Quinton Birmingham. Photo: Birmingham SP
Quinton Birmingham. Photo: Birmingham SP

Come and discuss how to build an independent working-class stand

The Tory ‘mini budget’ shows more starkly than ever that it is ‘us’ and ‘them’. Tax cuts for the rich, attacks on part-time workers’ benefits and an attempt to make it harder for workers to go on strike. The announcement will have driven even more people to draw the conclusion we need to get the Tories out!

The Tories are increasingly unpopular and ridden with divisions (see page 5). And a weak and divided government could collapse at any time, triggering a general election, or be forced to call one itself in a bid for survival.

Thousands on picket lines and attending ‘Enough is Enough’ rallies are already asking: What do we do at the ballot box? That question will become even more pressing.

That is why the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), which the Socialist Party is a constituent part, is hosting a series of public discussion meetings titled: ‘Enough is Enough! But what do we do at the ballot box?’ To discuss how to build a working-class political alternative to contest the next general election.

Because, as weak and divided as the Tory government is, it is strengthened by the fact that Labour is not, as Sir Keir Starmer said quoting Tony Blair: “the political wing of the British people”. If it was, it would clearly stand on the side of the working-class majority, and Sir Keir would leave his plush Liverpool hotel room to stand with striking dockers down the road. Instead, he does all he can to show the capitalist establishment that he is on their side, not ours.

Starmer’s Labour

Nonetheless, in the event of a general election, Starmer’s Labour will be seen as a tool with which to oust the hated Tories. But a Starmer-led government wouldn’t end the cost-of-living crisis, it wouldn’t nationalise public transport, Royal Mail and the utilities, and it wouldn’t raise the minimum wage to £15 an hour.

Just a small number of MPs in parliament, prepared to fight on the side of striking workers for these policies, could have a huge effect. An independent working-class coalition at the next general election – organised by even a couple of trade unions like the RMT, CWU or Unite – could realistically expect to win seats. It could include Jeremy Corbyn or other left-wing MPs forced out by Starmer.

Such a group of MPs would act as a powerful pole of attraction to hundreds of thousands of workers and young people, and would be an important step towards the development of a new mass workers’ party.

Socialist Party members fight in the trade unions to win support for steps like these to be taken, but we also take the organisational steps needed now to prepare a working-class electoral stand. That’s why we will be building for the TUSC-hosted meetings this autumn.

TUSC meetings organised so far

  • 4 October: Southampton – 7.30pm, Edmund Kell Hall SO15 2AY
  • 13 October: Wakefield – 7.00pm, Lightwaves, Lower York St, WF1 3LJ
  • 19 October: Bristol – 7.30pm Bristol Central Quaker Meeting House, BS1 9DB
  • 3 November: Plymouth – 7.00pm (venue TBC),
  • London – 7pm (venue TBC), Sheffield and South Yorkshire – 7.00pm, Showroom Cinema, S1 2BX
  • 8 November: Leeds – 7.00pm, The Library Pub, LS2 3AP

Visit www.tusc.org.uk/events to see further events as they are announced