After twenty years active membership of the Labour Party - including a stint as editor of Labour Left Briefing (LLB) - Mike Marqusee has left the Party to campaign for the London FOR MANY years now, LLB the changes imposed on the "crisis of representation' in British politics. The reality of nearly all to see, not only in the London elections, but in Labour government. In recent weeks this governtionary attacks on beggars in the streets fits and asylum seekers. It is actively stripping away basic democrauc nant (including trial by jury). , channelling • to the rich, extending privatisation into transport and education, and presiding over an unprecedented collapse in the whis. Labou HAVE YOU GOT ANYTHING, FOR SOGHLIST PRINCIPLES, DOCTOR? governments have done many appalling things in the past. out in its scale and nature, the opposition to the interests of its clectoral supporters is something different, and demands a different response Over the fast decade, while term danger remains. the country's political instituParty, have been migrating decisively to the right, a substantial swathe of order to maximise the public public opinion has expression of discontent with been travelling in New Labour (something that the opposite will strengthen the left both direction. Up till inside and outside the party). now, this sizeable Second, it should try to inject current of opin- a left political agenda into that ion has lacked an effective means elections as a whole. The most effective way to the ballot box. do that is to take part in the Hence, the popu- campaign organised by the br support for London Socialist Alliance. Ken Livingstone. which is building support for who (whether he Ken and for a left slate of akes it or nos trades unionists, community represents to mil- activists, and journalists for the Greater London the possibility of a Assembly. political alterna. The London elections are a none col nuge democratic exercise, n some respects unprecelented in British history. To 7 there is another outer no credible alternative side to the Ken to the New Labour-Tory consensus, to fail to send out an sost-ideological anti-politics intelligible message to the of individual celebrity. Blair London electorate, would be and nis Inenas aways saw elected big-city mayors as a the part of socialists, and means of depoliticising the would re-enforce the crisis of electorate, and though events in London have not gone If we continue to leave the according to plan, the tong electoral field to others, the beneficiaries of the reaction In this context, the left against New Labour will be the Lib-Dems, the SNP. Plaid simultaneously. First, it should Cymru and, in the end, the campaign for Livingstone in Tories and the far right.
Wherever electoral choice is narrowed down, as it is in rich benefit and the poor suffer. Wherever the exercise of the fannie become holly and ineffectual (as it would be in London if the likes of Ken and the LSA were absent from the ballot), apathy and cyniam toursn Dobson and the New Labour slate have proudly police, pro-business" choice. They are mounting a pol sonous "tough on crime, touch on Ken" scare campaign, scapegoating the poor, dividing Londoners and playA is working to oppose an xpose this campaigr for those comrades who believe, for perfectly honimportant to preserve their party membership, I would suggest that an abstention from this particular public contest is simply too high a price to pay.
The LSA has put together a strong list or candidates - faul Foot, Mark Steel, Greg Tucker, Christine Blower, Jim Stanley, lan Page, Janine Booth, among others - as well as an impressive roster of notable supporters, including John Priger, Mike Mansfield, Sukhdev Reel, Imran Khan, Suresh Grover, Paddy Joe Hill. Ken Loach, Jeremy Hardy and Ricky Tomlinson.
Through the media and at scores of local meetings and street stalls, it is making an of the coming elections. It is also beginning to attract trade CWU, FBU and UNISON branches. - It will be easy for comfades to catalogue the weaknesses of the LSA, notably that the principal, but by no means the only, forces backing it are the organised left groups.
But coming from LLB readfilling prophecy. . The doors to participation in the LSA are wide open, and the candidates' list has not been The greater the number of Labour left-wingers who join the LSA campaign, the more Ikely it is to prove effective, electorally and politically. and help us all begin to resolve the crisis of representation.
(First pubisned in Lobour Left Briefing)
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