05.12.2002

SA party campaign

I must confess that I had mixed feelings on the way to the conference of Socialist Alliance independents, held on Saturday November 30. I had seen the report from Liz Davies (it was taken to conference by the Exeter contingent) relating to her resignation and I had a sense that maybe the SA was heading for the rocks and that there was no one to steer us back on course. However, I came away feeling enthused and optimistic for the future. The independents, whilst remaining a very diverse bunch, are starting to get more organised and more assertive. The conference was well attended and the atmosphere was very comradely and very constructive. With the Socialist Workers Party being the biggest force in the SA, naturally much discussion was devoted to the nature of the relationship between us and the SWP. However, what really struck me about this was that the tone of the debates was far more considered and constructive than has perhaps been the case in the past. The point, I suppose, is not to whinge about present problems and inadequacies within the SA - the point is identifying problems and addressing how we go about moving forward. To this end it was pleasing that we have at long last moved to getting a more formal structure with the aim of campaigning for certain changes. On the constitutional level an issue that was overwhelmingly supported was a call for the executive to be elected by single transferable vote and for the SA to accept affiliations with rights of representation of affiliates onto the bodies of the SA. A motion from James White to set up an SA members' platform to Campaign for a Fighting and Democratic Socialist Party received less support (there were a lot of abstentions), but was passed by a majority. I think there is overwhelming support amongst the indies for the SA to become a party with its own paper. I think we all understand that this has to be with the SWP, as opposed to being against the SWP - we need to persuade them. I considered abstaining on James's motion for the reason that the strength of the indie gatherings has been the fact that we are explicitly inclusive of all independents across a diverse range of views and associating ourselves with a pro-party members' platform could be seen as going against that spirit and thus it should be set up entirely separately. However, I concluded that there is some urgency in pushing the pro-party agenda forward, particularly given dissatisfaction in recent months over the Liz Davies affair. If we failed to take the opportunity at the indies conference to start the process moving, it could be shelved yet again. What is more, independents taking a positive and leading role in such a members' platform should hopefully demonstrate to the SWP that most indies are serious about seeing the SA develop to the next stage - that is, to becoming a party. The danger at the moment is that if we do not move forwards we will end up going backwards. The failure of the SA to act as a pole of attraction is largely due to the fact that we are not seen by the class - either in the labour movement (eg, firefighters, etc) or by working class voters - as being a serious force. The danger is that if we fail to make the SA a pole of attraction we will continue to end up as bystanders, as the BNP picks up support among disillusioned workers. For the SA to succeed we also need to sort out the mess relating to the resignation of Liz Davies. Hearing a detailed report from Nick Wrack about the events was very useful, as was the full and frank debate that took place. I do not think anyone is going to be happy about this affair, but we need to learn the lessons, make any necessary changes and move on. Part of this is admitting that wrong has been done, and that we should in no way accept a situation where it can seem that Liz is to be blame for being a 'whistle-blower'. It was very pleasing to see overwhelming support for Liz at the conference with a call for "a full apology to Liz Davies and a request that she resume her position as chair of the SA". There were reports, mostly written beforehand, from all the local areas represented at the conference, which showed a diverse level of activity and diverse relations with the groups. Finally there was also a report from Steve Godward (Fire Brigades Union) on the firefighters strike. Most SAs reported activity in support of the firefighters and good support from the public. Dave Parks