Refounding Labour: Movement for Change

By Stewart Owadally, Movement for Change

Over the last few months, the party has been debating how to move forward following our election defeat last May. Refounding Labour has been an important part of that debate. If we are to be an effective, efficient campaigning party, rooted in our communities, then we need to take a hard look at our structures, processes and cultures and really question if they are the best way to achieve that goal.

Movement for Change, during this process, has been developing our own submission to this important debate focussing on Labour’s role in the community and on the role that community organising can play. As part of this we have spoken to dozens of party members and have asked them what their views are.

We recorded what they had to say and uploaded them to audioboo, the micro-podcasting site. The collection of testimonies includes the thoughts of Councillors, MPs, CLP Officers, long-standing activists and new members.

Take Kev Peel, for example. A hard-working Labour activist, Kev became a councillor in Manchester this May. He thinks community organising can help him deliver the best results for people in his council, by giving them the power to decide the spending priorities for his area:

Kev Peel gives his thoughts on how community organising can help make a better Party as well as better councils (mp3)

Or Steve Reed, Leader of Lambeth Council. He sees having strong, organised communities as being important for helping to deliver good local services:

Steve Reed, Leader of Lambeth Council, sees community organising as a way to help people play a part in local decision making (mp3)

Jon Wilson, an activist in Greenwich and Woolwich thinks that too often we tell people on the doorstep what we can’t do rather than asking them to join us in a campaign to change things:

“…power begins with relationships”… Jon Wilson gives his thoughts on how community organising can enrich local parties (mp3)

Martha Mackenzie is a student at Oxford University. In her opinion, if Labour is to be a real movement, then giving our communities, through local Labour parties, the power to take action on their own issues is vital:

Martha Mackenzie talks about how community organising can help the Labour Party be more of a movement once again (mp3)

And Ed Miliband agrees. In the last of our audioboos collected, Ed says community organising can help make Labour a real grassroots movement again:

Ed Miliband, Leader of The Labour Party, says how he thinks Movement for Change can play a part in reforming the Party. (mp3)

There are lots more audioboos on our profile. Listen here to hear what others think about Labour’s role in the community.

Refounding Labour will necessarily focus on structural changes but what will create the type of change everyone has spoken to us about is commitment and capacity. We need the will to act and the support to help us make community campaigning work. Movement for Change is on the ground to provide the latter, if you have the motivation then please come to one of our regional training sessions or invite us to your area.