She hit out at ‘smears, allegations and sabotage’
Your Party’s first ever conference has had a dramatic start. On the eve of the conference, senior members of the Socialist Workers Party were expelled from Your Party in a move some members have described as a ‘witch-hunt’.
At a press huddle on the first day of the conference, Jeremy Corbyn argued that the allegations that he had presided over a ‘witch-hunt’ were ‘absurd’. He said: ” All we’ve said is you cannot be a member of two parties at the same time”.
However, in the latest indication of divisions and disagreements between her and Corbyn, Zarah Sultana told journalists that the expulsions should be reversed in a damning attack on what she described as a ‘toxic culture’ within Your Party.
Speaking to the press outside Your Party’s conference, Sultana said: “It is something that is deeply concerning, especially when we are calling for a democratic party.
“We are not here to expel people. We are not here to build a culture of witch-hunts where people’s social media are stalked and people are putting resources into expelling people. We are here to fight for working class people.
“And this culture is what the Labour Party is known for and that’s not what we are doing here.”
Sultana went on to say: “The decisions that have been made today have been undemocratic. They have been imposed by nameless, faceless bureaucrats and conference is meant to making those decisions. Our members are meant to be making those decisions. But they’ve been made from the top by appointed people and that’s not acceptable.”
Later, she added that those expelled members should “absolutely” be reinstated. She said: “They shouldn’t have been expelled in the first place. These are groups that don’t even run in elections. And if we are here to be the home of the left, a home for all socialists, this is not how you treat members.
“This is what the Labour Party did where people were expelled, members were treated just like volunteers – not allowed to actually make decisions and just thrown on the scrap heap. We’re here to treat people with respect and end [the] toxic culture that is ridden with leaks to the press, smears, allegations and sabotage including what happened to before I went on BBC Question Time.”
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
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