14.01.1999

Vote Socialist Unity

Left organisations in the North Defoe ward in Hackney have united under the banner of Socialist Unity in a by-election battle. Voting is on January 21. As well as individual revolutionaries, this bloc comprises the Hackney branches of the Socialist Labour Party, Communist Party of Great Britain, the Socialist Alliance, the Socialist Workers Party and Turkish and Kurdish organisations. The unity candidate is Anne Murphy of the Communist Party and Hackney SA, who gives us this report

The constituency is a mixed one, with little middle class islands dotted about here and there. We were not surprised to discover that these areas were fairly solidly Green Party. In the working class areas, the feedback we are getting is positive. Practically everyone who answers the door to our canvassers is anti-Labour, or very disillusioned. Here we are getting a good response - the fight is to translate this into votes on the day.

There is a chance that our vote will be squeezed as there is a needle match between Labour and the Greens. But this is not a foregone conclusion - we need as many people out as we possibly can on the doorsteps in the final week or so.

Obviously, we are fighting to win. But probably what is the most important feature of the whole campaign is the degree of practical working unity that has been achieved. Despite the Christmas and New Year breaks, we have managed to bring comrades together to decide the candidate, the manifesto, everything. We have divided up the constituency between organisations and - because everyone has been involved and feels the campaign is theirs - we are getting the work done quickly and pretty effectively.

With all modesty, this campaign and the way it has been run provides some positive lessons for the various unity projects of the left. We certainly plan to continue working closely and debating with comrades in the aftermath of this by-election. North Defoe is only the beginning!