Aliix Palmer: 1500 PEOPLE gathered in Friends' Meeting House, Central London on 29 October for an exciting and ground-breaking meeting - compared by more than one speaker to the meeting that set up the Labour Party over a hundred years ago.
George Galloway, Bob Crow (General Secretary of the RMT), film director Ken Loach, writer George Monbiot, Salma Yaqoob (Chair of Birmingham Stop the War Coalition), Linda Smith of the FBU and John Rees for the Socialist Alliance formed an impressive and varied line-up.
A key theme for all speakers was the failures of New Labour and the urgent need to form a political alternative at the ballot box as well as in the anti-war and other campaigning and social movements.
Salma Yaqoob was one of a number of speakers to stress that the idea of a new political coalition was not in competition to existing formations such as the Socialist Alliance and the Green Party. She emphasised that the "principles of unity" document was intended as a starting point to allow different people to articulate their common ground.
The idea was not for particular identities to be submerged - groups and individuals could come together on appropriate issues at appropriate times - for example in elections. Those against the war and privatisation in England are in the majority but their views currently have no voice in electoral processes.
Ken Loach picked up on the issue of a crisis of representation. For him Labour had always been a social democratic party and the current New Labour government was the logical conclusion of the social democratic idea of putting employers' interests first.
For Loach, building an electoral alternative was imperative because otherwise we would organise against the war and on other issues and then simply turn voters over to the Liberal Democrats.
George Monbiot highlighted that the Labour Party used to be the party voters turned to when they wanted to see opposition to imperialist wars, privatisation and demonisation of asylum seekers but now it is the party implementing reactionary policies on these issues. He also highlighted the farce of large trade unions still funding the Labour Party in the mistaken expectation that they will eventually be given what they want. For young people democracy is increasingly seen as a scam and the need for a political alternative is urgent.
Linda Smith said that the FBU's 85 year relationship with the Labour Party is at the George Monbiot "We need to forge a credible political alternative to the party of bombing and big business, the other party of bombing and big business and the party of reluctant bombing and big business." -Salma Yaqoob "Tory policies under a Labour government are no more palatable than Tory policies under a Tory government" - Salma Yaqoob "Which Labour Party do you want to reclaim? The party of Callaghan and Healey that started the privatisation process? The party of Kinnock that destroyed the left? The party of Wilson that attacked 'politically motivated' strikers?" - Ken Loach "The challenge is to balance loyalty to our beliefs with the need to create an alternative. This alternative has to be a concrete one." -George Monbiot crossroads and that there is no support for the status quo.
She said that the London region of the FBU is now not giving a penny to the Labour Party and that in Strathclyde, where 75 per cent of firefighters were Labour voters before the FBU dispute, now only 2 percent say they will vote Labour:
She attacked the current ridiculous situation where when two firefighters stood for the Socialist Alliance the union's rules prevented the FBU from supporting them.
John Rees talked about the importance of the left getting its act together but stressed that we were in no way turning our backs, on those on the left in the Labour Party - that we want to be in dialogue. Shoulder to shoulder
Bob Crow stressed that he was not speaking in a personal capacity and said that the RMT as a union stands shoulder to shoulder with George Galloway. He said that the Labour Party should be ashamed of themselves.
He expressed the RMT's intention to (en Loach Bob Crow: speaking in an official capacity "Working people need a political voice". - Linda Smith