11.04.2001

SA roundup

SA executive Centralising our forces

The move to professionalism in the Socialist Alliance is picking up pace. With the expected date for the general election moving back to June 7, the executive of the Liaison Committee met in London on April 4 to discuss a shift in all-England orientation for the extended election campaign.

The executive decided to bring forward the establishment of a national office in London and has called on volunteers to staff it. The office is in London's East End. As comrade John Rees of the Socialist Workers Party said, the increasing size and tasks of the organisation demand a better infrastructure. He said that ideally we need a full-time staff of at least 10 to run the alliance, even at its present level.

With the campaign shifting tempo from a sprint to a steady jog, executive members were concerned to ensure that activists kept their eye on all-England tasks. Comrade Rees said that if alliance campaigners simply handed out leaflets for nine weeks, they would go "bonkers". To this end, the executive endorsed support for a number of national demonstrations and events, including the day of action against Sodexho (the firm running the voucher system for asylum-seekers); support for the CND day of action against NMD ('son of Star Wars') on April 14; active and full participation on the Unison low pay demonstration in Manchester on April 28.

For the first time, our executive had a dedicated minute-taker: a comrade from the SWP, who is also staffing the office with Rob Hoveman. His report notes: "It was agreed that, given the extended timing of the election campaign into June, the alliance's activities have to be tempered accordingly. Local alliances cannot solely focus on day-to-day election work and canvassing. This would wear people down. It was agreed alliances should focus on biweekly events which could unite groups up and down the country."

The steady shift towards centralisation is to be warmly welcomed, yet it must become more conscious and planned. However, with this change comes tension throughout the SA, including at executive level. By necessity, our meeting was effectively a 'mini-executive', called as it was at short notice. A number of executive members gave apologies. In all only eight of the 19 could make it, though crucially chair Dave Nellist was there for most of the meeting. John Nicholson was also in attendance, and the remainder were representatives of the revolutionary organisations supporting the alliance.

It was worrying that some members who were not present questioned whether any executive meeting was at all necessary. Margaret Manning, formerly of the Socialist Party, now Merseyside Socialist Alliance, had e-mailed the executive: "Will hear from John Nicholson how it goes. Can't see the need for another meeting unless contention over who gets nominated, and given Easter not much time to meet. Better spend time in areas." John Rothery of the Walsall Democratic Labour Party agreed.

This woeful localism is completely inadequate for the tasks at hand. The very formation of the SA, its modest achievements and (at times problematic) boost from the SWP shows that our alliance has owed its success to the fact that fundamentally it has been built from the top down. This is our path to growth, to consolidation, to professionalism and to the formation of a new - democratic and centralised - party. As the executive report states, our aim must be to "unite groups up and down the country", not live and let live in splendid local isolation.

One executive member put it frankly. Unless those on the executive wanted to take their national responsibilities seriously, he was not clear what they were doing on the committee.

In a welcome turn-around, comrade John Nicholson said that the extended campaign period made the establishment of a Socialist Alliance newspaper for the general election not only practical, but necessary. On a number of issues, comrade Nicholson has begun to echo views originally aired by the CPGB: from the Coventry deal with the Socialist Party to the establishment of a paper.

And of course the argument for a paper is compelling. While the SWP has its Socialist Worker, the CPGB has the Weekly Worker and an array of groups have their less frequent journals, what are the increasing number of 'independents' going to write for and sell? What is Ford worker Bill Hamilton going to have under his arm when he campaigns in Dagenham for the "new party that he loves", as he put it at the London rally at Friends House on April 3? What will Mike Marqusee, Dave Osler, Christine Blower, Louise Christian, Dave Church, John Nicholson, Liz Davies, and so on use to propagate their views on socialism and political developments? Not one will sell Socialist Worker. Nor should they have to. And local bulletins can hardly fill the void.

Dave Nellist says we should sell the manifesto once it is produced. He is being disingenuous. He has the Socialist Party's The Socialist and perhaps he fears where the sheer momentum of the Socialist Alliance is taking us - to a unified party.

While we need to sell the manifesto, it is a static document. How do we respond to events as they unfold? How do we take our national campaigning to the localities? How do we show that we are more then a ginger group? We cannot rely on the bosses' press. We need our own.

The SWP has up to now presented Delphic 'technical' mumbles as to why the alliance should not have a paper. Commenting on the impact of a paper in the final weeks of an election campaign, comrade Rees candidly admitted that he would be worried that, if presented with a socialist newspaper, his comrades would go into "paper-selling mode". Obviously the SWP does not have a good culture in the use of its own paper. Or perhaps Socialist Worker editor Chris Harman feels that an open, democratic, living paper of a working class party-in-formation would quickly eclipse his own?

The final business of the executive dealt with the ongoing troubles in Bedfordshire Socialist Alliance. On Sunday April 1, members of the Socialist Workers Party in Luton walked out of the local alliance meeting after two of their comrades were told they could join, but not vote on the day on the content of the Beds SA election manifesto.

Obviously there is a history behind the political tension amongst individuals and groups in Bedfordshire. The expulsion of BSA chair Eric Karas from the SWP could not have helped matters. And it must be said that all alliances that I know of allow new members to turn up, join and vote at their first meeting. Clearly some bridges to build.

The executive decided to appoint a committee consisting of myself, Greg Tucker and Dave Church to try to suggest a suitable resolution to the problem. We will hopefully be reporting to the next executive meeting on April 21 in Coventry.

Marcus Larsen

Hackney
SA advance despite SP

Hackney SA stepped up its activities last Saturday with a red cavalcade that toured the borough, getting our message across. Street meetings were held at the regular stalls throughout Hackney and over £100 was received in donations. Weekly meetings are also taking place both in Hackney North and South. Liz Davies will speak this week at a meeting in Hackney South, alongside Cecilia Prosper and community campaigners, about why she decided to join the Socialist Alliance.

The fight against Hackney council is reaching a new stage. A mass meeting of over 700 council workers voted to ballot for five days of consecutive strike action. There have also been a string of minor engagements. For example, Burbage Day Centre for disabled young people, which was due to be closed, has now won a reprieve after a militant campaign by the users.

The two councillors in the Springfield and Northwold wards found guilty of unprecedented electoral malpractice have not yet been sentenced. But anger is not directed only against these two men - one Tory and the other Liberal Democrat - but against the entire council - run as it is as a service-slashing Labour-Tory coalition.

Hackney SA has committed itself to standing candidates in the by-elections, in the Springfield and Northwold wards. We have been out petitioning for the resignation not only of the two councillors, but of the entire administration. We will be holding a selection meeting on Thursday April 26 to which we are inviting all trade unionists and campaigners. We want to dig deep roots among the working class in Hackney. The alliance is not just an electoral vehicle - it must become the militant part of the working class.

Unfortunately - but typically - the Socialist Party is up to its old splitting tricks again. Representatives of the SA attended an SP meeting some weeks ago to urge SP members to get re-involved in the alliance and in particular to participate in the selection process for candidates in the by-elections. It was emphasised that we need a single political voice and must move quickly against the localist, left-right anti-cuts coalition, Hackney First. Jim Horton on behalf of the SP said that his organisation was open to talks about what to do and he appeared positive about the alliance.

However, since then the SP leadership has asserted itself. Comrade Horton told me last week that the SP would not be supporting the alliance. It would be organising separate anti-cuts candidates. The comrades now argue it is wrong for the SA to stand, as we are "imposing ourselves" on those involved in the struggle against the council. Yet we have repeatedly told SP members that we are inviting all those involved in the present struggles to join and take part. The SP does not of course try to build the SA in Hackney, but instead concentrates on trying to recruit directly to its own dwindling organisation.

Now the SP is attempting to commit the council's joint stewards committee to stand anti-cuts candidates in the by-elections. A meeting was held this week to which the SA was not invited. The proposed 'ordinary', raw anti-cuts candidate is none other than Brian Deavis, long-time member of the Socialist Party! It would be funny if it were not for the fact that such behaviour can do nothing but undermine a united working class fightback, and its main vehicle, the Socialist Alliance. The SP's divisive scheming in Hackney - from the farcical community conference last year to the present 'anti-cuts' campaign - has nothing to do with the real needs of our class.

The crisis-ridden SP leadership is performing a tortured series of sectarian stunts to avoid involvement in the SA. Some of them think it is clever politics, but others know it is really quite pathetic. Nevertheless the SP continues to pose a danger to socialist and working class unity. We must win over the anti-sectarians and expose the rest of them.

Anne McShane
Chair Hackney SA

Nottingham
Lame New Labour

The main item on the agenda of the April 9 meeting of Nottingham Socialist Alliance was to update our plans for the current campaign in Forest Fields - part of the Nottingham East constituency, where we are standing in the general election - against closure of the local comprehensive school, labelled "failing" by the council. The meeting was attended by a journalist from Nottingham's main newspaper, The Evening Post.

Further plans were made to canvass as much of the remaining area of Forest Fields as possible. The most recent canvass was successful despite the low turnout. Many of the local residents and parents took posters to promote the Socialist Alliance, and a few, including a former Labour councillor, expressed an interest in joining.

Pete Radcliff (Alliance for Workers' Liberty), our candidate in Nottingham East, reported on his meeting with the council regarding the closure plans. Some councillors (especially those linked most closely to education within Nottingham East) afterwards took it upon themselves to help with leafleting.

There was noticeable hostility from parents and residents who attended towards those councillors insisting the closure must go ahead. The SA must tap into this anger and link it with our general election campaign.

The National Union of Teachers branch has been faxing around all Nottingham schools to gain messages of support. This too ties in with the SA campaign.

Nottingham council's Labour leaders have tried to smear the SA campaign as "using the people, rather than actually caring about them". This should be seen as the lame attempt to save their own skins that it truly is. There are rumours that an up and coming Ofsted meeting with parents and governors of the school will be used to damn the Socialist Alliance in this way.

But the SA campaign is very far from a one-issue affair. Stickers have been going up and leaflets handed out with slogans such as 'Drop the debt', 'Stop privatisation', 'Nationalise the rails', and 'Defend asylum-seekers', over the call to 'Vote Socialist Alliance'. We aim to ensure these are seen everywhere around Nottingham city centre as well as the Nottingham East constituency.

It is important that we link the local concerns of Nottingham workers with the big political issues. That will both broaden and strengthen our campaign.

Richard Metcalfe

Teesside
Two-pronged assault

As a result of our ongoing growth, Teesside Socialist Alliance has divided into two separate components: one in Middlesbrough and the other in Stockton. Since a second candidacy (Lawrie Coombs of the CPGB) was decided upon in Stockton South, comrades have felt that founding a new Socialist Alliance was only a matter of time.

The Middlesbrough launch meeting managed to pull in an audience of around 20, which is a positive initial figure with which to build our campaign. Mark Serwotka was scheduled to be the main speaker, but unfortunately was unable to attend, leaving something of a void in the proceedings. Luckily, though, Middlesbrough candidate Geoff Kerr-Morgan of the Socialist Workers Party and a local Refugee Service spokesperson managed to fill it, speaking respectively about the Socialist Alliance's policies and the appalling treatment of asylum-seekers by Blair's Toryesque administration.

Meetings in Middlesbrough are now being held weekly. Thankfully space is being allowed for debate. The delay of the general election has helped ... but there is a danger of complacency. After a brief discussion about the postponed election date, one comrade commented that we should "pace ourselves" and "take it easy", as there was "no fundamental difference between a date in May and a date in June". Quite the contrary: the extra month is an opportunity to further make known our policies, and we should use it wisely to continue fundraising and campaigning at every level, not least on national issues.

There has been much discussion concerning the forthcoming May Day demonstration, at which the Socialist Alliance plans to have a large contingent of supporters in order to project our message to the trade unionists and leftwingers marching through Middlesbrough town centre. Arthur Scargill, general secretary of the Socialist Labour Party, will be the main speaker at the event, which has the potential to draw a large crowd. The SLP will be standing a paper candidate in Middlesbrough on June 7, despite calls for them not to split the left vote by standing in constituencies contested by the SA.

Although Scargill will be speaking in his capacity as president of the National Union of Mineworkers, not as leader of the SLP, it is nevertheless important that the Socialist Alliance is there to put forward the idea of left unity in opposition to Scargill's sectarianism. It has been decided that a specially designed handout will be produced locally for the purpose, which, if used effectively, will hopefully make an impact on the demonstrators.

In addition to the May Day handout, Teesside SA will also be producing a broader leaflet for distribution in workplaces and unions throughout the region. This will no doubt prove useful for reaching out to workers in order to win their support, and will serve to reinforce the interest and sympathy which has already been expressed by local union branches. As well as leafleting, however, we need to create a physical presence in the region - rallying, canvassing and arguing with people on the ground. Currently this presence is restricted to a weekly stall in Middlesbrough town centre.

Students from a local sixth form college have offered to help out by setting up additional stalls in local shopping centres. This will undoubtedly give a much needed boost in publicity.

The Socialist Alliance in Middlesbrough is bringing forward positive initiatives which can only serve to aid the election campaign. It is now up to everyone involved to begin the challenging task of winning over the disenchanted electorate to the socialist alternative.

James Bull

Greenwich
Labour rattled

Greenwich and Woolwich Socialist Alliance has agreed a proposal from our candidate, Kirstie Paton (Workers Power), to have a political discussion at all future meetings. This is in part to alleviate the drudge of the usual purely technical and organisational nature of proceedings, and is also a recognition that newly attracted members and supporters need more than simple activism to maintain their interest.

Our local alliance has engaged in considerable activity, including leafleting, petitioning and fundraising, a successful launch rally and a workers' bid for the Dome. Whilst it has produced an excellent sense of camaraderie and is growing in influence, there are restrictive tendencies, things that hold us back: economism and localism narrow our perspectives and inject a disjointedness and amateurism into our activity. That is why political discussion is vital.

Hopefully, these weekly forums will offer an opportunity to consider questions of high politics and raise our sights beyond local issues, petty reforms and electioneering. They should also help focus minds on the vital need to coordinate and generalise struggles throughout the whole alliance. This objective requirement for unity in action, based on the practical and theoretical experience of the whole organisation, will of necessity lead comrades to the inescapable conclusion that we need a Socialist Alliance political paper. And organisationally of course, the objective logic of our joint struggles points to the formation of a single party of the left.

Another weakness: locally, all the main groups are working well together - except that the Socialist Party is absent. Interestingly it was the SP, with CPGB support, that initiated the original Greenwich Socialist Alliance in 1996. Yet, now that we have a much larger, broader and active group with an enthusiastic election candidate, the Socialist Party stays away, preferring to do its own thing in Lewisham Deptford, where Ian Page is running an exclusivist SP campaign under the SA banner. An exception to this has been Onay Kasab, branch secretary of Greenwich Unison. Comrade Kasab spoke on behalf of the union at our recent rally and welcomed the formation of the Socialist Alliance.

He also reported on a recent decision to strike by council housing staff and called for support from the rally. Management subsequently backed down over the housing dispute - comrade Kasab was able to push the workers' case, whilst apparently managers came under political pressure to keep things quiet during the pre-election period. Ten comrades, including our candidate, had earlier managed to lay siege to Nick Raynsford's surgery, forcing the local Labour MP to debate for 50 minutes until he gave up and shut up shop.

It seems that this event, along with the uncomfortable reality of more and more Unison members openly coming out for the Socialist Alliance, has sufficiently rattled Nasty Nick and other New Labourites to lean on council managers in order to avoid issues that might provide ammunition and recruiting ground for the SA. Our candidate has accepted an invitation to speak at the upcoming Unison hustings.

Alan Stevens

Streatham
Bread and roses

Seven comrades, including local prospective parliamentary candidate, Greg Tucker, attended last Thursday's meeting of Streatham Socialist Alliance. Although numbers were down on the previous week, the meeting was positive and businesslike.

The Socialist Workers Party's Dave Franklin reported on the first showing in Britain of Ken Loach's new film, Bread and roses. The film will receive its official premier later this year. However, it was shown as part of a season at Brixton's independent cinema, The Ritzy.

Surprisingly, given the 'scoop' of being the first to screen the film, The Ritzy chose to show it in one of its smaller auditoriums.

Nevertheless, 170 crammed in the see it. The screening was followed by a talk from Ken himself.

The meeting also discussed mobilising against the planned National Front march through Bermondsey in South London (see report, p12).

Lee Jasper's march of 10 years ago is still vivid in many people's minds. That demonstration against racism degenerated into a rout for the marchers as local people responded angrily when marchers burnt the union jack.

The British National Party took advantage of the situation and mobilised significant numbers of the local white working class. The demonstration came under a barrage of bottles and abuse and was run out of the area.

It was agreed to forego the weekly Socialist Alliance stall in Streatham in order to join the counter-demonstration.

Comrades formally accepted the nomination of ex-Labour councillor Brian Kelly, as SA candidate for the Dulwich and West Norwood constituency. Dulwich and West Norwood straddles two boroughs - Lambeth and neighbouring Southwark. Southwark Socialist Alliance was taking responsibility for the candidate but was concerned that Streatham should accept comrade Kelly's nomination.

Comrade Kelly appears to be an excellent candidate, with a long history in the labour movement. The nomination was readily agreed.

Streatham Socialist Alliance is planning a fundraising barbecue at the Tulse Hill Tavern (corner of Norwood Road and the South Circular) on Saturday May 12. Let's hope the weather improves.

Andy Gunton