Scottish laird, he stated that he liked Wales so much he had bought a second home there! Considering that this meeting of minnows was made up of a mix of Stalinists, Trotskyist and Marxists there is little wonder there was no applause at the end of his speech.

Although there was bitter rivalry between the different factions attending they seem to have come to some agreement that the only way to counter the continued growth of the British National Party was to move towards the right!

The same message was hammered home again and again. When the occasional speaker chose to mention Marxism, Trotsky or Lenin, a collective groan went up from those present.

Perhaps they have decided that they will sacrifice or rather conceal their true principals in order to help labour continue in power?

It seems that there might also have been a kiss and make up between the SWP and the Moslem funded Respect Party(dont know which version) but the blood letting within the SWP continues with their central committee voting to replace their leader John Rees.

On August 27 the SWP central committee voted by 10 to four to remove Rees from heading the party’s election work. He was national secretary of the Respect coalition and led the much reduced Left Alternative SWP electoral front following the split with Galloway.

Rees was instructed to resign from the Left Alternative national council. The decision was endorsed by the party’s national committee on September 14 by 42 votes to none, with three abstentions. German, who is Rees’s partner, resigned her own position in protest and reportedly even threatened to resign from the SWP.

The SWP’s Party Notes make clear that Rees is being targeted for a debacle for which the entire leadership is responsible. Since Rees was singled out by Galloway as his hate figure, this makes possible better relations and possible regroupment with Respect and other left groups. It is also bound up with a retreat by the SWP from mounting electoral challenges to Labour.

The only other item that I found of interest was the lefts disillusionment with the Trade Union Movement and the amount of funding that Labour receives from them.

Without the support of the trade unions, Labour would be finished. They provide fully £9 out of every £10 received by the party. Yet far from mobilising against Labour, the TUC’s most strenuous efforts were made to oppose any leadership challenge to Prime Minister Gordon Brown. TUC President Dave Prentis said of Brown, “I believe he will continue to be [prime minister] until the next election. Of course we want him to. He is the leader of the Labour Party and he is Prime Minister of this country.”

And really that is about it. I honestly do not know why I bothered to plough through the reports. Actually I do now. It was reading the old words like bourgeois and reactionary that got me going. Those words and a reference to the "putrefaction and decay of the Labour Party and Trade Unions". Pure nostalgia.

Time now to turn our attention away from the dead left and move on to winning over support from the conservatives and UKIP voters.

Tags: BNP, convention of the left, UAF, swp