has OMOV fundamentally changed the labour party?

[discokermit]

well, has it?
the last few years have seen it's hollowing out but now that vacuum has been filled. is the labour party now comparable with any point in its history? are new possibilities opening up?

 

[marty21]

There are new possibilities, whether they become realities is another question. I think Corbyn's survival chances will depend on how he does at the Scottish and Welsh elections - if he claws back some support in Scotland that will be seen as a win.

 

[ska invita]

What's OMOV?

 

[killer b]

one member one vote.

 

[mauvais]

What's OMOV?

One member one vote.

 

[killer b]

I think the £3 supporters were more important though tbh, as much for the momentum available as the weight of their actual votes.

 

[mauvais]

OMOV is as opposed to the prior selection method whereby the PLP (parliamentary Labour Party) had a third of the say, and the affiliated unions another third. Obviously the latter still exist as voters and can influence things without membership as we've just seen, but do so on an individual basis.

 

[Wilf]

Omov was of course intended as a counterweight to the supposed left wing activists of the 80s. Labour has an odd structure now, with a large influx of presumably optimistic, leftish types - then it gets increasingly new labourish as you go up through the ranks of councillors, mps, policy making structures - but then has a left social democrat at the top. Corbyn's big job is undoubtedly forging links with the public, getting round the mainstream press, but in his own party he'll have to create mechanisms for the membership to inform policy. Pretty much the mechanisms that were removed in the 1990s.

 

[Quartz]

There are new possibilities, whether they become realities is another question. I think Corbyn's survival chances will depend on how he does at the Scottish and Welsh elections - if he claws back some support in Scotland that will be seen as a win.

And to do that - at least in Scotland - he's going to have to come to an accommodation with the other Unionist parties (i.e. the Tories and Lib Dems) so they don't stand against each other and split the Unionist vote. Otherwise the SNP will walk it.

 

[discokermit]

what i mean is, is it still the same party? has there been a change within the structure that makes it a different one to the one it was before? i'm not putting this over very well.

 

[marty21]

Membership is shooting up , mixture of young enthusiastic previously disengaged and returning members who got fucked off in the Blair/Brown years . It is a Miliband legacy , he changed the voting system didn't he ?

So yes the party has changed , is changing . MPs have to be aware of the members at Leadership election time at least . There were probably all sorts of deals before to get the MP vote or union votes .

 

[belboid]

what i mean is, is it still the same party? has there been a change within the structure that makes it a different one to the one it was before? i'm not putting this over very well.

At this point, little has changed bar the figurehead. Of the rest of the structures remain as they are (ie wholly anti-democratic) then Corbynmania wil fizzle out nto nothingness. Corbyn has said he will support (even begin) moves to change those structures, in which case... A return to being a democratic party, where the grssroots can determine policy and direction would be a significant change. Whether enough new members will have the stamina to put up with the vast amounts of shit that will be involve in changing those structures, fighting against the Blairites and the old TU rightwngers is a moot point

 

[SpookyFrank]

It is a Miliband legacy , he changed the voting system didn't he ?

Yes. Understandably Ed Miliband was more keen than anyone to ensure that the likes of Ed Miliband could never again be elected leader of the Labour party.