National Left - Wales needs a progressive left future.
Wednesday, 19 June 2013
Compass relaunches as multi party group
The Welsh convener of the Left wing campaign group Compass has pointer me to the relaunch this week as a multi party group for the centre left,
Compass is is a values based British political pressure group that is allied with the progressive left. Although it has strong links with the British Labour party but also works alongside other political organisations that share its desire to build a good society Including Plaid Cymru..
Compass commits itself to helping shape a fairer Britain, where ‘democracy is deepened at every level of the state, our workplaces and communities; where the sustainability of the planet is made an urgent priority’ and where ‘the market is made to work as a servant of society.
Some Nationalist may feel that associating with a group dominated by members who may not share the desire for an Independent Wales but if we are to seek Independence then we need to show the people of Wales an alternative to our present system and we must reach out to those outside Wales who share a progressive left agenda.
Certainly we in Wales have an opportunity to reach those outside Wales and find allies against the increasing attack ob the weakest members of our society.
The Compass home page is here where you can link to the Welsh page or go directly to it here
The far left have always managed to divide itself it into fractions. Compass may be a unifying force for progressive parties as the decades of austerity provide the right to destroy much of what we value like the NHS and the rest of the welfare state.
Have a look at their webpage and judge for yourself it will be worthwhile joining the facebook page here
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15 comments:
The lesson from Scotland is to have nothing to do with Labour. The SNP has succeeded because it has repplaced Labour not supported it.
A serious error is being made by people who allowed Compass to have a stand in the Plaid Conference and allow it influence in Plaid Cymru.
It is a Labour front that seeks to recruit people into the New Labour Party, a horrible third rate Tory careerist anti Welsh organisation.
I don't think Compass are a Labour front rather like CND and the Aniti Apartheid movement in the 80'st Labour may have a large proportion of the membership there but its relaunch makes it clear that its open to others whether they are a member of other Parties or independent .
It may lead to some being recruited into Labour in the hope they can reform it but others may be swayed the other way seeing there are alternatives for the left than Labour.
"The lesson from Scotland is to have nothing to do with Labour. "
Don't think that's the lesson at all.
I have to agree with Anon 10:23, Compass is a Labour front, founded by labour members and supporters and run by people who want a Labour government in Westminster.
By rebranding as a multi party organisation they are trying to co-opt supporters of other centre left parties to the Labour cause.
Labour did the same with Wales-Home, a supposedly non-partisan commentry service launched after Welsh Labour relatively poor results in 2007. It was run by Labour supporters with a few useful idiots from other parties to give it credability. after 2011 when Labour was back in power on its own, Wales Home was quietly wound up. Mission accomplished.
Compass is just another body trying to get labour back in power so they can implement the same policies they are attackingt he con/dems for.
I thought "Wales Home" was a brainchild of Daran Hill, Duncan Higgitt, and Adam Higgitt it was touted as some Welsh version of the Huffington Post. It supposedly was successful and had a large readership never quite understood why it was wound down at the time, perhaps when the One Wales coalition died so did its publication. I thought perhaps one reason it was turned off and its archives burnt in the same way the great Alexandria Library was by the Arabs In the 7th CE. I recall some of the Gaffes that Duncan Higgitt (Bethan Jenkins political officer) made including one that suggested "It was none of our business how much money bankers were paid" not your typical left wing response.
I would have nothing to do with the Labour Party. Compass may not be the Labour Party but it's the dominant force within it. They are British in outlook. A party which believes in Welsh or Scottish independence should have nothing to do with it.
OK Glyn....you tell us then if the SNP are part of this multi party organisation? I don't think you will find that they are.
I would not be surprised if there aren't individual members of the SNP who support Compass. But lets take the argument that "A party which believes in Welsh or Scottish independence should have nothing to do with it".
Plaid and the SNP are not just Nationalist Parties they are center- left parties committed to social justice and should work with all those who seek it As in the example of CND or the Anti Apartheid movement are people seriously arguing Plaid should not have got involved because the majority of the members didn't support Welsh Independence?
I totally support independence buit I also want to see Wales as Social Democratic state rejecting the right wing move that both the Labour leadership as well as the Tories are taking us.
The reasons for Plaid not doing well in the 2011 elections (and other elections) are nothing to do with Compass, Wales Home or things like that. Plaid's problem has been competing with the other parties in the media, the lack of national awareness in Wales compared to Scotland, and that Plaid doesn't exist or campaign in alot of parts of Wales.
Plaid needs to think about how Wales is currently set up, what organisations it needs to get its members into, and who it needs to work with to move Wales forward. It's quite possible that sometimes that will include Labour or parts of the Labour party, because Wales is simply not in the mood for independence yet.
I don't however see anything that suggests Compass is prominent or influential in Wales, so personally wouldn't spend much time on it.
I think that the lesson to be learned will be that Scotland became independent not for nationalistic reasons, but because independence was the only way to deliver a fairer, more equal society.
Politics in England has been moving inexorably to the right for several decades and the social democratic welfare state is being systematically dismantled. Even when Labour are in power in Westminster, they show no willingness to reverse that ... and for a very good reason: they wouldn't get elected if they did because England has 85% of the UK's population. Therefore they just go along with the Tories and LibDems, but at a slightly slower pace.
People on the left, including most Labour party voters, will come to support independence for Wales for the same reason.
The only question is whether the Labour party in Wales moves with them or stays committed to a UK in which the social democratic consensus that developed after the Second World War is no longer considered relevant or important. If they can't or won't move (and they are showing no sign of doing it yet) then voters will switch to Plaid Cymru instead.
Compass are nothing more than a Labour front, I've spoken with the head of the taff branch and he comes across as being just as deluded as anyone else who falls for all this unite the left crap. Labour are not a left wing party. Anyone who believes they are are either on drugs or having their election campaigns bankrolled by London Labour.
The only way forward for Wales is by uniting everyone against Labour. Only then will Plaid have a chance to show people what they can do.
It's just a shame that compass have updated the website, the about page was littered with names of all their big wigs, everyone of them was a Labourite. I've also checked some web archive sites but their site doesn't allow web crawlers. I really wish I had taken a screen shot now. I'll know better in future.
The sole purpose of Compass is to steal members and voters from parties like Plaid or the Greens. I would urge people to stay well clear of them.
I find the debate here about Compass a bit conspiracy-theory driven. They really aren't the thing to be worrying about.
About 11% of the Welsh electorate are for independence. A much larger number are for devolution (mostly Labour voters but also the bulk of Plaid voters and some Lib Dems). We need to be tapping into the pro-devolution bulk and getting them to vote for Plaid. Most of those people are Labour or have been Labour in the past. If some individuals want to work with Compass it's not the end of the world.
We'll never have an independent Wales until there has been years or possibly decades of a Plaid government. In fairness Plaid has never explained that, so it's no surprise there are "hard line" nationalists like Welsh not British who take a different view.
I didn't realise the extent of debate my Blog would raise . If it shows anything it shows the mistrust of Labour. Understandable as its core vote that Plaid need in order to progress. But there a difference between working with Labpir supporters and the Labour leadership and I can't see that leadership looking to kindly on a group like Compass.
We actually need some of the better people in Labour to come over to Plaid. Labour-bashing doesn't help that at all. Leanne Wood always strikes the right balance. She exposes Labour alot but her politics aren't hateful or negative, and she herself tried to pioneer a red-green initiative called Celyn in the past.
Ha ha, "hard line". That's funny.
I live in Wales, I want Wales to be run for the benefit of the people of Wales. Labour do not want that, they are an English regionalist party who can never stand up for Wales as it would mean standing up to the people who bankroll their election campaigns, ie London Labour. (Which also explains why their "better people" will never come over to Plaid.)
If this makes me "hard line" then it's no wonder we're such an easily exploited and controlled nation.
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