Labour Grassroots AGM which was held
last Saturday 27 October. A report of that meeting has already been circulated
and can be accessed on our blog. At the end of the report are the
resolutions that were agreed, together with an updated statement of principles
and priorities for WLG.

On 25th
October, Compass held a meeting in Cardiff that was primarily aimed at starting
a left of centre debate about an alternative plan B for Wales. Compass has also
produced a report of their meeting which is available here. This week’s discussion piece was stimulated
by thoughts emanating from both events, which as usual is at the end of this
email and has been posted to our blog.

Forthcoming events

Labour
Representation Committee annual conference in London this Saturday, 10th
November – all the details and online registration here.

On Saturday, 17th November,office, they
should take the opportunity not just to implement progressive policies but to
transform the structures of government themselves, opening them up to popular
involvement (Len talked about this in last week’s bulletin/blog). The best example of this in
Britain was provided by Ken Livingstone’s GLC in the 1980s: ordinary Londoners
and community organisations were given an unprecedented opportunity to help
formulate and deliver the council’s policies – an experiment deemed so
dangerous that it hastened the demise of the GLC at the hands of the Thatcher
government. The GLC was, however, very much the exception to the normal
practice of Labour administrations. As Ralph Miliband (the late father of Ed
and David) argued in his classic book, Parliamentary
Socialism:

‘Of political parties claiming socialism to be their aim, the
Labour Party has always been one of the most dogmatic