Editorial

David Smith, the campaigns officer for the Leeds Green party and a member of the Green left offers some personal views on the state of left politics. UKIP 192 councillors (but there are ongoing defections) 11 MEPs (but again possible defections) Parish councillors?   Green Party 141 principle authority Councillors 14 Scottish Councillors 2 MSP […] Read more »

In a further advance for the European left, Spain’s Izquierda Unida (United Left) is rising in the opinion polls, as support declines for Spain’s major parties. Kate Hudson looks at the origins and development of Izquierda Unida (IU) and its relationship to PSOE – the social democrat-turned neo-liberal party comparable to Labour here in Britain. […] Read more »

Adam Roden, the representative from Llanfairfechan Left Unity, co-chaired the middle session of our first national meeting. These are his thoughts. Well, we’ve had the first National Meeting of Left Unity… it was bleedin’ marvellous! It was the first time I’ve ever attended a ‘proper’ political meeting, and while I may have contributed to the […] Read more »

 By John Keeley, Left Unity supporter & IOPS member. Key to the success or failure of Left Unity will be its ability to include as much of the British left as possible, working together & winning people to a vision. The working together part requires a democratic decision-making process that allows all to participate & […] Read more »

Salman Shaheen on why a one member one vote party is the way forward for a new party of the left On Saturday, a hundred people descended on a London hotel because they wanted to change the world. Like many, I went along to Left Unity’s first national meeting full of hope, but also dread. […] Read more »

A contribution to the debate from Alan Story of Nottingham I think some of the most important tactical and strategical issues that Left Unity will face for at least the next few years are the following: a) how do we win over current activists in the Labour Party (LP)? b) how do we at the […] Read more »

Ken Loach’s speech to the Left Uinty meeting on Saturday. Well done to everybody for organising today and coming along. It’s brilliant that we’ve made this start. For some of us it’s a new challenge, for most of it’s the triumph of hope over experience. Some of us have been through left projects and have […] Read more »

  Bianca Todd is the Left Unity organiser for Northampton and she is one of the ten people elected at the Left Unity meeting last Saturday as part of the new national co-ordinating committee.    I am the grand-daughter of former general secretary of the TGWU Ron Todd and the assumption that can be made […] Read more »

Liz Gray from Leicester Left Unity on yesterday’s national meeting The morning began with introductions and what you might broadly call statements of attitude and belief: it was interesting to hear where people were coming from and what they wanted from the group, where they thought it should go and what they might bring to […] Read more »

I would like to thank Louise for her contribution in telling us ‘how it is’, says Jenny Slaughter, Left Unity’s new contact person in Hebden Bridge.  I would also like to thank her for not bringing Marx, Trotsky, Lenin, Stalin, Rosa Luxemburg or Gramsci et al into her discussion because, try as I might, it […] Read more »