By Urte March
In the recent elections for Momentum’s national leadership, Red Flag stood three candidates as part of the Anticapitalist Platform.
Our aim was to put forward an alternative programme: turn to the class struggle as the basis for rebuilding a mass movement capable of organising a socialist solution to the capitalist crises engulfing our world.
We put forward this programme because it is necessary to break with the utopia of persuading the ruling class to permit radical change through parliamentary elections alone.
That our candidates secured a credible vote in a contest monopolised by two factions demonstrates that many others have drawn the same conclusions.
The decisive victory of Forward Momentum – whatever our criticisms of its political limitations – is a welcome indication that the vast majority of Momentum members want a change of direction, to a democratic organisation which renews emphasis on the social movements that are key to securing fundamental change to our movement and to the system as a whole.
With a poor turnout and a declining membership, the incoming NCG faces an uphill struggle to defend the positive gains of the Corbyn movement, and define a new political strategy against an aggressive right-wing leadership.
We believe the key to success lies in putting Momentum’s experience and resources at the heart of forging a united resistance to the coming wave of mass unemployment and a resurgence of the coronavirus.
To mobilise this potential, the NCG needs to rebuild Momentum from the ground up, as a national movement of fighting groups, united by a democratically agreed strategy that articulates the key fronts in the struggle for socialism.
We look forward to working with the new leadership in this urgent struggle to lay the basis for genuinely socialist, internationalist and anti-imperialist workers’ party.
The Labour leadership is preparing its offensive against the left. The NCG should waste no time preparing a resolute response to rally the socialist left inside and outside the party.
The NCG meeting this weekend should outline a timetable for a refoundation conference and assume responsibility for negotiations on the NEC slate, based on the overwhelming mandate Momentum members have given it.
The NCG should also seize the initiative by agreeing a strategy for mobilising members in support of upcoming Black Lives Matter Protests and local struggles like the Tower Hamlets Unison strike.
These are extraordinary times and, while we face enormous challenges, the Black Lives Matter protests show how international action against a global oppressive system can tear around the world in days.
The Labour left must fan the flames of resistance and organise in local Momentum groups and Labour branches around a consistently socialist and democratic strategy.
Over the coming weeks, we will be campaigning against the return to unsafe working conditions, on the streets with Black Lives Matter, fighting the rightward shifts on policy and democracy in the party, and standing in solidarity with principled socialists against the witch-hunt of leftists from Labour’s pro-Palestine wing. You can read all our coverage of the campaign at www.anticapitalistplatform.org. If you agree with what we stand for – join us!
