20.12.2001
SA looks to future
The new Socialist Alliance executive committee met for the first time in Birmingham in an optimistic and forward-looking mood. The confident tone was in some contrast to the previous six months where the business of the executive had been overshadowed by constant wranglings with a Socialist Party eager to find an excuse to pull out.
With Peter Taaffe finally gone, our new executive could get down to the business of laying out the main areas of political work for the SA in the coming months. Despite this all comrades expressed regret over the withdrawal of the SP from our alliance. The executive will particularly miss the talents of comrades Dave Nellist and Clive Heemskerk. When not carrying out the sectarian tasks of the Taaffe clique, both comrades brought much to the work of the executive.
However, the leadership offered by the outgoing executive since the general election fell far short of what is necessary. With the Socialist Workers Party abrogating its majority responsibilities by preventing the SA from moving in a partyist direction, with the failure of the alliance to build itself as the central political force in the anti-war movement, and with the Socialist Party readying to split, our work had been much impaired. This meant that the impressive national profile we had built during the general election withered somewhat - which partly explains our poor vote in the Ipswich by-election.
Despite all this, the Socialist Alliance now has a unitary constitution and a new executive. We have an opportunity to move forward. Our December 15 meeting has confidently set out a number of political priorities.
With the departure of Dave Nellist, former Labour Party NEC member Liz Davies has taken the role of chair and will likely be confirmed in that position come our executive meeting in January, when all officer positions are to be filled. Comrade Davies brings with her a competence and outward-looking political vision that some of our comrades on the revolutionary left have lacked in the past. Too often our horizons have been set too low.
The executive - including old and new personalities - must now fight for the Socialist Alliance to face up to the challenges more boldly in the struggle to re-establish a national profile. Providing leadership and prioritising our distinctive socialist politics, not just supporting the latest campaign endorsed by the central committee of the SWP through one of its à¢â¬Ëunited frontsà¢â¬â¢ - that is the way to build the type of fighting body the working class needs.
I was very pleased with the running of the meeting, much of this down to comrade Daviesà¢â¬â¢s chairing. Whereas in the past such national gatherings have been bogged down with useless but well meaning reports of localist activity around the country, this executive meeting got off to a strong start with our agenda prioritising political tasks over and above administrative or à¢â¬Ëactivityà¢â¬â¢ reports. We concentrated on three areas of political discussion: general perspectives, the May local government elections and the March 16 trade union conference.
The discussion on perspectives was focused around a statement to members to be issued by the EC. Some comrades, not least John Rees of the SWP, want to emphasise only the positive in terms of our perspectives, concentrating on the next task in hand and not dwelling on à¢â¬Åinternal processà¢â¬Â. Comrade Rees said that any statement to members should be à¢â¬Åmotivating and excitingà¢â¬Â. This approach was supported by a number of comrades, who felt that we should not lead with a statement on the December 1 conference and the Socialist Party split, but with our forthcoming à¢â¬ËDemocratise the fundà¢â¬â¢ trade union conference.
It is a wrong culture to bring into the Socialist Alliance - the attitude that the last thing we did is the best thing ever and the next thing we do will be even better. Such a culture may cohere a sect, but it will not help to train, mobilise and centralise into united activity the leading activists of the working class. It produces cynicism in cadre and idiocy in membership. In the end it was decided to issue a statement on our coming tasks and, alongside that, members will receive a brief covering note to our reply to the Socialist Partyà¢â¬â¢s letter (see Weekly Worker December 13).
It was agreed that our main tasks in the immediate future were the building of the union conference and mobilising for our local election campaign. We also need to lift the profile of the alliance and begin a membership drive.
The local elections in England will be a vital test for the Socialist Alliance and an important opportunity to build roots. In the discussion on the elections it was refreshing that there is the beginnings of a drift away from dire localism. With the recognition of the need for increased professionalism at the national level, our tasks are taking on a more national and political character. While it was accepted that local alliances will best know the situation in their own area, the general tenor of the meeting was that the role of the executive was to give a clear political lead.
Lesley Mahmood, former leading Militant activist, said that we should temper our expectations for the vote. Nick Wrack, another ex-Militant member, said that the experience of the Socialist Party could well mean that its results will be better than ours in some cases. Whereas comrade Rees said we need to concentrate our campaign and put most effort into canvassing (the opposite approach to that adopted by the SWP during the general election campaign), comrade Mahmood said that activists need to take into account the conditions in different localities before deciding whether to concentrate our forces or not. Crucially, she said that our campaign was not just about logistics or about narrow local government issues, but should focus on the big national and international questions - she mentioned racism and the war.
I agreed with this perspective, arguing that we should emphasise our republicanism in the local election campaign. The poll will take place just a month before the royal jubilee. The pitiful arrangements that pass for local democracy can be linked to the whole question of the constitutional monarchy system. With New Labour seeking to increase executive power through directly elected mayors, democracy, accountability and transparency ought to be key issues in our campaign.
I also argued for a clear lead on relations with other working class candidates. In the general election, the SA campaign was weakened by having nothing to say about Labour lefts and socialist candidates outside our alliance. We cannot repeat this mistake. We should draw up a platform for defence of services and the working class and campaign around it. We should challenge Labour lefts to support such a stand and, if they agree, should lend them our critical support. It was completely unsatisfactory to sign a blank cheque for Labour where we do not stand.
This approach was opposed by comrades Rees and Davies, but found support elsewhere on the executive. Comrade Davies said that it was appropriate to seek electoral agreements, but publicly endorsing other candidates was wrong. I will present a motion on this matter to the next executive committee meeting.
We discussed our attitude to fascist candidates and there was unanimity that we should not let the BNP dictate where we did or did not stand. Comrade Weyman Bennett, with others, will prepare a guide to local elections. The EC has asked for a written report on the Ipswich by-election and we have agreement to endeavour to avoid head-to-head clashes with other socialist candidates.
Our à¢â¬ËDemocratise the political fundà¢â¬â¢ conference on March 16 will be an important opportunity to raise the profile of the Socialist Alliance. Comrades should regard it as our opportunity to relaunch our public face. Dave Packer (International Socialist Group) said that the issue of the political fund could be used as a à¢â¬Ådagger at the heart of the bureaucracyà¢â¬Â. While this conference and any subsequent campaign will be a very important initiative for the Socialist Alliance, we still have the task of finding out just what activists we have in the unions.
The Socialist Alliance will produce a pamphlet for the conference on the campaign to democratise the political fund. It is to be written by Fire Brigades Union activist Matt Wrack, a member of the Socialist Party as well as the Socialist Alliance.
The remainder of the agenda concerned organisational matters. We began the task of choosing new officers. One of the positive aspects of our new constitution is that they are elected and recallable by the executive committee. All officers will be confirmed at our next EC, but in the meantime comrade Davies was elected chair, Rob Hoveman (SWP) is secretary, Dave Church (Walsall Democratic Labour Party) nominating officer, Tess McMahon (independent) treasurer and Weyman Bennett (SWP) black officer.
On publications, Nick Wrack proposed that we produce a recruitment-orientated, campaigning tabloid to be reviewed at regular intervals. This seemed to be sneaking in the idea of a regular publication and was initially opposed by the SWP. Mark Hoskisson (Workers Power) suggested instead a one-off for our local election campaign, to be launched at the March 16 trade union conference. This was agreed.
The final issue of the day was of some controversy. We discussed how best to respond to the Socialist Partyà¢â¬â¢s letter. There was some debate on this, with comrade Church suggesting that some in the SA did not actually regret the Socialist Party leaving.
John Rees drafted the basis for the response, saying that à¢â¬Åthe SA is happy to enter discussions with you, as with other socialist organisations, to avoid socialist candidates standing against each other in the forthcoming elections. We look forward to organising these discussions in the new year.à¢â¬Â We agreed that this was not enough and I moved an amendment so that the letter included (a) the fact that we regretted the comrades leaving the SA; (b) a request that they reconsider; (c) a reminder of our willingness to coopt SP members onto the executive should they do so; (d) that we look forward to the à¢â¬Åpositive contributionà¢â¬Â of any SP members remaining in the SA; and (e) that talks on cooperation should extend beyond elections.
Points (a) and (b) were passed. Point (c) was voted down - five for, seven against, three abstentions. While point (d) was passed, I was surprised that the SWP representatives (plus John Fisher) voted against. The SWP can afford to be generous, given its numerical strength in the alliance. Why not welcome the positive contribution of SP members?
Nevertheless, our executive has begun to lay the basis for a more united and more political approach to the Socialist Allianceà¢â¬â¢s work. Pro-party SA forces must organise to push the executive further in the direction needed - towards building the party our class needs. The establishment of an unofficial SA paper in the new year would give that idea a much needed boost.
Marcus Larsen
SA executive member