SPEW and elections
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If we were a centralist top-down party with a leadership that could tell branches what to do, we could have contested dozens of seats across the country. But — fortunately — we are not and if the branches in the North, the Midlands and the West Country don’t want or don’t feel up to contesting elections so be it. Personally I think that’s a pity.
Admittedly SPEW is bigger than us but they have greater expectations from contesting elections at the moment than we do. For us it’s mainly a chance to get our views across. They want to build a “new workers party” and influence the policy of the capitalist state. By that standard they fail more than we do.
They’ve actually done something quite clever with TUSC: basically, it’s just a franchise/brand, and anyone can stand as a TUSC candidate, as long as they agree with the platform approved by the steering committee, so they don’t need a network of branches or a top down bureaucracy.
Of course, this is classic front work, so, while they ostensibly aren’t in complete control of the situation, in practice they control all the co-ordinating levers. But it does point to a slightly different way of doing politics (though, I suspect, this is more like how US political parties operate, individuals and groups campaign under the brand umbrella, as compared to the European mass membership party model).
I thought I would check what the SWP said for these elections and it’s still the same as ever:
“In most places socialists will have to vote Labour”
Other political groups can have a large membership but their political principles are totally incorrect and they always call for the continuation of capitalism, therefore, they align themselves with the minority class
A comrade has sent in this leaflet with the comment: This is from the Young [Sic]ialists’ programme for the Xmas bazaar. As usual, they con local shops to donate.
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