A MESSAGE FROM THE MERSEYSIDE SOCIALIST PARTY

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Following the collapse of Stalinism a world wide ideological offensive against the ideas of socialism had some effect. It was difficult to stand against this tide of capitalist propaganda and maintain socialist and Marxist ideas. The Socialist Party managed successfully to swim against that stream when others became discouraged and stepped aside. Some of the effects of that period are still with us, but the capitalist triumphalism of the 1990s has long gone.
The 9/11 suicide attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, while not the underlying cause of a crisis in the US economy, amplified its effects. Socialists can only feel revulsion at the mass killing of innocent men, women and children by the aerial attacks last September. The methods of terrorism have always failed to help the oppressed. The recent atrocity at Beslan must likewise be condemned. While we can understand that the war unleashed by Putin’s Govt. on the Chechen peoples has driven some to despair, the killing of school children not only alienates potential support for their ‘cause’ but plays directly into the hands of the ruling classes – to enable them to justify even more repressive laws and acts of so-called “defensive” action.
Bush and Blair used pro-war hysteria and the invasion of Iraq as a cover for their own disastrous economic policies. The apologists and propagandists of American capitalism are using the so-called “war on terrorism” to throw dust in the eyes of working people.
Recently Financial Times journalist Coggan made “no apology for remaining pessimistic” - outlining the severe underlying weaknesses in the word economy – symptoms the Socialist Party, virtually alone, had previously recognised. The continued over-valuation of US shares, the temporary shaky boost to the US economy via a massive fiscal stimulus, the unsustainable level of the US current account deficit ($500 Billion a year), huge levels of US (and UK) consumer debt – these and other factors add up to a time bomb for US and world capitalism! The financial scandals - Enron, Worldcom, and a host of others - expose the rottenness at the heart of capitalism.
The ruling classes will expect working people to pay for the enormous economic problems that are looming. Last year general strikes in response to attacks on living conditions have taken place in many countries. These actions can only continue as capitalism attempts to ‘solve’ its problems by impoverishing working people and the oppressed world wide.

The anti-globalisation protests revealed a growing audience for socialist ideas. Many are drawing the conclusion that, not only is this system not working, but a real alternative, socialism, must be put in its place. Years after the defeat of Thatcher - her legacy has been continued by Blair - working people and youth are beginning to reject not just the effects of Thatcherism but to turn to those very ideas she claimed she had buried - democratic, liberating socialism in Britain and the world.

We recognised that in the last General Election the main concern for workers was a vote against the Tories. People largely regard the Tories, particularly Thatcher’s heirs, with great suspicion. Their policies laid waste to large parts of Britain, which resulted in the present catastrophes. Hague promised to compound this. Without the memory of what the Tories did and the greater devastation they promise if they were ever re-elected to office, New Labour would have lost huge support. A vote for Labour was seen by many as a “necessary evil”.
British workers are sometimes slow to move and appear more ponderous than their European counterparts but the new generation will not accept the prospect of being driven into poverty and deprivation. Last year’s ‘summer of discontent’ with strikes by local Authority workers, and recent unofficial strikes by Firefighters and Postal workers is just a harbinger of future industrial action as workers look to their own strength and solidarity to defend wages and conditions. The PCS union members support for the All Out Civil Service Strike on Nov 5th showed a continuing and growing rejection of low pay and poor conditions at work.
We will see the re-awakening of the traditions of struggle and solidarity on the shopfloor, in the office and the workplace. Trade Union Conferences increasingly reflect the growing anger of working people with Blair and co. The railworkers union [RMT] and the firefighters [FBU] have broken from the Labour Party. Other unions have cut back on the former “blank cheque” political donations as their members question the pointlessness of supporting the pro-Big Business New Labour Party. The Communications Workers Union has threatened to disaffiliate from Labour over its privatisation threats.
The right-wing trade union leaders for years shamefully accepted the anti-worker, pro-big business agenda of New Labour. Not long ago the discredited general secretary of the MSF (now Amicus) union, Roger Lyons, led officials and some of his union’s national executive committee in a vigil outside the Bank of England. Complete with a priest and candles, with some participants kneeling down, Lyons led a plea for a reduction in interest rates to “help manufacturing industry”. A “prayer” is the only policy of these trade union leaders – not action to defend workers’ interests.
The election victories in the Trade Unions, of Mark Serwotka and Janice Goodrich (PCS), of Bob Crowe (RMT), the devastating defeat in the AEEU/Amicus elections of Blair’s henchman Jackson by Simpson, the election of the “awkward squad” to leading T.U. positions are symptoms of a new mood. Socialist Party member Janice Goodrich is now President of the PCS union. However, Woodley, Hayes, Simpson and other “left” leaders are dragging their heels on the need to organise effective electoral representation for working people, and are still peddling the illusion that Labour can be “re-claimed”.
While we recognise the burning need for a new mass workers party to represent the interests of working people, unfortunately, opportunities to initiate such a party have been missed. A new workers party can’t be created artificially, but will depend on a combination of workers struggles, significant events, and human catalysts, having a correct political orientation, if it is to succeed in mobilising large numbers of workers and youth.
Scargill’s Socialist Labour Party has largely collapsed as a result of over-centralised leadership and sectarian methods. The destruction of the Socialist Alliance by the Socialist Workers Party was the outcome of the SWP’s “control freakery” over its former allies coupled with sectarian attitudes to anti-capitalist campaigners and others on the left.
There are hundreds and thousands who are questioning the system and are looking for an alternative, and importantly, prepared to struggle! The size of the anti-war movement clearly indicated this. Our task is to reach workers and youth by raising the banner of the socialism. The Socialist Party cannot be in and of itself a substitute for a genuine mass workers party. However, building the Socialist Party ensures that the traditions of socialist struggle are kept to the fore in influencing events in favour of working people, and in the formation of a new mass workers party.
Our party has participated in all the major class battles of the British working class and, in many cases we have been to the fore. We continue to fight to defend jobs and services from cuts. Recently we led the fight by Knowsley UNISON workers to achieve a significant breakthrough in the struggle for the 35 Hour Week. Through our campaigns we have begun to attract people who have been searching for socialist ideas.
We participate in, or lead significant battles, against the war in Iraq, against tuition fees [incl top-up fees], against privatisation of council or social housing, against threats to close schools and care homes, assisting those fighting against injustice, in the industrial field with fellow trade unionists on issues such as Low Pay, for union democracy, and so on. Every member of the Socialist Party helps in these campaigns. Sympathy for socialism is being created through the organised activity of our Party, through the various campaigns, etc.
Now is the time to seize the opportunities that exist. There is a new enthusiasm and a new willingness to build around revolutionary socialist ideas. Don’t stand aside, don’t be passive, join actively in the struggle for Socialism. Every one can play a role in building and shaping the future. Leon Trotsky spoke of every socialist activist feeling that he or she carries a particle of history on their shoulder. What we do, as a party, can make a difference - sometimes a decisive difference. The battle in Liverpool in the 1980s of the City Council against Tory cuts, and nationally against the poll tax in the 1990s that forced Thatcher’s resignation, demonstrated what even small forces, but armed with clear ideas, can achieve.

CAMPAIGN FOR A NEW WORKERS PARTY MEETING, LIVERPOOL THE CASA, FEBRUARY 12TH 2007

RICKY TOMLINSON, TOMMY SHERIDAN, TONY MULHEARN, ROGER BANNISTER AND BECKY.