The Socialist Alliance has initiated T what promies to be the most
important rank and file trade union conference for 20 years or more. It is designed to take on directly the issue of labour representation, and how trade unionists should be voting in the round of elections in June next year when there will be the elections for the European Parliament, local elections in most places, and the elections for the London Assembly and the London Mayor.
In fact things are moving fast in the debate around the issue of a political alternative to Blairism, which is focused by these elections. Salma Yaqoob, chair of Birmingham Stop the War and writer George Monbiot have published an interesting discussion paper on the possible political basis for a broad electoral alliance based on their positive experiences of unity in the stop the war movement. The Socialist Alliance, which adopted a policy of seeking a broad alliance for next year's elections at its AGM, is to meet them to discuss the proposal.
This has been pushed forward further by the expulsion of George Galloway by new Labour for his opposition to the war. He has now decided, rightly, not to resign his seat in Glasgow and fight a by-election
OFFICIAL As the battles hot up, is there any case for unions continuing to finance New Labour?
against new Labour but to put himself forward to head-up a slate in England for the
European elections - a decision which
could open up the situation for a serious
left challenge on a much broader basis than has been the case in the past.
In the unions, the issue of the political fund and labour representation has been gathering pace for several years as it
became increasingly clear that new Labour was not just another rightwing Labour leadSAR PAY Alliance must build support for disputes as many areas did around the FBU pay fight though is that a refusal to properly engage with these developments would be moronic.
Salma Yaqoob's brilliant article in the current International Socialism Journal should be required reading for every serious socialist, not just on the dangers of sectarianism but also on how to significantly influence those who may not currently share our views.
The movement is politically engaged and enraged at the corrupt, despotic leaders Bush and Blair - but is the Socialist Alliance? We need to win the hearts and minds of the movement, not to a radical break from the past, but that this break must have an OFFICIAL PICKET ership but was forging an ever deeper relationship with the employers and maintaining the full range of Tory anti-union legislation. This was exacerbated by the relationship Blair built with George Bush and his backing for Bush's invasion of Afghanistan and the occupation of Iraq.
New Labour represents a radical break with traditional social democracy with the aim of transforming the Labour Party into something like the Democratic Party in the Both at a national level and in the branches we need to bolster our structures, finances and membership. We should develop local bulletins, organising public meetings, fund raising and recruiting explicitly political expression.
The Socialist Alliance can become a democratic caucus in the movement, and it urgently requires a non-sectarian democratic currant within its own ranks. I hope the readers of this paper agree, and will be part of this trend.
As socialists, we are committed to the movement of movements; strong trade unions, democratic progress, for cohesive and decent communities, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, environmental, humanist and bound to the struggle that can win these things. We must be both in the streets singing 'Bush off' to the war drive and in the estates campaigning on day to