Future elections
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Alan,In the North East, no one can say that the Party has not contested elections. We have stood in the 1997 general election in Easington and got 555 votes. The 1999 Euro election. Myself and John Bissett, have stood in nearly 20+, all told local elections, which was based primarily, on the amount of propoganda generated over 20/30 years, well over 1000 letters published, as well as press releases generated. Many meetings and debates completed. So the groundwork was done and the name of the SPGB and it's aims publicised.It was for this reason we thought that, contesting elections was a justifiable aim. We , in the North East proved, that the SPGB were serious in stating that Socialism could only be achieved through elections and backing that up with contesting elections.Although not a current member of The Socialist Party, the reason I intend to contest the forthcoming local elections is so that, a Socialist presence in elections in the NE can continue, unbroken! Steve.
I apologise if this post is off topic but I have 16 letters books filled with letters, public releases etc, that have been published since 1981, in the name of the Party. I would ask, humbly, if anything happens to me, in the future, these are collated and published, as a record of Socialist activity in the North East.Thank you in advance,Steve, a Socialist and worker.
If we have a good amount of support from the North East due to previous hard work from Steve and the likes on a local level, then maybe it would be all right to stand in the North East european constituency come the time of the next European election. Though correct me if I am wrong, but I thought I heard ALB say that we may be contesting Wales and/or Scotland as well in the next european election. I just want to ask, do we have a strong enough base at the moment in either Wales or Scotland to stand in these regions?
The purpose of standing in either Scotland or Wales if I understand it correctly will be on the party list principle and not individuals standing in one particular constituency. This will entitle us to party political broadcasts in these countries which i think is the main object. I'm sure Adam or Bill of the election committee will explain the strategy better once conference business is out of the way.Standing a candidate simply in the NE constituency would not bring that tv/radio propaganda benefit.Steve, I suggest you contact Keith Scholey who is in charge of the party archives and come to some sort of arrangement with him about your collection of party news-clipping and lit.
alanjjohnstonre may I ask, how do you know standing in the NE constituency will not bring that tv/radio propaganda benefit? Also, fair enough with standing in Wales and Scotalnd, as people need to know more about what the Socialist Party of Great Britain is about so that then more of the general public will start to support us. Though this is certainly not to say that we should divert the majority of our attention away from local elections to european elections, because the local elections are more important in terms of speaking physically face to face to local communities up and down the country and tackling local issues head on if we get elected.
Alex Woodrow wrote:I just want to ask, do we have a strong enough base at the moment in either Wales or Scotland to stand in these regions?The same question could be asked about our base in any of the twelve (not 11 as has been stated elsewhere) electoral regions. Standing in any or all of these regions will provide us with the immense opportunity to put the party's ideas to a much larger number of workers than possibly ever before. Although the cost would be considerable, distribution of our election manifesto would be undertaken by the Post Office. A deposit of £5000 is required to stand in any one of these regions which would be returned to any candidate who obtains 2.5% of the votes cast in that region.Eligibility for Party Election Broadcasts on TV and Radio would depend on the total number of candidates we fielded, or so I understand.
A deposit of £5000 is a lot of money to stand in an election but, then again, this exposes the capitalist oligarchy which we live in today, no money=no power=no voice.I assume under the pseudo proportional representation in the european elections I assume we would need at least 10% of the vote is we wanted to have any representatives for the european parliament. Though anyway, the next european election shall give us, the SPGB, a real chance in terms of publicising our party hence spreading our message of people power democracy.Anyway gnome, may I ask, in what regions do the Socialist Party of Great Britain plan to stand in come the next european election?
£5000 is a lot of money for the SPGB to lose, on a hit and run election.During the last general election the conservatives spent over £16,000,000, labour £8,000,000 and lib dems over £4.000,000.Don't get me wrong, such exposure for the party is good. TV and radio I presume? But it needs to be followed up continually to make a real impact, otherwise it just gets drowned out by the mainstream and over time becomes a party historical talking point. Can the SPGB afford such continual payouts to buy exposure, like the mainstream parties? Concentrate on building local support by being a force for socialist democracy in as many local communities as possible. Show people what real socialist democracy is. It will take time and a lot of hard work, but has a better chance of paying off in the long run than the odd big election here and there.
What you say is true. As if our party mainly focuses on party political broadcasts for the european election then people may view us as sensationalists, rather than normal people who want to make a change to local communities up and down the country.Unfortunately we can't afford continual payouts because, unlike the Lib/Lab/Con, we are not funded by multinational corporations (the people who have all the power in this corrupt capitalist system which we live in).We need to concentrate in socialist democracy like you say SocialistPunk, as this will appeal to much more of the general public than what one european election broadcast would, that's for sure.
Alex Woodrow wrote:Anyway gnome, may I ask, in what regions do the Socialist Party of Great Britain plan to stand in come the next european election?This has yet to be decided but there was overwhelming support at the Party Conference only a couple of days ago in favour of contesting the 2014 European Parliamentary elections. It could be that we stand in Wales and/or Scotland or even in all the regions which is what I would personally like to see.
gnome wrote:Alex Woodrow wrote:Anyway gnome, may I ask, in what regions do the Socialist Party of Great Britain plan to stand in come the next european election?This has yet to be decided but there was overwhelming support at the Party Conference only a couple of days ago in favour of contesting the 2014 European Parliamentary elections. It could be that we stand in Wales and/or Scotland or even in all the regions which is what I would personally like to see.
Well there was signifigant skepticism over whether we could contest every region in the UK, which was the original subject. A floor resolution was passed unanimously to pursue either the Scottish or Welsh elections. After consultation with the local branches. Two of which were unable to attend conference.
SocialistPunk wrote:Concentrate on building local support by being a force for socialist democracy in as many local communities as possible. Show people what real socialist democracy is. It will take time and a lot of hard work, but has a better chance of paying off in the long run than the odd big election here and there.I think what you would like to see, SP, is an example of local activism which would be the Independent Working Class Association centred around Oxford who successfully managed to build up a local power base and gained council seats. The project fizzled out due to the fact that reformists cannot run capitalism in the interests of our class. I can do no better than quote their last remaining councillor’s Stuart Craft’s resignation statement.“I couldn’t stand on people’s doorsteps any more, telling them we were going to change things when that wasn’t going to happen.” “We’ve been banging our heads against a brick wall for 10 years now. We’ve been trying to push the agenda for working class people, but nothing seems to get done in the council chambers. We’ve gone as far in the council as we can.” He added: “All the hours I spend in the chambers would be much better spent on the estate doing something valuable for people living there.” But he was not totally negative. “Our biggest success was getting elected in the first place. “We got into the Labour strongholds of Wood Farm and the Leys. And we demystified politics, showing that working class people can get elected.” The IWCA now aims to concentrate on pushing its message through political comment, campaigning and other means. The association also runs an athletics club and is working on other priorities, including a working class history week later this year. Mr Craft added: “We are in no way giving up. If we continued to stand in the council and achieving nothing, all the hard work would be forgotten.” http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/archive/2012/02/10/Oxford+news+%28om_oxfordnews%29/9523106.___Class_hero____councillor_to_quit/
alanjjohnstone, in a society of international socialism where the world is free we may well have decentralized governments where everyone has a share in the Council, because what's the alternative, a bureaucratic oligarchy, I don't think so.It's fair enough you are question SocialistPunk's views, though SP has not expressed any reformist views so why are you trying to make out that SP is reformist?Finally, feel free to correct me if I am wrong but, the impression I am getting, is you seem to be very much against the idea of cooperative decentralized governments. This is fair enough, as you are entitled to your opinion. Though, may I ask, what is your alternative?
If the majority of party members want us to contest in the next european election then fair enough. Though we need to ask ourselves, would standing in a european election benefit the party as much compared to what it would standing in local elections?
alanjjohnstone wrote:The project fizzled out due to the fact that reformists cannot run capitalism in the interests of our class.Is this an argument AGAINST standing at elections? Because if the party has MPs and Councilors they would be in a similar position tothe IWCA – unable to improve the conditions of the working class. "The IWCA now aims to concentrate on pushing its message through political comment, campaigning and other means. The association also runs an athletics club and is working on other priorities, including a working class history week later this year.Mr Craft added: “We are in no way giving up. If we continued to stand in the council and achieving nothing, all the hard work would be forgotten.”Good advice?A tried and failed approach?
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