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.