Resolution for Respect national conference (30th
to 31st October 2004)
Proposer: Steve
Wallis
Seconder:
We note that:
- The Militant Tendency demanded that its
members who were elected to leading positions (in parliament or trade
unions) receive a workers’ wage and donated their remaining wages to the
movement. Its three Labour MPs (Dave Nellist, Terry Fields and Pat Wall)
stuck to that demand.
- The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) has
adopted that demand and all six of its representatives in the Scottish parliament
receive the average wage of a skilled worker, with the rest of their wages
going to the SSP.
- George Galloway has objected to that
demand, saying that he wants to be able to speak at meetings without
receiving expenses. He has also said that he would prefer the number of
MPs to be halved with each MP receiving double the wages.
We believe that:
- A major reason why most Labour MPs are out
of touch with working class people in their constituencies, and the vast
majority sell out, is that MPs are much better off – due to their wages
from Westminster and other sources of income. If George Galloway’s
proposal for halving the number of MPs and doubling their wages is
accepted, the problem would be far worse (and it would be even harder to
get an MP elected with a constituency double the current size).
- It would be much easier to persuade
electors that Respect is different from the major political parties if we
could point out that we have some safeguards to protect the organization
from being exploited by individuals primarily interested in financial
gain.
We resolve to:
- Demand that every Respect candidate for
Westminster, the Welsh Assembly or leadership of a trade union commits
him/herself to living on a workers’ wage (average wage of a skilled worker
for Westminster or the Welsh Assembly, or average wage of a member of
their particular union for union leaders), donating the remaining wage to
Respect and/or campaigns that they support.
- Try to persuade George Galloway to accept
the above demand (so that he would have to receive a workers’ wage after
the next general election), persuading him to accept expenses when he
attends meetings (if he feels he needs them). If he refuses to accept this
demand, then we will refuse to put him forward as a Respect candidate at
the next general election.