Left unity

Why is the left so divided? How can we bring about unity? Includes sections on the Socialist Green Unity Coalition and the (former) Socialist Alliance.

Can the left ever unite?

What Is the Bolshevik-Trotskyist Tradition? Our Fragmented Tradition Unite the Left? The Left and Left Unity In the Perspective of History (1998) The Road to Left Unity (1999) Unity? The Left Must Reorientate!(1999) Can the Left Unite? (1998) Left Unity? Yes. But Why Is the Left Divided Now? Unite the Rational Left to Stop the Fascists Socialist Alliance Ended: We Still Need Left Unity! Left Unity: the SWP Presents Its Left Unity Initiative (2009)

Unite the left? The left and left unity in the perspective of history (1998)

British workers created the first mass workers' party in the world, the Chartist movement, after 1838. Then, as the Chartists declined after 1848, they pioneered another form of workers' movement - trade unions which regarded their activity as merely a business of cutting the best available deal with the bosses. From the 1870s, the trade unions were able to put some of their members and officials into parliament, but as "Lib-Labs", Liberal candidates allowed to represent special trade-union concerns on secondary matters within a Liberal Party thoroughly dominated by the industrial, financial...

‘Communist Party of Britain’ splits over electoral alternative?

According to unconfirmed reports circulating on the internet, Communist Party of Britain general secretary Robert Griffiths has resigned from the organisation. The move, if such it is, was prompted by the CPB Executive Committee's decision to withdraw from negotiations to form a successor organisation to No2EU, which the CPB supported in the European elections. (One possibility is that the CPB's shift is a reflection of the increasing push from the soft-left union bureaucrats with whom it is intertwined to 'close ranks' around Labour, for example Tony Woodley's praise of Gordon Brown.)...

"Creating Facts" about Vestas

"To face reality squarely; not to seek the line of least resistance; to call things by their right names; to speak the truth to the masses, no matter how bitter it may be; not to fear obstacles; to be true in little things as in big ones; to base one's program on the logic of the class struggle; to be bold when the hour for action arrives-these are the rules of the Fourth International." Leon Trotsky, 1938 The SWP leadership has long had a policy of "creating facts". This policy is supposed to be about a unity between theory and practice. However, it also serves to justify a bit of sectarian...

Tyneside debates: “Can the left unite?”

About 60 socialists, activists and trade unionists attended a Tyneside Socialist Forum open meeting about left unity on 15 July. The timing of the meeting wasn't ideal, as most students had left for the summer, but still the organised left turned out (Socialist Workers Party, Revolutionary Communist Group, Alliance for Workers’ Liberty, Labour Representation Committee, as well as Green Party). Trade unions were also represented including PCS, Unison, and Unite. Although the Socialist Party could not attend No2EU was represented by the RMT Regional Organiser. The lead off by two older comrades...

Socialist Alliance call makes progress in North East

Several dozen activists in the North East have signed the call issued by Workers’ Liberty for a new Socialist Alliance. There is special interest in the area because of the existence of groupings such as Tyneside Socialist Forum and Teesside Solidarity Network — forums in which socialists from different tendencies and none can come together in common activity and debate. Tyneside Socialist Forum has existed since the old Socialist Alliance, but Teesside Solidarity Network is a new grouping initiated by AWL comrades. Both groups will be discussing the statement soon. Even in areas without...

Is the People’s Charter the answer?

The groups involved in the “No2EU” coalition for the Euro-election — the RMT union leadership group around Bob Crow, the Communist Party of Britain (Morning Star), the Socialist Party, and the Alliance for Green Socialism — are due to meet again before 28 June to discuss a “son of No2EU” project for the coming general election. What may it look like? CPB secretary Robert Griffiths has written that for him the People’s Charter (PC) launched by the CPB last year is central to “realistic and non-sectarian” electoral initiative, so a meeting called on the People’s Charter in Lambeth Town Hall...

Union leaders start to bark, but will they bite?

Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB general union, used his speech to the GMB congress in Blackpool (15 June) to call for the Labour Party to select “fresh working-class candidates that people can relate to”. “Now is the time to select and elect 40 to 50 fresh real people, real trade unionists, people who actually know how much a pint of milk costs, and what it is like to get on a bus, MPs driven by commitment rather than being worried about being driven by a chauffeur”. As ever, the question is, what will Kenny do about it? The Labour Party leadership obviously wants to limit the number...

No unity in Scotland

According to an Open Letter distributed in Glasgow by members of Solidarity (the 2006 breakaway from the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP)), which has also been posted on the Socialist Unity website: “It is our understanding that a group of prominent Scottish trade unionists linked to none of the parties of the left in Scotland are in the formative stages of brokering left unity talks specifically on the issue of the Glasgow North East constituency [i.e. Michael Martin’s seat, where a by-election is due to be called]. “Our understanding is that during the next week [i.e. the week this issue of...

Build a Socialist Alliance to fight back!

The AWL has launched this appeal to socialist and working-class organisations and activists. So far the response from the SWP (Socialist Workers’ Party) and SP (Socialist Party) at national level has been negative, but many individuals have signed it. In the 2009 Euro elections, the fascist British National Party increased its percentage of the vote and won two seats. If UKIP leader Nigel Farage’s claim that he reaped £2 million in expenses in his last term as a Euro MP is a model, that means millions extra for BNP funds. UKIP polled second with 16 percent. The right-wing nationalist English...

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