For what’s it’s worth I agree Labour’s policies are not better though there is something of a dicscussion to be had about whethe some of the attenuated minimal reforms offered by Labour still eman some working class illusions in Labour as opposed to the Tories. May be and there will be a debate on who to vote for etc but for now I think we should focus on the second part of the traditional left mantra ‘organise to fight’

The convnetion fo th eleft will bring together activists from Labour left, Respect Renewal, Left List, CNWP etc

They all have thier own electoral parties. We can’t realistically agree on this- may be discuss it at the margins but work on practicla campaigning unity on action.,

Support a woman’s right to choose? Apparently 83% of general population do and probably 99% of activists at CoL- so let’#s organise something.

Against privatisation? All of us. Let’s help organise a great big anti-Acadmeis demo to tie in with thre preading strike action.

The war/ deportations. atttacks on civil liberties ditto ditto ditto

Norma Turner

The one conclusion we must not make from local elections or the election of Boris Johnson as Mayor of London is that Labour is Better.

Labour is not better. It is Labour’s right-wing policies that have created the space and the taste for the even more reactionary or absurd.

It is Labour who have created a collective fear and hatred of difference. Rather than uniting the working class against the ruling class they have thrown their lot in with the ruling class, with big business and anyone rich. They spend their time convincing us that by feeding the rich pennies will drop from heaven onto the poor. So of course it is logical to get rid of Ken Livingstone who is “common” and put a true blue ruling class snob in power who will really make sure the working class get the pennies. Plus throw in the BNP for good measure, adding violence and hatred to arrogance and stupidity.

Let us not forget that it is Labour that has created more unaccountable structures to bypass the elected representatives in all public services, including the most unaccountable fiefdom of all, Mayor of London. Instead of supporting Ken Livingstone we should have been campaigning against having a Mayor.

Questions are being asked such as “Is Italy returning to fascism?” My question is the same about England - and as far as I am concerned the fault lies with Labour. Rather than participating in the electoral process, which is totally discredited for workers, we should be debating how to re-engage the class in a political process, developing participatory democracy rather than so-called representative democracy, and developing a left alternative to Labour.

Norma Turner
Manchester