Morning after the [Thursday] night [in Crewe] before

No surprise really. But extremely sobering for the left as a whole as the prospect of the return of the Tories looms.

I find Ian Gibson's point in the middle pages of Socialist Worker, one of half a dozen or short post-mortem pieces, that Labour has lost touch with the working class indisputable. Mick McGahey's contrast between the numbers of shop stewards active in the Labour Party in the 1980s compared to now reinforces the point.


When it comes to what is to be done, I agree with John Rees's suggestion that three things: troops home, a stop to privatisation and a start to council house building, would reverse the collapse in Labour's fortunes. John McDonnell was saying something very similar arguing on Newsnight last night that what was needed was a change in policies not a change in leader.
What everyone agrees on is the importance of the unions. MPs are worried about saving their skins but theyhave been selected on increasingly right wing criteria since the early 80s. They are overall a very right wing bunch. The basis of a left wing revolt within the PLP is very small.

The unions have power. They provide the dosh - 88% of it at the moment - and with the rich no doubt thinking that peerages in future will come from elsewhere, it is hard to see any change here. What are the unions getting for their money? Zilch. Rather, they are feeding the jaws that bite them? This week's concessions on the rights of agency workers are real but don't add up to much. Much more is needed if Labour's core voters are to be persuaded that Labour is serious about defending their interests. With Labour's debts now £18 million, the unions have the leverage to force a change in policy.

Will they? The TUC is dominated by a few big unions. All of these affiliated to the TUC, UNITE, UNISON, USDAW, are loyal to the government. But it would be ultra left idiocy to abandon efforts to engage activists in the Labour Party and in the unions on the question 'How do we stop a Tory victory?' The current pro-war and privatisation policies are a sure road to disaster. Between now and the Labour Party conference in September we have a real opportunity to engage a large number in a serious discussion.