Comments on: The People’s Assembly: making a movement?

By: Will Podmore

Will Podmore — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 13:41:01 +0000

I agree with Rob – we do need to “re-build an economy capable of supporting enough secure and well-paid jobs- which to my mind means having a strong and innovative manufacturing sector, and a skilled workforce”.

The problem is that capitalism, far from enabling the rebuilding of manufacturing industry, is stopping us achieving this.
By ‘a Labour Party committed to social democratic principles’ does Rob mean one that would actually put those principles into practice? How does he propose to achieve this? It’s easy to call for desirable outcomes.
Haven’t Labour Party members been trying to do this for a century? Why have they not succeeded?

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 10:05:57 +0000

Jennifer- agreed. Creating a coalition that’s merely against austerity is like saying we can turn the clock back to 2007 and everything’ll be great again.

Until we can re-build an economy capable of supporting enough secure and well-paid jobs- which to my mind means having a strong and innovative manufacturing sector, and a skilled workforce- any worthy plans us lot might have for the welfare state and worker’s rights will be built on sand.

The ultra-left will undoubtably say that the only economy capable of supporting enough secure and well-paid jobs is a socialist economy: nationalisation and central planning. I’m not of this view, I just think we need a better model of capitalism- and a Labour Party committed to social democratic principles.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 01:14:56 +0000

The new Assembly, whatever it consist of, must move as quickly as possible from fighting AGAINST austerity and whatever else it perceives to be ‘wrong’, to defining and working FOR a more positive future; otherwise it will go the way of all other leftist groups, which have been excellent at political analysis, but next to useless at providing a truly democratic and inclusive alternative.

By: Will Podmore

Will Podmore — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 11:05:17 +0000

Derek, we do not need ‘a new workers’ party’. We have one already.
Of course none of our trade unions should act as a Labour Party Support Group. We’ve tried that for a hundred years now – and what do we end up with?
Ed Balls promoting finance capitalist rule and Douglas Alexander backing war on Syria.

By: Derek McMillan

Derek McMillan — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 07:27:50 +0000

My union is sending me to a meeting of the People’s Assembly. They certainly will not be supporting Labour – the NUT is not affiliated to the Labour Party.

It may be an opportunity to push the case for a new workers’ party… or would that make me a “Trot sect trying to hijack the event?”

Labour has made it clear they will pursue with iron discipline the policies of the Tories so why on earth vote for them?

By: Miguel Martinez

Miguel Martinez — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:30:16 +0000

There is an assumption here that anything that is not social democratic or green in orientation should stay away from the event. Should Labour leaders and prominent activists address it then even if they support and partly caused the cuts? Will people from the south of Europe be invited such as the 15 M movement?

By: Jonathan Oates

Jonathan Oates — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:56:03 +0000

I hope we can get it together. If we do it well, it’s an opportunity to have a look at past and present cases in Britain and abroad, learn from them, and find a way of working together that incorporates all the different sorts of activities required. I think we need a broad range of non-electoral (e.g. workplaces, communities, media) and electoral activity (whatever strategy is decided upon), and I don’t understand why these need be mutually exclusive. Nor does everyone need to share exactly the same analysis, vision, or plan; we do need to agree what we can agree, and are agreed on, even if it is just agreeing what we certainly don’t want.

I have questions about the constitution and organisation so far, that to come, and about other of our organisations (e.g. TUs, parties etc). I’m attending in the hope we can talk it out, get somewhere sensible, open, democratic, and work together effectively to get things sorted.

By: Will Podmore

Will Podmore — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 13:44:36 +0000

The ‘People’s Assembly’ will consist of a platform of speakers who agree on some matters and disagree on others, who will be talking to other people who agree on some matters and disagree on others.
Afterwards, some will try to set up yet another new party, and others will oppose this.
Result? No progress.
It is a way of turning your back on the real, vital task of organising in your workplace.
It’s not that I want it to fail, so much as that all experience tells us that it will fail.
Remember ‘the New Left’? The May Day Manifesto movement? All these broad church efforts disintegrate because they are not rooted in the working class.

By: Chris Horner

Chris Horner — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 07:02:43 +0000

Will Podmore’s comment leaves me puzzled. If the people’s assembly isn’t non sectarian, what is? His comment seems to bear out Owen’s points perfectly. No doubt comrade Podmore will be hoping for the initiative to fail. The rest of us will be working to make it succeed.

By: Will Podmore

Will Podmore — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 16:01:16 +0000

Owen writes, “we still don’t have a broad national movement against austerity.” The trade union movement is that braod national movement. It is already involved in struggles against wage cuts, privatisation and public spending cuts. It is not though, thankfully, involved in the sectarian effort to set up a ‘People’s Assembly’.
This will inevitably consist of shedloads of speakers talking down to people, who will then go home even more disillusioned. The answer is not top-down sectarian initiatives like this Assembly, but workplace involvement.