T they're unprecedened. The citi hese times aren't simply new,
in social democracy, the neo-liberal war drive, the internationalisation of the movement - even if you've been living in a cave you've probably heard the bombs go off.
Mainstream commentators admit their old dodgy dictum "governments lose elections, oppositions don't win them" no longer fits. People hate Blair but it would be akin to grave robbing to go back to the Tories. The vacuum exists because people want progress but see no credible alternative to Blair.
Building a force broad enough, big enough and dangerous enough to capture the imagination of hundreds of thousands is the task in hand. Despite its weaknesses the Socialist Alliance is the only force placed to make that happen.
We need to seize this moment and exploit it, but we need to ensure the Alliance itself is up to the job.
Vital to building an organisation with fighting confidence is finding an authentic voice. I think, correct me if I'm wrong, some members of the Alliance don't really know what the Alliance is or what it stands for. That is a real hindrance to creating a motivated core of activists to drive the organisation forward. We must try to develop that independent socialist voice in the movement, in the unions and in our communities.
Because our times are new they are also uncertain. The potential laden in these new movements is like heavy fruit hanging on the bough. The seismic shifts in the trade unions and the Muslim community, the initiative from leading campaigners George Monbiot and Salma Yaqoob, the European Social Forum and Labour's crisis personified in George Galloway should make any revolutionary's mouth water.
Frustratingly, without a crystal ball, we can't be clear what new directions; events, movements and organisations lie around the corner. What we can be clear about
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United States, and the trade unions have to come to terms with this and react accordingly.
This year's round of trade union conferences took this debate a further stage forward. The RMT took the historic decision to change its rules to allow the union to support candidates other than Labour. Despite these important developments, however, a political alternative will not fall into place without a political struggle to make it do so.
Before the Labour Party conference the trade union awkward squad and the Campaign group MPs held several meetings on the theme of "reclaim Labour". This theme was pressed hard at a fringe meeting of the awkward squad at the TUC in September. The Socialist Alliance held a fringe meeting later the same day, with Mark Serwotka speaking, arguing that this was a dead-end perspective at the present time and the best opportunities now existed outside of the Labour Party.
The Labour Party conference itself was a triumph for Blair, given the depth of the crisis of his administration. If there was to be a. chance of making progress towards reclaiming Labour it would have had to be at this year's conference.
Yet the four major unions, led by the 'not so awkward squad', refused to go for the jugular over the war - the one thing that could have done real damage to Blair at the conference. Despite the best efforts of the RMT delegation, in particular, the reclaim Labour camp therefore fell at the first fence. If headway could not be made at this year's conference with new Labour in deep crisis over the war it is hard to see when it could be made.
The 'reclaim Labour' argument, however, will not go away: it will have to be engaged and defeated in debate. This is the central task of the Convention of the Trade Union Left.
The Convention will be a further step forward from the excellent trade union conference the Alliance held 18 months ago in that it will take on directly the issue of labour representation.
Nor will it be a Socialist Alliance conference in the way that the last one was. It is initiated by the Alliance, but is being built by a committee comprised of representatives of the trade union regions which have come forward to sponsor it.
And the level of support is quite different to the previous conference. Already three general secretaries: Bob Crow from the RMT, Mark Serwotka from the PCS, and Paul Mackney from Natfhe are backing it and will speak.
The first session is planned as a debate between the reclaim Labour camp and those, such as the Alliance, who see the most effective way to build an alternative as being outside of the Labour Party. Mick Rix, who is the chair of the reclaim Labour campaign has been invited to put the case for this campaign. Others who argue that point of view are urged to attend and participate in the debate.
The conference is therefore not just a
NOT MY - NOT NAME
Spring for fair Londen Weighting The Convention has already been backed by a number of regional bodies: of Natfhe, Western Region Natfhe. It has also been backed by: Engineering Amicus, and Leamington Spa Amicus, and Mancat Nathe conference for those who have decided to build an alternative outside, but a conference of the whole of the trade union left, in order to debate the way forward
• • London Region of the FBU, the London Region of UNISON, the London Regional Council of the RMT, London Region GMB, the Yorkshire and Humberside Region Essex FBU, Cambridge Trades Council, Haringey Trades Council, Waltham Forest Trades Council, Watford Trades Council, TGWU 8/10-57 Hull, Bakerloo RMT, Portsmouth RMT, Stratford RMT, Plymouth UNISON, Sandwell UNISON, Hammersmith and Fulham UNISON, Coventry Amicus 9120, Tyneside
After this debate the afternoon session will focus more concretely on next year's elections and how we should approach them, what kind of broad alliance is necesTONY THATCHER JOB SNATCHER sistance Winter 2003 7
Socialist Alliance -strenath UNISON TIRED OF THE WEIGHTING GAME 24,000 NOW
sary and how the trade unions and union
members should relate to them.
There is an urgency in building the conference. . February 7 is not far away, given
that trade union branches meet once a
month and regions meet once a quarter.
Make sure the convention is one the agenda of your branch meeting if it has not
already discussed it.
And if you are an individual member of a
trade union who is not able to be delegated
your presence at the Convention is important as well.
Sign up for the Convention. Application
forms and a model resolution are on the
Socialist Alliance web-site