We republish below the Open Letter from the Partisan Defence Committee, which describes itself as:
“..a class-struggle, non-sectarian legal and social defence organisation which champions cases and causes in the interest of the whole of the working people. This purpose is in accordance with the political views of the Spartacist League.“
The content, about the terrible case of Lucy Letby, is eminently supportable, as is the concept of non-sectarian class struggle legal and social defence. So in that spirit, we are pleaseed to republish the PDC’s letter, and to echo its call for Lucy Letby’s case to be taken up by the trade union movement.
As an additional source on information on the case, we refer readers to the extensive examination of the case (in 11 parts) by By Dr Phil Hammond (MD) in Private Eye, which is at https://www.private-eye.co.uk/special-reports/lucy-letby
Dear Comrades,
It is becoming clearer every day that Lucy Letby was scapegoated for the failings of the crumbling health services. Her trial was not based on any actual evidence that showed she or anyone else deliberately harmed children. Dr. Shoo Lee’s February press conference blew apart the entire basis for the frame-up and asserted that no murders had taken place. Now, a number of mainstream publications who previously vilified Letby have changed their tune and acknowledged she might be innocent.
Let’s be clear: Letby’s conviction sent a strong message to all workers and especially those in healthcare that this can happen to anyone. Letby was hounded and convicted to make an example of her for the failures of the NHS that is chronically under-staffed and under-funded. That’s why defending her is part of the fight for better healthcare for all, for better working conditions for nurses and all staff. But to build a campaign to demand justice for Lucy Letby requires defying the existing union leadership which time and again has bowed to the bullying NHS bosses.
This innocent nurse should not be languishing in prison one more day for something she simply didn’t do. But as we all know, the British establishment will fight to the bitter end to uphold the honour of its “justice” system rather than admit it locks up innocent people. The freeing of the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four, innocent Irish people who were framed up by the cops for bombings, took years of tenacious legal battles as well as public campaigns. That is why, in parallel to the efforts of her legal team, it is urgently necessary that the left and trade union movement take up this fight and build a broad campaign to free Lucy Letby. Defending this dedicated nurse against this frame-up is an elementary act in defence of the interests of all workers against the relentless attacks by the bosses on our livelihoods and working conditions.
The silence of the left on this question is ceding the ground to the right wing, some of whom for their own reasons have taken up this cause. But defending Letby is not a left-right issue, it’s a working-class issue: the British state has framed up a worker who was doing her job under horrendous conditions. It is time to take a clear stand against this.
We urge you to endorse and build for the PDC’s protest on 17 March in Liverpool and to take this campaign into the trade union movement.
Kate Klein
For the Partisan Defence Committee
