Come to Momentum’s conference – the hard left plot to elect a Labour government

Dramatic headlines yesterday claimed that the Labour Party will soon be over-run by a sinister hard left faction. One would be forgiven for thinking they had read the blurb for the latest John Le Carre novel. The power of nightmares as we all know has a profound impact and no doubt many ordinary party members old and new would have been thinking that they need to rush to their next party meeting and play their part in stopping us in our tracks.

But of course if you’re a member of Labour First you will have been organising for months getting bums on seats at traditionally poorly attended ward meetings, constituency Labour party meetings, selections for councillors and internal elections to local regional boards. Tom Watson knows all of this as a veteran of the Labour right and I cannot help but feel a wry smile coming on that perhaps his battle cry reveals a growing a fear that Momentum is starting to learn the lessons of Labour First and Progress’s organising skills. Jeremy’s supporters have learned the hard way that it’s one thing to win a leadership election, but quite another to organise effectively to engage party members that have traditionally avoided branch and constituency meetings in cold drafty church halls, pub function rooms and community centres.

I am a member of Hornsey and Wood Green CLP and was previously a CLP vice chair and branch chair in what was the largest constituency Labour party even before 2015. By then, I had come to the conclusion that a huge proportion of our members treated party membership like signing up to a good cause but had many years ago started filtering out our desperate emails calling for weekly door-knockers and leafleters. For many, the challenges of long work hours or family life meant that meeting on Muswell Hill Broadway or Turnpike Lane station on a rainy Sunday morning to knock on doors really wasn’t something they could offer. Organisations like Progress and Labour First were however astonishingly successful in recognising that if there were 10 committed Campaign for Labour Party Democracy members in a ward then they needed to get 11 people to that meeting to elect 6 delegates to sit on the GC to represent the 80 members that hadn’t turned up.

But let’s get something straight, there is no hidden dramatic plot to take over the Labour Party by Jon Lansman, Christine Shawcroft, myself or other members of Momentum’s new national coordinating group. However there is an organised group of Labour party members under the banner of Momentum with a grand plan to get Labour party members to Labour party meetings and out canvassing and campaigning so that they can have a say in the future of our party and help fight for a Labour victory in council elections and ultimately in the 2020 General Election.

This plan saw hundreds of Momentum activists from across the country travel to Stoke-on-Trent and Copeland to campaign for Labour in the by-elections. Momentum set up a carpool website, which enabled activists to link up with each other and travel to campaign, and repurposed the  Calling for Corbyn phone canvassing website so that people could call for the by-elections from the comfort of their own homes. These are exactly the kind of innovative technologies that the Labour bureaucracy should be using to harness the Party’s mass membership. The screenings of I, Daniel Blake organised by Momentum activists with Ken Loach on council estates in both constituencies, is a model of how Labour can reach out to people and reconnect with communities that have been neglected by political parties for decades.

The message of Momentum is now clear, if you want to have a say in the future of Labour you must be a member of the party. Let’s get another thing straight too, 11 people in a room will no longer decide who represents 7000 residents in council wards that are Labour strongholds. Is that a grand plan? Well yes it is and we need to hold our hands up and admit it. So, if you want to sign up to a dramatic plot to get out there and campaign for a Labour victory then book your ticket to Momentum’s Conference in Birmingham this Saturday if you’re a member. If you’re not a member, join Momentum today. Let’s share our experiences, take part in the workshops, listen to great speeches, forget the detractors and organise to make sure you have a voice in what is now the largest democratic socialist party in Europe.

Emine Ibrahim is a Labour councillor in Haringey and a member of Momentum’s National Coordinating Group. She is running to be on Labour’s National Constitutional Committee.