Lewisham: Local electoralism in practice

It brought together the Lewisham Pensioners Forum, who are at the forefront of the Save Our NHS campaign in Lewisham, Defend Education in Lewisham (including Martin Powell-Davies, Lewisham NUT Branch Secretary), the Socialist Party, Green Left, Alliance for Workers Liberty, Socialist Workers Party, Permanent Revolution, Lewisham Gateway Action Group and other independent political activists.

The discussion followed the theme of the Convention of the Left. What had gone wrong on the left? How could we work together effectively in the future? We agreed that the campaign to save Lewisham Bridge Primary School was the most immediate issue (at that time the school was due to be decanted by Christmas, a preliminary step to its privatisation under the control of Leathersellers Livery Company). We decided upon three things:

*          To discuss the possibility of occupation at Lewisham Bridge at Christmas.

*          To run a regular Saturday stall in Lewisham.

*          To hold a public meeting/conference where each campaign would lead off but where we would try to draw in wider layers of the community to discuss action around the campaigns.

We had a long discussion over the format of this meeting and eventually it was agreed that there would be no top table and that we would aim to get in as many speakers as possible.

At the end of November 2008 we held a very successful public meeting with over 60 people, and People B4 Private Profit was formed. We raised over £200 and met a lot of new people. We continued with the Saturday stall.

A few weeks later Lewisham Council informed parents that the school would be decanted during the Easter holidays. Appreciating the need to keep the pressure on, parents successfully occupied the rooftop of the school from April to September, defying court orders, police vans and the contempt of council officers and councillors, notably including five Green Party councillors who supported New Labour’s plans and opposed the school parents every step of the way.

Support for the occupation from People B4 Private Profit was sporadic. Indeed it had failed to build itself into a vibrant campaign. There were individuals who gave up a lot of their time, but there was no clear group support. Councillors from the Socialist Party, who were willing to give us verbal support, would not join us on the roof in case it jeopardised their position on future planning committees. Unfortunately, right from the start it looked like getting elected was more important than militant class struggle.

In August Chris Flood, Socialist Party councillor, called a meeting for an update on the campaigns in Lewisham and to ask, “Crucially, is there any mileage in discussing standing an agreed slate of activists in the next May election?”

A unity initiative in Lewisham certainly has potential. If the campaigns work together collectively then there is a much stronger chance of building a militant movement which is rooted in local communities and workplaces and which can mobilise to defeat the cuts and privatisation policies of Lewisham’s New Labour council. But ultimately what is Lewisham People B4 Private Profit for? Are they there to gain one or two extra seats in councils dominated by New Labour? Or are they there to re-build a working class movement based on socialist principles.

A fighting electoral campaign would need to build socialist forums to discuss our answers to the crisis with as many people and trade unionists as possible. We should be holding local meetings, socialist events, open “surgeries” telling people what socialist councillors would do.

We should act as the organising centre for local struggles, campaigns and individual issues. In the end having extra councillors will not defeat the cuts. Only a militant workers’ movement can do that.

This means taking the focus off the election and going into the communities via street stalls, public meetings, helping to build existing campaigns and the Trades Council. Elections can certainly be part of this, used as a propaganda tool for putting forward socialist answers to the issues we face – the BNP, privatisation and cuts in public services.

This is not the direction People B4 Private Profit has gone in. It now has a website, a leaflet and a constitution which claim to have the support of a number of campaigning groups. It declares it has the support of the Hands Off Lewisham Bridge campaign, yet our campaign has never been approached to give support to PB4PP. In fact what has been created is a hierarchical, bureaucratic and therefore undemocratic, organisation. Its electoral focus has meant it has lost sight of the wider issue of building the campaigns and ultimately the movement in Lewisham.

The coming elections are a reality which cannot be ignored but PB4PP should not shy away from discussing our goals and principles. It should not shy away from being explicitly socialist in its answers. How are we going to fight the cuts in the health service, education and other public services without workers’ action? How are we going to counter the BNP’s arguments about immigration without arguing for homes and jobs to be created through public works programmes under workers’ control? We must present a socialist answer to the crisis, one that undercuts the fascists who blame everything on migrants.

Establishing a populist election campaign in the end is a short term and pointless tactic as it does not provide answers to these issues. We need to actively build a socialist movement which is ready to take direct action to defeat Lewisham’s New Labour plans, whether they be the building of a new development on Loampit Vale or privatising our health centres or schools.

Sun 07, February 2010 @ 11:31