The shock of the Irish No! indication of the undemothe European Union perspecenlargement and the difficulties face Irish capital that may in its relationship with its What it represent challenge to either Irish or European capital from the Irish working class. and large the working class were not to the fore in the campaign, while those for- Dof the Fourth international mally charged with representing the workers democrats and the trade union bosses were to ine fore in calling for a TEs There are a number of rea sons Previous votes in European had always involved substantial bribery shortly of the population, with the promise of 0iions 10 su0si dies. An overall weakness of that enlargement does offer the possibility of any SUOSETHE being available to win support for the proposals in the smaller states There was a wide spectrum of opposi with many different Jeremy Corbyn. body else. A column from Socialist West and Abingdon Democracy, Irish section complete standstill. The European reaction did little he is a credible left in the short time to defuse Irish opposition.
the Democracy is only respected when it produces Green Party, who ine regat answei, and it s quite clear that the Irish will be called upon to think again.
So what has been won is for a real debate on Europe and a chance for the left to build itself and put forward socialist policies. AS A MEMBER of Oxford Socialist Alliance I have started reading Socialist Outlook again, and I would like to make two connected points on the future of the Alliance. Firstly, while not disagreeing with the main points of your May editorial 'SO 45), I can't imagine voting Labour, even with a credible left candidate like At the last General Election I couldn't bring myself to vote for Andrew smith, and under the urst past te post" system I didn't think it was worth voting for anyIf I lived in Oxford constituency I would probably vote for the Green candidate Mike Woodin, since I agree with Red Pepper that candidate. Incidentally European elections for -I don't represent any party.Caroline Lucas of the just like annoying people." recently said "I believe that the greatest potential for change happens precisely as a result of a creative interface between inner and extra-parliamentary activity." Perhaps this explains why I could vote for her but not bave much time for the Green Party. My point is that while understanding your reasons for a highly critical vote for Labour "where you must", surely, if only for the long-term future of the (or vote for the best available candivote Labour for the wrong reasons. We need to convince them there is a real alternative. However I would argue tacie are cven more poopic wad have never voted (let alone voted Labour) who we need to convince, and if we are perceived as little more than left Labour" ourselves, we could turn away May's SO was Jason Travis' contribution on the future of the Socialist I have always seen the 00S0OUS 4HL open debate as a streneth rather than a In the long term the future must be with the "thousands of anti-capitalist youth ... who can be won to radical politics." Veronica Fagan's resnonse holds up the Scottish Socialist Party as a model, with which I wholeheartedly agree. I don't claim to doxy, but I do know a bit about labour history. This election gives us the ideal chance to start building a real alternative, but it is also a learning process.
I feel it should be stressed that the key to the future of the Socialist Alliance lies within the trade union movement. I have recently joined the print union GPMU, and I will continue to speak out (and organise) within it for the Socialist Alliance.
Unions like the RMT, CWU, the Outlook We welcome readers letters on any topic. Letters over 400 words may be cut for Write to Socialist Outlook, PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU. email: [email protected] FBU and now apparently UNISON are beginning to challenge (and democratise) the unions' link with Labour. In the GPMU 1 will try to argue for disatfiliation from the Labour Party and I think that after the election, while uniting with anti-capitalist struggles locally and internationally, we should concentrate on democratising the trade union movement rather than encouraging mass defections from the Labour Party. To quote Terry Conway "We need to recognise that we will build a stronger movement if we are able to listen to and address people's personal concerns as well as their political aspirations."
Those of us who know our history and Icarn from experience will unite to Andy Gibbons, Oxford
current European strategy is nity
more than we win. The article that stood out for me in