JOHN McDONNELL MP has called for the widest possible debate about the future direction of our movement following Labour’s catastrophic election defeat. 

Like many he is dismayed at the way the leadership contest is shaping up. All the Tory-lite talk about “aspirations” and “business-friendly” policies is closing the door on a needed discussion around policies that will challenge the Tory government and provide for an economic and social transformation of society.

McDonnell is one of the key speakers at the recalled Croydon Assembly on Saturday June 6. It’s one of the first public events where working people can assess what happened on May 7 and work out how we can meet the challenges that lie ahead, both organisationally and politically. 

George Osborne’s Budget on July 8 will detail the further £12 billion in cuts to vital services that the government will impose, if it runs its five-year term. Surely we have to see that it doesn’t. We need to work out as a matter of urgency how working-class communities can organise themselves to defeat the Tory government onslaught on services, housing, human rights and welfare benefits. How can we link up with other campaigns and movements that are on the front line of the resistance to this reactionary Tory government? The trade unions have a key role to play here, but the leaderships will have to change their attitude. 

For too long the movement was held back on the spurious grounds that a Labour government would ride to the rescue. Now that is no longer the case — some suggest that we might never again see a majority Labour government — will the major trade unions take the sustained, co-ordinated action that was largely avoided under the Con-Dems?

The future of the trade union movement is on the line like never before. The Tories’ attack on the right to strike picks up where Thatcher left off (and where New Labour stood back). A requirement that 40 per cent of those entitled to vote must back action on health, education, fire and transport, should be defied, in the spirit of the action that broke Ted Heath’s anti-union laws in the 1970s. 

The Tories have won a majority in Parliament with under 25 per cent of those entitled to vote in the general election, so they lack a mandate to carry out these vicious attacks. Forcing trade unionists to opt in to paying the political levy takes us back to the aftermath of the general strike and is designed to create a one-party, Tory state. We have to build massive opposition to these plans and the attacks on immigrant workers and new surveillance laws outlined in the Queen’s Speech.

What do we need to do outside Parliament to create a fairer, more equal, more democratic society? One-day strikes and protest marches undoubtedly have their place, but we could and should aim higher than pressure on the government to back away. We need to think about bringing the government down, while discussing and planning for an alternative.

These are some of the key reasons behind the recall of the Croydon Assembly. Last November’s assembly stressed that working people should join with others around the country in a network, as a first step towards creating the social and political changes we all need. The route to Parliament would seem to be blocked with Labour’s failure, which was compounded with the rise of the SNP, which won the support of working people with its anti-austerity stance, as well as its anti-Establishment viewpoint.

So assemblies like the one in Croydon, and others that have sprung up around the country, have to open the doors to the widest possible discussion about the political way forward, as well as how together we resist the continuing austerity which the majority of the electorate clearly rejected. We should ask questions about our democracy. How can we change it so that it represents the majority rather than big business and the banks?

These are the kind of things we’ll be discussing at the Croydon Assembly on June 6 with John McDonnell MP, NUT president Philippa Harvey, FBU general secretary Matt Wrack and PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka, among others. 

• Ted Knight is chair of the Croydon Assembly.
  - The Croydon Assembly is on Saturday June 6, from 10.30am to 4pm (registration from 10am) at Ruskin House, 23 Coombe Road, Croydon CR0 1BD. There will be plenty of time for people to speak in working groups and in the plenary. You can register for this important event through Eventbrite (Croydon Assembly) or turn up on the day.