New Democrats voted this weekend to defer a change to their constitutional preamble.

The lineups at the microphones when the constitutional resolution came up for debate was long and NDP MP Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre) led the charge in favour of the new wording, saying the socialist language in the constitution was an anchor holding the party back — and scaring voters away — at a time when it is closer to forming government than every before.

“Socialism is not an anchor, it’s a rocket,” Barry Weisleder, who chairs the unofficial socialist caucus that meets in its own room at NDP conventions, shot back. “You can take socialism out of the preamble, but you can’t take socialism out of the NDP.”