Dear comrades,
I have been quietly reading the Left press in relation to the London
Election and Ken Livingstone London's Mayoral candidate which is
happening today.
A large section of the Trotskyist Left and the Marxist Leninist CPGB
are backing Ken Livingstone and have gathered themselves together
into the London Socialist Alliance and will stand for the Greater
London Authority (where if they are lucky they may win just one
seat!).
As someone who leans more towards the position of William Morris and
the Socialist League of the 1880s (I haven't yet found a
parliamentary or council election where I would actually vote -
though I'm not actually opposed in principle) I find their positions
untenable. They call for a break from Blair but this leave completely
the nature of the Labour Party itself and how far they rely on Old
Labour and the Labour Left. In my opinion Blair does is not a
aberration in the Labour party but constant with its very founding
ethos of Keir Hardy, Sidney and Beatrice Webb, Snowden,
MacDonald, etc... He just says openly what the Labour party has
always done in practice.
For a flavour of the debate I have trawled through a small sample
and quote them in the following emails [with my own comments in
square brackets or as JW - ]. I'm I the only one who cannot make any
sense of what on earth they think their up to and their inability to
come to a coherent position.
John Walker
--- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
