is itself a centralised and directed political organisation?
The ISG, he writes, "appears to be clearly drawn to playing a minor role in a united revolutionary party, rather than a leading role in a broad socialist party which can be at the centre of left The ISG has published its views on this à number of times (e.g. SO34). Yes, since we are a revolutionary organisation, we do want to build a new united revolutionary party. However, there is more to it than that.
In the present situation the existing divisions on the left are not only damaging to the cause of socialism, but to the pressing need to organise a fight-back against the capitalist offensive and its main political representatives in Terry Conway There is no doubt that the Socialist Alliance Liaison Committee meeting in Birmingham on December 2 was buoyed up by the excellent election results socialist candidates have gained since the Coventry conference in September. On November 23, the Scottish Socialist Party took over 7% in both the Holyrood and Westminster by-elections for Glasgow Anniesland - coming fourth in the former seat. The SSP has established itself as the fifth party in Scottish well.
La remarkable achievement in such a short time. On the same day, the newly formed Lancashire Socialist Alliance polled 5.6% to save its deposit in Preston, while in the south London borough of Lewisham, Socialist Alternative candidate Sam Dias, backed by the Socialist Alliance, took the seat. The meeting also heard of the myriad of political campaigns that local alliances, new and established are building and contributing to in their areas. Time and again anti-privatisation battles are featuring as top priority - with the fight against council house sell-offs taking particular prominence.
Also common to many localities were the number of defections from Labour to the Alliances, including a whole number of councillors, and a noticeable influx of SLP and ex-SLP members as Such positive reports generally set the tone for the meeting though there were difficult moments. Members of the Socialist Party argued that the election would be fought mainly in the localities, while most others wanted to strengthen the national intervention. Dave Church from Walsall Democratic Labour Party put forward very strong case in this regard. He explained that he was always in favour of decentralisation - but that this could only work in practice if you have a strong centre The SWP, who had strongly argued the need for more of a national profile, proposed a resolution to set up an Executive Committee, responsible to the Liaison Committee, to assist the Officers in making this a reality. Comrades from the Socialist Party argued that this resolution should not be taken because it was a repeat of a resolution defeated by the Coventry conference. Others argued that this was not the case because the Executive would be accountable to the Liaison Committee whereas the body proposed at Coventry would have reported only to full members meetings.
Amendments were proposed and agreed to the SWP resolution to ensure that the Liaison Committee meets regularly in the run up to the General Election and to clarify that local alliances can add to the national manifesto as they see fit. While the Socialist Party continued to oppose the amended resolution they accepted its passage with relatively good grace.
The meeting also agreed that the debate on our manifesto would be initiated immediately by the circulation of the document from the West Midlands Euro-Election campaign, often referred to as the 80-20 document. This is to prepare for the next full national conference of the Alliance, which will now take place in early March.
This national meeting was a positive step forward for the Alliances nationally, which marked another step towards a successful General Election campaign
Outlook