Left unity

Bolshy supports the Alliance for Workers' Liberty, but the AWL is just one of many socialist groups in Britain. Why is the left so divided? How can it be united? And, in the meantime, how do you choose? Mike and Faz take the temperature of the British left... If you decide that you're a socialist and want to join a socialist organisation, one of the first problems you'll encounter is - which one? There are dozens of left groups active in Britain, each with its own separate membership, publications, meetings, campaigns etc. Sometimes these groups cooperate; more often, they maintain an attitude...

Two comments on Alan Johnson's discussion of how to unite the left ("Left Unity with the movement of movements", Solidarity 3/28) - one positive and one negative. The negative one is that I think he spins fantasies about the SWP. Having detailed a string of that group's political misdemeanours over the last twenty years, he then writes hopefully of "a snap-back, a coming-to-senses". But the SWP's degeneration has involved the destruction of huge swathes of political culture among its rank-and-file, and the closing off of any avenue by which the membership can influence the organisaton's...

"You are not the only true socialists" - Andrew Berry "The AWL wants unity" - Mark Osborn You are not the only true socialists Re Solidarity 28 editorial. You seem to behave very much like the SWP - "we are the only true socialists", etc. That is arrogant. How can you be sure that every left group was on a different side in the war and did not agree with you? If your idea is that you were the only left group who did not call for "defeat for US/UK" or "defend/victory to Iraq", then you are wrong, as Workers' Action did not either. I hope you read the article in Workers' Action on this issue. I...

In recent issues Solidarity has been running a discussion on left unity, opened by a statement in Solidarity 26 . This issue we carry excerpts from two relevant proposals drafted for the Socialist Alliance conference on 10 May. The first is from Alan Thornett and Mandy Baker (associated with the paper Resistance), John Rees, Rob Hoveman and Weyman Bennett of the Socialist Workers Party, and Nick Wrack and Will McMahon (unaffiliated Alliance executive members close to the SWP). This AGM needs to be effectively a relaunch of the Socialist Alliance, or at least a relaunch of the idea behind the...

In Solidarity 26 we printed an appeal for discussion and collaboration on the left so that we can united the maximum forces for effective action in the new political ferment around us. Over the coming weeks we will carry comments and responses, starting this week with a contribution from Alan Johnson, author of a forthcoming biography of Hal Draper. (Full text of the appeal here ). The call for unity on the revolutionary left issued by the AWL is very much to be welcomed. The opportunity for the growth of a rational, democratic, revolutionary, green, "from below" socialism is palpable. The...

In Solidarity 3/26 we printed an appeal for discussion and collaboration on the left so that we can unite the maximum forces for effective action in the new political ferment around us. Over the coming weeks we will carry comments, responses, objections, starting in our next issue with a contribution from Alan Johnson. Alan argues: "The call for unity on the revolutionary left issued by the AWL is very much to be welcomed… [but] the first problem is that it is UK-limited. Unity is better pursued at a European level [building on] the ongoing discussions that have involved a variety of...

There are openings for the growth of the revolutionary left such as we have not had for two decades. The tremendous upsurge of opposition to Bush's and Blair's war on Iraq, together with the rise of the anti-capitalist movements and the as yet limited, but radically important, revival of real trade unionism in Britain, have combined to create this situation. A united revolutionary left organisation could now hope to recruit and politically educate thousands of new people. We have opportunities - and also dangers, in the first place the pressing danger that this chance will be missed. It will...

A further response to Dave Spencer's article and letters in WW. by Gerry Byrne Dave Spencer’s extraordinarily self-serving explanation in the WW is that Workers Fight /ICL /WSL was all fine and then turned overnight into a sect – the AWL. That’s not how I remember it. Dave allows that none of the attempts at uniting the left were predatory exercises, that they were entered into sincerely. So how did Matgamna (the evil genius behind the sect-turn) transform genuine unity-seeking revolutionaries into sectarian ‘hand-raisers’? As a materialist, you would expect quantitative indicators before that...

In Weekly Worker 466, Dave Spencer gives an account of the history of the AWL , in which he concludes that after our split in 1984 with the Thornett group (now in the ISG) - when Dave himself left - we became a sect. Clive Bradley replies Dave Spencer’s account of the 1984 faction fight and split in the forerunner of the AWL is misleading. He claims that the majority derided its opponents as ‘non-Marxists’, thereby foreclosing on democratic debate; and complains of the question being put: “why people are still in the organisation when they know they are going to lose the battle. It was as...

handed out at London asylum (SWP) rally, 24/05/00 On 4 May the London Socialist Alliance polled over 46,000 in the constituency ballots for the GLA. 2.9%, overall, is a useful start; the LSA votes for Theresa Bennett (6.2%) in Lambeth and for Cecilia Prosper (7%) are impressive votes for an organisation which has not contested an election before. Moreover the left unity which held during the election campaign was a breath of fresh air. The question is: what next? The LSA needs permanent, rational structures so that both individuals and organisations can work together and have real control of...