14.04.2010

Campaigning in South Wales

Bob Davies finds the SWP declining to do Tusc work, while the excluded CPGB is actively working in the campaign

Last weekend members of the CPGB in south Wales took part in the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition campaign to get Rob Williams, a Unite militant and member of the Socialist Party in England and Wales, elected as MP for the Swansea West. Stall work, leafleting and petitioning was undertaken in various parts of the constituency. It was a solid start to what will no doubt be a much more energetic campaign over the coming weeks.

Despite talk of a possible Liberal Democrat breakthrough, Swansea West is not generally considered to be a marginal seat. At the 2005 general election, albeit on a turnout of only 57%, Labour’s Alan Williams beat the Lib Dems by 4,269 with a majority of 13%. Geraint Davies, Labour’s candidate this time around, thinks he is a sure bet. As MP for Croydon Central between 1997 and 2005, Davies was a loyal backbencher, doggedly supporting the government, including over the Iraq war and identity cards. Except for the sake of keeping out the Lib Dems there is no reason for working class partisans to support this pro-war, pro-cuts career politician.

While hard work will garner a fringe vote for Tusc on May 6, the longer-term prospects are what really matters. And here politics is the key. The Tusc leaflet we distributed made the standard SPEW point that a political alternative to Labour (and all the mainstream parties) is needed. Taking a militant stance against all cuts to services, pay, pensions and jobs was also highlighted, along with endemic government sleaze and the need for a worker’s wage for workers’ representatives. Good stuff. But surely more is needed.

Comrade Williams’ campaign blog (see www.voterob2010.blogspot.com) is totally lacking when it comes to democracy. As mainstream politicians variously offer sinister schemas for the recallability of wayward MPs, promise a referendum on the highly problematic STV system of voting and an elected House of Lords,  Tusc should argue for the abolition of the monarchy and the second chamber, an annual parliament elected by PR, the right of Scotland and Wales to self-determination, a united Ireland and the replacement of the standing armed forces with a popular milita, which would embody the right of the population to bear arms. In a word, republican democracy.

Rather than simply calling for an abstract ‘socialist society’, fighting for such aims would give Tusc the bridge the working class needs if socialism is to be realised. Similarly, with all parties vying to convince the electorate that they can clamp down on immigration better than their opponents (incidentally although the British National Party was leafleting over the weekend, it is not, at the moment, confirmed as standing in Swansea West), the question of a principled stance on this question is central too. Tusc needs to go beyond its current bland assertion that migrants do not cause social problems and embrace a positive internationalism which not only calls for open borders and the right to live and work wherever we choose, but recognises that socialism can only come through working class coordination and common organisation across those borders - crucially through gaining power in the European Union. That is why last year’s No2EU election platform was so politically misdirected (thankfully a British withdrawal from the EU is absent from Tusc material).

The Socialist Workers Party did not take part in Tusc campaigning over the weekend. Although the SWP is standing candidates under the Tusc umbrella, its commitment to the coalition’s overall success is questionable. The (dwindling) SWP branch in Swansea was out and about, but it chose to promote its Unite Against Fascism work instead of helping to build comrade Williams’ campaign.

Which leaves us with something of an irony. The SWP, as part of Tusc, has declined to do Tusc work, while the CPGB, which is kept out of Tusc, is actively working in the campaign … at least in Swansea. Unlike Walthamstow, where CPGB offers of help were rejected.