Fund raising and person-power to and Humberside, run both the Euro representing election and the local eight branches elections simultaneous- met in Leeds at ly are giving sensible the start of sumcomrades pause for mer to what we need to do In our region we might to get ready for the need a fighting fund of €15,000 on top of money needed for our council campaigns, which will require hard
However, I think if it can be done it been doing locally. credibility in the local elections rather than
We will be lending our weight to the European Left. Lastly it is our best chance before the general election to build a united
Council elections alone will not achieve Over 40 members of the Socialist Alliance in Yorkshire
discuss European elections next June
At a time when there has been some negativity about the future of the Socialist Alliance, it was a real pleasure to hear comrades reporting back on what they have
A town that doesn't make the political news much, Scarborough, reported on an SA branch that has grown from 8 members to over 20 and which now meets every week. Even where a branch has fallen into inactivity, a sudden campaign can produce good results, as Bradford SA found when faced with a by-election in Haworth.
Alan Thornett from the National stration. Executive gave an introductory overview of current alliance priorities. What emerged clearly through the range of branches represented, the number of comrades present and the activities reported was that the SA is an extremely credible organisation in
Yorkshire and Humberside However, there is still an enormous amount of work to be done if we are to capitalise on coming electoral opportunities. Our relationships with existing forces on the left, particularly the Alliance for Green Socialism and the Socialist Party, need to be strengthened and built on.
The Alliance national office has a definite role to play in guiding and supporting local activity. Local branches need to ensure that they maintain meetings and activity and push the alliance's contacts out as far as possible to all interested constituencies.
In Leeds we will be participating in the anti-war and anti-occupation movement, in preparation for the 27 September demonWe are also working towards a meeting in the last week of September chat will bring together the themes of the crisis in Blairism and the developing debacle of the US-UK occupation of Iraq from a Socialist Alliance perspective