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Haringey: Socialists' stance fully vindicated
Marching against the HDV, photo North London SP (Click to enlarge)
Nick Auvache, Karen Tate and David Kaplan
Barbara Blake was one of three right-wing Blairite Labour candidates to stand for the ward of Seven Sisters, Haringey, north London, during the 2018 council elections.
But having been elected as a councillor she has now been expelled from Labour due to her public support for Change UK - the small anti-Corbyn group of renegade Labour and Tory MPs.
Haringey Labour Party had moved to the left prior to the council elections, replacing Blairites with many left candidates opposing the Haringey Development Vehicle (HDV) and austerity cuts.
The HDV gentrification scheme would have 'socially cleansed' huge swathes of the borough by pushing out working-class residents.
It would have been a tragedy if the anti-austerity fight associated with Jeremy Corbyn was not reflected by any of the candidates in that ward.
Therefore the Socialist Party decided it was essential to take part in that process and stand candidates that were opposed to all cuts.
TUSC challenge
As a result three candidates stood under the broad left Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) banner, against the remnants of the old-guard Claire Kober (the former council leader) regime which was associated with the HDV.
TUSC candidates warned voters that if they vote Labour in Seven Sisters ward they would effectively get a Tory.
However, many people in Haringey voted enthusiastically for Labour believing that it had changed to reflect the anti-austerity mood in Labour more broadly.
Much was made of Haringey becoming the first 'Corbynista' council.
Now the truth has been revealed and Barbara Blake's justified expulsion has confirmed what TUSC candidates said at the time. We were the real socialists not Barbara Blake and her crew.
Blake should now call a byelection and fight on her own programme of cuts and misery. If she did we are confident that she would be roundly defeated.
Anti-cuts Corbyn supporters should make sure that whoever replaces her is a real socialist committed to fighting the cuts.
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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
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