A spine in the TUC?
Shockingly the TUC discover some backbone when Blair's almost finished. If our Union leadership had a real determination to back their policy and members they'd be campaigning for Mcdonnell alongside the NUJ.
John McDonnell's Manchester campaign launch was an interesting affair for the faces it brought together; including our own labour Students, the Bennitte left and older Trotskyists. McDonnells only hope is playing to the younger generations in the social movements if he hopes to gain any public momentum seeing as half his campaign is outside the Labour party these days.
The sight of the Labour left brushing itself off and going up against the New Labour machine was almost to much to Blair. One thing you can say for the Labour left is that they're all extremely nice...
posted by Cliffite @ 5:48 PM
11 Comments:
Good to see some of our lot there. All the United Left groups in the unions will campaign for John McD. But the big 4 want Brown with concessions. Whatever that means.
What I don't understand is why the PCS and Amicus execs which are run by the United left and the gazette respectively won't come out for McDonnell. Surely they have nothing to lose in starting a serious policy debate in the Labour Party and movement?
PCS will come out for McD soon. A trot like Serwotka will like him. AMICUS is a very right wing union and have already come out for Brown at the TUC.
John McDonnell's only hope is a portal to a parallel universe where the Labour Party isn't already a stage army with rigged democracy and compromised leaders.
I think everyone knows McD has no hope. The policies he is espousing would cause a huge run on the pound if he ever was elected as PM.
Leaders essentially stand up for their members. Now for Prentis of UNISON to come out in favour of someone who would make labour unelectable is unthinkable.
Yes PFIs are creating problems. But for union leaders its all about socialist outcomes and making sure there is no return to life under the tories where no new hospitals were ever built.
Ignoring the abandoning of principles surely you can see the public is to the left of labour on all these issues. Even the tories are managing to seem more popular on these issues
I love to know what the "socialist outcome" of the giant handout to venture capitalism that is PFI is.
Anyone see that Dispatches investigation a little while back?
Sometimes its best not to ask...
I think the idea of PFI was that more investment could be made without it all having to come out of the public purse.
Perhaps, you should ask UNISON how successfull that little venture has been. Although I doubt you need to!
"I think the idea of PFI was that more investment could be made without it all having to come out of the public purse".
Except, of course, it does, and at much higher rates of interest. What's different is that the exchequer doesn't borrow to make capital investment.
PFI is actually better than genuine you're-on-your-own-now privatisation (not that public works are ever really abandoned to the "free" market) as the government is contracted to provide "revenue streams", i.e. guarantee consistent and steady profits to companies that build and run public works.
Yeah, the thing about PFI is that investing in huge programmes of public service growth is actually what the private sector needs to kickstart growth, so if competantly carried out, in theory, PFI is like a mortgage that pays itself. the question for people like Brown is less 'what are we giving to privateers', but 'what do we get, when, and can I stop it showing up on my balance sheet?'
Healthier, happier workforce=more growth, the way they see it.
on another note, i think PCS will be wary about being seen as non-neutral in personality terms. Civil servants. Besides, aren't they backing CNWP anyway?
Rob, I think you are spot on when you say that the public are too the left of the government. The question is, how far?
Ah, the labour left. Nice people indeed, just not to each other. Pity...
As an addition, the way I see it, the best aspect of parties like your own is that they can, in small measure at least, pull the public leftwards.
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