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On 11/05/2010 01:37, Ron Cohen wrote: > In what way those are organic connections? membership? representation in > party conferences? participation in branches activities? there are > almost none of those. membership dropped to record low, branches are > empty, conferences are PR events with very little, if at all, working > class participation. the only "organic" connection, if you may call it > that, are TU donations, which are also bitterly opposed by the members - > e.g. the royal mail members of the CWU. > Ron, the biggest trade unions are affiliated to the Labour Party on the assent of their members; they are represented at Labour conferences where they have a block vote; they have a third of the vote in leadership contests, alongside members and MPs; the trade unions specifically sponsor a number of Labour MPs; they have representation on the NEC; and the fact is that if the members of the CWU or any other union wish to disaffiliate from the Labour Party and stop donating their money, all they have to do is vote for a resolution at conference to that effect. In 2008, eg, the CWU did debate disaffiliaton and democratising the political fund, and both resolutions were defeated. I have said in another message that there are long-term tendencies which are gradually undermining such organic connections. The FBU no longer affiliates to Labour due in large part to Labour's role in betraying the 2002-3 firefighters' strike; the PCS never did affiliate, and its political fund set up in 2005 is specifically not earmarked for Labour; and the RMT was booted out of Labour in 2004. But these are among the smaller unions. Unite, Unison, GMB, Aslef and a total of 15 of the largest unions still affiliate to Labour. The majority of the organised working class is still evidently persuaded that the link with Labour is worth preserving, even when the Labour government is consistently at war with the unions. To refuse to recognise this is to bury your head in the sand. -- *Richard Seymour* Writer and blogger Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.leninology.blogspot.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/leninology Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Seymour_(writer) Book: http://www.versobooks.com/books/nopqrs/s-titles/seymour_r_the_liberal_defense_of_murder.shtml ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
