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From The Socialist newspaper, 2 December 2020
Labour meeting lets MP get away with 'Spycops' abstention
COPS campaign (Click to enlarge)
Amnon Cohen, North London Socialist Party
63 people attended a public meeting on the Spycops undercover policing scandal, organised by Hornsey and Wood Green Labour Party in protest at the abstention of right-wing Labour MPs on the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS) bill.
Workers spoke about being blacklisted for many years due to political and trade union activity, and two women spoke about being deceived into intimate relationships by undercover police officers. The CHIS bill will mean that, when undercover police officers engage in illegal activity like this in the future, they will be immune from prosecution. This is why it is utterly disgraceful that Labour MPs were instructed to abstain on the vote in parliament and only 34 voted against.
The chair refused to take questions on the role of the local MP who abstained on the bill, and the need to introduce mandatory reselection. But John Dunn, from Orgreave Truth and Justice campaign explained the need for the Labour Party to grow a spine and oppose the government on this issue. Socialist Party member and core participant in the Spycops enquiry Lois Austin managed to force her way into the meeting, despite the reluctance of the chair. She gave the meeting some much needed political context, explaining the role of the state in attacking the left and how the labour movement needed to organise to counter these measures.
No contributions from the floor were allowed at the meeting. People were allowed to submit written questions as messages to the chair. The undemocratic way that the meeting was organised contrasted with Socialism 2020, where participants were encouraged to make rounded-out contributions from the floor. The meeting demonstrated that the Labour Party is not now a democratic forum in which to discuss how to defend workers' rights or defend us from police repression. This will require a new party of the working class.
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In The Socialist 2 December 2020:
What we think
Spending Review. Unions must resist return to austerity
Spending Review
What will the spending review mean for me?
Napo kickstarts fight against pay freeze
News
Better for billionaires. Worse for workers
Arcadia and Debenhams closures: Nationalise to save jobs and pensions
Scotland: Campaign wins end to period poverty
NHS: Underfunded, understaffed, underpaid
Devolution
Workplace News
Don't let the festive season be one of misery for retail workers
Equity union conference calls for radical change - now lead a fight!
Solidarity with Brighton UCU strike - we won't pay for Covid crisis
East London teachers strike in support of victimised union rep
Heathrow workers strike against 'fire and rehire' plans
Hackney: Stop plan to halve school support staff!
Pay freeze protest Homerton Hospital
Unison general secretary ballot closes
Environment
'Building back greener' - yet more Tory greenwash
International News
Marxism
Review: Friedrich Engels - Condition of the working class in England
Campaigns
Wales TUSC plans to mount an electoral challenge
Rent strikers' victory in Manchester student halls
Labour meeting lets MP get away with 'Spycops' abstention
Reader's opinion
Fast fashion, big profits, low pay
Diego Maradona - Working-class rebel, football genius
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2021