Those who (re)joined or stayed in the Labour Party in 2015-2019 are way to the left of the PLP. The PLP think that the 2019 manifesto was far too radical to stand a chance, given the existing balance of forces in the country.
Their plan is to shrink the membership and head off the (still existing) possibility of the Party becoming a democratic and socialist mass movement, with all that that implies for established power.
It is a dispiriting plan, but it is a plan. It is up to those who want the Labour Party to be more than a respectable exception to Conservative rule to come up with an alternative. If we want the substance of the 2019 manifesto we have to change the balance of forces.
That means extensive democratisation of the party, giving more resources to the membership and changing the institutional framework so that we attract a million members or more. It means breaking the power of oligarchy in our movement, as a prequel to the harder tasks ahead.
I would like to be able to back a candidate who commits to a members' led constitutional convention for the Labour Party that leads to a new organisational structure that reflects the actual dispositions and wishes of the membership.
If we can't reform our own Party, why should anyone take us seriously when we talk about reforming the state and the economy?
The heirs to Blair want to render the mainstream of the membership inert, because they absolutely disagree with us. They will do their best to be rid of anyone who doesn't settle down into reluctant acceptance of the lesser evil. They have a plan. What is ours?
