Events

Northern Region LRC: Organising Workshop

Thursday 1st March 2012
7:00pm to 9:00pm

At the Irish Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4SG (see map)

How the Labour Party works and how do socialists change its direction?

Workshops lead by John McCormack (Wansbeck CLP) and Bernard Pidcock (Blyth CLP)

The LRC has recently decided to introduce a more coherent organising strategy nationally and as part of that process the Northern Region LRC have launched a series of meetings and activities to raise awareness of how the Labour Party functions and how we as socialists can best organise to promote the spreading of socialist ideas and policies within the party. These meetings will look at how best to equip ourselves with the tools we need to fight for and win back our party so that it reflects and represents the interests of the working class once again. To that end we have brought two stalwarts of the Labour Party in the region together to begin the discussion on the structures of the party and how we use these to our advantage. John will speak on how the party is constituted, how it has changed to reflect the domination of New Labour’s neo-liberal model and Bernard will discuss the situation with regard to the local councils and how Labour could use these democratic institutions to raise class consciousness and fight for socialist policies.

We all feel at times, I am sure, that the conquest of political power by the working class is some kind of abstract battle in the distant future, but as the crisis of capitalism heats up and as millions more workers and their families are drawn into this fight, it is important for socialists to understand how those battles will play out in the Labour Party and the wider labour movement. The right wing in the party are organised, have positions of power in the apparatus and the resources to back this up - and yet they have little real support at the grassroots. These workshop style sessions are designed to help develop our knowledge and skills and to challenge the domination of the ideas of the right wing within our ranks. Please attend this important meeting, which will form the basis upon which the LRC will grow and how the battle for socialism will once again be put back on the agenda of the entire Labour Movement.

Steve Brown, Regional Co-Ordinator, LRC Northern Region

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