Differences within Left Unity, the ruling faction of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), have prompted the Socialist Party to launch a faction within that faction, the Broad Left Network. At the same time, the PCS Rank and File Network is being launched. This raises the question of how best to organise in the unions – rank and file or broad left?

Editorial, Workers Power No. 381, February 2015 It is a total diversion to call for a vote for capitalist parties like the SNP, or for the middle class Greens, who do not have any historical or organised links to the working class and do not even claim to represent it. We should criticise the pro-capitalist […]

By KD Tait Left Unity’s Policy Conference on 15-16 November in London saw members pass a series of policy documents that revealed the party’s strengths and its weaknesses. KD Tait reports Left Unity’s mission statement is to build a ‘broad party of the left’ that can become a serious challenge to Labour. The conditions for […]

By Andy Yorke Around two hundred members of Left Unity (LU) gathered in Manchester for the first policy conference of this new initiative to build a new working class party, launched only four months ago on 30 November.  The conference marked a step forward for Left Unity, with largely fraternal debates deciding policy in important […]

By KD Tait On 30 November, a new political organisation was founded; one which will champion a radical alternative to austerity, unemployment and war. Organisers announced that more than 1200 people had registered as founder members. Six months in the making, Left Unity’s founding conference saw 500 people agree a common political platform, constitution and aims. […]

The Left Party Platform in Left Unity has called a public meeting on 17 October “to present the case for a broad left party”. Dave Stockton argues why this should not be our model   Workers Power shares one thing at least with the framers of the Left Party Platform. We want to see a […]

Draft action programme proposed for Left Unity's founding conference.

At its meeting in June, the National Coordinating Group of Left Unity decided that platforms, with a minimum of ten signatures, could put resolutions to the November founding conference. In the course of the summer, three platforms, the Left Party Platform, the Socialist Platform and the Class Struggle Platform have been submitted and have sparked […]

We have drafted a third ‘platform’ to extend the debate within Left Unity. Having read the two platforms currently circulating – the Left Party Platform and the Socialist Platform – we were struck by an obvious similarity between them. Neither address the immediate issues confronting the working class in Britain today, which are not run […]

Five weeks after Left Unity’s first national conference around 40 delegates attended its first National Coordinating Group (NCG) meeting in Doncaster. Ten had been elected at the national meeting on 11 May whilst the others had been elected to represent the local groups. Clearly there are considerably more groups who were unable to send delegates. […]

  By Paul Silson, Wakefield Left Unity This month Ed Miliband announced that he would follow the Con-Dem coalition’s lead and vowed to cap spending on welfare. This statement follows a long list of betrayals and climbdowns by the Labour leader – the party will not reverse any austerity cuts, nor will it scrap legislation, such […]

By Richard Brenner IT’S ONE week since the first national meeting of Left Unity, and after reading some of the more hostile reports and comments I wonder if I was at the same meeting. A shambles, one report called it. What? 100 delegates assembled from more than 80 local branches, more than half of them elected […]

Six people attended the first meeting of Wakefield Left Unity on Thursday 9 May. There were people from trade unions, socialist organisations and workers who have recently taken part in strikes against downbanding at Mid Yorks NHS Trust. After hearing a report of the recent Left Unity meetings in nearby Leeds, we discussed the progress […]

The crisis in the Socialist Workers Party has implications for the entire left. Allegations of rape against a leading member were shamefully mishandled. Expulsions and a clampdown on dissent provoked a substantial and ongoing exodus from the party. The International Socialist Network is grouping together many who have left the SWP. It held its first […]

23 people came to the launch meeting of Left Unity in Leeds this Wednesday. Everyone contributed and collectively we came up with a workable plan for building outwards to people who have been let down by Labour and believe an alternative is necessary. The planning meeting agreed to support an upcoming demonstration against the Bedroom […]

The response to Ken Loach’s Appeal “to discuss the formation of a new political party of the Left to bring together those who wish to defend the welfare state and present an economic alternative to austerity” indicates that this is an idea whose time has come.  Kady Tait looks at what steps we need to […]

Get involved in building a united, campaigning, democratic and socialist party A surge of support for a new left party such as we haven’t seen for generations. That’s the meaning of the huge numbers – already more than 6000 by Easter – flocking to sign Ken Loach’s Appeal. With 70 local groups already, after just […]

This article was published shortly before the announcement of resignations after conference. Nevertheless the article addresses issues relevant for all comrades committed to building a genuine revolutionary party – whether they are in or out of the SWP.  The crisis in the SWP will not be resolved by the Special Conference called for 10 March […]

On 16 February Leeds had its second Anti-Cuts Convention, a successful event that serves as a modest demonstration of the need and possibility for uniting the anti-cuts movement. The meeting decided on action and campaigns, involved trade unions, political groups and campaigns ranging from Keep Our NHS Public to Hands Off Our Homes. The struggle […]

The great recession has tested working class parties to the limit. Almost every social democratic and labour party has repositioned itself in favour of cuts and austerity. For a new generation of fighters, the Occupy movement and last year’s student rebellion seem to offer a way to beat the system without parties. Dave Stockton looks […]

Luke Cooper looks back on past efforts to build new left organisations and points to what we can learn from their mistakes