John Nicholson poses a rhetorical question

In some cases, it is difficult to see how. The truly awful Woolas and Purnell, to give two examples of Ministers who have used their power against the weakest and most vulnerable in society (as well as taking it out on  civil service unions) would be difficult to beat for sheer nastiness.  (Though this is a list that could go on and on…..)

But, of course, they will be.The real question is whether the Tories’ savage cuts will be any worse than the long-lasting cuts that Labour would inflict if elected. That’s a harder one to tell.

On the one hand, the union leaders might stand up and fight the Tories, instead of posturing about the "influence" they have had over Labour while indulging in the beer and sandwiches in the corridors of power (or rather the prawn cocktails and cappuccinos).

On the other hand, the degree of demoralisation these leaders have injected into their own ranks, and their failure to take up the struggle (with the
few very noteworthy exceptions, such as Mark Serwotka, Matt Wrack, Bob  Crow), and their seeming desire to witch-hunt their own activists in  preference to fighting the cuts and privatisations of what they say is their own government…… all suggest that it will take something more.

We need an alternative. Not just to fly the flag of socialism, but to make public the fact that cuts are not inevitable, that this recession is the  fault of the government and the bankers, not the workers and those who want to work but can’t, that the wealth exists in society to fund our essential needs and services – and that environmentally sustainable jobs and  production are possible. In short, to say that we should defend public services and promote public ownership and that we should argue for a  democratically accountable society that plans and organises for the needs of the many and not the profits of the few.

And we need the left to present this alternative. A simple and clear alternative to cuts and privatisation, to war and racism, to ecological destruction, and to the far right – notably the fascists that seek to fill  the vacuum created by New Labour. And to be clear that the responsibility for the rise of the far right is that of Labour and its odious spokespeople who have legitimised their smears and lies and practically written the BNP’s  website for them.

To so so, we need the left to organise in new ways, to develop a broad understanding between ourselves and our many organisations, to put forward  an alternative that goes beyond the bourgeois democracy of first past the post and single party monoliths – and the obsession with tv debates and  party political broadcasts. We have seen this year the trust develop between  sections of the socialist left and the green left, so that candidates will  not stand against each other in key seats. We need to encourage this trust  and reject the age-old attempt to launch new flags shortly before elections  and to insist that unity means everyone must come and join them, now.

The list of things we can do together is not finite. Three immediate  initiatives have identified themselves recently. First, the Peoples Charter  has set out six simple demands, and local activists (for example in the  North West) have started to ask all potential left candidates (including Labour) if they will support and implement these demands if elected.

Second, the Convention of the Left (prompted by Robert Griffiths of the CPB at the last Convention meeting in Brighton in September) is organising the one day  conference "Making It Public" on February 27th in Manchester, where it is hoped everyone can unite to develop and promote the public alternative to  cuts and privatisation, regardless of which electoral parties we may be  supporting shortly after.

And third there is a chance for ordinary activists on the left to "back the left". A simple letter now circulating [send to backtheleft@sent.com  or join the facebook group at http://bit.ly/backtheleft] suggests that there are candidates of the left, across several political organisations, who should be supported by everyone who agrees that there is an alternative to Brown, Cameron or Clegg. Its not a definitive list, just some of the
most well-known and principled left representatives, with Green Caroline Lucas, Respect George Galloway, independent Val Wise, Socialist Dave Nellist and Labour John McDonnell. And in the interests of unity the letter calls
for left candidates to avoid clashing in the same seats.

This wasn’t dreamt up by the "leaders" or the "organisations" involved (indeed, it couldnt have been, given their party rules). It was a statement  by a few local activists to say that we, campaigning on the ground, would  rather vote for a collection of left representatives, regardless of their  actual current party affiliation (or none). Any dozen of these would be far  better than the numbwits we are going to get with either Labour or Tory  governments this year. None of these initiatives will win us a socialist parliament this year, let alone gain us a socialist society. But all offer small openings, for us to  work together, as the left, to say there IS an alternative and it offers us all a better future.