07.06.2000

Weyman for Tottenham

Last Thursday, London Socialist Alliance comrades met in Wood Green Labour Club and selected Weyman Bennett of the Socialist Workers Party as LSA candidate for the Tottenham parliamentary constituency. The by-election, to be held on June 22, is caused by the death of Labour MP Bernie Grant.

Comrades had already been organised in a joint campaign for the Greater London assembly elections within Haringey and Enfield (Tottenham forms half of the London Borough of Haringey) and have therefore cut their teeth electorally. Comrade Bennett had been the GLA candidate, receiving 3,671 votes (3.4%) in the combined Enfield/Haringey constituency. At last week's meeting he was the only nominee, though other names had been entertained beforehand, and was selected by more than 40 LSA supporters without opposition.

LSA activist Mike Marqusee kicked off the proceedings, endorsing comrade Bennett's candidacy by reference to his "real track record in the community" and underlining the strength of a campaign waged by existing activists with the recent experience of the GLA elections behind them. Comrade Gary McFarlane of the SWP proposed Weyman formally and also stressed his community links, as well as the fact that he lives in the constituency. On both counts the Labour candidate, David Lammy, falls down, he said.

But these factors are of only marginal political importance and, it hardly needs saying, do not delineate the specific political approach represented by the London Socialist Alliance.

We should not be expecting our canvassers to argue that Tottenham electors ought to vote for comrade Bennett because he is their neighbour, nor even mainly because he has done sterling work on important local campaigns, but because of his political programme.

Rob Hoveman brought the endorsement of the LSA steering committee. Several comrades who contributed to the discussion raised issues that should be incorporated in election material since they would have a local resonance, such as the need to "hammer Lammy on privatisation", as one put it. But it seems that the LSA policy against immigration controls will not appear in the election material. SWPers specifically stated that the call for open borders should not be included. It could be put forward if voters raised the issue on the doorstep, but there was no need to spell out every last detail - especially if it might cost us votes, it seems.

A comrade from the Socialist Party in England and Wales was worried about who was going to run the campaign: would it be the SWP? Since the overwhelming majority at the meeting were from the SWP, the comrade must have been speaking rhetorically to some extent. But specifically she was concerned that materials sent out in the form of leaflets and so on ought to be vetted by the steering committee. Comrades indicated that a strict application of this approach was likely to be impractical, given the shortness of time before the election itself. However, leading SWPers made a point of stating that, as far as possible, the committee should oversee all decisions; comrades were agreed in stressing the need for an inclusive, democratic approach.

One major bone of contention arose over was the attitude our election propaganda should take towards Bernie Grant himself. Comrade McFarlane stated that we should carry on "where Bernie Grant left off", while comrade Bennett declared that the former MP always "stood up for black people", no matter how much trouble it caused him. He was, in the words of an LSA draft election leaflet, "a man of principle".

Tina Becker of the Communist Party disputed this hotly. Grant was in his latter years very much an establishment figure, who could not even bring himself to vote for Ken Livingstone. He earned his plaudits from the New Labour leadership.

Comrades can find out what they can do and when and where to help in the London Socialist Alliance campaign in Tottenham through the information on the LSA website, which is at www.londonsocialistalliance.org.uk