Manchester Left Unity – the latest news
Some of the people at the Manchester Left Unity organising meeting
Jen Ross gives a brief personal report of Saturday’s Manchester Left Unity organising meeting. There will be five people from Manchester attending the May 11th group representatives meeting from the five Manchester groups.
The picture was taken right at the start of the post May day rally meeting. It was rammed by the end. People coming and going, I’d say about 45-50 people attended, the majority were unaffiliated to groups, we had a labour councillor, members of Revolutionary Communist Party, Socialist Workers Party, Socialist Party, Socialist Resistance, Global Women’s Strike, ACI and Occupy Manchester too (possibly more groups that I wasn’t aware of so apologies if I missed out anyone, not intentional).
Jake from Left Unity Youth opened the meeting, Julian Cohen from Manchester North chaired and James Marsh from Manchester Central took the minutes. I stayed in the corner, chipping in every now and again, having addressed the rally of a few hundred at Friends Meeting House earlier. Many different topics were discussed. A bit gingerly at first, but by the end with real gusto. It really felt like we were all in it together, and ideas being exchanged freely. There is a big feeling up here that things must not become centred around London for Left Unity, that the next big meeting should be in a different town, cycling amongst major cities throughout England and Wales.
That there should be a move to democratically electing organisers and the main committee as soon as practical. And having regional reps on the steering committee was also put forward. We talked about different ways we could fund Left Unity, from who could be the major party backers to more localised initiatives, such as nights of music and comedy to raise funds, selling t-shirts and badges etc. Some people think the name needs a rethink, others were happy with Left Unity.
The issue of the tag of socialism was discussed, and it provoked a real defence of socialism, being proud to be socialists and not afraid to say it, because when you explain all the positive things socialism has brought to society: social housing, fire services, free schools and healthcare (to name but a few) people realise that they are actually socialists, even if they don’t identify themselves as such. We should wear it as a badge of pride!
Some people were a bit unsure what Left Unity is about, so it was very helpful to have the May 11th statement to read to people as a broad set of unifying principles: to help form a party which ‘rejects austerity and war, advocates a greater democratisation of our society and institutions and transforms our economy in the interests of the majority, not the few. A party dedicated to equality and justice: socialist, environmentalist and against all forms of discrimination. Its politics and policies would stand against capitalism, imperialism, war, racism and fascism.’ Absolutely no one disagreed with this – not surprisingly.
But there was concern that Left Unity would be a way of dragging Labour back to the left, rather than forming a party that rejects labour – concerns that were dismissed by the end of the meeting, thanks to the presence of a young labour councillor who still believes labour are redeemable. This was a not a view shared by anyone else at the meeting. I have resolved to make it my personal mission to make a splitter out of him.
People were unsure of the relationship between the Coalition of the Resistance and Left Unity, and people also wanted to know why this attempt to get the left together would be any different from former, failed attempts, and where it stood in relation to TUSC. I explained that Left Unity was a party, something tangible that people could get behind, rather than a ballot box alliance like TUSC, something people could build themselves and nurture. One member, one vote. Lots of head nodding at this.
Myself, Jake Whitby, Heike Gabernowitz and Sam Docherty were elected as delegates to the May 11th meeting. Chris Strafford from ACI was elected at the central Manchester meeting earlier in the week, and a lady known only as Louise who attended near the end with both her husband and daughter, also expressed an interest in attending and I very much hope she will because she was a lovely presence in the meeting and brimming with positivity. The fact that women will be a major force in Left Unity was something everyone at the meeting were thrilled about, particularly the lovely Christine Clark from Global Women’s Strike, who had also addressed the rally earlier and who I was thrilled to see at our meeting. So much more was discussed, which James noted down, but having been kept awake until 3am by my little son last night, I’m afraid my brain is unequal to the task of remembering it all. Looking forward to meeting everyone next week.
Jen Ross
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9 responses to “Manchester Left Unity – the latest news”
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I’m sorry I missed out, grateful lots didn’t. Grateful for the post. Not sure about environment, not Ecology, or whether groups/cubs/affiliations count unless “official delegate” etc. Would membership of WI or Scouts be worthy of a mention? Nit picky mayde, but not a ‘welcoming’ tone, I think. The main turn off for me has always been the “look how right on I am” air of the left. i’ll suppory Left Unity, but probably not a lot of the left groups. Why can’t I be an otherwise caring misogynist?
Jen Ross says the next big Left Unity event should be somewhere in England and Wales. What’s wrong with Scotland? Jen wants major party backers? He who pays the piper calls the tune. Why not fund Left Unity from members’ donations and dues? Why not get affiliations from workers organizations, like the trade unions?
Jen’s summary of the attitude of the meeting to Labour is anti-dialectical. Is Labour redeemable? I don’t think it ever was. Having said that, it is clearly different from the Tories, Lib Dems, UKIP etc. There is no equivilent of Owen Jones, for example, in these other parties. Nor do millions of trade unionists subsidize the Tories, etc. Nor do Tory, Ukip etc MPs feel forced to pay at least lip service to policies passed by trade union conferences, or squirm when they see the potential loss of money and votes from the trade unions.
Left Unity has to work with socialists in the Labour Party, their councilors free to come to our meetings, wheras UKIP councilors should be told to fuck off. And we have to accept that an inevitable by-product of any electoral successes of Left Unity will be a reinvigoration of whatever is left of the Labour left. This will happen in the PLP and elsewhere. Recognition of this inter-relationship between socialists exposing Ed Miliband’s left flank in the electoral arena on the one hand and an invitable growth in the Labour left on the other is key to socialists actually piling on votes. Failure to recognise this patently obvious fact has been a massive problem for TUSC and all the other left projects, including the SLP and Respect. These organisations have all treated the Labour left as unwelcome competitors, obstacles who have to be crushed to make any progress. This is counterproductive ultra-leftism. It is guaranteed to repel precisely the kinds of working class Labour voter who would otherwise be openly voting for TUSC, Left Unity etc. They are looking for opportunities to do this simply to give Ed Miliband a kick up the arse. They know instinctively that a left-wing protest vote can make the Labour leadership actually sit up and pay attention to them. Is that a problem for TUSC, Left Unity, etc? It really shouldn’t be. The reason for this is that any shift leftwards by Ed Miliband and his MPs in response to a healthy vote for TUSC, Left Unity etc is the sincerest form of flattery. Regardless of how hypocritical the concessions made by Miliband simply to win back disenchanted voters, every move leftwards helps create a more favorable political climate within which workers can fight back against the bosses, both of their parties in government, and UKIP waiting in the wings with even more nasty Thatcherite ‘medicine’.
Jen is not acting in the spirit of genuine ‘left unity’ by adopting this sectarian attitude towards our fellow travellers and potential recruits in Labour, those of them who don’t choose to abandon the Labour Party quite yet. Many of them (including the likes of Owen Jones) can be persuaded to simply sit on their hands when asked to canvass for Ed Miliband’s official Blairite puppet while Left Unity (or TUSC) stands a genuine working class activist. Jen is being no less sectarian in his dismissal of TUSC.
TUSC and Left Unity need each other. Both organisations need, as a matter of extreme urgency, to negotiate the terms of their fusion. Jen appears not to want that. Not only is he happy to dismiss differences between Labour Party socialists and the rest of the capitalist candidates when it comes to elections, he wants to perpetuate the Judean People’s Front split when it comes to TUSC. Not good enough, comrade.
TUSC has made mistakes. An ultra-left orientation towards Labour Party socialists has been one of them, but this is one that Jen himself is still making. Failure to embrace a membership component has been a second problem. That is a problem that has lead directly to the mushrooming of Left Unity. However, Jen’s justification for wanting to stand candidates against TUSC makes no absolutely sense. Jen accepts that Left Unity has no democratically elected leadership. He says Left Unity is a membership organization. Really? So, how many members does it have exactly? Is this ‘membership’ synomymous with those who have signed an on-line petition calling for the setting up of a new party of the left? If that is all the ‘commitment’ that is required, then it is no wonder that Jen feels the need to appeal for for big donors.
Left Unity and TUSC has to sit down at a table and negotiate terms for fusion. We want more trade unions. All genuine advocates of ‘left unity’ want all SWP and SP members to work together with the rest of the socialist left in the selection of candidates. Thursday’s local elections, and the rise of UKIP from nothing to second place in a high-profile by-election exposes both the problems and opportunities for the left.
UKIP’s successes pose a problem for all of us wanting to drag the political landscape leftwards. But the rise of UKIP betrays a lack of scrutiny by the working class of this new recepticle for the protest vote. These ultra Thatcherites are vulnerable. But only provided TUSC, Left Unity and the Owen Jones wing of the Labour Party don’t degenerate yet again into the mire of the People’s Front of Judea. United we stand; divided we fall.
You , not Jen Ross, seem fundamentally confused about what Left Unity is intended to be, Tom ! Your post constantly confuses the distinct, vital to grasp, differences between a short term separate organisation-based United Front (like TUSC) and an individual membership based , permanent, Political Party with its own manifesto, which Left Unity intends to become.
TUSC can’t “fuse” with Left Unity in any meaningful way – it has no individual members and is just a, occasional joint ” branding” and election-based alliance between a few tiny Far Left groups, and a trades union affiliation or two. What’s to “fuse” with ?
The entire premise , from the Ken Loach appeal, is that Labour is a completely dead duck in terms of radical Left advance – that it cannot be “turned Left” by internal or external pressure. Thus a new radical Left party needs to be built – which will inevitably eventually COMPETE with Labour all over the UK for the votes of working class (and radical middle class) voters – on a radical Left Manifesto. If Labour Councillors want to attend Left Unity meetings – fine – but if they want to have a say in its policies and activities then they should be thinkintg about abandoning the politically bankrupt ship of Labour and joining Left unity to build a new party of resistance and radical change. We don’t want Left Unity to “reinvigorate” the Labour Left surely ? That would be another trip down a well trodden futile route to betrayal by Labour – partly on the back of votes garnered through more Left posturing by the Labour Left (by the likes of Owen Jones). We surely want to finally kill off the illusion of the Labour Left – and recruit the people who would have wasted their time in the labour Party to a genuine radical socialist party, Left Unity. This isn’t “sectarianism ” – this is surely the ENTIRE basis of the Left Unity project !
You just don’t “geddit” Tom, you are mind-locked with the concept of broad united front campaigns in which the “usual suspect” Trot groups, including yours of course, can disruptively “fish” for members. That is a recipe for absolute chaos and fast collapse . Ordinary people will not join or stay in such an environment . This isn’t “sectarianism” – its about the real requirement to build a mass-based new radical Left party on an individual membership basis — NOT individual membership as a “component” of a broader , cobbled together, mish mash of competing campaigns and united fronts, all with myriad different agendas. We’ve all seen this shambolic structure in operation. I well recall , at the founding of Anti Fascist Action in London in 1985, a small group of ten radical women demanding representation on the AFA Steering Group, and appropriate voting rights, for the 5 or so distinct radical (GLC funded) front organisations they personally entirely composed !
Hi Tom,
Thank you for these points. Just want to clarify that i have encouraged members of TUSC to come and genuinely do think we need to find a way to have a dialogue about how we work together. Have had some great TUSC people at our meetings. If we don’t bring everyone together then it will just be the same story of sophie’s choice at the ballot box because people will assume that we are divided and therefore make a safe vote for labour. I don’t apologise for my attitude to labour. Their rebels should leave the party and come to us, not the other way around – and they should bring their unions with them.
Cheers, Jenny
Only other point is i am a woman. Not sure why you assumed otherwise.
I could not attend the meeting in Manchester due to a prior commitment that I could not cancel. However, I am really grateful to read this report as it seems to have been an extremely positive and forward looking meeting. The tone is not sectarian at all, it focuses on failed strategy not on the politics and aims of the socialists and trade unionists in TUSC.
Ironically,at the May Day Rally before this meeting, Jenny spoke against ultra leftism and sectarianism and even quoted the Peoples Front of Judea etc.
I have commented on another thread on this site about the adversarial,combative tone and the tendency to make assumptions about ‘hidden agendas’linked to far left groups. Now it looks like we need to watch out for assumptions about gender as well, which I think is all part of the male dominated world of internet blogging. (And no I am not a Feminist,just a women)
a thing I noticed after the meeting were the huge amount of people rushing around Manchester town centre caught up in the throes of retail consumerism. After taking to a few people they did not understand anything about what this May day bank holiday is all about. The Left needs to be united to inform and educate about the social history of injustice. Most people don’t realise that they are helped by institutions which are socialist in principle and in origin on a daily basis. The road ahead is to educate. socialism needs to be relevant to today.
What’s wrong with consumerism ? Surely it’s a lack of consumerism / retail therapy we are drawing attention to when we quite r ightly bemoan austerity
Consumerism is the ideology that props up capitalist overproduction. Through the built in obsolescence of most products , think cloths going out of fashion , along with the the suggested need to constantly buy more and more we help turn the wheels of big business adding further to the polarization of power that comes with capitalism.
Austerity is the process by which the government cuts funding to vital public services. I would say that this is far removed from consumerism as the services involved are normally life sustaining.
I would say that we need to build a society where we don’t define our self’s by what we own but rather by who we are. When you define yourself as what you own/can own you are venerable as these physical objects can be taken away. The fear of these objects been taken away gives the government such over those who define themselves through what they own/could own. Through this fear people are willing to seed authority for the promise that the things they own/could own will be safe guarded, even if this safeguard comes at a terrible cost such as austerity.
Alternatively those who define them self’s in terms of who they are , their character / talents /interests, can only lose the thing through which they define themselves through brain injury. Hence these people are far more secure within their life and are in a much better position from which to challenge institutions like the government.
All this said the two modes of defining oneself are not mutually exclusive as all of us have a combination of the two. Unfortunately society at large places a much larger emphasis on having something rather than being something and this is what needs to change.
It sounds to me that this meeting was very positive, very inclusive and, for me, involves a lot of women, which I see as a very forward-looking plan. I attended the first Brighton group and everyone there was prepared to include all left parties and groups: it’s the only way forward, I feel. The London centrist idea is also good thinking. For too long now iLondon has dominated the whole country. But it is a natural starting point. It’s great to see so many individuals from all backgrounds come together for the benefit of the 99 percent.