28.01.1999

New vision

Left organisations in Hackney came together under the banner of Socialist Unity to fight a by-election in Hackney’s North Defoe on January 21. The candidate, Anne Murphy of the Communist Party, gives us her thoughts on the campaign

How did Socialist Unity come together?

Hackney Socialist Alliance has been going for about three years. I stood in North Defoe last May as an HSA/Communist Party candidate. So we had the beginnings of electoral work there. As soon as the by-election was announced, we thought about standing again. But this time, given the developments nationally around the question of left unity, we were determined to make every effort to stand on a platform with others if possible. We convened a meeting attended by comrades from the HSA, the Socialist Workers Party, the Communist Party of Great Britain, Hackney Socialist Labour Party and the Turkish and Kurdish community.

What about the Socialist Party? Was it invited?

Of course! Unfortunately, the comrades did not get involved until the very end - and then, only on a low level. In fact, they pitched up only after I approached Dave Nellist at the Network of Socialist Alliances meeting in London. Almost immediately, we got a phone call from his London comrades, although perhaps it was just a coincidence.

Was it difficult to get agreement between these different groups?

No, pretty smooth really. Areas of important disagreement like over the minimum wage were certainly raised, but explored only in a limited way. Time factors didn’t allow us really get to grips with some of the other differences between us, such as winning the battle for democracy.

How would you evaluate the campaign?

A qualified success, I think. North Defoe was an important step forward for the left and it’s vital that the initiative should be followed up. Crucially, it was a unity campaign. Some of these groups would barely have spoken to each other in the past. That sort of sectarianism has got to go, and if North Defoe had achieved nothing more than aiding that process, it would have been positive.

 For the SWP clearly it was a new experience - the first time since the 1970s when they have actually been campaigning for a candidate against Labour that they had helped choose, on a platform they had taken part in negotiating. Their response was somewhat uneven - Manor House branch made an excellent contribution, but unfortunately Stoke Newington SWP did not put much effort into the campaign - maybe there are unresolved differences over the electoral turn. Switching from an automatic ‘vote Labour, but …’ position to openly supporting their own and other revolutionary candidates will raise a lot of questions about past practices, including the belief, drummed into the rank and file by the leadership, that the Labour Party is the only alternative for the working class in elections. We will continue to encourage joint work and discussions with these comrades. Through working together and having open debates I feel confident that barriers will be broken down.

 Comrades from Hackney SLP fought vigorously alongside us throughout the campaign - challenging the stupidity and blind sectarianism of Scargill’s ‘go it alone’ diktats. We also need to encourage other remaining SLP branches to take the same brave stand. Brian Heron and the current SLP London leadership should take a leaf out of the Hackney book. Rather than threaten not to stand in the European elections they should approach the United Socialists and join together with us on its platform. Such positive defiance - rather than the churlish attitude that is currently exhibited - will inspire advanced workers.

What about the vote? Were you expecting more?

Well, some comrades did; others didn’t. It is a hard constituency for the left in some ways, with strong Green enclaves. Plus, this really was a needle contest between Labour and the Green Party. Quite a few people told our canvassers that although they had voted for me back in May (on a much harder platform, it must be said), they couldn’t support us because this time “it matters” - control of the council hung on the result.

It was clear from conversations outside the polling stations that in general it was the middle class New Labour/Green occupants of trendy Stoke Newington that turned out to vote. Those in the run-down estates in the ward - people you might call our ‘natural constituency’ - generally stayed at home. At the moment, their alienation from the system leads them in the direction of passivity and lack of political self-belief.

Labour’s local grandees were enraged by the loss of the seat to the Greens last year and pulled out all the stops this time. As I said, Hackney had a hung council, so if it won in North Defoe, Labour would gain overall control. The Greens were equally determined to hold on. This made for one of the hardest contests I have ever witnessed. It was not surprising that our vote was squeezed between the two larger forces, both competing furiously for the latent left vote - it’s good that our small, hard-core vote held up the way it did.

We must also recognise the nature of the period - internationally and nationally. We are definitely not living in the ‘red 90s’. Nor do we appear to be on the verge of an instant breakthrough - despite Blair’s permanent counterrevolution. The vote we received in North Defoe mirrored those the left is getting nationally at the moment. Just under three percent is not the best we could have hoped for, but it’s a base to build on. If we on the left were able to organise and programmatically equip this advanced section, we could have a major impact on society and the class struggle.

But surely we should be fighting for that breakthrough?

Yes, but there are no short cuts. Some comrades were disappointed by the vote. Their solution is to water down our politics, to retreat in terms of principle. One comrade from Turkey suggested that it was wrong to have even mentioned the word ‘socialism’ - “British people just won’t vote for that,” he told me.

I think this is a mistaken conclusion. We should not follow the road of New Labour. On the contrary socialists in the 1990s have something to learn from the socialists of the 1890s. We have to renew socialism, ruthlessly criticising the past - not least the failures of bureaucratic socialism in the USSR and of Labourism. But that must go hand in hand with a crusading spirit exemplified by Kier Hardie, William Morris, Jenny Marx-Aveling, John Maclean, AJ Cook and other pioneers of modern socialism in Britain. To think that working class people - even British ones - are somehow incapable of voting socialist, let alone fighting for their own self-liberation, is to give up on humanity. We have to inspire people with a new vision, a vision of international socialism.

Standing together for this has been a real achievement for the left in Hackney. I’m very proud to have been the Socialist Unity candidate. I think the way the campaign came together points the way ahead.

Hackney Defoe by-election

Labour - 581

Green Party - 548

Liberal Democrat - 100

Conservative - 42

Socialist Unity - 37

(37% turnout)