24.04.1997

Winning support in Vauxhall

Last week the Vauxhall branch of the Socialist Labour Party had an excellent election rally. Around 50 people (most of them local) came and around £100 was collected for the campaign.

A very important point was the high percentage of black and Latino people who attended. The debate was very lively. The Movement for Justice gave its full support to Ian Driver. Vauxhall SLP is becoming the only force in the biggest Afro-Caribbean constituency in Britain which stands against the police and immigration controls.

There were many interventions. Some of them focused on electoral tactics. Workers Power attacked the SLP for not having a revolutionary programme and for that reason they will punish them by voting Labour. The Spartacist League called for a vote for the SLP but not the Socialist Party.

SLP members who publish Socialist Labour Action called for an SLP vote as well as a vote for Labour, but not for the SP. The sectarianism against the SP was replied to by many in the audience. Despite its limitations, the SP in many areas has better roots and better positions than the SLP, and it is completely wrong to deny a critical vote to them.

After the meeting many people wanted to join the SLP branch. The comrades in Vauxhall are carrying out an excellent campaign, despite their apparent expulsion for refusing to accept the voiding of one of their comrades. They have posters all over the area and their leaflets are circulating throughout the constituency.

None of the SLP witch hunters attended the meeting, treacherously boycotting the SLP campaign in Vauxhall.