Weekly Worker 569 Thursday March 24 2005

Towards a republican socialist alliance

The Socialist Alliance is an organisation that refuses to die, says Dave Craig of the Revolutionary Democratic Group. Rasputin-like, it was first poisoned, then stabbed three times and finally shot - repeatedly. On February 5 the SWP pronounced the last rites and the corpse was buried. But, just when you think it is all over, the coffin lid is thrown open and out climbs another Socialist Alliance. Easter Sunday is therefore time to celebrate the resurrection of a basic idea - socialists must work together in alliance for common aims which further the interests of the working class

On March 12 the socialist unity conference in Birmingham voted to relaunch the SA in the autumn. A provisional committee was elected to prepare for the refounding conference. But before getting too carried away we have to ask whether there is any basis in reality for such an initiative. Might this just be nostalgia? If there is no objective basis for relaunching the SA then all the best efforts and good intentions will come to nought. Try as we might, nothing will grow.

A few comrades cannot rebuild the SA by will power alone. On the other hand, if the objective situation is right then even a few people can raise our sails and catch a fair wind that will carry us in the right direction. Therefore we must begin by asking what are the key factors facing the working class movement at the present time? Does the re-launch of the SA intersect with the real situation? If the answer is yes, we will be able to make real progress. If no - then relaunching the SA will simply be flogging a dead horse.

The overriding factor in the current situation facing the working class movement is the urgent need for a republican socialist party. This arises from the problems of capitalism, the crisis of constitutional monarchy and the need for the working class to have its own independent politics. The slogan of a republican socialist party links political demands with economic issues and ties these to the political organisation of the class.

First, the war in Iraq and the mass anti-war movement has served to highlight a growing crisis of democracy in the UK. The constitution provides no defence of our civil rights and freedoms, which are under threat from the ‘war on terrorism’. Neither is it a barrier to the encroachments by the Blair government, as it concentrates and centralises more power into the hands of the executive. Labour’s constitutional changes have made the system more unstable. At the same time there is a growing sense of powerlessness and alienation amongst working people. This is reflected in the declining proportion of people voting in elections. The crisis of democracy opens up a threat or danger from the fascist right. It demands a democratic, republican response from the left.

Second is the crisis of capitalism. Internationally the situation in the Middle East and Africa shows the practical consequences of privatisation, debt burden and poverty on the lives of millions of people. In this part of the world the proportion of people living below $2 a day increased in the 1990s from 25% to 30% (Solidarity March 17). The plan to privatise the Iraqi oil industry has led to the deaths of over 100,000 people. In Britain, with over 12 million living in poverty, the attack on workers’ rights is now focusing on pensions. Private sector pensions have already been eroded. But public sector workers who account for 17% of the total wage bill still have 36% of the pension rights. This fact alone puts them in the front line of the battle between poverty and profit. It demands socialist answers.

Third, we have seen the collapse of working class political representation. Traditionally the organised working class was represented through the Labour Party and the CPGB. The trade union bureaucracy supported Labour and working class militants backed the CPGB. Over the last 15 years these forms of class representation have collapsed. The Labour Party has moved well to the right and occupied the ground originally held by the Tory Party. The CPGB was liquidated. The political vacuum on the left is massive.

Yet the socialist movement has been unable to fill this space by creating a new working class party. The situation is analogous to the period at the end of the 19th century when the trade unions were tied to the Liberal Party. This required a break with tradition and the formation of a new party. Since 1997 the experience of the liberal-capitalist Labour government has convinced trade union activists that Labour is opposed to their interests and works for the benefit of big business.

The RMT and FBU are no longer affiliated and other unions are reducing their financial support for the Labour Party. The fact that trade unions are breaking with Labour shows the potential for a new mass working class party. But the socialist movement remains weak and fragmented. It is divided between socialists inside and outside the Labour Party. The socialist and Marxist groups outside have been unable to form a united party. Socialist unity is therefore an important element in the current politics of the left.

The fight for a democratic republic and against poverty points in one obvious direction. We need a republican socialist party. It is only in Scotland that this need has been met by the formation of the Scottish Socialist Party. The SSP is a republican socialist party albeit under the influence of Scottish nationalism. Over the last few years republicanism has come to play a much more important role in SSP politics. Now the demand for a Scottish republic is given much greater emphasis in the Declaration of Calton Hill and the independence convention.

The SSP is a direct result of the crisis of democracy in Scotland. Thatcher’s poll tax was imposed on Scotland. Resistance to the hated tax gave a real boost to the democratic movement in Scotland. It led eventually to a Scottish parliament and the adoption of proportional representation. These were key factors in the launch of the party. But it has not exhausted or solved the crisis of democracy. The SSP is the party of socialist unity in Scotland with rights of platform and tendency. It has filled the vacuum in Scottish politics to the left of the Labour Party. It has begun to get the backing of trade unions such as the RMT.

This stands in stark contrast to the situation in England and Wales. Despite the common need for a republican socialist party, the left has made no real moves in that direction. In part this can be explained by economism. The left in England does not recognise the centrality of the political struggle. It simply does not understand the need for a democratic secular republic. Instead the left is wedded to the conservative ideology of economism, which is either hostile to the democratic republic or at best indifferent. On the right this tails the old Labourite politics of social reform. On the left it rejects militant republicanism in favour of abstract revolutionism.

So, whilst the working class movement needs a republican socialist party, the left in England is ideologically incapable of meeting that need. This brings us back to the question of a socialist alliance. Over the last couple of decades Labour has produced a series of rebels who have left or been thrown out. We can mention a few: Dave Nellist, Arthur Scargill, Ken Livingstone and George Galloway. Less well known are comrades such as Dave Church, Liz Davies and John Nicholson. All played a role in national or local Labour politics.

Quite rightly the Marxist movement attempted to link up and develop some form of unity and common politics with this anti-Labour movement. This began with the Socialist Alliance (mark one), the Socialist Labour Party and then from 1999 came the Socialist Alliance (mark two). By the 2001 general election we had achieved a high level of socialist unity and stood over 90 candidates against Labour in the general election.
The Socialist Alliance in 2000-2001 showed that it was possible for major components of the left in England to cooperate in an open and democratic way. But there must be no nostalgia for this. It was unity on a false basis. It was not for unity in building a republican socialist party. On the contrary, the Socialist Workers Party wanted no more than an electoral front. It was hostile or indifferent to republicanism and opposed the fight for a new workers’ party. Economistic politics doomed the SA to irrelevance. The war in Iraq exposed economism and finally destroyed the SA (mark two).

However, this does not end the epoch of alliances between socialists. The socialist movement in England is in a period of confusion, disorientation, splits and realignments. This is a process out of which a new class party will emerge. We should not get demoralised by all the setbacks, which such a process inevitably throws up. One failed socialist alliance will surely lead to another - and another, until a new working class party can be formed.

Now we have two socialist alliances. The SA majority formed Respect, the Unity Coalition. The SWP, International Socialist Group and CPGB linked up with George Galloway. We also have the Socialist Green Unity Coalition, involving the Socialist Party, Alliance for Workers’ Liberty, the Alliance for Green Socialism and the SA Democracy Platform.

We can trace the process since the high point of socialist unity in 2000-2001. The SP left the SA. The majority of the SA teamed up with George Galloway. Workers Power left the SA. The minority of the SA formed the SADP, calling for a workers party. The SP and Workers Power linked up with the Liverpool dockers and formed the Campaign for a Mass Workers’ Party. This campaign split and the dockers and others formed the United Socialist Party. This included some from the SADP. Meanwhile the SP allied itself with the AWL, AGS and SADP to form the Socialist Green Unity Coalition. On March 12 a majority of the SADP got together with part of the Socialist Unity Network and the CPGB to set up a provisional Socialist Alliance.

As a series of events it would make you pull your hair out in frustration. But we can stand back and look at it as steps in an historical process. There is no reason to assume there will not be further shifts and realignments. The final shape of these changes is not yet determined. We are in the middle of a process taking shape around the objective need for the working class to form a mass republican socialist party. Now we have two groupings, around Respect and the SGUC, and the prospect of a third being formed as a new Socialist Alliance. In addition we have the formation of a Liverpool-based USP.

Let me now return to the original question. Is the formation of a provisional Socialist Alliance a piece of nostalgia fired up with the idea that we can succeed merely by effort alone? In which case forming a provisional SA is simply banging our heads against a brick wall. All we can look forward to is a headache and a growing realisation that we are barking up the wrong tree. Alternatively there is an objective basis for another socialist alliance on a pro-party basis. In which case we can, with a bit of luck, look forward to an oak tree growing from the few acorns we have scattered on the ground.

My answer is that the objective situation demands and requires the formation of a mass republican socialist party. It demands and requires a political movement more akin to the revolutionary and democratic traditions of the Levellers and Chartism than the conservative politics of Labourism. In so far as a provisional SA meets or starts to fill that gap in the ‘market’, then it has a real reason to exist and a progressive role to play in the development of working class politics in England.

Resolution passed by March 12 conference

1. We, members of the former Socialist Alliance, note that a majority of members present at the February 2005 AGM voted to close the alliance down.

2. We note that a significant minority (46 %) voted against closure. The closure was challenged on the grounds that it was unconstitutional according to clause C15: “The Socialist Alliance may be dissolved by a resolution of a special meeting, called for this purpose by the national executive or the national council or by request of 25% of the membership.”

3. We note that a number of SA executive members, both former members and members of the 2004 executive, wrote to the SA executive seeking negotiations for an orderly transfer of the alliance to representatives of those who wished to rebuild the alliance. This appeal was rejected by the SA executive.

4. We recognise that the failure of the former SA was a result of the politics and priorities imposed upon it by the majority. In particular we recognise the tendency to economism and the failure to recognise the need for a new working class party. This narrow focus disabled the SA on issues such as war, the failure of the present system of government, the need for a democratic republican alternative, and for a republican socialist party along the lines of the SSP.

5. We call for the setting up of a provisional organisation to conduct agitation for a new Socialist Alliance, to be set up at a founding conference in autumn 2005.

Aims of the Socialist Alliance (Provisional)

A1. The name of the organisation will be ‘Socialist Alliance (Provisional)’. This is a provisional name until a refounding conference in autumn 2005. This name will be shortened to ‘Socialist Alliance’ or ‘SA’ where appropriate.

A2. The Socialist Alliance promotes the ideas and principles of democracy and republicanism, an environmentally sustainable global socialism and working class internationalism. The Socialist Alliance stands on the basis of the Socialist Alliance 2001 programme People before profit.

A3. The Socialist Alliance aims to win support in the working class movement for a democratically organised republican socialist party, along the lines of the Scottish Socialist Party.

A4. Socialism - the Socialist Alliance is opposed to capitalism and imperialism. Socialism abolishes capitalism and economic exploitation and hence the necessity for social oppression. Socialism reorganises society on the basis of common social ownership and democratic control.

A5. Republicanism - the Socialist Alliance identifies the working class as the only genuinely democratic class in society. In the United Kingdom the constitutional monarchist state is the main barrier to democracy and socialism. The struggle for democracy is the only road to working class self-emancipation. Our immediate political objective is to replace the constitutional monarchy with a democratic secular republic, which includes the right of Ireland, Scotland and Wales to self-determination.

A6. Internationalism - the Socialist Alliance is internationalist in its outlook. International capitalism is creating an expanding the working class across the world. Building international working class solidarity and cooperation is central to the struggle for democracy and socialism. We oppose all capitalist policies which divide the working class along national lines, including imperialist wars and foreign occupations.

A7. Environment - the Socialist Alliance recognises the importance of the local and global environment on the lives of the world’s people, their health, safety and welfare. The greatest threat to the environment comes from the drive for corporate profits. The best defence of the social interest is in the democratic self-organisation of the working class, full democratic rights, full freedom of information and scientific knowledge. Socialism will replace capitalism with social production organised on the basis of global social needs and world ecological sustainability.

A8. The Socialist Alliance is a campaigning organisation, seeking to win support for our ideas and policies in the socialist movement, the trade union movement and working class communities. We are prepared to work in and campaign within a broad range of socialist and working class organisations. We are prepared to stand in elections where circumstances indicate we have the support and means to do so.

A9. The Socialist Alliance is not a party. We are not set up in opposition to other working class groups and parties. We are an alliance. This means we have members from a range of socialist parties and organisations. We accept that their prime loyalty will more than likely be to another socialist organisation. We are not seeking to persuade members of other socialist organisations to leave their organisations. We expect comrades to act within their own organisations to promote our common aims and consider membership/affiliation to the SA.

A10. The Socialist Alliance is a democratic organisation. We believe in openness of ideas and freedom of expression and believe this is the best method of building an effective campaigning organisation for a new workers’ party.

Provisional committee

A provisional committee or interim steering committee of (approximately) 7-10 members will organise members in educational and agitational activities and prepare for a conference within the next six months. The Provisional Committee has the power to coopt other comrades to help in this work.
Provisional activity

The Socialist Alliance will not seek to stand candidates at the anticipated May 2005 general election. We will support any election campaigns being planned by SADP or SA branches in conjunction with the SGUC. We will not register with the electoral commission until the founding conference when the new organisation is launched and registered.

It is our intention that the Socialist Alliance joins the Liaison Committee [of the SGUC]. We intend to organise members to intervene in the socialist and trade union movement to promote our ideas and the need for a new socialist alliance. This could include members who are active in Respect and the USP. We must begin this work as soon as we can and not wait until the autumn.
Provisional membership

Provisional membership will be open to all who join the Socialist Alliance and pay subs at the level last set by the SA. These members will be eligible to attend and participate fully and vote at the refounding conference.

Refounding conference

A conference to refound the SA will be held in autumn 2005

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