Ahead of the Your Party conference this weekend, Jeremy Corbyn has railed against “top-down” politics. Instead, he wants “community power” at the heart of the new left party, with local organising “in the party’s DNA”. This, he stressed, is exactly “what the old parties are afraid of”.

‘Collaboration to unleash our collective power’

Corbyn expressed his desire for Your Party “to unleash the collective power of our communities, campaigns, and movements”. And he explained why the old way of doing things needs to change, saying:

I have witnessed first-hand the problems of top-down political parties that are designed to ignore their members and disempower the communities they claim to represent. When highly centralised political parties answer to nobody but themselves (and those who lobby them), then we get policies that nobody asked for. We get privatisation, austerity, and rising rents. If we build a political party that belongs to the grassroots, then we can organise for the policies that people want and deserve.

He sees regular assemblies as a key part of building this new movement. And he stressed that:

any branch or representative should hold a community forum or assembly once a month. That way, we can ensure that community organising is not just a buzzword, but in the party’s DNA.

Being “part and parcel of the community”, he asserted:

is how we can foster a culture of collaboration — and face outward toward the public, not inwards on ourselves.

He gave the forums in Islington as an example. Here, local people and campaigners come together, discuss “the issues that matter most to our community”, and “decide the campaigns we will wage together”.

A party where members have “a real say in what it does”

Corbyn argued that people coming together more often helps them to “realise that they aren’t alone in their desire for a better society”, and “that’s what the old parties are afraid of”.

He also highlighted the successes of “other independent MPs and councillors” who have “taken on the main parties” and won because they “harnessed community power to stand up against those who had ignored their demands for peace and humanity”. At the same time, he praised local communities that “have been uniting in defiance of austerity and privatisation” and “working with trade unions, tenants’ unions, disability justice groups, anti-racist campaigners, climate activists, and the growing movement for Palestine”.

Calling for as much unity as possible, he insisted that:

To build a party that stands for the many, we need as many people as possible to be part of it, with a real say in what it does.

On a personal level, he said he will participate “in whatever capacity members vote for me to serve”. And he stressed:

This is our chance to do something historic: to build a mass, socialist party based on democracy, community power, and international solidarity.

Your Party’s conference takes place from 29 to 30 November in Liverpool. In particular, members will vote on the new party’s name, leadership structure, and constitution. One in eight people in Britain currently say they would consider voting for the party.

Featured image via the Canary

By Ed Sykes

This post was originally published on Canary.