JANUARY DISCUSSION MEETING

                DRONFIELD LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION MEETING


TOPIC :           CANDIDATES FOR LABOUR'S NOMINATION AS POLICE AND CRIME
                         COMMISSIONER IN DERBYSHIRE

SPEAKERS :   HARDYAL DHINDSA, GARY GODDEN and CHRIS WILLIAMSON

TIME ;             8pm to 9.15pm

DATE :            SUNDAY, 10th JANUARY 2016

VENUE :         CONTACT CLUB, SNAPE HILL LANE, DRONFIELD

The speakers are the candidates for the position of the Labour nominee for the role of Police and Crime Commissioner in Derbyshire. The ballot to determine who will be Labour's candidate closes at noon on Tuesday, January 26th 2016.

The speakers will each give an introductory talk for ten minutes and then join in the subsequent discussion.

The meeting will provide an opportunity to discuss the nature and role of the work of Police and Crime Commissioners.

Debating Labour : Its History and Future

‘Where’s it been? Where’s it going?’ are the questions being addressed at a series of day schools on the Labour Party starting in Yorkshire next month.

The Independent Working Class Education Network are holding their first meeting on ‘The history and future of the Labour Party’ at Northern College in Barnsley on Saturday 23 January.
The workshop will cover the foundation of the Labour Party, some key 20th century issues and Labour today.
Attendance costs £25 and places are available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis as space is limited.
What: Labour Party: Where’s it been? Where’s it going?
When: Saturday 23 January, 10.30am-4.00pm
Where: Northern College, Barnsley, Yorkshire
To book a place contact Keith Venables by email: iwceducation@yahoo.co.uk.
Go to the Independent Working Class Education Network’s website for more details.
The second day school will be held in south London on 6 February.

Hat tip : Matthew Brown and Independent Labour Publications - click here. 

December Discussion Meeting

             DRONFIELD LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION MEETING

TOPIC :          GATHERING MOMENTUM FOR LABOUR 

SPEAKER :    TOSH McDONALD

TIME :            8pm to 9.15pm

DATE ;           SUNDAY,  13TH DECEMBER

VENUE :       CONTACT CLUB, SNAPE HILL LANE, DRONFIELD

     

Tosh McDonald is the President of the train drivers union ASLEF (Associated Society of
Locomotive Engineers and Firemen) having joined British Rail 35 years ago as a freight guard at Doncaster Carr locomotive shed.

He played a prominent role in the campaign to elect Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party. Numbers of us heard him make powerful speeches on Jeremy's behalf at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield ; either as part of the massive overflow crowd outside the building or with 900 others inside the theatre itself.

He also spoke powerfully at the recent Labour Party Conference in support of the overwhelmingly endorsed policy of bringing private rail franchises into public ownership as soon as they expire.

"Momentum" is a body arising out of Jeremy's successful leadership campaign. It is working to make Labour a more democratic party, which will produce its own policies and has the collective will to implement them when in government. Click here for their web-site.

See here for Tosh and Jeremy making forceful speeches at this year's Durham Big Meeting. If you have not been to our discussions meetings before, this will be a great introduction.

   

 

November Discussion Meeting

                   DRONFIELD LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION MEETING


TOPIC  :          WHAT WILL BE THE IMPACT OF THE "SHEFFIELD CITY 
                         REGION COMBINED AUTHORITY" ?                    

SPEAKER :     STEVE HOUGHTON
                      
TIME :             8pm to 9.15pm

DATE :            SUNDAY,  8th NOVEMBER

VENUE :         CONTACT CLUB, SNAPE HILL LANE, DRONFIELD
 


Sir Steve Houghton is the leader of the Barnsley Council and Chair of the recently established Sheffield City Region Combined Authority. This combined authority will have powers over transport, economic development and regeneration in the Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield areas. Yet because of travel to work and other interlinks, its operations will also be of relevance to the interests of Councils in the areas of North East Derbyshire, Chesterfield, Bolsover, the Derbyshire Dales and Bassettlaw. As a consequence these five outside authorities are provided with non-constituent places on the Combined Authority.

One of the characteristics of this new structure is that it is proposed that that it will have an elected Mayor, voted upon by the electorate from its four main constituent authorities. A similar structure is being proposed for the combined authorities in Derbyshire, Derby, Nottinghamshire and Nottingham.

We will be able to consider how this will work out within the areas of both the constituent and non-constituent authorities.

  

October Discussion Meeting

                          DRONFIELD LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION MEETING


TOPIC  :          REPORT BACK FROM THE LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE

SPEAKER :     VAL GRAHAM
                      
TIME :             8pm to 9.15pm

DATE :            SUNDAY,  11 OCTOBER

VENUE :         CONTACT CLUB, SNAPE HILL LANE, DRONFIELD


Val attends our Discussion Meetings and runs a similar Discussion Group to our own which meets in the Labour Club at Chesterfield. She is Chair of Chesterfield Unite Community and Chesterfield TUC EC. She writes for "Labour Briefing" and attended the recent Labour Party Conference at Brighton as a delegate.

ILP statement on the Labour leadership election

 

A fine statement on the Labour Party leadership elections and on the way party activists and supporters should respond to its result when it is announced on Saturday, has been published by Independent Labour Publications (ILP).

Its flavour can be found in the following extract - "It is vital that the political divisions laid bare in recent months do not cause irreparable damage to the party's future. All of us in the party - candidates, MPs, members and supporters - should commit to some guiding principles based on democracy, respect, pluralism and participation that will allow us to work together whatever the outcome of the election."

The full statement is worth studying and can be found by clicking here.

It is especially appropriate that the ILP should make a case which could help to save and progress the future of the Labour Party. For the ILP was initially founded by Keir Hardie and others in 1893 as the Independent Labour Party and was a key forerunner and participant in the establishment of the Labour Party itself. For a first rate and recent article on the role which Keir Hardie played, click here  

September Discussion Meeting

                          DRONFIELD LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION MEETING




TOPIC  :          WHAT NOW ?

                       

DETAILS :      WE MEET THE DAY AFTER LABOUR ELECTS ITS NEW LEADER.

                         WHAT DO WE NOW SEE AS BEING OUR WAY AHEAD ?  

TIME :             8pm to 9.15pm

DATE :            SUNDAY,  13 SEPTEMBER.

VENUE :         CONTACT CLUB, SNAPE HILL LANE, DRONFIELD

Labour Leadership Candidates Issue Manifestos or Substitute Material

The Campaign to obtain "Manifestos Of Intent" from the Labour Leadership Candidates (as shown here) received a limited success.

Andy Burnham has issued what is clearly a Manifesto, as he did for his campaign for the leadership in 2010. His current document is eight pages long and as he delivered this, it deserves to be examined carefully. See here. Then there is also his Leadership Campaign Web-site to examine here. Added Saturday 15 August. Also circulated via the post as an eight page booklet.

 Yvette Copper circulated a letter by post dated 3rd August, which is some 800 words long and probably qualifies as a "Minifesto". Her Leadership Campaign Web-site with more in it, is here. Added Friday 14 August. Today Yvette has circulated an 8 page booklet to members, on the penultimate page it provides an eight point programme.

Jeremy Corbyn has issued a number of policy documents in specific areas, which in total are much longer than Andy's Manifesto. But whilst detailed and important, they may be felt to cover less total ground than Andy's. They include "Protecting The Planet", "The Economy in 2020" and "Housing Policy". There are a further three documents which unfortunately are defective when printed off. But they can be read on the screen. These are "Housing Policy", "Northern Future" and "A Better Future For Young People". To seek out all these documents and other material, see his Leadership Campaign Web-site here. Added Friday 14 August. Today Jeremy has launched a ten point programme which has been circulated to members, under the title "Standing To Deliver". It is also here .


Liz Kendell had an article in the Independent on 2nd August, entitled "The five causes that Labour must put at the centre of our vision for Britain's future". See here. Her Leadership Campaign Web-site is here.

Looking ahead to the next Leadership Contest, there is a need for a requirement for "Manifestos Of Intent" being issued by the candidates, to appear in the Rules of the Labour Party. Amendments for this purpose can be submitted for the Agenda of the 2016 Labour Party Conference. 

"Capitalism Attacks Democracy" by Ken Curran

 













When the Labour Party was formed at the beginning of the 20th Century it had a clear ideological message. It was united because the founders believed the economic and social structures of society needed to be altered in order for the benefits of our industry to be redistributed, so that the wellbeing of all can be improved.

There is great difficulty today when trying to find the ideological divide between today’s political parties. Although I still hold a Labour Party Card after spending 70 years in its ranks, its relevance is nil as far as many of our Parliamentary Labour Party are concerned. The role of the party member as far as most of the PLP is concerned is to work their socks off to get them elected. Cynical with good reason. It is sad to say, but many of members of the PLP do not want to listen to the opinions of Party Members. They expect Party Members to be apolitical to the point of subservience. These attitudes are killing off the very liberties and freedoms the founders of the Labour Party espoused in the late 1800s. The Labour Party is supposed to present a distinct alternative to those people who believe the capitalist system will always deliver.

As we have seen with the Banking scandals, of the recent years Capital has to have controls. The crisis of the Greek Economy has been brought about as a result of a lack of control by both borrowers and lenders. Therefore planning along with measured control of capital is desirable. But Neoliberalism constantly works to remove all constraints which inhibits its aim of total economic freedom. Capitalism attacks Democracy because it is seen as an obstacle.

Update

                          DRONFIELD LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION MEETING


TOPIC  :          INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE  AT GUNSTONE'S, STUBLEY LANE, DRONFIELD.

SPEAKER :     DAVE SORBY and JOHN HIGGINS, both of the Bakers Union

TIME :             8pm to 9.15pm

DATE :            SUNDAY, 19 JULY

VENUE :         CONTACT CLUB, SNAPE HILL LANE, DRONFIELD

Dave is the Baker's Union Branch Secretary at Gunstones and John is their District Organiser.

There has been a 48 hour strike already at Gunstones. A last minute offer has now been made by the Management, so a further 48 hour strike planned from 16 July has just been placed on hold. Local members are being balloted. So our meeting will be held in the middle of this development. Dave and John will be updating us on the very latest situation. 

Important July Discussion Meeting

 


                          DRONFIELD LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION MEETING


TOPIC  :          STRIKE ACTION AT GUNSTONE'S, STUBLEY LANE, DRONFIELD.

SPEAKER :     TO BE SUPPLIED BY THE BAKERS UNION.
                         (MORE DETAILS WILL BE GIVEN LATER).

TIME :             8pm to 9.15pm

DATE :            SUNDAY, 19 JULY

VENUE :         CONTACT CLUB, SNAPE HILL LANE, DRONFIELD

The following "Early Day Motion" along with the names of its supporters appeared on the Commons Order Paper on 24 June, during a 48 hour strike period called by the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU). The Union is commonly known as the "Bakers' Union". Our Discussion Meeting will be held near the close of a second 48 hour strike period. More MPs are likely to give their support to the motion, including Jeremy Corbyn. The motion explains the situation.    

INDUSTRIAL ACTION AT GUNSTONES BAKERY 24:6:15
John McDonnell
David Crausby
Ian Lavery
Louise Haigh
Richard Burgon
Justin Madders
Dennis Skinner,
Chris Stephens,
Ian Mearns
That this House notes that management at Gunstones Bakery, near Sheffield, having recently made over 400 redundancies, is now trying to impose a pay freeze on the remaining workforce; further notes that the Chief Executive of the parent company, 2 Sisters Food Group, Ranjit Singh Boparan, and his wife, are estimated by the Asian Rich List to enjoy a personal fortune totalling £1.35 billion; deplores the exploitative business model that has seen attacks on jobs, pay and conditions across the 2 Sisters Group; highlights the goodwill previously shown by Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) officials and members in offering to suspend pay negotiations whilst the redundancy process was conducted; believes that the company management is now being unreasonable in insisting that any increase in pay would need to be financed via reductions in existing terms and conditions of BFAWU members; recognises that BFAWU members have been obliged to take industrial action to protect their pay and conditions; and calls on their employers to enter into meaningful negotiations to resolve the dispute.

This further information is taken from the Union's Web-Site -   Press Release re: Strike Action at Gunstones Bakery.

The BFAWU strike at Gunstones (Sheffield) taking place from June 15th 2015 was called following the company’s decision to force through a pay freeze on staff at the site.

BFAWU members and officials had initially agreed with the company to keep any pay negotiations in abeyance due to over four-hundred redundancies being made. However, the company refused to offer staff an increase following the redundancy consultation period, citing the overall cost of the redundancies as a reason for non-movement on pay.

BFAWU members at the site subsequently balloted for industrial action, but gave the company a window of six weeks in order to negotiate further. Five days before the strike was due to take place, Union members at Gunstones met and made a proposal to the company that involved a pay increase of 4% over two years with no back pay.

The company refused this proposal and made it clear to BFAWU members and officials that any movement on pay would have to be ‘self-financing’, meaning that employees at the site may have to sacrifice existing terms and conditions in order to secure any increase. The BFAWU sees this as unacceptable and hopes that the company can review its position to avoid potential bitterness, resentment and the possibility of further action at the site.


More information will be provided nearer the date of our meeting

                                                                                                                                                                                                              

What Hope For Labour ?

 

"Independent Labour Publications" (ILP) is getting together with the campaigning pressure group "Compass" in September to examine the future of the Labour Party and the politics of radical hope. A public meeting will be held in Leeds on Saturday 19 September, just one week after Labour elects a new leader and deputy leader, and four months on from the party’s disastrous defeat at the general election.

The implications of the election results for Labour’s future will be the focus of the day’s activities.

For further details click here.

Celebrating The History Of The Derbyshire Miners

Friday 26 June is the centenary of the unveiling of the statues of Harvey (on your left)) and Haslam (right) outside the former Miners' Office on Saltergate in Chesterfield. The above photo was taken shortly after that event.

At 7pm on Friday, 26 June a short ceremony will take place at the statues themselves to mark the occasion. From 6 pm, refreshments will be available at the Labour Club which is situated close to the statues, but on the opposite side of the road.

Harvey and Haslam were known as the "Twin Pillars of the Derbyshire Miners Association (DMA)", being its major founders and its leading officials from the time of its establishment in 1880 until their deaths just before the start of the First World War. They were also the first miners in Derbyshire to serve as local MPs.

On Saturday 27 June, the following events will be held at the Chesterfield Library to commemorate the unveiling.

(1) Talks at in the Library Threatre from 11am.

   On Harvey and Haslam - Harry Barnes (a former tutor on Derbyshire Miners' Day Release Courses and then MP for NE Derbyshire from 1987-2005.)

   On Derbyshire Mining in its final period - Cllr John Burrows (Leader of the Chesterfield Borough Council and a former DMA official).

(2) A round-table discussion on the history of the Derbyshire Miners from 1.15 pm.

   Chair : John Halstead (Labour Historian and former tutor on Derbyshire Miners" Day Release Courses.)

   Attendance at these events is free. Refreshment facilities are available in the Library.

JUNE DISCUSSION MEETING

            DRONFIELD LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION MEETING

TOPIC  :          THE FUTURE FOR THE LABOUR PARTY

TIME :             8pm to 9.15pm

DATE :            SUNDAY, 21 JUNE 2015 (A week later than usual.)

VENUE :         CONTACT CLUB, SNAPE HILL LANE, DRONFIELD


I WILL PROVIDE A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC.

WE WILL THEN QUICKLY ENTER INTO DEBATE ON KEY ISSUES CURRENTLY FACING THE LABOUR PARTY, SUCH AS -

(1) THE LEADERSHIP AND DEPUTY LEADERSHIP OF THE LABOUR PARTY.  HOW DO WE VIEW THE CONTESTANTS? (Link here, this item has relevance to this question.)


(2) HOW SHOULD LABOUR RESPOND TO GOVERNMENT POLICIES?

(3) WHAT SHOULD BE LABOUR'S OVERALL "DIRECTION OF TRAVEL" AND ITS KEY  POLICIES?

(4) HOW CAN WE SEEK TO INFLUENCE THESE MATTERS ?

                                                                                                            HARRY BARNES.
 

Needed - More Blathering

The North East Derbyshire Constituency Labour Party is having the following resolution submitted to it by its Dronfield Branch. If it is carried, it will be sent to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Labour Party for its consideration. Others might like to press this matter via similar avenues. The issue was first raised at our Labour Party Discussion Group (which this blog caters for) at a fine meeting last Sunday.

Candidates for the position of Leader and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party shall be required to issue "Manifestos Of Intent" of no less than 3,000 words to explain the programme that they would like the Labour Party to pursue and that these documents should be circulated to members of the Labour Party to help them determine how they will vote in the coming contests.

The following link was the result of efforts by our local Labour Party Discussion Group (the "Dronfield Blatherers") to obtain "Manifestos Of Intent" back in 2010. This (as you will see) achieved some success. But this was done late in the day and in an informal way. This time we need the NEC to arrange for such Manifestos to be issued systematically and in a  prominent fashion. Click into this link for the 2010 versions. A huge boost to our campaign was the fact that the Guardian ran this letter which provided a link to this blog. Publicity helps.

Wanted "Manifestos Of Intent"

Almost 5 years ago in 2010 this blog was used to get forms of "Manifestos Of Intent" out of the candidates for the Labour leadership. The extent to which we achieved this is shown here.

At our Discussion Meeting on Sunday the question was raised on how this could be done on a more formal basis for the current leadership elections, with Labour's NEC making the necessary organisational arrangements. It is a matter we are pursuing. We will report later on whether we have made any progress.

Our Next Discussion Meeting

ADVANCE NOTICE

We will not be holding a discussion meeting in April, as we will then be into the formal General Election period.

But we will be holding a key meeting just three days after the General Election itself. It will provide an important opportunity for us to discuss with Keith Venables where we stand politically, as a consequence of the election result.

Please place the following details in your diary. 


    DRONFIELD LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION MEETING

TOPIC  :          AFTER THE GENERAL ELECTION : WHAT NOW ?

SPEAKER :    KEITH VENABLES

TIME :             8pm to 9.15pm

DATE :            SUNDAY, 10 MAY 2015

VENUE :         CONTACT CLUB, SNAPE HILL LANE, DRONFIELD
 

Keith is the convenor for both the national body "Independent Working Class Education" and the "Derby People's History Group".  He has been a trade union and equalities tutor.

MARCH DISCUSSION MEETING

         DRONFIELD LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION MEETING


TOPIC  :         THE EUROPEAN CRISIS

SPEAKER :    JOHN HALSTEAD

TIME :             8pm to 9.15pm

DATE :            SUNDAY,  8 MARCH 2015

VENUE :         CONTACT CLUB, SNAPE HILL LANE, DRONFIELD

  John regularly attends our meetings. He was a former executive and administrative civil servant who studied economics and politics at the LSE. He was asked to apply for a job in Brussels in 1965, but instead came to Sheffield and taught a wide-range of workers attending university day-release classes, organised in association with trades' unions. He has been active in the Society for the Study of Labour History for many years and is currently one of its Vice-Presidents. His publications have mainly been about nineteenth-century radical history in the Huddersfield district, particularly focussed on Owenite socialists active in agitations for a free press, the conditions of childrens' employment in textile mills, and Chartism. He continues to take an interest in economic and political questions, including their international dimensions, having been a one-time Jerwood Fellow at Hitotusbashi University in Japan.

FEBRUARY DISCUSSION MEETING

         DRONFIELD LABOUR PARTY DISCUSSION MEETING


TOPIC  :        THE PROBLEM WITH DEMOCRACY

SPEAKER :    MATTHEW FLINDERS

TIME :            8pm to 9.15pm

DATE :          SUNDAY,  8 FERUARY 2015

VENUE :       CONTACT CLUB, SNAPE HILL LANE, DRONFIELD



Matthew Flinders is a Professor in the Department of Politics at Sheffield University and is the Founding Director of the Crick Centre for the Public Understanding of Politics. The Crick Centre itself being named after the late Bernard Crick who was also a Professor in the same Department and as a major political theorist produced influential works such as "The Reform of Parliament" (1962)  and "In Defence of Politics" (1964).  Matthew Flinders is Chair of Political Studies Association. He regularly produces evidence at the request of Governmental and Parliamentary Committee's and his own publications include books entitled "Walking Without Order" (2008), "Democratic Drift" (2009) and "Defending Politics" (2012).