Rank And File Mobilising Committee
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The Rank and File Mobilising Committee (RFMC) was an umbrella group which coordinated
left wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politic ...
groups to campaign for increased democracy within the Labour Party. The RFMC operated from 1980 to 1981, during which time it defended the mandatory reselection of MPs (won at the 1979
Party Conference The terms party conference ( UK English), political convention ( US and Canadian English), and party congress usually refer to a general meeting of a political party. The conference is attended by certain delegates who represent the party memb ...
), secured an electoral college for the election of Labour Leaders and provided the organising base for Tony Benn's 1981 Deputy Leadership campaign, which narrowly lost with 49.6% of the vote.


Founding

Following the successful campaign to change Labour Party rules to make it easier to deselect sitting
Labour MPs This is a list of United Kingdom Labour Party MPs. It includes all members of Parliament (MPs) elected to the British House of Commons representing the Labour Party from 1900 to 1923 and since 1992. Members of the Scottish Parliament, the Sene ...
at
Labour Party Conference The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conferen ...
1979, the Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory suggested to the
Campaign for Labour Party Democracy The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) is a group of Labour Party activists campaigning for changes to the constitution and rules of the Labour Party to ensure that Labour MPs and Labour governments enact policies agreeable to the party m ...
that a group be established to defend these reforms and campaign for greater democracy within the Labour Party. The RMFC was founded in May 1980 as a result of these discussions.
Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabine ...
records the founding of the RMFC in his diary of 30 May 1980:
" Frances Morell rang to tell me about the Rank and File Mobilising Committee, which is working to get together the CLPD, LCC,
Institute for Workers' Control The Institute for Workers' Control was founded in 1968 by Tony Topham and Ken Coates, the latter then a leader of the International Marxist Group and subsequently professor at the University of Nottingham and a member of the European Parliament ...
,
Independent Labour Publications Independent Labour Publications is a left-wing pressure group inside the British Labour Party. It is the successor to the Independent Labour Party and is mostly known simply as "The ILP" in order to maintain that link with its predecessor organisa ...
and the Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory, to agree on a programme of party democracy. In the evening we had a party, a sort of new left gathering, with Frances,
Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English former politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was Local Government Act 1985, abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of Londo ...
of the GLC, Victor Schonfield,
Audrey Wise Audrey Wise (''née'' Brown; 4 January 1932 – 2 September 2000) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour politician who was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament for Coventry South West from 1974 to 1979, and for Prest ...
, Tom Litterick,
Chris Mullin Christopher Paul Mullin (born July 30, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player, executive and coach. He is a five time NBA All-Star and four time All-NBA Team member. He is also two-time Olympic Gold medalist and a two-time ...
, James Curran, a lecturer at PCL, his wife
Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...
, George Osgerby, one of James's Students,
Dick Clement Dick Clement (born 5 September 1937) is a retired English writer, director and producer. He became known for his writing partnership with Ian La Frenais for television series including ''The Likely Lads'', ''Whatever Happened to the Likely La ...
s and Biddy, Geoff Bish hen head of the Labour Party research department
Dawn Primarolo Dawn Primarolo, Baroness Primarolo, (born 2 May 1954) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Bristol South from 1987 until 2015, when she stood down. She was Minister of State for Children, Young People a ...
,
Jon Lansman Jonathan Lansman (born 9 July 1957) is a British political activist. He is best known for having worked on Jeremy Corbyn's successful 2015 Jeremy Corbyn Labour Party leadership campaign, 2015 campaign for the leadership of the Labour Party (UK) ...
of CLPD,
Peter Hain Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain, (born 16 February 1950), is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of State ...
and others. These are the people who have formed the Rank and File Mobilising Committee and, when the time comes, they will be the people who organise the Benn election campaign."


Founding members

* Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory *
Campaign for Labour Party Democracy The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) is a group of Labour Party activists campaigning for changes to the constitution and rules of the Labour Party to ensure that Labour MPs and Labour governments enact policies agreeable to the party m ...
*
Labour Co-ordinating Committee The Labour Co-ordinating Committee (LCC) was a faction in the British Labour Party, established in 1978 and wound-up in 1998. It moved from a group established to challenge the leadership of the party from the left to the vanguard of Tony Blair's d ...
*
Independent Labour Publications Independent Labour Publications is a left-wing pressure group inside the British Labour Party. It is the successor to the Independent Labour Party and is mostly known simply as "The ILP" in order to maintain that link with its predecessor organisa ...
* the
Institute for Workers' Control The Institute for Workers' Control was founded in 1968 by Tony Topham and Ken Coates, the latter then a leader of the International Marxist Group and subsequently professor at the University of Nottingham and a member of the European Parliament ...
*
National Organisation of Labour Students National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...
* Clause Four Group


Later members

*
Militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Lat ...
*
Labour Party Young Socialists The Labour Party Young Socialists (LPYS) was the youth section of the Labour Party in Britain from 1965 until 1991. In the 1980s, it had around 600 branches, 2,000 delegates at its national conferences and published a monthly newspaper, ''Left' ...
* Labour Action for Peace *
Socialist Educational Association The Socialist Educational Association (SEA) is a socialist educational organisation in the United Kingdom. It is affiliated to the Labour Party as a socialist society. It assists in the development of and monitors educational policies of the ...


Campaigning aims

The groups brought together as RFMC had extensive disagreements on general political aims and tactics, however they were united in their desire for greater democracy within the Labour Party and all recognised that collaboration would increase their chances of success. The RFMC agreed five constitutional campaigning objectives which aimed to increase party democracy. The below table reflects the slightly different formulations of these campaigning objectives.


Campaigning activities

In the months leading up to the 1980
Labour Party Conference The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conferen ...
the RFMC organised 20 large rallies across the country in support of the Left's agreed campaigning aims. RFMC printed 10,000 copies of the campaigning broadsheet "Mobilise for Labour Democracy" which included a statement of aims from
Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabine ...
, articles setting out the case for democratic reforms of the party and descriptions for how activists could get involved in selling the broadsheet, organising meetings and passing resolutions in their Labour Party and Trade Union branches.
Jon Lansman Jonathan Lansman (born 9 July 1957) is a British political activist. He is best known for having worked on Jeremy Corbyn's successful 2015 Jeremy Corbyn Labour Party leadership campaign, 2015 campaign for the leadership of the Labour Party (UK) ...
, then secretary of the RFMC, set out the campaigning activities of the group in the early months of the campaign:
"All the organisations have buried the sectarian hatchets which have divided the campaign for party democracy in the past. Numerous CLPs have expressed their support already and many more will follow; but it has been much more than paper commitments. Throughout the country, party and trade union activists are meeting on their own initiatives to organise rallies, to distribute our broadsheet "Mobilise for Labour Democracy" and to ensure that motions are sent to conference on the democratic issues."


Commission of Inquiry

Following that year's Labour Party Conference, where rule changes were passed making it easier to deselect MPs, the
NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...
set up a Commission of Inquiry in September 1979 in response to demands from Trade Union leaders for a review of party operations and democracy. The Labour Right hoped that this NEC Commission could be the vehicle for halting or reversing the reforms to party democracy.


Election of Labour Party leaders

In the 9 Labour Party Leadership elections from
1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...
to
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only the MPs of the Parliamentary Labour Party could vote. CLPD had organised motions to Labour Party Conference in 1979 calling for an extension of the franchise to include affiliated
trade unions A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
,
Constituency Labour Party A constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency. In England and Wales, CLP boundaries coincide with those for UK parliamentary constituencies. In Sc ...
members and
socialist societies A socialist society is a membership organisation that is affiliated with the Labour Party in the UK. The best-known and oldest socialist society is the Fabian Society, founded in 1884, some years before the creation of the Labour Party itself ( ...
, but had been defeated. The NEC Commission suggested (contrary to the wishes of then Labour Leader
James Callaghan Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the L ...
) that party leaders should be elected by an electoral college consisting of 50% MPs, 25%
Trade Unions A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
, 20% Constituency Parties and 5%
socialist societies A socialist society is a membership organisation that is affiliated with the Labour Party in the UK. The best-known and oldest socialist society is the Fabian Society, founded in 1884, some years before the creation of the Labour Party itself ( ...
. The RFMC opposed this proposal and organised against it, circulating a CLPD motion which criticised the NEC Commission proposals on grounds that they "would make the Parliamentary Party dominant and under-represent trade unions and constituency parties". At Labour Conference in 1980 a motion was passed which supported the principle of widening the franchise for electing the party, but none of the motions specifying a particular balance between the component parts of the franchise was successful. An emergency resolution was then passed calling for a special conference in January 1981 to decide the issue. At the Wembley Special Party Conference in 1981 RFMC successfully, and narrowly, organised to secure a victory for an electoral college comprised 30%
Parliamentary Labour Party The Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is the parliamentary group of the Labour Party in the British House of Commons. The group comprises the Labour members of parliament as a collective body. Commentators on the British Constitution sometimes ...
, 30%
Constituency Labour Party A constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency. In England and Wales, CLP boundaries coincide with those for UK parliamentary constituencies. In Sc ...
and 40% affiliated organisations. This has been described as the second "major victory" for the Labour Left in increasing party democracy, along with the successful campaign for mandatory reselection at the 1979 Labour Party Conference. However,
James Callaghan Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the L ...
resigned before the new rules were in place in order to ensure that his successor would only be decided by the MPs of the Parliamentary Labour Party in the hope that his intended successor
Denis Healey Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey (30 August 1917 – 3 October 2015) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979 and as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970; he remains the lo ...
would win. Healey lost to
Michael Foot Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British politician who was Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition from 1980 to 1983. Foot beg ...
.


Tony Benn's Deputy Leadership Campaign and dissolution

The RFMC has been described by Labour historians as providing the "main base for the campaign to elect
Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabine ...
as the Party's Deputy Leader". Benn's campaign narrowly lost with 49.6% of the vote. The decision to dissolve the RFMC was taken in October 1981, shortly after that year's
Labour Party Conference The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conferen ...
and the Deputy Leadership election which took place at that year's Conference.


Legacy

Labour Historian Patrick Seyd described RFMC's legacy:
"The RFMC was a unique organisation in the history of the Labour Left. For a period the Labour Left was united around one issue (limiting the powers of Labour parliamentarians) and the multitude of organisations operated together as a single unit. "


See also

*
Momentum In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (: momenta or momentums; more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. ...


Further reading

* Kogan, David. (2019) ''Protest and Power: The Battle for the Labour Party.'' Bloomsbury Reader. . * Seyd, Patrick. (1987) ''The Rise and Fall of the Labour Left.'' * Socialist Organiser (June 1980) https://marxists.catbull.com/history/etol/newspape/socialist-organiser-uk/n020-june-1980-so.pdf


References

{{reflist Labour Party (UK) factions Trade unions established in 1980 Organizations disestablished in 1981 Organisations based in London