TUSC and the General Election

[ALB]

As we'll be up against the Trotskyists United Supporters Club in some of the10 seats we'll be contesting, it's as well to have a thread on them and their antics up to and during the campaign.

Last Saturday they held a big rally. They plan to field 100 candidates so as to get a Party political broadcast (as some have suggested we might do) but so far have only reached 52. And the measly £10,000 that RMT (which is clearly, with Bob Crow gone, now in the process of dropping TUSC) will only cover 20 of the many deposits they are going to lose. This could well be their last general election.

According to this (Weekly Worker, 29 January), Hannah Snell of SPEW declared:

Quote:

In her reply to the debate, comrade Sell returned to the theme of what might be called ‘calculated dishonesty’: “We don’t say everything we think.” For example, “We’re not going to call for the abolition of money in our election platform.” (emphasis added)

I never expected them to, but don't think she really thinks this either.  But if she does then she still stands condemned — for thinking that workers wouldn't/couldn't understand a world without money. The opposite of our approach. And we will be saying that socialism will make money redundant.

Apparently, the SWP will be fielding 15 candidates under the TUSC banner but, continuing their love affair with islam, they are saying that "islamophobia" as well as austerity should be TUSC's campaign theme (SPEW is not so sure and they are the ones calling the shots in TUSC).

[jondwhite]

In before anyone calls them 'the British Syriza'.I suppose it might be interesting to discuss what the differences between TUSC and Syriza are.I understand there are some Trots in Syriza. To what extent are they Trot fronts or lashups between the old left?

[ALB]

I don't think TUSC and Syriza are comparable. Syriza has managed to get away from the activity of the Trotskyist sects of seeking to appeal to trade union militants to build another trade-union based "workers party". Their (conscious) equivalents in this country are Left Unity whose leaders are also tyrying to get away from this dead-end. Maybe when TUSC collapses (as I think it will) LU's turn with come. But any Syriza-type movement in Britain would have to involve the Greens, perhaps a Green/LU coalition, but then that supposes that LU gets off the ground which it is not showing any signs of doing.

[ALB]

The other thing that comes out of the Weekly Worker report of the TUSC Conference is the lack of support from the RMT. It looks as if, with Bob Crow replaced as General Secretary by a Labour Party member (not just any old member but a former member of Labour's NEC) Mick Cash, RMT is drifting back into line with the other unions and backing Labour.There are two significant reports here of what is happening locally:

Quote:

The situation in Brighton Kemptown is complicated for several reasons. We understand that the local RMT branch is supporting the Labour Candidate as she has made a commitment to highlight the call for the renationatisation of the railways in her literature. As Clive Heemskerk made clear at the recent TUSC meeting in Brighton, this wouldn't necessarily lead to a veto from the RMT nationally but would mean the local RMT branch couldn't support the campaign.

and

Quote:

Since this meeting the Socialist Party have had to pull out standing a candidate in Dover because the RMT union are now backing the Labour candidate.

In other words, SPEW is not going to stand against Labour where the candidate is supported by RMT. The RMT's new attitude is logical from a "Labourist" point of view. The Labour Party may have adapted itself to merely running capitalism but at least it has a chance of bringing in a few pro-union reforms whereas a party like TUSC, which counts in votes in hundreds rather than Labour's tens of thousands, is completely useless from this point of view. If you want reforms you might as well support a party that is likely to be in a position to bring some in (even if they won't work).

[Darren redstar]

Reading this weeks weakly working letters page, one really gets the taste of the SPGBs description of Trotskyism as an amalgam of reformism and Leninism. The critics of Syriza spare no prisoners in condemning the reformist illusions of Syriza, and instead offer their own set of reformist illusions.

[james19]

Tottenham TUSC candidate, said; "I'm not going to talk to you, if you are not going to vote for me", abruptly and scornfully.I had ojected to the word  'socialist', printed on their large banner. No doubt I will see them again, and can throw in their faces, that this will most likely  be their last election. 

[ALB]

TUSC may not be able to get on UK TV but they can on Russia Today:https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dUJ2VVJAwFoOnce again, no mention of socialism but maybe that's a good thing since their "socialism" is state capitalism.

[jondwhite]

james19 wrote:

Tottenham TUSC candidate, said; "I'm not going to talk to you, if you are not going to vote for me", abruptly and scornfully.I had ojected to the word  'socialist', printed on their large banner. No doubt I will see them again, and can throw in their faces, that this will most likely  be their last election. 

I'd like to see this banner.

[james19]

@jondwhite

I didn’t think to take a photo of it
myself. However, some guy was taking photos
with a pretty decent looking camera.

Someone had been sticking up posters and
stickers everywhere.

Appropriately a large poster has been stuck
to a litter bin! I crossed out the word ‘socialist’.

I found this.

http://www.demotix.com/news/6748054/jenny-sutton-tusc-party-has-eyes-david-lammys-tottenham-seat

[ALB]

The TUSC candidate for Tottenham is Jenny Sutton of the SWP, one of the 15 SWPers who will standing under the TUSC banner (most are SPEWers). There's a poster of her here posing as "the socialist candidate" and the list of their reform(ist) demands:https://www.swp.org.uk/resource/811Was this the one you corrected?

[Young Master Smeet]

I think this sums up what TUSC means to the RMT:http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/rmt-union-president-im-standing-8598307

Quote:

Peter Pinkney, the highest ranking layperson of the RMT Union, will campaign against Ed Miliband’s party in Redcar, claiming: “The party of the left is now the Green Party.”

JUst to show what Lord Ashcroft is predicting for this seat:I think its safe to say he won't win.

[ALB]

That really is a turn up for the books. Actually standing for the Greens, not just saying vote for them.TUSC contested Redcar in the 2010 general election and got 127 votes (0.3%). I wonder if they'll contest this time and denounce the RMT President for standing for a party that has carried out austerity in Brighton. And if they don't stand, who will recommend voting for?

[ALB]

TUSC have just announced their list of candidates so far – 72 towards their target on 100:http://www.tusc.org.uk/txt/320.pdfIt shows that there'll be a head-to-head clash between us Socialists and the Trotskyists in 3 of the 10 seats we are contesting: Swansea West, Oxford East and Folkestone & Hythe. The surprise is that Vauxhall is not on their list. The reason for this is that: the sitting Labour MP, Kate Hoey, is a member of the RMT parliamentary group and SPEW doesn't want to antagonise the RMT for fear of losing this union's funding and, since the death of Bob Crow, lukewarm political support. Thus is exposed their hypocrisy in saying that the Labour Party has become anti working class but refusing to stand against Labour candidates supported by RMT. This may also be the reason why they are not contesting one of the Brighton seats as might be expected.

[ALB]

Young Master Smeet wrote:

I think this sums up what TUSC means to the RMT:http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/rmt-union-president-im-standing-8598307

Quote:

Peter Pinkney, the highest ranking layperson of the RMT Union, will campaign against Ed Miliband’s party in Redcar, claiming: “The party of the left is now the Green Party.”

I think its safe to say he won't win.

Here's the SPEWers reaction to this body blow to their strategy:http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/campaign/Election_campaigns/TUSC/20095It's all a plot by the "millionaire press" to promote the Greens instead of TUSC !

[alanjjohnstone]

 

Quote:

the union is officially represented on the TUSC committee with a veto over policies and candidates.

I was rather surprised when i read the link to see this lack of democracy within a political party. 

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