Newsletter 5
In a week that has seen the burial of the notorious figurehead of British austerity politics and the debunking of a research paper that has been widely used by politicians to justify the implementation of the current austerity offensive, Left Unity continues to flourish, with local groups coming together across the UK to meet and discuss the way forward.
Please remember to elect up to two representatives from your local group to attend the first National Meeting taking place on 11th May in London. To ensure a gender balance we’re asking groups to send at least one woman, and we’d also like to encourage the participation of other oppressed or minority groups to make sure everyone is represented fairly. The meeting will be discussing progress and next steps in organising Left Unity on a local and national level.
Cambridge Left Unity
Eighteen people turned up for the inaugural Left Unity meeting in Cambridge. Of the eighteen, eight were women and eight appeared to be under 30! There was a clear willingness to develop a non-sectarian and open group and we began a discussion of what campaigns we could get involved in collectively in Cambridge, which we will continue at our next meeting on April 30th as well as looking at what we can agree to as common policies for the group.
Brighton Left Unity held its first meeting on the evening of the 18th April in central Brighton. Around sixty people showed up, a lively and exciting mix of experienced activists, students from the Sussex occupation, other students, trades union members and local people of all ages and backgrounds. There were short talks by the organiser and three students. It was immediately clear that this was not a meeting only for seasoned party workers, but a very open, hospitable environment for all. There was a consensus in the room that Left Unity has to be fun if it is going to be serious. Read more here.
We’d like to remind everyone to register for the People’s Assembly Against Austerity taking place in June, which is likely to be an important event to build the anti-austerity movement in 2013.
Left Unity – reaching out to trade unions
Can you help Left Unity publicise the call for a new party in the trade unions? There are major trade union conferences still to take place this year as well as a longer term intervention to consider. We would like to bring together the wealth of experience that must exist among the 8,000 or so who have signed the call. If you would like to help us either at the conferences or more generally in our trade union work, please contact Nick at tradeunions@leftunity.org
We need a treasurer
We believe that the issue of Left Unity’s finances is extremely important and has to be taken seriously. We want to be transparent and accountable about the money we raise and how it is spent. At present James Youd has been carrying out this task on a temporary basis. We are extremely grateful to him. We want to appoint a treasurer who will take responsibility for our finances from 11 May 2013 (the first meeting of the local group representatives). We are ideally looking for someone who has experience as a treasurer, and/or with a track record in the labour movement and in whom people could have confidence. If you would l ike to put your name forward for this position, please send in your details with a CV to treasurer@leftunity.org. The co-ordinating group that will be elected at the 11 May meeting will then consider the applications and make the appointment following an interview process.
The Left Unity team
8 comments
8 responses to “Newsletter 5”
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A minor and perhaps over-sensitive point. But why does a treasurer need a ‘tack record in the labour movement’ for members to have confidence in them? Why not a track record in other social movements or none. Perhaps a professional accountant might exist amongst the 8000 signatories. This provelging of one form of experience or activism over others should be a tradition that Left Unity breks with rom the start.
Similrly the call to reavh out to trade unions. Nothing wrong with that, but not at the expense of reaching out to a broad range of social movements, not to mention localities. To mention one reach out in the absence of all others send out all the wrong messages.
Minor(ish) points but getting things wrong at the start, even in small and unintended ways, makes it more difficult to get things to turn out right in the end.
Mark P
I don’t think it was meant to be exclusive to the labour movement, just a case of wording really. I think it’s more a case of the treasurer needing to be recognised and respected in whatever field they come from.
Minor(ish)points, Mark? I don’t think so. Your anxieties bring us to the heart of the differences within Left Unity. Trade unions are THE core class organisations of those of us standing on the right side of the ideological barricades. This explains why the propagandists of the capitalist class have such problems winning votes for union general secretaries. This explains why Ed Miliband defied the 100% support of the employers and their megaphones in the broadcast and print media for his Blairite brother, David. It also explains why Ed’s supporters can no longer even find a candidate to stand against Len McCluskey whereas the SWP and SP can, and can secure 36% of the vote in defiance of practically the entire organised left. Cross-class alliances are not where we will find genuine left unity. If we want a socialist alternative to capitalism, the core of our movement has to be the trade unions. And we do need an alternative to capitalism because it is heading into a 1930s style crisis on in Britain as much as in Greece and Cyprus, sooner or later. And the alternatives are, once more, socialism or barbarism. Let’s face facts, Mark: capitalism with a human face is no longer an option for the surplus value vampires.
Just on point of fact Tom – I recall that the SP supported McCluskey against Hicks. Indeed they even had a formal meeting with him to discuss their support. It is a bit of a false debate here. Mark does not deny the importance of trade unions but recognises the current state of affairs where trade unions no longer represent a majority of employed workers and despite some recent efforts by Unite are not doing a great deal to organise the unemployed or others outside the workforce. Indeed if LU can have a broad impact on the currently non-tradeunionised we can encourage them to become active in their trade unions and build a fighting tradeunionism. On the other hand Tom has a point in that we have to discuss the relative potential weight of the organised trade unions and the movements in terms of impact on present or future class struggle. It is clear that even a general strike organised in a moderate, controlled way would have an important political impact greater than say the consequences of last year’s student struggles.
Mark is correct to say there is no need to set boundaries on a criteria for a post ,every statement sends out messages to both members or those thinking of being so & such inward looking viewpoint can be politically self defeating .
That may not of been the intention ,but intentions & conclusions drawn can be two totally different things .
Peter…………
Actually, the SP supported Len McCluskey (quite rightly, in my opinion).
WOW 11th May that’s a bit short notice especially for those of us that have to come a long way and need to book Super Saver train tickets. also don’t understand the mechanism for fare sharing? We need to know if we are going to get TWO people to come from Exeter. What time are you starting this? If people are having to come a long way it needs to be an afternoon start so they have time to get there and back as can’t afford over night accommodation.
Hi Anya-Nicola, yes it is quite soon but this has been in the last 3 newsletters now! Starting at 12 and going on until 5 – hopefully we’ll finish early! Please book soon – the fares will all be added up and everyone will have to pay the same amount. This will work out on the day with some people giving money and some being given money to reimburse their fares.