Letters

SA party impossible

Twelve years have passed since the fall of the Berlin Wall. In this time it has been difficult to gain significant support for ideas of Marxism amongst the broad layers of the working class.

This corresponded with a strong economic boom, which laid the foundations for the rightward shift in the British and world labour movement. It looks increasingly likely that this process will be reversed sooner rather than later. The impending world economic crisis will shake off the lethargy affecting broad layers of the working classes today.

It is in these years of economic growth and the relative strengthening of capitalism that the Socialist Alliance was born. Sadly most of the activists, who came from a Marxist background, have abandoned the Labour Party in Britain in pursuit of a generic left league with no mass base. Marxists do not base their analysis on a temporary shift in consciousness, which is reflected in Blairism, but on the dynamic of capitalist development and class conflict.

The perspective of the Marxist Tendency of the labour movement is that a downturn in the economy and the consequential crisis will reflect itself politically in the organised working class movement within the supporters of the Labour Party and, yes, in the Labour Party itself. Every urban revolutionary movement in the advanced capitalist countries in the last 100 years has emerged from splits inside the main workers? parties.

In the 1980s the Militant Tendency in Britain, with such comrades as Dave Nellist MP, pursued this method of work and gained a much larger base of support than the Socialist Alliance can gain in this election. They did this on the basis of patient work inside the Labour Party. They always did work outside the party as well, but never gained anything by standing against the Labour Party. The Militant Tendency was the strongest Marxist tendency in British history until it was destroyed by their adventurist abandonment of the Labour Party.

Now sadly we see many of these comrades, who were sometimes over-obsessive about the immediate prospects for winning the Labour Party as a whole, completely abandon this position and form the Socialist Alliance party (and a party it is, in all but words).

Is this alliance a Marxist movement? Evidently no, as any disillusioned Labour Party councillor or NEC member is invited to ?Join the alliance?. For what purpose? At a recent meeting in Southwark, Socialist Workers Party members told us the alliance is ?filling the gap left by old Labour?. Dave Nellist and others have claimed that the change to so-called ?New Labour? has fundamentally and irreversibly transformed the Labour Party into the party of big business ? forever! This is reflected in the policies advocated by SA candidates ? you can search in vain in the leaflets and propaganda of John Mulrenan for a socialist programme. What we have here is a left reformist programme, based upon the slogan ?Tax the rich? - in other words, ?Keep capitalism and reform it?!

But wait ? maybe the Socialist Alliance has socialism in its manifesto? But we simply find a weak version of clause four, part four of the old Labour constitution in the part called ?Our socialist vision of the future?. Evidently by the abandonment of a socialist programme the ?Socialist Alliance? leaders from the SWP and other groups think they have to tone down their adherence to Marxism in order not to scare off Labour Party left reformists like Liz Davis or Cris Claridge, who might wander into their ranks.

It is the view of the Marxist Tendency of the labour movement, whose ideas you can read on www.marxist.com, that there is no short cut to winning the masses to socialism. Alliance members will discover in time that it is not possible to build a mass workers? party outside of the existing Labour Party. Dialectically it is precisely the rightward shift in the Labour Party, which will be met by mass anger following economic crisis, which will galvanise a mass left wing inside the Labour Party. However, then, as sure as night follows day, the present Socialist Alliance will be compelled to work inside the Labour Party and abandon their adventure into electoral cretinism.

Marxism is a programme and perspective, not simply a means of making a few temporary gains by every group huddling together like penguins for warmth. Our ocean is the broad mass of workers who presently vote Labour. It is from amongst these ranks that the mass workers? movement will reawaken. Of course a minority are correctly disillusioned with Labour, but pandering to such activists? first instincts to leave and set up a new party is completely wrong.

This letter is not a sectarian attack on the comrades in the Socialist Alliance: rather it is a defence of the proven ideas and methods of Marxism.

SA party impossible
SA party impossible

Canvass!

I find the attitude towards canvassing, as presented by leading comrades in the Socialist Alliance, short-sighted and not even necessarily the best way of building up a vote (this is of course not the only reason we are standing).

Canvassing locally, we have been introducing ourselves with the same leaflet we had previously delivered door to door. As a rule people look at the leaflet as if it was the first time they have set eyes upon it. I can only surmise that leafleting is not very effective. Lots of people (myself included) come back from work, etc, see a bundle of flyers for Pizza Go Go, double glazing and curry specials, pick the lot up and chuck them in the bin.

I think there has been an explosion of this type of local advertising - certainly I have not come across such a response to canvassing previously (I have some considerable experience of running elections, etc). It is unfortunate but the Socialist Alliance is not a household name and most of the media outside of The Guardian (most of our target audience don?t buy that newspaper) blank us. Most people are not just waiting for an SA leaflet and when they get one then think, ?Jesus, I know I should voted for them all along!?

We have to fight for every vote and I think canvassing should not be sidelined as it is. People really value those who go out on the stomp, meeting face to face, and of course socialist canvassing should be about gaining hearts and minds, not just assessing our vote. And the word does go around - ?Those Socialist Alliance folk were round last night.? I cannot see such a buzz, however mild, resulting from leafleting. Our comrades will gain as well - sharpened up by having to confront individuals with difficult questions, whereas leafleting, as useful as it is, can in my opinion be a bit of a demotivator. We should also be targeting key wards where we aim to stand in local elections in the future, as well as doing consistent community work.

Today, doing a stall in Stockton, it was apparent that although the Socialist Labour Party are mounting a ghost campaign, the presence of Arthur Scargill and their rather useful TV broadcast means that there is some confusion. Locally of course the SLP are a bit more in the news because of Scargill contesting Hartlepool up the road.

We came across a couple of people from nearby Middlesbrough who were actually wondering whether to vote SLP or SA, where both are standing. Our leaflets, which do not mention the SLP, are not much use in helping them decide. This is where canvassing comes in - provided of course canvassers are briefed in the sectarianism and Stalinism of the SLP.

Canvass!
Canvass!

Simon says

May I suggest that Simon Harvey of the SLP resigns from Scargill?s pathetic sectarian party. Seeing as he has polemicised against it for about five years in your paper, it would seem to be logical.

Stop complaining and build the Socialist Alliance.

Simon says
Simon says