The News Line: Editorial
Friday, 22 July 2016
No socialist programme for Corbyn!
LABOUR leader Corbyn was full of confidence as he opened his campaign to be re-elected as leader of the Labour Party yesterday. He said: Im proud of what we have achieved in the last ten months. Labour is stronger
we have won every parliamentary by-election we have faced
three of them with greatly increased majorities.
We overtook the Tories in the May elections. We won all four mayoral contests in Liverpool and Salford, in London for the first time since 2004 and in Bristol for the first time ever. We also won Bristol Council for the first time since 2003. Our party membership has gone from below 200,000 just over a year ago
to over half a million today.
In fact, over 180,000 people over 48 hours have just paid £25 to be classed as Labour supporters so that they could, in the main, vote for Corbyn. Labour with 380,000 new members and 640,000 members in all is many times bigger than the Tory party.
Admonishing Labours right-wing MPs he said: Just over a year ago there were those in our party in parliament
who were unsure about whether to oppose a Bill
that threatened to take £12 billion from welfare
cash support for the less well-off, low-paid workers and the disabled.
Today we are clear
we are proud to defend the tax credits built up by Gordon Brown
and proud to defend our greatest creation
that is social security for all. He added: And we did it again with Personal Independence Payments for disabled people in the Budget
we shamed the government into abandoning their plans to take £4 billion from disabled people
that helps them live independent lives
at a time when the government was giving yet more tax cuts to big business and the wealthiest.
He claimed that these victories were laying the ground for a kinder, gentler politics
that respects those unable to work
that treats disabled people with dignity
However, he did not advance a socialist programme. Instead, he said: We should now work to build a transformed economy where no-one is left behind. He alleged: The injustices that scar society today are not those of 1945
Want, Squalor, Idleness, Disease and Ignorance
In other words a 1945-type socialist programme is not what is required!
Today what is holding people back above all are
Inequality
Neglect
Insecurity
Prejudice
and Discrimination
In my campaign I want to confront all five of those ills head on
setting out, not only how Labour will campaign against these injustices in opposition
but also spelling out some of the measures
the next Labour government will take to overcome them
and move decisively towards a society in which opportunity and prosperity is truly shared
in which no individual is held back
and no community left behind.
He continued: So Labour is calling time on the waiting game
and I am making the commitment today that the next Labour government
will require all employers with more than 21 staff
to publish equality pay audits
Because it is not only women who face workplace discrimination
but disabled workers
the youngest and oldest workers
black and ethnic minority workers.
He added: We are calling time on discrimination
and, as we know from the minimum wage, proper enforcement matters and makes the difference
So we are also committing to fund the Equalities and Human Rights Commission to monitor employers equality pay audits to take action where required to eradicate discrimination; and
to fine employers that do not provide them.
He added: Over the next couple of months, our campaign will set out how we plan to defeat the Tories
and elect a Labour government that will act to tame the forces holding people back:
of Inequality
Neglect
Insecurity
Prejudice
and Discrimination
His minimum programme is not a socialist programme.
But within the velvet glove there was the hint of at least a couple of knuckles, as he said that boundary changes would lead to the re-selection of most MPs before 2020, and that all MPs should face reselection at the end of a parliament.
Corbyn was essentially offering the right wing a peace programme. They will fling it back in his face. They hate the masses of workers that have joined the Labour Party and want to get rid of them as soon as possible, so that normal business can continue with the Tories.
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