SP results in England and Wales

by . Sun May 08, 2005 18:58

having read the comments of sp observer the sp national committee has becided to follow his advice and disband.

Is that what you expected observer?

by Mark P Sun May 08, 2005 18:58

The Socialist Party and other socialist candidates got pretty much the results that they expected to get. In fact they were pretty much the kind of votes that all left of Labour candidates got - one saved deposit in Coventry, two SSP saved deposits etc.

The only exceptions were seats where there was some peculiar local factor. Examples include Blaenau Gwent, where a popular local Welsh Assembly member stood as an independent and the results in the speaker's seat in Glasgow where most of the big parties did not stand. The other main exception of course were RESPECT votes in a handful of seats with very large Muslim populations. Where they couldn't mobilise a religious vote, their votes were much same as those of the rest of the left.

There are a number of structural factors at work here, notably including the electoral system which works very strongly against smaller parties. There is also a broader political point which is that the Socialist Party is well aware that a small revolutionary group can't by itself offer an alternative. What is needed in Britain is a new mass party of the working class, an organisation that would have to involve a wide range of political strands and tendencies. Getting their is going to be a prolonged and messy progress.

by SP Observer Sun May 08, 2005 18:03

The SP's vote is not just 'pretty poor' - it is catastrophically, unbelievably bad. With New Labour so much on the ropes, these were ideal conditions for socialists outside Labour to build support. If it did not happen at this stage, it never will. It is ridiculous for small sects, with teh preposterous internal regime of the SP, to imagine that they will ever be anything but a marginal blip on the radar screen. It might be time to disband, guys - after this, the game is well and truly up.

by USFI watch Sat May 07, 2005 01:37

Respect only did better than other left parties in areas with large urban muslim communities. Outside of these the party party made no progress. Respect has managed to mobilise muslim voters, mainly on the basis of its anti-war record, in a limited number of constituencies. This fact is open to different interpretations, but the fact itself is not really open to dispute.

by SP Member Sat May 07, 2005 01:21

George Galloway’s campaign has undoubtedly tapped into the mood of radicalisation and anger at New Labour – in particular amongst the Muslim community (around 40% of the electorate in the constituency) many of whom have entirely broken with New Labour as a result of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and the increased repression suffered by Muslims here in Britain.

The Socialist Party welcomes this victory and called for a vote for Respect – a party that stands to the left of the big three – and that demands bringing the privatised utilities back into public ownership, an £8 an hour minimum wage, and the ending of occupation of Iraq.

However, we would have preferred Respect to have been launched as a more inclusive and democratic party that aimed to build a base amongst all sections of the working class.

George Galloway has mistakenly raised the prospect of Respect possibly playing a part in a process of "reclaiming" the Labour Party.

Whether George Galloway and Respect play a positive role in the process towards forming a new left party will depend on the approach they adopt in coming struggles.

Unfortunately in this general election, unlike the Socialist Party, Respect did not stand on a clearly socialist ticket. Respect hoped that, by not being explicitly socialist, they would broaden their appeal. And it certainly true that, in addition to George Galloway’s victory, Respect achieved some good results in other areas including over 8000 votes in East Ham and over 6000 votes in West Ham.

However, in areas without large Muslim communities their votes appear comparable to those previously achieved by the explicitly socialist Socialist Alliance and to those achieved the Socialist Party in this election.

To give one example of the negative consequences of not standing on a clear socialist programme: during the Rover crisis, while the Socialist Party called for the trade unions to lead a struggle for the nationalisation of the plant under democratic workers’ control, Respect’s leaflet limited itself to demanding that the government hand over the £100 million loan that the asset-strippers Phoenix had demanded – effectively calling for the corrupt bosses to be further subsidised.

Of course socialists should work together with, and attempt to win the support of, Muslim workers, who are among the most oppressed sections of society in Britain. At the same time we must actively oppose Islamaphobia against all Muslims, regardless of their class background.

However, a new workers’ party will not be built be appealing overwhelmingly to one section of the working class.

Nor does that mean putting forward policies which run contrary to interests of the working class as a whole in order to gain the support of a section of Muslims.

Unfortunately, a number of leading Respect candidates, including George Galloway, have done so by supporting expanding faith schools and opposing abortion.

While George Galloway and others are, of course, entitled to a personal opinion on these issues, given the lack of any other point of view coming from the Respect leadership, it appears to be Respect policy, and could alienate broad sections of workers and youth who are looking for an alternative.

We hope the election of George Galloway as Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow will mark a positive step on the road to such a party – but to do so Respect will need to change the approach it has taken up until now.

by John Meehan Sat May 07, 2005 00:58

It is true that the fitst past the past post system discriminates against smaller parties.

However the RESPECT Results were significantly better than the scores achieved by the SP :

The details can be read at this link :

http://www.respectcoalition.org/elect/results.php

by harsh Fri May 06, 2005 22:27

FPTP can be unduely harsh on small parties so by Irish standards they may look like poor results. I'm sure they were under no illusions and stood primarily to build support for socialist ideas etc.

by juan pablo Fri May 06, 2005 22:20

even in the first past post system,but then again im sure the sp were under no illusion that it was going to be any different.

by ok Fri May 06, 2005 21:58

they sure got their arse kicked, and it really shows how little their mandate really is