Call for an ‘English Republic YES!’ Tendency and a #NO2UK Campaign
Mark Anthony France calls for the formation of a new tendency in Left Unity
18 months ago Ken Loach’s film The Spirit of ’45 was released. At the same time the Left Unity website was launched to promote the idea of a new party of the left. Over 10,000 people signed Ken Loach’s appeal for the formation of a new party of the left and many were optimistic about the prospects for success. Hundreds of people got involved in the process of building the new organisation we held a founding conference with nearly 500 participants on 30th November 2013, branches were established and we had nearly 200 people participate in our policy conference in Manchester on 29th March.
Today, Left Unity is an overwhelmingly English-based organisation, most of our membership and functioning branches are concentrated in London and the South East of England. Membership has stagnated at below 2,000 and the majority of members have low levels of political engagement. Many branches are weak and floundering. In the run up to our next policy conference on 15th/16th November in London we have an opportunity to take stock and look towards more effective ways to make a impact and grow as an organisation. Many sisters and brothers look towards the experience of PODEMOS in the Spanish state as an example of new ways of organising that may be able to be applied in ‘Britain’.
What is peculiar with the focus on Spain is that for the past 2 years in Scotland the left have applied in practice new ways of organising with spectacular success and as a result is growing in organisational strength and mass political impact. As the organising centre of the republican and internationalist wing of the YES Campaign in the Scottish independence referendum the Radical Independence Campaign has 21 active branches. To give a flavour of the level of participation on 23rd September the Glasgow West Branch of the RIC had 300 people in attendance. The Radical Independence Conference called for the 22nd November has seen 7,000 register to attend.
This is a new ‘Spirit of 45’ – it is the spirit of the 1.6 million or 45% of the electorate who voted for Scottish independence. This youthful, overwhelmingly working class constituency is an insurgent political force that has stood up to all the lies, intimidation and threats of the British state and Westminster elite.
The levels of democratic political engagement triggered by the Referendum campaign are very poorly understood in England largely because the mainstream media does not cover these developments. I am writing this just one week after the referendum… in this week the Scottish National Party has doubled in size recruiting 30,000 new members. The Scottish Socialist Party has doubled in size recruiting 1,200. Solidarity has doubled in size and the Scottish Green Party has trebled in size recruiting 4,000 new members.
Just to reinforce the significance of what is happening in Scotland you have to increase the numbers by a factor of 10 if you want to make a comparison with England. Imagine that in one week in England that 500,000 people had joined left of centre political parties, more than the combined membership of all existing political parties in England.
Left Unity needs to wake up and smell the coffee. The constitutional crisis that has been provoked across the United Kingdom by the Scottish independence referendum will not go away. The dynamic towards the break-up of the British state has been speeded up. The Unionist parties who were so smug in celebrating their victory in the referendum are now about to assemble at Westminster to launch a new imperialist war.
Left Unity has an opportunity to break once and for all with unionism. We need to accept that not only are we not a UK-wide party but that we do not want to be a UK-wide party. We should state clearly that we are against the UK. We should state clearly that we are opposed to the British state. We should state clearly that we are against the British monarchy. We should state clearly we are opposed to the Union parliament at Westminster.
We should advocate a new constitutional settlement for England: we should campaign for an English Republic. In taking up this struggle we should work closely with and learn from our sisters and brothers in Scotland who have forged a new way to do politics that engages with and mobilises the hopes and aspirations of millions of working class people.
Another Scotland is Possible!
Another England is Possible!
Another World is Possible!
English Republic YES! #NO2UK
Mark Anthony France 25th September 2014
32 comments
32 responses to “Call for an ‘English Republic YES!’ Tendency and a #NO2UK Campaign”
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Sorry, No thanks – the North wants its own governance, republic or otherwise. This is just silly posturing which hasn’t been thought through. An English republic is basically a leftist variant of the Campaign for an English parliament which would be dominated by London and the south-east. It’s the nationalism of a large former imperial power – the progressive answer is radical regionalism.
There’s no built-in reason why an English Republic (or an English Parliament) would be dominated by the South East if it’s genuinely democratically accountable (one difference with the Tory version is that there’s isn’t). Also, you’re falling into the trap of assuming that everyone in London and the South East is a right-wing millionaire – not true, but like it is in rural areas across England, the local working people are being driven either out altogether or into low paid subjugation by the right-wing millionaires.
There’s an argument about whether England or the Regions is a better model for governance, but the driver for both is the same – it’s about standing up for the rights of the people of this country and shaking off the self-appointed, self-perpetuating and self-centre elite that’s foisted on us, not by a region of the country but by the existence of the “United” Kingdom and the residue of empire that goes with it.
I agree having a united North of England (and a united South of England) would be a disaster,and I am from the North. Without London little money would be generated and its the location of the Finance sector that gives it a reputation as a city full of millionaires and rich right wingers. An English republic sounds a reasonable.
I am not a leftie but I do want us to be a republic. 25 South Street
The New Peoples Assembly of the Republic of England should be in Wigan
the Scottish Referendum was rigged and was never going to result in an Independent Scotland, however the British Establishment miscalculated and their political minions panicked. The movement in Scotland is not Nationalist or Republican it is about democracy, self governance and social justice. I don’t see it happening in England, the last colony of the Empire.
What evidence do you have that it was rigged??
What happened in Scotland can and will happen in England, people left behind by the corporate garbage at Westminster are just waiting for a credible radical voice that can bring real change. A massive amount of money flows through the UK and they give out a pittance for infrastructure, health and education, unless your rich in London.
They need to regulate the financial scum, we’d have been better off without them in the end, now 1.5tn in debt to save these criminals.
The UK should have set up a sovereign oil fund from day one combined with nationalised energy companies, we’d have sailed through 2008 crash. Regulate the scum tax the mega corps. yeah we probably wouldn’t be the big nob financial hub that we are but this only benfits 1% and has cost 99% to be part of the 1.5tn debt. GOOD BYE WESTMONSTER!
This would be a shameful example of exactly the kind of bandwagon jumping that made people hate New Labour and will make people hate Left Unity too. However you try and dress it up, you are appealing for the votes of a handful of grubby nationalists and will alienate actual left-wing thinkers in the process.
Absolutely fantastic article. Thank you. Please DO NOT GIVE UP!! I swore before the referendum that if we got independence I would the first on a bus to England to help any political party fighting against WM (peacefully)for the poor and marginalised. I meant it and I know I’m not alone. Leaflet, canvass, be inclusive. Not everyone will agree with everything your party wants but unite on the most important, concentrate on ridding the people of eng?and of the WM ELITE.
We in scotland are gaining even more momentum & Indy will one day be ours. I hope we can all celebrate together. Thanks again for your fantastic article.
So a bunch of groups in Scotland have temporarily recruited a heap of members out of jumping on the SNP bandwagon of the resolutely petty nationalist “Scottish Independence” “Yes” campaign. Hopefully most of us in Left Unity are socialist internationalists, who are seeking to actually unite the British (and European) working classes – not distract them with demands for ever more divisive petty nationalisms.
Every global capitalist crisis brings forward petty nationalist demands – often with distinctly “Leftish” faces – but as with the solidly pro-capitalist SNP in Scotland these demands simply sow division amongst workers – creating the illusion of a cross class identity of interests with their fellow “national” bosses – rather than growing and building class solidarity through genuinely radical action against the capitalist Austerity Offensive across petty national borders.
Left Unity should stop providing a platform for such a non-socialist position which has minimal support within Left Unity’s membership – as the response to the “Republican platform” presented by this group at LU Conference illustrated.
John doesn’t believe the State is the problem in building Socialism in these islands and that the Scottish Yes Campaign (which broke so many Labour supporters away) was just smoke and mirrors by the SNP. Surely, the Yes campaign was fuelled by the working class on estates in the cities opposing Austerity Britain and Westminster’s privatisation plans.
To see the Union Jack cut up would have given the working class everywhere an incentive to take on Westminster and the bosses.
The Yes campaign hasn’t gone away and is galvanising left unity there. Like those Scottish left wing activists who had no illusions in the tartan Tories of the SNP, no English workers should have illusions of a Little England from on high
Instead of having one tendency for every bunch of nationalists you support, why don’t you just form a “Global ‘Left’ Nationalist Tendency”?
Yes to a Republic of England !
What about working for a socialist republic of Britain instead comrade ? This objective avoids creating ever more artificial petty state boundaries to divide up the working class of this island around largely mythical petty nationalist identities. A “republic” was never on offer in the SNP dominated Scottish “independence” referendum – nor any move away from a solidly capitalist state.
The job of internationalist socialists who want to work seriously to build a united working class (and class allies) built on real struggle against the Austerity Offensive, is to reject all the petty nationalist diversionary hoo ha so evident amongst major sections of the SNP-tailing Scottish Left today, in favour of real all-Britain (and Europe) class solidarity. Adopting all the sloganized , political reality concealing, rhetoric of the SNP, eg, “The Westminster Elite” is simply a diversion from having a class analysis. The “Hollyrood Elite” of the SNP, and NuLabour are just as fully committed to capitalism, and enforcing austerity for the 1% as their Westminster counterparts are.
All that ever smaller (still fully capitalist) nation states do is divide up the working class and leave them ever more unable to resist the power of globalised big corporations as they play off little state against little state in a race to the bottom in taxation rates and wages and workers rights.
To be honest I have not looked in detail at the pros and cons of being independent or a republic. However I do feel that our politicians are too far removed from the people they are supposed to be representing. This could be due to the fact they are based in London and, of course, other factors too. I believe that our politicians need to live and work locally to those they represent so they can be accountable for their actions. I’m not sure if this is possible with a central Government in London.
Why is it that when someone mentions bringing democracy nearer to people it,s called Nationalism. Personally I would like to see a Tendency set up for coming out of the E.U.
Campaigning to establish a new , tiny, capitalist state, out of the break-up of a larger, multi-nation one, which will compete in a race to the bottom with the remains of the UK for global capitalism’s investments – via ever lower corporation taxes and ever lower wages and conditions – on a petty nationalist historical fiction of Scotland as British Imperialism’s victim, is not about “bringing democracy nearer to the people, Bob. It is a self interested ruse by pro-capitalist petty bourgeois SNP politicians to get a bigger trough for the “Hollyrood elite” to feed in – as opposed to their counterparts in the “Westminster Elite”. It is a retreat from the basic tenets of socialist internationalism and working class solidarity within and across petty capitalist borders – to a divisive belief that “Scots” have a greater community of interest with their “Scottish” bosses – than with the rest of the British working class.
The fraudulent promises of petty nationalism – everywhere, are a reactionary response to the global capitalist crisis , born out of despair at the possibility taking on capitalism as a politically self conscious class, and even when dressed up in Leftish policy promises, serve only to sow further divisions amongst workers facing a common assault on a global basis from the capitalist Austerity Offensive.
A socialist Britain would be chucked out of the EU, for opposing its neoliberal economic policies. In the meantime though the job of internationalist socialists is to build solidarity links with socialist working class parties in the EU – to fight for the transformation of its principles into those of a socialist European Union. Joining in with the petty nationalism of the likes of UKIP and the Tory Right to demand the UK leaves the EU simply represents once again climbing on to a fundamentally reactionery bandwagon, with any “Left message” drowned out by the overwhelming weight of the dominant Far Right ideology on the EU. As the dreadful No2EU campaign has shown time and time again.
Right again JP!!
John you say that demanding the U.K leaves the E.U.would be joining in with the petty nationalism of the likes of the likes of UKIP and the Tory Right.This confuses me,because I always thought that two of our greatest comrades were the late Bob Crow,and Tony Benn.who were also two great Internationalists.
Good points John Penney
How can anyone on the left,call Bob Crow and Tony Benn.(who wanted to leave the E.U.)PETTY NATIONALIST. Makes me wonder if i joined the right party
Agree with john on this one – the problem being some people think you can actually escape the capitalist crisis and the polices of austerity, looting and absurd wars by sticking up some ridiculous borders and hope to keep imperialism out. Nationalism is a policy of asking the working class to put their faith in the capitalists of whatever nation – it is bound to be a disaster for the working class in particular. Some of the crazy promises dished out here is Scottish referendum were truly monstrous fibs when it was obvious the SNP’s actual policy was to cut corporation tax and go for a race to the bottom on workers living standards and wages.
The working class is stronger the larger units it can organise and fight with – our aim has to be European wide if at all possible.
It wasn,t all about the S.N.P. It was about giving the people of Scotland the chance to determine their own future. I would call that democracy.
The referendum was not about “the chance to determine their own future” it was about a choice of one capitalist state or another both of which would impose austerity – cuts in living standards – on the working class. Not sure who you are referring to by “the people of Scotland” either. Usually this is a nationalist term meaning broadly “a population dominated by a ruling class”. Nationalists usually aim to maintain that ruling class domination and convince the working class that they have some common interest with the capitalists – per the SNP and the naionalist left in the Scottish referendum.
M Jones, the referendum in Scotland, was all about Scots determining their own future, running their own country and pursuing their own priorities. About government close to the people, and accountable to the people. Not having policy which you never voted for imposed on you and not having to live under a corrupt westminster establishment. You may not like that idea and have decided what we Scots voted for but you are way off the mark. The people of Scotland are the people that live and work there and have made it their home no matter where they come from. We will support our brothers and sisters in other parts of Britain in their fight against Wastemonster, but please don’t presume that we don’t know what we are voting for.
I think I will go and talk to the wall
I have a political view that confuses some. This is due to brainwashed political borders. I vote for the REPUBLIC OF ALBION. This has borders and they are the beaches of the Island we share.
I do believe that the governance of the people should be conducted by the people. The devolution of power on a democratic basis should be demanded by those people. In a socialist society this would be the case, not on nationalist lines but on the basis of need and circumstance.
How does following a Nationalist path bring us to closer governance?
Forgive me for appearing a little dense, here we have people calling themselves “Republican” socialists. My father was a committed socialist all of his life and a Trade Unionist who was one of those that was instrumental in establishing Trade Unionism in our part of the Black Country in the 60s. I had aGreat uncle who went to Spain to fight Fascism in the 30s. Having been brought up in the traditions of socialism and Trade Unionism all through my life I have never in all of that time heard the word “Socialism” prefixed with the word Republican (or any of it’s derivatives). I was always taught that to be “Socialist” one would be anti monarchy, anti Capitalist and pro working class democracy as a matter of course.
Therefore I believe this notion of “Republican” Socialism with socialism already being “Repulican” is nothing short of Nationalism without a Monarchy.
English Nationalism, Scottish Nationalism, Welsh Nationalism, and Irish Nationalism, are all still nationalism and exclusive in their outlook.
Perhaps some people need to regress into this nationalistic discourse in order to find out in a few generations hence, that actually, it really doesn’t matter what one’s nationality is; or the skin colour of one’s neighbours; or one’s sexuality or gender etc. but that we need to move forward together as a class of ordinary working people (the working class), break free from the Capitalst yoke and establish democratic governance according to need and circumstances of they people.
Ally
Think you should look at what the SNP have implemented in their time as a majority Scottish Government. I understand your concerns but there was much work done by many folks on projects such as the common weal. I also highly recommend W Elliot Bulmer’s book “A constitution for the common good”. There has been and continues to be a wealth of progressive thought and debate in Scotland, the question of the constituional crisis in the UK has been going on since before I was born. I agree this article is just taking the Slogans and artifacts of that campaign without considering the nuanced arguments that substantiate them so therfore is of little use on forging a way forward for a movement. Only through debate and engagement can lasting change be sought, play the long game. I hope England can find a party to replace the missing clause 4 that is the labour party.Dig a little deeper into the Scottish campaign and you may find some things that are of interest and beyond the reasoning that it was petty nationalism. The labour party after all was born of them and this current movement I believe is no less significant. Independence was an easy way out from a system that does not tolerate reform.
Sorry having trouble posting here. That was in reply to another comment. Within the YES movement there was lots of diverse groups. English scots for yes. Scottish Asians for YES. Italian Scots for YES, LGBT for yes, Lawyers for YES the lis goes on. I was wary for a long time of it being a petty nationalist movement, I am Scottish, but when I saw this and the stated position on immigration coming from the SNP, the vote being given to people living in Scotland rather than Scottish people i realised it was not a question of national identity. I am not saying it would have brought down global neo liberalism but seems a step towards creating a better society. Look at the Danish model of social democracy. I must recommend the Common Weal again as a worthy read.
The reason it’s stagnating is because the potential recruits read some of the policy documents and resolutions posted on this site. I want a party that represents my views, which are left of centre but not off the scale. I don’t want to join a party or group that couches its policy in the sort of language that comes straight out of a 1957 communist leaflet. LU effectively sabotages itself with the hectoring tone so prominent among its members and exemplified by some of the comments on this very thread. Most people aren’t that livid. They want their desperation represented in an articulate, measured way and will not be found dead marching down Piccadilly shouting slogans.