The Labour Representation Committee (LRC) is a British socialist pressure group within the Labour Party and wider labour movement. It is often seen as representing the most left wing members of the Labour Party.
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Overview
The LRC was formed at a founding conference on Saturday 3 July 2004, taking its name from the original Labour Representation Committee which was formed in February 1900.
The LRC allows Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) and Branch Labour Parties (BLPs) to affiliate to it, along with local, regional and national unions and individual party members and supporters. It has around 150 affiliates and 1000 individual members. In parliament, the group is represented by the Socialist Campaign Group. The LRC also has a youth group, the Socialist Youth Network.
The Chairman is John McDonnell, who the LRC supported as a candidate for leader of the Labour Party. Its Organiser is Lizzie Woods. Joint-National Secretaries are Andrew Fisher and Peter Firmin. Its Vice-Chairs are Jenny Lennox and Susan Press. The Treasurer is Graham Bash, Editor of Labour Briefing. They are the current officers of the organisation.
According to LRC affiliate and Trotskyist "deep entryist" grouplet Socialist Appeal in November 2014: "The Labour Representation Committee has lost a third of its members and is now down to 600 – in a party of 190,000. It is teetering on the verge of collapse." Despite this claim, LRC members have been involved in launching the activist Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory in early 2015.
LRC Youth
The LRC Youth, is a section of the LRC for those aged 27 and under. It was founded as the Socialist Youth Network in March 2007 and was relaunched in mid-2012 under its current name..
National Committee
The National Committee is elected annually by delegates to the LRC's annual general meeting. Members of the National Committee are elected for 12 month terms to conduct the general business of the LRC between annual general meetings. The National Committee is responsible for electing, and holding to account, an Executive Committee, which is responsible for any general business between meetings of the National Committee. The National Committee is also responsible for the preparation of LRC publications, and for appointing delegates to represent the LRC when necessary.
The current National Committee is elected at the LRC's annual general meeting in November, and its membership is as follows:
Affiliated MPs
The Representation Committee has a number of officially affiliated MPs, those being:
Affiliated unions
The LRC maintains support from a number of trade unions, the most prominent of these being: