The S.P.G.B. and electors

A correspondent (A. E. Page, Finsbury Park) asks why the S.P.G.B. does not contest elections.

“I have supported the Labour Party in the past, because I felt that they were the most powerful party that could bring about reform in our time, and in the right direction, that direction being towards Socialism, and because your party does not appear to stand at elections. How can your movement grow if you do not actively attempt to obtain power in this way ?”

Our correspondent is wrong in thinking that the S.P.G.B. does not want to contest elections. It is not lack of will but lack of Socialists that decides the question. Until the number of Socialists is large enough it is not practicable to run candidates at Parliamentary elections owing to the fact that a deposit of £150 has to be paid in before the election and is forfeited if the candidate fails to poll one-eighth of the votes cast. It is true that we might hope to surmount this barrier if we were prepared to solicit donations and votes by the promise to support a programme of reforms of capitalism, but that way does not lead to Socialism.

(Socialist Standrd, Apil 1942)