Category Archives: Momentum

Momentum

Nov 2 unanimous statement of Momentum steering committee

Every steering committee member was in attendance and the following statement was agreed unanimously at a meeting on November 2:

The Steering Committee recognises and regrets the discontent and frustration felt by Momentum members in recent days. Momentum’s democratic structures were always intended to develop. Unfortunately, this summer’s leadership election delayed that development, with all our energy being diverted into ensuring Jeremy Corbyn’s reelection.

The Committee recognises the need for a greater level of accountability and transparency from the leadership and administration of the organisation and will work to deliver that over the coming weeks.

Our path to democratisation, through our first National Conference in the new year, has not been sufficiently effectively communicated, leading, at times, to a breakdown in trust between different sections of our movement. There was not enough consultation and discussion with the diverse political and organisational traditions that exist in our movement. Pluralism is our strength, and all views must be properly engaged with.

After further discussion, the Steering Committee has agreed unanimously the following path for Momentum’s democratisation, which places unity, pluralism and member-control at its heart.

The National Committee, postponed from this Saturday, will take place on 3 December. We will ensure that this meeting is properly representative, including new elections for our liberation strands where necessary. A plan for ensuring this will be submitted and approved by the Steering Committee at the latest by 11 November.

A further National Committee meeting will be held in January before our Conference in February. Our Conference, involving all members of Momentum, groups and affiliated organisations, will decide our organisation’s long-term structure.

Taking into account the strong views on both sides of the OMOV (one member, one vote) vs. delegate for Conference votes, the Steering Committee has agreed on a recommendation to the National Committee of a suitable format. There will be both a physical delegates conference to thoroughly debate proposals submitted from the membership, and then OMOV voting on the proposals in the period after the conference. The details of this procedure will be determined over the coming weeks.

We know all levels of Momentum are committed to a truly inclusive and democratic structure and will make it succeed over the next few months.

Momentum

Open letter from Matt Wrack to members of the National Committee

Please pass this on to your regional delegate. Make sure they attend or send delegates!

Dear Comrade, 31 October 2016

Re: A meeting of Momentum National Committee delegates to discuss the present situation & consider solutions

Over the past few days we have all been involved in discussions with Momentum members about the concerns which have arisen from the decisions of the Steering Committee to cancel the meeting of the NC due to take place on 5 November and to go ahead with a national conference with online voting of all members.

You will also know the consternation these decisions have caused and the response from London, Eastern, Northern and South East regions.

Below is an email sent yesterday (30 October) to the Steering Committee members from Matt Wrack who is a member of the National Committee and Steering Committee. We echo those observations and comments.

We are extremely concerned that we overcome this current difficult division that has arisen as quickly as possible. Therefore, we are proposing to convene a meeting of as many NC members as possible in Birmingham next Saturday 5 November to discuss the recent events and, most importantly, consider ways to overcome the resulting differences and to move forward together.

There is no desire or intention to create any separate or parallel organisation within or in opposition to Momentum. We are all committed to building Momentum, as we are all doing at a local level. We simply want to address what we perceive to be a democratic deficit in its decision-making at the present time.

Please let us know if you can attend. If you can’t, is there someone you can send in your place?

We will send out further information about the venue and starting time along with a provisional agenda as soon as we can.

In solidarity,

Matt Wrack
Delia Mattis   ) London NC delegates
Jill Mountford   ) “ “
Nick Wrack      )  “ “
John Pickard   ) Eastern NC delegate
Steve Battlemuch ) East Midlands delegate
Michael Chessum ) Member of national Steering Committee

 

From: <matt.wrack@fbu.org.uk>

Date: 30 October 2016 at 16:05:52 GMT

To: Jill Mountford <jillmountford@rocketmail.com>, <jonlansman@me.com>, <bethfosterogg@gmail.com>

Cc: Michael Chessum <chessum.michael@gmail.com>, Sophie Williams <sofywills@googlemail.com>, James Schneider <james.g.h.schneider@gmail.com>, Martyn Cook <martyn_cook@live.co.uk>, Professor Cecile Wright <c.wright230@ntlworld.com>, samuel wheeler <samuelkaine@googlemail.com>, Samuel Tarry <tarry.samuel@gmail.com>, Darren Williams <darren.s.williams@hotmail.co.uk>, Marshajane Thompson <marshajanethompson@yahoo.co.uk>, Emma Rees <e.rees@rocketmail.com>, Christine Shawcroft <Christineshawcroft@btopenworld.com>, Jacqueline Walker <jdwalker88@gmail.com>, Adam Klug <adamdklug@yahoo.co.uk>, “c.wright239@ntlworld.com” <c.wright239@ntlworld.com>

Subject: Re: MOMENTUM SC composition of the national committee and a survey to members

Comrades

We are facing a major crisis.

In my view this was inevitable once a series of decisions were taken last Thursday and Friday. Nevertheless, we can still try [and] mitigate – and possibly sort out – the mess we are in.

We need to keep in mind a couple of things.

  1. The most legitimate body in Momentum is the National Committee. It represents regions and in a number of cases, at least, this has been re-confirmed by recent conferences or regional events.
  1. The Steering Committee was elected by the National Committee and is, therefore, clearly subordinate to the NC. The Steering Committee cannot usurp the position of the NC – to which it is accountable.

Whatever the weaknesses of the National Committee, it has far more legitimacy than any other body within Momentum. This is the central fact which seems to have been forgotten.

The central problem which has been created is that the SC has usurped the authority of the National Committee. Two decisions have produced this:

  1. The decision to cancel the meeting of the parent body (the National Committee) – particularly without consultation with the regions or with the members of the National Committee.
  2. The decision regarding the conference. It was the National Committee which agreed to convene a conference. That decision and all issues relating to it are the responsibility of the National Committee unless the NC specifically delegates those responsibilities to another body. It has not done so.

In these circumstances, it was inevitable that there would be any angry reaction. The London meeting passed a vote of censure and Jon Lansman, as Chair of the SC, could find no support whatsoever from a single delegate from a single London Momentum group.

Likewise, the Eastern region has expressed similar concern and expressed the view that the issues considered by the Steering Committee are properly matters for the National Committee.

I do not have details but believe the SE may have also taken a similar view. All of this has happened within two days of the Steering Committee.

There are serious risks which arise. Risks of serious division, of demoralisation, of public embarrassment etc.

We can still take steps to address this and put it right. Even at this stage, I would urge the SC to go ahead with the meeting of the National Committee. I am sure that compromises and a way forward can be found over issues such as the form of the conference. These issues are not matters of principle and are secondary to basic rules of democracy and accountability. It is important to note, for example, that the anger at the London meeting united people who disagree on the form of the conference. This was reflected in the vote.

I strongly urge us to agree to convene the National Committee next Saturday as planned and attempt to put this episode behind us.

In hope.

Matt Wrack
General Secretary
Fire Brigades Union

Momentum, Videos

Video: Matt Wrack criticises the coup in Momentum

Click below for the speech by Matt Wrack, leader of the Fire Brigade’s Union and member of Momentum’s Steering Committee, at the conference of the Labour Representation committee conference on October 29. He spoke openly and critically about what is happening within Momentum. He explains the side of the story strangely ‘erased’ from communications coming from ‘the Momentum office’ (who authorises or actually sends these is never quiet clear). He details about emergency meetings, short notice and above all that there is more than one opinion about the way forward for Momentum. Messages to members have erased all this and present a sanitised and created version of “reality”. Hence Matt’s comments are important to hear, not to disregard any one view, but to hear all views – after all that is democracy.

Matt Wracks Speech on Momentum at the LRC Conference from Percivale Productions on Vimeo.

Momentum

Jon Lansman’s coup in Momentum

On the evening of October 27, Jon Lansman, the sole director of ‘Jeremy for Labour’ company (renamed from Momentum Campaign Ltd in the summer), called an emergency meeting of the Momentum Steering Committee for the evening of October 28 – ie, with 19 hours’ notice. With some members who would be more inclined to push for democracy in Momentum not able to attend at such short notice (for example, Matt Wrack of the Fire Brigades Union and Jackie Walker), the meeting decided – by a vote of six to three – to cancel the November 5 meeting of the National Committee. This NC meeting was scheduled to take decisions on the organisation of our first national conference in February 2017.

In an email issued by Momentum this morning to “local groups’ key people” the decision is justified by the fact that “some Momentum members, groups and regional network meetings had raised concerns about the organisation of the 5 November National Committee meeting, the process leading up to it and democratic representation and participation for Momentum members more broadly”.

This is true, of course … and entirely the fault of the self-same committee that is now shutting down our democracy altogether! This body gave branches and regional committees almost no time to meet and discuss proposals for the conference or to choose delegates for the November 5 meeting. In fact, most members have not even seen the various proposals on the future of Momentum and how the conference might be run.

So, to summarise, the Steering Committee has conceded that it used crassly undemocratic procedures in the recent past – and now looks to make amends by denying Momentum branches and members the chance to meet, elect delegates and impose their democratic will on our founding conference!

In addition, the Momentum Steering Committee was elected by the National Committee, which means a lower body has just voted to disallow the higher body from meeting! Both were originally convened on very shaky democratic grounds in the first place. This was partially addressed when February’s National Committee meeting decided to elect the Steering Committee for the coming six months only – ie, up to August.

But there have been no elections for a new SC. The SC has not called a meeting of the National Committee – the body empowered to actually vote for a new Steering Committee, for six months.

It’s total shambles – an affront to democracy in our movement.

One member, one vote

Lansman (pictured) also managed to push a motion through the SC which stipulates that our conference must be organised via a system of “online voting for all members” – the full 20,000 of them, one assumes!? Of course, the merits or otherwise of the various was forms of representation for the conference was to be decided by the November 5 National Committee … which has now been spiked, of course.

An excited email was sent to all members this morning from Momentum centrally. In addition to informing us of the online voting farce above, it states that, “Over the coming months, members will propose their ideas on Momentum’s aims, ethics, and structure. We will use digital technology to ensure that all members can be involved and shape Momentum’s future.”

This package of measure is the very opposite of democracy. It is designed to totally atomise individual members and undermine conference as the collective decision-making body of Momentum. It underlines (once again, unfortunately) the extent to which the left has internalised the defeats of the past decades.

To add to the confusion, it is still unclear precisely what Lansman and his allies are actually proposing. Jill Mountford takes a guess that “it seems what they mean is that delegates to Momentum conference will not take any decisions but votes will instead be taken by an online ballot of all members afterwards.”

This is worse than anything Tony Blair managed to foist on the Labour Party. How could we ever again gripe about the bowdlerising of Labour Party conference democracy if we acquiesce to the travesty that Jon Lansman and his cohorts at attempting to finagle us into?

Also, we are still in the dark as to how motions might be proposed to conference. The original Lansman plan required an initial 50 signatures for a motion to progress further. After several more hurdles had been vaulted, 1000 signatures would be required for a motion to be heard by conference. Many branches and regional committees have criticised this, calling for the threshold to be lowered. It is very likely that the National Committee meeting of November 5 would have overturned restrictive stipulations like these and challenged many more of the plans of Lansman and co.

Much better to just stop the NC from meeting at all!

Distrust of the members

At the heart of this outrageous manoeuvre lies a deep, morbid distrust of the members and democracy. As SC member Jill Mountford (a member of the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty) puts it in her report: “Sam Wheeler and Jon Lansman spent far too much time arguing that local groups and the regional committees were undemocratic and unrepresentative.”

Again, this is a true observation from Lansman. And again, it is monumental hypocrisy. This democratic shortfall is precisely the fault of his exclusive team who currently run Momentum. The truth is this:

  • Momentum branches are forbidden to send emails to all Momentum members in their area. All communications must be routed through Momentum nationally, presumably so the content can be vetted.
  • Momentum branches have been told not to bring their members together in constituencies and wards to work to maximise their political impact in these geographical units of the party. This makes it very hard to effectively cohere the Labour left in these locales. The official reason for this restriction is that the Labour Party does not allow the affiliation of organisations with a ‘mirror’ structure, as the rule book dubs it. But then, Momentum is not affiliated to the Labour Party, it is not a party. Its members should be working together in cohesive units, sharing experiences and discussing in their democratic local forums the direction of their national organisation.
  • Apart from sending out insipid campaigning news, the Momentum leadership does not communicate with its members. There are no minutes, no reports, no agendas of the organisation’s committees. Some “key contacts”, as they are dubbed, in some branches sometimes receive a little information. A few of these comrades forward this intel to some other people some of the time. In effect this has helped to create local cliques that monopolise key information. The vast majority of Momentum membership have no idea of who runs their organisation, what decisions they take and how.

We reiterate, this is an anti-democratic coup. An affront to democracy. Momentum’s claims to represent some sort of clean “new kind of politics” is starting to look very grimy indeed. In truth, these methods borrow heavily from Stalinism and the repressive bureaucratism of rightwing Labourism.

Click here to see Labour Party Marxists’ alternative proposals for a democratically run conference. We are currently preparing a set of proposals on how Momentum as an organisation should be run and structured democratically.

Momentum

Regional networks and branches against the coup in Momentum

The London Momentum regional committee on October 29 voted by 31 to 0 (with 2 abstentions):

This meeting of the London Momentum Regional Committee censures the National Steering Committee for cancelling the meeting of the National Committee that was scheduled for 5 November and agreeing a method of organising the national conference without waiting for the National Committee to discuss it.We do not recognise the legitimacy of the Steering Committee to make these decisions. We call for these decisions of the National Steering Committee to be rescinded and for the NC to proceed as originally scheduled on 5 November.

Momentum Northern Regional Network, meeting on October 30, voted with 14 votes to none:

“Momentum Northern Regional Network censures the National Steering Committee for cancelling the meeting of the National Committee that was scheduled for 5 November and for agreeing a method of organising the national conference without waiting for the National Committee to discuss it.

“We do not recognise the legitimacy of the Steering Committee to make those decisions. The Steering Committee was elected by the National Committee on an interim basis for a now expired term and it has no right to usurp the authority of Momentum’s sovereign decision-making body.

“The Steering Committee’s decision to impose online referenda on the organisation regardless of the feedback from local branches goes against all traditions of democratic good practice in the labour movement; it is disrespectful to the many members who have worked hard to develop local branches and regional networks; it undermines our efforts to promote meaningful participation in the Labour Party; and it will turn Momentum into a top-down, officer-led organisation.

“We call for the Steering Committee’s decision regarding the format of the conference to be rescinded. We support the National Committee proceeding as originally scheduled on 5 November with full authority to decide how a conference should be organised.

“We also call for the National Committee to recall the current Steering Committee and elect a new line-up to take Momentum’s work forward until the national conference.”

South East Regional Committee meeting voted (10 for, 2 against, 2 abstentions) on October 30:

This meeting of the South East Momentum Regional Committee censures the national Steering Committee for cancelling the meeting of the National Committee that was scheduled for 5 November and for agreeing a method of organising the national conference without waiting for the National Committee to discuss it.

We do not recognise the legitimacy of the Steering Committee to make those decisions.

We call for these decisions of the national Steering Committee on the conference and the National Committee to be rescinded and for the NC to proceed as originally scheduled on 5 November and in the event that the steering committee does not rescind its decision we support Matt Wracks call for an unofficial NC to take place on 5th November.

Eastern Region Momentum Conference, October 29

Momentum NC member John Pickard

There were about 80 present, including delegates from 13 Momentum groups. The agenda and procedure was agreed by a short ‘pre-meeting’ so that delegates had ownership of the whole process. The meeting elected myself and Dr Sue Eason (Bedford) as NC members for the Momentum Eastern region until next year’s conference. This means that Marshajane Thompson is no longer on the NC and should not be on the Steering Committee either.

We passed a resolution, moved by Ian Ilett, on the following lines:

“This conference believes that the National Committee is at present the highest democratically-elected body of Momentum and should have control over the organisation of the forthcoming national conference”.

I can’t remember the wording exactly.

The conference also condemned the postponement of the NC on November 5th.

Feedback we’ve had from delegates and visitors who were there (via Loomio) has been extremely positive. They enjoyed the conference, the discussion, the comradely mood and the general atmosphere. We were trying to squeeze a quart into a pint pot and we made a fairly good job of it. We’ll do a better job next year.

from Labour Party Socialist Network

The Labour Representation Committee voted at its October 29 conference:

LRC AGM condemns the decision of yesterday’s Momentum SC to cancel the scheduled NC for 5th November and its decision to abandon a delegate conference in February.

Momentum

No to the coup! Statement/model motion from Labour Party Marxists

We condemn the decision by a hastily convened emergency meeting of the Momentum Steering Committee on October 28 to cancel the November 5 meeting of the National Committee. This NC was scheduled to decide the organisational details of our first national conference in February 2017.

Important decisions on the future of Momentum should involve as many members as possible. Six people on the national Steering Committee (a body that was supposed to be re-elected in August 2016) have decided to stop branches and regional committees to have their say on the future of our organisation.

We call for the National Committee meeting, re-arranged for December 10, to go ahead. It must discuss and make decisions on all issues pertaining to the organisation of our conference, including voting arrangements, delegate credentials and ratios, the future composition of the National Committee, etc.

Momentum

Momentum Hammersmith & Fulham supports calls for a democratic conference

At its meeting of October 18, Momentum Hammersmith & Fulham decided to move the following proposal to the London Regional Committee, which will meet on October 29 to discuss the forthcoming national conference of Momentum. We urge all Momentum members and branches to move similar motions.

Momentum Hammersmith & Fulham/London Regional Committee calls on Momentum nationally:

1. To urgently name the date of Momentum’s first annual conference, to consist of delegates from local groups on the basis of 1 delegate for every 10 members or part of 10, to be elected at local face-to-face meetings (this ratio to be varied at future conferences if necessary, if membership grows or shrinks substantially).
2. To publish and circulate to all members a pre-conference timetable for submission of motions, amendments, the election of delegates, and nominations for a national steering committee to be elected at conference. The steering committee to appoint officers from its own ranks, and sub-committees, as it sees fit, to facilitate its work. Officers and sub-committees to be responsible to, and recallable at any time by, the steering committee.
3. To invite and accept motions, amendments and nominations not only from the current national committee and regional committees, but also from recognised Momentum branches, and from any 10 members.
4. To publish and distribute all motions to all Momentum members at least 6 weeks before conference and actively encourage branches to organise meetings to thoroughly discuss these; and to accept amendments up to 2 weeks before conference, and to publish and distribute amendments 1 week before conference.
5. To set up an open e-forum for all members, where motions can be discussed, amendments can be mooted and compositing processes can be arranged.
6. The primary purpose of the conference to be (a) to discuss and decide on a democratic constitution for the organisation; (b) to discuss and decide the broad political and campaigning priorities for the organisation over the coming period; and (c) elect a steering committee, which must publish its minutes, reports of its work and all decisions.