who vote for the party.
Labour Party gets is cast by a black hand. it just wouldn't disappear.
nominate all the black people in the country.
ing left, right and centre. auvisory commitice.
Wednesday May 14. 1986 IN the midst of all its euphoria following last week's success at the polls, the Labour Party is choking over a small bone that is the black people To begin with, one out of every eight votes the And over the last couple of years, those black hands have been reaching out for a say in how the country the Labour Party hopes to be running within the next year and a half should be run.
The Labour Party at first would have nothing to do with it. It tried to rubbish the movement but In desperation, the masterminds in Walworth Road came up with a peach of an idea. They would - or in simpler language, put up — a few trusted people among whom would be a scattering of loyal black faces and they would talk for Alas, this appears not to be working either.
The future of the Labour Party's race advisory committee is in serious doubt. Members are leavSouthall Constituency Labour Party, for instance, where the blessed leader Neil Kinnock lives — as does the senile white MP Sid Bidwell known to the local Asian godfathers as Bidwellsingh — is heavily under threat from pressure for a black candidate and is in turmoil over aforementioned race Insiders say that having a race advisory committee is like having the kind of advisory commit tee set up in the colonies and composed of tame poodles of imperialist rulers of India, Africa and trade union official who was nominated for one of As we said last week, Ms de Haney 'would not want to be rubbing shoulders with the NEC (the Labour Party decision making body) under the guise of being representative of black comrades who in no way had asked me to represent them.' And she has withdrawn. In other words, she has told the power brokers in Walworth Road to I am informed that the other representative selected to speak for the East Midlands, Mr Keith Vaz, is also set to chuck it in as well.
So too is his sister, Valerie, who is harbouring Parliamentary ambitions for Southall. She is most likely to do the expedient thing and withdraw from And London with its five candidates is soon to pull out which effectively puts the race advisory Meanwhile, I can disclose that Mr Virendra Sharma, a former Southall councillor, has been appointed the first black full time official at the Surprise! surprise! given the Kinnock connecMr Sharma is an executive committee member organisation known as the fabians who argue that any problem can be solved if you throw sufficient As you can expect, Mr Sharma is a wobbly supporter of the black section. In other words, his support depenas on nis audience.
But his position is now untenable, having taken His job as 'ethnic minorities officer' is to drum up black votes but there is no policy responsibility which has angered the black community or thost elements of it who are in a position to get angry who are used to these antics in the discredited race relations industry.
Mr Sharma is on record in the house journal as saying that his job 'is not to confront Black Sections'.
But whether he likes it or not, his occupation of the hot seat will mean Black Sections will inSection campaign, in such a short time indicates tha racism and creating equali support the setting up tion fringe meeting at the conway to find ways of raising Fi/le FOREWORD by TONY BENN MP Sponsored by the Campaign Group of Labour MPs and published by the Chesterfield Labour Party with a foreword by Tony Benn Campaigning for Socialism: the Chesterfield experience charts the course of the party over the last two years, especially drawing out the effects of the miners strike on the alliances which the Chesterfield party have been building. Price 70p, plus 18p p&p, the pamphlet is available fron Other Books. PO Box 50, London NI 2XF (cheques parable to Other Books).
Socialist Action 23 May 1986
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CAMPAIGNING FOR SOCIALISM