Announcement comes after Laura Pidcock’s resignation yesterday
Left-winger Nadia Jama has announced that she will not be seeking reelection to Labour’s national executive. The news comes hot on the heels of Laura Pidcock’s resignation yesterday over the factional machinations of the party’s right at the expense of unity and electability.
Jama has long been targeted by the right for fighting for left causes. Skwawkbox stands in solidarity with her and Laura Pidcock.
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Time to build an alternative!
Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/33669
Posted on 27 January 2022 at 12:59 GMT
Former MP colleague of Jeremy Corbyn to stand in Birmingham Erdington by-election
photo Paul Mattsson
photo Paul Mattsson (Click to enlarge)
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) today announced that Dave Nellist is to contest the forthcoming Birmingham Erdington parliamentary by-election on behalf of the left-wing alliance. During his time as a Midlands Labour MP from 1983-1992, Dave was a backbench parliamentary colleague of Jeremy Corbyn.
Dave, who was the MP for Coventry South East for nine years and later, for 14 years, a Coventry city councillor for the Socialist Party from 1998 to 2012, was well-known during his time in parliament for only taking an ordinary worker’s wage, giving away over half of an MP’s bloated salary – currently £82,000 a year – to trade unionists and working class campaigners fighting to defend their livelihoods and communities.
Accepting the TUSC nomination for the Erdington contest, Dave said: “With Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour welcoming a Tory MP into the parliamentary party last week – while confirming Jeremy Corbyn’s exclusion from the PLP at its national executive committee meeting on January 25th – it couldn’t be clearer that the interests of Britain’s wealthy establishment will be in safe hands if and when they decide to move on from Boris Johnson’s disintegrating premiership. Starmer is so obviously not on our side”.
“In contrast, I and the rest of the TUSC coalition wholeheartedly supported Jeremy’s leadership of the Labour Party as an opportunity to put someone in Number Ten who would challenge what he called the ‘rigged system’ – in other words, capitalism – that works in the interests of a rich and powerful minority”.
“So the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, co-founded in 2010 by the late transport workers’ leader Bob Crow, adjusted its electoral activity in response, not standing candidates in either the 2017 or 2019 general elections”.
“But we also warned that the followers of Tony Blair within Labour – like Keir Starmer – didn’t support the socialist policies of taxing the rich and public ownership that are needed to overturn the ‘rigged system’ and that they would drop the Labour manifesto policies of 2017 and 2019 as soon as they had the chance”.
“And so it has come to pass, with Starmer, for example, explicitly ruling out public ownership of the big oil and gas companies even as they boost shareholder dividends from our hiked up energy bills”.
“That is why I am proud to represent TUSC in the Birmingham Erdington by-election and would urge other trade unionists, socialists and community campaigners to also consider standing for TUSC in the forthcoming local council elections in May”.
“Red Tories, Blue Tories or Yellow Tories carrying out policies against the interests of the working class majority cannot expect to be unchallenged at the ballot box”.
Dave Nellist a true inspiring socialist …..glad to see him back and has a proven track record of being a mp…Time to welcome more like Dave and Degsy..along with ken and start the war against greed and establishment politics that have brought the working-class to its knees..Many of them are old men who should be enjoying a quiet life but the sleeping giants have been forced to take the lead so SCG follow your instinct to survive and follow your socialist comrades.
Best of luck to Dave Nellist, he is an experience campaigner and perhaps the only one that can defeat both Labour and the Tories.
A man of impeccable personal and political integrity never took the full salary of an MP but only the equivalent of the salary of a a skillet factory worker.
When he was expelled from Labour in the early 1990’s he stood as an independent a nearly won the seat, the official Labour candidate winning by around a 1000 votes.
Dave Nellist doesn’t seem to have a great track record of winning in recent years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Nellist#Elections_contested
Whereas keefs’ track record of sustaining membership numbers, electoral positions and winning parliamentary votes is fucking phenomenal, isn’t it?
Stroll on…
Ys,but Dave Nellist never gifted narly 60 red-wall seats to his opponents and never made 10 Pledges that he never intended to pursue.
Dave Nellist is the proverbial ‘fresh air’ in a room with several farting elephants that everyone else fails to notice.
WEF-endorsed Labour is not Labour in the least.
qwertboi – We’ll find out in a few weeks whether the voters of Erdington agreed with you.
The new breakaway socialist will be huge. Bring it on!
As long as we support Left Wing Democratic Socialist candidates who want a grassroots, bottom up, participatory, left wing democratic socialist transformation WITH diverse working people and not Top Down, ready made programmes FOR us.
I support the average workers wage of around £39k but I think after a lifetime as a socialist (and learning so much and still learning) I think the Secret of Socialism is HONESTY.
A new Left Wing Democratic Socialist Party I believe is our best hope.
Solidarity.
A people with experience and expertise in political party management are leaving Labour… Interesting.
I see that the first time Nellist stood for the constituency
as Independent Labour he lost to the official Labour Party
coming third with Conservative second – both
obtaining around 10, 500 votes. The Labour Party
obtained around 11,900 votes.
The constituency reformed in 1997 and he obtained
around £3, 000 votes as a “Socialist Alternative”.
Things will be different this time. Starmer’s New Labour Party has lost 300k members, is bankrupt and it will be up against an army of keen eager Democratic Socialists who will be prepared to hit the streets to canvass for Nellist as the TUSC candidate.
The only way to beat the Red, Blue, Yellow Tory Cartel is to form alliances, and this is just the start, and is the future. Things will be interesting. Dromey only had a 3600 majority in 2019.
baz2001 – No problem then, ‘the left’ are famous for their unity.
I think Steve H may find that Starmer did in fact promote unity, against him!
Just for anyone else who may have gotten the PAL idea wrong, it is a waste of time, I watch 6 Minutes of socialist Telly and Thelma explaining the sickly sweet nature of PAL! It’s a nice and sweet socialist parties’ tea room, and nothing more, it is more about communication between different Socialist Parties, which is something that has been necessary for quite some time, but right now sweet and nice is an absolute bloody waste of time!
So Comrades we are back to the original choices:
This TORY who are Bastards!
That TORY who are Bastards and sabotaged GE17 & GE19 from The People!
The Green TORIES!
The Undemocratic Neoliberal TORIES!
One of the Smaller Parties!
The Loony Party, etc
Good Luck Comrades May we have the Softer of a Dreadful Nasty Bunch!
#BlueSteveH you may Gloat, I really do not care, not even in the slightest bit, be quick as I feel a Vacation Coming on!
Anyone know who the Labour PPC is for Erdington – always thought it maybe Ruth Smeeth
Sorry Ignore that just seen it is Paulette Hamilton a local councillor
I understand that Paulette Hamilton was part of the right wing Birmingham council that blacklisted union activists and discriminated against strikers in the 2017 Birmingham bin strike.
Paulette was selected out of a shortlist of just two candidates.
https://labourheartlands.com/former-left-labour-mp-dave-nellist-to-stand-against-starmers-centrist-labour-at-birmingham-erdington-by-election/
A good interview with Dave Nellist
And finally, here are details of the TUSC conference which is coming up on 6 February. There will be speakers from Unite, the Bakers Union and the RMT.
If you want to build an alternative to the Tories both Blue, Red and Yellow, then you should come along. Details here:
https://www.tusc.org.uk/17609/26-01-2022/unite-and-the-bakers-union-to-speak-at-tusc-conference
Its all very well Laura P and Jama giving up but Akehurst and co will be over the moon.
Laura and Jama are inspirational Socialists.
They will be sadly missed.
They have clearly been wasting their time in Starm-Trooper’s poisonous Labour Party.
Nellist is another star.
I used to be in awe of him when he spoke at union conferences … always a star performer … a great principled Socialist and a first-class thinker and speaker.
Paul leach youve obviously never been in a labour party mtg were everthing has been stitched up nicely before the mtg.They are not giving up just resting after banging their heads against a brick wall with no alternative onlg to leave before the usual “fit up” . and Serios consequences for anyone labeled anti Semitic racist.or anything else this fascist Labour party may dream up..The list is endless and the Labour party have ceased to be a socialist party for the working-class.We even have a establishment idiot broadcasting from his Caribbean bolt hole and hurling insults and abuse at every opportunity.This is not a Labour party but it is a force for evil “..Let Akearse and co enjoy their victory as it will be short lived with the country going into meltdown .and the neo liberal alliance having no answers only sack the “servants”
Joseph – “Paul Leach you’ve obviously never been in a labour party meeting were everything has been stitched up”
Or to put it another way – Where you are in the minority
Steve H Hall you might have a point being as most socialists and left wing have given up on the Labour party and this can only be welcomed.
A new working-class party ready to bulldoze the neoliberal Labour party into oblivion is on the horizon and you lot will start to see the results of the witchunt and AS scam on the doorstep and in the streets at the next general election.Youve gone too far and you know it because it is obvious from your bitter comments and anger.You threw the baby out with the bathwater and are now trading whilst insolvent “which is a criminal offence amongst the many that you will answer for in the bankruptcy courts.
What’s relevant is not if Akehurst will be over the moon. It’s not if SH will be over the moon. What is relevant for Jama and Pidcock is where they believe that their energies are best directed in order to advance the interests of those for whom they wish to work. Clearly, they have each decided that the majority of the NEC is working for unworthy ends and that their own energies would be better directed elsewhere. It is not difficult to assess the situation in meetings, political or work, and come to a view as to whether there is genuine debate going on or whether one can have no effect. It appears that these women have both decided that they can have no, or marginal, effect at NEC meetings. Good on them
In the 70s (the decade, not my age) I was in a CP where, I estimate, I was in a minority in debates about 80% of the time, however I never had the impression that things were stitched up. The current situation is completely different. There are bans on debate, mass expulsions ……………………….. and a leadership that is more interested in asylum-seeking dogs from Afghanistan than in opposing the aggressive actions of the US and its Ukrainian proxy in pushing the world towards further military conflict.
Let Akehurst be “over the moon”. He will have further to fall.
Well said Joseph. As somebody who has held CLP posts knows, even if your CLP is not corrupt you can still be stitched up by your Region. And most Regions are corruptly run. There is no way Labour can be saved. Let it die.
I have a few Friday morning questions for all..
Please don’t spill your tea or drop your buttered toast nor choke on your fried egg.
The new party, does it have to have the word ‘socialist’ in it?
Can we be socialist with out screaming it aloud?
Can our actions speak louder?
Thoughts?
“Podemos” doesn’t have “socialist’ in it.
But keef says he’s a socialist…🙄
Yeah and Hitler thought he was an artist.
SYRIZA – an abbreviation of Sinaspismós Rizospastikís Aristerás (Coalition of the Radical Left)
In the UK, that could be CORAL.
Things will be interesting. Dromey only had a 3600 majority in 2019.
I’m sure they will.
Given the amount of shite the ‘rags are up to their necks in, if that majority fails to increase by at the very least 75% it cannot be read in any other way than that people just aren’t interested in smarmerism; that it provides no alternative to the current shower o’ shabbite (Which, as we ALL know…)
Well Toffee, the electorate will indeed decide . They will have a clear choice, because a decent Socialist will run and he’s going to have the support of hundreds of TUSC helpers and canvassers and a good supply of money too. The voters will decide if they want to carry on with the current shit show that is Max Headroom and the Fat Bath Toy, or whether they choose a decent human being and Socialist policies. Things will be interesting.
In 2017, Dromey had the following result”
Votes for – 21571
Percentage – 58%
Majority – 7285
% lead – 19.6%
That was despite the anti-Corbyn media campaign having been in middle gear for 2 years.
Now that Labour has become “electable” we should see a significantly better performance than that this time, shouldn’t we?
goldbach – ….and there was I thinking that 2017 was the short lived high point of the Corbyn surge.
2010 – Labour vote – 14,869 (41.9%) – Majority – 3,277 (9.2%)
2015 – Labour vote – 15.824 (45.6%) – Majority – 5,129 (14.8%)
2017 – Labour vote – 21,571 (58%) – Majority – 7,285 (19.6%)
2019 – Labour vote17,720 (50.3%) – Majority – 3,601 (10.2%)
SteveH
2016 EU referendum result Birmingham, Erdington
Leave………..62.97%
Remain……. 37.03%
Turnout was 72% for the West Midlands. It was one of the most Brexity areas of the UK.
Do you seriously believe any party pushing another EU vote, before the first had been implemented would have maintained their 2017 vote share 2019’s GE?
The backdrop was three years of nothing but BREXIT, BREXIT, BREXIT dominating the TV & radio news and parliamentary game of ‘will they,won’t they’ over the referendum result. Johnson’s slogan ‘Get Brexit done’ destroyed Labour in constituencies across the Midlands and Northern England. Labour were lucky to hold on. Look what happened to the Lib Dems and Change UK(TIG),. How you can be so dishonest about 2019 and Starmer’s role?
Andy – Did any Labour constituency maintain their 2017 vote at the 2019 GE.
Goldbach……Corbyn this, Corbyn that…..His fault for this and that…..That guy lives in their tiny little pea like brains 24/7.
Fair play to him, he’s infested them like a worm. Meanwhile we shall concentrate on something else whilst the Labour Party goes bankrupt. The number of cases winging their way over the data breach will finally finish them off. I’ve been told by my lawyer that the number of cases his firm is handling is approaching a thousand.
baz2001 – Have any of these cases been lodged with the High Court yet
SteveH
“Did any Labour constituency maintain their 2017…”
After 2017’s closer than expected result, we had years of hostile coverage of the type Johnson is facing now – daily media attacks demonising Corbyn as some sort of Hitler reborn – it was outrageous and vicious character assassination. The sort of stuff that would destroy Starmer in a week were he to be subjected to it.
Labour supporters were gaslit to the point of despair and exhaustion from defending themselves.
They could be forgiven for hating the entire system in the UK, after their treatment.
And on the big election issue- Labour ‘s position on Brexit was muddled to say the least due to divisions within the PLP – London MPs were very pro-EU and everyone else was worried how that was going down.
I don’t believe you are as ignorant as you’re making out. How do you explain the LD collapse in support? Their leader lost her seat ffs.
Andy – It makes one wonder who came up with the brill idea of hiding behind ‘constructive ambiguity’ for month after bloody month instead of getting out on the airwaves selling Labour’s policy platform.
As for the LibDems I would have thought that was obvious, Jo Swinson their leader was a joke, the electorate didn’t think she was credible.
Whilst success for the TUSC will be holding onto their deposit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_Unionist_and_Socialist_Coalition#Elections
and there was I thinking that 2017 was the short lived high point of the Corbyn surge.
Care to remind us what happened in Batley & Spen, Chesham, and Salop N?? Y’know? The smarmer tsunami of support?
Thought not. DO keep quiet.
Toffee – We won 1 and lost 1 (which nobody expected us to win).
Corbyn lost
Ashfield, Barrow and Furness, Bassetlaw, Birmingham Northfield, Bishop Auckland, Blackpool South, Blyth Valley, Bolsover, Bolton North East, Bridgend, Burnley, Bury North, Bury South, Clwyd South, Coatbridge, Colne Valley, Crewe and Nantwich, Darlington, Delyn, Derby North, Dewsbury, Don Valley, Dudley North, Durham North West, East Lothian, Gedling, Glasgow North East, Great Grimsby, Heywood and Middleton, High Peak, Hyndburn, Ipswich, Keighley, Kensington, Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, Leigh, Lincoln, Midlothian, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Penistone and Stocksbridge, Peterborough, Redcar, Rother Valley, Rutherglen and Hamilton West, Scunthorpe, Sedgefield, Stockton South, Stoke-on-Trent Central, Stoke-on-Trent North, Stroud, Vale of Clwyd, Wakefield, Warrington South, West Bromwich East, West Bromwich West, Wolverhampton North East, Wolverhampton South West, Workington, Wrexham & Ynys Môn
Correction: Labour lost ……… Second referendum lost ………… “Existential threat” lost
In one of those constituencies mentioned, I have some family and a number of friends. All except 2 switched from Lab to Con. All said they did so because they wanted to leave the EU.
I wonder how many of those constituencies were also “Leave” areas.
goldbach – So they abandoned the prospect of a Corbyn led Labour government and all the profound changes that would have brought for their families and communities for many generations to come to support a RW Tory policy that was supported by RW billionaires in the US, all because they were scared of giving their fellow citizens the opportunity to change their minds.
So much for democracy and solidarity.
Yer, whatever.
Smarmer’s managed to just about hold on to Batley… just about held on to his deposit in chesham, and lost a clear 2nd place to the libtards in Salop.
Corbyn hasn’t even been a labour member for nigh-on two years.
You really need to find another excuse, preferably a relevant, if not persuasive one.
Toffee – I’m not the one making excuses.
Toffee – We won 1 and lost 1 (which nobody expected us to win).
Won one?
WON one?
Which one? Smarmer just about held Batley. In NO WAY can that be described as a“win” ffs.
And by the the way, I mentioned three not two.
At least do the good folk on here the courtesy of reading their posts before you proffer your usual bollocks.
“goldbach – ….and there was I thinking that 2017 was the short lived high point of the Corbyn surge.”
This is another really bizarre comment.
Of course it was a “high point”, despite the campaign in the media alleging Mr Corbyn was a terrorist sympathiser, a vegetarian and an odd-ball who had an allotment. The data you posted shows that to be the case. So, it would be expected that, under the supremely electable Starmer, the Labour vote would go up a significant number of percentage points.
Incidentally, the data you presented also shows that, despite the 2017-2019 vilification of Mr Corbyn by the media and the RW of the LP, and the “existential threat” nonsense, the LP still had a higher vote share in 2019 that in 2015 (when Mr Miliband was leader) or in 2010 (when Mr Brown was leader).
So what’s your point?
[I know that there are many on this site who might think that I should have asked “What’s the point of you?”]
goldbach – Having witnessed Corbyn skulking behind ‘constructive ambiguity’ for month after bloody month along with the antics of his acolytes then maybe a substantial proportion of the electorate felt let down. They began to wonder what they ever saw in JC in the first place.The problem in 2019 was that electorate had lost trust in Corbyn (he lost over 15% of the membership in the run-up to the 19GE) and they had also lost faith in Corbyn and his advisors ability to deliver.
Now, who were the architects of “constructive ambiguity” who threatened to cause chaos if the party didn’t follow that route? Surely not the RW. Must have been those wild lefties who are currently being thrown out en masse.
I assume that you were arguing in your CLP for the party to commit to Brexit. Or maybe to stay in the EU no matter what. Now, which was it?
Don’t forget he didn’t wear a tie, didn’t grovel before brenda (when he wasn’t required to by protocol) and made a big hoohah about not getting a seat on the train…
Whereas keefs’ welcome in every boozer on the planet to have several attempts at pulling a pint…He’s more forensic than CSI AND Quincy ME combined, and used to prosecute terrorists etc etc
Remember when keef was complaining he hadn’t toured the nation to improve his standing with us great unwashed?
If Fatboy hadn’t been so partial to cake, or his tart so partial to puppy dogs, then keef’d be royally bollocksed on the polls.
The ONLY reason keef enjoys a lead is BECAUSE of the fat scruff’s lies and fuckwittery, NOT DESPITE it.
So you keep saying. Who are you trying to convince, yourself?
And you’ve convinced who – despite your desperate defence of keef, combined with your not-even-veiled attacks on corbyn?
How many post(era) have agreed with you, rather than reproach you, this week?
…The week before? The month before that?
You’re as convincing as a smarmer pledge, ollies. That much is painfully obvious to stillborn mule.
Skip the bullshit, tell the truth. Stop antagonising people so that you’ll have someone to talk to in an amicable manner, you sad wastrel.
The vote was decisive enough without their presence.
As an aside:-
Starmer and his clique have beeb banging on about the need to have the full Gray Report published a.s.a.p./
Forde Report????????
goldbach – Wouldn’t that be political interference
A direct quote from Martin Forde’s letter to the NEC
“I understand there has been and, in fact have read, much ill-informed speculation about the reason for the delay. I wish to place on record that the delay has not been caused by any political interference in the drafting of the Report or its recommendations by any member of the National Executive, Parliamentary Labour Party, Party official, Party member or affiliate. In fact we have not shared even a draft of the Report with anybody outside the panel or Secretariat.”
Like you I’m disappointed the Forde Report hasn’t been released yet but I’d far rather they were absolutely certain about their wording than risk the party being sued again. Being slack about getting things passed by the legals cost us dear last time.
I seem to recall you posting a very similar comment in the past.
Half-term report: Steve must try to add greater variety to his writing.
goldbach – Yes I did. if you want to check you’ll see that I’ve actually combined 2 comments into 1.
I obviously presumed you hadn’t seen it.
Thats what a lot of us are saying
.. flying ….🐷…
“beeb” should read “been”.
Mind you ……….
Time for leftists to go the next step, resign from the labour party, not only the NEC.
Chris – I thought that most of the self appointed guardians of ‘the left’ had already left.
Never read anyone on here describe themself as a ‘guardian of the left’
Strangely enough, there’s only you uses that term.
Toffee – ….and?
….And that means YOU made up the term rather than anyone being ‘self-appointed’
Try reading back to yourself what you’ve written – With any luck it might just dawn on you that you’re as thick as fucking mince and must have everything – including your own crapulence – explained to you.
Toffee – I make no claims as to the phrase’s originality, but I do think it is an apt description.
Councillor Pamela Fitzpatrick tweets…
I was expelled by an email one afternoon. I had not had time to tell family and friends when I received a message from the senior political correspondent at the Mirror at around 9pm asking me to confirm whether I had been expelled. She had been briefed that I had.
cont..
The Chair and Secretary of Harrow West Labour Party and the Chief whip and leader of the labour group were notified at the same time as me. Why the expulsion of a lowly local councillor should be of such importance to be leaked to a national newspaper is telling.
—————-
She is dedicated to the party and was the PPC for Harrow East in 2019!
This is Starmer’s Labour in action, they behave like a bunch of RW ghouls.
Shows just how gutless they are.
Smarmer sacked an MP via a TV reporter rather than face to face. Wouldn’t even put up an appearance at the Corbyn reinstatement vote the other day.
The mantra of the Blairites is “There is no alternative” – that the Labour Party can ignore the working class.
This is why they are so furious when an alternative does develop.
This is why the pour their scorn and try to ridicule people like Dave Nellist who is creating an alternative.
They believe that the working class has nowhere else to go.
Let’s prove them wrong.
Join TUSC! Support Dave Nellist!
amnobc – You only have to look at the TUSC’s past performance to appreciate that the electorate don’t see them as a credible alternative.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_Unionist_and_Socialist_Coalition#Elections
You only need look at the last three by-elections to reach the same conclusion about smarmerite labour.
And they’ve HAD the financial means to contest those seats…You have to wonder if they’ve got the dough to contest a general election now? 🤔
And I very much doubt your vital organs are worth much, wee fella…looks like you might have to mortgage your caribbean pomme de terre if you want to see keef regain a few seats. 👍😉
Toffee – The TUSC managed to put up about 300 candidates at last year’s local elections (down from the 619 candidates that they put up in 2015). How many seats did they win?
I have every confidence that Labour will do well at the next GE, can you say the same about the TUSC?
I have never met SteveH, and don’t know anything about him. But from his comments here it appears he is a support of the Starmer Right wing leadership of the Labour Party.
Starmer and his lot want the left activisist to be the unpaid posties of the Labour movement, delivering glossy leaflets devoid of political content, on behalf of right wing careerists and Tory renigres. Or they want us, in the words of Ella Rose, to crawl into a hole and die. What they do
not want, what they can’t stand is to be challenged.
If they thought that our challenge was hopeless, they they would ignore us leave us to our futile endeavours. But they know that we are a threat to them, and their mantra that “There is no alternative” that “The working class has nowhere to go”. So again and again they tell us that we will fail, that the working class will never vote for a socialist alternative.
Let’s prove them wrong!
Come to the TUSC conference on on 6 February!
amnonbc – Unfortunately the working class found an alternative party to vote for at the 19GE, they switched their votes en mass from Labour to the Tories. For the first time ever the Conservatives could legitimately claim to be the party of the working class.
Keep your fingers crossed the TUSC may manage to hold onto their deposits this time.
The future is not necessarily a repetition of the past.
Past electoral performance is no guarantee of future performance.
So Labour dominated the northern heartlands for decades, but no more.
If you look at the actual voting figures in these seats, you will not find a massive rise in Tory votes,
but mass abstention of Labour voters. And those who did vote Tory will be disappointed by the failure of the Tories to deliver on Levelling Up. Their victory is built on sand.
Yes TUSC has received modest votes in the past. And I make no promises of glorious victories this May. It depends on the work we do. It depends on our programme. It depends on the extent to which our programme resonates with the needs and consciousness of working people. And it depends on the extent to which we are able to deliver our message to the broadest layers of the working class.
We aim to get a good vote. But we also aim to use the election to raise the consciousness for the need for a socialist alternative, and the need for a new workers party to achieve it.
amnonbc – Well like it or not at the 19GEfor the first time ever more of the working class voted Tory than voted Labour, in fact more middle class than working class voted Labour. Thankfully many of the red-wall voters are now suffering from buyers regret and the polls show that Labour will win back all but 3 of the red-wall seats,
You have put lots qualifying conditions in your comment but the only one that really matters is whether the voters think you can offer a credible alternative. You may be convinced but given your party’s current track record you’ll have a hard job convincing others that they won’t be wasting their vote or enabling another Conservative term in power.
You say that we will have a hard time, but nothing worthwhile comes easy.
The thing is that both the Conservatives and Labour are both Tory parties – both committed to the interests of “business” and to continued attacks on working people.
One of our problems is the blackout of our campaign by the capitalist and the so called “left” media.
Will Skwawkbox do an article on TUSC? Or on our Erdington campaign?