The Hodge Hill by-election has been another success for the Respect project. 1282 votes (6.2% of the total), a saved deposit and a dynamic campaign are all a step forwards for the left in this area.
The quality of the election publicity was high. The whole constituency was covered with literature and there was time for canvassing in many areas. An inspiring public rally drew in nearty 200 people. There was significant involvement of asian activists in the campaigning, and SWP members were also very active. Socialist Resistance was the other left group heavily involved.
This time it was not a start from zero. In the recent Euro election Respect came third in the Washwood Heath ward - largely Asian - with 26% of the vote. In the other two - mainly white - wards of Hodge Hill and Shard End, it had done badly.
So, you could argue that if you divided the Washwood Heath result by 3, Respect should have ended up with more like 10% instead of the 6% that it got.
However, this time it was a first-past-the-post parliamentary election, which reduced the opportunity for protest votes. Another reason has to be that the Peoples Justice Party had a vibrant campaign during the Euro-elections, where they stood for 15 Council seats and urged all their supporters to vote Respect in the Euro elections. This time they were less active, apart from a dynamic hard core.
There was also intense activity in the last few days from the Lib Dems, targeting asian areas with large-scale door knocking, which Respect could not compete with. They positioned themselves to the left of Labour but were not averse to deleting brown faces on their election leaflets when it came to working in the white areas.
Despite these tricks, their campaign was not as bad as Labour's - with racism, (the Lib Dems are soft on asylum seekers) and repression (smash teen gangs!) as 2 of its main messages.
Respect openly campaigned for defence of asylum seekers in its literature, and many conversations were had on white working class doorsteps, doing the vital job of opposing state racism.
There was no Green or other left campaign, so we had the opportunity to see the core left support in a very clear way. In the Hodge Hill by-election of 1977 (when it was called Stechford), the Socialist Unity campaign, led by the IMG, got 500 votes and Paul Foot of the SWP got 100.
There was no BP candidate this time, The NF, who had a bit of a base in this area, got 800 votes. But it was highly satisfactory to beat them.
Overall, it has to be said that, without Respect, the whole election campaign would have been a reactionary jamboree. The decision to set up Respect and stand a candidate in this by-election was clearly vindicated.
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