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Here is James Heartfield’s defence of standing for the Brexit Party and calling for a vote for it. He doesn’t seem to realise that he is being used by those capitalists who financed the Leave campaign and are financing the Brexit Party and who want to escape completely from EU regulation of their financial dealings (and want the UK to align with US regulatory conditions rather than EU ones). They want every vote they can get even those of naïve Lexiteers.
It’s the same with the Greens. All their leaflets feature Caroline Lucas prominently. Another cult of the personality but then people can list less Green Party politicians than they can famous Belgians.
Anton Pruden, another of our candidates, was interviewed, also briefly, this afternoon in Brighton for BBC East TV. East, you ask? It’s because, for the BBC, Milton Keynes is in their East region. It will be broadcast next Sunday after the Andrew Marr show on “Look East. Politics on Sunday”. Unless you are in that region (East Anglia, Cambridge, etc) I don’t think you will be able to see it (you’ll get some other local politics programme) but you can, apparently, via the internet. Don’t ask me how, perhaps someone here can explain what you have to do.
PoliQuads, an online magazine, has published an issue on UBI with contributions from two comrades, one from the Indian party. It is here:
https://www.poliquads.com/articles/categories/universal-basic-income
You have to sign up to read it, but don’t have to pay.
Incidentally, comrades have also contributed to previous issues, on cannabis legalisation, anti-fascism and China.
As arranged, the election communications were delivered to the 3 Royal Mail postal centres concerned this morning. Delivery to households in the six constituencies will start from tomorrow. Only hiccup was that the printers delivered 500 short for Canterbury and 200 short for Dover. So that’s still 314,300 of the intended 315,000.
The areas where the election communications will be delivered are the Westminster constituencies of:
Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone & Hythe, Maidstone & the Weald, Brighton Pavilion, and Oxford East.
If you live in any of these areas look out for them and let us know that you got one.
I meant to put last week this what can only be described as a “prayer” which the Extinction Rebellion activists were handing out in the May Day event in Southampton we went to:
Let’s take a moment, this moment, to
consider why we are here.
Let’s remember our love, for this beautiful
planet that feeds, nourishes and sustains us.
Let’s remember our love for the whole
of humanity in all corners of the world.
Let’s recollect our sincere desire to
protect all this, for ourselves, far all living
beings, and for generations to come.
As we act today, may we find the
courage to bring a sense of peace, love and
appreciation to everyone we encounter,
to every word we speak and to every action we make. We are here for all of us.
EXTINCTION REBELLIONI am beginning to wonder whether there isn’t some spiritual sect behind it (the organisers, I mean, not most of the followers).
Something here on another of our opponents, the Independent, Michael Turberville. He is standing as a “pro-EU independent” and stood for parliament in 2010 and 2017 in Reading East and also for the local council. He should know about us as, in the 2014 Euroelections, Reading East was one of the Westminster constituencies where we had Royal Mail deliver our manifesto.
The usual one of spgb at worldsocialism.org
The ones misprinted as WOLD SOCIALISM should only be used in Tory shires or where the Green Party is strong.
The Euroelections and the rise of the Brexit Party face Lexiteers with the dilemma of whether or not to vote for Farage’s Brexit Party.
Some like George Galloway have chosen to support Farage’s new party. Others have even agreed to stand for it, such as ex-RCPer Claire Fox. Another ex-RCPer, James Heartfield (who has gone on record as voting for us in a local election) is also a Brexit Party candidate (in Yorkshire).
Others can’t bring themselves to do this and are advocating abstention. The Communist Party of Britain has put forward the slogan “Boycott the EU elections”, stating that “they are sham elections for a sham ‘parliament'” The Trotskyites of Workers Hammer take the same line, chanting: “Down with there EU! No participation in its pseudo-parliament!”
Meanwhile “Stand Up To Racism” are urging “Use our vote to stop racist, far right UKIP”. Since they are saying to use your vote this amounts to saying Vote for Anyone But UKIP not excluding the Brexit Party if you want. In fact one of their leaflets says as much:
“Whether you are Leave or Remain, these people are vile racist. Don’t vote for them”
In so far as the elections are a proxy referendum, this could affect the outcome (or, rather, the arguments about who did best) in that the 2-3% of votes cast that the Lexiteers will have brought the Leave side in 2016 could well have been what enabled them to cross the winning line.
We have some stickers at Head Office saying “I WANT WOLD SOCIALISM” for members and others to use at election time when there is no Socialist Party candidate standing. There is still a roll of them left from a previous election. If anyone would like one (or more) email Head Office with your postal address.
Six members and sympathisers were out yesterday for our stall at the Levellers Day event in Burford. As this is an olde worlde village of antique shops and tea rooms we didn’t see it as a priority to leaflet locally. However, plans were laid to leaflet Chipping Norton and Woodstock as more suitable places in Oxfordshire, outside Oxford itself, to leaflet.
In Burford we concentrated exclusively on letting the leftwingers who had come for the Levellers event know that we standing in the area. This was the first occasion that the manifesto itself (that arrived in Head Office on Thursday) was handed out. Pamphlet sales too including the new ones on Pankhurst, Luxemburg and Martov.
Here’s the details of the street stall in Reading from 2pm on Saturday 18 May: outside the Broad Street entrance to the Oracle Shopping Centre, RG1 2AG.
Meanwhile Reading Quakers have sent all parties standing in the election a questionnaire about the EU and its policies. Here is our reply.
Thanks. Despite what it says, we have not had an invitation, but we are arranging to get one and will be represented.
Disappointing turnout at the OCC meeting last night on the options, for socialists, of how to vote in the Euroelections. The speaker discussed 4 and mentioned a fifth: Brexit Party (for those who saw it as important for political democracy that the result of a referendum should be respected), spoiling the ballot paper (for those who saw the issue as trivial and the election as meaningless), the SPGB (for those who want to affirm that they wanted socialism), or the Labour Party (to set down a marker for a win in the next general election). The fifth would be to vote Green (for those who thought it was better for the working class if the UK stayed in the EU). He himself favoured a vote for the Labour Party on the grounds that, led by people like Corbyn and McDonnell, this would be the most favourable situation ever to show whether (or not) a Labour government could start out on the road to socialism.
The chairman said he would vote for the SPGB. Mike, for us, refuted the view that the Labour Party had anything to with socialism or that a Corbyn Labour government could or would favour progress towards socialism. Others in the audience were sceptical about this too but still intended voting Labour.
The date and details of the big hustings, organised by the European Movement, have been finalised. They are: Friday 17 May from 7pm-9pm, Wesley Memorial Church, New Inn Hall Street, Oxford OX1 2DH. The church can hold 200 people and as Oxford is a Remain stronghold so there should be a big turnout. Mike will again represent us.
Before the meeting some 500 leaflets were distributed in Oxford West, chosen because Royal Mail will be distributing 50,000 of our leaflet in Oxford East. As it happened the area we chose (Jericho) seemed to be a LibDem stronghold with their Stop Brexit posters in at least one house in every other street.
A street stall is planned in the centre of Oxford (Carfax) for Wednesday 15 May from 3pm.
What do people make of this, from “The Communist Party of Great Britain Marxist-Leninist” (not to be confused with “The Communist Party of Britain Marxist-Leninist which is openly chauvinist)?
https://www.cpgb-ml.org/2019/05/07/news/galloway-farage-brexit-party-eu-election/
“Let us state unequivocally that we think Galloway made the correct decision to stand against Scottish independence, and now correctly stands against the EU when he calls for a one-time-only vote for the Brexit party in EU elections, which Britain should not be taking part in at all, in view of the “critical situation we have reached with the implementation of the Brexit referendum”.
Are they calling for a “one-time-only vote for the Brexit party” or simply stating unequivocally that Galloway is correct to call for this? Is there a difference?
