The first issue of Socialist Resistance contains some impressive analysis of the US
war drive - some of the best around.
But Alan Thornett and Mandy
Baker's claim ("The Future of the
Socialist Alliance") that Labour supporters are looking for a 'new home' on the
left is hard to swallow.
Where's the evidence?
The working class votes Labour in its millions. Revolutionaries count their votes by the handful - as the Socialist Alliance, Socialist Party and Socialist Labour Party have found to their cost.
Union leaderships, activists and members look to Labour for reforms still - as we saw at conference. To say the struggle within the party is 'no longer a mainstream debate is wrong.
Somehow your writers find a change of tactical line by the SWP in a local election "an event of major significance"... "that opened up a new situation"... incredible!
The big far-left groups of Latin Europe emerged from the break-up of the mass communist parties in the 1990s. Far from these conditions being "not likely to exist by the time of the AGM", they will never exist here in the same way.
To say "the left is closer to centre stage than at any time since the 1920s". is utter fantasy.
The preconditions for a left revival don't lie in the internal debates of the SWP, but the struggles within the trade unions and Labour Party - mass organisations of genuine significance to the working class.
This is the mainstream. This is where you're needed.
Simon Kennedy Whitechapel, London Check out these web sites International Socialist Group www.3bh.org.uk/ISG Socialist Solidarity Network www.socialistsolidarity.com .... Haringey Sunday, 8 December Ipm-7pm ILISU DAM CAMPAIGN/REFUGEE PROJECT SEMINAR: "How UK foreign investment creates asylum seekers" Public seminar at Kurdish Community Centre with participation of Kuridsh, Colombian, Afghan and Tamil communities I1 Portland Gardens, N4 (near Manor House station)