Respect has taken a third seat in Birmingham Sparkbrook, with a majority of 432 and just under 43% of the vote. Respect 3032 42.64%The Labour Party 2600 36.57% Elsewhere there were other good results with 25% of the vote in Springfield and third place and 15% of the vote in Manchester Cheetham Hill and also…
Respect has taken a third seat in Birmingham Sparkbrook, with a majority of 432 and just under 43% of the vote.
Respect 3032 42.64%
The Labour Party 2600 36.57%
Elsewhere there were other good results with 25% of the vote in Springfield and third place and 15% of the vote in Manchester Cheetham Hill and also third place. There was also a third place in Aston where Respect took 20% of the vote.
Well done to the comrades in Birmingham, also I think that the Chetham crew did a good job building a base.
I think the Left-list/SWP candidate were I live (Levenshulme/Gorton South) did well because she was a locally rooted candidate and they didn’t really run the campaign along SWP lines at all (compare with Rushomle if you will). Anyway congrats to her.
Nationaly though I think we can honestly say that both sides of the spilt haven’t done particlualy well. No electoral breakthrough – not even on the verge of one. Tories mopping up Labour discontent.
It could have been soooo much better then this!
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yes it could have been.. why GG wants to shift to the right and limit the horizons of the left at this stage only he will now..what a shame
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JJ if you seriously believe that you can pull of convincing yourself that the lefts failings are down to Galloway then good luck with that – its a bit narrow sifghted though, aint it.
I disagree with Galloway on a shed load of stuff but he is what he is, he hasn’t changed, his politics are exactly the same as when SWP hooked up with him.
That’s what a coalition is about hooking up with people of differnt shades of Red.
The big question is ‘WHERE NOW?’ – rapprochement? I wish but I doubt it.
Still let each side get stuck into building a new mass left party with a sensible non-aggression pact.
I know were I’d place my bets but as long as we eventually get to a mass radical left party I don’t care to much who pulls it off.
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While it is better to move on I doubt whether unity on the left will be achieveable unless we acknowledge our differences in political analysis and practice.
It was a mistake for Renewal to back Livingstone because the left as a whole could have capitalised on the huge demoralisation with New Labour if there had been a unified campaign that stood apart from Livingstone.
Fortunately, a few of the leading Renewal members on SUN are actually moving away from triumphalism and are having a sober look at the results so far. In the Left List we will be doing the same. The future of the left is more important than in-fighting but we can’t just brush our political differences under the carpet.
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So you’ll finally concede that no one supports the LL apart from the SWP and a few hangers on?
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“The future of the left is more important than in-fighting but we can’t just brush our political differences under the carpet.”
Quite a sensible comment, Ray. No one’s suggesting brushing political differences aside but unity in action, including fraternal debate and genuine discussion in the context of common work, is a good idea.
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Let’s hope so Jason but judging by billj’s comment it’s the same old same old.
billj, getting 37% of the vote and coming second in Preston really doesn’t vindicate you sectarian vision. Don’t let that stop your divisive agenda though. Your mate Livingstone is getting trounced. I’m sure you’ll blame the Left List but judgeing by the rest of the country New Labour are very unpopular so it doesn’t take a genius to work out that NuLabs neo-liberal policies caused his demise. Pity you didn’t stand up for an independent left instead of coat-tailing New Labour. It might have made a difference to the vote of Renewal and the Left List in London.
The good thing is you can learn from your mistakes and for the lefts sake I hope you do.
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The second and third paragraphs of your last comment, Ray, sit somewhat awkwardly with your previous comment, sadly.
As you really well know Livingstone is not ‘our mate’- he is an anti-working class politician. His defeat at the hands of a mass progressive working class vote is welcome. However, his defeat by right wing racist Tory Johnson is not welcome.
It’s true that Labour’s unpopularity has done for them in these elections and probably Livingstone as well.
The Left List vote though OKish in places was not great either- as someone said before- oh it was you.
We really need to concentrate on looking at rebuilding rthe fighting organisations of the class and the left as well. As someone said, “moving away from triumphalism and are having a sober look at the results so far. In the Left List we will be doing the same… [and]….The future of the left ”
Wise guy, that one. So let’s do it.
http://www.conventionoftheleft.org
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Wow Ray! So you are actually pleased that Livingstone has apparently lost London! Good thing you aren’t someone who will be effected by the most insidious changes brought in by the Tories – those will only hit the poorest of the poor the hardest.
Makes me wonder why anyone thinks these ridiculous projects which have abandoned the class have done any bit of good whatsoever. Who would blame the Left List for Livingstone’s loss? No one with a political brain – it’s obvious that New Labour policies are repsonsible for this and that voters simply don’t see a damn bit of difference between the two. They feel abandoned by the Labour Party and have been courted by and are now supporting the right and far right (the BNP have gained 10 council seats).
Yet instead of facing up to the reality that this was a shift to the RIGHT and trying to figure out how to reach out the the swathes of voters who preferred the Conservatives and the BNP you simply assume everyone will now go and join the far left groups! The working class has spoken and given the choice between the far right and far left, the chose the former – by some margin!
Also Brian Paddick was reported as saying on the BBC that he gave his second preference to Lindsey German. If that doesn’t hint at how utterly useless the far left campaigns have been in this election then I do not know what has.
It looks to me like Bill J is not the one who needs to learn from his so-called “mistakes”.
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I was referring to billj’s obseqiuous support for Livingstone in contrast to his continuous vilification of the Left List. He’s still at it post election and I don’t think there is any room to tolerate this nonsense any longer if we want to rebuild the left. Let’s have a debate about the politics (i.e. which strategy is right) and stop the sectarian attacks (i.e. bashing organisations.)
It goes without saying that Left List supporters prefer Livingstone over Johnson but the political debate is about whether or not it was right to stand against Livingstone. This is at the root of our political differences and informs how we relate to workers and build a left opposition to New Labour and the Tories in the future.
We live in hope that ALL the left acknowledges that Livingstone may have lost because of his neo-liberal policies but that’s hard to believe when those who backed him in opposition to the Left List were claiming that any opposition to New Labour from the left was detrimental to Livingstones campaign. The left needs to break from this slavish reliance on New Labour as the traditional home of left opposition. In Europe the left has taken this step in Germany and we need to be organising similarly.
Fortunately the BNP’s vote did not increase significantly. Although they have established themselves as a political force which should continue to worry us. I don’t believe workers voted Tory because they love their policies. Workers are disillusioned with Labour and where the Tories offered better value over single issues they got the vote. What significance does it make whether or not Paddick voted second pref for German? If this comment is meant to imply that the Left List weren’t relating to workers then that is a rather dishonest extrapolation. To write off the campaigns of Renewal and The Left List is doing exactly what twp77 complains about – not engaging with workers by offering a left opposition to New Labour and the Tories.
I’m very pleased with the achievements of Renewal and the Left List. It’s the basis for building a left opposition but until we are agreed on the best way to organise then unity will evade us. The Left List was right to stand against New Labour and if others on the left had joined this campaign then there would’ve been a much greater chance to get elected to the GLA. A place on the GLA is just one aspect of rebuilding the left but it is an important one. Will the left learn the lessons? Based on the difference in political analysis and practice between the Left List and Renewal I doubt it.
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Probably quite a lot of the working class has abstained from voting to be fair as well but I agree that objectively this is a move to the right.
One of the more urgent tasks ahead though is to rebuild working class resistance- on the streets and in the workplaces, to unite in support of migrants and against fascist attacks and to support strikes against privatisation of services.
This could include having far left candidates if it was part of identifying and organising class struggle activists. In the absence of our ability to do this though it should certainly be a vote for Labour as opposed to the Tories.
But above all we need well rooted and connected campaigns. It’s perfectly possible to get hundreds of people involved in the most radical campaigns but it requires persistent, patient, systematic organising over a period of time.
People can be won- my guess is that most people are too hacked off, too depressed, bound up in the day to day shit to really SEE the possibility of change but if there’s a little action to kick up the dust people can quickly be won to the idea that we should be in charge of our own lives.
I work with young people in a school and it is a daily privilege to see and understand that what people want most of all is a sense of control and fairness.
It’s like a daily dose of optimism. Young people are for the most part completely antiracist for example- though there are exceptions in certain areas- e.g. when I worked in Oldham a few years ago but even then when local school children saw me and other teacher son demos against the NF and BNP it certainly gave me a platform for my views. I remember achieving a certain playground notoriety by being pinned up against a wall by mounted police for example- and actually all good, allowing some really quit interesting conversations to begin to win some kids away from a deeply held but really shallow because unexamined racism. If you do something people listen I think.
If everything offered to you is more of the same crap it’s easy to see how even people can vote for the BNP- vile racists though they are it’s no good when the left isn’t even doing ANYTHING in some estates. We need to win people away from the BNP by militant action not only against them and their sick racist attacks but also by showing we can take on issues that affect working class lives and actually win.
People have the power to dream, to rule, to wrestle the world from fools. Patti Smith said that.
Let’s ignite the imagination to kick over the complacency and the dull feeling of going round and round on the daily treadmill, to jump off the mouse mill, to say seize the moment and actually get out on to the streets and do something. I said that.
By the way the Left List (SWP), Respect Renewal and the Labour Representation Committee are all supporting the http://www.conventionoftheleft.org
http://www.permanentrevolution.net/?view=entry&entry=1941
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To emphasise the point that workers are disillusioned with Labour rather than shifting to the right.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/7380182.stm
We need to tap into that disillusionment and the best way is for the left to break with New Labour and offer a clear, unified and principled opposition to them and the Tories.
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Actually Ray I was saying that people are very fluid and can be won to revolutionary politics.
But be that as it may, in the absence of a left mass movement of workers’ action- what we need to smash the system- workers in their voting, those who did vote, have turned to the right. In fact the first quote on the website you provide is from someone who says he’s left leaning and thinks governments should be based on the working class but voted… Tory.
“For the first time ever I voted for the Conservatives – for the simple reason of the mistakes made over the 10 pence tax rate.
I’ve always thought of myself as left leaning – and that governments should look after the working people. ”
He may be left wing though confused (may be even concussed!) but voting Tory is not good! It;s not to say we can’t change it- but we actually have some work to do. Are you in the NUT? I seem to remember you were from a post you made but even if not let’s actually do something rather than endlessly blog e-mail me jason2inethiopia at yahoo.co.uk
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While perusing comments on SUN it’s predictable that some of those on the left outside Labour who slavishly campaigned for Livingstone are already calling for pulling out all the stops to ensure New Labour win the next election.
The convention of the left may prove a good idea if it’s supported. But if the emphasis is placed on re-electing New Labour rather than building a left alternative then unity will not be reached.
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Jason these people voted Tory because they were against taxing poor working people (i.e. themselves). They are voting in protest against the neo-liberal policies of New Labour. If the left offered a viable left alternative then there would be someone other than the Tories to vote for. It should be our task to fill that vacuum and not tail-end New Labour as some on the left believe.
I’m in Unison and you’re right we need to get stuck in building unity. I’m not sure how we can achieve this when the left is divided between either building a left alternative or shoring up New Labour.
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“Jason these people voted Tory because they were against taxing poor working people (i.e. themselves). They are voting in protest against the neo-liberal policies of New Labour. If the left offered a viable left alternative then there would be someone other than the Tories to vote for. It should be our task to fill that vacuum and not tail-end New Labour as some on the left believe.”
Yes that’s what I said more or less. But in the absence of anything to fill the vacuum it IS a move to the right in the sense that it gives more power and resources tro political forces of the right.
Also we should not just seek to build an Old Labour sub-reformism but something more imaginative that can actually help people seize back meaning and control in their lives.
anyway got to go now pleasant though all this is- let’s stay in touch
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Sorry Ray – maybe you don’t know but I am a member of and participant in the Labour Representation Committee not New Labour. I think now is a good time to use this position and speak about how these defeats can be reviewed and how we can move forward. I think you need to differentiate between those of us who are Labour left and those you describe as “New Labour”. It is true that people are disillusioned but, as Jason points out, they are not voting left – they are voting right and far right. You seem to be suggesting that the answer to this is to continue to run left candidates outside of the LP. I don’t see how this position will get us anywhere. I think now is precisely the time to be arguing within the LP and the class that we need to either revamp the LP or form a new one altogther. But this isn’t going to happen from outside of the LP – I really can’t see that at this point in time.
Eventually there may be a point where we get strong enough to make a break and take a good chunk of LP members and voters along to a new formation but the idea that the LP and a lot of working class voters in Britain are simply to be ignored because we don’t like the way they are becoming disillusioned is to not address the problem.
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Tami – you state that ‘it isnt going to happen outside the Labour party’ – however you dont need to be a Labour Party member to be involved in debates within the unions that can develop a new left alternative. Developments in wider politics can help develop a new left alternative e.g the Iraq war developed RESPECT. Unfortunately the Labour left seems to get smaller as time goes by and however right wing the LP becomes, it never seems to be the right time to split. You talk of Labour voters, but only 24% of those that voted yesterday, voted Labour. There is a space for a new left alternative, LP comrades need to split and help us build it
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The debate on whether the LP remains an effective vehicle for the left has been fundamentally changed by the economic turmoil that began with the credit crunch and has now worked through into rising food prices, petrol at 108/gal and diesel at 120/gal and the prospect of negative equity.
Respect/Left List type people are focused on a relatively narrow section of the electorate and population and thus failed to predict how the cat would jump. This is typical of sectarian politics, but fairly useless in the real world. Hence the continual obsession with infighting between the two wings.
Tami is essentially correct, although I would no doubt have serious differences over what programme we should be fighting for the LP to have.
The fact is that the political authority of Brown as an individual is severely dented and this raises the question of the validity of the continuation of New Labour politics in the new, developing environment.
The fact that Livingstone has almost certainly failed to be re-elected makes the situation even more complicated. But to those who argued openly and consistently against the rightist and bureaucratic elements of his politics, it’s some vindication.
George Galloway should also take heed.
What we need is political leaders who are above board, representative of ordinary working people and fighting for politics that can unite the maximum number of people around a left, socialist platform.
If the the LP can be won over to this, they’ll have a better chance of winning the next General election.
We should be in favour of that and offer maximum support to all those people who want to fight around such a policy.
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There is virtually no left remaining in the Labour Party. It was exterminated by Blair. It would be absolutely disasterous after such an enormous Labour defeat for socialists to waste their resources trying to infiltrate New Labour and move it left. The reason the Labour left has collapsed is because of its slavish alliegence to New Labour. After the debacle of part of the left lining up uncritically behind Livingstone do we have to repeat the same mistakes all over again?
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George T – What I am saying is that you cannot bypass the LP in building a mass left movement, not that you must be a member. You cannot continue to insist that we build Respect Renewal or the Left List as serious alternatives when virtually nobody is participating in these initiatives. This has been proven to be true yesterday and this evening.
I am completely open to working with people outside of the LP – this should be obvious from the LRC mission statement as that is precisely what it is all about – working with what we have in the LP and working with trade unionists and activists outside the LP.
I have just seen that the mayoral results for our area – Left List got 1.16 in North East and 0.99 in City and East. The BNP got 5.45 in City and East and 1.9 in the North East. It’s depressing but also incredibly telling – the working class are moving to the right. That is what we must address and it is an urgent need. I am convinced that will be achieved by working together with everyone on the broad spectrum of the left and not wandering off in our own little far left projects.
Does that mean we must hide our politics? Of course not! But is does mean that we must be a lot less sectarian than we have been in the past – and by “we” I mean the broad left – up to and including the centre-left like Compass. It is going to take this kind of perspective and this kind of inclusive attitude to really build a mass left movement.
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Just watching Ruth Kelly on Newsnight claiming that NuLab need to get tougher on immigration to counter the BNP. This is the direction the Labour Party is travelling. Good luck trying to reform it!
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Sorry Ray, but I hope you saw Paul Mason’s report that was just on. The working class feels completely abandoned in this country. It matters very little what the New Labourites do. What is the LEFT going to do both inside and outside the LP about this? That is what I am concerned about
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Ray, Ruth Kelly’s a racist shit but that doesn’t mean we write off everybody in the Labour party or who has ever voted for it anymore than people who have voted Tory or even worse.
Tami, “I am convinced that will be achieved by working together with everyone on the broad spectrum of the left and not wandering off in our own little far left projects.
Does that mean we must hide our politics? Of course not! But is does mean that we must be a lot less sectarian than we have been in the past – and by “we” I mean the broad left – up to and including the centre-left like Compass. It is going to take this kind of perspective and this kind of inclusive attitude to really build a mass left movement.”
I do agree with this in terms of working with all sorts of people on the left, including people with a wide range of political views from revolutionary to social democratic, in terms of building campaigns and a mass movement.
However, within this I think it is not only perfectly possible but absolutely necessary to be open about what sort of society we want to have- one where working class people are in charge.
So there are broad campaigns- against privatisation, against war, against racism where we must indeed all work together-
it is these mass movements that have the potential to change society. In this working with LP as well as all socialists and for that matter anarchists, antiracists and all manner of other people in a friendly, open and creative manner is essential.
If and only if electoral challenges build those mass movements – e.g. a worker in struggle standing on a platform decided by a mass movement- are they worth pursuing in my opinion.
But I am optimistic that we can build those mass movements, if only becuase I can’t believe it is beyond the wit of human beings to work out some way to work together through this fucked up system invented by humans so capable of being overthrown by them.
Well that’s my take anyway but whatever you think- join the dialogue and start the process now and use the convention of the left and other initiatives to start taking some steps towards this goal of common action and mass movements.
Anyway, good night and good luck as they say.
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Tami and Jason I agree with organising together regardless of our political differences on the left. We actually had that to some degree in Respect until Galloway decided to try and eject the Trots. There are only so many times the SWP is going to be used as a scapegoat to gloss over the political disagreements on the left. If there’s going to be unity then that means working with ALL the left.
As for rebuilding New Labour that’s not an option because people like Ruth Kelly now run it and will move it further to the right to compete against the Tories and BNP. The only viable left alternative is outside Labour. It’s about time the tiny left group in New Labour realised this and helped build a left alternative to Labour.
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But issuing ultimatums won’t get you anywhere, Ray, work with people in joint campaigns and then may be we can begin to get somewhere.
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tami – are any more people participating in the LRC than Respect Renewal? I believe the left outside the LP has to engage/work with comrades from the LP, but not inside the LP. I believe Ray is right in that the LP is not going to travel back to the left. When there have been mutterings in the LP about Brown, young Blarites have been talked about as successors. It’s been good to see Benn and Mcdonnell on TV in the last few days but I hope Mcdonnell doesnt want to die in the LP like Benn.
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…Galloway’s spokesman, Kevin Ovenden, told the East London Advertiser there was “no chance” he would withdraw his candidacy for Poplar & Limehouse with a General Election due in the next two years.
Fancy a bet on that Kevin?
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I’m not issuing ultimatums. I’m making it clear that unity means having a democratic organisation with a program that is adhered to by everyone and not ignored when it suits.
The Labour left backed Blairism when it got Labour votes. There is no reason to suspect that things will be any different should the left miraculously revive in New Labour.
The problem with reformism is that it views electoralism as the path to socialism. Because of this rank and file organisation is neglected at the expense of promoting the electoral interests of Labour. Labour has sold out workers repeatedly and the left in Labour have clung on until their virtual extinction under Blair. The left in Labour are toothless but they can contribute to reviving the left by join us to build a left alternative outside of Labour.
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bad night for the left by and large this includes ll
but the assurances from Ovenden that GG was so popular from his radio show look very poor now..his vote in the east end will be particularly worrying.. he has little chance in the general election…
ah well………….I think thats the end of my time in cyber world and I know u will be sad but no more posts from me.period…. back to the real world.
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Bloody hell – the BNP have made it onto the assembly – Barnbrook – with 5.33 percent. The combined total of Respect Renewal and Left List was 3.35 with RR getting 2.43 and LL getting 0.92
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God I really wish I wasn’t teetotal right now………………..
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It’s a sorry day for the left and I really feel for all our comrades whether they’re in Renewal, the Left List, Labour or other organisations.
To think that we have spent months bickering on these blogs while the Tories and the Nazi’s have got on with building their support makes me sick.
Well the chips are down now. The left doesn’t have the extravagance of being choosy about who on the left we work with any longer. I’m happy to work with Galloway, Labour left etc. – anyone who is serious about building a new organisation outside of Labour. I hope other comrades feel the same way.
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Funny how the horrendous pasting Blue Labour suffered in the local elections serves to sharpen up the discussion of left unity and the urgent need for the creation of a broad left pluralist party before the Left becomes utterly irrelevant.
Well, what will it really take to actually bring that about?A tory landslide at the next General election!
New Labour is in complete meltdown and decomposition and has not just shot itself in the foot but actually blown it’s head especially re the timing of the absolutely disastrous abolition of 10p rate of tax hitting lowest paid workers and pensioners.
It would seem that a large part of the New Labour vote simply swing to vote Tory as PROTEST VOTE or more worryingly believe Cameron has the solutions for want of any better alternative.New Labour has only itself to blame having become the tories for the last eleven years, implementing neo liberal bollocks and hasnt in any way develop any dffferent conscoiusness other than reinforce tory selfish individualism.
The division of the left , the feeble trade union leaderships constant kow toing to the Blair/Brown leadership
and ongoing feuding ,sheer obstinacy and stupidly stubborn reluctance to unite amonst all the various Left factions and establish a viable broad left party must also be a factor.
If such a party doesnt exist people obviously cannot vote for it.
Simply popping up at elction time as does the Left list is a sheer insult to voters and of no relevance at all to anyone other than members of the SWP.
More signifficantly the fascist and racist BNP still has far too many seats and gains far more votes than the Left combined in all it’s ridiculous 57 varieties.As has pointed out in another comment look what is happening in Italy if you want to see what happens when the mainstream so called left merely mimics the right and the rest of the Left piss in the wind.
The division of the left is it’s ultimate weakeness and this is a gross over indulgence no one on the left cant afford.
Unity and confidence.Confidence gives confidence.
What will it take?
It really is time to wake up to reality !
What does it take?
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Very sensible comment, Ray, though I feel you still pose in it a slightly wrong way- we need to work together on the ground building campaigns.
This could of course go hand in hand with building a political organisation but to me that’s secondary- what’s important is buidling the movement.
It is indeed depressing that the BNP got an asembly seat. This means we have to get really organised. My first instinct was that it’s probably worth trying to have a campaign to stop him being able to take up his seat- other assembly members refuse to sit if he wants to be there, Unison members walk out etc. But even before that we’ve got to get organised in the communities to make sure that the BNP is not allowed to build a branch and get groups ready to prevent them from meeting or assembling their street attacks gangs.
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Ray said:-
“There is virtually no left remaining in the Labour Party. It was exterminated by Blair. It would be absolutely disasterous after such an enormous Labour defeat for socialists to waste their resources trying to infiltrate New Labour and move it left. The reason the Labour left has collapsed is because of its slavish alliegence to New Labour. After the debacle of part of the left lining up uncritically behind Livingstone do we have to repeat the same mistakes all over again?”
Ray, the ultra-left superficiality of your comments are only matched by their repetitive frequency.
I’m visualising the famous Black Dwarf headline on the LP ” Let it Bleed” appearing before my eyes.
You underestimate the extent to which traditional Labour voters wanted to punish Brown and New Labour, which even most of the mainstream media recognise.
It will be much harder for Brown to continue the slavish pro big business agenda that Blair set in train between now and the next election.
The fact you ignore the U-turns he’s already made on Income Tax and Northern Rock is indicative of your blinkered approach.
The question is this: are the Socialists outside the Labour Party simply going to write off the question of an internal struggle over policy and leadership, or are they actively going to take part in resolving it?
This can be done in a variety of ways, including motions through union branches, by working with and strengthening the existing Labour left and by individuals retaining membership.
Livingstone missed an opportunity, not because he rejoined the LP, but because he failed to stand for clear Socialist policies and identify himself as a leader of a left-wing challenge for the leadership.
Both wings of Respect have failed to make a qualitative electoral breakthrough.
But it’s clear that the SWP and Left List are deepening their sectarian approach, rather than recognising reality. This comes from the same people who, less than 10 years ago, were organising meetings where the uncritically put Labour councillors on public platforms and uncritically cheered them on.
Now they’re trying to write off the whole Labour Party on the basis of their pitiful showing!
Contrary to the gloom merchants, this is not the end of the road for the Labour Party, it remains in power with a huge majority.
There are already signs of a growing union fightback over pay and pensions.
They have the capacity to undermine the whole New Labour project in the coming period and fight for their own programme to be adopted. If Labour goes down to defeat at the next election because Brown hasn’t been replaced, those arguments will be even stronger.
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If anything the defeat for Labour may mean a renewed fightback in the party.
By the way I see that my comment was crossed over with another from Ray- when I said sensible comment I was referring to
“The left doesn’t have the extravagance of being choosy about who on the left we work with any longer. I’m happy to work with Galloway, Labour left etc. – anyone who is serious.”
Unfortunately, Ray’s later comment seemed to undo and somewhat contradict this by diverting it into a left ‘plurailist’ party- I presume this means explicitly reformist party, though it is often used in a very vague manner.
Surely what this sorry debacle shows is it’s time to stop trying to create out of nothing a left ‘pluralist’ party-and concentrate on unity in campaigning, rebuilding the movement
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Liam redux 
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