From the archive: Kinnock attacks Militant

October 1985: Neil Kinnock’s explosive conference condemnations plunge the Labour left into turmoil

On 1 October 1985, at the Labour conference in Bournemouth, party leader Neil Kinnock made a high-profile attack on the Trotskyist faction Militant Tendency in an attempt to reverse its growing influence. For the New Statesman, John McIlroy, a historian of communism and Britain’s radical left, detailed the fallout from the speech and the tactics Kinnock employed to reclaim control of the Labour Party.

When the Labour Party’s national executive met the week before the Bournemouth conference it upheld the expulsions of Bill Hopwood from Newcastle East Constituency Labour Party and Bill Mullins of Warley West. They join a growing list of those thrown out because of their support for Militant. Similar action has been taken in Blackburn, the Rhonnda and Mansfield. A typical case was a young Militant supporter Dougall McKinnon. When he was seen selling Militant in the town centre, Newcastle-under-Lyme Labour Party refused to ratify his transfer from his former constituency in Ayr.

Those expelled are not all impetuous youths. Bill Mullins had some 14 years’ party membership and extensive union experience in British Leyland. Three members of Sittingbourne Labour Party in Kent are facing discipline for selling the paper. In Havant, the Militant-dominated Young Socialists have been disbanded. When two Militant supporters, Dave Wilson and Sharon McDermott, were elected to the District Labour Party, their constituency, Attercliffe, in Sheffield, took the line that Militant supporters were not entitled to hold office in the party. Last month three other Militant supporters were expelled by the constituency management committee for distributing literature and talking to the media.

Chris Peace, who topped the poll in the constituency section, was expelled by the regional executive of the Welsh Labour Party. The move was partly inspired by George Wright, regional secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union. Wright has called for a referendum of party members on the expulsion of Trotskyists. But he suffered a setback at the TGWU conference in June when delegates voted down moves to ban Militant supporters from office (despite attacks by Neil Kinnock on “sectarians and splitters”) in favour of an executive declaration opposing all “bans, proscriptions and witch hunts”.

The electricians’ union (EETPU) conference decision calling for expulsion from the Labour Party of all full-time Militant workers was to be expected. But a powerfully worded motion carried 5-1 at NUPE’s conference in May was a big surprise. It stated that Militant as a separate organisation with its own programme and principles contravened Clause II of Labour’s constitution and supported action against its disciples.

These attacks have coincided with other reverses for the tendency. Its most influential presence in the unions has been in the Civil and Public Services Association. Last year the CPSA “Broad Left” was split by supporters of the Communist Party and Labour’s “soft left” who claimed that Militant’s bureaucratic control made it impossible for them to express their views. This year, Militant lost out as the right wing regained control of the union executive and its public enemy number one, Alistair Graham, was firmly back in the saddle.

After the tendency’s euphoria over the two Militant MPs elected in 1983, the recent round of reselections has yielded bitter fruit. Careful nursing of Glasgow Provan made it Militant’s best bet. Both secretary and chair of the party were supporters. At this year’s AGM they both lost their positions, while the tendency’s prospective parliamentary candidate, James Cameron, lost the nomination by a single vote to Strathclyde regional councillor, James Wray. In Glasgow Pollock, Militant’s David Churchley went down to a Kinnock supporter while there were further reverses in East Kilbride and Gateshead East. In the Merseyside stronghold Militant failed to move its big guns to do battle with Frank Field and saw its nominee Cathy Wilson, drafted in from the Isle of Wight, well beaten. In Brighton, a Militant nursery since the 60s, Rod Fitch, who fought the 1983 election, was defeated.

If the Labour Party Young Socialists continues to be an impregnable bastion of Ted Grant’s group, its insulation from the real concerns of young people was underscored by a Scottish Labour Party survey showing membership of about 700, or 10 per constituency, in an area strong in left-wing activism. Delegates to the April LPYS conference claimed that there were up to 50 fewer branches in attendance than in 1984. Membership of the tendency seems to be stuck at around the 5,000 mark. And despite frantic fund raising, ambitious projects such as the weekly newspaper going daily remain unrealised.

For Militant the heat is on. The trickle of expulsions is likely to swell. Kinnock firmly believes that Militant cannot be left alone. Moreover, as Bournemouth emphasised, it is a useful stick with which to beat the wider Benn-Scargill Left, particularly if the first moves against Militant supporters come from the constituencies. Here Militant is often isolated by its own organisational exclusiveness, deep political differences with others on the Left and the rightward drift in the party.

Three years ago, Tribune, for example, adamantly opposed all administrative measures against the tendency. Today, in response to moves in the Isle of Wight against Militant supporters, Tribune distinguishes between administrative measures by local parties and by the national leadership. And it supports the former. Whereas in 1982 a wide spectrum of the Left established “Labour Against the Witchhunt” to protect Militant, today’s response is muted.

But Militant is a pliant manoeuverer inured by 30 years’ survival in hostile terrain. Its response too has been low key. Whilst in Wales it has launched a Labour Unit Campaign in other areas it has urged supporters not [to] fight expulsions too ferociously for fear of more extended assaults. Perhaps it is being realistic in relation to the kind of support it can count on from the old Left, with the Bennite current weakened by recent defections and its own dissensions. The disparate nature of the Campaign group of MPs is showing. It has failed so far to build any extra-parliamentary base in unions and constituencies. When Labour Briefing launched a unity initiative on the hard Left at the end of the miners’ strike it was greeted by a distinct lack of enthusiasm. Militant did not respond. Labour Herald failed to attend the meeting, favouring its own campaign for a unified organisation. Both these moves were in turn described by Socialist Action as “sectarian and ultra left”.

There seems little danger of a successful challenge to Kinnock’s consolidation of control over the Left and the party in the run-up to the next election. Moreover, as he attempts to show Militant the door, the leader has a strange new ally. The Socialist Workers Party has suggested that Militant should voluntarily evacuate the Labour Party and join the SWP in an open revolutionary grouping. Ted Grant may be forgiven for murmuring “with friends like these…”.

[Further reading: A Budget £10bn off course]