Eric Heffer and Dennis Skinner key policies he would be campaigning on. 'SINCE 1983 the party has been moving steadily to the right. The leadership has been undermining the basic concepts of the party stage by stage. Many of the things that were accepted as our basic principles are steadily being eroded.
Not only are principles being eroded but policies which have been WOrKCU out over a long period of LIC UY DrUDCI UISCUSSiO! and debate in the party are equally being undermined.
That plus the fact that the SOCIALIST ACTION asked Eric Heffer to explain the reasons he was running for deputy leader and the leadership has increasingly concentrated power in the hands of the parliamentary party, in the hands of the shadow canine ane withi the shadow cabinet in the smauer crous arousa dat leader of the party.
Increasingly we are not involving the membership democratic decisions.
This has got to be stopped. sume unab une bally membership decides that we have had enough of this drift towards the right. If we are going to conduct a real tight against the Conservatives, and not just leave them damage themselves, if we are going to mobilise opinion against them, then we are going to have to mobilise that : opinion through a party which is dedicated to its principles and will fight inside the House of Commons in the most vigorous tashion and take that fight out into the country, into the trade unions into the localities.
This is why I think it is abso ule essenual ual tuls contest should take place.
The deputy leadership is not just about organisation, it is about policy. A lot of the input into the policy review is being made by Roy Hattersley. The document Alms ana values acooted by the NEC, has. •got Roy the whole document.
We have had a debate on this in the PLP. I was told by the leader of the party that if any member of the parliamentary had ideas on it they should submit them to the NEC und the would be idered. I submitted a who series of amendments. I received a card back saying that they had been deall with. But when I asked my colleagues on the executive • committee whether they had seen these amendments they said they didn't come simply been co appared by leader of the party and that was that.
This document is a fun. damental retreat from the basic ideas of the Labour Party. It means that we are moving away from the idea of the public ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange. We are talking in terms of accepting the capitalist system and merely making a few changes here and there. We are actually ac cepting the agenda set by the Conservative party support for the market, for share holding and so on. It is a fundamental undermining of the basic concepts of This relates to the discussion going on in relation to the whole future of economic policy. Here it will be very interesting to know precisely where the other candidates for the deputy will stand.
Roy Hattersley's pos tions are well known. He i the chief author of the Aims and Values document. But John Prescot aso a member of th economic policy comice dwal will interest the positions he will take. Up to now he's tended say that he agrees enti with what Neil Kinno and the leadership are dong, and its more a questior of the role of the deput leader rather than the DOLLICS Well we're terested in the politics, they are really the key question.
As far as the policies of the campaign are concerned the first thing is to bring all those industries that have been privatised into public ownership - with this time TOTHES democratic management involvement of white collar and blue collar workers.
ner we have seriously argue for the exand control to the banks and finance houses. We cannot talk in terms of creating full employment without having the control of the basic industries, as Nye Bevan put it, of the 'commanding heights' of the economy.
These two issues - the extension of public owner ship and the campaign toi toleher We have to have a - are tied policy of creating public in dustries in the worst hit areas. We need investment in these regions.
Second we need a full scale programme for housing - primarily for public housing so that are able to have decent houses to live in. We have to scrap all the nonsense that has been talked about for some years about choice because millions of our people don't have choice. We have to get down to a campaign for housing construction work. If we do that this wil also help bring back full employment.
Then we have to say that as far as democratisation is concerned not only do we have to have freedom of inormation but we must g d of the House of Lo and bring back democracy the cities by it the right authorities that will not be dominated centra all anti-trade union legislation has got t e repealed and new legisl tion brought underlines the rights of the trade unions on. a scals never seen before In relation to foreign affairs we have to fight for a non-aligned policy, the en ding of all nuclear bases in country, and workin for the winding down, ultimate abolition, of bott NATO and the Warse Pact, and for a nuclear free Europe.
Alongside of that must be the ending nuclear energy in this country and basing our energy industry on coal.
From the point of vies To the a at local lete through having branches in offices, in workplaces.
These are the key sae in the campaign. waging a crusade for socialism.
Socialist Action