The September meeting of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) all-Britain steering committee discussed the latest developments regarding ‘the Collective’ network, planning for the next round of scheduled statutory elections that will take place in May 2025, and two upcoming council by-elections in Coventry and Dundee which TUSC will contest, including the TUSC chairperson Dave Nellist fighting his old council seat in Coventry’s St Michaels ward.
For the item on TUSC’s discussions with the Collective, a network of ‘those on the left who seek to build the foundations for a new political party’ including important figures from Jeremy Corbyn’s time as Labour leader, the steering committee had before it a briefing document produced by the TUSC national agent, Clive Heemskerk. ‘TUSC Briefing on the Collective’ at tusc.org.uk)
This gave a report of the discussions of the Collective attended by TUSC from before the general election, which have developed further with the production in August of a draft strategy document by the core group, entitled ‘Beyond GE24: Rebuilding a Mass Socialist Movement as a Foundation for a New Left Political Party’.
This is still very much an early draft before publication and so only a summary has been given in the TUSC briefing. What degree of support there is for its proposals is still to be determined. That obviously affects how viable or not it is to form a new party to a set timetable in early 2025. Or whether, as the TUSC representatives argued, a systematic campaign to establish the need for a new party in the trade unions, alongside continuing local community struggles and ongoing social movements, is more likely to achieve our shared goal.
But the steering committee strongly welcomed the fact that the discussion has begun and agreed that TUSC should seek to continue its positive-but-not-uncritical engagement in the Collective network.
