These are the people organising for Left Unity – four more groups.

More than 8,000 people have signed the Left Unity appeal to discuss a new party of the Left. They come from all walks of life. What unites them is a desire for change. There are some 90 groups now organised across the country. Here are four more accounts of why.

Michael Green: I have been a socialist (i.e 100% anti-capitalist) all my life. I have been a member of the following trade unions: TESSA, APEX, ASTMS, EQUITY, TWU (Theatre Writers’ Union) ,WGGB. I was on the Regional Council (West Midlands) of ASTMS and also their Education Committee. I was a staff representative for both APEX and ASTMS and secretary of the TWU. I have supported workers’ actions by being present on demos and picket lines and collecting money and food – especially during the 1984/5 Miners’ strike. These include FBU strikes in the 1970s, Grunwick, Stockport Messenger (Eddie Shah), Miner’s Strike 1984 and others. I have worked in anti-fascist groups, demonstrating, leafleting and petitioning. I took part in actions in Birmingham 1970s and 1980s against NF events in the city.

 I have been a long time supporter of CND and anti-militarist campaigns and have taken part in direct action at bases and airfields as well as demonstrations. I was a member of the Labour Party from the mid-70s to late 90s. I left when Blair took power but was never happy with Kinnock either. I was chair of my ward branch and also of my constituency (Birmingham Edgbaston). I stood for Labour in the city council elections in 1982. Being a real socialist I was always uneasy about the Labour Party anyway. I did join Arthur Scargill’s SLP for a brief period but it was a joke. I have never been a member of any other party.

I worked hard against the Iraq invasion and set up our local Peace and Justice group – Knighton Action for Peace & Justice. I am more radical than ever. I think Cameron’s gang are worse than Thatcher. I see no hope for the Labour Party. I don’t want to manage capitalism I want to exterminate it. It is wholly pernicious and responsible for almost all the ills of the world today. I think that unless we can get rid of it pretty soon, human civilisation is at an end, if not life on the planet. I don’t know whether Left Unity is a good idea. Maybe I’m grasping at straws but I do think we have to do something and I have felt so impotent for years.

Michael Green is the Left Unity organiser for Ludlow

Rachael Boothroyd: I am a (socialist!) PhD student who is due to start working as a local organiser for UNISON after recently returning from Venezuela, where I spent two years writing about, studying and learning from the Bolivarian revolution and the incredible transformations being brought about by 21stCentury Socialism there. Prior to heading to Venezuela I was active in the student movement, especially in the anti-cuts and fees demonstrations. Since returning, I have tried to get involved in the fight back against this government’s austerity policies and I am also involved in a radical theatre group. I decided to get involved with Left Unity as I believe that it represents an opportunity to create a much needed new and radically democratic left party from the ground up, based on real people, their activism and experiences. The current government’s inhumane policies which are targeting and inflicting violence on the most vulnerable in society need to be resisted and opposed, luckily people have come together in solidarity to do this, which is evident in all the amazing community initiatives which are organising and opposing this government’s policies. This gives me a lot of hope; and I think we now need to go beyond resisting this government’s
assault and actually start proposing and building an alternative project from the left, based on solidarity and putting people’s needs and happiness at the centre of our society, and not profit. Luckily this is a creative debate that every person single person can have; what would this society look like and how can build it? I am sure everyone has great ideas about how we go about this and I look forward to working with everyone and pushing this initiative forward!

Rachael Boothroyd is one of our Left Unity organisers in Liverpool

John Fisher: A few weeks ago I attended a showing of Ken Loach`s “Spirit of 45” at the Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry. The cinema was full and my friend and I were lucky to obtain the last two tickets. At the end of the film only four or five people left, the remaining two hundred plus stayed for the discussion relayed by satellite. Despite being active in Coventry for many years I only recognized a small number of the people present and afterwards outside the cinema there were many small groups discussing excitedly the outcome of the film.

Given the over 7000+ people who have already signed up it is clear that there is some impetus for a new political party. Although, unlike Micheline Mason, I have never been a member of the Labour Party I am very impressed by her letter to Ed Milliband and particularly her belief in the need for a `new language`. For my part I became a full time union official in Coventry in 1970 and enjoyed a period of strong trade unionism when it seemed we were beginning to make a difference. Unfortunately the Labour governments of Wilson and Callaghan together with the acquiescence of the then trade union leaders in accepting the social contract led to the advent of a vicious Tory government whose leader you may have noticed recently died. The failure of the Labour leadership led by Kinnock and the leadership of the TUC, to support the miners` strike led to the wholesale adoption of neo-liberalism, of which Blair became a willing disciple. If I for one moment believed that the Labour Party could be transformed I would have joined years ago but hopefully we can create an  organization where the many good people who remain in the Labour Party more out of hope than expectation can be attracted to a party that is run by the members for the members.

The Coventry I once knew was destroyed to such an extent that there are hardly any factories left in this once substantial manufacturing city and the last two of any significance, Rolls Royce and London Taxis, are in a perilous state.  In a moment of optimism I joined the Socialist Alliance in 2000 and became a member of the Socialist Alliance only to discover that sectarian politics led to its downfall followed by the advent of Respect   which some leading members of the SWP effectively destroyed leading to further disillusionment. I continue to serve on the executive committee of the Coventry TUC and am a secretary of a trades union pensioners group where I am seeking to mobilize some direct action around a number of local issues.

Of the many issues that we now face with this devastating attack by Thatcher’s children, the one that more than any other concerns me is the future of the NHS.  The Unions and the Labour Party, together with many of us, reacted too little too late and now there is a real possibility that the NHS notwithstanding some of its shortcomings will be effectively destroyed resulting in a privatized health system not dissimilar to that of the USA where at any one time up to a third of the population has no effective healthcare. The tremendous campaign in Lewisham has been inspiring, but not enough, and despite calls for a national demonstration the TUC has yet again deferred any decision.

I think the circumstances are ripe for a new, hopefully, mass party which will reflect the very widespread dissatisfaction with the current state of political response. It is, following on my experience, important that it is based on individual membership and that we establish a structure which is democratic i.e. accountable. Equally important is the necessity of ensuring that it is inclusive and respectful of differing views which means that we give a priority to listening to each other and not assuming we know all the answers. After all if we older ones had the answers why have we so spectacularly failed so far? I look forward to meeting many old friends, but even more excitingly making many new ones.

John Fisher is the Left Unity organiser for Coventry

Sue Thompson: I was brought up in a traditional middle class home in an affluent area of North Leeds, my parents were Tory voters and, being politically illiterate at the time I was one of those who voted Maggie into power in 1979, for which I apologise. It wasn’t until I started my professional qualification in housing that the blinkers were taken off my eyes, a wonderfully scatty left-wing lecturer in social policy and economics was explaining Tory fiscal policy and I almost did a classic double take asking her to repeat herself as it the penny dropped on the direct link with soaring unemployment their policies brought about asking ‘You mean she knew that this would happen and she did it anyway?’. The realisation that so many millions of lives and communities were decimated by her without any compassion …well I had to leave the room and go and calm down I was so incensed. Most of my subsequent career has been dealing with the fallout of those callous decisions, the market failure of the mining and mill communities in the North of England and the Midlands, I got riotously drunk on champagne the night Labour came to power and to be fair some of what they did initially was fantastic; the tax credits system was an absolute blessing for me when I found myself a single parent again in 2005 and John Prescott wrote the best piece of housing legislation for decades recognising the need for tackling anti-social behaviour, worklessness, etc etc to create sustainable communities prior to any housing investment in order to revitalise areas blighted with housing market failure. BUT they lost their way and lost credibility, I expected them to move further towards the left once they gained power and acceptance but as time went on the opposite became true and since losing power it has got worse if anything. I want to be proud of the country I live in but I’m not, there is injustice wherever you look, all aspects of the welfare state (so lauded at the 2012 Olympics) are being steadily eroded, Bevan would be spinning in his grave, the most vulnerable in society are being vilified, targeted as the cause of the mess we are in to deflect the focus from the real cause. And the latest package of austerity measures will have an impact on the poor to the extent where not their livelihoods but their lives are under threat. It needs to stop and if I can do anything to make that happen I, especially as a woman of faith, have a social and moral responsibility to try. That’s about it really, sounds a bit serious and worthy but don’t worry I do have a sense of humour! Anyway that’s me

Sue Thompson is the Left Unity organiser for Halifax