In the days following Jeremy Corbyn's inspirational landslide victory in the Labour leadership election, the Tories, the right-wing press, and the Blairites within the Labour Party have stepped up their campaign of hysteria and attacks against the new Labour leader. We call on all our readers to get organised in defence of Corbyn. Hands Off Corbyn!
JOIN OUR MAILING LIST BY E-MAILING CONTACT@HANDSOFFCORBYN.ORG
HANDS OFF CORBYN!
By electing Jeremy Corbyn as leader, the overwhelming majority of Labour Party members and supporters expressed a clear desire for change. This was the strongest endorsement of any Labour leader in the entire history of the Party.
However, the clearly expressed will of hundreds of thousands of Labour members is being flouted by the actions of a handful of right wing Members of Parliament. In cahoots with the Tory media they have launched a vicious campaign to sabotage, undermine and remove a Leader who has an overwhelming democratic mandate.
IT IS TIME TO CALL A HALT!
Hands Off Corbyn! has been formed by rank-and-file activists to resist this sabotage and defend Jeremy Corbyn. Those Labour MPs who are engaged in this scandalous campaign of sabotage seem to believe that they are a law unto themselves and can do just as they please, even if that means defying the views of the overwhelming majority of the Party. They must immediately be called to account.
Paul Kenny, the leader of the GMB union, has said that Labour MPs must either back the leader of leave the Party. They must decide where their loyalties lie. By continually undermining Jeremy Corbyn they are deliberately destabilising the Labour Party and playing into the hands of the Tories.
THIS MUST CEASE
To this end, we call upon all those who backed Jeremy as leader:
- To join the Labour Party, go along to the local meetings and demand that the views of Party members be upheld.
- Demand the convening of an emergency meeting of all Party members at which the MP must be present to give account of his or her actions.
- Move emergency resolutions for submission to the Labour Party Conference supporting Jeremy Corbyn and condemning the Blairite sabotage campaign.
- Make it clear that Labour MPs who refuse to respect the views of the overwhelming majority of the Party must stand down and make way for those who really stand for the socialist values of the Party.
- Write to the newspapers, radio and TV, locally and nationally to protest against the lying and slanderous character assassination aimed at discrediting and removing Corbyn.
- Raise this matter for discussion in your trade union branch, trades council or student union.
- Make the widest use of social media to spread Hands Off Corbyn!
- Sign our petition TODAY.
- Send your views and reports to us at contact@handsoffcorbyn.org
Below is a model resolution for Labour Party branches, Constituency Labour Parties, trade union branches, trades councils, and student unions:
This […] welcomes the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader. We note that he was elected by an overwhelming majority of Party members and supporters. We therefore consider that it is the duty of all Party members – inside and outside the Houses of Parliament - to support him.
We condemn the campaign of vilification in the Tory media directed against Jeremy Corbyn, which is aimed at undermining and removing him. We furthermore deplore the actions of members of the Parliamentary Labour Party who, through their systematic attempts to undermine Jeremy Corbyn, are deliberately sabotaging the work of the Opposition, destabilising the Labour Party and playing into the hands of the Tories.
We call upon our representative in parliament to provide us with a clear and unambiguous commitment not to participate in any such activities and to support the elected leader of the Party.
In the event of a refusal to provide such an undertaking, we will have no alternative but to move a vote of no confidence and set in motion a process of selecting somebody who is prepared to respect the democratic views of the membership.