This is the situation in many Labour Party meetings now. John McDonnell should stop hiding his head in the sands. Those on the left are bullies and obnoxious in their fervent wish to kick anybody who does not agree from the party.
There follows an extract from my novel An Ordinary Life on what happened in the 1980's. The same is happening today. Loyal members of the Labour Party are called names and worse so that they stop attending meetings.
" The business dragged on and Tom was aware that he had been warned about
this by his brother. People started to drift away, some to go home, others to
the bar. Stubbornly Tom stayed.
“ Next item on the
agenda.” The chairman Dave Dowling stated. “ The nomination of two delegates to
the Labour Party conference.”
“ I propose Dave Dowling
and Mike Pearce,” a thin face woman said from the floor.
“ Thank you,” Dave
Dowling said. “ I will have to step aside while a vote is taken if there are
any other nominations. Well?”
He glowered round the
room.
“ I nominate Tom
Houseman,” a quiet voice spoke from the middle of the room.
Mr. Reynolds, thought
Tom, looking round. Stan Reynolds sat with his wife Betty defiantly looking at
the committee. He was dressed in a suit and tie, grey hair slicked back. His
lined face showed his concern and determination. His wife was dressed in a
cardigan and skirt. They must have been well passed retirement age. They had
been coming to these meetings for a long time so Tom had gathered when he had
talked to them after joining from the other constituency. They were the sort of
old fashioned Labour people who believed in equality of opportunity,
redistribution of wealth and society. For them the health service was the best
thing that had ever been devised. Their children had gone, like Tom to grammar
school and then into professions, one a teacher, the other doctor. They were
proud of their children and grandchildren but they never lost sight of their
roots and the need to give people a chance in life. They supported the monarchy
and the countries institutions. As Tom’s mother would have described them, the
salt of the earth. Ordinary people leading ordinary lives.
Dave Dowling scowled. “
Seconder?”
May Reynolds raised her
hand. “ I second Tom Houseman. He will make a very good delegate to the
Conference,”
“ Is that constitutional?
You are his wife.” Dave Dowling grunted.
“ But we are individual
members of the Party. Therefore we have the right to nominate and second who we
like.”
“ Do you agree to this
nomination, Tom?” Mike Pearce asked bluntly.
“ Yes,” Tom smiled
sweetly. “ It looks like you will not get the shoe in you expected.”
“ Those nominated will
have to leave the room,” Dave Dowling stated glowering at Tom. “ Brian will
take the chair for the vote.”
All three trooped out. A
waste of time, thought Tom looking round the room. There are only a couple of
people like Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds left. All the rest are the supporters of Dave
Dowling. Tom was proved right. Dave Dowling and Mike Pearce were easily
elected.
After the vote Mr.
Reynolds moved a point of order. “ Are we quorate? There don’t seem to be many
people here.”
“ Of course we are
quorate,” Dave Dowling now back in the chair snapped. “ I would not have taken
a vote if we were not quorate.”
“ Another thing,” Stan
persisted. “ Why was such an important item placed towards the end of the
agenda? A lot of brothers and sisters left before we got to that business.”
“ They knew what was on
the agenda so it is their fault they were not here for the vote.”
“ Who draws up the
agenda?” Stan asked not giving up.
“ The committee, you ass
hole!” Dave Dowling snapped.
“ There is no need to
call me that. I was asking perfectly valid questions,” Stan stood his ground.
“ No it wasn’t a valid
question. The committee draws up the agenda from all the business that needs to
be discussed. That is the trouble with the party. We have to keep faith with
members like you and your wife. You are from the past. You want to be civil
with all sides. You believe in decency and equal opportunities. Redistribution
of wealth but not getting rid of those who exploit the working class. Christ,
you should not be in the party. We need to turn back to a Marxist agenda.
Nationalise all the means of production, finance and business. The best thing
you two could do is to leave the party to the likes of me and Mike.”
“ That is not right. My
wife and I have been working for the party for years and years. We have
supported it through the good times and the bad.”
“ Look old man. Go home
and leave the proper politics to those who know what they are doing. You are
not wanted. You are part of the problem.”
Tom could see they were
almost in tears and reacted angrily. “ There is no need to insult these good
people, Dave Dowling. You might think that your education and ideas are
superior to theirs but they are only ideas. Leave them alone.”
Dave Dowling smiled
cruelly. “ What do you know of working people, Tom Houseman? You are the
product of an elitist system. You went to grammar school and then to
university. You work in a university now. What do you know of struggle?”
“ Coming from you that is
rich,” Tom laughed. “ My father is at least a working man. Yours was a school
teacher just as you are a school teacher. My convictions come from a deep
rooted source. I believe in equality of opportunity and redistribution of
wealth. But there has to be the creation of wealth in the first place. People
have to earn money before they can pay taxes.”
“ But as is shown in
Russia, there can be wealth without exploitation.”
“ Rubbish! Which is the
richest country on earth?” Tom asked. “ The United States.”
“ But they exploit the
poor unlike in Russia.”
“ Rubbish again. In
Russia they put people in Gulags who disagree with the government. In the
United States you are free to criticise the government. You can vote out those
in office.”
“ To help the working
class we have to have a left wing agenda.”
“ To carry out your
agenda you have to get elected.”
“ With a left wing agenda
and ideas, there are more working class than the rest, so we will get elected.
The trouble with this government is that it is not radical enough.”
“ Now you are either
being silly or you have your head in the clouds. With a programme like Mike is
always advocating there is not a cat in hells chance of this party getting
elected. Hopefully the Tories have shot themselves in the foot by electing a
woman as leader. If Jim Callaghan goes to the polls this autumn, we have a
chance but not with a manifesto like you are going to advocate at the party
conference. Now you leave these good people alone in future. They have a
perfect right to be here and a perfect right to ask questions. If you are so
unsure of your position that you have to insult life long Labour members, there
is something wrong with your arguments. Come on Mr. And Mrs. Reynolds. I will
give you a lift home.”
“ Don’t you dare call me
a coward, Tom Houseman!” Mike exploded.
“ Mike grow up and start
acting like an adult. You are going to put this party in a right mess if you
are not careful.” Tom grinned. “ The next thing you will do is start to
advocate locking up anybody who
disagrees with you. All you have to do is look at dictatorships down the ages
to se where hat leads. Even better, go and buy a copy of animal farm and read
that if you can read and understand what it is saying. It will save you a great
deal l of heart ache in the future.”
Tom ushered them out of
the building and into his car.
“ Thank you for standing up
for us,” Mr. Reynolds said as they arrived at his house. “ I don’t know what
the Party is coming to when people treat other people like that.”
“ We have to make a stand
against the bullies of the left,” Tom smiled in reassurance. “ lets make sure
we are there next time.” "
