Manchester
In Manchester, Counterfire seized control of the launch, holding a meeting with over 100 attendees. The platform was politically confused, featuring an ex-Tory landlord and an ‘apolitical’ ex-Workers Party candidate.
A statement from Adnan Hussain MP, who could not be present, was read out. Crucially, Counterfire’s Preston councillor Michael Lavalette spoke without declaring his affiliation, a lack of transparency that undermines trust.
Now, an unelected Counterfire-led committee is forming, already excluding critics like socialist Nick Wrack for challenging their chair. Proposals to establish local democratic branches were dismissed as premature, with the focus on organising a mass rally in Manchester Cathedral.
Counterfire made it clear that any proposals which are not appealing to Corbyn’s team would be vetoed. The project is at risk of bureaucratic capture.
Mass rallies with Jeremy Corbyn such as those in Blackburn and Oldham, drawing crowds of over one thousand each, are encouraging, but they are stage managed events, not democratic forums.
Revolutionaries must engage critically to fight for two principles: a clear class struggle programme against capitalism; and genuine democratic control from below. The energy is real, but it must be channelled into a militant, worker-led party, not a vehicle for hidden agendas.
Leeds
Your Party came together via a WhatsApp group for the whole of West Yorkshire. The Leeds part grew rapidly and decided to meet in person. With just a few days’ notice, over 100 people met with another 50 online.
Attendees discussed what kind of party we want to launch, what it should stand for and how it should work. One of the key themes was democracy, particularly emphasised by those who had experienced the compromises, bureaucracy and purges of the Labour Party under Corbyn’s leadership.
We agreed to meet again soon to keep up the momentum. In the meantime people are meeting at a constituency and even ward level to get to know each other and bring in more people.
Volunteers have drafted a proposal for a steering committee with a limited remit to organise meetings. It also sets out what those meetings would discuss, e.g. the party’s politics, how democracy and accountability can be ensured.
While the proposal rightly states that the steering committee would have no right to determine the group’s politics, the meetings must be free to decide on activities, for example to support workers on strike, promote trans rights or protest for Palestine.
Bristol
About 120 people met in Bristol on 27 August to form a branch of the new party. This was not initiated by the unofficial leadership around Corbyn or Sultana, but by people on the ground. Rs21 members in Bristol took the initiative while others joined in.
The mood was largely optimistic, although many raised its urgent necessity given the rise of the far right and the failures of the Labour government.
The organisers proposed a motion to set up a Your Party Bristol group, to arrange future meetings and organise around ideas raised in the meeting. Although a small minority cautioned against setting up an unofficial group, the vast majority voted for the motion.
The event highlighted the lack of coordination and leadership from the top. Despite activists clambering to get moving, there has been little to no help from the leadership. The contact details of thousands of supporters who have signed up to the new party remain unused.
Grassroots activists in Bristol have made it clear that they will move, with or without the leadership. We can just hope that those at the top catch up sooner rather than later.
Lambeth
Sultana’s announcement immediately generated a wave of enthusiasm in Lambeth, south London. Some ex-Labour lefts set up a WhatsApp group and booked a room for a launch meeting on 11 September.
All well and good. Then the SWP announced they, or rather ‘Lambeth NEU’ had booked a local nightclub, Jamm, for a separate launch event two weeks later, with bands, DJs, etc.
At first they dismissed the clash with a quote from Mao Zedong, ‘Let a thousand flowers bloom’, but eventually agreed to cooperate with the other group.
But unity didn’t last long and the SWP rebooked the Jamm for a ‘South London’ launch on 12 September, with Sultana, NEU leader Daniel Kebede and three SWP speakers.
The danger is that the SWP is choosing their areas, where they believe they or their supporters should stand as candidates in May 2026, and brushing all other forces aside.
The SWP believes it is the real socialist party, and therefore there’s no need to build another one. The new ‘party’ should be just an electoral vehicle.
Workers Power supporters, on the other hand, want to build a real party and fight for revolutionary politics within it.
Harrow
Jeremy Corbyn headed a panel of speakers at the launch of the Arise Party in Harrow, Northwest London on 27 August.
The party was formed by Corbyn ally Pamela Fitzpatrick – also on the panel – in order to contest next year’s local elections.
Former London Assembly candidate Aghileh Djafari-Marbini, BMA member Dr. Muhammed Asaria, and Jared Wood of the RMT, who promised his union’s support for the initiative, also spoke.
Corbyn set out some attractive policies, but struggled with questions about the lessons from his time as Labour leader. Activists were less equivocal, and emphasised the need to fight the elections on a radical, uncompromising, socialist platform.
There were a few causes for alarm. Fitzpatrick seemed to suggest the new party might not be formed in time for next May’s elections, which would be a severe blow, not primarily because of the election opportunity but because of the unnecessary delay.
A Workers Power member spoke to emphasise the need to bring union members in and organise them, as well as the need for democratic structures to ensure the Arise Party is run from the bottom up. Overall the meeting was very positive.
