Newham and Tower Hamlets; storming demoncracy

Jim Jepps

 

For socialists, one of the most important areas in the country at this election is Newham and Tower Hamlets where Respect is launching possibly the largest ever storming of local democracy by the left (see our guide to left candidates near you)

 

The results in these constituencies not only hold the prospect of a significant political event but also have decisive implications for the future of Respect itself who is standing more than half its candidates in these constituencies, and has staked a lot upon their success.

 

Some have set the bar high for Respect in these areas with talk of winning control of the council, but most Respect activists have wisely downplayed this possibility in favour of a more modest formulation of "doing well" (for instance Dead Men Left) and of course all the signs are that Respect will do very well indeed.

 

The Telegraph has predicted Respect to win possibly nine council seats and Labour to lose seats to Lib Dems and even Tories too. It was a surprise to me the other night that straight after Channel Four news the 'Political Slot' was for Labour who choose to devout the entire three minutes to how great they have been in Tower Hamlets. Labour are very rattled indeed.

 

There are some excellent blog reports of campaigning by Respect supporters in these areas. Liam Mac Uaid's blog has a number of reports going through constituency meetings, hustings and the experience of door knocking. Liam's an old hand at campaigning and wisely does not leap to the conclusion that Respect is bound to win simply because he meets some residents who say they'll vote for it - he's also honest enough to say he meets plenty of people who certainly wont be.

 

One interesting factor is that Big Brother appears to still be an issue in Tower Hamlets, whilst it seems to have been largely forgotten in the rest of the country - this is understandable as Galloway is their MP and so his behaviour is likely to have a deeper impact than elsewhere. I remember being in Harlow when Jerry Hayes MP was always making a fool of himself on TV. His behaviour probably didn't damage the Tories much but it certainly got him kicked out of his seat at the next election (the incident where he was spanking nubile women on the James Whale show had particularly strong repercussions)

 

Lenin's Tomb (winner of the Socialist Unity blog of the year 2005 award) also details his campaigning experience. I have to say I did shudder slightly with talk of the Respect supporters having a demonstration through the area to party HQ - but the descriptions of the number of people willing to turn out to work for Respect is both impressive and corroborated from other sources.

 

There does seem to be a consistent theme of organisational anarchy (and I don't mean that in a good way) but you can take this in different ways. It's obviously a bad use of resources to have people milling about not knowing what to do or where to go - but it's also a symptom of the fact that the structure is having difficulty coping with the level of support that they are receiving. There aren't many Labour Party branches in the country that will be having that problem this year, so it shouldn't be seen as all bad.

 

At the European and General elections it was clear that the areas Respect did well were areas with a significant Asian population and part of Respect's difficulties have been in spreading a formula that works very well in certain areas into places that look and feel very different. Cliffism notes that "It would be foolish to deny our main base isn’t in the Bengali community" and rightly says that in order to spread support out of these communities it's going to be necessary to do well in there, get elected and be seen as a success, the increased profile giving Respect that ability to spread from their strongholds.

 

I was disturbed though by Lenin's comment that "Like Marmite, we're either loved or loathed, and like Millwall, we don't care." Prompting one supportive contributor to write "What exactly is the point of being respected by people who won't vote for you?" (I'd like to help you son but you're too young to vote", wiggles hips) The point of course is that this is only an election and in order to fight campaigns on housing, asylum, the war, and a whole host of other things it's important to be able to work with people who do not support your organisation.

 

We (the left) don't stand in elections because we simply want to carve a political career for ourselves and be seen as important to stoke our vanity - we stand because we want to build the struggle for a better world, we believe that unity is strength and that self activity is the method to create lasting social change. One of the challenges Respect faces is that whilst it is nice to have strong support from a minority, we need militant action supported by the majority in society - and polarising the debate and making enemies of people you need to work with does not move that process forwards.
 

 

But what if they win?

If Respect can win control of either council it will be a famous achievement and one that Respect could be extremely proud of. If it can be done it will mean the first left controlled council since the hey day of Militant in the eighties. But the experience of Militant also shows that winning the election (or in their case more than one) is the start of the battle not the end of it.

 

Militant's experience in Liverpool was that of vicious and unremitting demonisation in the national press, victimisation from the national government and a united campaign by the respectable consensus to destroy that council -  a campaign that was ultimately successful.

 

Would Respect be in a position to handle such an attack? It seems unlikely given that much of the support they have is new, many candidates are either previously untested or are defectors from parties unused to this kind of vitriol being levelled at them and it's uncertain, with council powers having been significantly eroded since the 80's, how much real influence Respect could have anyway on the conditions in the constituency. It is also worth noting that Militant were ideological coherent in a way that Respect is not, and does not aim to be.

 

One possible danger is that if Respect has a large block elected, but does not win outright control of the council. Would Respect councillors be willing to go into coalition with the Labour or Lib Dem group as the dominant or the minor partner? Either way they jump it could see the Respect group fragment with potential splits towards forming an administration with the main stream parties or with councillors opposed to that.

 

Considering the excellent fact that many of Respect's candidates are drawn from community campaigners who are likely to want to work within the existing framework and from the hard left who may oppose the idea on principle, the week after a successful Respect election could see real hurdles that need to be jumps and it would take brilliant tactical manoeuvring to get through. But this is all speculation without seeing how many Respect councillors get elected, who they are and of course, most importantly, what they do next.

 

 

April 2006

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