Was it right to attempt to stop a Labour MP speaking at the May Day rally?

We should certainly challenge the failings and, yes, betrayals of the Labour Party and Labour politicians. But the RCG and some anarchists were wrong to attempt to no platform Labour MP Graeme Morris at the May Day rally. If we had organised the rally we would, as left-wing activists, have put together a very different platform – with speakers like Sparks involved in winning the recent dispute, other rank-and-file strikers, disabled activists fighting benefits cuts, or activists from Greece or other countries involved in fighting capitalism. At least we would have had a wider range of speakers. (Actually it’s unlikely that the left in general, or even within the ACN, would agree on all speakers. For instance, the RCG would probably have invited representatives of the Stalinist dictatorship in Cuba – say what you like about Graeme Morris, he has not banned trade unions! Similarly the RCG hailed a representative of the capitalist government in Venezuela as the only real revolutionary on the platform, others would disagree.) But we didn’t organise the May Day march, the rally was organised by an imperfect, part of a bureaucratised, conservative labour movement body, the May Day committee of the trades council. But a labour movement body nonetheless! I am not claiming that the trades council is simply a reflection of the labour movement as it exists in the city; it has its own bureaucracy and political failings. But nonetheless it is part of the labour movement, with affiliated unions sending delegates and at least influencing its decisions. We should not disrupt that democracy lightly. If a labour movement body had invited a Tory or a boss to speak on a platform, disruption would have been legitimate, even if that decision had been made democratically. If this had happened I think we and others on the left and in the labour movement would have complained before the day itself. But – like it or not – the Labour Party is part of the labour movement. Of course, given the Labour Party’s contradictory character, there are Labour politicians who we might want to treat similarly to Tories (for instance in the unlikely event Blair was invited to speak). But the idea that it’s totally illegitimate to have anything to do with anyone Labour, or even any Labour MP, is wrong. It’s not a question of Labour bad, trade unions good. The bureaucratic, conservative nature of the British labour movement at present finds expression in both the unions and the Labour Party. If we say no platform for Labour, we should logically say no platform for most unions too. (Supporters of the RCG might flirt with that idea, but we shouldn’t.) Graeme Morris is not Tony Blair. He is a local representative who has, in fact, been involved with some labour movement campaigns in the city. For instance, the RMT say he has provided invaluable support to their important campaign organising Churchill cleaners on the Metro. (I probably would have voted against him speaking if I were on the committee – but that is a different issue.) If we insist that we can have absolutely nothing to do with such people, then we are sending the wrong signal to the many trade unionists and working-class people who, in one form or another, support Labour and the union leaderships. Rather than developing common activity with them, highlighting and criticising the limits of their politics and the failings of their leaders, and winning them over in comradely discussion in the course of struggle, we are cutting themselves off from them and actually helping to entrench the labour movement bureaucracy. We are saying to them that the ACN is not a radical part of the broader workers’ and anti-cuts movement, but hostile to it. I think that is how many trade unionists will have interpreted ACN activists, wearing red ACN t-shirts, attempting to prevent Graeme Morris speaking. I would also like to know why the RCG and others did not raise this question at an ACN meeting, or ever put forward the position they attempted to implement at the May Day rally for discussion in the ACN. This smacks of contempt for our democracy as well as that of the broader labour movement. I think we should issue a statement which, while absolutely raising criticisms of the Labour and union leaders, disassociates us as an organisation from the disruption at the rally. Ed Whitby