13.02.1997

Unity call

Last week a small but constructive meeting took place in Kidbrooke, South East London. It was held as part of the election campaign of Peter Pierce, Socialist Labour Party candidate in the council by-election. However, at the meeting more wide-ranging and general political points were discussed, along the theme of ‘which way forward’ for the SLP.

The three speakers were Ian Driver, SLP councillor in Peckham; Onay Kasab, branch secretary of Greenwich Unison and Militant Labour/Socialist Party member; and Peter Pierce himself. The meeting was also attended by members of the Communist Party of Great Britain and ML/SP.

There was total agreement that there should be no votes for New Labour - anywhere. Unlike for example the Socialist Workers Party, which seems to think that a Labour government is a ‘necessary’ stage for the working class to go through in order to achieve class consciousness, everyone considered the Tony Blair team to be as equally anti-working class as the Tories. The continuing right wing drift in New Labour was pointed to, the downgrading of the NEC and the annual conference being perfect examples. The chair, John Mulrenan, offered the opinion that we should be “grateful” to Tony Blair - on the grounds that there was now no excuse any more to have any illusions, socialist or otherwise, in Labour.

Ian Driver made an impassioned plea for left unity. His belief was that all the left groups and organisations should be allowed into the SLP - their experience, dedication and militancy was essential. He stated that the notorious witch hunting clauses in the SLP’s constitution should therefore be removed, in order to facilitate this process of left unity.

This theme of left unity was continued by Onay Kasab. He outlined how ML/SP were enthusiastic supporters of the SLP project right from the beginning. It was unfortunate that the two organisations had subsequently drifted apart and gone their own separate ways. It was also regrettable, in comrade Kasab’s view, that in some constituencies SLP and ML/SP candidates had actually stood against each other in elections. This should not happen again, he said. There should only be one left candidate to challenge Labour, and that candidate should be supported by all the other left groups. No one dissented from this approach.

Peter Pierce backed up the last two speakers. In particular, he thought the idea that leftwing organisations should liquidate themselves in order to enter the SLP - such as ditching their publications - was “unrealistic”. He saw no reason why Workers Power, Weekly Worker, The Socialist, Socialist Worker, etc, could not continue to be published inside the SLP and he agreed with Ian Driver that the witch hunting clauses should be deleted.

The meeting almost had an air of drama about it, as the news started to circulate about Scargill’s apparent deal with Ken Livingstone - via the Morning Star - not to stand any SLP candidates against him, and also of the apparent ‘voiding’ of the membership of Stan Keable, prospective parliamentary candidate for Brent East.

Everyone was genuinely shocked by this manoeuvre on Scargill’s part, which runs contrary to the previously agreed position of no support for ‘good leftwingers’ in the Labour Party. People recalled Scargill arguing, quite correctly, at the May founding congress, and elsewhere, that ‘leftwingers’ who called for a vote for Blair were not worthy of any support. It was also remembered that Livingstone rushed in to denounce SLP members for being “nutters”. He had personally moved that Scargill be removed from the Campaign Group when he had first mooted the idea of the SLP. Mark Fischer from the CPGB also recounted how in the 1992 general election he labelled Anne Murphy, the CPGB parliamentary candidate, as an “MI5 spy”. How could we support such a devious and unprincipled man?

The meeting regarded the Brent East episode as a retrograde step, which must be opposed. First Livingstone, who next? Comrades joined the SLP precisely in order to fight New Labour and everything it stands for, not give it credence.

This healthy meeting amply demonstrated that the last residues of sectarianism can be broken down once and for all, and that left unity is not an idealist dream but a practical necessity which can be realised through patient and diligent work.

Danny Hammill

London council by-election results

Kidbrooke, South East London

Hook, Kingston-upon-Thames