OVER 200 people attended the Cardiff launch of the Socialist Labour Party.
Speakers included John Willock, a community councillor from Llanelli, Lynn Cromie of NUCAPS, Bob Crowe of the RMT and Arthur Scargill himself. Each speaker repeated the same false arguments. Ditching Clause Four means Labour is no longer socialist. In truth Labour has never been socialist. Second, that the only way to fight Blair is to leave Labour. The delight many Blairites showed at Scargill's departure is evidence that this is untrue.
Scargill never issued a clear call to organise while he was a Labour member. Had he done so, a broad, united, left might have emerged.
Scargill's most significant statement of the evening was that policy on Wales and Scotland would be decided by the respective committees of the SLP. It is clear that the SLP in Wales will contain widely diverging views on many aspects of Welsh politics, such as the Welsh Assembly.
The party will establish some presence in Wales. The Labour left must respond by promoting key political issues such as the Assembly, the minimum wage and opposition to anti-trade union laws. We must set the political agenda in Wales and win back left activists who turned to the SLP and Plaid Cymru.