IN THE last decade, the Socialist Party has successfully fought and defended seats in local council elections in Coventry and in Lewisham, south London. Socialist Party member Jackie Grunsell was also elected in 2006 in Huddersfield as part of a community based ‘Save our NHS’ campaign.
However, the Socialist Party cannot alone at this stage fill the political vacuum on the left resulting from the demise of the Labour Party, as a party representing the working class.
A new, broader left party, necessarily, will develop out of the struggles and experiences of trade unions, socialists and the working class as a whole.
Other left forces that have attempted to short-cut such a process have been largely unsuccessful. Taking a different approach, the Socialist Party launched in 2006 the Campaign for a New Workers’ Party to propagandise amongst workers’ organisations, etc, for such a party.
A new workers’ party is long overdue in Britain. That is why the left trade union leaders should grasp the nettle now and take the necessary steps towards it.
