November by-elections: Building an anti-cuts alternative

In the following article Dave Nellist, TUSC Chair, gives his analysis of the November by-elections and the propects for TUSC in the future.

TUSC Against Cuts



Dave Nellist

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coaltion (TUSC) contested three of the parliamentary byelections, getting 220 votes (1.3%) in Manchester Central, 277 (1.6%) in Middlesbrough and 281 (1.3%) in Rotherham. 1,412 (1.6%) votes were also obtained in the Bristol mayoral election, in which TUSC received some local media coverage.

Where there are many byelection candidates, with little serious media coverage for TUSC, and, as in Manchester, historic low turnouts, then TUSC votes at this stage are certainly not large enough to be challenging for seats. But that is not the only reason we are standing in elections.

A petition, even of tens of thousands of signatures, doesn't automatically lead to a government body or a council changing its mind.

Its real value is that it represents tens of thousands of conversations with people on why that issue was important.

In the same way, during the November election campaigns, thousands of conversations were held with people who, even if they didn't vote TUSC at this stage, at least now know that we exist and are trying to build an anti-austerity, anti-cuts electoral platform for working people

Respect

Respect did not materialise as a serious alternative, getting a lower vote than TUSC in Manchester, albeit with a higher vote than TUSC in Rotherham.

I was asked during November why TUSC and Respect were competing against each other. I made the point that we have written, over the summer, to Respect, but unfortunately were unable to get a reply to have a proper dialogue.

In any event, TUSC and Respect are not the same. TUSC aims to create a new independent voice rooted in the organisations and communities of the working class.

Respect has had breakthroughs, but only in certain selective areas, and does not pursue the work in the trade unions that TUSC does.

Building TUSC The job is still to discuss with union and anti-austerity activists, the importance of building a genuine, independent political voice for people faced with three parties singing the same tune, albeit in slightly different keys.

TUSC's steering committee will be meeting mid-December to discuss the broader issues arising out of the November elections.

Alex Gordon - RMT President.

A TUSC trade union forum will be held in the New Year, at which the work done so far in discussing with activists in the RMT transport union, PCS civil service union, the Fire Brigades Union, the Prison Officers Association, the National Union of Teachers, the University and College Union and other unions not affiliated to Labour, can develop.

We will also continue to work with activists in Labour-affiliated unions such as Unite and Unison who are trying to break the link.

TUSC is looking to stand 400 candidates in the council elections of May 2013, which should enable it to get more serious media coverage, in particular from the BBC.

UKIP protest vote

The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) saw an increase in its share of the votes as a layer saw it as a means to protest against the three main parties.

Millionaire-backed Ukip can sound different to the Lib-Lab-Con-sensus but in truth it shares the same central aim: make the working and middle classes pay for capitalism's crisis.

Ukip was part of a small pro-cuts rally in May 2011. Its website states "the coalition's cuts do not scratch the surface of Labour's deficit" and calls for reduced tax for big business and the rich.

Ukip's leader, Nigel Farage, puts on a Boris-esque, likable buffoon character to attract voters and mask the anti-working class, pro-big business and xenophobic policies of his organisation.

To the establishment, while problematic, Ukip is nonetheless a more palatable, right-populist, protest vote to the fascist-led British National Party.

For sure, they would also rather promote Ukip than the real, anti-cuts, socialist alternative that TUSC offers. 

That is why in the past four years Farage has made 12 appearances on the BBC's Question Time, only second to Lib Dem business secretary Vince Cable.

In the May local elections, the BBC headlined "growing support" for Ukip. This followed an average vote - in the seats it contested - of 13%, compared to 6.2% for TUSC. In the Liverpool Mayoral election, TUSC got over twice Ukip's vote.

Voters are increasingly rejecting the establishment parties. But if a credible, anti-cuts alternative is not built, right wing groups such as Ukip can be undeserved beneficiaries of people's anger.

An open letter to angry Rotherham Labour Party members

The following article was taken from the TUSC website. It was written during the November 2012 by-election in response to the events surrounding the Labour's choice of candidate.

THE LABOUR PARTY meeting on Tuesday 13 November to choose their candidate for the Rotherham by-election was thrown into confusion when at least half of those present walked out in protest at the exclusion of any local candidate from the shortlist.

Rotherham supporters of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) have issued the following open letter to Rotherham Labour members:

To Rotherham Labour Party members:

Dear comrades,

We in TUSC, including many ex-Labour Party members, welcome your angry reaction to the New Labour apparatus imposing another external candidate and possible MP on the town.

After the experience of Denis MacShane, who was also imposed on the local party from outside, you are justified in expressing your opposition to national party leadership diktat by walking out of the selection process.

This experience only further confirms the complete lack of democracy now in New Labour, and the inability for ordinary local party members to hold any real say in decision making and accountability.

In the view of TUSC, this lack of democracy is part of the process undertaken by Blair, Brown and now Miliband to shift the Labour Party away from its working-class roots and to make the party acceptable to the rich, big business and the millionaires.

That is why TUSC is standing a candidate in the forthcoming by-election, Ralph Dyson, a local teacher and trade union representative who led the strike last year at Rawmarsh Community School against compulsory redundancies.

We believe it is vital to counter the inevitable disillusionment and alienation of Rotherham working class people with a left wing and socialist alternative. Ralph is standing against corruption, against cuts and against racism and fascism, and to be a workers’ MP on a worker’s wage.

We appeal to you to come a help us in our campaign, to support a local, working class, trade union fighter and socialist, the very things that the Labour Party was founded for and most of you will have joined because of.

For more information about Ralph’s and TUSC’s campaign, look at: ralphdyson.blogspot.com

Yours in solidarity,

Alistair Tice Rotherham TUSC election agent alistairtice@yahoo.co.uk

November by-elections - TUSC National Report

A report of the November elections taken from the TUSC website.

THE TRADE Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) was set-up in 2010 to enable trade unionists, community campaigners and socialists to appear on the ballot paper in elections as something distinctly opposed to the establishment parties and their pro-austerity agenda. Otherwise, if not endorsed by a party registered with the Electoral Commission, opponents of austerity would only be able to appear as indistinguishable ‘Independents’. At the same time, TUSC exists to aid those fighting the long-term battle that is necessary, in the trade unions in particular, to re-establish independent working class political representation.

The candidates who came forward to take up the TUSC banner in November’s by-elections certainly fulfilled both tasks, and are to be congratulated for their stand.



Ralph Dyson stood for TUSC in the
Rotherham by-election Nov. 2012

In November 29’s eleven-candidate by-election contest in Rotherham Ralph Dyson, the joint divisional secretary of the local National Union of Teachers, polled 281 votes. On the same day John Malcolm, the secretary of the Tees, Esk & Wear Valley Unison Health branch, polled 277 votes in the Middlesbrough by-election. These contests followed the Manchester Central by-election on November 15, where TUSC was represented by Alex Davidson, the vice-chair of the PCS North West Region. Also on November 15 a TUSC candidate, Unite member Tom Baldwin, won 1,412 votes in the Bristol mayoral election – and candidates in three council by-elections, in Rugby, Liverpool and Manchester, polled from 3.9% to 2.2%.

The TUSC national Steering Committee is meeting in December and will discuss some of the broader issues arising from the November elections. Is there any significance in the fact that the Greens, with their higher profile, didn’t contest every seat (or that they polled 1.1% in Corby)? How should trade unionists and socialists respond to UKIP as a potential repository of protest votes (although interestingly the TUSC mayoral candidate in Liverpool this May, with 4,792 votes, polled ahead of the Tories and double the UKIP vote)? And then there were the Respect candidates, in Manchester (where TUSC outpolled Respect) and Rotherham (where ex-Sunday Express journalist Yvonne Ridley polled 1,778 votes for Respect). TUSC has previously pursued Respect to discuss possible electoral collaboration but they have not been prepared to talk (see TUSC-Respect correspondence) – what should be done now?

Overall, as we wrote earlier this month, “not too much can be drawn from a handful of electoral contests, either ‘writing off’ TUSC or exaggerating the possibilities at this stage. The most important fact is still the absence of a vehicle for working class political representation, given Labour’s broad acceptance of the capitalists’ austerity agenda. Standing in elections is part of the struggle to build one”. After the November election rush, with an unusually high number of parliamentary by-elections for one month, that’s still the case.

Middlesbrough parliamentary by-election:

Labour 10,201; UKIP 1,990; Lib Dems 1,672; Conservative 1,063; Peace Party 1,060; BNP 328; TUSC 277 (1.6%); Independent 275.

Rotherham parliamentary by-election:

Labour 9,966; UKIP 4,648; BNP 1,804; Respect 1,778; Conservative 1,157; ED 703; Independent 582; LD 451; TUSC 281 (1.3%); Independent 51; EDL 29.

For a full breakdown of TUSC’s May election results, across more than 120 seats, see http://www.tusc.org.uk/pdfs/2012/TUSC_Results_Report.pdf)

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