Candidate(s):

Anna Bluston – Nominated by Brighton LU
Mark Findlay – Nominated by Brighton LU
Ben Lucas – Nominated by Brighton LU
Colin Piper – Nominated by Brighton LU

Statement(s):

Anna Bluston
Nominated by Brighton LU

I have been a dedicated activist for social justice for many years in a variety of groups and campaigns, though Left Unity is the first political party I have ever joined. I have joined as an individual and am not part of a tendency/platform.  I am an active member of Brighton and Hove Left Unity, and was elected Minutes Secretary of the branch.

I strongly believe that we need a new party to represent and include the vast majority of people who are suffering under Capitalism, and that we need to work together in the struggle for Socialism, equality and justice for all.  Left Unity needs as broad a representation as possible from all different people who may have different perspectives but will unite together to change society and make it work for all. We need to appeal to people who have been turned off participation in politics by the neo-liberal dogma of all mainstream political parties that works in the interests of the rich at the expense of the masses, and create a genuine democratic alternative that is in the interests of all. I would like to do all I can to contribute to our shared vision of socialism and equality.

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Mark Findlay
Nominated by Brighton LU

I’m a Software Engineer working in a non-union shop, but I am privately a member of Unite. Member of Socialist Resistance and its predecessors as British section of the Fourth International since 1979. Supporter of the Left Party Platform.

Left Unity is more than just a party, it’s a movement. It’s brought me out of a political semi-retirement and I have turned up to more meetings in the past 2 months than in the previous year. But that means that I haven’t much of a political CV to talk about unless I go some way back into the past.

During the late 70s and early 80s I was a union activist in the NURailway”men”, now RMT. I was also active in the Lesbian and Gay movement of the time (Bisexuals and Transgender didn’t get much of a look in then). During the Miners’ Strike of 1984-85 I was active in Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, collecting money for the mineworkers and Women Against Pit Closures in the Dulais valley in South Wales. Later I was also involved with the similar LG support the Printworkers, during the fight to defend the printworkers against Murdoch. I was also active on the Labour left and in Labour Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Rights (LCLGR) in the 80s and early 90s. Since then I have gone through the experience of helping my elderly parents (now passed away) and also those of my partner (still with us), I have also branched out into photography and art.

Today my politics remain with the Fourth International in the spirit of the struggle of Trotsky and other Marxists, but I am  happy to work with anyone who wants to fight for Socialism and against the cuts and austerity of the Coalition. I continue to be involved with Brighton and Hove Left Unity.

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Ben Lucas
Nominated by Brighton LU

I believe love and compassion should be at the heart of my politics and what I do. Solidarity is fundamentally compassion for someone else’s struggle and a will to help solve it. A struggle could be anything from systemic oppression or an economic injustice on certain groups in society, to individuals facing family, financial or addiction problems for example. In order to manifest change in society, to end these struggles, I believe lies in a multi level approach: most fundamentally with collective

action by communities and grass roots campaigns, but also at a national political party which is where left unity should step in to provide an alternative vision to austerity and modern day capitalism as a whole.

In more concrete terms, however, I am against austerity and its shameful effects. The poor, disabled, immigrants and other vulnerable sectors of society should not have to pay for a crisis they didn’t cause. The Banks and hedge funds short-termist drive for high profits caused the crash, and the government bailout caused the debt problems that the UK and Europe face today. As stated before I stand firmly against privatisation, believing that public utilities should be run to the best interests of the public and not a  monopolised corporate elite, that generally drives down wages and hikes prices.

More recently I have been involved in the Anti-Fracking demonstrations near to Balcombe. The potential effects of fracking can be disastrous, leading to damaged water supplies and agricultural land. And the large

Tax breaks introduced for this industry are unfortunately indicative of a severe conflict of interest by those in power. There needs to be political will for a green energy sector.

I believe Left Unity needs to play a role in not only creating the alternative arguments, ideas and aspirations in the political and media spheres, but it needs to be organising more and more actions and demonstrations on the ground.

I have affiliation to any political party or bloc within left unity.

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Colin Piper
Nominated by Brighton LU

This winter saw devastating floods that left hundreds homeless and thousands without power. No independent expert doubts that these were caused, at least in part, by the effects of climate change and cuts to spending on flood defences.

Yet this is just the beginning, the cuts have barely started and man-made alterations to our weather patterns will intensify. These problems have one cause; it is the chaos of capitalism that puts profit before people. The only solution to these problems therefore is to get rid of capitalism and replace it with a socialist society that puts people first; the million dollar question however is how is this to be done?

I have seen and been part of enormous movements of ordinary working class people that overcame seemingly insurmountable odds and changed society. I will never forget for example the scenes in Eastern Europe as one Stalinist dictator after another was swept from power and the Berlin wall torn down brick by brick, I am proud to have been part of the campaign that defeated the Poll Tax, history therefore fills me with confidence.

We can and must win and, in order to do that, we need to be bold and confident and open about what we believe in. If I were to make a word cloud from all the articles to have appeared on the national web site written by those who supported the Left Party Platform then ‘defeat’ would be one of the largest and ‘socialism’ one of the smallest words, except of course where they were used together!

This kind of timidity, which led to a statement of aims committing us to a mixed economy, simply won’t work. Owen Jones, and even Ed Milliband, seem more comfortable talking about socialism than some in Left Unity. I supported the Socialist Platform at the founding conference and will continue to fight for Left Unity to become a mass socialist party that can sweep this rotten system into the gutter of history and build a new and decent society.

http://leftunity.org/the-history-of-science-and-its-lessons-for-socialists-today/
http://leftunity.org/the-labour-party-abandoned-socialism/
http://leftunity.org/socialist-platform-statement-of-aims-and-principles/