25.01.1996

Lewisham socialist alliance

LAST Wednesday saw the inaugural meeting of Lewisham Socialist Forum. Given the fact that there was no advance publicity for the meeting, we should not be disappointed by the fact thatonly seven people attended. What is far more significant was the spirit of political openness and friendliness which permeated the meeting. This can only bode well for the future - especially when it comes to the project of communist rapprochement.

Shock was expressed by the ML supporters that Scargill was attempting to exclude political forces that are, in many respects, the SLP’s ‘natural’ supporters.

The ML comrades also emphasised that the formation of socialist forums/alliances, or bodies like the Scottish Socialist Movement, represented the real step forward - whether all the genuine socialist elements actually end up inside the ‘official’ SLP is, in essence, a secondary question.

The meeting decided that a disciplined rebellion against Scargill’s SLP constitution needed to be mounted. Therefore, we agreed that it was necessary to organise for the largest possible public debate, at which there would be various speakers. One of the speakers, hopefully, would be an ‘official’ SLPer, so he or she could be questioned in detail about Scargill’s proposed constitution.

The next meeting of the provisionally titled Lewisham Socialist Alliance will be on Wednesday January 31, 138 Lewisham Way SE13 at 7.30pm. It has been proposed that the public debate be held at the end of February.

Danny Hammill