THE FIFTH annual meeting of the Labour Party proach is more subtle and mediated.
The conference, which took place on the weekend of the 26/27 March in Manchester town hall, was in many respects an historic experience. debated 25 resolutions submitted by formal bodies of the Black Section, including two emergencv resolutions on South Africa.
There was also a major discussion on education prepared by the national exCCuLIVe. Another discussion, on the inner cities, had to be remitted because of time.
The however, was dominated by a discussion on the way forward. Hight out of twenti three resolutions submitted prior to conterence adaress ed this debate. Bernie Grant cancelled trip to Afghanistan in order to contribute to the debate at the conference.
The fact this question dominated conference attests to the seriousness with which it is viewed in the Black Sections. When the sequence of events is reviewed it is easy to see why such Black Section registered a new situation in relation to the party's leadership. Previously the approach of the party hierarchy was to attempt to snuff out the stirings of the party's black membership. Its new apimportance is attached to the matter.
When the first resolutions on the representation of black people were sub mitted to the conference the NEC established a working party to report back with recommendations.
Minority The NEC's working party, which had broad representation across the labour movement and included a number of black members of the party, had protracted deliberations ane concuciee une wides consultation exercise ever undertaken by the party until that point.
The of these fion was that two positions were advanced from the working party. the majority position with overwhelming support on the working supported the idea of Black Sections and recommended that the constitution of the Labour Party be altered to make their establishment possible. The second, minority, position, argued against the estab ishment of Black Sections, lavour or une establisnment of a black based (although with the participation of whites) campaign for black rights.
Aim In the event, none of these positions were acted upon by the NEC. Instead, the NEC decided establish a Black and Asian Advisory Committee' (BAAC) appointed by the NEC. This unprecedented step, the NEC has never before acted against the recommendations ot Its own working established the future attitude of the party leadership to the Black Sections the aim of complete annihilation.
An attempt at a compromise to resolve matters was proposed by Eric Heffer — the establishment of an affiliated organisation which would represent the view of black people to the Labour Party, and would be open to non-party members. However by now the framework had been set, and the NEC had staked everything on the BAAC. Heffer's proposal didn't fit into the requirement to inflict a defeat on the Black Section, and was duly voted down by the NEC.
Since then, the party leadership has taken every opportunity to try weaken, isolate, and marginalise the Black Section. There has been the expulsion of Amir Khan and Kevin Scally, the actions against Sharon Atkin and Phil Murphy, and actions and threats against constituency parties that gave recognition tc Black Sections At the same time, the Black Section built an extensive system of alliances within the party, and is conducting similar work within the trade unions. Moreover, the credibility of the Black Section within the black community has steadily grown with its increasing emphasis on community based grassroots activity Most important, however, are the notable victories scored by the Black Section ove the party leadership. Firstly, struggle to reinstate Khan and Scally, which was a campaign led by the Black Section in alliance with others in the party, and, secondly, the campaign against the BAAC — which even the party leadership admit is now defunct. These established the ability of the Black Section to conduct an audacious campaign against the leadership and win victories.
The latest episode in the holy war conducted by the leadership against the Black Section was an attempt to use the four black MPs, in place of the BAAC, as a potential alternative centre of gravity for the articulation of black interests. The opening tor this arose out of the Sharon Atkin affair.
Tactic But this tactic has been frustrated by the policy of the Black Section and the fact that not all the black MPs have agreed to be used against the Black Section in this way. Any attempt to use the black MPs against the Black Section would have resulted in splitting the MPs - making the operation much less credible.
therefore finely balanced. The situation Neil Kinnock at present gets more votes in the movement than any Labour leader since Attlee or Wilson in his early period. The Black Section continues to get a million votes at party conference but has not been able to break through this barrier. Nevertheless, black working class in this country continues to expand, the Black Section system of alliances within the movement Is growing and the left victories in the recent TGWU elections -with Region No 6 now havpointed out that members oi suci a back organisa tion would inevitably arrive at the conclusion that Black Sections are necessary — as had the working party.
Manoeuvre However, while the party leadership was engaged the party took it seriously and proposals previously rejected by the NEC began to re-emerge.
The Heffer 'affiliation' proposal has reappeared in an amended form as the 'Bill Morris proposal' -really a suggestion since Bill Morris presented it in an article in Tribune but it has not been put on the table of any formal discussion. The NEC working party minority position has reappeared as the Tony secretary of the Ucera Carke general proposal.
It is clear that the BAAC having failed the party leadership is considering retreating to the pre-BAAC proposals as they have not succeeded in annihilating the Black Section. This obviously throws open again une about black representation in the party.
Crunch The crunch matter will be the question of white membership. The creation of an affiliated black organisation with official status and representation on GCs, which would be able to campaign for black representation on the NEC would be a clear, even il limited, step forward for black representation. It would also almost certainly, after a couple of years debate, come out in favour of Black Sections.
But establishing an affiliated black organisation
Socialist Action simultaneously sank into a satisfied torpor.
European states, including the structure of their labour movements, equally remained almost unchanged for this twenty year period. Bourgeois democracy existed in northern, and most, although not all, of southern Europe. In the Iberian The political structure of the West peninsular the old fascist dictatorships ot war fuelled the student rebellion in Europe that flared for two years before May 1968. Economically Vietnam overstrained the US economy. The US attempted to finance its war effort by running huge balance of trade deficits with its West European allies. The West working