THE 1977 Labour Party conference overwhelmingly supported the abolition of the House of Lords. Not one NEC or Cabinet member spoke against it. Yet the 1979 election manifesto merely contained a promise to 'reform' the Lords. How did this happen?
Almost everyone knows that this is only one case representative of the general attitude of the party leadership. Callaghan was simply not having it.
Indeed he even threatened to resign if this policy was incorporated in the manifesto. He preferred pre-election chaos to bowing to the democratically decided views of conference.
Of course, having got his way on this and other policy issues the election was still lost — something which we should not let him or the Labour right forget.
So if the party is not to accept the status of a rather weak pressure group then the leader must be elected by an electoral college.
Despite the severe limitations of any constitutional changes, I would argue that no other reform is individually more important than attempting to make the leader more responsive to the party as a whole.
In the coming period this 'constitutional wrangle' remains of fundamental importance. In the long run the Labour left must produce a new leadership. In the short term we have to do all we can to stop the rot.
The fight for party democracy must not stop at this conference. The basis of our democratic socialist perspective rests on accountability to the rank and file by all those who hold office on behalf of the party.
We cannot risk being sidetracked by Callaghan's spurious argument that we should instead be fighting the Tories.
Decision making and control must be the perogative of party members, the notion of public primaries is an effort to sidestep party control.
A democratic say for all the membership provides the only sound basis from which the left can fight for change. Our concept of democracy is not tactical but one that seeks to build the party on the basis of participation.
At the end of the day it must be acknowledged that whatever constitutional reforms are gained they can in themselves never guarantee a leadership that is responsive to the party's socialist aspirations. They may stop the rot in the short term, but in the longer term, the left has to grow stronger and create an alternative leadership.
Reforms of the party structure need to conform to the perspective of creating a powerful Labour left with a responsive leadership committed to socialism. In short, automatic reselection is not automatic socialism.
GARY KENT, Brighton ILP