30.05.2001

Teesside

Labour scared

A regional Labour Party rally and a 10-hour open air indie-rock festival were both targets for the Socialist Alliance campaigning drive on Teesside last bank holiday weekend.

As comrades from Middlesbrough SA began the penultimate week of the general election campaign, the first port of call for our parliamentary candidate, Geoff Kerr-Morgan, was the Labour rally. About half a dozen comrades from across Teesside arrived at noon on Saturday May 25 to picket outside the University of Teesside?s Centuria Lecture Hall, where comrades had been told by university workers that a prominent Labour figure would be speaking later that day. Neither the local nor national press had publicised the event; the hall had allegedly been booked in the strictest confidence by an organisation which ?did not wish to be identified?.

It later unfolded that the meeting was reserved for selectively chosen local Labour Party members only, to hear an address by culture secretary Chris Smith, apparently on the subject of ?Saving the NHS?. Typical of New Labour?s lack of internal democracy and elitist culture, rank and file party members who arrived at the door were turned away by an official, who assertively told them that the meeting was for ?invited members only?.

When questioned as to why a party supposedly representative of ordinary people wished to avoid meetings between senior ministers and its local membership, the Labour door minder declined to comment. It is blatantly obvious, however, that this was a concerted effort by the party bureaucracy to avoid any confrontation between the advocates of New Labour?s Toryism and the rank and file, who still cling to the memory of Labour as a party claiming to represent workers. Unsurprisingly, Labour would not like to publicise the fact that widespread discontent has permeated a significant proportion of its membership base two weeks before a general election.

Needless to say, many of those who were turned away on Saturday made it clear that they would not be voting for Blair?s party this June, but the socialist alternative offered by the alliance. ?I have voted Labour all my life,? one Labour member told Middlesbrough MP Stuart Bell indignantly, ?but I cannot vote for you again.? Bell did not as much as look at her as he was ushered into the building.

The party officers manning the door were far from talkative when asked about their personal thoughts, views and beliefs in relation to Blair?s rightwing, pro-business style of tenure. However, one official did let slip that he had recently met with St Helens candidate Sean Woodward, the ex-Tory millionaire whom Blair has parachuted into the safe Labour seat, commenting that he ?made my skin crawl?.

SA comrades watched behind a glass wall as Chris Smith greeted an array of nurses and trade union officials, all evidently chosen prior to the event for their loyalty to the Labour elite and unquestioning advocacy of the party line.

Following on from Saturday?s intervention, Teesside Socialist Alliance once again went to work on bank holiday Monday to descend upon the ?Middlesbrough Music Live? open air festival, where Indie-rockers Shed Seven and Space headlined, alongside a range of other bands and artists from across the country.

It was not only the beautiful (although frequently unusual) harmonies that were music to the ears of SA comrades, but the considerable number of people who pledged their vote to the alliance. Some initially told leafleters that they were planning to vote with their feet on June 7, unaware that the SA was standing a candidate in the area. This once again highlighted the possibility that a huge constituency of potential sympathy lies untapped: we still have considerable ground to cover if we are to reach all of our target audience - traditional Labour voters, anti-establishment youth - before June 7.

Hundreds of leaflets were thrown into the air above the 3,000 festival-goers congregated around the main stage in Middlesbrough Boulevard, before being carried by the breeze to every corner of the audience arena. This rather intuitive venture proved successful when a number of indie fans approached comrade Kerr-Morgan asking for further information. Hopefully, those who took an interest and pledged support will spread the socialist message to others around them before polling day.

James Bull