Date: Fri, 5 Jul 96 09:04:21 GMT
From: Adam Rose <adam-AT-pmel.com>
Subject: Re: labor party



> 
> RESPONSES TO ARGUMENTS ON LABOR PARTY
> 
>    I only have time to answer a few of the posts on the
> question of the "labor party" that was formed by the
> OCAW, UE and other union leaders together with the Labor
> Party Advocates a month ago in Cleveland.
>    First, I should make it clear that I am convinced that
> no labor party exists in the US. The OCAW officals went
> through the motions of forming a party, but no party was
> formed. What resulted was the appearance of a party with
> no substance.

Well, this would come as a surprise to all those people who think
they have joined a Labor Party.

This method is madness. It's like saying "my definition of a duck 
is a bird which swims AND has a black spot on its nose". So 
when a bird swims up to you and says "quack, quack" you look at its
nose, can't find a spot, and say "this bird is not a duck, it's 
a water swimming bird".

There IS a labor party. It isn't what you want it to be, nor is it
what most of its supporters want it to be - but it IS a labor party.

>    On the question of how many workers were represented
> there, Adam Rose pointed out:
> 
> >They represented the people that voted for them as delegates, and the
> >people that would have voted for them if they'd been at the meeting.
> >Say, an average of 25 people each. In addition, there will be thousands
> >who would have liked to be represented by a delegate but weren't. So
> >the convention represented roughly 25 * 1500 * 2 = 75,000 people.
> 
>    I think Adam's estimate is over-optimistic. But at least
> he has a rough idea of how these questions can be resolved

At a guess, I would say that my guesstimate falls between two correct
but different numbers - the potential number of active members ( active
in a Labor Party sense - turning up to one meeting a year OR canvassing
for a Labor candidate in an election, if it stood one ) - which is probably
considerably lower, and another far bigger number of people who would vote
for Labor candidate given the chance. ( 500,000 ? 1,000,000 ? 20,000,000 ?
who knows ? )

Adam.



Adam Rose
SWP
Manchester
UK


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