Jon Lansman, the founder of Momentum and a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, has promised to fight for his key role in the grassroots organisation following claims that it has been taken over by Trotskyists and could split.

In a statement to the Guardian, Lansman distanced himself from rumours he could walk away and claimed recent changes to the organisation had disenfranchised many of its thousands of members.



His first comments on the group’s internal crisis come as the activist accused of leading an alleged Trotskyist takeover said Lansman himself had first raised the prospect of a split last month.



Jill Mountford, who is on the organisation’s steering committee, said that far from being pushed out, Lansman appeared to be reacting to changes to the democratic structures which meant that he could no longer control it.



Lansman in turn indicated that he had not yet given up on the organisation he set up and whose database he controls. “Of course I’m not walking away from Momentum, but I do take the disenfranchisement of most of our 21,000 members very seriously,” he said.

“I don’t want to control Momentum. I want a pluralist organisation that supports Jeremy Corbyn, democratises the Labour party and helps us win the next general election.”

Momentum, widely credited with energising many new activists into leftwing politics, burst on to the political scene in 2015 as part of Corbyn’s campaign to become Labour leader.



Tensions over control of the organisation emerged on Monday when Momentum’s women’s officer, Laura Murray, wrote a blog claiming that members of the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty and others were seeking to wrest control from its founder.



Murray claimed that Mountford had been at the forefront of a takeover, had bullied younger members, reducing one to tears, and ultimately wanted to form a new political party with the organisation.



Mountford, who has been a member of the AWL for 33 years, denies bullying, taking over the organisation or wanting to form a new party.



She claims to have been shocked when Lansman raised the prospect of a split in the organisation at a meeting on 27 November. He did so after it became apparent that he may not get his way over the organisation’s structures, she said.



“The only person who has said there is going to be a split was Jon Lansman. He said: ‘Well I warn you now. If this goes through there will be a split in Momentum.’ That was news to all of us. I have time and respect for Jon but he has not behaved well. I think he has been trying to carve Momentum up so he can control it,” she said.

Mountford, who works for a voluntary organisation, said that splits over the internal democracy had been apparent for months. Lansman wished to install a one-member-one-vote system, while she and other activists wanted a national annual conference and elected delegates, she claimed.



“If you want an active and dedicated movement that can build then you can’t do it simply by sitting at individual computers in isolated places. I think you develop a good healthy movement when you can discuss ideas and become persuaded one way or the other with face-to-face discussion,” she said.



She said that most of those who supported the switch to a delegate-based system were not followers of the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, but a handful were.



“I think there were probably four or five people at the meeting who would say, broadly, that they like the ideas of Trotsky. We are vocal, we have things to say, we want Momentum to develop in a particular way and be a broad organisation. Some might find us overbearing but I can’t speak for others,” she said.

She added that Lansman had an “ace up his sleeve” because he ultimately controls a company which owns Momentum’s database and access to 21,000 leftwing activists.

“The way the organisation was set up was to give Jon this ultimate power. I was at Momentum’s first meeting in February, and Jon already had the database company set up,” she said.

Mountford said she had been open about her involvement with the AWL and the fact that she was defined by many as a Trotskyist.

“We consider ourselves to have a responsibliity to challenge orthodox Trotskyism. He lived in a particular point in history. The world is not the same, but some things are – the class nature of our society; capitalism has changed but is fundamentally the same – we try and apply what he said to the world as it is today.

“Trotsky’s work on fascism is spot on. Trotsky on the nature of the Soviet Union – was it a workers’ state? I don’t think so,” she said.



She said Momentum would hold its first delegates’ conference in February, although Lansman is not involved in organising it.



“We have to take up fighting for migrant rights and free movement. We have to find a way of urging working class people in UK not to see those across the world as their enemies. The real enemies are the bosses and capitalism,” she said.



Asked if socialism would only come through a revolution, she said: “I believe that humanity can create a much fairer or equal society and that is socialism. I don’t think those who have the power will let it go without a fight. To persuade others that I’m right is going to take patient persuasion.”

