January, 1999
Labor Party Press
Conversation with
Larry Adams
Larry Adams, who
chaired the convention’s Constitution Committee, is president of Mailhandlers Union
Local 300 in New York City.
|
 |
|
Photo ©Michael Kaufman, Impact Visuals |
I thought the convention represented a step forward for the Labor Party.
The big issue for the Constitution Committee was the time between
conventions. I felt that the proposal that was put to us by the Labor Party’s
Executive Board — which left the timing of the next convention up to the national
leadership — was unacceptable, and the majority of the committee felt so too. So we
modified it and reported out that at least the same standard that is applied to the trade
union movement should be applied here — you can’t go more than five years
without a national convention. There was considerable concern among the delegates about
five years being too long. I think the delegates were ready to go to war on that, and I
think the powers that be understood that.
Even though we supported the resolution that came from the floor to set
the convention for the spring of 2002 [in three-and-a-half years], my committee was
basically sympathetic to the concerns of the national leadership. I think that too many
Labor Party members equate their membership with attending national conventions. It’s
that long period in between where our attention needs to be focused — on
base-building and implementing the campaigns.
I was happy with the stance we took on electoral involvement. I’ve
been a staunch advocate of the high thresholds [for launching electoral campaigns]. I
think our first priority has to be building a social movement. The question of electoral
candidates is appropriately relegated to a secondary position. However, our policy
doesn’t prevent electoral activity as a tactic for promoting our program — for
example, the referendum in Massachusetts on universal
healthcare. That’s electoral-type activity without necessarily running
candidates.
We had some good further development of the Labor Party’s black
caucus at this convention.
We unanimously united in opposition to the war in Iraq and for the
resolution in support of Mumia Abu Jamal, and another against police brutality. [The latter two resolutions passed; the first was
not brought to the floor.] I think issues like that have to be taken up, especially if the
Labor Party is going to be attractive to black workers — because they become
life-and-death issues for us. We have a generation of youth who are being criminalized and
disenfranchised.
I think some of the things that were raised in the resolutions that were
passed provide a broadening of the Labor Party’s capacity to reach out to the
community. During the convention we were on the eve of the country going to war against
Iraq, and there was discussion among the delegates about trying to get a resolution on
that. Although that resolution did not ultimately come up on the floor, the issues of war
and peace and the stake workers have in war and peace are not going to go away. They beg
for our attention. The Labor Party should be a venue for debate on these issues. It’s
the appropriate place — if not us, who?
Our plan for building the party in this local is to concentrate on trying
to consolidate the Labor Party members in Local 300 around the party’s program and
the campaigns. For instance, early in 1999 we plan to do the Corporate Power training for
members of our committee and use it as a way to reach out to members who haven’t yet
joined.
|
