T tacular breakthrough in the local he Socialist Alliance made a specelections in Preston on I May. Michael Lavalette, standing as Socialist Alliance Against the War, won the Town Centre ward seat, beating the sitting Labour Councillor by over 100 votes. This is the first time that the Socialist Alliance in England has won a council seat in its own name.
Lavalette was able to capitalise on the success of the local Stop the War Campaign - he was the principal spokesperson in Preston and had been an articulate and impressive speaker at countless rallies and meetings in the months running up to the election. The Stop the War Campaign was highly successful in Preston, attracting many hundreds to meetings and demonstrations. Many of these campaigners came from the large muslim community in Preston, who were also responsible for gaining 10,000 signatures against the local MP, Mark Hendrick, when he refused to oppose the war.
However the success of the election result was due to more than just the activity of the anti-war campaign in the mosques. .. . . .. During the 1980s and 1990s, there had been a sizeable left wing in Preston mainly organised through the Labour Party, which had succeeded in first selecting and then retaining Audrey Wise as a reasonably principled left wing MP. At one point the left also won control of Preston Council and selected as leader, Valerie Wise, Audrey's daughter and one-time ally of Ken Livingstone on the Greater London Council. However after Valerie made statements supporting a socialist republic of Preston, the right wing successfully deposed her.
Nevertheless the Labour Party remained a battleground right up the selection battle following Audrey's death in 2000. Although Valerie Wise overwhelmingly won the most votes of local party members in the first round of the selection, the right wing coalesced around Hendrick, who won the selection by the narrowest of margins. A result former Labour
Councillor, Terry Cartwright stood in the by-election winning over 5 percent of the vote for the newly formed Lancashire Socialist Alliance. Cartwright and his two fellow 'Independent Labour' councillors for the Deepdale ward had left the party in disgust at its right-ward evolution and at one point all three joined the Socialist Alliance. So for many in Preston the name of the Socialist Alliance had already become well-established.
However, after the by-election relations between the Socialist Alliance and the Deepdale councillors soured and they ceased supporting the Alliance (there are now only two, due to boundary changes -though they also held their seats handsomely as independents on I May).
Only the Green Party stood as an alternative to Labour in the 2001 general election, and even though they had previously been non-existent in Preston, they still managed to win over 1,000 votes, mainly from protesting Labour supporters. The Greens have since disappeared again without a trace. Nevertheless it was clear there were a sizeable number of former Labour supporters prepared to protest by voting against Labour candidates and in favour of those offering a socialist or green alternative. On the ground the once active Labour Party has virtually disintegrated with very few activists prepared to take part in election campaigns or any other Party-inspired activity. ..... Alliance conference
After the success of the anti-war campaign and the obvious intentions of a growing number of muslims to vote and campaign against Labour, it became more widely seen during the May election campaign that it was possible to defeat the Labour candidate - and a sizeable part of the Labour base and a number of prominent Labour supporters switched to the Socialist Alliance candidate
The campaign therefore representod a success in invoking wider
forces in supporting a socialist alternative to Labour, starting from the base of a united front campaign - Stop the War. As such it represents a good model of how to take the opportunities presented by local elections.
However the situation is not without its difficulties. The Socialist Alliance had virtually ceased to exist in Preston after the by• • •••• lection in 2000. A major task for the new councillor is to rebuild the presence of the Michael Lavalette (centre) and other Preston campaigners at the Socialist tive. Voting Socialist Alliance is one thing but joining and becoming active members is another.
Nevertheless it will be crucial to build the Alliance as a credible socialist alternative to Labour and not be seen as solely a repository for protest votes. The defeated Labour candidate was a muslim and there is likely to be some renewed campaigning within the muslim community by Labour supporters anxious to point out that the Socialist Alliance is a predominantly white organisation.
Building the Alliance within the trade unions, especially those fighting back, and among campaigners against the Labour local council's cuts in services will also be a major opportunity opened by the election victory.
One significant factor is the rise of the BNP in nearby Burnley, where there is also a Labour Borough Council, County Council and MP - all of course acting in the framework of the Labour government
The BP won seven seats, making them