The Scratched Record Syndrome
I took a while before deciding to sign Ken Loach’s statement, says Mark Perryman. Like many I’ve had my fingers burnt more than a few times investing hope in such initiatives. I keep on my mental turntable The Who track ‘won’t get fooled again’.
But 7000 signatures in the space of a few weeks and an incredible 70 local groups was enough for me to shelve the cynicism and suspicion. The almost daily reports from local organisers are genuinely heartening, could this be the effort that finally breaks the mould of outside left failure?
I’ll be honest. I remain unconvinced that a new Left Party is necessarily what we need. My preference is for something different, looser, more plural than any membership organisation can be. And most of all I still hope for a cultural formation that seeks to engage with all our emotions rather than the traditional model of political activism. To that end I’ve been involved over the past few years putting on events that mix ideas and entertainment, parties with a purpose.
I’m not entirely dumping these reservations about the restrictions political parties create, and my belief – that if politics isn’t fun then its narrows its appeal to the point of worthlessness, continues to govern how I do my politics. But the appeal of Left Unity is obvious, and if it can succeed where others have failed I want to be part of it.
Here’s ten notes to contribute towards the steps towards Left Unity turning into, well we’re not sure what to call it yet, are we? (But see note ten)
1. Honesty in Numbers
7000 is an impressive figure, 70 local groups the basis of some kind of organisation. Can we have a counter on the website? Let’s be open and honest from the start. Have we reached a ceiling – nothing to be ashamed of if we have – 7000 is a decent number, or is the appeal still, well appealing.
2. A Signatories Audit
An audit. I assume most if not all who signed provided an email address? Let’s get an audit done as soon as possible via email questionnaire. Gender, age, ethnicity, sexuality, regional breakdown, occupation, experience and skills, voluntary hours that can be offered, financial donation able and willing to make. A political questionnaire can follow; let’s first find out who we are.
The numbers of questionnaires returned and the answers given would also let us know what that 7000 represents, a spur of the moment decision, lifelong commitment, or somewhere in between?
3. One Member One Vote
One of the advantages of a smallish organisation should be to find a way to maximise the involvement of all its members. Let’s break with delegate structures for the most part and find forms of decision making and participation that seek to involve all. In person where practical, online where not.
4. Involvement of organised groups
To date the Anti Capitalist Initiative, Socialist Resistance, the new International Socialism Network have all supported the Left Unity initiative. Others may follow. No organised group should enjoy any kind of privileged status in terms of federal representation on leading bodies. All should be asked to operate openly, group affiliations should always be declared. I have nothing against any or all of these groups but if Left Unity is dominated by them then it will have failed to reach out in the way the 7000 start suggests it can, and past experience suggests will swiftly be drawn into internecine warfare.
5. Core values and autonomy
A broad set of values, external policies, internal practices, should be agreed. Within those parameters local groups should be allowed maximum autonomy. The 70 local groups is a fantastic start and their role should be built into the shape of the organisation. This means the organisation should be governed between all-member conferences by a council consisting of local groups.
6. Focused objectives
Standing in local, parliamentary, European elections should be key. But electoral success won’t come easily, or necessarily quickly.
How do we project an example of the kind of society and values we believe in. I would prioritise our members firstly. An annual weekend where we share and learn together, enjoy and express what we believe in, educate and inspire. That’s the internal part. And for the external part an annual festival, which will start off small but grow each year. Both in many ways will set us out as different from the rest.
7. Electoral Pluralism
There will be some in other parties who share our values, let’s not deny that. Where we can we will support and encourage them at the same time as building our own electoral profile.
8. A Porous organisation
Similarly we don’t have all the answers. There will be those in other parties, or more likely none, who are asking the same questions, and coming up with some of the answers. We won’t close ourselves off, we’ll be open to and be informed by those contributions.
9. A Party of the European Left
Of course we can learn from other continents, the Latin American Left in particular, but Europe is our continent. Left Unity originated in supporting the European Left and social movements. We’re not all the same, conditions vary, but we should be rooted in a practice that both recognises this commonality and learns from it.
10. What do we call it?
No doubt many names will be offered. What we should think about is what they symbolise. I would illustrate this with two possible names. The Left Party, is the most obvious and describes in many ways the process so far. But The People’s Party speaks more to a bigger ambition, a popular progressive politics rooted in the values and traditions of socialism. Any name shouldn’t be just about where we’ve come from but also where we want to end up.
Mark Perryman was a member of the CPGB 1979-90 on the Eurocommunist wing. He has since been an occasional member of Respect but resigned last year following George Galloway’s statements on the Assange affair. He regularly votes Green and if he can possibly help it doesn’t vote Labour. He has written books on the 2012 Olympics, Englishness, and the break up of Britain. He is involved in football as a fan activist and co-founded the sporting outfitters of intellectual distinction, aka, Philosophy Football.
44 comments
44 responses to “The Scratched Record Syndrome”
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I agree with most of what has been proposed. What about the People’s Labour Movement or Party.
What about the name Left Unity? Short and to the point. Anything with “people” in it becomes long and too vague.
Agreed
I think the name the Left Party would place us much more clearly and firmly in the developing context of the French, German and Portuguese left parties. The People’s Party would not make our politics clear and would make us appear to be some sort of populist force alla Beppe Grillo. In other words it’s a question of alignment.
I also agree with what is posted here. One thing that needs to be said is that in all elections, any representatives have to be ‘real’ people, not carbon copies of what we have already, who are mostly career politicians, only in the game for the prestige and money involved. Representatives need to lead by example in what should be a willing vocation, and that’s why I believe that only an average national wage should be claimed by the person, which immediately sets that person apart from the politics we expect of today, and draws them straight into the hearts of the masses. Hidden agendas and secretive directorships and links to lobbyists outside of the occupation must be removed or banned if we are ever to have a person speaking for the people with a genuine spirit of truth. Politics right now is run by corporate interest, with disregard to the needs of the many, and always will be while the same old system continues. Politics that can be believed in must be about truth and compassion, not about corporate appeasement.
I really agree with your comment it needs to be about the people and not the rich taken from the poor it need to be fair no more big bank bounces and bank charges for late direct debts as the low income basic none working and working people are made to use the banks no bring in national wage defiantly no more cheap labour for young and old alike
Thanks. Well a vote of the magnitude of Beppe’s wouldn’t be a bad start!
More seriously I would suggest both names, and no doubt others too, have their appeal. What I am raising is the need to consider what the name is projecting.
‘Left Party’ is very clear but its mostly about where we’ve come from, a constituency that no longer consodrs most of Labour represents verymuch left.
‘Peoples Party’ is purposefully populist, aiming for a support that is based around a populism of the Left, rather than the right-wing populism that UKiP has succeeded in grouping around itself.
Both have their pros and cons.
On representatives. This is key, and what is heartening is the variety so far of those writing in to the website as local group organisers and describing their backgrounds. A signatories audit would begin to translate this into some serious information about who we are.
Mark P
Thanks very much for this article and the interesting comments. Finding ways to mitigate the tension between unaligned individuals and the groups Mark mentions is clearly going to be an important task. There will be many, who, although really excited by this initiative, will run for the hills at the first signs of in-fighting and intolerance!!! My question is how best to achieve this in a way that avoids the sectarianism that has blighted left politics in this country for years? Are, for example, the mix of OMOV and regional autonomy Mark suggests the way to go or are there alternatives? Might, for example, Left Unity (I hesitate to say we) learn from some of the online debating and voting initiatives that are being used successfully to give indivdual members a voice in other countries such as Italy?
This is a very helpful contribution, with which I largely agree. But even if I didn’t, it would still be an example of the thinking outside the box ( sorry for the cliche), untrammelled by orthodoxy or anxious references to various sacred books, that we need at the moment.
if this party really want to lead in government they need to show the people rich and poor alike that we are all in this together and stand shoulder to shoulder to have a fair and equal society to make this country a united country the royal family must also play a part in this as they are out of touch with middle class and poor people this class stigma needs to go as it is offences and bigot
Thanks Neil and Sean.
It would be useful to know what % of the 7000+ signatories signed up online. If it is the vast majority then that knowledge should shape any decision-maling process Left Unity adopts to maximise participation. This shouldn’t be at the expense of face to face contact and involvement, I would strongly advocate annual gatherings centred on involving the entire membership alonhgside local groups. But online democracy provides an extremely useful device for interim decision making and indicative votes.
Our aim shouldn’t be restricted to having different policies to the mainstream and pre-existing Left but different practices too. If my 10 notes can be a usefuk contribution towards that, great!
Mark P
Any new Socialist Party can certainly learn a lot from the work Mark had put into organising progressive, political, socialist, music and cultural events and this imput of fun/ideas/culture/politics/sport and recreation[think Red Rope -just Google it] all needs to be part of any new Socialist Party – it was in the past but those traditions have been forgotten. Marks idea of a “annual weekend where we share and learn together, enjoy and express what we believe in, educate and inspire” and “an annual festival, which will start off small but grow each year” (think Tolpuddle Marters festival but even better!) is spot on.
Any new Party needs to be both exciting,educational and inspiring and attractive to both young and old. Mark has given a small example of how this may be possible (the Tolpuudle Marters Festival, the Left Field at the Glastonbury Festival, The Durham Miners Gala and Levellers Day at Burford are other good examples).
Lets learn from our past and inspire the future!
“socialist party”? that’s the first mention of the S word i have seen here!x
Its essential that any new left wing party must at the outset have tolerance & listening as its watch words to many left leaning parties have a great habit of internal naval gazing & losing sight of the importance of why they have come together & given the inequalities & injustice within the UK & elsewhere never has there been a need for true “left unity”.
We all live within communities & we all see first hand the local demise at council level brought about by an unwarrented attack on us & our communities which erodes our quality of life stagnates the local economy & demoralises working people & there families.
Divide & rule putting one section of society against another is a big motivator for me to fight back & say clearly public service is essential for all communities to thrive be educated be cared for develops the local economy gives local sustainable employment . Every organisation has to have a starting point & any new party must build a base & that should be at a local level ,working with local people ,local tenants/residents association etc etc .
A bottom up organisation is key to development getting footholds locally ,builds credibility & a national identity flows from local campaigning.
Thanks Neil.
Check out http://www.youtube.com/philosophyfootball for films of most of our events.
The reason I would put an annual wekend plus an annual festival, at the core of Left Unity’s objectives is that the former would give us the challege to practice what we preach and the second a fun way to project what we preach. Of course neither are a substitute for standing in and winning elections but they give us something to build which would mark us out dramatically from the rest.
Mark P
On the ‘S’ word I think you;ll find the quaint Socialist Party of Great Britain have registered ‘The Socialist Party’ with the electoral commission and Arthur Scargill’s remanant of an outfit own the same rights to ‘The Socialist Labour Party’.
On Peter’s point, spot-on. This must both be a tactic and a strategy. Rooting the party in localities, establishing real local bases, politically and electorally. The extraordunary growth of the local groups provides the basis of an infrastructure to do this, my suggestion of a signatories audit would equip how well equipped we would be to turn a structure into a practice.
Mark P
Being rooted in the community will ensure local identity with the community ,which in turn develops activists/membership .Building in wards up & down the country establishes a political presence that MUST get regular leaflets into wards knock on doors (not just at election time) be different to the establishment parties .Mark is correct the local groups can develop & build upon what has been achieved & formulate campaign strategies that suit their local needs. As time goes by areas share ideas & themes at regional level which in turn evolve into national themes . All takes time & HARD WORK & does not happen overnight ,but community campaigning is hard work ,but our communities are worth it & the New party establishes roots within neighbourhoods as a consequence .
Being a radical campaigning party by having a bottom up belief in the structure ensures policy & beliefs are evolving from community need ,that comes from our campaigning for & along side local people .
Peter………
I’ve had a gut’s full of the usual suspects traipsing through the people’s Houses of Parliament. Capitalistic parasites sucking the economic life out of everything and anything. Fraud, scandal, corruption, greed, lack of empathy. Well enough is enough! I want to see some real change. For years it hasn’t mattered which political party is in power, it’s always the same; different face, same manifesto and party line. At least Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask when he robbed the people blind!
The masses will always beat the classes – all we need is a presence and some real direction.
By the people – for the people
Mark, this is one of the most common complaints I hear. ‘They are all the same’, ‘only in it for themselves’, and to be quite honest, it’s because of one thing: Getting to the Houses of Parliament, or a seat at the local council can be quite a money-spinning gravy train. The only people we tend to see representing us now are career politicians with little or no practical experience of working life or common life itself. Political decisions are made with corporate bodies or lobbyists in mind often against what is best for the masses. The only way to bring a decency and truth to the process is to remove the high remuneration it brings. In my view, no politician should earn more than the average national wage, plus necessary expenses. It should be a willing vocation, not a pathway to directorships and huge pensions. All outside interests should be declared and any conflict should be transparent. I’ve had enough of graduates of history running the country’s finances etc, I want a truthful and interested person to get support of the people and represent what they have been asked to represent, instead of what their friends or relations in business ask for. Decent, experienced people will win hearts and a refusal to take more than the national average will be a winner with the public who will see that it’s not just about setting up a personal nest-egg.
I think the statement above is good as far as it goes and certainly sets out some of the basic principles of this kind of anarcho-syndicalist or I prefer anarcho-socialist form of organization. It needs to have no hierarchy, no obvious structure beyond the bare minimum, there should be no privileges for those viewed as being in the inner sanctum ie everything should be open to all. All those who are co-opted into the organization immediately become the member or representative for their area. This could be a region of a city, or a borough, or a housing estate all the way through to friendship groups and individual families down to the individual in the end. In other words, we all need to fight the fascist wave of continuous attack and basic warfare that has been and is being unleashed daily by all three of the supposedly representative parties. We need to forget about Parliament and any of the traditional ways of gaining power and infleuence in politics. All routes and this entire structure is corrupted throughout, not least by the fact that it is a monarchal system, one based entirely upon honours, privileges and wealth. We need to CREATE an entirely new political system in which ALL OF US are fully political, fully engaged with all of the issues – or as many as we can cope with – and where we are all active and organizing direct action on behalf of LEFT UNITY whenever and wherever we can, using all of our resources, talents, capabilities, ideas and creativity. It has to be passed out from the centre and continously acitivated as it grows and spreads, and be viral in its operation such that it always stayes beneath the radar of the systems that have been set in place as the immune defences of the Established Order, such that it eventually takes over the entire system by thoroughly viral action (small entities more invisible than even a cell) and revolutionizes it from within. This is how I think it needs to work if it is to be successful and to operate in the same or similar manner to organizations like Occupy and Anonymous which are spreading and having increasing effects using social media and direct action. Anyway, I hope this is of some use to those reading. Yours Tim Cooke (timcooke8)
This is an excellent discussion, open-minded and yet purposeful. The shape of things to come?
Peter reinforces the point about locality. Whoever thought up that logo device for Left Unity incorporating the locality is a genius! It means the place becomes a key part of the group’s political identity. I’d hope we develop largely autonmous local groups with a national party organistion facilitating via the provision of skills training. Another great thing about LU is all the local groups’ facebook pages. The aim should be to train local citizen journalists, add a blog, a twitter feed, a youtube channel for each group to develop.
Mark and Paul add an emphasis on who are representatives are. Again this marks us out as different, there is widespread resentment way beyond the traditional Left at the ‘westminster bubble’ staffed by a professionalised political class.
Tom stresses the autonomy of local groups, a bottom up mainly horizontal structure. This is quite different to traditional left structures, good!
I would suggest that all these points lean more towards the conception of a People’s Party, with the origins of our values implicit rather than explicit which is what The Left Party label tends to do.
Mark P
Mark, I agree with everything you’ve said, and you’re also right to say that I place emphasis on the character and experience of those who may come to represent, but I don’t believe enough emphasis is put on what those people become, once they’ve made the traditional gravy train that political leadership is. I agree with a need for almost total change in the way we are governed, but at the heart of that is the wealth that is first of all paid by becoming a leader, and secondly accrued by favour and guile of lobbyists and corporations during and after the position of leadership. The most militant person in the world can become a tool of the traditional institution if the price is high enough. To set any group apart from the mainstream, they have to prove by working for an average national wage that they are above the financial gain. If this was adopted, many of the career politicians would dissapear without trace within weeks, and the general public would have a trust and feeling of belonging immediately. Any party needs to establish that immediate trust if they intend to harmonize with the public feeling. I feel it is the most important step for any Left party to take, full stop.
Like so many activists, I’ve been scarred by the various unsuccessful attempts to set up alternative left parties in the past. But as a socialist you have to be optimistic, so here I am again!
I don’t want to get into detailed discussion of policies at this point, but I have got some things to say about my speciality, organisation. I agree that we should work from the bottom up and it’s crucial that LU is inclusive, rather than trying to maintain some sort of ideological purity. We need some agreed principles – Common Understandings – to start with and these are my initial suggestions:
* we should operate on the basis of being prepared to work with anyone who will work with us.
* no attacks on other left-wing parties, groups or factions – LU should be about looking forward, not back.
* everyone should be treated with respect and disagreements shouldn’t be personalised.
* political jargon should be avoided wherever possible – it’s almost never necessary and excludes people who are unfamiliar with it.
* decisions should be made by consensus as far as possible.
* involvement in LU cannot be on the basis of trying to dominate proceedings or recruit on behalf of any party, group or faction.
* LU should concentrate on practice rather than theory – we’re trying to make things happen, not write a textbook!
* meeting times and venues should be designed as far as possible to widen involvement in LU and take into consideration issues such as childcare.
* we should always remember that a large proportion of the population aren’t computer literate and don’t have access to the internet!
Cheers, Mike Scott
Two more really useful contributions.
Paul. I tend to agree wiyh you and believe other Left parties MP’s have adopted this policy in the past. The Scottish Socialist Party? It woukd be usefuk to kow how thos worked for them?
Mike. An excellent set of principles! What should characterise LU is a a pratctice that how we do our politucs is also why we do our politucs, or to use the soon-to-be-banned jargon (!), the prefigurative. However on the computer literacy/internet point, I would first want to now how many of the 7000+ signatories signed up online. If its almost all of them then that affects to what extent LU is organised via online and social media.
Mark P
The “name issue” is actually quite an important one. We do need to break in so many ways from the sterile structures and practices of the failed past if we are to attract masses of “ordinary, previously non-politically-active people to our ranks. As other posters have pointed out, most of the obvious varients with “socialist” in it have long ago been registered by all sorts of (failed) groupings. There is actually a lot to be said for a name that in itself DOESN’t specifically spell out our radical socialist politics – because of the generations of negative mass media brainwashing aimed at evoking a Pavlovian reaction to key words like “Socialist”. This may suggest opportunism in our “labelling”, but I actually think that a name like “The People’s Party” or something even more general like, say, “Social Solidarity”, would equally serve. The point is to have a clear, decidedly radical , internationalist, socialist basic manifesto of progressive aims – and of course progressive radical socialist ACTIVITY right across the UK eventually, not to get hung up, (or to BE hung up by the bosses’ press) on a name which just suggests “the same old, same old, thing” .
Socialist Community Party ? = defines who,, says where your roots are,gives distinct definition in three very clear words ?
We have to realise that any party new or otherwise must have at its core political objectives & these should embrace into a belief that its people & community that drive us & along that journey we will pick up people who like what we say & how our politics is rooted in the community & want to join us .
I believe that is essential to maintain the life blood of any organisation ,its what makes an organisation/movement evolve & new blood brings new ideas of how to move forward & like any movement ideals ,beliefs & community campaigning is not formulated out of thin air & must be financed .
As we are developing what we are & what we do around the community ,it would seem logical to allow personal membership ,community orgs or tenants/resident associations to affiliate,in effect embrace the individual & organisations should they wish to draw close to our ideals & beliefs.
You will always have those organisations who do not want that political attachment but support what we stand for they are “friends of Left Unity” which develops our community rooted links but without the political label attachment a view that should be accepted as you reach out to varying strands of the community.
I set these ideas out not as ones set in stone but there to discuss debate & maybe build upon .
Excellent contributions, again.
John raises a key point. What does our name project?
The point about Left/Socialist/Labour/Workers is its strength in saying where we came from. If the appeal attracted a few hundred then ‘keeping the flame alive’ would be about the maximum we could aspire to and thus this kind of name would be the most appropriate.
But with 7000+ and the 70+ local groups the signs are that Left Unity could develop very quickly into somehing much more substantial. Though the key in my view is a signatories audit to get a sense of the depth of commitment, likely financial and resource base, variety of experiences. If the audit matches up to the 7000+ potential the surely we want to be ambitious in terms of where we want to get to. No Ilm not suggesting we are on the verge of state power! Or even getting close to UKiP in the polls. But we should have the basis for a national network, active local groups and be ready to stand in elections very soon. That kind of ambition eeds to be reflected in the name, the breadth of appeal to those shut out by mainstream politics. The People’s Party.
Peter has a good vision of that future too. We need members who have a maxumum stake in the party. Griups who woll want to work with us, and play a role collectively. Where do the RMT and FBU stand on the Left Unity initiative? And varuous independent socialist councillors and local groups, for example in Wellingborough, Walsall, Wigan, Barrow, Lewisham where there have been localised breakthroughs? Left Unity shouldn’t be about ‘taking over’ any of these but there should be a dialogue around wjether they want to have a relationship, and vice versa? We will have much to learn from their experience, at the very least! I would hope Left Unity will be an open, learning organisation of this sort. And Peter is also right as far as is feasible we should be open to non-members too, who belong to other parties, or none, but share our values. The annual festival proposal should be key in this.
Mark P
I only have a few minutes, but did want to write a short post.
Although I would NOT argue that it is the most important issue facing Left Unity, I do think it is CRUCIAL that we start to develop the rudiments of what would be our policy on international matters.
One could rapidly list a number of words, places and phrases (and I write this on the day that Thatcher has died): the British Empire, the Falkland Islands ( Islas Malvinas) , Diego Garcia, Kenya, Rhodesia, Suez, the Opium Wars, the Cuban embargo, the India/Pakistan partition, Iraq (now and during the Empire), Afghanistan (ditto), Israel (when it was created and now), Palestine, “the special relationship” (with you know who) ….and on and on and on across every continent on the globe (and really only Antarctica is left and someone who knows more than I do could say a few words on this.)
And then we could ask: is there very close relationship between the state of politics today in the UK and the historic/contemporary record of British social democracy & the Labour Party (and liberals and Liberals before them)? I strongly believe there is… but won’t sketch out the argument here.
I would like us to start talking and writing more on how to make a break with British social democracy on these types of issues as well.
Alan Story, Nottingham.
This is not a reply, but a post script to my post of yesterday.
David Cameron says that Margaret Thatcher was Britain’s “patriot prime minister” and a “great Briton.”
Cue up a sickening week of national chauvinism and ‘Great British Empire-ism’ in this country…with no substantive demarcation over this issue from Ed ‘one nation’ Miliband or other leaders of the Labour Party.
Actually, I think that developing a set of principles on international issues should MOVE UP our list of priorities in LU.
Not only because it a key part of our political responsibility as socialists in an imperialist country —once the great imperialist power in the world and where the residue remains and is still reinforced daily — but also because it also allows us to develop our analysis of the close link between ‘foreign’ and ‘domestic’ issues, such as the austerity onslaught of Cameron and his mates. (A footnote: every generation develops political consciousness in different ways and this is not meant to be prescriptive, but mine was ‘kicked off’ after I attended a march and demonstration of more than 500,000 people in New York City in the mid 1960s against the War in Vietnam.)
I will start with one principle: no military interventions by British armed forces in foreign countries.
Alan Story
PS: Feel free to add to the list of counties and issues (in the above post) that occurred during Thatcher’s rule and which I did not mention yesterday: Chile and Pinochet, South Africa and Mandela, the Irish question
I have written a fair bit on here but its only fair people are aware of my political background. My politics began in 1980 as a Liberal Party activist in Harrow. I began to work a ward in central Harrow called Greenhill ,regular door knocking two/three nights a week ,community campaigning on many issues .
I stood in 1982 in Greenhill & remained a Liberal Party Cllr until 1990. I did not stand after that as i refused to join the merged party & i remained in the Liberal Party & stood in Harrow East for the Liberal Party in 1992.
I am (at the moment) a member of the Green Party & in my workplace i am a Unison rep.
I have many years experience of community campaigning and developing campaign themes working alongside local people a decentralist by instinct .Always been on the radical left ,believe that key industries such as water ,railway ,post office,gas ,elec,drug industry should be in public ownership . Believe that workers co-ops are an under used resource within the economy.
Think its healthy to give you flavour of my background & a sample of my views.
Peter…………
The Movement of Positive Change
On Internationalism. It is inconceivable given its origins that Left Unity won;t be an internationalist party. But I hope thos will be a different version of internationalism to the one we’ve been mostly used to. The dominant tradition has been giving solidarity but learning little or else in return. This, at best, could be described as Leftist paternalism. What can we learn from other outside Left parties across Europe? Plenty! What can we learn from the practical experience of the successful Latin American Left? A lot.
On political backgrounds. This should be in the open. I really do think the proposal for a signatories audit is both important and urgent.
On a name. Something simple and immediate, the Ronseal approach.
Hope this is helpful.
Mark P
Dear Mark Perryman:
I strongly agree about the importance of learning lessons from elsewhere. I think a debate will arise from trying to answer the question: which ones?
Alan Story
As a contribution to “open Disclosure” on our political backgrounds. I suppose I come frtom the classic Far Left background – Joining the neo Trotskist International Socialists (IS) as a young student in 1971. Frenetically politically active in the IS/SWP for the next 9 years, as a student militant, then as an active trades union activist FE teacher. Also very active in anti fascist work – On North west Steering Committee of the anti Nazi League from its inception in 1977 to 79. Expelled from the SWP in 1981 for “Squadism”. Founder member of Anti Fascist action in 1985, and on its National Steering Committee until 1987.
Totally politically burnt out by late 1987 and retired from active politics – until recently , and both the threats and opportunities of the 2008 World capitalist Crash have convinced me tht the time is now for all socialists to put their shoulder to the wheel again and help build the resistance. So I’m probably, in background, from the Far Left of the broad political spectrum we should aim to recruit from for a new radical socialist political movement. In the subsequent years of course I’ve had major rethinks about just about all aspects of my political background, particularly “Leninism” and the “Trotskyist tradition”.
I still remain convinced however that in this era of world-wide systemic capitaist crisis there is no future for purely reformist “solutions” . Eventually capitalism as a system has to be replaced by a rational, democratic , planned, socialist system – or we, and our wonderful planet are doomed.
More good contributions.
On Alan’s point. Ilm not suggesting we slavishly follow one model or another. But Left Unity should be shaped by an ongoing dialogue with similar political formations, particularly but not exclusively in Europe.
On John’s point. Sorry to keep banging on about this but a signatories audit is now a priority. A picture of who we are will really help in imagining what we might become. Demographics, experience, financial and time commitment.
Mark P
If a party/movement is going to strike a chord locally/nationally it must have a name that sits comfortable with both its members/supporters & the community as a whole . The formation bringing together the left under the heading of Left Unity serves a purpose to bring radicals under the broad church umbrella .
There will be a point in the future where you have to politically stick or twist ,where you see the long term value in the name Left Unity ,or pursue other options.
It could be said that the current name embraces our purpose ,our aims & clear objective of bringing a defined broad church belief under a unified purpose banner ,something that yes has been tried before ,but seemingly enough people realise the social/political need for this to blend & come together for those within society who feel disgarded & have become the great “ignored /forgotten ”
Politically many have stayed inactive waiting for that spark of radicalism within a movement/party that many from within the lefts broad church have not seen or felt possibly for a good few decades as various shades of tory lite have offered shelf life solutions that end up running their course and once they politically run aground ,they attempt to reinvent themselves as they are founded upon no long term progressive belief that has vision & imagination .
A broad church radical movement that has a committed unity of purpose ,will be a potent force within communities in many towns/cities & it could be argued that why try & reinvent the wheel when the name you have serves the purpose & message behind the name tells people from all sections of society who you are & what you are !
Totally agree on the signatories audit, not only will it give us an idea of who we are, the level of commitment, etc, it will also show us where we are weak. For example, if there aren’t many students on the list then we know come September that we need to be hitting Freshers Fairs at the unis and the FE colleges on enrolment day. If we are lacking TU activists (I suspect we won’t!!) then we could target TU meetings/rallies/conferences etc etc
Jerry
Bolton N.E. Labour Party 1992-94; SWP 1994-2010; active NUT school rep since 2000 in Hounslow and now Brent. Live in South Norwood (near Croydon).
Colleagues: Just a brief point for now, but it is about a very important issue I think.
Almost every one of the many LU strands are initiated by men and the follow-up posts are being written by men. This is an issue that needs to be addressed — SOON by LU —as it often becomes self-reinforcing and perpetuating. We need to build an organisation of BOTH men and women.
You are right Alan – some of us women do write for and on the site but men predominate. But how to break out of that in a society in which certain sectors are very male dominated? Do you have any suggestions as to how we might make headway on this?
I would like to discuss this with you more. But there is a bit of a limitation to LU at the moment in that people can only communicate with each other via the website ( unless they already know one another) and not directly to each other. Or I do not know a way. So, as a very interim measure — obviously — I will send a message to ‘content@leftunity.org’.
Some more contributions.
On the name. I can’t imagine ‘Left Unity’ is anything more than temporary. Surely ‘Left Unity’ was in response to the patentl obvious state of disunity. 7000+ signatories, 80+ local groups has been a salutary response to that sorry state of affairs. Now we want to build something more substantial, a new party. ‘The Left Party’ has its atttractions, to my mind ‘The People’s Party’ more ambitious.
On the signatories audit. How soon could this be put in place. The key informatoon is what % signed up online, if almost all then relatively simple to execute, the % responding wll tell us a lot about the commitment the 7000+ represents.
On the male-female split. Again the signatories audit wll tell us much, quite a number of the loval grou organisrs seem to be women? From the outset Left Unity should be monitoring its own structures for forms that include, and exclude.
Mark P
Several party names to discuss the merits of ,
1. The Peoples Movement.
2. Radical Peoples Party.
3.Left Progressive Party.
On the name I would say, keep it simple. I’d suggest three options
1. The Left Party, its where we came from and what we are.
2. The People’s Party, its what we want to become.
3. Something inspirational and left-field that marks us out as entirely different, eg The Levellers or The Equality Party
On (3) I can’t think of a party that has succeeded in GB with such a name but its at least worth thinking about. The rule to date is keep it simple.
Mark P