This is from the new issue of the Respect Paper
This month sees two important events for the development of left unity. The first is the special conference called by the Rail and Maritime RMT union on 10 January to discuss the issue of working-class representation. The second is the reconvened Convention of the Left taking place in Manchester on 24 January.
Both of these events can play significant roles in advancing the cause of common action on behalf of working-class people. Every step forward in the direction of collaboration on the left, however tentative, should be supported. For far too long the left in Britain has been fragmented and much weakened as a consequence.
Last September’s Convention of the Left in Manchester in October brought together many on the left including representatives of the Labour left, such as John McDonnell MP, Respect, the Green left, Socialist Workers Party, Socialist Party, Communist Party of Britain and other groups, along with many with no party affiliation, to discuss how the left could work together to resist the attacks of Gordon Brown’s New Labour government.
This spirit of unity must be developed into practical campaigning activity in which everyone on the left can participate. From climate change and war to job losses and fuel poverty, there are a thousand things around which we can unite.
Many of us who attended the COTL event believe that these issues demand not just opposition through campaigning, vital as this is, but also opposition by the presentation of left-wing candidates in local, national and European elections. After all, those who are persuaded to join campaigns against job losses or privatisation or wars are faced with a stark choice at election time: who do I vote for?
However, for the time being, those of us who believe in the necessity of creating the widest possible electoral challenge to New Labour from the left are faced with the fact that there are many socialists inside the Labour Party who agree with us on nearly every single issue apart from the need for a new left-wing party.
The issue of party affiliation – Labour, Respect, Green, none – cannot be a reason not to work together on common causes in between elections.
There is no question, though, that the left would be much stronger if it were united in one democratic party – a new party – that brought together all those opposed to capitalism and its effects.
There have been many false starts to the creation of such a new left-wing, socialist party. The Socialist Labour Party fell apart, the Scottish Socialist Party and then Respect split. We must not let those set-backs prevent us from continuing to strive to create a new party for working-class people. And, remember, it is possible to learn from past mistakes and difficulties.
Respect has an elected MP, George Galloway, and councillors on three councils. The Socialist Party also has several councillors, including former MP Dave Nellist in Coventry. The Socialist People’s Party in Barrow has four councillors, while Michael Lavalette was first elected to Preston council as a Socialist Alliance candidate. There are a few other isolated left wingers who have been elected as councillors. It shows that the left can win elections in opposition to New Labour. But these victories are very few and isolated.
Respect will be standing half a dozen or so candidates at the next general election. We have won a sizable electoral constituency in Birmingham and east London but it is by no means the finished article. We do not claim to be the new party of the working-class across the whole of the country but, rather, one part of the wider movement towards such a party. We want to work with all others on the left, including the various left groups and individuals in none, to create that new party.
We support every step taken to challenge New Labour at elections. There are a few good left-wing, socialist Labour MPs who should be supported by everyone on the left. But it is just a few. We need to have the widest challenge against the other rotten pro-war, pro-privatising New Labour MPs.
That is why the RMT conference is an important one. It would represent a real step forward if, before the next general election, the RMT and other unions were to decide to give backing to candidates that represented working-class interests standing against New Labour. Trade union involvement in the move towards a new working-class party is crucial.
In the past, the steps to move towards a new party involving the different left groups have foundered, largely through a deep distrust between the groups. However, most of us on the left agree on most of the fundamental policy questions. While not seeking to diminish important questions of principle, more often than not the differences between groups are of secondary importance, usually of tactics or presentation or even of campaigning methods. Such differences develop through long periods of working separately from others on the left. These sorts of differences should not allow us to be divided and weaker.
It should also be recognised that the vast bulk of those who think of themselves as leftwing or vote left are not currently in any party.
All those groups who intend to stand left-wing candidates in opposition to New Labour should seek to work together to maximise the impact of such a challenge. Firstly, every effort should be made to ensure that there is only one left-wing candidate challenging New Labour in each constituency or ward. Secondly, at the very least it would make sense to try to get all such candidates to stand under one umbrella name. This would preserve the independence of each party’s policies and campaigning activity but would be an important step towards a united challenge from the left.
Time is short. There will be European elections on 4 June this year. Where is the left-wing alternative to present to the many disenfranchised voters, including some traditional Labour voters who may, in desperation, try out the racist BNP as an alternative?
The general election may be called early this year. At most it can be postponed until 3 June 2010. A concerted effort is required from the whole of the left to work together so that there is a joint challenge at that election. It would be a tragedy if, after twelve or thirteen years of a New Labour anti- working-class government, the left challenge is weaker than in 1997 or 2001.
It is incumbent on all socialist groups and individuals on the left to try to work together for the needs of the working class. Faced with job losses, house repossessions, continued privatisation, insecurity and uncertainty there has to be a common front from the left, arguing for radical and socialist policies to counter the failures of capitalism.
Liam redux 
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