Developing RESPECT
Will McMahon
The Socialist Unity Network
welcomed the formation of Respect and its campaign in the 2004 European
Elections. There were some very good results achieved particularly in
London and the West Midlands. Respect is the only left electoral
coalition that operates across England and will, unless there are
dramatic developments in the labour movement, be leading the left
challenge to New Labour at the next General Election. Respect now has a
membership of 3,300 and this is likely to grow in the run up to the 2005
General Election. It is possible, but not definite, that in the next
year it will surpass the Green Party (England) membership.
For Respect to
succeed it will need to develop as a vibrant and democratic coalition
that will be able to combined campaigning élan and know-how with a
transparent democratic internal life that is part of any successful left
wing organisation. Both are essential ingredients for success. The SUN
will participate in Respect and support it with the expectation that
both of these ingredients will be taken for granted by all as the formal
structures are decided upon at the conference later in 2004.
Whilst Respect may
be the main England wide coalition the SUN recognises that this does not
make it the leadership body for the whole of the left. The participation
of Mark Serwotka and support of RMT and FBU branches show what is
possible but there are still significant trade union leaders and
tens of thousands of trade union militants and left activists who, while
looking for a left alternative to New Labour, are unconvinced that
Respect is that alternative.
The proof of the
pudding will be in the eating. If Respect is not known as campaigning
(rather than electoralist) and democratically structured and governed
from below by its members (as opposed to the bureaucratic in whatever
form) then it will not succeed. These are surely the lessons of both the
Labour Party and other left wing alternatives of the 20th
century.
The SUN recognises
that those committed socialist not yet convinced by Respect will be
forming networks and campaigns that are also aimed at forming a left
alternative to New Labour. This may take the form of a network of local
socialist groups in towns and cities across the country and in trade
union left activists organising networks for a socialist alternative to
New Labour. Our hope is that these will be non-sectarian and have as
their focus the building a class alternative to Blairism rather than
engaging in conflict with Respect. The SUN will participate in such
non-sectarian developments and work for co-operation between them and
also with Respect.
The SUN believes
that, exceptional developments aside, it will not be possible to launch
a united left challenge in the 2005 General Election. To obtain a
broadcast Respect will have to stand in around 90 seats. Without doubt,
others will stand as socialist or left candidates in many places. Our
hope is for the maximum possible vote for all left candidates. Our
belief is that it should be an aim for the left to field a united left
challenge at the 2009/10 General Election. This is both possible and
desirable. It is likely that such a challenge will be a result of unity
developed between Respect and other electoral alternatives – perhaps
even an entirely new organisation, of which Respect will form a part,
based on the labour movement. Such a development will be in part the
product of three elements. First, the development of local grass roots
community campaigning that have recently produced good local election
results in Walsall, Preston, Swindon and Hackney to mention just a few.
Second, the extension of the political fund debate across the trade
union movement. Third, the development of a united left campaign against
the European constitution and/or on other key issues.
If we do not
succeed the danger we face is twofold. First, that our electoral system
mimics that of the United States with the historic chance to build a
radical left alternative lost for at least a generation. The window of
opportunity that we are currently presented with will not stay open
forever. Second, that such a failure to develop a united left
alternative will leave the way open for the far and extreme right in a
period when life for working class people will be made ever more
insecure by the Blairite neo-liberal onslaught on welfare provision and
collective social insurance.
The SUN aims to
provide a site and publications where activists can debate out these
issues in a comradely and straightforward fashion and campaign on issue
where we find common purpose. We hope, with others, to be part of a
process that will transcend the past practice of the left that seemed to
specialise in sectarian in fighting and a refusal to properly debate the
issues out. We reject both the methods of the post 1945 large far left
groups that denounced minorities who don’t agree as sectarians and those
of the small groups who place their interests above the interest of the
working class as a whole.
Despite the many
difficulties that we face we remain optimistic that a left-wing working
class party that challenges neo-liberalism can be built in the next five
years or so. We welcome discussion, correspondence and joint campaigning
with anyone who shares this aim with us and the sentiments expressed in
the statement above.
June 2004