Left Alternative | |
---|---|
Leader | Collective leadership (Central Committee) |
Founded | 2008 |
Dissolved | 2010 |
Headquarters | London |
Ideology | Socialism [1] |
Political position | Left-wing [2] |
The Left List, later renamed the Left Alternative, was a political party active in the United Kingdom between 2008 and 2010. A minor party, it never had any of its candidates elected at any level of UK government although it inherited several local councillors who had defected to it from the Respect Party.
The Left List arose from a schism in the left-wing Respect Party in 2007. Various Respect members had been affiliated with the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), a far-left, Marxist group, and this had proved a cause for concern among other party members. In 2008 the SWP-affiliated members split and formed the Left List. The new party took part in the 2008 London mayoral elections and London Assembly elections, where it received under 1% of the vote. Its mayoral candidate, Lindsey German, came seventh. The party then adopted the name "Left Alternative" although several of its councillors defected either to the Labour Party or Conservative Party. It deregistered with the Electoral Commission in 2010.
Respect was created in January 2004, [2] using the issue of the war in Iraq to mobilise its vote. Beyond this issue, it attempted to have a broad socialist agenda. Respect allows its members to hold membership of other political organisations and notably included the SWP. Respect's most high-profile figure has been George Galloway, then Respect Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow, who was expelled from the Labour Party in 2003 for "bringing the party into disrepute".
In September 2007, Galloway wrote a letter to Respect's national council members saying that the party was "too disorganised" and "faced oblivion" unless it reformed its internal party management. [3] The letter also criticised the amount of money spent on the Organising for Fighting Unions conference and on an intervention at the Pride London LGBT rights event.
The letter was the opening shot in a dispute in Respect initially between Galloway and his supporters (including founding member Salma Yaqoob) on one side, and supporters of the SWP on the other. However, the arguments later began to affect all of the membership including those not in the SWP or close to Galloway or Yaqoob. In particular, Galloway called for the appointment of a National Organiser, who would support the National Secretary, John Rees (then an SWP member). The SWP perceived this to be an attempt to undermine John Rees who was the dominant voice for the SWP within Respect's leadership. A letter from their Central Committee stated: "The SWP believed that the post was created to undermine Respect National Secretary John Rees." [4]
In the course of the dispute, the SWP expelled three members who sided with Galloway: Kevin Ovenden and Rob Hoveman, who both worked for George Galloway, and Nick Wrack, who was nominated for the position of National Organiser.
On 3 November 2007, Galloway's side announced plans to hold a "Respect Renewal" conference on 17 November, the same day as the planned national conference of Respect. The Respect Renewal conference was an open event and organisers claim 350 people attended. This figure was disputed by Chris Harman in International Socialism . The Respect national conference, which went ahead on the same day was attended by 270 delegates from 49 local branches and 17 student groups, as well as 90 observers. [1]
Linda Smith, Respect's national chair at the time of the split, has claimed: "The sectarianism and 'control freak' methods of the SWP have led us to a situation where Respect is irretrievably split." [5] The SWP has attributed the split to a shift to the right by George Galloway and his allies, motivated by electoralism (placing election-winning above other principles). This, say the SWP leadership, led to attacks on the SWP as the most prominent left group in Respect. [6]
The Electoral Commission refused to take a side in the split and therefore continued to recognise Linda Smith as the Nominating Officer for Respect. [7] This means that her signature is required for candidates wishing to use the electoral label "Respect" (and similar registered names) on ballot papers in UK elections. A letter from the Electoral Commission to Linda Smith on 23 January 2008, set out its position on the split, following confusion on the matter from both sides. [8]
Following the split, the side that included the SWP (but not Galloway or Linda Smith) nominated candidates in two district council by-elections. They could not use the name "Respect" on ballot papers without the signature of the nominating officer. Instead, both had no label on the ballot papers. [9] [10]
This side in the Respect split announced that in the London mayoral elections planned for 1 May 2008 it would stand Lindsey German for mayor (Respect's candidate in 2004 and chosen as Respect's candidate in 2007 prior to the schism) and candidates for the London Assembly, elected on the same date. It announced that its candidates would contest these elections under a new electoral label, the Left List, since Linda Smith had not allowed them to be listed on ballot papers as Respect candidates. [11] [12] [13]
The Left List contested every constituency and stood on the London-wide proportional representation list. At the council elections on 1 May 2008, the Left List also contested seats as the Left List or the Left Party, Maxine Bowler in Burngreave, Sheffield. [14] Respect Renewal stood in the City and East London constituency as well as contesting the London-wide list. George Galloway headed the London-wide party list, and Respect Renewal candidates stood under the name Respect (George Galloway). [15] [16]
Both factions of Respect suffered as a result and together failed to reach the previous number of votes.
The organisation's website began to display the title Left Alternative in late June 2008. On 10 September 2008 John Rees and Lindsey German resigned from the Left Alternative National Committee. [17] [18] Most elected councillors who had joined Left List at the time of the split from Respect subsequently defected to other parties, mainly Labour, over the course of 2008. [18] In 2008, one Left List councillor defected to the Conservative Party. In June of that year, the three remaining Left List councillors in Tower Hamlets, including the Chair and Nominating Officer of the Left List, defected to the Labour Party as did one Respect Renewal councillor. [19] [20]
The organisation's website ceased operation in mid-2009. The party deregistered from the Electoral Commission Register of Political Parties in April 2010.
The Democratic Socialist Perspective (DSP) was an Australian Marxist political group, which operated as the largest component of a broad-left socialist formation, the Socialist Alliance. In 2010, the DSP voted to merge into the Socialist Alliance.
Alan Thornett is a British Trotskyist.
The Respect Party was a left-wing to far-left, socialist political party active in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2016. At the height of its success in 2007, the party had one Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons and nineteen councillors in local government.
Lindsey Ann German is a British left-wing political activist. A founding member and convenor of the British anti-war organisation Stop the War Coalition, she was formerly a member of the Socialist Workers Party, sitting on its central committee and editor of its magazine, Socialist Review.
John Rees is a British political activist, academic, journalist and writer who is a national officer of the Stop the War Coalition, and founding member of Counterfire. He is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London.
The 2008 London mayoral election for the office of Mayor of London, England, was held on 1 May 2008. Conservative candidate Boris Johnson defeated incumbent Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone. It was the third London mayoral election, the previous elections being the first election in May 2000 and the second election in June 2004.
Solidarity – Scotland's Socialist Movement was a political party in Scotland. The party launched on 3 September 2006, founded by two former Scottish Socialist Party MSPs, Tommy Sheridan and Rosemary Byrne, in the aftermath of Sheridan's libel action.
The British left is a range of political parties and movements in the United Kingdom. These can take the position of either centre-left, left-wing, or far-left.
Respect Renewal was a faction that existed during the 2007-8 split within Respect – The Unity Coalition, a UK political party.
An election to the Assembly of London took place on 1 May 2008, along with the 2008 London mayoral election. The Conservatives gained 2 seats, Labour gained one seat, the Liberal Democrats lost two seats, and UKIP were wiped out. Notably, a candidate for the British National Party (BNP) was elected for the first time.
Elections to the Borough Council in Slough, England, were held on 1 May 2008. This was the 123rd Slough general local authority election since Slough became a local government unit in 1863.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is a socialist electoral alliance launched in Britain for the 2010 general election.
The 2012 City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council election took place on 3 May 2012. The elections took place shortly after the Bradford West by-election, in which the Respect Party's George Galloway pulled off a shock victory against the incumbent Labour Party. Held alongside was a referendum on directly elected mayors. The Labour Party were one seat short of an overall majority following the election, leaving the council in no overall control.
Socialism in the United Kingdom is thought to stretch back to the 19th century from roots arising in the aftermath of the English Civil War. Notions of socialism in Great Britain have taken many different forms from the utopian philanthropism of Robert Owen through to the reformist electoral project enshrined in the birth of the Labour Party.
The Socialist Party is a Trotskyist political party in England and Wales. Founded in 1997, it had formerly been Militant, an entryist group in the Labour Party from 1964 to 1991, which became Militant Labour from 1991 until 1997.
The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is a far-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded as the Socialist Review Group by supporters of Tony Cliff in 1950, it became the International Socialists in 1962 and the SWP in 1977. The party considers itself to be Trotskyist. Cliff and his followers criticised the Soviet Union and its satellites, calling them state capitalist rather than socialist countries.
Michael Lavalette is a member of the Socialist Workers Party and former local councillor in Preston, Lancashire, England. He was first elected as a Socialist Alliance candidate shortly after the Iraq War began in 2003. In 2007, he was re-elected, this time standing for the Respect Party. In the Respect split in 2007 he remained loyal to the SWP and broke with George Galloway. Re-elected in 2012 as an Independent Socialist, he was affiliated with TUSC until he retired from his seat in 2015.
The Socialist Alliance was a left-wing electoral alliance in England between 1999 and 2005.
Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Founded as the Brexit Party in November 2018, endorsing Euroscepticism, it was renamed on 4 January 2021 after Brexit, becoming primarily an anti-lockdown party. The party was founded by Nigel Farage and Catherine Blaiklock with the stated purpose of advocating for Brexit. Before the UK's withdrawal from the European Union (EU), the party had 23 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). Its largest electoral success was winning 29 seats and the largest share of the national vote in the 2019 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom.
{{cite web}}
: |author=
has generic name (help)