Editorial note: Tony Benn was one of the most important figures on the left of the Labour Party in the postwar years. He was one of the few politicians who moved further left as he got older, particularly after his experience as a minister in the Labour government of Harold Wilson. He remained an iconic figure on the left until his death in 2014.
During his political career, he was for seventeen years (March 1984 to June 2001) the Member of Parliament for Chesterfield and it was under his influence that forty years ago, the Chesterfield CLP published an important political statement, effectively a ‘manifesto’ for the left. It was prepared, the CLP said, “to provide a focus for political discussion and education within the party.”
We are republishing this statement on the Left Horizons website, not just to mark its anniversary, but because it remains, forty years on, a very good summary of the political outlook of a large part of the left today, including the Corbynite left. It is an outlook with which Marxists would have disagreements, not because we doubt the sincerity of the authors, but because we doubt the practicality of the programme put forward.
As well as this statement, we will republish in due course a critical analysis of the Chesterfield statement, written by Ted Grant, political editor of the old Militant newspaper. Grant’s critique of the Chesterfield ‘manifesto’ is a very good approximation of the critique that Marxists would have today of the programme and policies of the Corbynite left. Both the Chesterfield statement and Grant’s critique of it are well worth reading today.
[note – the Treaty of Rome was the foundational document of the EEC, later the EU]
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The aims and objectives of Chesterfield Labour Party
The Chesterfield Constituency Labour Party is a democratic, socialist and internationalist party, with a growing membership made up of men and women, young and old who are widely representative of all aspects of life in the town; closely linked to the trade unions and other affiliated organisations, in pursuit of the historic role of Labour as a non-doctrinaire party of class struggle.
We are an integral part of the British Labour Party and accept its constitution and policy, as laid down at its annual conference.
We work for the election of Labour candidates in all local and national elections, on the basis of the political programmes put before the electors.
We believe the Chesterfield party has a duty to defend working people and their families and to campaign actively for policies that will help them.
This statement of our aims and objectives has been prepared to provide a focus for political discussion and education within the party; to allow those who join the party to understand the policies for which we stand; and to be the basis for our long-term political work.
We believe:
That there should be certain rights that must be won and maintained.
- The right to life, free from fear, oppression, ignorance and preventable ill-health or poverty.
- The right to useful and satisfying work, balanced with leisure, to meet the needs of society.
- The right of everyone to receive an income sufficient to maintain a decent standard of living.
- The right to a good home for all in which to live, bring up children and care for all dependents.
- The right to receive the best possible medical care, free, and at the moment of need.
- The right of access, throughout life, to the full range of human knowledge, through education in school, at college and afterwards.
- The right to mass media which provide accurate news, free from bias or distortion, and a diversity of views.
- The right to enjoy dignity, and a full life, in retirement in suitable accommodation, free from financial anxieties, with proper medical, and other facilities, including personal care, necessary to make that possible.
- The right to expect that any government in power will work for peace and justice, and will not provoke international conflict or hostility or divert resources from essential purposes to build up the weapons of mass destruction.
- The right to equality of treatment under just laws, free from all discrimination based on class, sex, race, lifestyle or beliefs.
- The right to free speech and assembly, the entrenchment of civil liberties and human rights and the right to organise voluntary associations and free trade unions for the purpose of protecting and improving the prospects for those who belong to them, and in particular, the right to withdraw labor as a means of securing justice.
- The right of elected local and national authorities to provide those jobs and services needed by the community.
– In democracy
We are deeply committed to the democratic process in the political, economic, social and administrative spheres, and believe that no person should have power over others unless they are accountable to, and removable by, those over whom they exercise that power or by elected representatives of the people.
– In socialism
We are socialists because we believe that these rights cannot be fully realised in any society under capitalism, which, as in Britain, now, has entrenched by law the power of capital over labour, and subordinated human values to the demand for profit, at the expense of social justice and peace.
– In internationalism
We are an internationalist party believing that all people, everywhere are entitled to demand the same rights and with this in mind we have set up an International Committee of the Chesterfield party to work with those who share our view.
– In the rights of self-determination
We believe that the people of every nation have the right to govern themselves and to be free from any form of colonial or imperial domination.
– In solidarity
We believe that we have a moral responsibility to defend all those who are attacked for protecting their own democratically gained rights, and with this in mind we are establishing workplace branches so that each can help others more effectively.
– That conscience must be above the law
We assert the right of all people to follow their own conscientious beliefs even if it involves them in breaking the law; and that while there may be a legal obligation to obey the law there is no moral obligation to obey unjust laws; but we also know that those who break the law on moral grounds, may face punishment for their beliefs, and the final verdict on their actions will rest with the public and with history.
– In the rights of all to their beliefs
We believe in socialist ideas which have been evolved in this country and abroad, over the centuries have given us a rich inheritance; but we do not believe that truth can be captured in any one creed to which all must subscribe under the threat of expulsion or exclusion; and we respect the rights of all members of the party to hold their own views, and to organise, within the party to promote them, being convinced that diversity of opinion adds strength to our cause.
– In progress through collective action
We believe, in the light of our own experience, that the only secure basis for social progress must lie in collective action; and that those who have the privilege of representing us, at all levels, must remain accountable for what they say or do, and that no-one can demand blind obedience, from us, in the name of loyalty or unity.
– That we are servants of the community
We see the Chesterfield Labour Party, and all its representatives, as servants of all those who live and work in the area, and with that in mind we have helped to establish the Chesterfield and District Community Defence Campaign to work in co-operation with others who share that same approach.
– In more democracy in the Labour Party
We want to see the Labour Party made into a more democratic and representative body , with equal rights for women and the ethnic minorities, and we would welcome the affiliation of other groups. We also believe that the Parliamentary Labour Party and Labour Groups should be more closely linked with the membership and that the shadow cabinet should be elected by the electoral college, with similar arrangements made in respect of local government.
The policies we want:
– For Chesterfield and Derbyshire
- The provision of jobs for all who live in the town and the county and in particular the development of mining, engineering and manufacturing industry and the provision of public services to make that possible.
- The pursuance of a big house-building programme to meet the needs of all those, including the elderly.
- The establishment of a fully comprehensive educational system for all students, and the right of all to continuing education and training.
- The establishment of full and free health care for all.
- The accountability of all managers in the public sector to elected local authorities, who should have the power to require their replacement if they do not meet the need of the people in the area.
- The granting of comprehensive general powers to the Derbyshire County, and the Chesterfield Borough Councils to do whatever is necessary in the interests of their communities, free from administrative control by Whitehall.
- The banning of all bloodsports on land owned by Derbyshire County Council and Chesterfield Borough Council, and also whatever is possible to seek to abolish bloodsports altogether and the enforcement of all existing legislation relating to animal abuse.
– For Britain
- The return to full employment and the adoption of the means necessary for that purpose by, amongst other things, the common ownership, under democratic control and management of the commanding heights of the economy, including the banks and finance houses, the land and all the companies which dominate our industrial system, and the development of new forms of social ownership.
- A shorter working week and earlier retirement.
- The establishment, as of right, of a comprehensive welfare system which will safeguard the living standards of our people.
- The elimination of all discrimination and injustice.
- The introduction of a system of taxation which will radically reduce the present gross inequalities of wealth and income.
- The provision of good housing, health and education for all by absorbing those private facilities that might be necessary to achieve a fully comprehensive system giving real choice to all.
- The introduction of a major programme for the democratic reform of the apparatus of the state including the abolition of the House of Lords; the ending of all patronage in making major public appointments; the democratisation of the magistracy, and lay supervision of the judiciary by the introduction of assessors from all walks of life into the High Court; and the democratic control of the police by elected local authorities.
- The ending of all nuclear weapons and bases in Britain; and the phasing out of civil nuclear power in favour of coal, conservations and alternative benign sources of energy.
- The provision of cheap and safe public transport for the use of the public, to protect us from the chaos that would follow from leaving key decisions to unrestricted competition.
- The protection of the environment so that this, and future generations may enjoy it, free from pollution and exploitation for profit.
- The proper provision for a leisure and multi-cultural society.
- The protection of the animal kingdom so that this, and future generations, may enjoy the natural wildlife of Britain.
- The upholding and enforcement of existing legislation relating to animal abuse, and efforts to secure the introduction of further legislation making bloodsports illegal.
– In international affairs
- The adoption by Britain of a non-aligned foreign policy, committed to the United Nations but free of all military alliances, so that this country, with others could help ease international tensions, reduce arms expenditure and assist the development of the Third World.
- The development of closer economic, industrial, social and political links between working people here and in other countries free from the control of the Treaty of Rome or NATO.
An appeal to the people of Chesterfield
We appeal to all those in Chesterfield who share these aims, to work with us for to help to realise them and we invite all those who would like to do so, to join as individual members so as to assist, in a practical way, to make this possible.”
[This statement was published in Militant– 17 January 1986. It is unedited – all of the text, punctuation etc as in the original]
