More psephology

The London Elects site has now published the results by borough (and ward). Here are our results by borough:

Lambeth 729 (0.74%)
Southwark 604 (0.69)
Hounslow 504 (0.65)
Waltham Forest 496 (0.64)
Hackney 464 (0.60)
Kingston 293 (0.50)
Islington 333 (0.45)
Richmond 268 (0.35)

This confirms past experience that we do better in Labour areas than elsewhere, though the rather surprising result in Islington (where we have contested many elections over the years) would seem go against this.

Results in detail

Lambeth and Southwark
Florence Eshalomi (Lab) 96946 (51.63) -1.18
Robert Flint (Con) 34703 (18.48) -0.89
Rashid Nix (Green) 25793 (13.74) + 2.23
Michael Bukola (LD) 21489 (11.4) -0.2
Idham Ramadi (UKIP) 6591 (3.51) +0.72
Kevin Parkin (Soc) 1333 (0.71) -1.15
Amadu Kanumansa (APP) 906 (0.48) n/a

North East
Jennette Arnold (Lab) 134307 (58.7) +5.63
Sam Malik (Con) 32565 (14.23) -4.37
Samir Jeraj (Green) 29401 (12.85) -2.61
Terry Stacy (LD) 14312 (6.26) -0.64
Freddy Vachha (UKIP) 11315 (4.95) +1.5
Tim Allen (Respect) 5068 (2.22) n/a
Bill Martin (Soc) 1293 (0.57) n/a
Jonathan Silberman(Trot) 536 (0.23) n/a

South West
Tony Arbour (Con) 84381 (39.47) -0.37
Martin Whelton (Lab) 62937 (29.4) + 0.7
Rosina Robson (LD) 30654 (14.34) -2.34
Andree Frieze (Green) 19745 (9.24) -0.6
Alexander Craig (UKIP) 14983 (7.01) +2.11
Adam Buick (Soc) 1065 (0.50) n/a

We don't contest elections to get the maximum number of votes but we do hope to avoid a really derisory score. On this last our unstated aim was to avoid getting less than a four-figure vote. Which was achieved. 0.5% means that out of every 200 people who voted 1 voted socialist or, since there was a 49% turnout in South West, one in every 400 people you pass in the streets there (or watch Brentford play). In the other places we contested you'll have an even better chance of crossing a socialist voter.

Our vote in Lambeth and Southwark was down. This will be due to the fact that we changed our candidate. We do say that it's the case not the face that counts and rightly but we can't control how even our sympathisers see things. Danny Lambert, who has stood as our candidate many times in the Lambeth area (and in this GLA constituency last time), was well known as the candidate for socialism but this will have been name recognition and association with us rather than a personal vote. There was also one more candidate than last time and the number of candidates standing also affects things. That candidate was from the All People's Party, a breakaway from the Labour Party in Southwark. They can't be very pleased.

We didn't finish bottom in North East either where, after "Workers Power", the "Communist League" was the second Trotskyist vanguard to suffer the indignity, for them, of being beaten by the SPGB despite them standing on a programme of attractive reforms and us standing only on the maximum programme of socialism and nothing else.

Two media interviews

For the record, two online interviews with our candidate in Lambeth & Southwark, Kevin Parkin, can be found here (Southwark News) and here (SW Londoner).

The count in the three constituencies we are contesting will be under way soon with results expected some time in the afternoon.

Keith - May Day

Well we went there! Clerkenwell Green: A vast whirling chaos of assorted Lefties. In front of the old Sessions House were the M-Ls. Damn lot of them, very noisy too. Maybe they hadn't heard that dear old Uncle Joe has been dead these sixty years (and buried up yonder in Green Lawn Sematary). A variety of Leagues (Communist, Spartacist, Justice) and Parties (Socialist Worker's, Namestealingnogoods). Some oddities for my collection: the Independent Socialist Labour Party (the bloke who fell out with Scargill); An Australian geezer harping on about banks - Eight years too late (we're on Eureferendum and TTIPs now dear) and the wrong continent. And bloody hell! The dancing fool. How I hate him! No idea why. The anarchists were there too - I met Nick Heath, who has a very nice hat. Everybody had brought along their table. Except the Marxist Study Centre, who were too posh to sit (they stood near the Nice Policeman, out of the way of the hoi polloi- Who are they? Why are they so well dressed?). And us. Why did we not have a table? Sorry, it was too much for my tiny biclycle. I already look like a circus elephant. The table would be too much man. If you do this sort of thing, you do need a table though. To lay out all your stuff on. Someone might buy something. T'other thing you need is gumption. You need to all but race around pressing jolly leaflets into unwilling hands. Leaflet sir? No thank you. Oh dear you already seem to have it in your sweaty. And I am long gone. Anyway that's about it. Election tomorrow. Remember folks: Vote early! Vote often!

KAZ

The last minute

Had doubts abouts distributing the last couple of hundred leaflets on the last day before voting but found that the Tories had been there before me. This was on a council estate in Surbiton (yes, not everybody there leads the good life). The Tory leaflet was a nasty one headed Daily News 6 May 2016:

Breaking News: Success for Corbyn's Labour as Khan wins London ... Higher turnout among inner-London Corbyn supporters results in gains for Labour in the London Assembly. Your vote in Kingston & Surbiton can stop this. [Their emphasis in red].

I know it's irrational but I prefer distributing leaflets in areas where Labour leafletters had been before like in Hounslow whereas in Kingston and Richmond it was the LibDems though in Brentford (part of Hounslow) it was the Greens (don't know why nor what the Tories were doing on a council estate in Surbiton).

Anyway, tomorrow I'll be writing WORLD SOCIALISM across my mayor and party list ballot papers and voting for myself for a change in the constituency, as will our other two candidates (in North East and in Lambeth & Southwark) as, for the first time, all three of us live in the constituency where we are standing. Not that that really matters since, as we say, it's the case not the face that counts.

Profile in the Hackney Citizien

Meet the North East Candidates

Bill Martin is a librarian and has been a member of the Socialist Party of Great Britain for 20 years.

He explains that the Socialist Party stands to abolish the wages system and establish a society based on the common ownership and democratic control of wealth, recognising that this change can only be made by a mass movement dedicated to that purpose, and not by leaders.

Martin claims his name is on the ballot paper as a useful legal device to allow people to signal their support for this change.

The Hackney Citizen requested a photograph of Bill Martin from Socialist Party of Great Britain but none was forthcoming.

In fact, a photo was not 'no forthcoming' but we actively declined to provide one, on the grounds that it is the case, and the Party that is standing for election, not an individual person.

Saturday in KIngston

Two members and two sympathisers ran a street stall in the centre of Kingston for two hours on Saturday. Slow start but it picked up later with discussions on the EU referendum (the Leave and Remain leafletters were out again, amazing how people are concerned with the British capitalists' trading arrangements while the only thing they trade is is their labour-power) and Ken Livingstone's alleged anti-semitism rather than the GLA elections. Leaflets (both on the election and on the referendum) handed out. A couple of pamphlets sold and a couple taken without paying (the person chose carefully as he took How the Gods Were Made and Marxism and Darwinism). Contacted by a member of the Zeitgeist movement who had come from the other side of London to do this.

This will be the last of the election stalls. Next date: polling day, Thursday 5 May (also Marx's birthday).

News from the South Western Front

Today's Richmond and Twickenham Times has a full page on the six candidates standing in the South West constituency. Unfortunately it is about who I am rather than what the Party stands for. The information on our candidate was not supplied by us but was taken from wikipedia. The nearest it gets to saying what we stand for is where says I am a "speaker and writer about a moneyless and wageless society". We have agreed, though, to supply a photo for the online version despite that for us it's "the case not the face" that counts, on the grounds that a "face" will attract more people to read what's underneath it than just plain text. But don't worry, the chosen photo shows a Party banner in the background saying "Abolish the Wages System".

The same paper's online edition also carried a report on the hustings in Twickenham on 12 April (where the candidate's face can also be seen). It's here.

The Surrey Comet only has a page on 5 of the 12 candidates for mayor and nothing on who's standing for the GLA but we can't really complain as they had published two letters from us. The Liberal candidate will have more reason to as she's never been mentioned and the UKIP candidate might not have liked being reminded on the front page that he once denounced the "gaystapo" (on the other hand, maybe he accepts that any publicity is better than none).

We have now finished distributing our quota of one-third of the 30,000 election manifestos and only have an 1000 or so, found at Head Office, left to do. By chance they have been distributed more or less equally between the three boroughs of Kingston, Richmond and Hounslow. This was not the plan as the intention was to concentrate on Hounslow where the branch meets. 11-12000 is slightly more than a token coverage as it's only about 4% of the total number of postal drops in the constituency.

A hundred were distributed in Oxford as on a visit there for a William Morris event (saw the room in University College where Morris gave his first talk as a socialist entitled "Art under Plutocracy", part of which we first republished in 1907 as Art, Labour and Socialism) I noticed that nearly all the streets near where I was saying had houses displaying "Vote Green" or "Vote Labour" posters in their windows. They all got the only leaflet I had with me (our GLA manifesto). Assuming that those displaying posters are among the 5% of the population said to follow politics this is a self-selected target and 100 delivered to them should be the equivalent of 2000 delivered to all doors. It will also serve here as a reminder that, after contesting both the Euroelections in 2014 and the General Election last year in Oxford, we are still around. More of the leaflets will be distributed at the Mayday trade union event in Oxford on Saturday.

Tomorrow we will be having a street stall in Kingston but not in Brentford as announced.

A voice from the back...

Rather than my usual ramblings, one of our members sent in a report from the Friends fo the Earth Hustings for the North East Constituency

I attended the hustings meeting yesterday, eventually! I turned up at St. Mark's church just before the advertised time, but there was nothing happening there apart from a Thai wedding. Ciamak turned up shortly after me, and we stood around wondering what to do, when a young fellow came along who was also looking for the meeting. To cut a long story sort, he phoned around and eventually found out that the meeting had been moved to a hall around the corner. We entered the hall to find it well-filled and the meeting in progress. It seems we were the only ones who weren't told about the change. Unfortunately, the acoustics were poor and I was having trouble hearing what some of the candidates were saying even though they spoke into microphones. Bill was OK in this respect, as were the UKIP, Labour and Green candidates. Some of the other candidates were fairly sympathetic to what Bill was saying about dealing with the root causes of environmental damage being down to the seeking of profits. I suspect that they thought socialism was a good idea, but way off in the future, and we have to deal with major problems here and now. The UKIP candidate, Freddy Vachha said the problems of environmental damage in London was caused by too many people living there (which is probably partly true), but offered no solution, other than "pulling up the drawbridge". He didn't address the reasons why so many workers are coming to London, e.g. for economic and political reasons, which would have led him to the conclusion that the solution lies in a worldwide approach, rather than a parochial one. However, he was an impressive speaker who disabused some of the other candidates of their pipe-dreams and solutions which they wouldn't be able to deliver on. The format of the meeting--asking what the candidates would do for them--didn't lend itself to developing the discussion along broader lines. This meant that certain subjects, which didn't necessarily require a political solution weren't discussed, e.g. The use of bottled water and the consequent recycling millions of bottles; The leaving on of lights in large buildings overnight etc. Bill caused a bit of an uproar when he said that if you don't want a classless world of common ownership then he doesn't want your vote! Because I arrived late, I missed the introduction, and wasn't sure who all the candidates were representing--they had their names only on hand-written name-plates. The was a conspicuous lack of black faces in the audience, apart from a colleague of Labour candidate Jeannette Arnold.

Much better than I could have put it. (from here.

Leafletting yesterday

West London members were out again yesterday running street stalls in two different parts of the South West constituency.

In Feltham 3 members, helped for a while by a bored balloon seller, handed out leaflets outside the Shopping Centre. At first we set up stall inside the Centre but were requested to move on by security staff who said we required permission True as the Centre is private property (an increasing trend with these places), so we moved just outside on to the pavement of the High Street.

Some political discussion. With a UKIP member and a Kurdish leftwinger who spoke about the collapse of state capitalism in Russia and told us how the Kurdish militias were defeating ISIS. Someone else told us she never voted as politicians were all the same and never did anything for ordinary people. We said we agreed and that it was because they were running capitalism whose economic laws forced them to put profits before people. She asked us what we would do for people. When we replied "nothing" and that people had to do things for themselves she took our leaflet. A skinhead draped in a flag of St George, it being his day, sang "You are the left wing, We are the right wing" as he passed by. We told him we could see that, but we couldn't identify which football club he supported.

Chiswick was quieter than a fortnight ago with people more interested in the EU referendum than the London elections. A sympathiser who went to Kingston thinking it was this Saturday we'd be there (it was last Saturday) reported that the Leave and Remain leafletters were out again. So, when we are there next Saturday we'll come armed with a good supply of our "EU Referendum - An Irrelevant Sideshow" leaflet.

One More Letter

Letter published in today's Surrey Comet (but sent to its sister, free paper, the Kingston Guardian) under their heading "Profits first":

MP Siobhan McDonagh is right to point to the loopholes in the government's 'Living Wage' law (Surrey Comet, April 8). Employers aim to make a profit and the more they have to pay in wages the less there is for profits. So they can be expected to try to get round any law that increases their wages bill, either by cutting other payments as you report B&Q have done or by not employing so many low-paid workers. This is how capitalism works and why it needs to be replaced by a system based on common ownership and democratic control where people would no longer depend for a living on being paid by an employer.
Adam Buick, Socialist Party candidate GLA South West constituency.

Jacqueline: Door to Door in Streatham area

Sunday 3 April 2016 (4.00-8.00) Palace Road, Lupin Close, Probyn Road, Lanercost Road, Lanercost Close, Kinfauns Road, Kingsmead Road, Northstead Road (350 leaflets): Excellent feedback, good leafletting

Monday 4 April 2016 (6.30-9.00) Amesbury Avenue, Barcombe Avenue, Hillside Avenue, Hillside Road, Elmsworth Street (800): Very long roads, usual bullshit of "I'm a socialist don't want a leaflet".

Tuesday 5 April 2016 (4.30-7.15) Cricklade Avenue, Downton Avenue, Nuthurst Avenue, Normanhurst Road, Wyatt Park Road, Daysbrook Road (500)

Wednesday 6 April 2016 (6.00-7.30) Wavertree Road, Barstow Crescent, Palace Road (125): Disappointing few leaflets, few houses, locked tower blocks

Thursday 7 April 2016 (6.30) North London Branch at Tufnell Park: 6 members in all, designated areas, 2 members leafletted election leaflets (100+) and advertising talk NLB (100+)

Friday 8 April 2016 (6.00-8.30) Weir Road, Radbourne Road, Hydethorne Road, Haverhill Road, Burnbury Road (400): leafletters dream roads, 4 doors/ 4 letterboxes per entrance, very long roads, encouraging sounds from area, usual Labour nonsense - poster in window "Labour fighting for Britain" or something similar, todays leafletting made up for Wednesday's disappointing leafletting

Going to concentrate on roads in/ around this area, all roads since started leafletting have posted 1 leaflet per door, rarely 2, leafletted 2,000+ leaflets, have precisely 500 leaflets left

Tuesday 12 April 2016 (2.30-5.00) Cambray Road, Midmoor Road, Telferscot Road, Fieldhouse Road, Glenfield Road (500): very fast leafletting, mainly 4 doors/ 4 letterboxes per entrance, no leaflets left

Thursday 14 April 2016 (morning) Hazelbourne Road, Englewood Road (200)

Friday 15 April 2016 Gaskarth Road, Honeybrook Road, Rudloe Road (250)

Sunday 17 April 2016 Cathles Road, Dagnan Road, Yukon Road, Cubitt House (325) loads of accessible flats

Monday 18 April 2016 (5.30-7.30) Clarence Crescent, Thorncliffe Raod, Kingswood Raod, Felsberg Road, Dumbarton Road, Doverfield Road, Lyham Road, Thornbury Road, Valentine House (400+)

Tuesday 19 April 2016 (morning) Bonneville Gardens, Cautley Avenue, Lessar Avenue, Lynette Avenue (200+) (afternoon) Leppoc Road, Caldervale Road, Franconia Road, Elms Road (200+)

Wednesday 20 April 2016 (1.00-4.30) Abbeyville Road (142 silly Labour Poster vote Labour, leafletted 2 Q&A leaflet), Crescent Lane, Tableer Avenue, Allnutt Way - Flats and Notre Dame Estate (crap low letterboxes/brushes, due to severe backpain/ sciatica had to abandon rest of Notre Dame Estate - large estate accessible), Park Hill, Dryden Close, Briarwood Road (poster vote Sadiq Khan shite, 2 x Q&A leaflet) (400)

Total leaflettting 4,500+: Have finished my leafletting have approx 800 leaflets left which I will leaflet when I can, need time for self, just got my cycle back after repairs

Fraternally Jacqueline

Another Saturday's stalls

West London members were out again yesterday with two street stalls in different parts of the South West constituency.

Brentford turned out to be a bad choice as there weren't many passing by, so we moved on to Hounslow and gave out leaflets, sold the Socialist Standard, made a few contacts, even got a £5 spontaneous donation, and engaged in discussions with workers from eastern Europe including one from Russia who agreed with us. That's the second week running that we've been in Hounslow, so people there will be beginning to note our presence.

The stall in Kingston went on as planned despite the cold (8 degrees centigrade). Both the Remain and the Leave campaigns were leafletting, so we changed our tactic and gave out our election leaflet inside our one on the referendum headed "An Irrelevant Sideshow. The Socialist view on the EU referendum". This provoked a discussion with three young supporters of staying in. They put us on the spot a bit when, after we had said that one minor benefit of being in the EU was the free movement of workers and the relaxing of border controls and couldn't see any benefit to workers from leaving, they said why not vote to stay in as an out vote would take this benefit even if minor away. We had to reply that for us the over-riding issue was capitalism or socialism and that, in or out, capitalism and its problems would still continue. They turned out to be Labour Party members from Leatherhead in Tory Surrey, so they must know what it is like to be in a small minority faced at election times with an alternative (Tory or LibDem) both of which they reject. An Out supporter told us he was going off to live in Bulgaria, apparently not realising that this might not be so easy if his side won.

Next week it's Chiswick again and Feltham but if Feltham turns out to be like Brentford it could be Hounslow for a third time.

Another letter

In today's Richmond and Twickenham Times under their heading of "We Own it"

George Galloway (RTT, April 8) is right to pick up on Sadiq Khan's promise to be "the most pro-business Mayor ever". This shows that Labour, even under Corbyn, still wants to be seen as better managers of the capitalist system than the Tories. But capitalism can never be run for the benefit of those who, in Galloway's words, "work for businesses". This is why it needs to be replaced by a system based on common ownership and democratic control not production by profit-seeking businesses.
Adam Buick, Socialist Party candidate GLA South West constituency

Husting in Twickenham

Over 70 people present at the hustings for South West constituency candidates organised by the Friends of Twickenham Green last night. As with hustings, the vast majority will have been politically committed, but in answer to questions they heard the socialist case on the EU, housing, academies, crime and polllution and were given our leaflet when leaving. A member living locally took a box of leaflets to distribute in the area including St Mary's University. So that's Twickenham covered.

For those interested in such things, the Tory, Tony Arbour, said he was a Brexiter while the Ukipper, Alan Craig (who himself stood for Mayor in 2008 for the Christian Peoples Alliance), didn't say who he would be giving his second preference vote for Mayor to: Zac Goldsmith or Sadiq Khan.. I don't know if this is the official UKIP line.

South West street stalls

West London branch's experiment with doing two street stalls in different parts of the constituency with two members each rather than one with four members worked. Successful stalls were held in Hounslow and Chiswick. As it happened, with the same result: leaflets handed out, a few pamphlets sold, a contact made and our presence noticed.

It also gave us a chance to get the feel of the areas which are in fact different. Richmond and Kingston are leafy suburbs with only a couple of Labour councillors between them (the one in Richmond a defector from the LibDems rather than directly elected). Hounslow is Labour-dominated with only a handful of Tories (from wards in Chiswick as it happens), with a large population of people from a South Asian background and migrants from Poland and Rumania.

In Hounslow there were three rival stalls, all religious, two christian and one muslim (who gave us a free copy of the koran), fulfilling the role of being the heart of a heartless world as Marx once put it.In fact we had to discuss religion as much as politics, with a sikh and a christain who were both highly critical of islam and, as they saw it, the preference given to its followers by the government and the likes of the SWP. We said that we were not afraid to criticise islam as a religion, but we were opposed to all religion and all religions. We would have sold another copy of our pamphlet How the Gods Were Made if we'd another one with us.

On the political side, a man from Poland shouted at us that he had come from a "post-communist country". We shouted back that he'd come from a post-state-capitalist one. At least two people defended extending Heathrow airport as this would provide more local jobs, one saying that Boris was mad because he wanted to close down Heathrow. A bit of an exaggeration of his position, though in line with its logic because this would be the only way of stopping the inhabitants of the leafy suburbs being disturbed in their back yards by aircraft noise.

Next Saturday we'll have two stalls again, one in Kingston and the other in Brentford.

A letter on housing

Letter from our candidate in South West published as the main one in this week's issue of the Surrey Comet under their headline of "Proof that capitalist system is flawed":

Green Party mayor candidate Sian Berry has a point (Surrey Comet, April 1) when she says that the present model for providing so-called affordable housing, as housing at a rent or price below the going rate, isn't working as it is based on signing "big deals with developers".

These deals have to allow the property developers to make a profit but the more below-market-rate housing the mayor requires them to provide in any project the less their profit. So there are limits as to how far they can be pushed.

If they aren't allow to make enough profit they will just walk away.

Not enough profit, no production. That's the way the capitalist system works and why it should be replaced by a society based on common ownership and democratic control, which will allow production, including of houses, for use instead of for profit.

ADAM BUICK, Socialist Party candidate GLA South West constituency.

South West street stalls

After its public meeting last night on "Does it matter who's the Mayor of London?" (answer: No, because a regional administration can control how capitalism operates even less than a national central government), West London branch agreed on the following programme of street stalls every Saturday in April in various parts of the South West GLA constituency (subject to change depending on how the first ones go):

SATURDAY 9 APRIL
Chiswick: High Road, 12 noon - 2pm
Hounslow: High Street, outside Treaty Centre, 11 - 1pm

SATURDAY 16 APRIL
Brentford: High Street, 12 noon - 2pm
Kingston: Clarence Street (pedestrianised part) 11 - 1pm

SATURDAY 23 APRIL
Chiswick: High Road, 12 noon - 2pm
Feltham: High Street, 11 - 1pm

SATURDAY 30 APRIL
Brentford: High Street, 12 noon- 2pm
Kingston: Clarence Street (pedestrianised part), 11 - 1pm

Pitch to Waltham Forest Echo

We've been asked to provide an election pitch, the email I sent is below.

below is a modified form of our election address (shortened for your word limit).

I'm afraid we have a long standing practice of declining to provide pictures of our candidates: I am standing as a delegate of the party, and not in my own right. Attached is a file of our party logo, which you can use instead.*

"Socialism isn’t about paying benefits, taxing the rich or nationalising industries.

Today, we co-operate and produce wealth together. Everyone's work is equally needed. But we don't benefit equally. The people who really benefit, are those who own the world. We cannot be free while we work for them and not ourselves.

The glorified talking shop of the Greater London Assembly is just about managing the costs of keeping inequality going. The SOCIALIST PARTY wants wealth and power owned and controlled by everyone. We are seeking a stop to electing people who redistribute poverty and run the world for the rich.

When a majority of us stand firm and demand that the wealth of the world is brought into common and democratic ownership we will be able to peacefully make that change. When that happens, we will be freed from bosses, loan sharks and landlords. We will be able to produce wealth to supply the needs for all. We will be able to work less because we won’t be working for the privilege of a few. We would no longer need money, buying or selling. We could share the wealth we make among ourselves rationally."

Please do let me know when the pitch is posted.

Cheers,

Bill Martin

*As a matter of fact, that's quite lucky, since I don't actually have any decent photos of myself.

From: Waltham Forest Echo To: Sent: Tuesday, April 5, 2016 3:48 PM Subject: Make your election pitch to Waltham Forest!

Hello North East London candidates

Waltham Forest Echo is an independent community newspaper based in Waltham Forest, North East London. We want to publish election pitches from all the North East London candidates for the London Assembly on our website. To be included you must provide us your "election pitch". Please respond before 4pm on Thursday 7th April.

Your election pitch can be anything you want it to be - your election pledges, priorities, promises, or simply a bio about you and your background, why you're standing, and what you want to achieve. The only rule is you must keep your election pitch to under 200 words.

Please also provide a hi-res picture of yourself.

I look forward to reading your pitches!

This is their website: http://walthamforestecho.co.uk/

Hustings in Twickenham

Our candidate in South West has been invited to a hustings next Tuesday 12 April in Twickenham. It's being held in United Reformed Church, First Cross Road, Twickenham TW2 5QA from 7.30 to 9.30. Appropriately named venue perhaps as it will be us against the United Reformists of Tory, Labour, LibDems, Greens and UKIP (sorry, but couldn't resist the pun).

This evening, after the public meeting on "Does it matter who's the Mayor of London" (8pm in the Comnmittee Room, Chiswick Town Hall, Heathfield Terrace, W4 4JN), West London branch will be fixing the times and places of the street stalls we plan to hold in two places in the constituency from now on on every Saturday in April. Places under consideration are Chiswick, Kingston, Hounslow, Feltham, Brentford.

A bit on our rivals

So, Jonathan Silberman, as we can see from the ever left-train-spotter-tastic Tedance Coatsey (see here.) So, the Communist League is an off-shoot of the US political party the SWP (not to be confused with the British party of that name). That party is noted for it's strong pro-Cuba stance (and it's paper, The Militant, famously was held by Lee Harvey Oswald when he posed for a photo with the gun he used to murder Kennedy). This links to an election leaflet they have previously used. So, they say things like

“Capitalism cannot be reformed to serve the toiling majority. We, the wealth creators, must forge a revolutionary movement tens of millions strong, led by a mass working-class party to wrest political power away from them – the lords of industry, land and banking.”

Which we would almost agree with (I think we'd quibble about 'led' by, as opposed to made by). However, they call for

lA government-funded programme of public works to provide full-time jobs, expand housing, build hospitals and schools, and overhaul the infrastructure. A substantial increase in the minimum wage to a level set by the unions, with a built-in cost-of-living escalator. A fight by the labour movement for these demands would build unity among workers – employed and unemployed, native- and foreign-born.

which is hardly the same thing as abolishing the market system: what they are calling for is state controlled capitalism. Hence their love of the state-capitalist Cuba.

Obviously, we welcome people bringing these issues into the debate, and look forward to highlighting our differences, and taking the case for the abolition of the wages system altogether forward.

Stalling in Archway

So, 6 of us in all turned up for a two hour stall up in Archway. Not the busiest place in the world, but friendly enough, and at least the sun was out. We shifted three or four pamphlets (including our ancient pamphlet about Ireland, we may need to expect angry letters).

I was asked what whether we thought Jeremy Corbyn was a genuine socialist, and I replied whatever he is, he is a member of the decidedly non-Socialist Labour Party, and that we're better off outside arguing our case than compromising within the Labour party. The lady called me an optimist and took a leaflet. At least she took a leaflet.

Some members went putting leaflets through letter boxes, and we plan to meet-up on Thursday to leaflet in Tufnell Park (18:30 hrs at the station, anyone welcome).

Also, we found our big ad in the Islington Tribune for a meeting on the 14th, it's a bit of a weird one, as it isn't exactly an election meeting, more a general public meeting (it isn't even in the constituency). But, we may have to declare it, and maybe we should have put the official 'published and promoted by' on the advert. Still honest mistakes happen, and you live and learn. I doubt anyone will raise a fuss about it.

News from the South West

Met a Green Party leaflet distributer when I went to buy my newspaper this morning. It promised something which neither the Mayor nor the Greater London Authority has the legal power to do: "cap rent rises". This would require national legislation and in any event would be like King Canute trying to stop the rising tide.

The local paper, the Richmond and Twickenham Times, has a letter from our candidate in South West London, not directly about socialism just pointing out an example of the hypocrisy of the Tory candidate for Mayor:

In the referendum on the Alternative Vote Zac Goldsmith campaigned to retain the existing first-past-the-post system as the fairest. The mayor of London is elected by a variant of AV. So, if Sadiq Khan finishes top, will Goldsmith congratulate him on being first past the post and renounce taking into account the second preference votes from Liberals and Greens that his leaflets dropping through our letter boxes are so obviously courting?

We've had a phone call from a subscriber/sympathiser from Leatherhead offering to help out. All she has to do is drive 5 miles and cross the Surrey/Greater London border but the nearest place is the village of Malden Rushett which could be in Surrey and is probably also full of Tories. In fact it's in the Green Belt and surrounded by farmland (and horseyculture), not typical outer London let alone inner London.

The candidates we're standing against

Just been anounced.

South West
ARBOUR, Tony - The Conservative Party Candidate
BUICK, Adam John Lewis - The Socialist Party (SP-GB)
CRAIG, Alexander Alan - UK Independence Party (UKIP)
FRIEZE, Andree Michelle - Green Party
ROBSON, Rosina Jane - London Liberal Democrats
WHELTON, Martin James - Labour Party

North East
ALLEN, Tim - Respect (George Galloway)
ARNOLD, Jennette - Labour Party
JERAJ, Samir - Green Party
MALIK, Sam - The Conservative Party Candidate
MARTIN, Bill - The Socialist Party (SP-GB)
SILBERMAN, Jonathan - Communist League
STACY, Terry - London Liberal Democrats
VACHHA, Freddy - UK Independence Party (UKIP)

Lambeth and Southwark
BUKOLA, Michael Adewale - Caroline Pidgeon's London Liberal Democrats
ESHALOMI, Florence - Labour Party
FLINT, Robert - The Conservative Party candidate
KANUMANSA, Amadu Santigie - All People's Party
NIX, Rashid - The Green Party
PARKIN, Kevin Leslie - The Socialist Party (SP-GB)
RAMADI, Idham - UK Independence Party (UKIP)

Time to get loud

Sorry I've been quiet: the plague that never ends has been chipping away at me for weeks, so it was with some difficulty that I managed to travel across Norf Lahndon to Waltham Forest Town Hall (truly, a building fit for a national Parliament, a 1930's Art-Deco Palace set in vast grounds). So, my nomination papers are in, and I begin leafletting shortly (as soon as this cough closes). I already have one hustings invite: Date: Saturday 23rd April, 5pm – 7:30pm Venue: St Mark’s Church Hall (Lower Hall) in Dalston St Mark Dalston, Dalston Organised by Friends of the Earth. So, we're off! *cough* *hack* *wheeze*

Lambeth and Southwark constituency: nomination accepted

The nomination papers and deposit for our candidate in Lambeth and Southwark, Kevin Parkin, were handed in at Brixton Town Hall this morning and accepted.

We won't know until, appropriately enough, 1 April who the other candidates, all standing for capitalism in one form or another, will be, though it's certain that Labour, Liberals and the Tories (all three same old, same old) will be standing along with the Greens (imaginary return to small scale capitalism) and UKIP (imaginary capitalism in one country).

South West constituency: Nomination accepted

The nomination papers and election deposit for our candidate in the South West constituency (Hounslow, Kingston, Richmond), Adam Buick, were handed in and accepted this morning at Hounslow Civic Centre.

This means that we will be on the ballot paper. There are 432,000 electors in the constituency. If it's the same as last time only about 40% will turn out to vote, but every elector there and in fact everywhere in London will receive a booklet with the manifestos of the candidates for mayor but also a list of all those standing for the Greater London Assembly. So even some of those who won't be bothering to vote will still be able to know we're standing.

As we arrived in Hounslow early we distributed a few of the election leaflets. A bit premature but we did see some evidence of other political activity -- a glossy leaflet from the Stay in the EU campaign headed "More Jobs. Lower Prices. Your family is better off with Britain in Europe". Rather misleading as more probably staying in will make no difference either to jobs or prices. We also spotted a sticker on a lamppost saying "Refugees, Fuck Off Back Home". So UKIP will be able to count on at least one vote here.

Education for competitiveness

Twenty or so people turned up for the Education Question Times meeting in Richmond last night. Our candidate got equal time with the others.

The discussion was mainly, but not entirely, on education. In answer to the last question, the other candidates confirmed our candidate's assertion that under capitalism the education system's main role was to turn out for employers workers of required types in the required numbers. They, and NUT Deputy General Secretary Kevin Courtney, spoke in terms of the need for a better education system in Britain to improve Britain's competitive position on the world market.

Only the UKIP candidate, Alan Caaig, dissented a little, saying he agreed with the socialist candidate that this was not what education should be about. A bit embarrasing but then he is a christian and so probably has a pre-capitalist view of education. He had in fact been the leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance until 2013 when he defected to UKIP. He wasn't heckled, so Richmond NUT can't have any SWP members as the SWP pursue a no-platform policy towards UKIP. He spoke last and got in a plug for the Vote Leave EU campaign. Speaking to him afterwards, he was surprised to learn that we weren't in favour of this but were neither for nor against as he expected a socialist to be against "the capitalist EU".

The Labour candidate, Martin Whetton, is the Merton Council's Cabinet Member for Education, i.e a full-time professional politician. He used up most of his 5-minute introduction urging people to vote for Sadiq Khan as Mayor of London. Incidentally, there's a full-page ad for him in this week's London local papers painting him as "The Council Estate Boy who will fix the Tory Housing Crisis". Oh yes? So he's going to buck the law of supply and demand?

The Liberal spokesperson (not a candidate for the constituency but on the LibDems all-London list), Merlene Emerson, said she was from Singapore and is the founder of the Chinese Liberal Democrats. Which may explain the presence of a reporter/photographer from a free English-language paper available in Soho. So, if anyone's there next week, pick up a copy to see if we get a mention.

Civic Centre formalities

Our candidate in South West and the election agent went to a briefing at Hounslow Civic Centre yesterday evening. Didn't learn anything we didn't know but it's always useful to be reminded of the regulations and meet those who will be enforcing them. The acting Returning Agent was a bit shocked when we said we'd pay the £1000 election deposit in cash. Apparently, she'd never seen that amount of cash before.

We'll be handing in all the nomination papers next Wednesday 23 March at 11am.

There was confirmation that the election booklet distributed to all 5 million or so electors in London will contain not just the candidates for Mayor and their statements but also the names and parties of all those contesting the GLA seats. So everyone who reads the booklet will know we are standing in 3 of the 14 constituencies and covering 8 of the 32 London boroughs.

We took the opportunity to look for a suitable spot to hold a literature stall one Saturday in April. Not difficult because most of the main street is pedestrianised.

No, we won't be

We have now recent an email letter from the local NUT organiser officially inviting us to their Education Question Time in Richmond on Thursday. We have thanked her and accepted, so we'll be there on the platform with the other declared candidates (except the outgoing Tory member for the constituency, Tony Arbour)

Will they no-platform us?

According to a quarter page advert in Friday's Richmond & Twickenham Times there's a question time meeting on education in Richmond on Thursday 17 March to be addressed by the candidates standing in the GLA South West constituency which we are contesting. Full details here.

Even though the Greater London Talking Shop has no responsibility for education, "poverty and inequality", "affordable housing" and "exam factory conditions" need to be discussed. In fact, during this election, we'll be bringing up much broader issues: capitalism as the cause of these and many other problems and that there is no soluttion to them within one country. Capitalism is a world system whose economic laws limit what any government can do. Only worldwide socialism can provide the only framework in which they can be constructively and lastingly solved.

We were not invited, no doubt in the first instance because the organisers (the local NUT branch) would not have been aware that we are standing. The local press were informed a couple of weeks ago but have not yet informed their readers. We have now let the organisers know and we'll see what happens. In any event, West London branch members will be at the meeting to leaflet it and make sure that everyone attending knows we will be standing.

There may well be others standing too as nominations don't close till 31 March.

Greater London Assembly elections

We're off again.

On 5 May there will be elections for the Mayor of London and the Greater London Assembly. We won't be standing a candidate for Mayor but we will be contesting 3 of the 14 super-constituencies. These are Lambeth & Southwark once again and North East (made up of the London boroughs of Islington, Hackney and Waltham Forest) and South West (Hounslow, Kingston and Richmond). In all, over a million electors will have the chance to vote for a socialist society based on the common ownership and democratic control of the means of production with distribution on the basis of ‘from each according to ability, to each according to need’, and against present-day, capitalist society of minority class ownership and production for profit which all the other candidates will be standing for in one form or another.

Watch this space for more details.