{"id":1540,"date":"2009-06-10T15:35:07","date_gmt":"2009-06-10T20:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cloggie.org\/wissewords2\/?p=1540"},"modified":"2009-06-10T15:35:07","modified_gmt":"2009-06-10T20:35:07","slug":"an-open-letter-from-the-swp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cloggie.org\/wissewords2\/2009\/06\/10\/an-open-letter-from-the-swp\/","title":{"rendered":"An open letter from the SWP"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nIn this crisis and with the BNP victorious the left must unite says the SWP<\/a>:\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nAn open letter to the left from the Socialist Workers Party (SWP)\n<\/p>\n

\nLabour\u2019s vote collapsed to a historic low in last week\u2019s elections as the right made gains. The Tories under David Cameron are now set to win the next general election.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe British National Party (BNP) secured two seats in the European parliament. Never before have fascists achieved such a success in Britain.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe result has sent a shockwave across the labour and anti-fascist movements, and the left.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe meltdown of the Labour vote and the civil war engulfing the party poses a question \u2013 where do we go from here?\n<\/p>\n

\nThe fascists pose a threat to working class organisations, black, Asian and other residents of this country \u2013 who BNP f\u00fchrer Nick Griffin dubs \u201calien\u201d \u2013 our civil liberties and much else.\n<\/p>\n

\nHistory teaches us that fascism can be fought and stopped, but only if we unite to resist it.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe SWP firmly believes that the first priority is to build even greater unity and resistance to the fascists over the coming months and years.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe BNP believes it has created the momentum for it to achieve a breakthrough. We have to break its momentum.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe success of the anti-Nazi festival in Stoke and the numbers of people who joined in anti-fascist campaigning shows the basis is there for a powerful movement against the Nazis.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Nazis\u2019 success will encourage those within the BNP urging a \u201creturn to the streets\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\nThis would mean marches targeting multiracial areas and increased racist attacks. We need to be ready to mobilise to stop that occurring.\n<\/p>\n

\nGriffin predicted a \u201cperfect storm\u201d would secure the BNP\u2019s success. The first part of that storm he identified was the impact of the recession.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe BNP\u2019s policies of scapegoating migrants, black and Asian people will divide working people and make it easier to drive through sackings, and attacks on services and pensions.\n<\/p>\n

\nUnity is not a luxury. It is a necessity. If we do not stand together we will pay the price for a crisis we did not cause.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe second lesson from the European elections is that we need a united fightback to save jobs and services.\n<\/p>\n

\nIf Cameron is elected he will attempt to drive through policies of austerity at the expense of the vast majority of the British people.\n<\/p>\n

\nBut the Tories\u2019 vote fell last week and they are nervous about pushing through attacks.\n<\/p>\n

\nShadow chancellor George Osborne told business leaders, \u201cAfter three months in power we will be the most unpopular government since the war.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\nWe need to prepare for battle.\n<\/p>\n

\nBut there is a third and vital issue facing the left and the wider working class. The crisis that has engulfed Westminster benefited the BNP.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe revelations of corruption, which cabinet members were involved in, were too much for many Labour voters, who could not bring themselves to vote for the party.\n<\/p>\n

\nOne answer to the problem is to say that we should swallow everything New Labour has done and back it to keep David Cameron, and the BNP, out.\n<\/p>\n

\nYet it would take a miracle for Gordon Brown to be elected back into Downing Street.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe danger is that by simply clinging on we would be pulled down with the wreckage of New Labour.\n<\/p>\n

\nMark Serwotka, the general secretary of the PCS civil service workers\u2019 union, has asked how, come the general election, can we ask working people to cast a ballot for ministers like Pat McFadden.\n<\/p>\n

\nMcFadden is pushing through the privatisation of the post office.\n<\/p>\n

\nSerwotka proposes that trade unions should stand candidates.\n<\/p>\n

\nThose who campaigned against the BNP in the elections know that when they said to people, \u201cDon\u2019t vote Nazi\u201d they were often then asked who people should vote for.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe fact that there is no single, united left alternative to Labour means there was no clear answer available.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe European election results demonstrate that the left of Labour vote was small, fragmented and dispersed.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Greens did not make significant gains either. The mass of Labour voters simply did not vote. We cannot afford a repeat of that.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe SWP is all too aware of the differences and difficulties involved in constructing such an alternative.\n<\/p>\n

\nWe do not believe we have all the answers or a perfect prescription for a left wing alternative.\n<\/p>\n

\nBut we do believe we have to urgently start a debate and begin planning to come together to offer such an alternative at the next election, with the awareness that Gordon Brown might not survive his full term.\n<\/p>\n

\nOne simple step would be to convene a conference of all those committed to presenting candidates representing working class interests at the next election.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe SWP is prepared to help initiate such a gathering and to commit its forces to such a project.\n<\/p>\n

\nWe look forward to your response.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nBut with the examples of the Respect party and Socialist Alliance fresh in their memory, will the rest of the socialist left trust the SWP not sabotage any new regrouping again? Deservedly or not the party does have a reputation of using coalitions only for their own ends, ending them when they no longer seem to gain from them or they might lose control of it. The party needs to show that they’re serious about this open letter before anybody else will want to work with them on anything but a case by case basis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this crisis and with the BNP victorious the left must unite says the SWP: An open letter to the left from the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) Labour\u2019s vote collapsed to a historic low in last week\u2019s elections as the right made gains. The Tories under David Cameron are now set to win the next […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[411,779],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-british-left","category-fascists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloggie.org\/wissewords2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloggie.org\/wissewords2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloggie.org\/wissewords2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloggie.org\/wissewords2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloggie.org\/wissewords2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1540"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cloggie.org\/wissewords2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1541,"href":"https:\/\/cloggie.org\/wissewords2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1540\/revisions\/1541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloggie.org\/wissewords2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloggie.org\/wissewords2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloggie.org\/wissewords2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}