21.12.1995

Kent wants democracy

The first meeting of Kent Socialist Forum took place in a small but packed room in Canterbury on December 13. A second meeting is scheduled for January. Zoe Pritchard of Unison and the Campaign to Unshackle the Unions addressed the meeting as South East England’s only representative at Arthur Scargill’s secret London gathering. She was not happy with his proposed constitution for an SLP, but thought a redraft would be acceptable to Scargill, as long as the launch date and the ban on anyone having dual political membership remained.

No fundamental objections were raised to the call by Militant Labour for a federal democratic structure for an SLP.

Left wing Labour voices said they did not want to leave Labour only to see their new ship sink without a trace, and so did not want a Labour Party mark two. But equally they predicted electoral disaster if an SLP stood against Labour at the general election. Malcom Pitt, an ex-NUM activist, suggested we should have a Socialist Labour Movement, not a Socialist Labour Party. Terry French, another ex-miner, thought he could support the new party and that the party should be launched quickly before the momentum was lost.

Arthur Lawrence