Thoughts on Left Unity’s second meeting

Last night 25 comrades – some representing left organisations and some individuals met at Conway Hall in central London to continue the discussion around the recomposition of the left. We will be carrying a series of short reports about the meeting from those attending.

First from Tom Walker who was until recently a full-time journalist on the Socialist Worker. He resigned in protest at the controversial decision to deal with a rape allegation by the disputes committee of the party.

Tom writes, ‘I thought it was very hopeful to see people coming together from all sorts of different left tendencies and traditions, in a spirit of ‘broad left’ unity – agreeing and disagreeing, pulling this way and that, but always in a positive way. My fear has been – and remains – that the SWP’s self-destruction is going to open a vacuum on the left, or at least a space much bigger than some seem to expect. But the meeting was I think part of the jigsaw that could fill that space. Of course it will require plenty of discussion and trust-building. The question for me now is what we can start to do more concretely, and perhaps more ambitiously in scale, that will demonstrate in practice that there is ‘life after the party’, and spread the hope that we can start to do things differently on the left.’

Jenny Nelson features editor from Red Pepper magazine says:

‘For me it was a very positive experience to be in a room full of people from different political backgrounds who listened to each other, left their pet projects at the door and were open-minded about collaborative ways forward. I was impressed by the strategic focus and the willingness to think creatively about tactics. Between us, we seemed to have a good range of experience in the group and I look forward to the next meeting.’

‘It is certainly a sign of the times when you can sit in a room with ex members of the SWP, WRP and IMG, anarchists, student activists and the editor of Red Pepper and all find yourselves agreeing on the necessity of building a credible socialist organisation together. Whilst the discussion is still a tentative one – people putting out feelers to see what the rest think, with no one wants to rush into anything or make any foolish leaps in a particular direction – there is a lot of agreement in the room to make something happen. A lot of us have been through left unity initiatives before, but we are not jaded or cynical. With Liam Byrne announcing that coalition welfare cuts will not be reversed under a Labour government, it is clear that there is a burning need for a serious left of Labour formation  today. We want to work towards that and I would encourage anyone serious about left unity to get involved and take part.’

The next discussion meeting of Left Unity will be on the 28th of February. Please contact us if you would like to attend