GREEN LEFT REGRETS BARKING DECISION
“Green Left regrets the decision of Barking Green Party to stand a candidate in the forthcoming general election in the constituency of Barking against the wishes of the London Federation of Green Parties. While recognising the right of local parties to take their own decision based on local knowledge, factors etc, we regard this as a political mistake and a retrograde step under the circumstances where a high profile BNP candidate (Nick Griffin) is standing. While the actions of New Labour have been largely instrumental in leading to the rise of the BNP, we consider any split in the anti-Fascist vote in Barking extremely dangerous and it opens up the possibility of a BNP breakthrough.
A breakthrough by the BNP would silence any victory Greens will make in Brighton Pavilion and will act as a recruiting sergeant to the politics of hatred espoused by the BNP. The BNP is a fascist, racist and homophobic organization that stands for an all-white Britain , the destruction of trade unions and deny the holocaust happened.. Where the BNP have elected representatives that crimes against black and minority ethnic and hatred against lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people mushroom. The primary aim of the Barking Green Party should be avoiding the election of the BNP’s first MP. We agree to campaign with other organisations to maximise the anti-Fascist vote in Barking.”
Proving that voting for the mainstream of the Greenery is class treachery.
Comment by neprimerimye — 9 February, 2010 @ 1:07 pm
It proves nothing of the sort.
Comment by tlc — 9 February, 2010 @ 1:11 pm
No it does’nt. The reality is that if the left was strong enough we would be standing a candidate. Its not just that saying vote Hodge sticks in the craw. Its that its a very tricky argument to make. Barking demonstrates the tragedy of the splits in the left. It would be far better if we were in a position to stand to draw off votes from the BNP and deprive them of victory in that fashion. Sadly though, we’re not. Which leaves us in an imperfect world. I happen to think those who decided to stand have made a mistake. But I think the best response in Barking is to continue to argue ‘don’t vote nazi’.
Comment by johng — 9 February, 2010 @ 1:18 pm
An understandable reaction perhaps given Margaret Hodge’s rotten record but a mistake. We really don’t want to see Britain’s first BNP MP elected. A united anti-fascist grassroots campaign behind Margaret Hodge that is determined to fully expose Griffin, was necessary to crush the BNP. I think we should be urging a vote for the candidate best placed to defeat Griffin - Margaret Hodge.
Comment by julesa — 9 February, 2010 @ 1:39 pm
What is the point of a political party which only decides to stand in a constituency when it finds out what other parties are standing?
Comment by boilermaker — 9 February, 2010 @ 1:44 pm
A ‘united anti-fascist grassroots’ campaign behind Hodge which she will accept with open arms and trumpet as a victory for New Labour. If such a campaign could genuinely be mounted effectively enough to be really resonant in Barking, then why lend it’s authority to Hodge and New Labour?
Louis MacNeice
Comment by Louis MacNeice — 9 February, 2010 @ 2:10 pm
#6 - because Hodge could win.
On a related matter, the Greens have done the same in Tower Hamlets, standing against both George Galloway and Abjol Miah. And apparently the Green Left there backs it! Very disappointing.
Comment by The Friendly Lefty — 9 February, 2010 @ 2:13 pm
#7 - Firstly, Hodge will win; just look at the previous results plus boundary changes. She doesn’t need the left stacking up a few more votes for her. Secondly, she is part of the problem which has helped open up space for the BNP; therefore asking people to support isn’t the sharpest piece of politics going (please insert your own ‘turkeys voting for christmas’ type joke here).
Louis MacNeice
Comment by Louis MacNeice — 9 February, 2010 @ 2:38 pm
The tyrany of stucturelessness.
This decision is deisgraceful, and I hopethat leading greens like Darren Johnson and Carline Lucas might repudiate the local Green Party;’s decison, and cal for people to vote for the best placed party to beat the BNP
Comment by Andy Newman — 9 February, 2010 @ 2:47 pm
And if no one stands to the left of Hodge and the BNP win: who’s to blame then?
We gotta start somewhere…
Comment by Pete — 9 February, 2010 @ 2:54 pm
#7 - Firstly, Hodge will win; just look at the previous results plus boundary changes”
I dont agree this is certain. The GLA ward level results form 2008 showed the BNP ahead in 7 of the 17 B&D ward- and very near in another 3
Comment by JimPage — 9 February, 2010 @ 3:02 pm
A vote for Margaret Hodge is a vote to continue exactly the same failed politics that created the space for the BNP in the first place.
At last sanity from the Greens - Hodge deserves nothing but the contempt of any working class person.
All the other parties withdrawing is precisely what Griffin wants, so he can portray the BNP as the only radical alternative to the status quo, and bellyache that the establishment is against him.
Anti-fascism really has became the first refuge of a scoundrel if it means voting for one of the worst New Labour MPs (and that is a pretty competetive field)
Comment by Paul Stott — 9 February, 2010 @ 3:02 pm
10 We gotta start somewhere…
Agreed, but not here, and not now. They are still trying to fight 200 seats-so take your pick of other east london seats where they are standing (Ilford North, Chingford, Romford etc) to stand against them
Comment by JimPage — 9 February, 2010 @ 3:04 pm
It won’t be a cakewalk for Griffin.
A full-on anti-BNP campaign has already commenced and cheeky chappie boxing promoter Frank Maloney, who has already challenged Griffin to a bout and denounced him as a nazi, is standing in Barking for UKIP.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/frank-maloney-being-frank-1863139.html
My guess is that Maloney will take more votes off Griffin than the greens (in their mistaken decision) will take from Hodge.
Comment by daveyboy — 9 February, 2010 @ 3:23 pm
no one will know if they have made the right decision untill hindsights gaze comes to us.But i will say this if the labour party is nt prepared to shove margaret hodge aside and get a better candidate by hook or by crook then the question must be asked do labour want to win the seat as much as anti-facists want them to?
peace
james?
Comment by james? — 9 February, 2010 @ 3:33 pm
‘The tyrany of stucturelessness.’
Quite, Andy.
Comment by Rev9 — 9 February, 2010 @ 3:58 pm
The LibLabCon blitzkrieg with rolling waves of motorised ethnics has driven these disgusting low class chav types into a few redoubts on the Essex borderlands.
But don’t worry they’ll soon throw in the towel. Just like the Frogs in 1940.
Today Barking.
Tomorrow the whole of East Anglia.
Comment by Public School Lefty — 9 February, 2010 @ 4:02 pm
#12 ‘A vote for Margaret Hodge is a vote to continue exactly the same failed politics that created the space for the BNP in the first place.’
Correct. Vs … the BNP. I would hold my nose and choose the former.
I’m in a nearby seat where Respect are standing, so thankfully I can vote for a working class alternative to cuts and racism.
Comment by The Friendly Lefty — 9 February, 2010 @ 4:05 pm
The BNP is best placed to beat the odius Margaret Hodge.
The left are not even on the starting blocks with a candidate worthy of a share of the popular vote. There is some constituencies we “the left” cannot place candidates in and Barking is one of them.
In canvassing,Hope Not Hate, can help the anti BNP vote. Maloney and the Greens combined or on their own will only bring the most unpleasent result
Comment by LarryN — 9 February, 2010 @ 4:13 pm
Good on the Greens for standing. They wont get many votes, but had they stood down the BNP would have been loudly proclaiming how ‘the establishment’ were lined up against them. It would have handed them an easy propaganda point, probably worth almost as much as the tiny number of votes the Green candidate will get.
Just up the road from me, in Doncaster, there was something simlar last year, with all the main parties coming together to support a ‘Corruption Is Over’ candidate for Mayor (following years of appaling behaviour by the local labour councillors). As her only real opponent was a joker from the racist English Democrats, everyone thought she’d walk it. But voters don’t like being patronised like that, and turned out in droves to vote for the racist. Voters in Barking would probably do the same. And I could hardly blame them. Giving a scumbag like Hodge a free run would deliver far more votes to the BNP then the Greens will get. It is more effective anti-fascism than 10,000 Hope Not Hate leaflets.
Comment by Joe Jacobs Jr — 9 February, 2010 @ 4:41 pm
As a member of the Greens I am not at all happy and will hopefully be campaigning to fight for anyone but the BNP. The Greens have virtually no base in Barking and Dagenham and unless there is an excellent left-wing candidate, then I can’t even think of a positive. I would like to hear the motivations for standing though from the party, perhaps there is some great reason why they must stand..
All I know is that if I was living in Barking and Dagenham, I’d vote Labour, but it’d be bloody hard to do. The stakes are too high when it comes to this.
FYI, Griffin was going to stand in Thurrock in Essex, then jumped over to Barking and Dagenham - Barnbrook can’t be too happy.. lol.
Comment by Aaron Kiely — 9 February, 2010 @ 4:44 pm
Well it was said many years ago that voting Labour is like wiping your bum - you may not like doing it but you are in more of a mess if you don’t. A few alternatives have arisen since that was said, but unfortunately in this constituency the only vote worth doing and working for is a Labour vote because only the scumbag Margaret Hodge can prevent Griffin winning the seat.And though it is ony one seat a Griffin victory will be ahuge boost to the fascists.
At the Euro Elections the distinct possibility of preventing Griffin from winning a Euro-seat and electing an ecosocialist in his place was scuppered by a bad tactical decision in that constituency by the no2EU campaign. It’s a pity that the Barking Greens have learnt nothing from that episode, except how to repeat the error they wre a victim of themselves.
Good on Green Left for recognising the realities and the need to wipe our collective bums.
Comment by David Rosenberg — 9 February, 2010 @ 4:58 pm
If the Left fears defeat by the BNP then the problem is with a Left that has no contact with a dissilusioned electorate that survives in isolation from main stream politics. If we weren’t a bunch of dogmatic back stabbing bastards towards each other maybe we would get some where. As for the Greens I think their basic constitution puts the onus on the local membership to make these decisions and it is not up to us to intewrfere, at least they have a local organisation.
Comment by jim mclean — 9 February, 2010 @ 5:18 pm
#3. Hodge represents a party that is structurally and historically linked to the working classes and is still thought of by many class conscious workers as being, in some sense, theirs. The Green Party has no links, historical, structuralor ideological to the workers movement. One might as well vote for the Liberal Democrats. As was advocated by one revolutionary socialist at a meeting I attended recently.
Comment by neprimerimye — 9 February, 2010 @ 5:22 pm
History it seems is about to repeat itself but this time as farce though the consequences could well be tragic. Again the sectarian Greens are standing though nobody is in any doubt that they are will present no alternative to Hodge but merely a danger to the campaign to stop Griffin. So far no self-serving, self-publicising `socialist’ parachutists have put themselves forward (TUSC, SLP, etc.) though of course there is time. But what of those opportunists. They continue to assure us that New Labour’s Margaret Hodge can stop the BNP’s Nick Griffin? They, it seems, despite all previous experience, are determined to draw the working class by the nose into the fascist noose.
There needs to be a massive local campaign beginning right now to force the labour party to drop Hodge as its candidate for the seat. A local committee of trade unionists and community group reps needs to come together to select a potential alternative. Ideally the alternative candidate would be a local trade unionists/community activist and a left labour party member. He/she would stand on an anti-fascist platform that spoke to the people of Dagenham & Barking. A platform that articulated their interests: peace, jobs, homes which have been so crassly ignored and trampled on by NL and which could therefore mobilise a mass turn out, mobilise the disillusioned abstainers not just the remnant hard core. Only a mass turn out will defeat Griffin. Tories, UKIPers, some Lib Dems and disillusioned Labour voters will vote BNP as soon as they believe he has a sniff of a chance. Hodge must go! Griffin must be stopped! Sectarians steer clear!
Should such a campaign prove successful it could either have Hodge kicked out or be in a position itself to go it alone against Hodge and NL if the opinion polls were favourable. Should the campaign fall short however it would still be able to withdraw in favour of Hodge and yet still have the moral authority to call for a vote for Hodge to stop Griffin on the grounds that it would ultimately continue its campaign to represent the interests of the working and young people of Barking.
Comment by David Ellis — 9 February, 2010 @ 5:26 pm
The problem is not, as such, that they are standing against Labour when Labour are best placed to stop the BNP. After all, as many have pointed out, it is Labour policies which have fuelled the rise of the BNP and it is no use the left running round telling people to stick by the establishment which has let them down.
However, neprimerimye is also right in that the Green Party is not a viable/worthwhile alternative in this election, because although left-wing, much like little left groups they have no working class/community base… which is something the BNP have gone some way to establish and Labour have had for decades.
Howevr there - hypothetically, of course - to be a candidate with real roots in the local labour movement and involved in community campaigns against cuts etc., there is no reason why they should silence themselves by refusing to stand against the Labour candidate Hodge, who will play up to racism to defeat the BNP and also hopes to plough on with the attacks which in fact create space for the far-right to get a hearing.
Comment by David Broder — 9 February, 2010 @ 5:31 pm
If a community candidate from Barking or someone like Billy Bragg threw is hat into the ring then I would support the Green Party standing down - but as this is not the case - the Green Party should stand to prevent all the positive protest vote going to the BNP – Hodge is awful and if I lived in Barking I would not vote for this New Labour class traitor – the decision was taken by the overwhelming number of Green Party members in Barking who know the BNP first hand and also Hodge so I can’t see the decision being changed unless a candidate emerges from the community etc.
A bit of a question, will UAF take the new step of calling people to vote Hodge on their leaflets or will be the usual stance of calling on people to vote against the BNP?
Comment by Roy — 9 February, 2010 @ 5:51 pm
Andy, apologies for this: Here is the whole comment in one go. Perhaps you could delete #25 and #27?
We were assured that the Greens were going to stop Griffin in the Euros. What crass misleadership that turned out to be. Others assured us that New Labour would stop him . . . wrong again. The turn out was abysmal as working class voters stayed at home sick of having their interests not just ignored but attacked by Mandy’s clowns and by the site of Hazel Blears storming out on the eve of poll. No2EU also helped ease Griffin into his shiny new seat following a truly obscure and ridiculous campaign.
History it seems is about to repeat itself but this time as farce though the consequences could well be tragic. Again the sectarian Greens are standing there there is no doubt that they will present no serious alternative to Hodge and are merely a danger to the campaign to stop Griffin. So far no self-serving, self-publicising `socialist’ parachutists have put themselves forward (TUSC, SLP, etc.) though of course there is time. But what of those opportunists. They continue to assure us that New Labour’s Margaret Hodge can stop the BNP’s Nick Griffin? They, it seems, despite all previous experience, are determined to draw the working class by the nose into the fascist noose.
There needs to be a massive local campaign beginning right now to force the labour party to drop Hodge as its candidate for the seat. A local committee of trade unionists and community group reps needs to come together to select a potential alternative. Ideally the alternative candidate would be a local trade unionists/community activist and a left labour party member. He/she would stand on an anti-fascist platform that spoke to the people of Dagenham & Barking. A platform that articulated their interests: peace, jobs, homes which have been so crassly ignored and trampled on by NL and which could therefore mobilise a mass turn out, mobilise the disillusioned abstainers not just the remnant hard core. Only a mass turn out will defeat Griffin. Tories, UKIPers, some Lib Dems and disillusioned Labour voters will vote BNP as soon as they believe he has a sniff of a chance. Hodge must go! Griffin must be stopped! Sectarians steer clear!
Should such a campaign prove successful it could either have Hodge kicked out or be in a position itself to go it alone against Hodge and NL if the opinion polls were favourable. Should the campaign fall short however it would still be able to withdraw in favour of Hodge and yet still have the moral authority to call for a vote for Hodge to stop Griffin on the grounds that it would ultimately continue its campaign to represent the interests of the working and young people of Barking.
Comment by David Ellis — 9 February, 2010 @ 5:52 pm
The political insanity of the left sects deepens.
Elect a demonstrable war-criminal Margaret Hodges, as THE alternative to the BNP candidate.!!!
But Barking is only one case.
Throughout the country the left’s stragegy is to REELECT NULAB. Why not be honest and say it outright.
I’d suggest for an election leaflet:
“REELECT THE WAR CRIMINALS AND RACISTS OF NEW LABOUR: they’re better war criminals and racists than the BNP or the Tories, and of course everyone else.”
Comment by Bern — 9 February, 2010 @ 6:24 pm
“A full-on anti-BNP campaign has already commenced and cheeky chappie boxing promoter Frank Maloney, who has already challenged Griffin to a bout and denounced him as a nazi, is standing in Barking for UKIP.”
As a dedicated anti fascist, and ex UKIP organiser let me tell you all something. Something that you really need to know. UKIP are MUCH more extreme than the BNP. Maloney is an avowed homophobic racist. In fact he has been on record more recently than Old Nick spouting homophobic and racist nonsense. So why do some posters on here consider W*nk Maloney to be some sort of saviour against Griffo?
And if Griffo did win, what are the chances of him entering Parliament? Let me answer that question for you: THERE IS NO CHANCE THAT HE WOULD BE ALLOWED INTO PARLIAMENT. None. Zilch. He isn’t the approved Establishment candidate for a start, so he won’t be going anywhere. Maloney and the Nazi UKIP on the other hand, have establishment backing and plenty of people behind the scenes prepared to do their dirty work.
You are ALL sleepwalking into a UKIP Establishment Fascist nightmare. Congratulations for siding with them, good work.
Comment by James — 9 February, 2010 @ 6:28 pm
The main reason why the BNP appeals to many members of the white working class is because everybody has had it up to here with loathsome, corrupt Nu-Labor MPs like Margaret Hodge.
Comment by Ed — 9 February, 2010 @ 6:29 pm
By the way, where are the proven references for the above article? I have looked for something that would prove that:
a) Crime rates have risen against ethnic minorities, trans gender etc in BNP areas.
b) BNP stand for an all-white Britain.
Couldn’t find anything. I even looked through the BNP manifesto. Still couldn’t find anything. I did find somethiong about voluntary repatriation though, although that’s been on the UK statute books since the 1970’s.
It’s crud articles like this (with all the usual buzzwords in) that turn the public away from socialist thinking in the first place.
Comment by James — 9 February, 2010 @ 6:35 pm
“voting for the mainstream of the Greenery is class treachery”.
I live in a North London constituency some distance from Barking. I have the choice between a right-wing Labour candidate and a Green. I shall in all probability vote Green, since the larger the overall vote for candidates to the left of Labour (and that is how Greens are generally perceived), the better in preparing a fightback against whatever government we get.
neprimerimye knows who I am. If he seriously thinks I am a class traitor then he should refuse all contact with me and campaign to discredit me. If he isn’t prepared to do that, he should shut up and stop using silly cliches.
Voting just isn’t that important. To fetishise voting like neprimerimye (or like Bern, who is just the other face of the same coin) merely deepens divisions to no purpose. I don’t condemn those who, out of class-conscious anti-Toryism, will campaign for Labour. But nor do I condemn those who are so sickened by Labour’s record that they will abstain or vote for some marginal candidate with no chance of success. Butif we could all stop moralising about it it would make it a lot easier to discuss the real issues. There isn’t a simple solution because the situation we are in reflects the great weakness of the left. We won’t rebuild by blaming each other.
The decision by Barking Greens is a serious tactical error - not a crime. I hope that the very many left-wing Greens will do all in their power to encourage their members in Barking to rethink. But we won’t encourage such rethinking by denouncing all Greens as class enemies.
Of course the disgusting Hodge is part of the problem and she must take much of the blame for making it possible for Griffin to mount a plausible challenge. It would of course be excellent if Hodge were removed and replaced by a more suitable candidate. But the only force that could do that is the Labour left, in Barking and nationally. And the Labour left is currently small and weak, and quite incapable of the task. So at this particular time there is no alternative to voting for Hodge.
Comment by Grim and Dim — 9 February, 2010 @ 7:02 pm
“On a related matter, the Greens have done the same in Tower Hamlets, standing against both George Galloway and Abjol Miah. And apparently the Green Left there backs it! Very disappointing.”
I’m led to believe that the Greens aren’t standing against Galloway.
Comment by tony collins — 9 February, 2010 @ 7:07 pm
Aye, let’s give the people a real choice - give the blood drenched, benefit cutting New Labour Party a free run against the fascists.
Comment by D — 9 February, 2010 @ 7:22 pm
#34 “there is no alternative to voting for Hodge.”
There is no alternative? It reminds me of something.
Comment by Adam — 9 February, 2010 @ 7:30 pm
;34
Well the Green party annnounced that they would be standing in both Tower hamelts seats back in december:
http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=4973
they may have changed their mind
Comment by Andy Newman — 9 February, 2010 @ 7:34 pm
“So at this particular time there is no alternative to voting for Hodge.” Grim and Dim (comment 33)
yes there is.
“Don’t vote Hodge or for NuLab because it is a party of war criminal, and racists”
Without “cleansing the stable” of the present scum in the workers movement and organisations, there will be no possibility of renewal.
Comment by Bern — 9 February, 2010 @ 7:47 pm
#33. “Voting just isn’t that important.”
Aw, darn it! I was just about to say that and retract the hyperbole in my earlier post.
But in all seriousness what is the point in voting for the majority of non-socialist Greens? Is it not the case that once stripped of their hyperbole and nonsensical economics that they hold positions not far removed from those of most Liberal Democrats.
PS The revolutionary i heard advocating a vote for her standing Liberal Democrat MP is in the same group as yourself dear Grim and Dim.
Comment by neprimerimye — 9 February, 2010 @ 7:54 pm
Whilst the Greens localism has aspects to be admired, it’s also a bloody pain in the arse.
Now, I’m not a fan of dictating who can stand where and when, I don’t think that’s right. By all means we can encourage local activists to think about potential repurcussions if they did.
Just today I heard that Dave Hill plans on standing against a Green socialist under the TUSC banner in Brighton Kemptown. A seat Ben Duncan (a Green socialist) has been campaigning in for months and putting in a really solid effort.
TUSC is also standing a candidate in Cambridge against Tony Juniper, who has a high profile with the Cambridge Greens putting in a very strong effort in the constituency.
The left (SLP and NO2EU) stood against Peter Cranie (another Green socialist) in the North West at the Euros. He missed out on a seat by 5000 votes whilst Griffin got in.
If the likes of NO2EU listened to the Green stategy, if they focussed on the maths, then maybe Griffin wouldn’t be in a position he is now. If Griffin failed to capture a seat in the North West he would have faced a crisis in his leadership. There would have been strong calls for him to stand down and for another to replace him. He would not have been bouyed by the success and he certainly wouldn’t be standing in Barking.
That’s the reality. Sometimes bad decisions are made, and maybe Barking Green Party will have to live with the repercussions of a potentially bad decision.
Comment by Luke Walter — 9 February, 2010 @ 8:03 pm
#33 James, the BNP are blatantly against non-whites joining their organisation that’s why they are currently being threatened with prosecution for their white-only membership stance. Concerning racist attacks rising where ever the BNP operate that is based on reported racist attacks to the local police. The police aren’t renowned for a sympathetic attitude towards ethnic minorities so if they take these statistic seriously then so should we.
Concerning the Greens decision to stand in Barking it comes as no surprise considering their decision to stand against Galloway in TH. The national Green argument that each local Green section makes its own decision is a complete cop out. It’s a bloody disgrace that they are standing in Barking. It’s very convenient for the local Greens to wash their hands when the national committee makes awkward and embarrassing decisions and visa versa. But this shows that this form of decision making is undemocratic because no matter how small it is each section does what it likes despite the way the majority votes.
Comment by Ray — 9 February, 2010 @ 8:07 pm
As far as I can see, there is a problem concerning social housing in the area, which fueled support for the BNP that has successfully translated their housing problem into racist politics. Hodge wants to keep the support of voters in the consituency appaeling to their racist fears. This defines the field of struggle between NuLab and BNP in this area. So if “there is no alternative”, this no alternative means that we are condemned to vote for racism, but are allowed to choose between its subtle or rough form.
Now, there is an opportunity to come out with a progressive housing policy proposition, and take over votes both from NuLab and BNP. Will be there someone courageous enough to say that racism - whether BNP or Labourite - is NOT the answer to the housing problem? Well… maybe the Greens? Keep your struggle, comrades!
Comment by Adam — 9 February, 2010 @ 9:04 pm
‘The decision by Barking Greens is a serious tactical error - not a crime.’
Good analysis.
Comment by Jota — 9 February, 2010 @ 9:16 pm
#43 - For a minute there I thought Adam was going to be right. Then it became clear that he considers ‘BNP or Labourite’ racism to be equivalent in scale of threat and it all went wrong. If they were equivalent then putting forward a progressive candidate would make sense. As they are not in the slightest bit so, what Adam is actually proposing is that the left backs an anti-fascist splitter and that really is to lose sight completely of one’s political compass.
Comment by The Friendly Lefty — 9 February, 2010 @ 9:26 pm
Hodge? HODGE????!!!! FOR GODSSSSAKE!!!! HODGE!!!???
She is part of the reason working class people turn to the BNP… don’t you get it yet? Hodge is as much of an enemy as the BNP!
Comment by henry — 9 February, 2010 @ 9:29 pm
Thanks for proving my point so promptly and grotesquely, Henry.
Comment by The Friendly Lefty — 9 February, 2010 @ 9:31 pm
@ The Friendly Lefty
Well, the problem is that one is worse than the other… and vice versa.
Yes, it is true that it is BNP that is deeply racist. It is true that the rate of hate crime rises with BNP election victories (see: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jan/15/hate-crime-bnp-local-council-elections ). But it is also true that only mainstream parties - like NuLab - are able to make racism RESPECTABLE (see: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jun/29/immigration-social-housing ). Is it less dangerous? For you to judge.
Comment by Adam — 9 February, 2010 @ 9:33 pm
Comment 35***I would (as perhaps others who came to the left/anti-fascist cause as some sort of “natural development” ) be interested in how you made the break from the right.
best wishes
Bern
Hi Bern,
I made the break due to the realization that causing division between groups only goes to advance the cause of the upper classes, and doesn’t actually solve any problems. I’ve always been interested in social justice and have always wanted to see more equality in society. Unfortunately backing the wrong horses (UKIP & BNP) isn’t the way to solve these problems.
Yours,
James
Comment by James — 9 February, 2010 @ 9:43 pm
And sorry to take up a bit more room on this section *apologies* but I see the danger in Ukip. They have the backing of the establishment.
Another reason I broke away from them was the xenophobic nature of their politics, the hatred of working class people that many people espoused and their lack of empathy towards people who need help.
Comment by James — 9 February, 2010 @ 9:45 pm
I’m a very old man and I don’t understand the technology, but couldn’t the left Greens do one of these Facebook whatsits to try and persuade the Barking Greens to reverse their decision?
Comment by Grim and Dim — 9 February, 2010 @ 9:55 pm
What happened to Lollipop Louise?
Comment by bob hope — 9 February, 2010 @ 10:05 pm
On Adam’s choice: The BNP is far worse.
Comment by johng — 9 February, 2010 @ 10:17 pm
Labour making racism respectable is so pernicious precisely BECAUSE it paves the way for the likes of the BNP. To then equate the two is therefore illogical. I do think Grim and Dim’s is the best contribution on the thread though.
Comment by johng — 9 February, 2010 @ 10:19 pm
I think there is a danger behind the notion of everyone jumping behind Hodge in that it legitimises the BNP as the only opposition to a decade of New Labour sell outs.
Comment by Imatrot — 9 February, 2010 @ 10:36 pm
Its definately not a perfect situation and this is why we desperately need a left alternative. But the truth is, in Barking, we don’t have one. But its a teethgrindingly awful situation and I don’t see why anyone would pretend otherwise.
Comment by johng — 9 February, 2010 @ 10:38 pm
Yes, I agree. I also think that you’re all talking utter bollocks. Anyone fancy a pint?
Comment by Bob Jockey — 10 February, 2010 @ 12:16 am
Where’s Robert fucking Lindsey when we need him? We need a revolution and some more drugs. We are the heart and sole of left wing politics. Pass the bong, pedro.
Comment by Bob Jockey — 10 February, 2010 @ 12:18 am
@41
Ben Duncan a socialist? I don’t think so. He has no trade union backing, has not even sought it, has had his blog taken down by the Greens, is not known on the left in Brighton where I live and has been roped into getting Caroline elected in Pavilion ward next door.
Dave Hill is a socialist, former leader of the Labour party on East Sussex County Council, a former Brighton councillor, a former Labour party general election candidate, trade union activist, and part of a trade union linked coalition of various unions giving members confidence of building a campaign to dissaffiliate from Labour and to build a new party for the working class. TUSC in Brighton has also got the SP, SWP, Socialist Resistance, Alliance for Green Socialism and RMT all on board and active.
I’ve leave readers to make up their own mind about the decision we have taken in Brighton
http://www.brightontusc.blogspot.com/
Comment by Militant — 10 February, 2010 @ 12:20 am
“If the likes of NO2EU listened to the Green stategy, if they focussed on the maths, then maybe Griffin wouldn’t be in a position he is now. If Griffin failed to capture a seat in the North West he would have faced a crisis in his leadership. There would have been strong calls for him to stand down and for another to replace him. He would not have been bouyed by the success and he certainly wouldn’t be standing in Barking.”
This isn’t borne out by the facts. The Greens didn’t pick up the traditional Labour vote. Labour voters just didn’t vote. It was a lower turn out than the previous election. And the majority of BNP voters in the region are traditional Tory voters. There’s no evidence that the Greens would have picked up the SLP/NO2EU vote either.
The Greens didn’t beat Griffin because they weren’t offering a clear left alternative which is why the left should support Dave Hill in Brighton. It’s their behaviour in Barking and the political vacillation of their leadership that encourages voters to either ignore or reject them. It’s a shame that the Green left doesn’t take these compromises more seriously and sustain more of a challenge to them.
Comment by Ray — 10 February, 2010 @ 5:13 am
Yours,
James
comment 49
Good points James, and thanks for taking time to reply.
What you said about the UKIP (comment 30) is interesting, especially about their contacts in the establishment. I hope you develop your thoughts from your experience, and share it wherever you have an opportunity.
IMO most of the left don’t have a clear idea what they mean when they talk about “fighting fascism”.
This thread is pretty representative, for example, of how the organised left factions keep insisting that the political cure for the gains made by the UKIP/BNP etc is to continue to support the political cause, namely NuLab.
good luck
Bern
Comment by Bern — 10 February, 2010 @ 7:14 am
“Number Crunching” is an important tool for any political group to see who is best placed to stop the BNP. Sadly the odious Margaret Hodge is in poll position.
The hodgepotch (pardon the pun)of the greens and now TUSC in standing against our best placed candidates can only have us navel gazing again, so soon after the GLA elections and Euro elections.
Comment by LarryN — 10 February, 2010 @ 7:28 am
JohnG and Andy are quite right here. The correct position to take in Barking is to call for a vote for Hodge and in Dagenham to call for a vote for Cruddas.
Yes of course it would be better if there was a vibrant workers’ party in existence. Hopefully, TUSC can be a step in that direction and in time it can become a significant unified left-working class political force. But right now, in these two constituencies, the choice is Labour or BNP.
As for the Green Party, its decision to stand in Barking is a matter for its own members, but it does expose the hypocrisy of the arguments used by Greens and their supporters during last year’s euro-elections.
We who supported No2EU were roundly condemned by these Greens for having the temerity to stand in the northwest and attacked in the most rabid terms.
We were accused of “splitting the left vote” and of “objectively helping the BNP,” while supporters of the Green northwest candidate implied that he was standing for the purest of anti-fascist motives.
Now the Greens have decided to stand against Respect in two of their top London target seats and have decided to stand in Barking.
Why then, do so many on the left still cling to this “red/green” fantasy?
Why, for example, are non-Green Party left people still calling for a vote for Lucas in Brighton rather than for Platts?
Comment by Karl Stewart — 10 February, 2010 @ 9:48 am
‘Why, for example, are non-Green Party left people still calling for a vote for Lucas in Brighton rather than for Platts?’
Because it’s principled?
Comment by The Friendly Lefty — 10 February, 2010 @ 9:58 am
Ben Duncan a socialist? I don’t think so.
I don’t know why his blog has gone dark, but from Google’s cached copy he looks like a pretty solid anti-cap green.
Why, for example, are non-Green Party left people still calling for a vote for Lucas in Brighton rather than for Platts?
Lord help us. Because Platts won’t win and Lucas might.
Comment by Phil — 10 February, 2010 @ 9:59 am
Agh - my cunning plan of linking to Google’s cache failed. Google “Kemptown Ben’s Green Blog” and see for yourself.
Comment by Phil — 10 February, 2010 @ 10:03 am
Take the red pill and you get Hodges and NL’s outsourced racism in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Take the blue pill and you get Griffin and his in-house racism made easier to swallow thanks
to thirteen lucky years on the red pill.
Take the green pill and you shit BNP.
It has to be Hodges because (again) as the left/green thing undercuts the other.
Again,potential radical alternatives reach for the safety of their New Labour comfort
blankets.And yet Hodges is hated by left and right.Swallow hard.
Comment by bob hope — 10 February, 2010 @ 10:26 am
The no2eu/North-west thing was right because Peter Cranie was a credible SOCIALIST candidate who had long been known for his anti-BNP work. What we have here is a non-existant Green group deciding to stand… I don’t know what we could hope to achieve.
Platts may be alright, don’t know enough about her, but do you not want the breakthrough of a prominent left-wing politician and break the stranglehold of LibDem/Lab/Con on Parliament? Let’s hope Galloway and Yaqoob are elected too and we can build from there, alongside the left-Labour members.
Comment by Aaron Kiely — 10 February, 2010 @ 10:29 am
All these small parties have to address the fact they are small parties and away from their own imagined,fantasized futures,never really going to go mainstream.
And if they cannot even co-ordinate a csandidate that won’t toe-tread the others of
similar radical ilk,well,what chance have they got?
This whole Barking thing emphasizes the real paralysing frustration people feel with
the choices on offer and the fact that yet again there is no coherent,radical alternative in any
realistic sense,offered by people from within those communities who have a chance of winning.
Comment by bob hope — 10 February, 2010 @ 10:32 am
There’s an awful lot of third period `labour are social fascists’ nonsense on this thread. The question is how can the left force labour to drop the Blairite Hodge and adopt a local candidate with a socialist economic programme. Splitting the working class is not what is required. Unifying it for a massive turnout against the real fash is the task of the day. Of course should the left fail to get Hodge booted out then it will still be necessary to vote labour to stop Griffin but at least the left will have the moral authority to call for such a thing having made the effort to offer a serious alternative.
Comment by David Ellis — 10 February, 2010 @ 10:52 am
@ Johng (comment 53)
We almost agree. Backing Hodge equals paving the way for BNP, while at the same time it allows to imagine that what you are doing is to oppose it. The pscyhological benefit is clear, no doubt. But I still cannot see a political reason behind it.
Comment by Adam — 10 February, 2010 @ 10:52 am
@ David Ellis (comment 69)
Not all Labour, to be sure, but Hodge herself has some racist statements on her account. For me, making Labour stand a different candidate would be an acceptable solution. But you cannot make Labour do something else than standing Hodge, if you commence with a self-retreat.
Comment by Adam — 10 February, 2010 @ 11:04 am
“Yes of course it would be better if there was a vibrant workers’ party in existence. Hopefully, TUSC can be a step in that direction and in time it can become a significant unified left-working class political force. But right now, in these two constituencies, the choice is Labour or BNP.”
Karl, I despair at your pop up ginger group vision. There is no saving you from indulging in Nu Labour opportunism or SWP adventurism.
Dream on with your insignificance as have you have not learned any lessons from the GLA and Euro elections. TUSC is an anti gravitational force floating between the Moon and Mars. Come back to earth or give me half of what your smoking.
Comment by LarryN — 10 February, 2010 @ 11:05 am
So the Barking vote will be split in two directions…
Comment by Charles Dexter Ward — 10 February, 2010 @ 11:24 am
#58 Shame Dave Hill won’t have any TU backing either?
Remind me, please, how many trade unions have signed up to the TUSC platform?
If you’re so concerned about having TU backing to be a credible candidate then vote for Labour or give up on electoral politics and don’t even try.
“TUSC- a party for opportunists who like to lose money”
Nice one!
Comment by Luke — 10 February, 2010 @ 11:52 am
As a Green Party member, and member of Green Left, I can assure you the ’statement’ above may not necessarily represent the views of all GL members. It certainly doesn’t reflect my own views. They were not asked to vote on this, so we don’t really know. What I do know is it is the politics of Hodge and New Labour generally that aids the BNP growth immensely. Greens have something distinctive to say, at their best, that uses what is good in, but transcends, the failed ‘Last Century Left’ politics so common on this thread/blog. Not that most of you are amenable to persuasion, but that’s by the by.
Comment by Larry O'Hara — 10 February, 2010 @ 12:01 pm
Andy,
I would hardly describe it as ‘tyranny’, an occasional burden, yes.
It is regrettable that Barking Greens have taken this decision and the local party was discouraged by almost everyone, including London Fed and Green Left, not to stand against Hodge.
We know the kind of campaign Labour will run in the area, it’s going to be borderline xenophobic, the Tories will play into the BNP’s hands as well. It will be a local campaign focussing on immigration and housing, and all racist innuendo that goes with it.
If the left were to constantly concede to the ‘lesser of two evils’ then there would be no such thing as progress.
I can understand why the local party would feel compelled to stand (and they will most certainly have their reasons), but the rest of the party should not be made to feel like fools.
Comment by Luke — 10 February, 2010 @ 12:20 pm
How many Tusc members pay the political levy to NU Labour. Enough said.
They are a bunch of disorganised inepts let out to confuse the voters, who once again will disappear or reduce themselves to a ginger group when the voting fodder is of no use to them. “Split and divide the left” is their motto.
Is Karl Stewart still prancing about in his spacesuit?
Comment by LarryN — 10 February, 2010 @ 12:28 pm
Luke says: ‘If the left were to constantly concede to the ‘lesser of two evils’ then there would be no such thing as progress.’
Although I agree with much of Luke’s politics, I think it’s important to get some sense of scale here. Nobody is saying to pick the lesser of two evils in Brighton Pavilion, in Bethnal Green and Bow, in Poplar and Limehouse, in Birmingham Hall Green, in Coventry North East and many more. There are plenty of areas where the left can get fully behind a candidate we believe in.
But in this constituency, we might find a BNP MP sitting in place on May 7. Opposing that successfully requires preventing a split in the anti-fascist vote and getting Hodge returned.
We don’t have the luxury of a left challenger in that seat - all this would do is aid fascism.
Comment by The Friendly Lefty — 10 February, 2010 @ 12:28 pm
#75
There was a vote at the last GL General Meeting on this statement. I’m sure you knew about the meeting and its agenda in advance.
Comment by l-ahdar — 10 February, 2010 @ 12:33 pm
Some of us have better things to do than attending General Meetings to vote on one specific thing. Speaking of votes, I presume you know Barking & Dagenham Green Party voted 15:1 to stand–why don’t you dissolve them and elect another?
Comment by Larry O'Hara — 10 February, 2010 @ 12:40 pm
In what way are the English Democrats racist?
Comment by Stephen Gash — 10 February, 2010 @ 12:44 pm
#81
read this
http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=4208
Comment by Andy Newman — 10 February, 2010 @ 12:46 pm
Adam preventing Nick Griffen winning a seat. This is not simply a ‘psychological’ benifit. Its an imperative in Barking. Imagine the consequences nationally if he were to win. And the ‘after Hitler us’ type arguments some seem to regurgitate in these arguments do not convince me. We’ve failed to build the left alternative in time. Shouting about the need for it won’t make it come any quicker. We actually have to build it. One way you won’t build it is by running around saying there is no difference between the BNP and New Labour.
Comment by johng — 10 February, 2010 @ 12:49 pm
Can I call Godwins law on this or is it exempt in relation to a discourse on facism.
But now that Hitler has been mentioned in the 30’s didn’t the fight between the SDP and Communists lead to the Nazis slipping in through the middle. Maybe the rational choice is Labour.
Comment by jim mclean — 10 February, 2010 @ 1:26 pm
#71 `@ David Ellis (comment 69)
`Not all Labour, to be sure, but Hodge herself has some racist statements on her account. For me, making Labour stand a different candidate would be an acceptable solution. But you cannot make Labour do something else than standing Hodge, if you commence with a self-retreat.’
Yes, agree Adam. No need for retreat. A local campaign made up of local lefties, trade unionists and community groups demanding labour drop Hodge in favour of a local candidate on a socialist programme which addresses the economic problems of the constituency and the country will unify the working class by mobilising those who would currently abstain with those who will vote labour come what may. Even if the campaign fails to get Hodge dropped it would nevertheless have gained sufficient credibility to suggest to disillusioned workers and youth a united front from below and a united anti-fascist vote for labour whoever their candidate. Simply calling for a vote for Hodge in order to stop the fash without having at least struggled for an alternative will not unify the class and is a rapidly drying well. I agree with much of what johng says in #83 but I disagree that there is no time to launch such a campaign. The question is are there the forces and no doubt if the sects don’t screw it up there are.
Comment by David Ellis — 10 February, 2010 @ 1:37 pm
@ David Ellis (#85)
If you actually do this, I will reconsider my position. Until this happens, however, I think Barking Greens are completely correct to decide what they have decided.
Comment by Adam — 10 February, 2010 @ 1:58 pm
Hey LarryN, what’s this all about mate?
(72) “TUSC is an anti gravitational force floating between the Moon and Mars. Come back to earth or give me half of what your smoking.”
Surely an electoral alliance between two of the three significant non-Labour left organisations - whether you agree with it or not - is at the very least a small step in the direction of the left unity that our class needs.
Compared with last year’s No2EU, there are some improvements. Firstly, it has a name which describes immediately what it is and cannot be confused with UKIP. Secondly, it includes the largest left organisation, the SWP, which was wrongly excluded from No2EU. Of course, it’s a great pity that the Communist Party has opted not to join - for some very confusing stated reasons - but that aside, I think it’s an improvement on No2EU.
Why not explain why you disagree with it?
(And as for your comment at (77) asking “Is Karl Stewart still prancing about in his spacesuit?” I’d just like to say firstly it wasn’t a spacesuit and secondly, you promised you’d keep quiet about what happened that night!)
Comment by Karl Stewart — 10 February, 2010 @ 2:26 pm
#80
I was responding to your statement “They were not asked to vote on this, so we don’t really know” - which is blatantly not true. This statement doesn’t anywhere deny the right of Barking local party to decide what it wants to do, but does say that GL considers it a mistake. I do hope you’re not too busy to get down to Barking and help, seeing as you’re so passionate on this issue.
Comment by l-ahdar — 10 February, 2010 @ 2:52 pm
@militant
So you have fallen, ironically, for the Neolabour smears and lies about Ben Duncan’s blog when in actual fact the archive of his blog has been kept in cyberspace and he has had a new campaign website introduced to replace his blog.
But I don’t imagine fact matters when No2EU/ TUSC/ whatever you name happens to be for the next 6 weeks talk about ‘TU backing’ when it is a few members of a union, not a mandate from that union. It doesn’t matter when Green Party cllrs daily represent the needs of Kemptown’s workers on the Council (*where* are all the SP’s cllrs?). Fact doesn’t matter when you have come to the starting line for this election (just like you did for the European elections) months after the starting pistol has been fired but expect us to hail you as the people with divine right to represent working class people when some of us have been hard at it for ages…
Comment by Ecosocialist — 10 February, 2010 @ 3:35 pm
post 88. I was not asked to vote on it, but if I was can you show me the email, or letter? No you can’t. Your sarky arrogant tone indicates that you are not worth debating with–and what I do (or do not do) with my time is not to be discussed with the likes of you.
Comment by Larry O'Hara — 10 February, 2010 @ 3:37 pm
#90 Clearly, rather than having votes at General Meetings open to all members GL should spend its time writing to the Larry to send us his wise opinion. Anyway, Larry, as I will be, I do look forward to catching up with you doing something practical fighting the BNP on the streets of Barking and Dagenham.
Comment by l-ahdar — 10 February, 2010 @ 4:18 pm
post 91–rather proves my point.
Comment by Larry O'Hara — 10 February, 2010 @ 6:28 pm
#87 Actually TUSC has less support from Trade Unionists than No2EU did. It is an irrelevance in this election and will sink without a trace.
To claim that its the beginning of a ‘new workers party’, whatever that means, is just nonsense. Across the country it will struggle to get 1% of the vote.
Comment by Owen — 10 February, 2010 @ 8:18 pm
(Post 78)”We might find a BNP MP sitting in place on May 7. Opposing that successfully requires preventing a split in the anti-fascist vote and getting Hodge returned.”
Great. So you would rather have someone from a political party who has stifled democratic rights and helped to slaughter hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans?
No offence but I’d sooner have Griffo take the seat! At least he hasn’t started any illegal wars and committed genocide!Jeez there really is no hope if you peeps are backing Butcher Hodge.
Comment by James — 10 February, 2010 @ 8:31 pm
#94 - James -
No offence taken, son.
Course, you could campaign for Frank but then Frank isn’t a fascist so that’s probably why the BNP will get your vote.
Comment by daveyboy — 10 February, 2010 @ 9:49 pm
‘Splitting the working class is not what is required. Unifying it for a massive turnout against the real fash is the task of the day. Of course should the left fail to get Hodge booted out then it will still be necessary to vote labour to stop Griffin but at least the left will have the moral authority to call for such a thing having made the effort to offer a serious alternative.’
The Left will fail to get Hodge booted out so it will vote for her because it is far
too weak to do anything else.The effort to offer and build a seriouis alternative is not
a weekend workshop,there simply isn’t time.As for moral authority,it has none. It needs
Hodge of a Neoliberalabour to do its work for it.So where is the moral authority?
There is none.Don’t you see? The left aren’t even in it. Ironically,it might be the tories that help you out the most.
Comment by bob hope — 11 February, 2010 @ 12:08 am
The first paragraph above was from (Sham) #69
Comment by bob hope — 11 February, 2010 @ 12:11 am
Owen (93) “Actually TUSC has less support from Trade Unionists than No2EU did. It is an irrelevance in this election and will sink without a trace.”
It’s true that TUSC does not have the formal endorsement of the RMT as No2EU did, but TUSC is an improvement politically, it’s an unambiguously socialist and pro-working class electoral coalition and that’s a plus.
In the longer term, political clarity will build firmer, more committed and more effective support from trade unionists.
As I said earlier, it’s a setback that the Communist Party has not endorsed it, but the CP’s position is complicated, contradictory and difficult to understand and says more about its own confusion and curent lack of direction than about TUSC.
It’s also a plus - by comparison with No2EU - that SWP is involved in TUSC
Again from you at (92): “To claim that its the beginning of a ‘new workers party’, whatever that means, is just nonsense.”
Indeed Owen, perhaps such a claim would be overstating the significance of TUSC, but to describe TUSC - as I have - as a small`step in the direction of building the political unity that our class needs is not inaccurate.
Comment by Karl Stewart — 11 February, 2010 @ 7:29 am
Karl, Regards canvassing,I know that there is a genuine wariness of unequivocal support to the odius Noo Labour candidate.
TUSC, in your words is building or trying to build a future movement on a promised shopping list that does appeal to me, but most leftwing manifestos have similar appeal.
There should be some old old fashioned horse trading and staying the course.
TUSC can play a central role irrespective of them not standing in Barking. If you cannot negotiate with the enemy, which Hodge is percieved to be at best, then this old unaligned communist traditioalist laments.
You know the Willie Gallagher analogy of the bird with one wing. That is how I view TUSC, fighting to get off the ground in the Trade Union Movement and hardly a stir in the labour movement only at election time.
Clydebank done excellent work for NO2EU at the EURO election: now they have got to metamorphic into the changeling TUSC,
The mindset of the voters have enough to cope with. Shows us your mettle and that can only be done with horse trading and staying the course in between elections.
Pardon my cynism as I have seen Jerusalems rise and fall or the next best thing being sold in a poke.
Comment by LarryN — 11 February, 2010 @ 8:03 am
cynicism not cynism I have a habit of dropping syllables when rushing to print.
Comment by LarryN — 11 February, 2010 @ 8:16 am
a campaign for a vote for Hodge translates into a dozen votes for BNP elsewhere. Campaigning for Hodge is the stupidest thing anti-fascists can do. It is Hodge and her middle class neo-liberal ilk who are behind the rise of the BNP. And the liberal lefts inability to have a left/unity/local candidate in Barking shows as always their utter detachment from the w/c in this country. The cross-class ‘popular front’ anti-fascism of the liberal left (UAF/SWP/Searchlight/HnH) has been shown as utterly impotent and irrelevent against a frustrated disempowered w/c born of 30 years of neo-liberalism.
ye sit would be bleak if griffin got elected but what we must do at this time is start again, where we live, and build popular progressive united fronts in the community. it is not hard but it is something the left have forgotten how to do.
as bern above says we can not have this as our banner?
“RE-ELECT THE WAR CRIMINALS AND RACISTS OF NEW LABOUR: they’re better war criminals and racists than the BNP or the Tories, and of course everyone else.”
Comment by durruti02 — 14 February, 2010 @ 2:35 pm
Where is the mention of the planned “march for real jobs” through Barking on march 13 organised under the banner of the Youth Fight for Jobs campaign. Surely this deserves a post in itself?
Comment by Nick Parker — 14 February, 2010 @ 3:52 pm
So we should just vote Labour to keep the BNP out? What a load of bollocks.
Stop voting and start organising!!!
Comment by Kronstadt — 14 February, 2010 @ 5:00 pm
103# organise before may the 6th, no way,the lesser of two evils is the rational choice.
Comment by jim mclean — 14 February, 2010 @ 5:06 pm
Although I know many here will disagree, here is my take on why the Green Party is right to oppose both Griffin & Hodge
http://www.borderland.co.uk/preview_002.htm
Comment by Larry O'Hara — 25 February, 2010 @ 12:27 am
*102 Thank Nick for prointing this out .It about time this got more time on socialist unity.
Comment by steelcityred — 25 February, 2010 @ 8:16 am