An apocryphal story has it that the
Socialist Party of Great Britain, upon discovering that its membership had risen considerably in the last year, decided that there could not possibly be so many true socialists in the country and expelled a bunch of them. Such seems to be the life of the Labour Party at the moment, which – having doubled in size in the ten months since the leadership contest began – is busily expelling people.
Two victims catch our eye – one, Jill Mountford, is on the steering committee of Momentum and a long- time supporter of the Alliance for Workers Liberty. No prizes for guessing why she finds herself outside the Party. The other is Nick Wrack, formerly of the Militant, the Socialist Workers Party, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, Left Unity, etc; suffice it to say, a late but welcome convert to the idea of fighting within the Labour Party. Both will fight their summary exclusions, and so should we.