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.

Vauxhall result

It is here.

One curiosity is that the vote of candidates claiming to be socialist hasn't varied much since 2005.

In 2005 we were the only such candidate. We got 240 votes.

In 2010 there was us and Workers Power. We got 143 and they got 109 (a total of 252)

This time there was us and Left Unity. We got 82 and they got 188 (a total of 260).

Of course we don't regard either Workers Power or Left Unity as really standing for socialism but we can't deny that some people regard, and treat, all three of us as part of the "far left".

It also confirms something that we have noticed before that when we (proposing the maximum programme only of socialism) come up against others (claiming to be socialists and proposing vote-catching reforms) clash, about a third of the "far left" vote choose to vote for socialism.

Prince's by-election result

This can be seen here.

Labour 3452 (44.5%)
LibDem 1748 (22.5%)
Tory 1519 (19.5%)
Green 901 (11.6%)
Left Unity/Trade Unionists and Socialists (Kinglsey Abrams) 99 (1.3%)
The Socialist Party (Danny Lambert) 42 (0.5%)

Par for the course for us but a poor result for LU/TUSC considering who their candidate was (ex-Labour councillor and ex-Labour parliamentary candidate).

Who (in London) is afraid of the SNP?

Out yesterday delivering, to ensure we weren't left with too many, our leaflet for constituencies we're not standing in, I came across leaflets from the parties standing in Wandsworth and in Kingston. I hadn't realised that the Tories had such an obsession about the SNP.

Here's what a leaflet, for just a local council by-election, in Wandsworth says: either we have a Conservative government

Or we have a Labour/Scottish Nationalist Government, taxing London and harming Britain.

But the prize for this sort of thing goes to Tory leaflet for Kingston & Surbiton. Headed "SNP puts Miliband in Downing Street. Your vote can stop this", it is entirely devoted to the subject and says:

A Vote for the Lib Dems will help Ed Miliband and the SNP take us back to square one.

I suppose they think this will get them votes from people who don't like the Scots.

Anyway, the SNP is just another capitalist party, whose aim is not so much independence, but to gain some strength to bargain for a bigger grant for the Scottish regional administration from the central givernment. Just the same as the Democratic Unionist Party is trying to do for Northern Ireland. Come to think of it, you could just as (il)logically argue that a vote for the Tories will be help the Paisleyites get their way -- though they might decide to support a minority Labour government instead if it offer more money. Who knows?

Prince's Ward by-election hustings 30 April 2015

The Prince's Ward by-election Hustings took place on Thursday 30 April 2015 in St Anselm's Church, Kennington Cross. Prince's Ward is in the north of Lambeth borough, comprising mainly Vauxhall and Kennington. The most interesting thing about council by-elections and their hustings is seeing capitalism in a microcosm and its effects on people at the local level in Lambeth with regards to housing, libraries and schools. There was a small demo outside the hustings before it began – local community activists carrying a 'Hands Off Durning Library' banner.

Around 50 people turned out for the hustings and all 6 candidates were there: Danny Lambert, the Socialist Party candidate, Kingsley Abrams (Left Unity-TUSC), Labour, Lib-Dems, Green and Tory. Danny stood (all the other candidates sat down for their speeches/answers as they had nothing to be excited about to stand up) and gave his 2 minutes opening which was a concise exposition of the Socialist case.

The Green Party had some support at the hustings but their candidate was weak. The point of the Greens seems to be what Caroline Lucas said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, as a group that puts political pressure on Labour from the left. There was no support for the Lib-Dems and I can't recall a single thing he said. The Tory candidate was personable and probably right when he said 'I'm the only candidate here who can beat Labour' but he had no support there.

The Labour candidate is a shoe-in to win Prince's Ward, she had lots of support there. But what a candidate! Mealy-mouthed, charmless, professional Blairite career politician in the making, a product of the Vauxhall Labour Party Machine. I thought of Danny's observation 'anyone who wants to be a politician is the last person you'd want'. The Vauxhall Labour MP Kate Hoey was in the audience.

Local Lambeth issues dominated the hustings - 'estate regeneration' or really the housing crisis in particular Knights Walk, threatened closure of Durning Library, the need for expansion of the Archbishop Sumner School. Lambeth Labour Council got in the neck from 4 of the candidates, the Labour could not stick the boot too much! Even Danny had to agree that Lambeth Council data is not to be trusted. Another local issue that has recently developed is the future of the Royal Vauxhall Tavern future which has been bought by a property developer. The LGBT community and continuing existence of the RVT supported by all candidates, although Danny pointed out the inevitability of things like this happening when we live in an economic system where profit comes before people's needs.

If I was one of the community activists at the hustings then my vote would go to Kingsley Abrams of Left Unity-TUSC. He had some support at the hustings, and was a very capable speaker. He should be, as he is a professional local politician, many years experience as a Merton Labour councillor and Lambeth Labour councillor. His refrain was 'I will never vote for cuts' but he sometimes spoke of himself in the third person using his forename! 'Kingsley will never vote for cuts!' He never once mentioned the word 'socialism' although even Steve Nally, Trotskyite TUSC candidate at other hustings doesn't either. Abrams is also LU– TUSC parliamentary candidate in Southwark against Lib Dem Simon Hughes. Abrams is unusual in that he is not a Trotskyite and is standing for TUSC. He is Labour left. He praised the so-called 'independence' of Vauxhall Labour MP Kate Hoey who was in attendance for part of the hustings. I spoke with Simon Hardy (Vauxhall Left Unity candidate) in Brixton last Saturday, and he said LU were there to push Labour to the 'left'. So that is the point of Left Unity.

Abrams 'pledges' were music to the ears of the local activists involved in the Knights Walk, Durning Library, Archbishop Sumner School campaigns. He got passionate (although he did not stand up!) talking about 'regeneration' means 'social cleansing', it is a a disgrace, he proposed rent caps, scrapping the right to buy, scrapping the bedroom tax (the only time it was mentioned – probably because of its unpopularity even a Labour government will scrap it if elected on 7 May)

Our socialist Iranian comrade pointed out to the hustings there were 1 million empty homes, and that 'housing should be held in common'. On a question of working with local faith communities, Danny had the best answer when he spoke about the 'human community', although I feared he was going to do Marx on religion but really that was me wanting to do a socialist exposition on 'religion' along the lines of Feuerbach and Marx !

The hustings switched then to a quasi-Anglican caring capitalism feel when the Vicar's curate made a statement on the plight of Carers in the borough who are paid below minimum wage, are on zero hours contracts, and not paid travel expenses for travelling between clients. Abrams again gave his support as a trade unionist for UNITE, and representing TUSC and Left Unity, proposing £10 minimum wage, and the scrapping of zero hours contracts. I gasped inwardly when the Labour candidate said the minimum wage of £9.15 was a 'reasonable wage' ! although nobody at the hustings felt that the Labour candidate had just revealed her contempt for working people.

Danny pointed out that the Curate had nicely put into words an indictment of capitalism.

5 of the candidates want a more 'caring', 'compassionate capitalism', believe capitalism can be reformed to be better although Danny pointed out several times that capitalism cannot be made to work in the interests of working people.

To round off a peculiar hustings the Tory candidate had the best line right at the end of the hustings when he said 'Finally, what is the use of words. Let us be seen together in Action' which clinched the finale, and was taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses.

SPC

Prince's ward hustings

This now confirmed but for Thursday 30 April (not Friday 1 May as originally enisaged).

Danny Lambert, the Socialist Party of Great Britain candidate for the Prince's Ward by-election will be attending the election hustings that will take place at St Anselm's Church, Kennington Cross, 286 Kennington Road, Lambeth SE11 5DU at 6pm on Thursday 30th April 2015

The running order will be drawn by a lot. All candidates will be given 2 minutes for opening statements. Questions will then be taken and at the end and all will have 2 minutes for a closing statement.

Chair: The Revd Angus Aagaard, Team Rector of North Lambeth Parish

Leafletting begins

Leafletting has begun in the Prince's ward by-election (up to now we've been concentrating on the general election: there's another stall in Clapham High Stteet tomorrow from 12 noon). The Tories have produced a glossy A3 leaflet for the by-election despite not having a chance. The other discarded leaflets found were general election ones for Labour, the Tories and Left Unity as well as one of ours (for our archives). There's going to be a local by-election hustings on Friday 1 May, in St Anselm's Church in Kennington,but what a few for the general election?

Prince's ward by-election: the runners

Nominations closed yesterday at 12 noon. There are 6 candidates: Labour, Green, LibDem, Tory, us and "Left Unity -- Trade Unionists and Socialists". No UKIP (no Elizabeth Jones, presumably she's busy trying to get elected MP for Dartford). It's a bit surprising that the Electoral Commission have allowed a candidate to stand as "Trade Unionists and Socialists" as they have refused to allow us to register "The Socialist Party" as a variant of our name on the grounds that this could cause confusion with "other socialist parties". In that case, so should "Trade Unionists and Socialists" but I suppose "Left Unity" in the name is the let-out. In order words, Kingsley Abrams is basically standing for Left Unity.

Since the result of the general election in Vauxhall is a foregone conclusion -- a walk- over for the outgoing MP Kate Hoey -- this by-election could be the centre of political interest in constituency: ex-Labour councillor trying to get back on the council, splitting the Labour vote and letting in the Greens or even, though hardly a realistic possibility, the LibDems (who once held the ward), etc, etc.

More on Prince's ward by-election

We will be standing a candidate, Danny Lambert, who is also standing in the General Election for Vauxhall. Our nomination papers have already been handed in and accepted.

Left Unity and TUSC are putting forward a formidable joint candidate in ex-Labour councillor, Kingsley Abrams, who is also standing for Parliament in the next-door constituency of Bermondsey & Old Southwark. See here.

Another local by-election

A vacancy has occurred in Prince's ward in Lambeth Council. It's in the Vauxhall constituency (it's the area between Vauxhall bridge and Lambeth bridge behind the Oval cricket ground). We'll have to consider whether it's worth standing there. The by-election will be on the same as the General election, i.e 7 May

Who Will Debate With The Socialist Party in Vauxhall?

The Socialist Party has attempted to debate a number of political parties in Vauxhall as part of the run up to the General Election.

Waleed Ghani of the newly reformed Whig Party agreed but suggested dates in early March that were not practical and unfortunately he is too busy in April to debate with the Socialist Party. We were looking forward to debating topical subjects such as whether to impeach Prime Minister Robert Walpole, or should the 1832 Great Reform Act have extended the franchise to the working class or even was the South Sea Bubble the Wall Street Crash or 2008 financial crisis of its day?

The Green Party candidate Gulnar Hasnain  rejected the call for a debate by saying: "I'm sure we would have a very interesting discussion and would share common ground but during the election period I need to be committed to public hustings and not any organised by political parties."

The Pirate Party candidate Mark Chapman also rejected the call for a debate by saying: "In principle I am in favour of anything which increases public engagement and understanding, and am very willing to put myself forward for any debate or hustings which you, or anyone else, is willing to organise. My only comment would be that it should be seen to be open and transparent, and in my opinion all confirmed candidates should be invited (even if some may choose not to accept)."

We expect to meet up with the above candidates at hustings to be organised in the Vauxhall constituency.

Acting globally

Received a request for an organisation calling itself Simpol (Simultaneous Policy) asking to sign a pledge of theirs. Here's our reply:

Thank you for your email, and request to sign up to your Simpol principles. I'm afraid I cannot.

Whilst the Socialist Party shares your general principles of democracy, co-operation and worldwide action, we see the problems facing the world as stemming from the ownership of the wealth of the world by a privileged class. We do not think the world's problems can be solved until the wealth of the world is taken into the common and direct democratic ownership of the whole of humanity.

Specifically, we think this requires a self-conscious and active movement of people working together, worldwide, and we cannot allow this movement to be divided into nation states or rely on Governments to help us.

If you would like to know more about the World Socialist Movement, please do take a look at our website at www.worldsocialism.org

Your for World Socialism,

Bill Martin (Socialist Party Candidate, Islington North).

A TUSC rally? Lambeth Town Hall 25 February

We distributed a leaflet announcing our candidate Danny Lambert for the Vauxhall constituency to people on Acre Lane and Brixton Hill as well as to about 100 trade unionists protesting against  Lambeth Council cuts yesterday. The trade unionists were representing unions such as UNISON, GMB, and campaigns such as Save Our Schools, Save Our Libraries in Lambeth Borough. Also people from Stand Up to Racism and Fascism were there. The Green Party was in evidence calling for Save Lambeth Libraries. The Labour parliamentary candidate for Epsom and Ewell spoke at the demo as did the ex Lambeth Labour Councillor Kingsley Abrahams who was basically kicked out of the Lambeth Labour Party because he would not vote for cuts.

But it was a TUSC (Trade Union and Socialist Coalition) show. The TUSC parliamentary candidates Unjum Mirza (Streatham) and Steve Nally (Dulwich and West Norwood) spoke at the rally. The large TUSC banner was in evidence. Steve Nally usually stands in Vauxhall for TUSC but has been moved away so that he doesn't oppose the Labour MP Kate Hoey who is a member of the RMT trade union Parliamentary group (RMT are a funder of the TUSC). TUSC are a front for the Trotskyite SPEW political party, of which Steve Nally is a member, as is the UNISON rep who spoke at the protest yesterday. TUSC are also supported by rival trots the SWP. TUSC/SWP shared a stall at the protest. The SWP locally are holding meetings in Brixton in March on Syriza, Climate Change and Selma to Ferguson.

I saw a Left Unity supporter who are standing a candidate in Vauxhall where we are standing.

Will TUSC/SWP supporters in Vauxhall vote for rival trots Workers' Power who are essentially Left Unity in Lambeth?

For the record the SWP endorsed former Lambeth Labour council leader Steve Reed at the Croydon North by-election in 2012 which is staggering considering for years the SWP in its front organisation Defend Council Housing was bitterly opposed to Lambeth Council housing policies under the leadership of Reed!

TUSC's Steve Nally said to those gathered outside Lambeth Town Hall that we should "look to Greece" (ie Syriza) for inspiration which is strange considering the Syriza government has made a deal with the Eurozone and is going to continue with austerity economics when it was elected on an anti-austerity platform...

Stop the £90m Cuts Lambeth Town Hall 25 February

We will be outside Lambeth Town Hall at 6pm on Wednesday 25 February for the Anti-Cuts demo organised by trade unions such as UNISON, GMB, UNITE, and the NUT. We will be distributing a leaflet announcing that our candidate Danny Lambert will be standing for the Socialist Party of Great Britain in the Vauxhall constituency.

Lambeth Discussion Group

We have set up a new group in Lambeth comprised of members and sympathisers to support the General Election campaign in the Vauxhall constituency. Our candidate will be Danny Lambert.

The new Lambeth Group had it's first meeting on 12 February attended by several members and even more sympathisers. It was decided to hold election/literature stalls in Clapham High Street, and possibly stalls in Stockwell and in Brixton. A leaflet will be produced to be distributed at tube stations in the constituency. It was agreed to contact the Pirate Party, Whig party and Green Party candidates to enquire about debates between our candidate and their candidates.

The next meeting of the Lambeth Discussion Group will take place at 52 Clapham High Street at 7.00pm on Thursday 12 March when candidate Danny Lambert will speak on 'Why I Won't Make a Good MP.'

And now the ex(?)-Trots

One of the handful of Left Unity candidates in the general election will be standing in Vauxhall. Their candidate here is Simon Hardy, formerly of Workers Power, the Trotskyist group who stood in Vauxhall in the last general election in 2010 (and got less votes than us). He has moved on from orthodox Trotskyism but still seems to have a soft spot for Lenin.

Meanwhile the Green Party candidate in Vauxhall in 2010, Joseph Healy ,has also joined Left Unity and is calling on people to vote for Simon Hardy rather than for his successor as Green Party candidate, Gulnar Hasnain.

TUSC is not standing as the sitting Labour MP, Kate Hoey, is a member of the RMT Parliamentary Group and TUSC don't want to alienate RMT. Steve Nally, who we've come across in various local by-elections in Lambeth, has been shunted to the other side of Brixton High Road to contest Dulwich and West Norwood for TUSC.

After the Pirates the Whigs

Talk about back to the 18th century but the Whig Party has been revived and will be standing in Vauxhall. Their candidate will be Waleed Ghani. More on the revived Whig Party here.

For those who don't remember their school history, in the days before the extension of the vote to the industrial and urban midddle class in 1832, the Whigs were the least reactionary section of the landowning ruling class as opposed to their more reactionary section, the Tories. They later became absorbed into the old Liberal Party.

Not sure what we could debate with them. Perhaps: That the 1832 Reform Act should have extended the franchise to the working class? Or: Were the Chartists wrong demonstrate on Kennington Common in 1848 to demand One Man, One Vote?

William Morris had something to say about them (he didn't think much of them). Or, to hear it read, go to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXpMBQiz9Ac

The pirates come on board

The Pirate Party, a minor reformist party, is also standing in Vauxhall. See here.

Another letter.

Another letter has been published today:

Dear Friend,

an election must be coming. Jeremy Corbyn has been appearing in print around the shop calling for rent controls as a means of curbing the housing crisis. Rent controls, though, have never worked, and never will. They are an attempt to fix the market, and market rates will out, with landlords either letting their stock go to wreck or withdrawing from the market to protect their profit rates.

The only solution to the housing crisis is to build enough homes for all; but the market is patently failing to do this, and never will. If there were enough homes for all, how could a landlord collect rent?

No one can help taking up space, or needing shelter, and no-one should have it denied them because of market whims. Just as no-one can help falling ill, and should not have health care denied them because of market whims. We need housing free at the point of use.

The only way we can get this is through the common ownership of the wealth of the world. Anything less will always see profit (and rents) put before people's need.

Bill Martin Socialist Party Parliamentary Candidate for Islington North.

In the Islington Gazette no online letters page, but there is an e-edition here.

A flurry of letters

So, I promised letters (I think). Here goes

In the Islington Tribune I also sent one to the Morning Star, that appears not to have been published. Text below:

Dear Friend, the current debate about "splitting the vote" in Croydon is missing the point. If people are in organisations so similar that they are robbing each other's votes, then they should become one party. The fact that they are not one party suggests they are putting forward different policies and different choices for the electorate, and should have no shame in standing their ground. As Eugene Debbs said: "It is better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it." The Socialist Party will be standing in ten seats, to put forward the case for the abolition of the wages system, and will stand irrespective of whoever else puts themselves forward in those seats.

I wonder why they didn't publish that one?

Anyway, another letter has been sent, this morning, to Islington Gazette, this time attacking Jeremy Corbyn, on rent controls. Updates when/if it appears.

So, while other parties gear up for the long campaign, we chug to the starting line. Activity so far this week: two letters to the press (I'll put them up here once I know whether they've been published or not). At the end of last week I got some interview practice with a student journalist (who was very good at lobbing soft open questions my way). I explained how often we get stitched up by the media. The debacle of the leaders debates shows what a mess it is, rather than being a tool to assist candidates putting their case forward, the media is a tool of power that shapes the debate, and gets to select who speaks. There's not a shortage of air time, over the next hundred days press national and local will not be short of parties to give ten minutes to, surely? We'll have to find a way to reach as many people as we can. Interestingly the student found out about us from the wikipedia article on Islington North (where I'm contesting my first Parliamentary seat). I know Wikipedia isn't for advertising, but, still. But still.

Us and the General Election

As we can't avoid knowing, there will be a general election on Thursday 7 May. We'll be standing two candidates in London (and another 8 elsewhere in the country).

The two constituencies are: Islington North and Vauxhall where our candidates will be, respectively, Bill Martin and Danny Lambert.

West London branch will be organising our campaign in the two Oxford seats (just up the M40 from west London).

A meeting has been fixed for Thursday 12 February at 7pm in our offices at 52 Clapham High Street, SW4 7UN (nearest tube: Clapham North; nearest overground: Clapham High Street) to form a committee to help organise the campaign in Vauxhall.

August by-election in Lambeth

Here is the result of the by-election in Knight's Hill ward of Lambeth held last week which we chose not to contest. The Independent candidate was standing to protest against the Labour council's plan to sell off to developers land in the area cutrrently used for sheltered accommodation for the elderly

The reason for this by-election, so soon after the full council election in May, is given here.

We will continue to contest local by-elections, especially in the Vauxhall parliamentary constituency.

Percentages

It needs to be pointed out, and has been, that the percentages that the Lambeth Council website gives for each candidate are percentages of the total votes cast but as each voter has three votes it is not a measure of how many individuals support each party. This method underestimates the number supporting parties which put up only one candidate (in our words, us, TUSC and UKIP), but it is unclear how this could be worked out. Anyway, TUSC, UKIP and us will have more support than the Lambeth website figures suggest, perhaps twice as much.

This means that UKIP has the support of about 5% of those who bothered to vote in the two wards they stood in (Ferndale and Clapham Town). Not much compared with elsewhere. Commentators have been noting that UKIP is not doing so well in London. In fact, when you look at the composition of the population in London, especially central London, you wonder why UKIP thinks it has any chance in the inner London boroughs. Here for instance are the 2011 census statistics for Ferndale ward:

38.7% White British
20.9% Other White
10.8% Black African
9.9% Black caribbean
5.0% Black other

Of course these are unscientific categories and measure only what people classify themselves as when given a limited number of choices and told they must choose one, but, given that most "Other White" will be EU migrants, UKIP's on to a hiding in places like this, just as their parent group, the Tories, have been.

Clapham results

Three of us attended the count this afternoon in the Recreation Centre besides Brixton railway station. The results for the three wards we contested can be found here:

Clapham Town

Ferndale

Larkhall

The results in the two wards we contested both times (Ferndale and Larkhall) are almost exactly the same as last time in 2010.

The new council will be completely dominated by Labour with 50 seats to 3 for the Tories and 1 for the Greens.The Liberals have been excluded from being a serious contender for council seats in the future, with the Greens taking their place as the main opposition to Labour. UKIP got nowhere (look at their result in Ferndale) and, although TUSC got more votes than us in the two wards we both stood in, in the other wards they contested they didn't do much better than we would have done.

Islington result

Junction ward result in: Labour win all three seats, taking one from the Lib Dems. Riddhi Bhalla​ (Conservative​) 320
*Janet Burgess​ (Labour​) 2,228
Michael Collins​ (Conservative​) 361
Giorgia Gamba​ (Liberal Democrats​) 297
Mick Holloway​ (Green​) 717
Daniel Hudson​ (Green​) 621
Stefan Antoni Kasprzyk​ (Liberal Democrats​) 333
*Kaya Makarau Schwartz​ (Labour​) 1938
Bill Martin​ (The Socialist (GB)​ 90
*Tim Nicholls​ (Labour​) 1,779
Jill Renwick​ (Green​) 720
Victoria Savvides​ (Liberal Democrats​) 245
Oliver Peter Jonathan​ (Conservative) 314

I make that about 2.6%, I'll need to read around to see what that says, but, as per last year, I think the signs are a swing to supporting Labour...

Labourites fall out

Only just got round to reading Tuesday's Evening Standard and so missed this account of a dispute between the Labour MP for Vauxhall, Kate Hoey, and one of the Labour candidates in Clapham Town ward. Apparently, she doesn't agree with him breaking a promise not to support the eviction of long-standing tenants from houses they took over and did up which the Labour Council is planning. Some Labour Party members have more principles than others, even if they all support capitalism. We have a copy of the offending leaflet.

And all over in Islington too...

So, last night four of us made it out to the Tufnell Park end of the ward, and we got rid of almost all our leaflets (a few will go out today, put probably outside the ward). It was hot work, but many hands made light work. When someone refused a leaflet, I tried to tell him we were from the campaign to re-route HS2 through their street (which would need to be demolished). After all, we have to let them learn it might be a bad idea not to read election leaflets. One man asked us if we'd seen the sign saying "No Junk Mail" we told him it was an election address, which he pompously declared he considered to be junk mail. I refrained from saying what I thought of him. We meekly collected our leaflet and went about our way. The only real difficulty of the night was my colleague, who became ill at the thought of deliering to houses with Arsenal posters in the window. Maybe when Spurs win the sup too, he'll recover...

Campaigning over

We have now finished leafletting Clapham. In the end we did manage to distribute door-to-door and at our three literature stalls some 9000 of the 9500 allocated to us. The Labour Party must have spent a lot on trying to retain control of the council, with glossy leaflets, posters and personalised voting cards. We saw no leaflets from either the Liberals or the Tories. Presumably they are only running a token campaign in the three safe Labour wards we are contesting and concentrating on leafier parts where they think they can win. Surprisingly we saw no TUSC leaflets in the two of these wards they are contesting. Only a Green Party leaflet in Clapham Town ward denouncing the Labour Council for betraying residents who had moved into abandoned properties in the 1970s and refurbished them and who are now to be evicted so the council can get more money by selling the land off to property speculators.

More news about Clapham after the count on Friday.

Brixton hustings report

The Brixtonblog have now published their own report of the hustings last Tuesday. It's a good report that accurately records what our representative said when he gave the socialist position on the various issues raised (housing, lecturers' strike, democracy, immigration and cuts).

Too many leaflets?

We finished leafletting Clapham Town ward yesterday. Larkhall has been done too and Ferndale is nearly finished but at the moment it looks as if we could have over a thousand left. We had 12000 printed, with 2500 for Junction ward in Islington and 9500 for the 3 Lambeth wards, i.e 3100 or so each. This was based on our experience of the by-elections we contested last year. We may still be able to get the figure down by revisiting blocs we left out because we couldn't gain access or streets which were difficult. We've also got a literature stall outside 52 Clapham High St later today (from noon). And we could leaflet the 4 tube stations in the area (Clapham North, Clapham Common, Stockwell and Brixton). We'll see.

Labour seem to be putting a lot of effort into holding Clapham Town with two glossy leaflets and more posters than usual. In fact they seem to be up to the old Labour Council trick of putting up some of their posters in empty council-owned houses. The only other posters are those for the Green Party in nearly every house in Rectory Gardens. Not surprising since the residents of this car-free street with insecure tenancies are threatened with eviction by the Labour council so that the area can be handed over to property developers to build upmarket flats (with a few "affordable" ones facing the dustbin area thrown in).

What happened at the Brixton hustings

60 Lambeth residents or political activists attended the Brixton Blog hustings in a room upstair of the pub 'Prince of Wales' in Brixton on tuesday evening. The most surprising thing of the evening was the appearance as the Labour Party repesentative, of Lib Peck, the Leader of Lambeth Council. The Lib Dem rep was also a councillor from Streatham.

The increasingly 'notorious' Elizabeth Jones was there representing UKIP. Her appearance there and her statements drew lots of boos, hisses, haranguing and cries of racism from the assorted Trotskyites (SWP, SPEW) and Leftists (Left Unity were there but not standing candidates in the elections) in the room. She mentioned Alan Bennett but there were no protests... but when she mentioned 'Saint' Bob Crow and the 'No2EU' campaign that was too much for TUSC/RMT/SPEW activists!

The venom in the room was directed mainly at Lib Peck and Lambeth Labour Council with UKIP coming in second. The questions were about cuts to libraries, the poor performance of Lambeth Council's 'arms length' housing organisation 'Lambeth Living', pavements, car pollution in Brixton, social exclusion, immigration, Lambeth College lecturers strike. It was dealing with the symptoms and not the cause which is capitalism. The hustings saw the debut of the Pirate Party who advocated libertarianism and also transparency of council meetings.

All the speakers apart from Danny Lambert, our party representative, were clearly mesmerised with capitalism and could not see beyond its existence and all believed if they were in power they could tweak it and it would be a positive and good thing for people. Steve Nally for TUSC, sponsored by Trots SPEW and SWP and RMT trade union, would oppose all cuts and declare 'illegal' budgets, the usual activist reformist nonsense with no mention that the working class have the power to emancipate themselves, abolish capitalism and transform society to a socialist society of production to meet human needs and democratic control.

Danny put forward the Socialist case, he was on good form, and got a good reception from the assorted Leftists in the room although they would probably still vote TUSC or Green. Afterwards a man came up to Danny to say how much he enjoyed what Danny had to say but it turned out he was a Green Party candidate from another part of London...
Steve

More twitter feedback

here Comments from Telegraphista: "And no human nature, according to that shit! Human beings can't live like that, so we are all doomed!!!" Fnarr

Online socialist statement for Brixton

The Brixtonblog has published statements from the various parties contesting wards in Brixton. You can see them here.

Scroll down to see Danny Lambert's (our candidate in Ferndale} on our behalf (also the UKIP candidate there dancing with Nigel Farage). Anyway, here's what it says:

These borough elections are an opportunity for people to register their rejection of austerity, capitalism and the whole profit system.

The Socialist Party makes no apology for raising the issue of socialism in local elections. Things are not produced today to meet people’s needs, they are produced to make a profit and that’s the cause of the problems people in Lambeth as everywhere else face.

It’s not what local councils or even national governments do that shapes how we live. It’s the economic system which requires that profits be put before people. That’s what has to be changed to make things better.

Lambeth Council are under economic pressure, transmitted via the government, to balance their books both by cutting spending and increasing their income through selling off assets such as sheltered accommodation.

This year the Council plans to cut £4 million from helping disabled, vulnerable and older residents, also £3.9 million from children and young people services. They are evicting tenants from the short-life housing co-operatives where they have lived for 30 years. Some residents have even had to seek charity handouts from Food Banks.

It’s profits before people. That’s how capitalism works.

The only alternative is socialism, to replace the profit system with one based on common ownership and democratic control so that there can be production to satisfy people’s needs instead of for profit. Socialism, as a society of common ownership, will apply the principle “from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs.”

People in Clapham Town and Larkhall wards as well as Ferndale ward can register their rejection of the profit system and the need for a socialist alternative by putting an X next to the name of the Socialist Party candidate there.

It pays to advertise

After trooping up and down stairs yesterday (with two other party members off doing the flat bits, I'm please to Read this It pays to put ourselves out there. The only question is, will we let him vote for us? Only if he actually wants socialism!

Letter printed

The below letter has been printed in this week's Islington Tribune and the Islington Gazette

Dear Friend,

in the Islington local elections, we have a choice between the Labour Party (who will cry as they cut), the Tory Party (who will laugh as they cut) or the Libral Democrats (who will just wet themselves while choosing whether to laugh or cry). Or you can vote for the Green Party, who promise not to cut, but will end up having to anyway because austerity is beyond their control.

Any party in govrnment, whether local or national is constrained by the power and interests of them as own the world. The power of private property. So long as the world is owned by a tiny minority, it will be run in their interests, rather than that of the majority. We cannot have functional democracy until we have common ownership of the whole world's wealth.

The Socialist Party is contesting Junction Ward making no promises. We will do nothing for you.

It is the people who vote for us who would be making the promise: to campaign and build for common ownership. Voting for the Socialist Party is saying we refuse to be governed or dragged into implementing the policy of the wealthy. Politics as normal is over. A vote for the Socialist Party is a revolt.

We campaign for nothing short of the abolition of the wages system and the common and democratic ownership of the wealth of the world.

Your for World Socialism,

Bill Martin (Socialist Party Candidate, Junction Ward).

Brixton hustings

I can't post the flyer, but I can link to the blog:Vote Brixton: Your chance to quiz council candidates

Candidates from all political parties will be grilled by the public at a Brixton Blog hustings event next week.

Ahead of this month’s local elections, councillors and would-be councillors from across the political spectrum will sit on a Brixton Blog panel to face questions about what they would do if they were elected.

The event is free to attend and you’ll be able to meet the people vying for your vote.

The event will be held upstairs at the POW (Prince of Wales) on the corner of Coldharbour Lane and Brixton Road, at 7pm on Tuesday 13th May.

Our candidate Danny lambert will be there.

Memories of Tulse Hill

Elizabeth Jones of UKIP has sent us this photo taken after the hustings in the Tulse Hill local council by-election last year. Also in the photo are the chair (Kaye Wiggins of the Brixtonblog), Steve Nally of TUSC, Adam Buick of us and the LibDem candidate:

In the olden days this would never have happened as Party speakers used to refuse even to shake hands with opponents.

Elizabeth Jones is standing against us again in the current elections in Ferndale ward. Earlier this year she represented UKIP in a debate with us, the opening speeches of which can be found here. She is also No3 on the UKIP list for the European Parliament in the London Region.

Hustings in Lambeth next Tuesday

The lively local online paper, the Brixtonblog, is organising a hustings next Tuesday 13 May of all the parties putting up candidates for Lambeth council. Details can be found here.

They have also offered parties standing in the 5 Brixton wards (Brixton Hill, Tulse Hill, Herne Hill, Coldharbour Lane, and Ferndale) space on their blog for a 300 word statement. We have already sent ours off.

Keep Our NHS public?

A reply to a campaign circular:

Dear Friend,

thank you for your letter dated 1st May regarding your campaign group's pledge against NHS privatisation.

The Socialist Party campaigns solely on the basis of abolishing the market system, whether in its private or state form. The NHS, as it stands, remains part of the market system, paying wages and salaries and buying drugs and equipment from suppliers.

The NHS is part of the social wage, won through class struggle; but so long as society is organised on private or state capitalist lines, it can only be run within the limits of the profitability of capital. We aim to abolish capitalist relations outright, so that the only limit will be that of our collective ability to work.

If elected to public office, until such time as we could carry through such a change, our delegate would be instructed to vote in the interest of the needs of the working class: in this case, ensuring they got the best health outcomes available.

This was a reply to Islington Keep Our NHS Public

Outer London (just)

Leaflet distribution in Clapham had to start a day earlier because of the tube strike (good luck to them). A 1000 or so (out of 9500) have been distributed so far, but the strike meant distributing instead the leaflet for the Euroelections in the South East Region. just across the Great London border in Surrey (the only county where the post office won't be distributing our manifestos free), but still in the KT6 (Surbiton) post code area. Met Liberal and Tory canvassers, but for the local elections (the Liberals were both councillors) which are also been held there as well as London. They didn't appear to know much about the Euroelections, perhaps because Elmbridge Borough Council has more powers than the European Parliament. Managed to find a council estate amongst the big houses, but that was the only place I saw an election poster. It said "I'm voting for UKIP". A sign of the times?

Elsewhere in Lambeth

The full list of candidate for Lambeth reveals that TUSC are contesting 10 wards with a total of 13 candidates (3 in Brixton Hill and 2 in Tulse Hill) and that the Pirate Party is standing in Vassall (as is TUSC). TUSC is standing in 2 or the 3 wards we are contesting (Ferndale and Larkhall).

Labour, Liberals, Tories are contesting all the(three-member) seats and UKIP all the wards. There is one independent. It was rumoured that Respect would be standing but there's no sign of them nor of Left Unity.

Our election leaflet

12,000 copies of the leaflet we will be distributing in the wards we are contesting in Lambeth and Islington were delivered to our premises in Clapham on Friday. Below is what it looks like (right click and open in new tab to enlarge). Distribution door-to-door begins next week.

Statement of persons nominated

These for Lambeth can be found here. We're standing in Clapham Town, Ferndale and Larkhall wards. As you'll see, it's us and the usual suspects (Labour, Tory, Liberal, Greens and newcomers UKIP) plus, in Ferndale and Larhall, TUSC.

Those for Junction ward in Islington can be found here. Same usual suspects except without UKIP (perhaps because they consider it too Irish, but one of the Tory candidates is called Michael Collins). No BNP either as there was in the by-election last year.

The Party that keeps it's promises

As promised: I went to Islington Town Hall this lunchtime (by bike, that was fun), and my nomination papers are in, and we're off. The returning officer spotted that we had just gone along a street asking for signatures 9thanks to those who came and helped out on that). And then there were four candidates.

Junction all systems go...

It took a record short 45 minutes for us to collect our signatures for nomination up here at the top of Islington. People were nice, either telling us flat they don't vote, or that this is a solid Labour area, or that they won't vote for us but, hey, they'll be nice and sign the form to give other people a choice. So, today, I'll have to hot foot it to Islington town hall in my lunch hour to get the form in. Fingers crossed it'll all be square. Later this week, there seems to be a "Meet the candidates" event, that I may have to wrangle my way into. Stay tuned for further reports.

Nominations for Lambeth accepted

The nominations for our 3 candidates standing in Lambeth were handed in at Lambeth Town Hall at 12.30 this morning and have been accepted. They were for:

Oliver Bond (Clapham Town ward)
Adam Buick (Larkhall ward)
Danny Lambert (Ferndale ward)

We won't know for definite who the other candidates are until nominations close at 4pm on Thursday 24 April, but it is already fairly certain that Labour, the LibDems, Tories, Greens, UKIP and (except in Clapham Town)TUSC will be standing. It remains to be seen if there will be any other parties (the English Democrats have stood in Lambeth before) or Independents.

Batting for socialism at the Oval

The premature hustings duly took place this morning. The LibDems and Labour were out in force with all their candidates for Oval ward present as this is a marginal ward split 2 Labour 1 LibDem. Other parties represented, though not by any of their candidates, were the Tories and TUSC. Embarrassingly, we had to share a table with the Tories. No sign of the Greens or UKIP. We are not contesting Oval but, as we are contesting Larkhall down the road, were allowed a couple of minutes to answer questions, along with the other parties, put by an audience of 50 outside and explain why we were standing. There was not much we could say about uncollected rubbish bins or broken park railings but were able to point out that what a LibDem leaflet called "luxury flats for absentee billionaires" that the Labour Council were allowing to be built on the riverside rather than houses or flats for ordinary people was what happens under capitalism where production is for profit not to satisfy people's needs.

Afterwards a Labour Party member came up and said he used to read the Socialist Standard but said that he was in the Labour Party because it was "the mass party of the working class" and which was therefore where socialists ought to be. Recognising this as the classic Trotskyist case for "entryism", I introduced him to the TUSC representative (James who is standing for them in Ferndale, so are we) and listened to a member of Militant putting across the same sort of arguments for not being in the Labour Party as we used to put to them in the 1980s when they were in it. Actually the Labour member turned out not to be a Trotskyist but a member of the revived Labour Representation Committee, a left Labour pressure group which, according to wikipedia, includes John McDonnell MP, Owen Jones and former Lambeth Council Labour leader Ted Knight.

A premature hustings

Although nominations are not even open let alone closed, a sort of hustings is being organised at the Oval tomorrow, Saturday.

We are not standing there but are in not-so-far-away Larkhall and the organisers say we can be there with other non-Oval candidates. So we will be. We still have some leaflets left over from the Vassall ward by-election last year and part of the Oval is in Vassall ward.

Non-Brits welcome

Still continuing to get the 10 signatures for Ferndale ward. We've got 6 but there's no hurry or worry. We'll get them all by the weekend.

Once thing that's noticeable from the electoral register is the number of electors with a G against their name. This means they are EU Citizens who can vote in local (but not parliamentary) elections. A couple have signed our papers. They make up over 10 percent of the electorate in this part of London. In Larkhall ward, for instance, there are 1541 out of a total electorate of 12333, or 12.5%, which is 1 in 8. No wonder UKIP don't do well in these parts. UKIP would of course disenfranchise them. Our inclination would be in the opposite direction: that all workers, wherever they come from, should have the vote ...

Trotskyist intervention

We now know some of the others who will be standing in the wards we are contesting. The crypto-trotskyists of TUSC have announced that they will standing candidates in Lambeth in the Bishops, Ferndale, Herne Hill, Larkhall, Oval, Princes and Vassall wards.

Their candidate in Ferndale will be James Ivens and in Larkhall Alexander Betteridge. They will be urging a vote for No2EU in the European Parliament elections that will be held the same day. In stark contrast our leaflet will be advocating a write-in vote for World Socialism.

Two down, one to go

Two of us went out this afternoon to get the signatures to nominate our candidate in Clapham Town ward (the one where our premises are situated, at 52 Clapham High Street, but which also goes to the border with Wandsworth) and got them in an hour or so.

The ward left is Ferndale, just across the road and down to Brixton.

Collecting the signatures to stand

The electoral register which will be used for the elections (European and local) on 22 May became available yesterday. We picked up copies for the three wards we will be contesting in Lambeth and began collecting the signatures of local electors to be able to stand (ten per ward). We got them for one ward (Larkhall), started on another (Ferndale) and will get them for Clapham Town on Friday. The nominations papers can't be handed in till after 14 April but it's as well to get this chore over as soon as possible.

One street seemed to have a high level of political understanding. On being told that we were socialists the person understood straighaway that we were not the Labour Party. So did the next person who replied "no thanks, I'm a Labourist". It is true that this particular street is one of those we have leafletted regularly since the last local elections in 2010.

Another person referred to Farage as "Forage", not that UKIP is not going to find many votes in this area. We don't know whether they will be contesting this ward (Larkhall) but they will be contesting Ferndale where their candidate will be Elizabeth Jones who we debated against last Wednesday at our premises in 52 Clapham High Street and who lives in the ward.

The campaign for the London borough elections on 22 May starts next month. We will be contesting Junction ward in Islington (which we did in the by-election a year ago) and Clapham Town, Ferndale and Larkhall in Lambeth.

We will also be contesting the elections to the European Parliament which are being held on the same day, though not in London but in the South East Region and in Wales.

As can be seen from the map below, some areas which are effectively, if not administratively, part of greater London so we may blog on some of our activities there too.

New reformists on the block

A new reformist party was founded in central London on Saturday called "Left Unity". It has a branch in Lambeth, but from this on Syria, calling for "arms without conditions for the freedom fighters", i.e mainly jihadists fighting to impose sharia law, appears to be continuing the "loony leftism" associated with Lambeth in the past.

In any event, we look forward to confronting them at future elections (though we suspect we might already have done so at the 2010 General Election when they then called themselves "Workers Power").

Landslide victory for abstentionists

Here's the official result (for the 19% who bothered to vote):

Paul Gadsby Labour 1319 60%
Colette Thomas LibDem 468 21%
Kelly Ben-Maimon Con 153 7%
Rachel Laurence Green 113 5%
Elizabeth Eirwen Jones UKIP 87 4%
Steve Nally TUSC 44 2%
Daniel Lambert Soc 22 1%

There were 11618 electors, of whom 2206 voted, i.e a mere 19% or less than 1 in 5. In other words, a massive 81% abstained. This must represent a feeling (justified) that it doesn't make much difference who you vote for or which party runs the council things will be the same.

As predicted Labour won easily. Of the three council by-elections in Lambeth over the last year, this represents the best result for UKIP and the worst for TUSC. It confirms (for what it's worth, which is probably not much) that the "left of Labour" vote in Lambeth divides 2 to 1 between TUSC and us. Which puts them in the same league as us rather than as any sort of challenger to the Labour Party. The new Left Party that is to be founded tomorrow in Bloomsbury should also bear this in mind. They are unlikely to do much better if that. In any event, we'll carry on putting the straight case for socialism without making any election promises or proposals to try to reform capitalism.

Three of us went to the count (which was over by 11.30). The Tories told us that their canvassers came across 8 people who said they were going to vote for us. Most of them may well not have gone to vote in the end but at least, after reading our "Revolution the only solution" leaflet, they were prepared to tell canvassers that they wanted to get rid of the whole present system.

The next local elections will be the full borough elections on 22 May next year. We'll probably have a couple of candidates in Lambeth.

Quick result

Announced at 11.30pm:

Labour 1319
LD 468
Con 153
Green 113
UKIP 87
TUSC 44
Soc 22

Pathetic turnout of 19%.

More tomorrow morning

The last leaflets

Finally managed to get yesterday evening into the flats in Cormont Road and to distribute our leaflets to the occupants, with the help of a non-member volunteer. He particularly wanted TUSC to do badly. It appears that their tactic of trying to hi-jack other struggles really puts some people off. Anyway, that's virtually the whole ward covered by 4,500 or so leaflets.

Came across some TUSC leaflets for the first time, on the ground. Also a Liberal leaflet in red and giving the impression of a being a leftwing Labour one critical of the Labour-controlled Council. As we know, the main parties play dirty in their scramble for votes.

Not seen any Green activity, but their candidate does make a valid point in her statement on the Brixtonblog about Labour's claim to have frozen Council Tax for everybody:

freezing council tax for the wealthiest while taking away council tax benefit from those who earn the least,

This is a reference to the fact that Council Tax Benefit has been reduced for those under pension age on other benefits, meaning that they have to pay some Council Tax whereas they didn't before. One of the cuts imposed on local councils by the government, imposed in turn on them by the economic crisis and the need to reduce spending and so taxes on profits.

Nothing more to do before the count tomorrow after the polls close at 10pm. Three of us will be there.

Revolution the only solution

The Brixtonblog has just put up our candidate's 300-word statement. Scroll down through the reformist promises of the other candidates here.

For those who've heard it all before from the other parties, here's the socialist message from Danny Lambert:

In that interview with Paxman, Russell Brand called for a revolution against the present system of elite rule and neglect of people’s needs. I agree.

But no more than Brand’s is our idea of revolution one of riots, barricades and blood on the streets. It’s about a complete change in the basis of society. From the present minority class ownership and production for profit to common ownership, democratic control and production to meet people’s needs.

The present system can never be reformed to work in the interest of the majority. All the other candidates disagree and are promising to reform it in one way or another. But reform has been tried many times and look where we still are.

The present system can only work by putting profits before people.

That’s why, faced with an economic crisis, the government has been reducing services and cutting benefits. And why local councils have been forced to do the same. It’s to leave businesses with more profit in the hope that this will lead them to start expanding again. That’s how capitalism works and can only work.

I make no apology for raising this in a local election. It’s not what local councils, or even national governments, do that shapes how we live. It’s the economic system. And that’s what got to be changed.

Brand says we shouldn’t vote. I agree we shouldn’t vote for parties that are out to run the system. I don’t either. But we shouldn’t allow them a free run. That’s why the Socialist Party is contesting this election. To give people a chance to show they want an essentially peaceful democratic majority revolution to replace capitalism with a system in which productive resources have become the common heritage of all to be used for the benefit of all.

From our archives

Although Peckford Place not in the ward, it's only a few streets away. So here's an old leaflet from the Maoist cult that is said to be lodged there.

Needless to say (for our followers here, though not for the mainstream media), Maoism has nothing to do with either Marxism or socialism. It was the ideology of the state capitalist rulers of China. Based on leader-worship it is completely repugnant to socialists. We envisage socialism as a society of free and equal men and women based on the common ownership and democratic control of the means of production that can only be established by the democratic action of people who want and understand it. Only sheep need leaders.

We put our money where our mouth is. In the Lambeth Central by-election in April 1978 they were amongst our ten opponents. We got 91 votes. They (standing as the South London People's Front) got 38.

Our TUSC opponents in this by-election, on the other hand, see China as some sort of "deformed Workers' State". Deformed, yes, but apart from that it's just capitalist as everybody can see now.

In the meantime a volunteer has come forward to help us access the blocks of flats in Cormont Road, so these will be leafletted this evening. Better late than never.

Also the Brixtonblog have asked for a 300-word statement. More on this later.

Yesterday in Brixton

As it was sunny we went ahead with the stall outside Brixton station yesterday. This is the place to be on a Saturday for leafletting. Amongst our rivals were Roman Catholics giving away free rosary beads, people giving out leaflets for "The End of the World Spectacular", Mr Kajali and Mr Moussa both claiming to be "from birth a gifted African spiritual healer and advisor" promising 100% guaranteed results for "problems concerning black magic, love voodoo, sexual impotency, business transactions, exams & court cases" (for a fee of course). Also competing were people paid to hand leaflets for some business, in this case a local gym but it could have been Specsavers.

Among the more rational were protestors against selling the main Lambeth College building on Brixton Hill to property speculators (one of them said he thought he had once voted for us), two young women campaigning against female genital mutilation (they said they didn't want to attack the culture of those who did this; we told them they should; they gave us a cup cake), and "Fight Racism, Fight Imperialism" who seem to be propagandists for leftwing governments in Latin America especially Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia. Absent were the Spanish-language pentecostals and Militant who are usually there. We imagine Militant were all out distributing their election leaflets which seem to have arrived late. We sold a couple of our pamplet on Marxian economics and gave away our leaflets for an-hour-and-a-half. Also met a comrade out shopping. It's a small world.

On the way to the CLR James meeting at the Oval cricket pavillion in the afternoon, we managed to gain access to some closed buildings by following a Labour canvasser. At first he thought we were TUSC but then realised who we were, saying "You're the people who want to get rid of money and let people take what they need". Well, yes, more or less. The Labour Party seem to be pulling out the stops. We've seen at least 5 different leaflets they've put out. One of their promises is that, if they win the next election, they'll overturn the Bedroom Tax. We'll see. As the Labour candidate said in one of his leaflets:

In past campaigns I've met people who told me that there wasn't much difference between the main parties.

So have we, and they're right.

At the CLR James meeting much of it was about English literature and what books should be studied at school and university. The organisers did not present James as a black role model but the opposite: as somebody who believed in universal values. Not black or any other identity but human identity. Some in the audience didn't approve of this approach and didn't clap all the speakers. His widow, Selma James, said he held that "Every Cook Can Govern". This comes from Lenin (though he relegated this to the distant future; in the meantime the Single Vanguard Should Govern). James, it appears, took it more literally. His widow in fact presented it in the way our candidate likes to. She said it didn't mean that "ordinary" people could govern since every individual was "extraordinary"; what he was advocating was collective action by these extraordinary individuals to change society and then run it. But she then spoilt it by saying that he was a leader. His writings on state capitalism in Russia, as well as those on cricket and his book on the slave uprising in Haiti during the French Revolution, The Black Jacobins. One of the speakers (Kenon Malik) described this as the first recorded successful slave uprising in history. I suppose it was. Must read the book. It's in our library.

The Oval is a few streets away to the north-west of the ward. Meanwhile a couple of streets to the south of the ward police were asking locals about the alleged case of slavery. They say it resulted from once commonly-held political ideas. It will be interesting to see what these were.

Higher pretensions

According to this, one of the candidates has higher ambitions: she wants, even expects, to become an MEP. Must look out, after our stall in Brixton High Road this morning from 11.30 to 1pm, for her Vassall ward election address to see if it says "Vote for Elitism". We can confirm, from her performances at the Brixton Hill and Tulse Hill by-elections, that she is being honest.

Don't understand how workers can even think of voting for UKIP, the external faction of the Tory party.

Interesting factoids

From this twitter feed.

London by-elections since 2010: Holds - Lab 32, Con 26, LD 6. Causes of by-elections: death 19, resignation 49, disqualification 5.

London by-election gains since 2010: Lab 3 in Barnet, Islington, Lewisham ; Con 1 in Kingston ; LD 1 in K&C ; UKI 1 in Havering, Ind 2

Next weeks by-election in Vassall ward in LB Lambeth will be the 73rd and last since the 2010 London Borough elections. Only 8 saw gains.

Clearly people don't change their minds readilly. But when they do, they can move mountains.

A bit of local history

I don't want to turn this into a local history blog, but since nothing much else is happening at the moment. By coincidence the latest issue of the William Morris Society Newsletter just out has an article on "Susan Minet -- Saviour of Kelmscott Manor?" Apparently she made a substantial donation which prevented Kelmscott Manor having to be sold off. The name "Minet" rings a bell as there's a "Minet Library" in Knatchbull Road. It is the same family.

According to the article, the Minet family were Huguenot refugees from Catholic France who made their money by buying freehold land in Camberwell (and elsewhere) in the 18th which soared in value as London expanded. This enabled the Minet family to be philanthropists and they build a model estate in Camberwell (this part of Vassall ward has an SE5 postcode). The article quotes a report from the 1890s when they were built describing some of the buildings on this estate:

two five-storey blocks of apartmentss which have decorative steeped gables and exotic fluted chimneys. Richly clad with invy, they appear freshingly human compared with others of the period outside the Estate and are democratically given a prime location overlooking the parks.

These are the buildings on Cormont Road facing Myatt's Fields park. They were sold to Lambeth Council in 1968.

The article says of the buildings that "Morris would surely have approved!" Actually, he surely wouldn't have as they're the sort of ornate mock-Gothic buildings he used to rail against. Our objection is different: they don't have any outside letterboxes and the 230 or so residents have still not received our leaflet.

While on local history, not far away is Burton Road where John Major, the new champion of the "genteel poor" (from which he came)and scourge of the toffs who make up most of the Tory cabinet ministers, used to live. But there's no blue plaque there to mark the house.

Voting continues

The Returning Officer has just informed candidates and agents:

We sent out just over 1,000 postal votes and around 300 have been returned so far. Hopefully we'll receive at least double that number by this time next week.

Don't know if they will but, if they do, that would be a 60 percent turnout of postal voters. As the turnout of the other 9000 or so electors cannot be expected to be much more than 20 percent, this means that over 40 percent of those who vote will be postal voters. A bit worrying from one point of view because the election campaign still has a week to go.

Having distributed most of our leaflets there's not much to do, though we did see the Tory candidate canvassing in Vassall Road the other day when we managed get into one of the gated communities to distribute our leaflet.

Next activity (weather permitting and at the moment it doesn't look as if it will) will be a stall on Saturday morning in Brixton High Road as near as we can get to the exit from Brixton tube station.

Voting begins

Those that applied for postal votes for #vassall ward by-election, you should have rec'd by now, pls send back before 28th (election day)

So Says the Lambeth Democracy Team. So, if you've got your ballot paper in front of you, and you've come here to check us out after reading our leaflet: "Hello!" This is your chance to make history: you can start a revolution. No leader can do it for you. You have an awesome weapon in your hands. Just use it: refuse to give your consent to parties that will allow the status quo to continue. Vote for yourself: vote socialism. (Also, today is the deadline for applying for proxy votes, so you can ask someone else to vote for you for a change...)

Just seen this tweet from the UKIP candidate: "Delightful Autumn day canvassing for Vassall by election passing Van Gogh's Lambeth home." That'll be Van Gogh, the European immigrant's home then... Fnar.

CLR James and socialism

All the letterboxes we can get to have not been leafletted. Only gated communities have been left out. We're not too worried about the snooty ones but some are council properties. We're working on a way to access them.

No election activity on Brixton High Road yesterday. The Militant stall did not even have copies of their election leaflet. We might do a stall there ourselves next Saturday. The Vassall ward Labour Party has published the list of candidates on their site. Gratifying to see us referred to as the Socialist Party as on the front of our offices in Clapham High Street, but no doubt annoying to those who have attempted to usurp our name and claim that the "Socialist Party" supports the TUSC candidate.

According to the Brixtonblog, a meeting to launch research on the life of CLR James is to be held at the Oval cricket ground on Saturday 23 November. This is just outside the ward, but we would be going anyway as James is an interesting person. A Trotskyist in the 1930s he came round to the view in the 1940s that Russia was a form of state capitalism, i.e not socialist nor (as our TUSC opponent still maintains it was) a "Workers State". In view of the fact that he looked forward, eventually (in full communism), to a society in which money would not be necessary it was a travesty that his picture should have appeared on the now virtually-defunct and always pointless Brixton pound.

The authorities are obviously trying to promote him as a role model for black people, but this could backfire on them as his life can also be used to get a word in on socialist ideas. That's why we'll be at the meeting on 23 November.

Labour's Utopian dream

Just seen this The council of 2043 by Lib Peck, leader of Lambeth Council. A vision of where councils may be in 30 years time. We can see the inspiring vision of Labour:

For other councils, such as the pioneering then London borough of Lambeth (now part of the South London authority) the dire financial situation added impetus to the cooperative approach that the Council had adopted several years earlier: putting residents at the heart of decision making. It meant identifying strengths and skills in the community and building on those; it meant that decisions were made on a social as well as financial basis. In doing so, the cooperative approach generated a wealth of innovative ways and means to deliver activities – with the council providing a platform to make things happen rather than delivering itself.

Wow. I'm stirred. Lets take to the streets to demand that councils

become the connectors and enablers of local society: assessing local needs; joining up the right people and right organisations; enabling the most creative and socially productive projects; and critically, acting as the custodian of the peoples values.

Basically, what councils do now, only with a fancy Dan name. March forward under the slogan of 'Accomodating to Austerity'. I for one am enthused. So, it's clear, from their own pens: vote Labour for a redistribution of poverty!

It is entirely utopian to believe that this means anything other than living within the dictates of the interests of them as own the world, and can only be considered a pipe-dream. But what a modest pipe dream.

Revolution cafe

Here's the suitably-named cafe where we were planning to meet yesterday,

Meanwhile the Brixtonblog has published the list of candidates here. Don't know if they'll be organising a hustings as for the last two Lambeth council by-elections. Most of Vassall is in Brixton but outside their area. We'll see.

Nearly done

Five of us finished off covering the ward today. Some 4000 of the 5000 have now been distributed. Only 500 or so needed for what's left, so we'll have some over for handing out in the street or if we do a stall. The remaining 500 letter boxes should be covered before the deadline we set ourselves of 13 November when the ballot papers will be sent to postal voters (some 10 percent of those on the electoral roll).

We had planned to meet at lunchtime in a cafe in Mostyn Road called "Revolution" which sounded suitable and which we hoped might give us a free coffee for the free advertisement we'd been handing out for them entitled "Revolution the only solution". But it was closed.

Came across more Labour and LibDem leaflets, also one Tory one on glossy paper (in the posh part of the ward between Brixton Road and Clapham Road). It too said it was a two-horse race claiming "Only the Conservatives can beat Labour here". Very doubtful if anyone can, though the Labour candidate must think he has something to fear from the LibDems as he has started a scare campaign pledging to stop LibDem attacks on council housing. It's a dirty business, conventional politics.

No sign of UKIP, the Greens or TUSC as yet.

We spoke too soon

Out leafletting today we can across another LibDem leaflet and what did it say? "It's Labour or Lib Dems here. Tories out of the race here!". The usual it's a two-horse race stuff, in this case to try to cadge Tory votes. In other parts, it's used to get Labour voters to vote LibDem to keep the Tories out. Anything to get votes.

Other leaflets we picked up were the Autumn 2013 issue of Lambeth Labour Rose and a copy of Lambeth Housing Activists. This is sponsored by "Unite Community" which is a section of the Unite trade union for "people who aren't in regular paid work and community activists", an interesting union initiative. It has some harsh things to say about Labour-run Lambeth Council. For instance, on the council's eviction of 'shortlife' tenants:

Lambeth has proven itself to be a cynical and ruthless Authority, showing little regard or concern for some of its most vulnerable inhabitants.

and

Wat the ... ? So, in reponse to austerity caused by a global crash caused by rich bankers and property speculators, the council has brutalised these communities to give some lovely buildings at knock down prices to ... rich bankers and property speculators.

Strong stuff (we'll let pass the fact that the crisis was caused by the operation of capitalism not "rich bankers").

We must have distributed 1500 of the 5000 leaflets so far. More this weekend and next week.

We're off

The 5000 election leaflets duly arrived this morning. A couple of hundred have already been distributed in the north of the ward opposite Kennington Park. We thought we'd be the first, but the Liberals had been before. Unusually their leaflet didn't claim that "it's a two-horse race", probably because no-one would believe it as it's a one-horse race which Labour can't lose.

Spoilt for choice...

Kelly Rebekah BEN-MAIMON	Conservative Party Candidate
Paul GADSBY	The Labour Party Candidate
Elizabeth Eirwen JONES	UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Danny LAMBERT	The Socialist Party (GB)
Rachel Anna LAURENCE	The Green Party
Steven Paul NALLY	Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts
Colette THOMAS	Liberal Democrats

So, seven candidates: six in proposing to work within capitalism (however reluctantly) and ONE proposing standing on a platform of revolution and nothing but. No tinkering, we need to turn the world upside down. C'mon Vassall Ward, do us proud.

Speaking of things outside the ward, Vassall stops just over the road from Kennington Park, where in 1848 this mass meeting of Chartists rocked the establishment to the core. They were raising political demands that could turn the world upside down. Maybe the electors of Lambeth might like to think whether they have the same power in their hands.

Local elections for local people

Apparently the Labour candidate comes from the wrong street:

"As usual Labour have taken local people for granted and put forward an unrepresentative candidate from another part of Lambeth.

According to the Liberal Candidate.

Apparently, he lives almost 200 metres outside the ward. How despicable, how can he possibly understand the needs of Vassall Ward while living in Oval Ward?

OK, so politics is often devoid of policies these days: but this is ridiculous. Given the problems that we share worldwide, such myopia is hideous rather than merely hilarious.