Stoke By-election  

Should socialists, workers, young people support every Labour candidate in an election? - no matter what stance they take on cuts in public expenditure; the privatisation of the NHS and the education system; the nationalisation of the rail network, and the utilities; fighting racism; taxing the richest? 

Should we support Labour candidates who are NOT prepared to sign up to Corbyn’s leadership and his more socialist, pro-worker agenda?  

In our view the answer is a loud NO. 

Any backsliding towards an accommodation with pro-establishment, pro-austerity New Labour figures could mark Labour’s death-knell in the eyes of workers and youth who have had enough of low wages, unemployment, zero-hour contracts, poor housing, high rents and the rest.  

In the Stoke by-election, Momentum is organising support for Gareth Snell, someone who is firmly on the Blairite wing of the Party. Supporting these "moderate” Tory-lites was not the reason many tens of thousands of people joined Labour. Just the opposite! 

If he is elected, how would that help Corbyn? It would mean just another hostile Labour MP for him to contend with! 

Luke Akehurst, firmly on Labour’s right-wing has written that they (the “moderates") should keep their powder dry. They should bide their time at this stage - and let Momentum do the door-knocking for them. 

He says in a recent article that, "It’s correct for us not to interfere or undermine Jeremy Corbyn as this would merely cause his supporters to rally round him”. (LabourList) 

He should have been more concerned about the votes lost since 1997!!!

If Labour wins Stoke no one need doubt that success will be attributed to the fact that the candidate was “moderate”. If Labour loses, it will be Corbyn’s fault.

In an article [HERE] by the Stoke Socialist Party we explain that, "In the 1997 general election, Labour's vote in Stoke Central was 26,662 but has since decreased in all five general elections down to 12,220 in 2015. That's 66.25% of the vote in 1997 down to just 39.3% in 2015". 

You can imagine what the press and Labour’s right would be saying, loudly, if this was the record of a left-wing local Party or candidate! 

This is why TUSC, at its recent national conference in London, reaffirmed that it will, to the extent that it's able, stand against candidates who are pro-austerity, pro-cuts in public services - even if they stand under the Labour flag. (See HERE)

For Labour to “reconnect with its base" (as the media puts it), for it to have any meaning or purpose for working people; for it to start attracting the attention of the 50% of people who didn’t vote in the last election in Stoke, for example, Labour must stand foursquare, unambiguously on the side of working people.  

And it must offer a political programme that will deliver immediate benefits for the millions, not the billionaires!


PS. For the record.  In 1997 Blair’s New Labour obtained 13.5 million votes. This is actually fewer than John Major obtained in the previous election of 1992 (he got over 14 million). The Labour “landslide” we hear so much about was in seats only - due entirely to the collapse in the Tory vote. 

Between 1997 and 2010, New Labour lost very nearly 5 million votes - obtaining 8.6 million - nearly as low as the vote Labour obtained in 1983 or 1935!  The Labour vote increased only slightly in 2015. 

Not for no reason did Thatcher, when asked what her greatest achievement was, reply, “New Labour”! 

WHAT CAN WE LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2017 AND BEYOND?

Excellent analysis HERE of where we are now and what 2017 may hold. 

Big business-dominated capitalism has no more cards up its sleeve. 

Unless, until, it is stopped 2017 and beyond will, for the mass of people, be bleak, unpredictable and frightening.

Let's not lose sight of how foul the FibDems really are!

When will Sutton get some fighting socialist Labour councillors???

FIGHT UKIP IDEAS - DON'T ECHO THEM!!!

Are these right-wing Labour councillors going to help Labour win an election? (See Corbyn photo)

They're UKIP-lite and running scared!

They claim workers are more concerned about immigration than anything else. Rubbish! What about low wages, zero-hour contracts, high rents, NHS crisis, schools privatisation, social care crisis, poor housing etc etc?!

Only if Labour fails to take up the real issues that workers and young people face, will UKIP be able to pose as the "workers friend"!

Does privately educated, ex-stockbroker, millionaire Farage look like a workers' friend to you? (see other photo below)

SOUTHERN FAIL!

The contempt currently being shown by Southern Rail (and parent company Govia Thameslink) to staff and customers defies belief.

The Company, blaming staff shortages, is now reducing its services on these already crowded commuter lines by 15%. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) are in dispute with the Company and have staged a number of strikes and walkouts.

Passengers from Sutton who regularly try to travel to and from London Victoria are among the longest suffering travellers in the country.

Services are slow, delayed, crowded and often cancelled without notice. Sometimes, getting home in the same evening as you started out is an achievement – or seems like one.

Southern brought on a dispute with the RMT by proposing to withdraw travel passes and a staff shift swap scheme, both of which they have now reintroduced. They also threatened to remove conductors from trains but have now confirmed these will remain.

Crucially however, they misled the public, blaming train delays and cancellations on staff taking sick days - a claim which has been discredited and is hotly denied. Any employer who shirks their responsibility by blaming their employees has no place running a public service!

The reduction of 341 services, from Monday will leave passengers even more dissatisfied. Their anger will turn on the Company – they know how difficult it is for drivers, conductors and other staff to run a service under these conditions.

Gove Thameslink have proved they are incapable of running a train service. But parent company Go-Ahead reported healthy profits from its rail business. They rose by 30.5 percent to £25.7 million in the year to June.

Chief executive David Brown’s pay package rose to £2.1 million last year.

It’s crucial that thousands of people from Sutton are able to get to vital jobs in London every day.

These Jobs are crucial for the economy. Added to these are the hundredsof thousands from Sussex, Surrey and elsewhere in south London. This is a national issue!

Why should we contemplate massive profits for shareholders and chief officers when passengers pay inflated prices to travel in such conditions?

It is time to call for the national ownership of the railway companies!

Start with the re-nationalisation of Southern Railways!

Will Sutton Labour Party join us in calling for this vital strategy?

SUTTON AND THE EU

At the first of our local discussion meetings we talked about the EU campaign and its importance for workers in Sutton.

Both official campaigns, Remain and Leave, focus mainly on what is good for business and finance - what is good for their profits. Firms with mostly EU contracts, tend towards Remain; those with a more global reach, favour Leave.

The Tory and UKIP Leave campaigns bang on about immigration - scapegoating foreign workers for low wages, job insecurity, homelessness and much else. But these crises are caused not by workers, but by corporate greed and capitalist crisis!

Who caused the closure of BHS (Sutton High Street)? Big business carpetbaggers; not immigrants.

The Remain campaign is also dominated by Tory Etonians. Along with pro-EU Labour politicians and spineless trade union “leaders”, they argue that the EU will help workers!

But workers of Greece, for example, have paid a very heavy price for their continued EU membership - having been betrayed by the false leaders of Syriza. Jobs, wages, working conditions, social services, pensions - have all been slashed! Official unemployment is around 20%. Youth unemployment is higher still.

Is the EU is helping French workers? NO. They are currently striking and demonstrating in their millions against their pro-EU “Socialist” government!

The only pro-worker campaign for Exit is being run by TUSC, and by some left trade unions (eg RMT) and parties like the Socialist Party.

This campaign explains that the EU is a thoroughly pro-corporate organisation. It demands austerity across all EU states. As Dave Nellist said (TUSC national chair), the EU is continent-wide Thatcherism!

The “local” Guardian recently reported how private firms were currently bidding to provide waste collection and related services in Sutton and some adjacent boroughs.

The report failed to say that this is precisely what EU rules demand - that all public services to be privatised.

But privatisation is usually much more expensive than direct labour. Privatisation requires a complex bidding process, an evaluation process, then an ongoing contract management process. The price charged to the council by the successful contractor will also include a comfortable margin for profits. (And once contractors seal the deal, they inevitably find ways of increasing fees over time).

For the contractor's employees, however, there is continual pressure on them to deliver more for less - constant downward pressure on wages, conditions and pensions.

A socialist council would bring these contracts back in house - but to do that we would have to battle hard against EU rules.

Unfortunately, Sutton Labour Party is not a fighting workers' party. No surprise there isn’t a single Labour councillor! And local Labour favours staying in the EU.

In or out of the EU, though, the vast majority of workers and youth will have to continue the fight for a better life and a better future. The Socialist Party will be supporting them.

So we say -
No to the EU
Yes to a voluntary, socialist united states of Europe.

For more discussion about why the EU is bad for workers - click HERE.

CHILD SERVICES BEING CUT IN SUTTON!

This Sutton focused petition campaign says,
"In the latest budget cuts, the borough have chosen to cut severely the budget allocated to child services..."

This is one of the more serious consequences of the council passively passing on Tory budget cuts. We are happy to promote it.

You can sign the petition HERE.