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The duo of outgoing MEPs, Howarth (Labour) and Ashworth (ex-Tory, now Gang of Independent Renegades) were also at Chesham and are due to speak at Oxford this evening, so by the end of the week they will know what the Party case is even if they don’t agree with it. I clashed with them over the powers of the European Parliament. I said it wasn’t a proper law-making body as this was the Council of Ministers of the Member States. They both protested but afterwards Ashworth partially conceded that I had been right. In fact these elections should see the demise of the so-called “Change UK” party. Good riddance. One less reformist party.
Also at Chesham was the squabbling between the Greens and the LibDems. They needn’t worry. They’ll both get elected. Ashworth is the one who should be (and presumably is) worried as he’s very likely to lose his seat.
Apologies for this bourgeois politics trainspotting.
Well over 100 people at the hustings in Chesham (Bucks) yesterday evening. Like the others (except the one tonight at a university in Canterbury) it was organised by a pro-Remain group, seemingly with the purpose of allowing Remain supporters to decide which of the Remain party lists to vote for, with the Labour candidate (an outgoing MEP) saying that he too was a Remainer and favoured a second referendum. This made the Tories and us outsiders and may be why the Brexit Party candidate withdrew at the last moment. As Mike reported for Banbury, all six parties, including us, were given strictly equal time (as it should be).
The audience gave the Tory representative a hard time and even we were heckled for saying that Brexit wasn’t that worth getting worked up about since, if it happened, it wouldn’t make much difference to people’s everyday life (a bit provocative, I know, given the nature of the audience) as capitalism would continue. Still, it was a chance to put the case against capitalism and for socialism and our views on climate change and mass population movements.
It was chaired by a journalist from BBC Three Counties Radio who also interviewed me. Two of the counties (Beds and Herts) are outside the South East Election Region, not that that matters. Far from it, as it spreads our views wider than we anticipated. I also distributed a few leaflets door-to-door. Chesham wasn’t what I expected (a country town) as where I was leafletting there was a huge mosque, so there’ll be plenty of poor people around doing shitty local jobs rather than commuting to work in London.
Yesterday was also the day that the 185,000 inserts were to go into the South edition of the i paper. We know they did (even if upside down and back to front) as we received a couple of emails at Head Office. Also, confirmation from the paper bought in various parts of the South East Region. It was also in copies sold in the South West.
Banbury is ok as the Party activist there will be leafletting an area in a different district council in Oxfordshire (as he’ll be counting the votes in Banbury). So there’s no danger of double-leafletting.
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.
