THE TORY government's overthrow is the most immediate task of the British working class.
Labour is the only party capable of defeating the Tories. A Labour victory will boost the confidence and combativeness of the working class.
Those on the left who stand apart from or oppose the fight for Labour victory will be marginalised.
But it is not enough just to call for Labour victory or to put out official Labour Party materiai. The left needs to organise itself and establish its own profile as part of reaching out to all those in struggle.
The Campaign Group call for a Socialist Campaign for Labour Victory gives us this opportunity. It is a crucial political development. It will play a key role in the regeneration of the British left.
it needs to:— IDENTIFY the key issues;
ORGANISE people inside and outside the Labour Party;
PRODUCE its own propaganda;
ORGANISE public meetings before during and after the general election;
GET labour movement endorsements and affiliations.
This campaign can strengthen and unify the left. We will need every ounce of that strength in the battles to come.
Socialists in the labour SAVE LIVES SAVE LIVES H SACKALSO TORIES SAVE LIVES movement need to win all those who want to fight to the struggle for socialism.
We must wage that fight in the organisations of the class. Labour-despite Blair-remains a party based on the working class.
This said, Labour was never the party of socialism. Only the naive believed that a Labour government could or would want to achieve socialism.
Anger, frustration and impatience have led some socialists to break with Labour. First Militant Labour and then Arthur Scargill has called for an electoral challenge to Labour.
But success in launching a new SACKTHE TORIES! left party would require a high level of confidence and activity in the working class.
Both are still at a historic low point. There will not be a sufficient revival this side of a general election.
A new party would have to break the self-destructive sectarianism of the British left. It would need an open democratic structure and a healthy respect for the various traditions of the left.
Only then would it be able to grow and develop as a healthy political organisation.
The Socialist Labour Party is dominated by a small, SAVE LIV non-democratic circle around Arthur Scargill.
They have imposed a constitution which excludes most of the SLP's natural supporters. This structure is one of the most authoritarian and centralist of any in the left's history.
Excluded from membership or any meaningful involvement in the SLP many of its would-be supporters have been forced to form other formations. The SLP leadership has succeeded in a space of months in demoralising and disorganising the small section of the left that has turned to them.
Scargill's attempt to launch an alternative party of labour is tragically mis-timed. Its lack of democracy has meant that even those who wanted to build the party are unable to take up membership. This is no way to start a new political formation.
It is crucial that socialists take up the fight inside all the structures of the workers' movement. Despite the leadership's best efforts; it is still possible for the left to organise in the Party.
Reflection
And the trade union link means that any struggles that break out under a Blair led government will find some reflection inside the Party. This is one reason that after the election he will undoubtedly try to break the link.
It is inconceivable that the union leaderships will put up with this without a fight. At the moment the bureaucrats are keeping their heads down in the run up to the general election.
But they have not abandoned their own self-interest. Their position depends on having a special relationship with the Labour Party leadership.
Decisive battles in the labour movement are therefore still ahead and will develop apace after the general election.
The left must organise and position itself now. We must raise those issues which will be key areas of conflict during the next Labour government.
The Socialist Campaign Group's initiative will help this to happen.
SAVELIVES LAVE OUR HOSPITALS
DEFEND THE NHS The Labour Party left needs to organise itself and establish its own profile as part of reaching out to all those in struggle.