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One of the things that happens when you contest a general election is that the candidate gets inundated with emails from pressure groups and single-issue campaigners with requests to say where you stand on a particular issue. Our candidate in Clapham and Brixton Hill has had emails asking, among other things, to support the decriminalisation of sex work and to take action against the cost-of-living crisis.
They are being sent the following standard reply:
“The Socialist Party is standing a candidate in this election solely on the basis of creating a world of common and democratic ownership of the productive wealth of society, so that we will no longer need buying and selling and will instead produce to meet the needs of all members of society.
We are not standing to administer or govern in a capitalist society.
If elected, and we do not have the majority we need to make this fundamental transformation of society, our candidate will vote on issues as agreed by the members of our party based upon the interests of the working class under capitalism.”An interview with Jeremy Corbyn, billed as “a socialist MP”:
https://jacobin.com/2024/06/jeremy-corbyn-independent-parliament-election
There’s some revealing stuff here about past negotiations to end the war:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/06/15/world/europe/ukraine-russia-ceasefire-deal.html
Kent and Sussex branch report:
“Our election address is due to go to royal mail on Monday for 47,200 letter boxes and the first of 6000 copies of the “Let’s end” flyer have started being delivered in our 2 target wards. In between rain storms we plan to get as many out as possible before postal voting starts.”
Here’s the flyer they refer to:
https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/FolkestoneGE2024-LEA2-V1.pdf
More on our independent reformist opponent in Clapham and Brixton Hill:
https://www.voteforjonkeyinclaphamandbrixtonhill.co.uk/
He’s just offering more of the same, not even to fix potholes in SW4.
It’s up here too now:
The Russian army may be capturing Gulyapole soon and its museum to Nestor Makhno. That will send these “anarchists” into a real spin.
Here it is. Folkestone and Hythe election communication:
This link can be used by members on social media to give it a wider circulation.
Here’s the election communication of our candidate in Clapham and Brixton Hill:
48,000 have been printed. 47,700 will be delivered to Royal Mail on Monday for free distribution to households in the constituency.
The link to the election address of our candidate in Folkestone and Hythe follows in due course.
The debate in the Weekly Worker letter column between us and them continues in this week’s issue:
This bears recording separately. It’s the election statement of the TUSC candidate in Folkestone and Hythe.
“As a familiar face with extensive local knowledge, I was particularly saddened by the closure of our Grace Hill library, where I spent countless hours studying as a teenager and reading to my children as a mother.
As a local resident and a teacher, I understand the grievances of our local community well, as they are my grievances too. We face long GP waiting times, the inability to get appointments when needed, a shortage of affordable rental accommodation, and a lack of quality council homes. Our secondary schools struggle with providing a high standard of education, and we endure the unacceptable issue of sewage being discharged onto our beaches. If elected, I will ensure these critical issues are brought to the forefront of government discussions.
I am standing for the marginalised and young people of this beautiful town. For far too long, we have been ignored by the political elite and mislead to believe the choice is between the two. It is the political underdogs who drive real change. I stand firmly against the genocide being committed in Gaza with the blessing of the powerful. I demand an immediate end to this violent campaign. We do not have to accept the status quo. Let’s work together to challenge the present power structure.
As a TUSC candidate, I am anti-war and anti-austerity. I am committed to improving the lives of the marginalised and the young in our community. Together, we can build a brighter future for Folkestone & Hythe.”
Photos of the candidates in Folkestone and Hythe and other things about them can be found here:
https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/elections/CT19%205SB/50039782/
Look especially at the completely conventional and reformist statement of the TUSC, not a single mention of either capitalism or socialism (which of course is good). She sounds as if she might not even be a member of SPEW.
https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/person/116971/momtaz-khanom
We need to send this site our candidate’s manifesto.
I don’t think the third or indeed any of the candidates has to go through. One of them can withdraw in favour of another. This will be why there is a two-week delay between the two rounds of elections — to allow deals to be done in smoke-filled rooms.
I think the bar is 12.5%, one eighth. Which means that in theory 7 candidates could go through.
The Green Party is promising all sorts of goodies to be financed by taxing the rich more. George Monbiot asks
“How did we end up with a situation in which none of this is Labour policy?”
At one time it would have been and was. After WW1 the Labour Party set out to gradually change capitalism into a better society for workers through social reforms and nationalisations. But instead of Labour Party changing capitalism it was capitalism that changed Labour Party. The experience of being in government under capitalism, when they had to apply its economic law that priority must be given to profits and conditions for profit-making, made them more realistic and eventually to accept this. Today the only change they want is to replace the Tories in office while leaving everything else basically the same.
The same fate awaits the Greens if ever they came into office. And has in Germany. So Monbiot’s advice to vote Green in certain constituencies is urging people to go down a dead end.
Incidentally, the Greens are promising to stay in the NATO war alliance — a good start on the road that leads to nowhere.
Anyway, here’s what he writes:
Chinese capitalist expansionism in South America:
And some leftwing groups like this one still think that China is somehow “socialist”.
Webinar: China proves that a new world is possible! Delegates report back from China
