Date: Thu, 7 Mar 1996 11:15:53 GMT
From: Steve Wallis <S.Wallis-AT-mmu.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Scargill's SLP - which way for a new party?


Carlos wrote:

> This quote marks precisely my question: wouldn't be better to build
> the Socialist Alliances as a pressure united front of all
> socialists and its allies in Britain to push for acceptance in the
> SLP instead of building a competitor socialist party that will
> exacerbate the party "nationalism" of Scargill's forces?
>
> I seems to me that Militant Labour and its allies will be better
> off if the find the way to fuse their socialist activism with the
> tradeunion forces around Scargill than competing with him purely
> on organizational grounds.  In that sense, Martin Ralph's article
> seemed a little bit too impatient, IMHO.

We (in Militant Labour and others in the socialist alliances) are not
posing the alliances as competitors to the SLP - on the contrary, we
want the SLP to participate in these alliances.  In my local socialist
alliance (Greater Manchester), which is starting to get off the
ground, the SLP are indeed participating (as is Martin Ralph
incidentally).

We do not intend the alliances to be talking shops to merely exert
pressure on the SLP (maybe I have misunderstood Carlos and this is not
what he was proposing), but as bodies to coordinate joint activity and
help build support for specific campaigns (whether initiated by one of
the participating organisations, the alliance itself, or any other
body such as an anti-deportation campaign), support workers in
struggle (e.g. the Liverpool dockers), and to coordinate standing in
elections (some alliances, but not the Greater Manchester one yet,
have decided to stand candidates in elections themselves; they should
at least seek to ensure that different socialist organisations that
intend to stand in local and/or parliamentary elections - such as
Militant Labour and the SLP - do not stand against each other).

The SLP does not seem to have many activists on the ground, even
though they can organise quite big rallies (due to Scargill's personal
popularity).  Their restrictive constitution already seems to be
acting as quite a big barrier to their growth.  It may not take them
long to adopt an inclusive constitution, in which case the alliances
could merge with the SLP.  On the other hand, it may take longer - and
the best way of persuading them is to show in practice that a federal
structure can work.

Militant Labour rejects the idea that these alliances should be
wishy-washy bodies that are not clearly socialist (which seems to be
Martin Ralph's position).  There is a clear need - and huge potential
- for a new mass socialist party due to the big vaccuum created by
Labour's shift to the right.  The Aims & Objectives of the Scottish
Socialist Alliance include the replacement of capitalism with a system
based on the public ownership of the key sectors of the economy,
democratically organised for the benefit of all (I can't remember the
precise wording but it's something like this), and this certainly does
not seem to be putting people off, judging by the 400 (mainly
youthful) people who attended the meeting that launched the Scottish
Socialist Alliance - including representatives from a broad range of
organisations.

> My question goes precisely to the core of the needs of the general
> movement of the working class and its interests now in Britain,
> rather than a wrestling match between Socialist Alliances and the
> SLP that, obviously, no one can win without damaging, maybe
> mortally, itself.  As the American say is not a case "of shooting
> oneself in the foot".

The last thing the left needs in Britain today is another wrestling
match between different socialist organisations.  This is certainly
not what Militant Labour intends - and we are proving it in deeds
(e.g. by canvassing for the SLP in Hemsworth).

Steve.

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   /----------+ Centre for Policy Modelling,         Email: S.Wallis-AT-mmu.ac.uk
   \/\  Steve | Manchester Metropolitan University,    Tel: (+44) 161 247 3884
\    / Wallis | Aytoun Building, Aytoun St.,           Fax: (+44) 161 247 6802
 \/\/---------+ Manchester M1 3GH, UK.        http://www.fmb.mmu.ac.uk/~stevew


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