Welcome to the fight of our lives!
Left Unity welcomes the calling of a General Election, writes National Secretary Felicity Dowling. We will campaign wholeheartedly for the socialist ideas and policies presented in the Labour manifesto, whilst continuing to work for the politics which distinguish Left Unity.
As poverty and austerity grind deeper yet, into our communities, Left Unity welcomes the chance to talk on the doorsteps and in the streets and workplaces, and to call for a vote for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party.
This is going to be one of the nastiest – yet most crucial – campaigns on record. A Labour victory will set the right-wing project back, and a defeat will open the way for more poverty, racism, and loss of services, including in the NHS and education, and potentially defeat on taking steps to avert the critical climate catastrophe.
Johnson represents a rise in the Right globally together with Trump, Orban, Bolsonaro and Duterte. A Johnson victory would still more seriously damage the NHS, workers’ rights, our kids’ schools and futures, the environment, free speech and more. A Johnson government would be to the right of Thatcher. His is the rule of chaos capitalism.
Left Unity calls wholeheartedly for a Labour vote and our members are committed to working for one.
We have strongly opposed Brexit since before the referendum, but have no sympathy with the pro-austerity record of the Lib Dems. We will continue to advocate a No vote in a future Brexit referendum, and to work closely with the left and workers’ organisations in Europe and beyond.
Left Unity has differences with Labour on NATO, on nuclear weapons, on capitalism, on free movement, on Brexit and more. We will still call for support for our ideas, and invite people to join us, but during the election it’s all hands to the plough. We are not a debating club, we are organised so as to defend working-class communities and to build a better world. At this point, a Labour government will be a step in that direction.
There are huge working-class issues to be raised in this election.
- Poverty and austerity
- The climate and environmental crises
- Attacks on women
- Brexit as a right-wing xenophobic project
There is also an economic crisis looming.
Johnson is down, now let’s get him out. We will do the world a favour.
4 comments
4 responses to “Welcome to the fight of our lives!”
Left Unity is active in movements and campaigns across the left, working to create an alternative to the main political parties.
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Great statement and (active) position. Good luck!
As a member of the Labour Party as well as Left Unity, I am doing as much canvassing as my arthritic hip will allow. My daughter and grandson are heavily involved, more so than me, being younger.
We have a charismatic Labour candidate, Tina McKay, who is on the left of the party, and who goes down very well on the doorstep. Our constituency, Colchester, was identified after GE 2017 as being one that Labour must win in order to achieve an overall majority.
The local Lib Dem candidate is doing his best to scupper our chances as well as his own, but they got fewer than half the votes that we got in 2017, so we believe we can make our contribution to a Labour victory.
I joined LU because I welcomed the exchange of ideas and intelligent analysis that is lacking in the Labour Party. My membership has been hanging by a thread for the last 3 years as I have disagreed with the party’s pro-EU stance and comments like ‘Brexit is a right-wing xenophobic project’ confirm this appalling, simplistic thinking (Farage=bad therefore Remain=good). I’m not expecting my fellow LU members to agree with me now (I know I’m in a minority!) but there are many of us on the Left who believe the EU is utterly unreformable. A bit more respect for our point of view would be nice, rather than insulting us in this cheap way.
I voted to remain, but im highly critical of the E.U I can easerly understand how people would vote leave. for me that’s what makes Brexit so toxic. is its ability to divde people, even comrades.