Momentum

The new leadership of the Labour left group Momentum has faced criticism for endorsing all six candidates on the “Centre Left Grassroots Alliance” left slate for the Constituency Labour Party seats on Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC), despite failing to get a statement on trans rights supported by the slate as it said it would do. The elections are for 18 of 39 seats on the NEC, and are now in the nominations stage. That closes on 27 September, and balloting will be 19 October to 12 November. There was a genuine problem of timescale, with the new Momentum national coordinating group...

Despite the new regime in Momentum, the "pinned tweet" on its its Twitter account is still one from 6 May (under the old regime) which indicated that the answer to the virus is that favourite of demagogues, "strong leadership", and hints strongly (though surely inadvertently) that the "strength" should be exerted primarily against migrants. It has a video which cross-cuts between floundering statements from Tory ministers - no shortage of those! - with words from New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern. New Zealand has done well in the pandemic. The virus arrived there six weeks or more...

Update on 15 July: Interestingly, on the first day of renewed strike action by the Tower Hamlets council workers, Momentum's Twitter was full of stuff about the strike, but there was nothing on its Facebook. This seems worth noting, but we don't know what it represents. Last week we published an article about the first changes socialists should push for in Momentum, following victory for a reform slate in the Labour left group’s internal elections. It’s clearly early to judge the new regime. All we have to go on for now is Momentum’s social media output — a very large part of what it does...

Reform group Forward Momentum has swept the board in the elections for Momentum’s National Coordinating Group, winning all 20 seats elected by members. Full results here. Momentum Renewal won the four seats reserved for and chosen by Public Office Holders (councillors and MPs). Since then four people broadly on the Momentum Renewal side have been selected for the seats reserved for non-union “affiliates” — many of them not representing much. Even with that manoeuvring, Forward Momentum has a clear majority. But that majority is not united by a clear political perspective. Serious debate of the...

With a clear Forward Momentum majority on the National Coordinating Group of the big Labour left organisation Momentum, there is the possibility of significant changes for the better in the organisation. There is so much that needs changing in Momentum that it’s almost hard to know where to begin. Here are some ideas for priorities in the next month or two. Much bigger changes are needed in the longer term. Small bits and pieces around certain disputes it may have seen as “trendy” (e.g. the McDonald’s strikes) aside, Momentum has done essentially nothing to support workers’ struggles. An...

Novara Media reports ( bit.ly/novarareport) that half a dozen former senior Labour officials have been suspended in connection with the party’s leaked report on antisemitism (and in fact a wide range of other issues). This includes Emilie Oldknow, who was reported to be Keir Starmer’s choice for new General Secretary of the party until the leaked report made that impossible. A Labour NEC (National Executive) member told Novara: “Almost three months since the leaked Labour Party report, which exposed racism, sexism, discrimination and bullying by senior officials in Southside, justice is...

We don’t know to what extent the Black Lives Matter protests will continue; but for sure Labour and union activists need, to a far greater extent, to join them and engage with the mainly young people taking part.

The Momentum National Coordinating Group elections close at noon on 30 June. If you haven't yet, please vote for and promote the candidates who have backed Momentum Internationalists' socialist platform — Ruth Cashman and Ana Oppenheim in London, Abbie Clark in the Midlands, Kas Witana in the North, and Nadia Whittome in the Office Holders section. Ana, Abbie and Nadia are on the Forward Momentum slate. (All NCG candidates at bit.ly/mmcandidates.) The results are out on Wednesday 1 July. In the contest between the two main slates, conservative-left and Stalinist Momentum Renewal and limited...

For all its rhetoric about working-class politics, the conservative-left and Stalinist faction in Momentum’s national coordinating group election, Momentum Renewal, has had little to say about the huge crises confronting the working class in the real world. Despite having a large network of supporters, including many people working full-time for Labour politicians, unions and the like, its blog has had only three posts. Momentum Renewal’s candidates and organisers have, however, found plenty of time to spend attacking Workers’ Liberty – which sometimes seems to be virtually the main focus of...

I put myself forward in the Forward Momentum primaries, and one of the key lessons I learnt was about democracy. Forward Momentum talks a good talk, and clearly it is better than Momentum as currently constituted and better than Momentum Renewal. But at least some of the leading people’s approach to democracy has been to support it when it suits them. Whether it’s the omission of agreed policies from their “Plan”, the banning of Ruth Cashman from standing in the primaries in London, or their response to the Stalinist witch-hunting of Workers’ Liberty, their democratic commitment has less than...