# [Mon 28th Nov 2011] "Should Workers Support the Labour Party?" (Manchester ) (Manchester, M4 1PW)



## JimN (Nov 25, 2011)

After the 1945 General Election which swept the Labour Party into power, a Labour MP summed up the aim of his party as 'full employment, all-round national prosperity, international concord, health, homes and happiness for the whole people'. Of course, the Conservatives and Liberals would have claimed that this was their aim too; but the voters had decided, as they did again in 1964 and 1966, that the best chance of getting what they wanted was from a Labour Government.

Why then are so many Labour voters disappointed? Why is there a swing to the other parties at by-elections? Why do more and more people not trouble to vote? Why do so many people become cynical about politics and say that nothing makes any difference? Why have some trade unions that are affiliated to the Labour Party threatened to withhold contributions and to form an independent 'trade union party.

The Labour Party claims on its website to have 'revolutionised the lives of the British people'.

At this meeting we will consider this claim and see how it stands up to the record of Labour governments and the developments of British capitalism. At a time when one household in five suffers from fuel poverty, can it really be claimed that the policy of reforming capitalism offers any real hope?

Speaker: Paul Bennett

Monday, November 28, 2011, 8:30pm

The Unicorn, 26 Church Street, Manchester M4 1PW

All welcome. Free entry. Audience participation

Organised by the Socialist Party of Great Britain.

Full details of this and all SPGB meetings can be found here:
http://www.meetup.com/The-Socialist-Party-of-Great-Britain/events/40458442/


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## dennisr (Nov 26, 2011)

overheard in a pub: "the only cunts who are bigger in cunt terms than the cunts who run the labour party are the five/seven cunts who make up the SPGB"


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## taffboy gwyrdd (Nov 26, 2011)

Should workers support the Labour Party? If they like doublethink war criminals and market fundementalism then they should certainly consider it.

Long ago I was invited to speak at an SP meeting, not at that pub but one nearby.

I agreed to do it. Then a couple of weeks later I got a weird phone call from a bloke saying "you've been invited to speak by the SP but the people who invited you aren't the real SP, they were expelled." I don't think it happened in the end.

SP members attend some broad left events in Manchester, but there are plenty that they don't bother with, and it seems as if they are under some kind of instruction not to, though I am happy to be put right on that.


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## JimN (Nov 26, 2011)

taffboy gwyrdd said:


> Should workers support the Labour Party? If they like doublethink war criminals and market fundementalism then they should certainly consider it.
> 
> Long ago I was invited to speak at an SP meeting, not at that pub but one nearby.
> 
> ...



If you're talking about the socialist party of great britain there aren't any leaders to give any such instruction.

With regards to the meeting you were going to speak at, it would be interesting to know when that was. Two London branches were expelled in the early nineties because of undemocratic behaviour, but no one in Manchester left as far as I know. If it was about that time it is possible that some disgruntled ex-member made that phonecall.


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## taffboy gwyrdd (Nov 27, 2011)

Hi Jim. This was 2005, sorry can't recall any of the names involved. the meeting was supposed to be at the Hare and Hounds in Shude Hill.


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