This growing chailenge to the right-wing leaders has been headed most clearly by the lefts around Tony Benn. Taking their distance from the Shadow Cabinet, it has been Benn and his allies who have moved in behind the democracy issue and who have begun to identity with the growing anti-Tory struggles erupting around the country.
It was, after all, the Labour Party NEC which launched the mass anti-cuts rally late last year. It was Benn and his supporters who identified with (and spoke at) the demonstration against the Tory immigration proposals led by CARL in late November and the anti-Corrie lobby slightly earlier.
Partly in response to this growing pressure, Benn and his allies set up late last year the Labour Party Coordinating Citee (LCC) as a medium for organising £3.00 for 12 issues POTENTIAL While ail these criticisms are valid, however, that is by no means the end of the matter. Whatever its leaders may feel, for thousands of activists, the LCC represents a means of seeking a coherent alternative to the policies of the present Labour leaders. Many labour and trade union members view the LCC as a real forum for hammering out a new programme that will be capable of rallying the labour movement in opposition to the Tory threat.
How far the LCC will go down this road is, of course, too early to say. It is still in an embryonic stage. The openness of its meetings so far, however, to exchange ideas and learn trom common experience would seem to suggest it is not a "closed-in' formation with 'rigid ideas.
The fact that Benn himself has been willing to co-sponsor a mass conference in March to debate out with lett groups (outside the Labour Labour Party) the way forward for socialism in the years ahead is indicative of an open-minded approach which is to be welcomed. Certainly, it compares well with the dogmatic and inward-looking approach of others.
OUTWARD-GOING Clearly, she test of the LCC - its ability to sink roots and grow -will depend in large measure on its ability to link up with and reflect the real struggles that are now
----- pull-quotes -----
Subscribe to SOCIALIST ACTION