11.01.1996

Time is right for SLP

Over the next few months the Weekly Worker will be speaking to working class activists about their attitude to Arthur Scargill’s call for a Socialist Labour Party. Here we talk to Brenda Nixon, formerly of Doncaster Women Against Pit Closures

What has been your response to Scargill’s call for an SLP?

I think it is about time. There is definitely a need for a mainstream party to cover the values dropped by the Labour Party. I was a member because of Clause Four, because of the socialist principles. That has all gone now and that is why I left.

Scargill would not bring back the party, but would bring back the socialist values.

I am so sick of the way the Labour Party is going that if it hadn’t been for the SLP call I would have joined the Communist Party.

Is it another Labour Party or a Communist Party that we need?

I worry whether the Communist Party would ever be accepted by enough people in the mainstream political agenda.

We know that the Labour Party is going to win the next election, but not on a socialist programme. True socialism is represented by the Communist Party. If it can fuse with sections of the Labour Party that break away, this to me would be the beginnings of the perfect party.

Do you think the SLP could be that bringing together?

It’s very much testing the water at the moment. There is very little support from people inside the Labour Party. But I do think for people like me who are out on a political limb, it could be the answer. I hope it will gain more support than I’ve heard it has at the moment.

What about bringing left groups together into one organisation? At the moment the proposed constitution excludes that possibility.

I would think that that is what it is all about. But I can understand the concern in letting all different left groups in. The trouble is that they all have so many different ideas, although I am sure, if you broke down their different ways of going about things, what they all actually want is the same. If there was a way of bringing everybody together to work together, that would be a good thing. But at the end of the day you have to be a member of the SLP, not join under the guise of the CP.

Scargill’s call was very positive in that we thought it could start to break down the barriers on the left, and it has already started to do that, particularly with us and Militant Labour, and with different groups in Scotland that had already been meeting together in Socialist Forums. We’re clear that we want a Communist Party, but the chance to bring the left together is very important, and if Scargill doesn’t take it up he is in danger of being left out in the cold.

That is very, very positive. The left coming together is a huge step forward. If you could get all the left fighting for one goal it could really be a huge and incredibly powerful force. If you can get the left together as they have done in Scotland that would definitely be absolutely amazing.

Could the SLP do well if it stood candidates in the next general election as planned?

No. Any Party that branches out on its own takes time to build up support. People have already decided this election that it is going to be the Labour Party. Workers in Britain are not about to take to the streets like workers in France, but an SLP could give them the confidence they need.

Is there a lot of support for the idea in your area?

Oh no! Everything is so quiet. People are just hoping to hang onto their job. But that could change with a Labour government. Workers will start making demands on the Labour Party, and if they don’t deliver, people will, I hope, start to use their voices.